Contracts

Not our website but provided by the same people we source ours from as the websites are provided by a third party. The basic principle is we charge an arrangement fee for every contract we set up. This can vary but the norm is now only a couple of hundred (some are dragging it lower) so it is more about the volume. Over the years the competition in this market has increased as there are quite a few people running small brokerages from home not to mention most dealer groups forming leading divisions. The main thing is a good customer base as it is hard to pick up new customers due to the amount of competition when you are not selling anything unique. Many have seen a major increase in personal leasing however a large number of these customers do not have another contract come renew time, partly due to some finance companies undercutting by offering the rate direct or realising they have spent c.£7k and got nothing for it apart from an outstanding damage recharge invoice. As a company we are a little more advanced as we also buy our own vehicles to contract hire which gives us a little more control, we also arrange alternative finance on new and nearly new vehicles to suit the client.

They are out there on everything, I had one earlier on the year ask for £30k off a £250k Ferrari. Last week a colleague was dealing with a customer who thought he was clever putting our VW T6 into WeBuyAnyVan and telling us that is all he would pay....

Sadly agree with you, so many people want their 5 minutes of fame and do things like this in the hope they go viral.

We have tried the main three for our own cars but as mentioned unless you are putting in a good regular volume you get dumped in the dealer direct or fleet and finance section where buyers seem wary unlike the mainstream vendors. Ironically our cars are probably better than most fleet cars as we control the servicing which is bang on time using main dealers as well as only putting our cars out to long standing clients who look after them. If you have newer cars to get hold of companies like Adesa will remarket them for a flat rate but again we tend to find autotrade mail or our normal trade buyers the best way out.

As per Dave, repair it properly, surely it will cost you more to take it back and have to repair it before going again

Have got a white Cooper to pick up this week but girl in the office is having it for £3k SIV. 2007/57 one (now deceased) owner, Chili Pk and Pan Roof, Mini TLC history and 9,000 miles. Genuinely does not look like it has ever been driven. MOT just out and flat battery as it’s been parked up since June, what could go wrong!

We can’t open the door on anything unless it has a few options or is the M-Sport / S-Line but find Audi are easier to sell, especially on PCP. We had the pleasure of selling an M4 last week, had all the right bits HUD, H&K etc but boy did it attract knob heads. Must of had at least 5 telling us how older M3’s are appreciating in value so we were buying an investment. The rest were C63 drivers about £5k negative or dreamers. In the end went to a nice chap from Norfolk who chopped in a mint and loaded old 330i.

Not to sure about it going off but from memory some BMW kick the ABS and ESP warning on if the steering sensor is out following hitting a pot hole, or in a Cat D something bigger.

From memory any Polo made before the latest one (2017 onwards) had a BURY CC9068 kit rebranded to VW fitted to the dashboard. I am sure you could pick up a used one and get it fitted for under £150

Not seen one for a while but Multitronic failures were a case of when rather than if. Early signs of problems are sometimes the selector in the MFD flashes red, jolts into reverse and judders when pulling away. Shame it’s not a Quattro as they get the Tiptronic box which is very reliable. Also check the roof goes up and down, they have a common fault with the roof box which was £500 to sort.

Off topic - Have just set up a lease with a charity for a new Evoque, I know it’s a client but when they turn over is less than £100k pa a company car seems a stretch to far.

As above the trouble is who repaired it and how well was it done? Having said that there are plenty of non recorded cars out there that have suffered damage in excess of 40% PAV and been repaired on the cheap. No points for guessing the main way they end up in he trade.

Can’t you get someone over 21 to sit with you and supervise, you just need L plates.

Yes, trader with sites in NI and IRE, cars were cheapest retail in the country at that money and still had good profit in them.

After 8 weeks we just start reducing the price, put on ATM etc until it goes, sometimes leaves cars at WBAC money. One thing we do have are boomerang cars, have quite a few that we have sold more than 3 times but come back after a few years

Had a bit of a result on some cheap 16/65 Focus that we brought in, 4 identical Zetec 1.5 TDCi, all sub 50k, put one up cheap (£7495) yesterday morning, hour later, Irish chap on the phone, I will take the Focus, you got anything similar?.... 4 invoices sent, £4k transfered already with balance transfer when they collect.

Nobody really has the answer, in our side of the industry many clients are locked into 2-4 year deals so they have no concern about residual values but when the come to renew it could be a different thing. It might also lease the big funders taking hits on all returns. Over the past few years we have seen an increase in personal contract hire but people who got cheap cars a couple of years back are now looking to replace their cars and prices are higher, partly due to poor supply on some brands from WLTP and residue predictions are lower. The high end of the market in my opinion is stagnating and a few are taking some big lumps off retail stock, and not just seasonal adjustment, look at 991 GT, Ferrari 488. As for the general market, sub 10k is already competitive and will probably get more so if the economy shrinks as Doris won’t trade in her 3 year old Yaris etc so less decent stock. Another small factor is certain models will go for export if there is a collapse of the pound, A4, Avensis diesel etc to Ireland, Higher end to Malaysia but I guess this will depend on trade deals.

Having seen used car marketing portals come and go I think you will need a large amount of capital funding to get anywhere when the likes of CarWow have reputedly had at least £40m funding and many people have still not heard of them despite pushing nearly new manufacturers approved cars as well as the new investment and changes being made to Motors.co.uk We finance quite a few new cars for clients and it is quite common for them to find them on manufacturers own websites rather than Autotrader so these buyers are already loyal to a brand, or at least know what they want. As for pricing, most dealers with sub 30 cars probably pay similar to private buyers but get use of an advertising portal. Whilst on portals, providers like Spidernet etc allow dealers to upload a car across multiple portals as keeping content up to date is time consuming. Good luck with your proposal however I am afraid I am not your target market as we only have a couple of cars under £10k

£752 + VAT.... for a key! Am going to stand on but I was expecting the normal £300 + VAT. Apparently 2017 onwards JLR need a new key control module when you code in a new key. Expensive lesson learnt.

So how much do you think I was quoted today for a replacement key on a year old Jaguar F-Pace?

Can’t beat bad luck, from your double posts it looks like you have been done twice, most would learn after the first time. In answer to your question, if the garage has a policy that covers using cars as courtesy cars it will get resolved as the CPS will not see it in the public interest to prosecute. As you say, the car is not on the MID hence an ANPR alert and a roadside pull.

A new 3 series M-Sport steering wheel from BMW is close to £2k fitted. Had to change 2 this year on new cars due to the NCO SE/Sport wheel being selected on the builds.

Likewise, this week has not really happened with moving used stuff, lots of quoting on the new ones but actual closed client numbers are down. Have put a few bits on Trade Mail, little interest apart from a couple of Avensis D4D’s that are now off to Ireland.

2005 Audi A3 Petrol

Probably not made that clear, book (you can buy them from e-bay pre stamped with the garage of your choice) was 8k, 16k, 24k, 32k, 40k etc Doubt the car had actually been serviced for real since it was clocked in 2014.