SouthernTrader

I always accompany them on a test drive, they normally seem to have questions about what various features do and it gives me a chance to chat with them a little. Also, I don’t fancy letting half of the general public out in my cars to drive as they wish, no thanks!

I had a Passat with the 2.0 TDI 170 engine with similar symptoms turned out to be the timing. Think that was white rather than grey smoke however so maybe not your issue

Hi Grant, last time I used BCA earlier this year I was charged £210 plus VAT for 180 miles, that was transported not driven. I use a local transport company now as they are better priced and more flexible

I’m no economist but the 2 things are surely linked?

1.6 PSA Prince engined cars as above VAG cars with DSG boxes unless I can take them for a long test drive first Never done very well on convertibles but that’s probably more down to poor buying Don’t tend to do too many Vauxhall’s anymore. I remember when I started I sold loads of Corsa Bs then lots of Corsa Cs. I then moved on to selling Corsa Ds but 75% of them seemed to have head gasket issues. Don’t bother anymore despite being good sellers Also, what is it with VAG cars and window regulators? They seem to always be buggered

I did a Business Degree and enjoyed University for what it was but it’s very different running a business in the real world than studying textbooks on business! I then joined a graduate scheme and I found after 5 years of working for corporate companies I just didn’t enjoy it - no job satisfaction for me - just a salary and a car. Id worked in used car sales from 18-20 so I went back to that. I’d traded on the side while having a “real job” and it’s a bug that’s never left me so I went full time working for myself, initially as a doorstepper. I feel lucky I don’t have a 9-5 like a lot of my friends despite the stress this job can bring

Lost count the amount of times this has happened to me. Especially annoying when you’ve got the car all ready and it was fine earlier! tomorrows another day....

I’ve used a Dakota odour bomb a few times, you can buy them on Amazon. They’ve been pretty effective but I guess it depends on how bad it is. Also leaves a kind of sickly sweet smell in its place but I’ve always sold the cars and never had any comments on the smell.

I would have kept my 1990 Miami Blue 205 1.9 Gti with 70k on the clock and countless MK2 Golf GTIs. I’d probably be retired by now if I had!

Get customer to sign and date the PDI otherwise they could argue that you just wrote it out after the fact stating all okay etc.

Stop responding to text messages and ask him to call you on Monday. It’s far easier for people to lie/bluff over a message than on a phone conversation. at least that way you can talk to him properly and actually try and get to the bottom of what he actually wants, is he genuine, where this is leading etc. Going back and forth over text is a waste of your time imo

Good luck today. It seems like you've been reasonable and fair and the customer has unrealistic expectations of a car that's this age and miles. Let us know how you get on

Welcome to the forum. Im fairly new here and picked up lots already, great resource. Best of luck

They did email me some guidance but I was hoping to meet a rep for a quick chat and some help with the application. They suggested I sign up with a broker first as they didn’t think I’d be doing more than a couple finance deals in a 3 month period at which point I’d get dropped by Close for lack of business. My personal thoughts on this are I’m going to try and encourage as many of my customers as possible to take finance and I’m going to actively promote it on social media etc. Anyway, if anyone can recommend a good broker for me to work with when the Application goes through?

Thanks for the advice, I’ve submitted it so will see how it goes

Good God that version of Blowing in the wind is awful! On the AT side of things I’m curious do you currently fill in the service history section? I’ve never used it before and just listed the service history details within my description text but maybe I’m missing a trick?

I’ll be interested to know as well. It seems that nobody at AT can answer this despite them going ahead with the change. If we had some clearly defined criteria at least we could then decide whether we wanted to change/amend our adverts to increase our search relevance. And to answer the original question. No downturn from here so far. A few sticky cars that weren’t getting enquires still aren’t Interesting, I assume you mean the boxes like the 2wd option boxes etc? Ill go and look for the video now, thanks for the heads up

Quick question in regards to the FCA application process. I’ve completed it all online to the best of my knowledge. If there are genuine mistakes/errors will they pick those up and contact me to clarify or will the application get thrown out or delayed months? Anyone have any experience of this? I tried asking a finance lender for help and while they did give me some guidance and help as I’m still small time (8-12 cars) I’m not a priority which is understandable

As others have said that’s a pointless margin on the best part of 20k, once you’ve allowed costs and taxes you’ve probably got next to nothing left. Have you been trading long?

So far so good with some good sales and enquiries but 3 very sticky cars that I just cannot get rid of!

Yep, I got the owners wrath a couple of times as a young salesman and I soon made sure I didn’t make the same mistake again!

All the talk of the tax disc refunds reminds me of working for a big local used car site. There were constant heated discussions with PX customers pinching the tax disc out their swapper when they came to collect their new car

I used to do really well off Rover 200s, used to be great little sellers!

I’ve heard that AT are adding an overpriced marker in addition to their Good, Great and Low price markers. Not fully sure if this is going ahead or they are trialing it or it’s just an idea from the “online team” Personally I think that’s a terrible idea. This week I sold one which was well over market value according to them but it was in perfect condition, 1 owner with tiny mileage. Would the customer have called if “Over priced” was written on my advert?

Welcome and good luck! Very impressive to have done 60 in 4 months from home you must be doing something right. What kind of stock are you selling and are you sourcing them all privately? The forum is definitely a great resource and always good to get new ideas and people involved I think