Mark101

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.

Looks great! I particularly like your second pic which is a text detailing the car. AT doesn't provide anywhere to write a nice blurb and you've done that well. Being Internet based, do you trade from home or do you have a unit somewhere?

Obviously, I am not VAT registered yet, so although I have made provision for VAT margin, there would be some £'s to come off the cost of sales (which show my costs inc. VAT). CAP Cln was £4350 on auction day and all the others had gone approx. 10% over CAP Cln

Thanks EPV again - I will do that next time. It is very close to the valeters, so I like to get my pics quickly before it gets too dirty,

PMSL Thank you EPV - I want constructive critisism and you're completely right - here's my rationale for the pic. Spot on, it is a nature reserve/circular walking route that I have done 14 miles around with my dog, in my quest to stop being a very Fat B4574RD and just become a Fat B4574RD. Trouble is, all of my other cars were pictured in that exact same spot (rather than with my home in the background) and I was trying to keep things uniform (it hadn't been raining the other days) and again, you're right - it is 500 notes too rich because I had built in contingency during prep - once it gets back from the workshop, I will evaluate what I can really live with and the likelihood is £5,495. I did pay strong money for the car, so it isn't greed but I really refuse to give stuff away especially when buying stock is so difficult and all that time is a hidden cost many don't factor. I might also reduce the warranty allowance and offer an "upgrade" instead of chipping or as a way to achieve incremental margin. By the way, you will never offend me, so please continue to be frank. Thanks again for taking the time to reply

Clearly, this is one of this forums favourite subjects - AT (sorry). When I key in the VRM and mileage, I get a rough guide price. Is that based on everything currently advertised with AT or CAP or Glass's or whole of Market and how realistic would you say it is? My cars are all advertised above the AT valuation, why do I do that? All get PDI, Full MOT (even if there is 10 months left), valet, warranty, service (irrespective of when it was last done) and any paint defects addressed and although not VAT registered yet, I am still factoring my VAT margin because I do not want to get used to being able to "pocket" and extra few hundred quid in a deal for when it inevitably is forced upon me - This doesn't come cheaply. I trade from home and rather than have swarms of people picking over one because it is cheap, I want 1 person (hopefully the first) to appreciate the extra value that few hundred quid buys you and walk away happy. Having said that, even when I had the pitch, I would rarely be allowed a chip beyond £100 or so because I knew that the right person would be along eventually. One example (my only one on AT at the moment) https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201803184688829?logcode=visc&fromSA=true

Me too but the BMW dealer is literally a coupld of miles down the road and for a sensor, it'll be buttons with BCA buying power - me it'd cost £thousands which is why I was happy to take the deal rather than kick up a fuss.

That's true! I did have a preview before the auction as I live within half an hour or so and I saw the Mini (same colour, same age) and thought some poor sod has bought that completely unaware that it is absolutely hanging. That one (above) looks well though

TFFT! The one in Wolverhampton looked lovely - opened the door and wow, smell of a 60 a dayer nearly knocked me out.

Fair play to BCA - Online win 1 - damage not recorded on Appraisal (although I had seen it) - discount £250 agreed over returning vehicle. Online win 2 - beautiful and came with full BMW history, top of the range Parrot media system and then - traction control fault upon collection. I returned immedaitely to BCA whom have since booked in to BMW main dealer for repair. If they cannot fix or it is uneconomical to fix (i.e. more than a speed sensor according to diagnostic AA patrol on site), they will cancel the sale - although I hope it gets fixed as it's a minter otherwise. Last weeks Physical buy - Fiat 500 (with Assured) has since developed a bearing fault on the gearbox, unfortunately diagnosed outside of the 48 hr Assured timescale. On the whole, I was treated fairly I think and I am pleased with the manner in which BCA treated me. Only inconvenience was paying for a taxi there and back and then again tomorrow presuming the fault gets fixed.

Popped my "Online" cherry today - I do mean at BCA! Having listened to all your opinions, one in particular - I went and viewed all my watched lots prior to bidding online (not quite as good as hearing the things run but with assured and a preview, surely going some way to damage limitation) - discounting 3 of 15 as scrap and coming away with about 12 viable options. I then came back to the home office, made a coffee and read this forum in between lots before bidding and winning. I won two lots and will collect tomorrow - where I will probably get buyers remorse and want to turn the clock back - 2 BM's one cab, one hatch both reasonable mileage 60k ish and apart from a small scuff on the cabs bumper, look almost retail ready (obviously subject to PDI & Prep - fingers crossed). Hatch £200 over book, Cab £500 below book.

Thank you All for your help and encouragement - very much appreciated,

Weren't in Wolverhampton BCA today were you? Can't recall the reg (or year for that matter) but I saw A JCW conversion there today.

Great, thank you both. I get the credibility standpoint but I presumed (listening to all the AT complaints regarding cost) that it would be hugely expensive. Please can you give me an idea of expected set up and ongoing costs please, so I know if someone tries to "have me over." Thanks Guys

Obviously, I am now back in this game after 12 years out and starting to gear up. Please can you tell me what you recommend in terms of website and the associated costs. As I am a home trader, I will only have a maximum of 12 cars at any one time, so I am wondering whether it is worth the investment as I advertise of Ebay and AT and that surely gives me better coverage than my own "little" site - is that enough? I have looked at some of your sites and they look fab but you have many more cars than I do/will have. I just know if I make an enquiry with one of the many providers, I will be bombarded with rep calls every minute and I am not sure if it is worth having my own site (or at least not yet). Thank you in advance. Mark

Obviously, I am now back in this game after 12 years out and starting to gear up. Please can you tell me what you recommend in terms of website and the associated costs. As I am a home trader, I will only have a maximum of 12 cars at any one time, so I am wondering whether it is worth the investment as I advertise of Ebay and AT and that surely gives me better coverage than my own "little" site - is that enough? I have looked at some of your sites and they look fab but you have many more cars than I do/will have. I just know if I make an enquiry with one of the many providers, I will be bombarded with rep calls every minute and I am not sure if it is worth having my own site (or at least not yet). Thank you in advance. Mark

Just show final price - what value is there in showing the screen price? We don't work for Currys