Andy Entwistle

Thats not crazy, thats good service and a way of giving you guys an edge. I remember when the big car supermarkets first opened in London back in the early nineties, they were open till 10pm. I remember many an evening around White City plowing the depths of their stock.. I'm not sure their service or the state of the stock complimented the late opening, but it was always full of punters. !

We've set up this years Facebook page now, get sharing your cars and what you're all doing to them. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bangers-for-Ben-The-Italian-Job/1445168752437059?skip_nax_wizard=true&ref_type=bookmark

Agreed... I just got back from taking our trading up Clean at the local handwash. Manned mostly be eastern Eurpoeans ( though interestingly for the first time there was a bit there today). However the work these guys put in to cleaning the car is amazing. There must have been 4 or 5 of them on the car for at least 6 - 10 mins. All that for £5.... Even with a £3 tip ( all my change) when you work out the hourly rate it just shows what they are prepared to do to earn... Sadly, our younger class of unemployed could learn a thing or two... but we know they won't

You would think wouldn't you. I would never turn down a lead, you don;t know where it could end up. But it seems that these days they don;t need to work hard... And don't start me on other industries. I've been trying to get some windows made up for my place for months, no one wants to follow through on a quote !

Is it just me, or has the newfound confidence in our economy caught a lot of people out? I can't seem to get any decent service out of a whole range of companies, I'm trying to get a set of wheels refurbed and despite sending out enquiries am getting no replies. A normally reliable garage has had a car for 4 weeks and one of their suppliers has still not got them the correct part.... and try getting and A/C specialist in... It seems that a lot of the support areas are either too busy to respond or can;t be bothered. Anyone else seeing this ?

Here is the latest update from DVLA.. not sure its any clearer. hopefully our interview with them will help www.gov.uk/government/news/vehicle-tax-changes

I don't know, according to this you can still tax a car with a V5C, exactly how that works isn;t clear yet... watch this space...

Or buy that Lovely PT cruiser you've always wanted.....

Just thought i'd bump this, We've now moved on the latest one and the jag looks hopeful to go. I had been promised an A4 cab cheap, but the dealer has gone suspiciously quiet. Going to have a couple of thousand or so to spend ( up to £3k max). If anyone has ant part ex's that they can't retail and wants to push them our way for our charity feature drop me a line on here or email me Andy@blackballmedia.co.uk Cheers All ( PS - incase you didn't read the mag, Jim's Rav4 did us proud - thank Jim)

Sadly my friendly bodyshop guy is retiring soon ( and my mechanic - how bad timing is that !) We have an A6 Allroad that looks the part except from some awful wheels, the 3 piece units are a pig to clean and as a result the inside has corroded. Can anyone recommend a good refurb company, we don't; want to spend a fortune on these, but enough to make them look decent, south based or mobile ideally, but will travel for a good deal !

We may be able to get Paul harrison from the FLA to lend a hand with some advice on this subject if the trade still feels its confusing enough?

When you drive million pound super cars and your every day smoker is a Range Rover, do you really have any right to comment on entry level cars like this?

I'd like to know if you can tax a car without it being registered to you. At present you can tax with a V5C, however if you want to tax online, you have to actually be the registered keeper. How will this work?

Sounds interesting..... i think i can guess, but won;t give away your secret ( check out what Nissan did 4 years ago though and then ask me what happened !)

The gentleman trader is a rare thing these days, its refreshing that you have found one. But i think 1 in 4 is about right... People used to trade on reputation, but i think these days they just want a quick £££. Do you use the feedback systems on the trade sites ?

Hi James Welcome to the forum Have you checked out the suppliers guide and some of the suppliers in the Mag, sounds like you need a sub prime lender, we have a few partners who should be able to help in this instance. if you've already tried these guys, the only thing i can suggest are the specialist lenders who use immobilisers on the car to help them retain their security. These guys tend to be more flexible in their underwriting, but the upfront costs can be high as they have to get this keypad immobiliser fitted Andy

Trade to trade isn't covered, these regs are for consumer sales. I don't think Auctions sell online to consumers at present ( i may be wrong, but haven't seen it). If they do, then they will be covered by these regs too !

We've got a good balance from dealers and suppliers. All the usual suspects are there plus a few new names. The Sun already have both ether cars apparently.. The more important question is, who is driving what AND what are your going to be dressing up as ! :-)

I think Lawgistics update on this made a lot of people at the conference realise the impact. There was a lot of chat about this over coffee afterwards !

We have nearly 20 cars signed up already, plus the 2 from us at Car Dealer.... There is a lot of interest and if everyone who is currently trying to get it all signed off follows through it will be fully booked very quickly ! This year should be the best yet, two words... "Stelvio Pass"

I know this is cheating, but the new Citroen DS3 convertible is a 5 seater. Well, its officially a 5 seater, but less so a convertible..... and of course, the 3 in the back will need to be either very thin or very close ! :-) The jeep wrangler came with 5 seat belts too, i seem to recall that the old PT cruiser convertible had 5 seats too, but then you would have to find 4 more people willing to be seen in one.. None of the standard crop are 5 seaters though ! Great Question !

Trade plates will be even more important once the changes come. Once a car is sold to a trader, the tax is in effect cancelled, so everything you buy will be untaxed, therefore trade plates will be needed for everything you move around !

Hi WD1. I hope you checked with Mr Brewer before nicking his name !

The biggest challenge behind selling any commercials is the sheer number of different variations and floor plans. Small Car derived or transits are bread and butter, but beyond there the specialists make their money by knowing how to value a specific variant ! A good friend tried to start T2T vans, but jet got the numbers all wrong on the specialist stuff

Look through the classifieds and tell me the difference in price point between trade and retail sales. It used to be that a private sale was cheaper because you got no support and come back etc.. however these days private sellers just look at what dealers are offering and ask the same. This can only be a good thing for trade sales surely?