Mark101

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Posts posted by Mark101

  1. Posted

    41 minutes ago, EPV said:

    Interesting idea, however a couple of things that have popped into my mind;

    Not sure what card machine retailer you use but I get charged 1.4% transaction fees for accepting credit and debit cards, includes Amex. 

    If I have received money into my bank account, and the revenue decided to investigate me for whatever reason, would these deposits in my business account not be viewed as income? I’m assuming they would be? If so they would be subject to vat and tax?

    Not if you keep records - you can trace where the money has come from, so I wouldn't worry - how you fund your business is up to you and your credit cards are your credit line - you will be paying for the privilege but even at 1.4% on say £5,000 is only £70 - do you really think an O/D will be cheaper 1) paying for the facility whether you use it or not 2) monthly interest and 3) would the bank even extend £5,000?  

    Go one stage further, get two cards - draw £5,000 off the first, then balance transfer to the second on 0% for 18 months - 2 years.

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    They will always want collateral - Your stock is not suitable security as you could sell it all and do one very quickly.

    In their eyes, if you're not prepared to secure a loan in that way, why should they take the risk.

    We're all the same, convinced we can make it work if only we had a spare £500k - when we are asked to back up our enthusiasm, we start to think of all the negatives - just like a funder.

     

     

    • Like 1

  4. Posted · Edited by Mark101
    Typo

    35 minutes ago, EPV said:

    I don’t really understand this viewpoint. AT hold the vast lions share of online visits per month. They charge what they think they can get away with, of course they do. That’s business isn’t it. The rep asks him/herself what they think their customer will put up with. This isn’t a cartel, like one motor insurance company having 80% of the market share and charging what they like knowing full well people HAVE to have insurance to get to work, to feed their children, to pick them up from school. This is a competitive market place they work in, it just so happens (by luck or hard work on AT’s behalf) that they have the ears and eyes of the large share of the car buying public. You want your car put in front of them? Ante up. 

    Would I like it if it were cheaper? Sure, of course. 

    I’m 6 weeks through an eBay package which has cost £650 to date. I’ve sold zero cars. By that same token, i’ve sold 6 cars through AT. How expensive is AT in my eyes? Not as bloody expensive as eBay that’s for sure! 

    People make eBay work. How, I don’t know. When I market a car I do my Ad on AT. I then go to eBay and copy and paste the description, attention grabber etc from AT to eBay. So the adverts are ostensibly the same. Except eBay only let you have 20 images, so it’s an inferior advert. But make it work, people do. For me though, if I want to sell cars, as quickly as possible, there’s one place I can do that. It ain’t eBay, it ain’t motors and it ain’t car gurus. What they charge me is incidental. It works for me. 

    Have you taken the AT package as well James or do you PAYG like me?

    Personally speaking, and this is in relation to the format not the number of viewers or the profile of viewers - Ebay may allow less pictures but it has limitless characters for the description whereas AT (only speaking from PAYG) is "almost" like the very old days of 27 characters or less - I haven't had to write PAS, EW, EM, RCL for years, I find that bizzare having to create acronyms nowadays.

  5. Posted · Edited by Mark101
    Typo

    45 minutes ago, trade vet said:

    That’s disgusting !......I think that may be up 50% in less than 3 years....They are abusing their dominant market position.

    Well, they are not having my £750, that's crazy.

    I can have their top ad on PAYG for about £60 3 weeks, I don't even have enough stock to reach £750.

    And for comparison - what about Ebay - same sort of package please.

  7. Posted

    Hi-jack Alert - sorry

    Anyone know what the minimum package  AT will accept?

    I am advertising a couple on AT but cannot link website or put our logo on the page - I guess you need to sign up for that.  

    Rationale:  I'm thinking of continually listing 2-3 cars on AT and hopefully with a website link, some traffic will be directed to where they can find more.  Particularly good when you have multiples of a particular make/model.

    A long shot but my fledgling business cannot carry big costs such as AT on a fixed term.

    Thanks, Mark

     

     

  8. Posted

    7 minutes ago, tradex said:

    :D it does a lot but won't repair things. 

    New pedal switch, new temp sensor motor unit, new rack needed......but yes it clears codes once repairedB)

    You need an 'all systems' scanner, geek speak for does much everything. ;)

    Foxwell do blowouts and you can sometimes catch a real bargain. Nice guys to deal with too in our experience. 

    I thought it sounded too good to be true - can you tell I'm no mechanic!

  9. Posted

    4 minutes ago, justina3 said:

    It’s changing daily buddy us old dogs have to learn new tricks daily 

    Some of it is great - mainly due to the web.  The ability to transfer money, bid on cars, sell cars, register online, tax online etc - all in the blink of an eye - that is a great improvement and V5's tend to arrive within a few days, not the old 2-3 weeks.

    What I really struggle with are the low margins.  I used to have a grand in everything from £300 bangers to £7,500 decent stuff.  Best ever was a Volvo Wedge (think 480 ES) paid £295 at auction, low buyers fees - washed and sold for £1,295 in a week.  I miss that!

    Thanks for all your help justina3 - I really do appreciate it.

  10. Posted

    6 minutes ago, tradex said:

    We have a cheap Foxwell that gets a lot of use and seems to do most brands and has very good real time data, I think it was something like £500 a few years back, so more like £40 now.;)

    Talks to pretty much every system on the car and for a budget scanner is to be recommended. 

    We just had two issues this week that it helped clear in real time, a stalling Focus which was an intermittent brake pedal switch, and a Clio climate fault caused by a duff roof sensor. Had a bad steering sensor on a Punto before that. 

    I agree with those that say,  they couldn't work without a decent scanner. 

    Excuse my inexperience - when you say it "cleared" the faults - did you need to replace the sensors or does this simply clear the fault?

  11. Posted · Edited by Mark101
    Typo

    12 minutes ago, justina3 said:

    I still disagree with your thought pattern which is based on personal experience and sleeping with the enemy so to speak.

     

    Your points,

     

     no1 I have no idea on gods earth how that has happened 200m and not a single vat inspection well done however you managed that.

     

    2. Unless you have purchased a load of equipment or have massive preparation costs your investment vat reclaim will still be relatively small, I am in no way questioning your book keeping or finicial record keeping please do not take my comments that way.

     

    4. Yes everything in a vat inspection has bearing for example they use your data to spot check back in the office another business for example if your using garage xyz and spend a lot of money with them they will quickly type in xyz company at a later date and see if there recording sales if your saying your spending a lot of money with them and there claims are showing hardly any sales bingo and out come the diggers.

     

    5. This is the biggest spock eye brow raise they have, if your not drawing any salary they will want to know how you live its all well and good saying you live of savings but they will want to know where those savings come from and was the tax paid on them at source, a lot of garage owners get caught like this thinking a simple I don’t draw money from the business so I don’t pay tax works, it doesn’t and don’t think as it has nothing to do with VAT they have no right to ask for those details if they suspect your living of cash taken from the business and saying its life savings they have every right to ask and more.

     

    A lot of what an inspector will ask for will be based on their gut instinct drawing on many inspections and years of experience they can smell an honest mistake from a cover up a mile away, her indoors no longer does daily inspections and has now rolled into a teaching role for fresh inspectors but before she came off the road she would do on average 2-3 inspections a week take that over 20 years and that’s a whole load of smelling a rat experience, as in all things in life you will have a decent inspector and you will have someone with issues, just like the police judges car sales men and so on.

    You probably know a lot more than I do to be fair, our CFO saw to all HMRC matters.

    I keep everything up to date and above board simply because I am very aware that it can happen.

    The £200m company wasn't mine (unfortunately, I was a board member but still a humble employee) this is where my savings came from that I am currently living off and funding my start-up (and again, of course this was taxable income - I would be happy if I could earn what I used to pay in tax lol).

    The main point is that as yet, I am unregistered for VAT (it's looming but I'm not there yet).  Regarding Tax in general, I haven't drawn a bean out but put plenty in - so hopefully this only becomes a problem when I start making money.

    Thank you for your insight, it is appreciated - I have a lot to learn about this industry and cannot believe how much has changed since my last venture.

    Regards, Mark

     

  12. Posted

    2 minutes ago, EPV said:

    See I think the opposite. Assuming I could  get a £25k personal loan (unlikely) then I am bound to pay back xyz a month, no matter if I have a great month or terrible month. 

    With an overdraft, I can as you say dip in and out and only pay for what I use. 

    I cant see a single reason why a bank would withdraw the facility unless I was defaulting in late payment fees etc. 

    Main alternative for me would be a personal credit card that I bought stock on and paid off each month. 

    I ran a business turning over between £12m-£15m (I was only an employee but the MD).  We had had an overdraft facility of £1m for 10 years or more - never reached the limit but operated within it.  As a consequence of the 2008 credit crunch, banks had to call in as much of their credit lines as possible and overdrafts are generally an easy target (i.e. as soon as there is a credit balance in your account, they can switch the facility off).  For example, if your bank has issued a record number of loans/credit cards/mortgages etc - they have to work on the fact that if everyone fully utilised their lines, there needs to be "enough" in the pot.  Whether you use you O/D or not, banks have to ensure they have your maximum amount available.  I recently had my O/D reduced from £1,000 to £400 (on my personal account) for this reason - I had never used it.

    In your case, credit card would be my preference.

  13. Posted

    4 minutes ago, EPV said:

    Well, whatever you think is best! It’s your business after all. March was good for me I turned my entire forecourt over and i’m expecting to do the same again in April. After that, i’ll possibly look to get a credit line going (overdraft most probably) and increase my forecourt size. 

    Hi EPV - I think we have a similar sized business at the moment (albeit you present your photos far better than me, something I am addressing).  If you want my simple advice (from past experience) do NOT use an overdraft - at any time the bank can call that in (they did it to me on a £1m facility and it hurts).  If you really want funding, which is clearly to give you flexibility to grow - get a personal loan of say £25k over 60 months - you can dip in and out of whenever you want and ultimately, one way or another it gets paid off - meaning you'll have "accidentally" expanded your investment pot and depending on how the business is doing, you could repeat.

     

  14. Posted

    See for me, a home trader - my expenses are seriously limited beyond what I already pay - arguably, a little more electricity and gas used.  Adverts on Fleabay cost me £15 pcpm, so that is not here or there and as far as depreciation is concerned, negligible over max 90 days on the age profile of the cars I stock.

    I find that if you wait long enough (within reason), someone will come along and buy the car if it is presented well and they like you.  Despite the "general" public, there are still a few which will pay a little extra for added value, quality and ease.  If someone wants to drive 400 miles to save £200 - go for it. If they want a car realistically priced, full MOT, freshly serviced, valeted and with a warranty - here's my details........:D

    Having said that, I had a terrible March, so I'm probably completely wrong and you can ignore all of the above :unsure:

  15. Posted

    It is so difficult to source good stock at sensible money, so with this in mind - I need to maximise my margin on the good stuff I have got rather than "give it away" only be to be back in the same place of sourcing stock to "give away."

    When it starts to get silly, i.e. I've had something for nearer 90 days, it's time to cut loose but If can see a good return and that takes 60 days, I'm a happy boy

    31 minutes ago, EPV said:

    I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong way. Personally I aim for a grand per unit and turnover in less than 40 days. If I doubled that turnover to 80 days i’d want to double the profit and i’d personally struggle to get £2k out of a £6k car. For me it’s easier to stock a quicker turning car with less margin than a longer turning car with more margin. 

    Whatever works, works. 

    Or double your stock and retain the same margin over extended period = same effect

  16. Posted

    That's what I hate about these hand car washes.  The last thing they do is dress the tyres and then you have to drive off immediately before the stuff has soaked in/dried.

    Other than that, they do an amazing job for the money.

     

  17. Posted

    Personally (and I am working on seriously fewer numbers) - stock churn should be 60 days.

    If you're turning roughly 50% of your stock every month, you are doing well and meeting my criteria - providing there aren't too many "stickers" in that mix.

  19. Posted

    11 hours ago, Mikey360 said:

    What's everyone's personal favourite? 

    I've used a few of the cheap ebay ones that link up to your phone, looking for a more professional one.

    Luckily, my partner workshop will do free diagnostics for me and they are 2 minutes away.  Maybe you could come to the same arrangement with yours?

  22. Posted

    Taking all this on board:

    1) HMRC have never investigated me in any capacity in the past, either as a trader or as an employed board execeutive turning £200m but I do appreciate your concerns/warnings.

    2) If HMRC investigated me right now, they would feel very sorry for me as my investment vs. sales is so heavily skewed in their favor.

    3) There is absolutely nothing untoward going on - I keep my books impeccably up to date and correct (easy when you have 6 cars, 1 workshop, 1 body shop and 3 vendors)

    4) I don't think how you fund the procurement of vehicles and remedial work has any bearing on HMRC, it is how you record the invoices in/out, VAT margin and PAYE that counts.

    5) I am not drawing any salary yet (living off savings) and have just incorporated, allowing deduction for directors loans/investment - after which I will be taking min. wage + dividend.

  23. Posted

    3 minutes ago, SC Derby said:

    True, looking back it was a right scratch around, chucked in what I had (not a lot), borrowed that max the bank would let me have and a small loan from a family member (paid back within a year).

    But it was a challenge and high risk I guess.

    And you're still here, so it worked - nice one - success favors the brave (or the insane)

     

  24. Posted

    Again, I don't have one because often you need to pay for the facility whether you utilise it or not - we as motor traders need flexibility to jump on something because a "good un" doesn't come around all that often.

    We don't (well I don't) have time to wait for the bank to process a credit application, so the CC's work for me as established credit lines.

  25. Posted

    2 minutes ago, met said:

    Quite interesting, what sort of credit limit is on a card these days?

    Depends, I don't have a company CC but I have about £70k limit on personal spread across about 7 cards ranging from £3,500 to £12,000 each.

    I never turn credit away and always use some to keep me in check.

    One of my closest mates is a multi-millionaire and has zero credit rating - he couldn't even get a store card at Debenhams - the reason, he has never had credit beyond his original mortgage.

    Credit should only be used for growth/expansion not luxuries - just my opinion