CCC

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Posts posted by CCC

  1. Posted

    Charges are exorbitant and you need to be registered with American Express to do it. Most customers are used to be turned down for those reasons (hence asking) and will have an alternative card they can use.

    They will want to use Amex for the Air Miles or Cashback which are very generous thanks to the exorbitant fees

  3. Posted

    On 3/7/2021 at 12:38 PM, petrol head said:

    My wife’s family had a JLR business, gave up 2.5 years ago as the level of investment they wanted would never have given any ROI. The dealer they replaced them with has got away with spending around a 1/4 of what they wanted us to spend. I was brought in to kind of mediate, but JLR were not for bending and couldn’t get their heads around the costs. There is more to this, but I won’t bore you here. 
     

    Back to the XE the warranty claims were much higher than any other model, really poor quality. 

    Our local LR dealer was forced to move from a great location and biggish place to a massive glass goldfish bowl in a large of town you rarely go to. All due to JLR requirements. Given the internet was already putting the writing on the wall that felt a stupid move at the time, now it seems insane. I worry JLR are in bigger trouble than they let on too. Massively unreliable and technology changing fast, and against big lumpy cars.

  4. Posted

    On 2/18/2021 at 9:59 AM, David Horgan said:

    Two Finance companies will indeed provide stock funding at 2% , BUT they want reciprocal finance business to an horrendous level . This is why some car supermarkets insist cars are sold on finance to customers , If the trader falls short of selling finance then the 2% becomes nearer 8% and higher , Pure con selling . 

      

    That’s the business model. Dealer just a middle man (who does the hard work) between finance company and asset in reality? 

    my belief was that if you owe money to someone you’re working for them, not yourself.

    Though right now the economy is built on high levels of debt so the governments are now having to do a lot of intervention to keep the house of cards up.

  6. Posted

    On 2/14/2021 at 7:27 AM, Frank Cannon said:

    Never had a stocking loan but are BCA still throwing money at dealers like no tomorrow? 

    From what I see the stocking loan boys and BCA have a nice business model.

    Lend people money to buy an asset which they sell in your behalf to a) create a demand for consumer finance b) create a demand for auction cars

    The problem comes when the economy takes a down turn and the finance houses want their money back, not stuck in depreciating cars anchored to forecourts. 
     

    As people I know found out in the 2008 recession, owe the bank a little and you’ve got a problem, owe them a lot and the bank has a problem. I guess most dealers fit in the former.

    Cazoo sits in the latter but that’s a different model, everyone piles in (money is cheap and many private individuals, pension Co’s et. are also now giving the PE boys money as they search for yield) they build it, then float it and every investor gets his money back with a nice premium, leaving those who bought shares in the floated PLC to take the hit when it becomes apparent that profits won’t match forecasts.

     
    Slow and steady with your own cash means you can sleep at night.

    • Like 1

  8. Posted · Edited by CCC

    I’ve got an X5, arguably too big now the kids have left home, but useful for chucking wheels and parts in, and worth more to me than I’d get for it. I’d recommend getting the auto box flushed around 75k miles. 
     

    Downside is that’s it a real pain to park due to its width so getting kids in and out maybe hard in many car parks.

    we had an FRV as the family hack when the kids were young. Not exciting but the most practical (and reliable) car we’ve ever owned. Barely a penny other than routine servicing in 140knmiked and 12 years

  10. Posted

    On 10/16/2020 at 11:33 AM, trade vet said:

    AT pay per click ? I would like to read the small print in that contract.Someone I know has just leased offices to an IT company staffed by young people who specialise in setting up Pay Per Click and I think they t/o £60m.Also,there is a no fault accident claims company where we are and because they are very successfull it was reported they were now being charged over £30 per click.
    Maybe someone can explain as I have no idea.

    Easy to turnover £60m as the spend on google may go through them, but what they actually make on that might be very marginal. It’s easy to start  spending 5,6 or even 7 figure sums on google ppc if you’re an online business. 

  11. Posted

    The FSB used to offer heavily discounted rates on what’s now Worldpay (can’t remember what it was called when I started with them) when I had my old business. If you take serious amounts via card then you can negotiate the rates beyond that too. 
     

    With the car business we just used bank transfer, far easier and no risk of chargebacks which was a nightmare with cards as bank always sided with the customer. 

  14. Posted

    6 hours ago, Halfpenny said:

    Spot on!  Be careful out there. The cracks are starting to appear. Picked up a lovely Boxster today off a pilot. Been laid off. His weekend car and he was desperate to get out of it so we picked it up stupid cheap. Cracking condition, been looked after like a newborn baby.

    That’s the new reality. It was easy to find new employment before, what’s an unemployed pilot qualified to do if he can’t fly a plane?

  15. Posted

    With the advent of Cazoo, I'd assumed Heycar was a similar operation retailing cars themselves but having read the article in the latest Car Dealer magazine then it looks like they're just another competitor to Autotrader but with a more restricted dealer/car base. Very interesting reading about their "content is king" approach but I'm a bit clueless as to how that's going to help them when all of their competitors (Gumtree, Motors, Autotrader) are using Google Ad's on searches anyway. 

    I guess another player might force AT to reconsider it's pricing policy. Can't help but think the fragmentation of the used car advertising market has no winners in the end.

    They heycar valuation tool seems a bit optimistic too with a recent purchase valued at £1900 vs £1480 on AT and £1485 on WBAC.

  16. Posted

    I’m watching this with interest. HMRC very wary of the problem and now trying to work out the solution.

    Last idea I read was making it like student loans, you pay back when profits allow. Given that profit is a fudgeable number then they’ll have to audit books to be on top of it properly (eg exclude director and family member salaries)

    Whatever they do then they need to be harsh early on to get the message across. 

  17. Posted

    On 7/1/2020 at 12:45 AM, Halfpenny said:

    Its going to be carnage. Government and private debt are escalating to unsustainable levels. We're fcuked. Brexit will be the final nail in the coffin. I think there is a real chance of a catastrophic devaluation of the pound at the end of the year.

    I semi-retired a couple of years ago but still have 50% of a business (40 car pitch plus service, MoT).  I think I will bail out soon. Been having discussions with my partner. I have property overseas and want to get out. The UK is a hellhole now - for many many reasons.

    I can see the pound plummeting but not sure how that will affect the market. Arguably just make new cars more expensive and help prop up the used market.

    The cheapies market is where the action will be as people wise up to the risks around PCP and buy what they can afford to run in tougher times.

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    13 hours ago, David Horgan said:

    Talking Finance 

    One garage i came across has changed name , took 50 k Bounce loan on two garages , so 100k, changed name and is adamant its not going to get clawed back .

    how these people sleep is astonishing 

    Regards being in debt to some of the above figure is eye watering , Not my way .

    Young guy over the road where i live in 300k house , two range rovers on lease his and hers , both white . two kids about 12 /14 , now redundant due to the virus mess and is for sale with cars gone , one old £2,000 Mondeo on the drive , how life can change overnight . I might put an offer on the house as they have spent huge money on it recently . 

    I’m not sure it’ll get clawed back but he’ll have to make the payments (cheap) or fold. HMRC will find it easier to claw back money taken fraudently than looking for cash via VAT inspections I suspect. 

    Getting money after going bankrupt might be a lot harder going forwards as I’m sure lenders will be more circumspect after this. 

    Unfortunately a lot of people are going to learn what a real recession is, we’ve not had one since the early 90’s. Those of us who lived through that and  the 80’s one have generally been more cautious as we know what can happen. 

  20. Posted

    9 hours ago, have a word with the wife said:

    As already said, these loans have not just gone to car dealers, butcher's bakers and candlestick makers have all jumped on the bandwagon though questionable they got the full 50k as its 25 per cent of turnover, so car dealers can be feeding these people ?

     

    This. 25% of turnover for most small businesses who qualified for BBL’s wasn’t £50k. Though I know a few one man bands who’ve taken them and been looking for a new sports car. 

  21. Posted

    ^this. A lot via pcp’s as the smart money knows this reduces their exposure significantly and moves it to the finance company. 
     

    buy assets and lease liabilities. Some people think a super car is an asset which it generally isn’t in the long term. Genuine rarity isn’t what it used to be. Look at all manuf’s numbers.

  22. Posted

    The big problem will be finding enough stock to do this cost effectively in volume I’d guess.

    in reality there’s more profit opportunity on slightly rarer stuff where fixing costs might be higher but sales prices higher too (eg nice BMW 6’s/2002’s).

    If you can weld  and spray then MX5 mk1 might be a gold mine but I don’t think there is the demand there used to be.

    ULEZ and recession might mean a surplus of sellers over buyers in the long term too.

     

  23. Posted

    If looking at a private then you often “buy the owner” as much as the car. Evidence of regular maintenance and things being done when they need to be. Service history always a good indicator. Best we had was a Grade 3 Mini that was really Grade 1/2 but no history But limited owners. Quick few phone calls and turns out it had been main dealer serviced annually for 10 yrs.

    • Like 1