Mark101

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Posts posted by Mark101

  1. Posted

    1 hour ago, tradex said:

    When ever we buy online we get our fingers burnt, no substitute for touchy feely buying. We also had a car raped before collection at Tewkesbury, which I think is now closed? 

    As for the appraisals, I honestly think their guys wouldn't know the difference between a Zanussi, a De Longhi and Lamborghini.

    That’s easy - Lamborghini has a 9000 rpm spin cycle - dries your towels really well.

    yes Tewkesbury is closed as is Castle Bromwich which are the two I used to use, together with Telford Motor Auctions (now Wilson’s) - I do like Telford, there is no arrogance at all there but they just don’t get enough suitable through for me, lots of real cheapies though and some seem to buy 10-20 every week and probably flip them for a couple of quid.

  2. Posted

    3 hours ago, trade vet said:

    Hi Mark

    We buy lateish fleet stuff and have found on line auction buying to be the best thing that has happened in the last 15 years.Once you get to know the differing BCA site grading,you can buy with confidence.If you put in the time and research and target say 50 per day at various auctions around the country,you will probably buy 2 and one of them you might nick.You need to have a reasonable and reliable transport company to lift them,but we have always found that the bonus cars always exceed by far the disappointing ones.......What stuff will you be selling

    Hi trade vet

    in honesty, I’m too green to define what sells and doesn’t (I’ve been out for 12 years) but I am working on units around the £4K trade, retailing between £5-6k with probably one hi-roller £50k because the markings (if you get it right), seem more in line with the margins I made all that time ago. 

    I only have 4 units in stock at the moment but I’m trying to ramp up and quickly - but NOT at any price.

    I am still in awe of how frank you are all being, it is so helpful for me - so thanks again

  3. Posted

    I can see their logic but if they bothered to really analyse data, it would tell a different story.  

    Yes, many classic car enthusiasts loves and spends more time maintaining and polishing their pride and joy than they do driving the thing, howver - they are not all £200k E-Type owners.

    I reckon we all know where we will find 40 year old Land Rovers and the like being driven around with bits falling off - right next to the family Vauxhall.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    2 hours ago, Matt Reid said:

    Physical will always give you a better opinion of the car. Ive seen appraisals which make it look like it need a full respray when its a few light scuffs and scratches which just need a bit of tlc. Ive also kicked back a car which was assured (although it was a physical auction i didnt hear the engine noise till i went to fetch it in the car park). I think with BCA you also pay extra for buying online? ( I am ready to be corrected on this, I'm not a BCA customer). 

    It also depends on what youre buying. I would guess the newer, Higher value stuff is a safer online bet than 10 year old car group stock. Its down to you as to whats more important, and what else would you be doing with those 3 hours? We have all experienced the frustration of wasting time going to an auction and getting nothing but it pales into insignificance when you compare it to the time it takes to kick one back or fix a problem you would have identified if you were there.

    £40 extra to buy online - money I could spend on my dealers breakfast!

    Thanks for your comments both

  6. Posted

    Price is NOT the only thing - timings are crucial but we can't always predict that (apart from 4x4 coming into winter and cabs coming into summer).

    You need the cars prepped right, pictured right, good advert without grammatical errors and wait for that one person. MGM makes a casing example!

  8. Posted

    13 hours ago, nedtom said:

    Hi All,

    I'm 35 & currently working full time, but I hate my job, for many reasons, but mostly as there is no prospect to move up the ladder and earn a proper salary where I am now. 

    I've previously worked as a new car sales exec for franchised dealers and have 2.5yrs under my belt. Not the most experience ever but a good grounding I feel.

    My gut feeling is to go into the £8k-12k market and deal in semi premium models; VAG, VOLVO, BMW, Lexus. Going for that market could yield serious buyers, with a good margin in the cars. If I was able to make £1k per unit profit, 2 cars a month would see me earning more than I do now.

    I've seen lots of posts on here warning against trading (cheapies) from home, as the buyers can be quite troublesome at times, as can the cars; but I've good off road parking space(room for 3 cars easily) and in this marketplace if I buy right I think it could be happier days than with cheaper cars. I know a mechanic very well who would charge me £20 p/h for any remedial mechanical works, but i don't have a body shop to go to. 

    My issues mainly revolve around actually getting the cars to sell in the first place. Having been looking at some auction sites (actual car auctions not ebay), and checking the reserve prices against private cars on autotrader, the reserves are the same price. So how do any of you make any money buying so high from the block?

    Other issues are getting trade plates, insurance and warranty cover; and actually getting into the car auctions in the first place.

    If there are any experienced traders who can offer me any advice on this I'd be much obliged, if I'm p!ssed aiming at that market/margin I'll not take it personally & would rather an experienced head told me straight than jump into the unknown and lose ten grand on a donkey of an idea.

    Many thanks,

    Neil.

     

    Hi Neil

    Obviously the higher the car value the higher the margin but also the risks.  Rather than aim for £1k per car, work out a margin to work to (it's how I operate). (Take your value and divide by 0.8)

    IMO - £1k out of a £10k car is not enough. You should be aiming at 20% margin from £5k and above - this is my opinion and I am sure someone will hammer me for saying this.

    Yours costs will be:

    Hammer Price + Indemnity + Assured + PDI + Service + MOT? + Warranty + VAT Margin + Transport + Fixed Overheads and only then + Your Margin.

    This will inevitably put your car above the cost above the cheapest on other websites.  My advice, don't try and be the cheapest - prep right and use your skills to sell.  A sensible buyer, the type we all like to deal with, will not mind paying a little more for the right car and they will buy from you. 

    The only way to sell cars cheaply is to buy cheaply, often meaning lower quality, higher miles and less prep = more screamers - that's not where I want to be, especially as a home trader myself.

    Sell fewer, sell smart - that way, you will not be a busy fool.

    Also, I think anything much north of £5k and you need to be thinking about finance and/or card payments - perhaps another issue trading from home.  

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    For the first time yesterday, I used BCA Online and I wanted to ask what you guys prefer (I predict the answer to be, prefer not to buy at auction but many of us do, so here goes)

    After spending many days, trying to buy stock at the right money at various physical auctions - often walking away empty handed (but a full belly, love auction cafe), I thought I would try BCA Online on the basis that I am warm and dry and can drop in and out as my watched vehicles come along, it also has all the information at my fingertips rather than rifling through a catalogue propped on my knee whilst holding a coffee in the other hand and a pen in my teeth.

    Yesterday, I had several online bids but was seriously outbid on 27 cars, most making close to retail money.  Was I dissapointed? No - because at least I hadn't spent three of four hours hanging around in the cold, breathing in some carbons then only to sit in traffic travelling to and from to no avail and burning the ozone. 

    So, the question (for those who use auctions:

    Physical or Online please and can you trust the mechanical/damage reports as I will only bid on assured vehicles online.

    Regards, Mark

  11. Posted

    6 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

    Mark welcome. If you can trade from home with up to 12 in stock and without hardly any overheads you should make a jolly good living.  

    Do your best to keep your neighbours on your side, don’t take up anyone’s parking spaces, don’t get cars delivered to your home, be very discreet. I would also befriend a local garage, give them all your mechanical work and once “trusted” ask if it’s ok to meet your punters there. Because as soon as your neighbours within your area “gets wind” that you are using your home for Motor Trading there will be complaint letters to the council, jealousy and a genuine hatred towards you. Be warned, I know this from years of experience. 

    Other than that, its hard work but very rewarding. 

    I wish you the very best of luck.

    Thank you for your kind words and I have to admit, the neighbour situation is my biggest fear, although nothing has been said as yet, I struggle to get the feeling out of my head.

    I should be delighted when someone wants to view a car but instead, I just worry how it looks to have a neighbourhood stranger crawling under cars, reving the engine etc.  This is one of two drawbacks over running a pitch.

    I do have quite a lot of land to the side of my property and with some adaptations, that would shield the business completely from the neighbours but again that is costly and not fool proof.

    I like your advice about the local garage venue though, thanks for that top tip.  How do you other home traders manage the situation?

    Thanks again and what a nice warm welcome I have received.

     

  14. Posted

    I plan on paying myself a car allowance and renting one from myself to cover this issue - funnily enough, the allowance is very similar to the rental!

    Seriously though, if you tax a car properly whilst the V5 is in the last keepers name, will they not receive any refund instead of you?

  15. Posted

    1 hour ago, trade vet said:

    Exactly...I would always get excited about a newly arrived swapper with fuel in,it could be anything,but I would still it use for a day or two.....How many times have I said....’we are hear to sell cars,not fall in love with them’.

    Couldn't agree more trade vet and when I was 18 (I am 44 now) I was guilty of buying cars that A) I liked personally and B)) cars that I could run on my trade policy when none of my mates could insure a plastic pig for less than a years wage.

    Nowadays, I just like every car - my daily driver is a Q7 but I've just picked up one of my two retail Coopers from the garage (I do well with them before I get slammed) and that's a real hoot too, as was the Fiat 500 I swapped over for MOT.

    The only issue now is TAX - I used to use whatever had some remaining rent before cashing in a complete months but of course now, nothing is taxed (apart from the Q7).  I am waiting on my trade plates arriving, so have winged it since I properly set up a couple of weeks back.  I find the police say they don't have the resources to patrol like they used to but I bet you a tenner I get pulled!

     

     

  16. Posted

    I had a pitch and workshop (approx 30 cars, ranging from £1500 runarounds to £7,500 cars) for about 4 years (not that long I know) and I never, ever stopped enjoying the industry, the cars or my customers and always looked forward to work - I packed in because the overheads which I admit I jumped in to too quickly crippled me during a long and very quiet sales period in around 2005.  When I worked alone, I made some great margins, trading from a £100 per wk open pitch and a portacabin office.  My immaturity and naivety led me to believe I could take on a large 3000 sq ft workshop/bodyshop and staff it as I was selling cars so frequently and at very healthy margins - I hadn't experienced any "hard times" until then, believing that this is how things would always be.  Lessons learned and now I am happy trading up to a dozen cars from home at any time all by myself and outsourcing as much as I can.  Will I make as much money as I did as a recent employee, probably not - am I happier, 100%.

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    Regardless of how recently any car I purchase (through whatever source) has been serviced, I always send every single one to my local garage for PDI and at the bare minimum an oil service.  I pay £30 for PDI (that's what I offered, I am sure he would do it for nothing because I have cars with him all the time) and about £45 for oil and filter (plus the all important stamp).  I think the £100 ish is a worthwhile investment but my cars are never the cheapest (and they never were when I traded years ago either.

  19. Posted

    Hello All

    I have been reading various posts on this forum and I have to say how great it is that you all share your success and failures so openly, it really helps us Newbies (or maybe not so new) regarding the pitfalls, where to advertise nowadays and source stock (although no-one seems to know that right now).  So I decided to register and join in the chat and perhaps I may be able to contribute some assistance as well as receive some from time to time.

    I originally started buying and selling cars when I was 18 for a while, more of a hobby alongside my first job until I started to find better jobs which then took over.  Having said that in the early noughties, I started again on a serious level – opening a pitch initially and started making some serious cash before I invested in the workshop and the staff from next door, at which point it went a little pear shaped and I got out.

    Since then I have been out of the motor trade, working in senior level corporate companies at board level for some 12 years or so, that was until July last year, when I just decided this wasn’t for me anymore and have since been taking some time to consider what I want to do next.

    Anyway; long story short, I am a mad petrol head, I know many people describe themselves as such but I am the real deal.  So after about 8 months of being messed around by my new pet hate (recruitment consultants), I decided to give it another bash and before I hit the VAT threshold (it comes all too quickly), thought I would fill my boots and buy a few motors to sell.  Learning from experience, this time it will be me, no staff, just a friendly and well respected local garage whom will perform any workshop tasks and trading from home where I have enough space to trade comfortably, whilst trying not to cheese off my neighbours.

    Sorry for the long intro but just wanted to give you an insight rather than bombard people with questions from the off. 

    All my best, Mark