CCC

Love the last bit (and plan in general). I started a business in 2006, and from 2007-2011 ran that alongside a 3 day per week job, regularly pulling 16 hour days, 3-5 days per week, plus living without luxuries as we ploughed everything into the firm. It paid off and sold up 2 years ago. Friends think I’m lucky but they didn’t see the work it took to make that “luck”. Enjoying the fruits of our labours is something we all deserve given the hours put in over the years.

Used to have a 2001 93 and drove it top down all the time unless it was raining. Heated seats and excellent heater so never felt cold (did put a jumper on though). Some of my best drives were in the winter, and loved night driving with the top down. Drive the mx5 with top down whenever possible too, though that’s because it’s claustrophobic otherwise

Thanks for all the advice. Insignia sold by owner to Evans Halshaw today and MINI purchased with cash. Win-win, other than for Evans Halshaw perhaps.

It’s all about service history to me. Service every 12k or year and that gives me a lot more confidence selling it. I ran an E36 328 to 196k without issue, but Fsh, despite 7 owners before me.

He really needed £2k plus to make the deal work for him, and with no idea what level of damage done already I decided best left. I guess the tints and painted wheels etc didn’t help my attitude towards it either. He’s a local guy and I didn’t want to bid him too stupidly. Two other people interested with cash so just simpler that way I felt.

Have spoken to him and he’s going to get it fixed but I’ve said the Mini deal is off (well we won’t take it as p/ex). Next viewer due tomorrow. If we had space I’d have been more tempted but got Freelander and Ibiza due in so would like straight deal with no prep.

Thanks folks. My gut feel was exactly this but good to know I wasn't being over cautious. MattR's comment especially as the minute he told me his swapper over the phone i was wary for that reason. He's a nice guy, but I suspect the garage who did the oil change might have told him to get rid.

Worth knowing. Thanks

Hi, We've been trading for 14 months now, I'm new to the business (have run other businesses before) and my business partner worked in main dealers for many years. Due to the value of cars/area most purchases have been without part exchange which makes life simpler but does mean we've missed out on some opportunities. Just had someone to look at a 2005 Cooper S Checkmate which we've got up at £2895. He's got a 2011 Insignia 2.0DTI with 61K miles which is too big and he wants something smaller and saw the MINI walking past which is pretty immaculate. AT puts his Insignia at circa £2850 (Retail circa £4400), so pre-inspection I quoted £2700 to allow for wear and tear, etc. so only £195 to change. He's viewed the MINI and wants it (the kind of test drive/inspection where the keeness shows through from the start). The Insignia looks clean on inspection, minor dent to sill where not properly jacked at some point. Wheels painted black (car is white with rear tints), no doubt by previous selling dealer as looks a pro job, evidence of repair to bumper quarter as paint mismatch to body but no evidence of overspray or accident damage. So all roughly OK, might chip a bit more due to bumper. We discuss servicing, FSH up to 52K miles but he's just had oil service due to low oil pressure light coming on. Alarm bells start ringing as remember comments re Vauxhalls from here. Quick google and it seems a well known fault that can be fixed but if not done soon enough then destroy bottom end bearings. As I've lost confidence in the car due to this, I wouldn't want to sell it myself without repair and that's a can of worms in terms of cost. So gut feel is to decline the Part Ex. Business partner has some contacts to see if they would be interested in it, but curious to know the opinions of those on here as to what they'd do in these circumstances. This sale is dependent on part exchange but we've got others lined up to buy otherwise. So it's about whether I'm being over cautious and missing a profit opportunity in the Insignia rather than anything else.

Brexit was never an issue if done properly but the idea of trusting the politicians to deliver it was. I wouldn’t trust Boris Johnson to do my shopping, let alone negotiate exit from the EU. in terms of real world negotiating and planning experience, there is more of that in the members of this forum than the entire House of Commons, many of whom have never had a proper job, let alone a commercial one.

Same here. Still not received anything yet

Based on yields and affordability then house prices are about 20% higher than they should be already. Factor in a recession with tightening credit then maybe 30% total drop (-10% from correct level). Who knows what’s going to happen but the house price correction was likely no matter what I reckon, more a question of when, not if. When I say cheap, I meant undervalued. For property and cars, from those liquidating assets quickly to cover their bills in the absence of employment or credit. Recessions create opportunities for those places to take advantage, the old adage of money makes money will very much apply.

Less people. Those who have retired or those with cash savings. I’m old enough to remember the real recessions of the early 80’s and early 90’s when people just handed the keys in on their houses as they couldnt pay their mortgages and were heavily in negative equity. The over-inflated house prices and likely restrictions in credit are creating a high likelihood of a repeat. economies run on confidence (and in reply to another thread) loss of confidence causes recessions. No deal will be the mother of recessions as it will kill confidence (what’s left of it). I’m in the south east and trades still busy (those who haven’t retired, it’s a great career option that few seem to pursue) so far but seeing redundancies piling up. 5 friends in 5 weeks and these are long term senior jobs, not call centre work. time to pay down debts and be in cash to take up buying opportunities.

Leave campaigns chief economist predicted leave would end manufacturing in the UK (and the plan for 30th March is to set all import tariffs to zero as our systems can’t handle the complexity required to go to WTO on imports in such a short time, so that will definitely kill a lot of them). There will be lots of buying opportunities though so if you’ve got cash then should be plenty of cheap cars and property to sweep up. Used market should do well, but suspect people will be forced to down trade, especially those who use credit and lose their jobs. I’ve learnt credit is hard to get without employment (no matter how much you’ve got saved or own assets).

Close Brothers model is a good one. They lend you money to buy an asset that you sell on their behalf to a customer, thus they make a small amount from the dealer and a large amount from the customer at relatively neglibkd risk to themselves. Their shares are recommended buy and you can see why. In business there’s a world of difference between borrowing sensibly to leverage a proven business model and borrowing heavily to give something unproven a go. I’m sure start slow and build using the mix of finance and cash that you sleep at night with would be my choice.

My old man had a 4.4 v8 in the previous model. 8 yrs old and 8 owners, i don’t think anyone (my Dad included) can live with their thirst. 28mpg out of an E70 3.0d is painful but I can’t imagine what that will be doing, perhaps a nice boomerang car.

Hadn’t understood that bit. In that case will do nationally. It was more about trying to avoid managing the claim remotely. Thanks again

My gut feel is that it’s all about history? Regular oil changes count for a lot.

Thanks. Sounds like lawgistics for local and paid for national is the way to go. The purpose of the warranty is to cover ourselves for CRA level risks within the first 3 months.

Out of curiosity do you have experience if buying and running older cars? The age of car you’re taking about would not have gone near a main dealer generally for a long time. I’d recommend getting a good local mechanic too

Don’t. We started out specialising in Minis and whilst they are great cars to sell and often a good quality of buyer around here, we’ve had too many small problems to make it worthwhile and profitable. No doubt we over prep but we’d rather that than problems down the line. We’re switching to a higher price point and broader selection to try to give us a better gross margin to play with. Buying good cars privately where people just want a sale is working better, and being very focussed on service history.

Hi, Over the last 12 months we’ve used a mix of paid for warranties (customers not local to us, or riskier cars) and self-warranting. From reading posts here Lawgistics seems a good mid way solution but I can’t quite work out how it works from their website. Can anyone explain it in simple terms and what are the downsides? Many Thanks

Hi, Over the last 12 months we’ve used a mix of paid for warranties (customers not local to us, or riskier cars) and self-warranting. From reading posts here Lawgistics seems a good mid way solution but I can’t quite work out how it works from their website. Can anyone explain it in simple terms and what are the downsides? Many Thanks

Had an ABS light consistently trigger on an R53 MINI at about 100 yds of driving off after starting up. Always cleared within a few seconds and never occurred again in a journey. Code reader flagged as misfire on Cylinder 1 and another engine specific code. Google seemed to suggest it was likely to be a sticking bypass valve so we took a risk and changed that. Problem was still there so our local garage connected up to a more specific bit of kit which detected a difference in wheel speed on one of the fronts from the rest. Swapped over the CV joints and the problem swapped sides so problem not engine related at all despite codes, but a faulty metal strip. Everyday seems to be a school day at the moment.

Thanks, my bad, seems it is just me Missed a zero in my calcs, too many gins I fear.