Mark101

That was my point, if I can get to a dozen vehicles with say 2 of those at any one time going through prep, I would be happy. Sourcing, collecting and prepping to ramp up is my frustration. I like dealing with the garages and working on the added value, it is just getting over the hump and having enough ready to roll retail stock. The only other time this should happen is if I have an exceptional run of sales - that's a problem I can live with.

I am not ready for that stuff - I’m still worrying about engines and boxes working properly, let alone a set of batts to worry about as well - especially regarding who actually owns them.

Being a re starter or new venture. I am finding if it is not hard enough to buy stock, waiting for prep is driving me mad. I have only amassed 6 cars so far and two of those are no advertised yet and I need them on (partly because I’m so keen to get cracking and partly because they are either costing me money or not earning me money). The two BMW’s I bought - one with BCA having a speed sensor fixed and they are not pushing BMW very hard (have agreed to deliver it to me FoC) the other is at the body shop for rear bumper scruff and trolley dinks in the drivers door. My other 4 are 99% just need a wash but otherwise good to go - so I am left waiting. cant wait to be stocked up and just replacing stock in ones and twos, building momentum. hands are tied

I think you’re agreeing with me tradex Remember, only bad news makes interesting news and it is disproportionate to all the good stuff that happens every second, every minute, every hour, every day year in year out.

I will not be using my trade plates - the consequences more than outweigh any “savings” Happy to pay tax and not that bothered about adding a keeper to the log book (on an older stock car). I just hate being without a V5 because sods law tells me (from experience) that the minute you release your finger on the mouse to register - a punter comes along to buy the car!

It doesn’t matter who, what, when etc - there is always a horror story behind every deal - I bet anyone, there have been more negative cases regarding cash payments (counterfeit), convenient burglary shortly after transaction etc. Card payments have always given protection to individuals, which is why I try and pay for anything through this method. Apart from your example, I can only find benefits to us as dealers - as rather than be solely liable, we now have joint liability. I am also not sure whether (despite doing so) they actually can withdraw funds. I wonder if the funds were actually still sitting in the holding account - in other words, hadn’t been deposited into a current account? I am considering a PAYG device, just because I don’t want to lose any sale but CHAPS (or instant bank transfer) is always my preferred option - no cash risks and no card transaction fees. each to their own I guess.

I try not to take any cash at all - it’s just another job for me to go to town, find a parking space and queue in the bank - Direct Bank transfer or CHAPS for me until I decide about a chip n pin device but cash is my least favourite - that’s for beer tokens only

Thanks HKQAC Are you sure (only because I was told it was hammer price and that's how I've always done things when had pitch 12 years ago) about buyers fees? Sorry for doubting you but I want to get my ducks in a row before I incorporate another business and register for VAT at the same time. Cheers, Mark

The car is already on MID, I just tell them that it is for my use (online)

Thanks EPV - great

Usual Options: Do you have reminder, yes/no Do you have a V5 in your name yes/no Do you have a new keeper supplement yes/no (if I use this, will it not register me as the keeper?)

I need to run one of my stock cars for a shortish while (couple of months) Back in the day, I would pick a car with some remaining rent but of course, all gone now. Do I need to (Probably a yes but is there another way) register the car in my name (adding a keeper) or can I just tax using the existing V5? Thanks

Thanks Andy- I shall take a look. Still better than losing a sale and I have looked at the article referred to herein and I don't see an issue with section 75, am I missing something. My understanding is as car retailers, we are liable under the Consumer Goods Act for a period of time and Section 75 means the Lender becomes Jointly liable - surely this is a ggod thing, what am I failing to understand?

Good to know - funnily enough, I'm just watching you videos on YouTube. The round of applause makes me smile every time I hear it - good concept by the way Rumbled.....................

I would be - he's sold 13 cars

Back in the day, I was one of the first people to receive a chip and pin card reader at my garage. All my fellow traders thought I was mad but it transformed my sale conversions and now they all do it. The idea was driven out of how many times I had heard "I'm just popping to the cash point to get a deposit" never to be seen again - I never knew whether they had no intention of completing or whether they walked passed the many other forecourts en route to the bank and spotted something more to their liking. At least this way, I knew whether they were serious or not because I could be the "cash point." It also meant that I didn't have to discount so much because people are generally less conscious about the money when it is not "real" I always charged 2.5% extra for credit cards but didn't know I was breaking the law. Wish I had one now but trading from home doesn't make it easy - I think you can use a third party like PayPal but haven't investigated fully.

Good to know - funnily enough, I'm just watching you videos on YouTube. The round of applause makes me smile every time I hear it - good concept by the way

There's always one bad news story. Generally speaking, are they not good news? To be fair, the ones I owned were only driven by myself and at most one other and serviced on the button - go like stink too.

I haven't taken a risk yet - I set my filter to up to 100k but I get tempted when I see a nice E Class Estate (V6 diesel) - I have had three and know that motor is bomb proof having owned from new (or nearly new) and racking up 100k trouble free miles (serviced by main dealer at correct intervals). After Make and Model, in what order do people filter? I think: Price (set the max) hate saying it but must be true Mileage Model Variant Colour (not always) and lastly, service history, number of owners etc.

Mine drives much nicer cars than me - she works for Listers and never has a car older than 6 months - usually something from JLR or BMW Incidentally, that's how we met - I bough 8 cars from them (for personal use) in 12 months - so much so, I got invited to their office party where we met! Sweet!

I think that is a consequence of "hard-times" and them having deep pockets - my last three have been UKCG Premium cars, so I am thinking of setting up a new website: Ibuyanywebuyanycar.com They have all been Assured cars but I wouldn't go near the UKCG Trade section - wow, almost as bad as Multi-Vendor

Cheap Ek - nice one! decent margins (don't need to say) but inline with low mileage?

We all talk about choosing who we sell to and my opinion of Car Supermarkets is that they attract sub-prime buyers looking to finance their £5k car over 25 years at 3000% APR. Swarmed over my hundreds of 18 year old Sales Executives? I have looked around them and every car I have seen looks rough, all with badly re-painted bonnets and over siliconed dash boards - just how I have found them anyway, maybe yours is different. I will never compete on price (or be able to) with the big boys.

How has that happened? I never said that I just think (based on how many I see on the road) that they are a cool fun car and appeals to younger drivers but NOT boy racers - they are not fast and I've never seen any modified ones (save for some awful graphic decals people put all over them). I thought it looked bright and all the others on the day (about 5 before mine) went for nearer £5k and I thought it was too good to be true - I didn't even check against CAP until after the sale when I was pleased to be under (only because the others were so far over). I wouldn't normally aim so low on margin BUT... Longish story but in a nutshell; I had done a deal with BCA to leapfrog onto Gold to steer me away from Wilsons/Private buying and the like. Commit to buy 3 cars within a month and I get Gold card - fail and I go back to Blue (and I can't buy anything on Blue). Knowing how difficult it is to buy stock, I saw this and thought there'd be some margin (not much) and will start as my 1 of 3 (I have since secured by other 2, so remain on Gold)

What's you opinion on high milers? I personally have no problem with big mileage cars if I was buying for myself - I'd sooner have a motorway car that has run at a constant RPM for much of its 100,000+ miles over a 30,000 mile town car but in my experience people cannot get the 100k barrier out of their minds. I can sell the benefits of high mileage with good service but only if people pick up the phone and ask. I only have one car with >100k (my Q7) which is taxed and my daily smoke but also for sale. Cars have changed and the taxi driver yesterday was boasting how one of his cars had 700k on the clock and another with 500k on the clock (oil change every 5k) Do you do well with big mileage or steer clear? I think its less of a problem on a big German car but I am not sure how well I would do with other Euro cars.