Lazz

I am sure people these days look across multiple sites, had a chap the other day phone on a car I had on eBay, he asked me why it was n’t on autotrader to which I replied because I don’t have to. i think autotrader should be concerned about the likes of Facebook, if they ever got their act together with a decent, simple interface and being able to target certain demographics I think they could really be into something plus they have pots of money to promote it.

I think you will find as soon as they have enough new accounts paying £99 per month they will put the screws on the £99 per year accounts as not to upset the decent prices the dealers have become to expect

Do you know if it's the touch screen that needs replacing or is it the gubbins in the glove box as well?

Hi Was wondering if anyone knows if these are repairable or is it a case of just replace with new as i have an issue with a 2013 golf touch screen being unresponsive most of the time and wondered if you know where i can send it to be repaired if that is possible.

Get a decent accountant to sort or the registration etc out for you

57 million will not be enough to disrupt the market and neither will 1000 cars and if they think it is they are kidding themselves and I would not trust my recon to bca

To get the really big discounts and buy in bulk they will properly bypass the Main dealers and go straight to the manufacturer direct and get the big discount there, the main dealer may handle the prep, pdi of it and get paid a set handling fee for sorting that out .

If you don’t mind me asking what sort of cost does that type of system run out at

I think i will leave the auctions for a week or two to calm down the starting bids were cap clean on pretty much everything today at my local bca

I have always found trading standards to be very helpful in situations like this and have spoke to them myself several times over the years and as long as you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry. I sold a £2000 car a number of years ago and approx 6 weeks later i got a bill turn up in the post, spoke to the customer and they were calling me all names under the son reckon they had spoke to trading standards etc so i said that ok i will have a chat with them, anyway when i spoke to trading standards to ask where i legally stand the 1st thing they said was have you been given the opportunity to fix it which i had n't and they asked me if it had been inspected by an independent motor engineer which it had n't which they replied thats 2 mistakes they have made and they do not have a leg to stand on. I personally at this point would stop all correspondence with them at this point by text and phone and now only deal with them in writing, explain your stance on the mater and if they are not happy with that put your solicitors details in there and tell them to deal with them from this point onwards. I think you may have a chancer here who you will never hear from again.

I think if your not careful you will let autotrader run your business for you not the other way round, I have had an interesting conversation with one of their reps this week where by which they said to me that we should look at how i price my cars and I told them that's a topic they are not involved in the discussion. we all know you can buy crap and price it the cheapest, but we all know you get what you pay for as far as cars are concerned which an advert is properly not going to highlight. i think autotrader is going to fall out of bed eventually because I think how joe public searches for a car today is evolving and they are slowly getting left behind. My 20 year old sons would not even consider looking on there for a car, my rep has been spouting on to me that I am paying for a premium service but if i Am honest I am not so sure about that these days, but time will tell.

Its funny how they can't stop messing around with it, i prefered it when it was a simple search and not a cluttered desktop with all the advertising, i advertise across all the platforms and i must admit it ain't generating the most enquiries or even the best for me will be interesting to see what this search will do now. I can see if you don't put a lot of effort and have one of their better packages it won't be worth advertising on there any more

I think in this line of work it tends to come in waves, you have a run of sales, then a run of messers, a run of problems it does not seem to stay constant for me, one week you could earn 5k then nothing for weeks or just problems to sort out. may be trade girl you are just saling a little to close to the wind, been there done that, you just buy that extra car because it's a good price, job goes slow and messes the cash flow up and I'm still doing it, down a car and free up a bit of cash and leave a bit of breathing space and you will feel better with your back not up against the wall. this can be the best job in the world sometimes but I think the knack is not to let it get you down when the fires are burning all around you and just carry on like you don't give a dam

I would n't worry about it , I have had a run of muppets this week on cars priced from 2k to 12k and people that have actually driven quite considerable distances and have not brought for what i consider quite un realistic expectations on cars ranging from 8 to 13 years old or expecting viewings at unrealistic hours like on a Friday evening when i am booked in the pub. I just smile, wave them on their way and wait for the real customers to turn.

its funny how one thing works better for some than others, I have recently got back into retail and advertise across all the platforms to see what works for me and have sold more from ebay and motors enquires than auto trader, carguru, scumtree and facebook and the odd few have just google the model of car and a few customers have told me they have seen the cars across several platforms so i am not sure you need to be on everything as i am wondering if they will find the car anyway. The jury is still out on my advertising as i am giving it 1 more month before i cut the dead wood.

That is certainly a good turn of stock

I agree it can be a bit frustrating but work on the assumption it only takes miniutes to reply and just assume most of them come to nothing. i do tend to find autotrader seems to generate more actual calls.

I worked in main dealer land for approx 15 years before working for myself which has been nearly another 15 years and the only thing I found is that they are 2 different worlds but I will say working at a reasonable sized garage will get you used to dealing with Joe public but the similarity for me ended there, there is a lot to working for yourself that is only learnt when your doing it.

I think if you are selling broke part exchanges which I do and describe them as such I work on the premises that most people are ok but if push comes to shove and it goes south I just have it back and move on and sell it again and don't sweat it. I often wounder if trading standards get a bee in their bonnet about paperwork because it leads to a easy conviction for them. i understand while some people only sell stuff under manufactors warranty.

Do you recon the vendors have a rep on the rostrum with the auctioneer to keep them on there toes.

The way I look at it its just a car with a different engine, the market will decide the values, someone will work out a cheaper way to fix the batteries etc. we will just have to roll with it. I am more concerned about this month never mind next year or the one after that.

I just tell them that a generally buy main dealer part exchanges or from these we buy any car type people or the occasional private. That kind of ends the conversation and we move on, never had anyone then ask did it come via auction. made me laugh the other day, guy comes to see a cheap part exchange up for £800 and then asks me how much did i give for it, looked him staright in the eye and said £100 and then procedded to laugh. He did n't find it funny but i did.

If i was a london dealer taking them in part exchange you could probably nick them, everything is advertised nationally and just offer a fixed priced delievery at say £100 or fee delivery, take them out the market that don't want them then sell them where they do. (us tight sods up north)

I would n't even consider reducing anything unless I have had it over 30 days, if your not careful and keep chopping the price to quickly you will just end up working for nothing all the time, someone will trip up for it.

Spoke with ebay today to try and get a package on just ebay motors pro today but said i have to have gumtree as well will not split them been quoted £240 plus vat for 10+3 if i sign for 6 months and they would not budge any lower on the phone.