15Cars

Has anybody noticed that the AT 'trade' values in the AT portal have crept closer towards CC recently, or am I dreaming it?

Yep, it is nuts and I certainly won’t be doing it again, I’ll chalk this one up as a lesson.

Good points, Matt. Now I think about it, it make sense, I have sold a number of £4-7k stuff to people that have handed back their PCP motor and I’m often left a £200 deposit for week before they come back with the wedge.

Thanks, Grant, after trawling around I've come to the same conclusion, so fingers crossed previous owner's postcode works otherwise I'm gonna take it back!

TBF, I said "up to 9 old year stuff" - most of the stuff I sell is 2 to 5 years old. But, I get what you're saying, I guess I'm just hopeful of some extra revenue

Evening All I've just received my FCA permission through. I'm initially going on with Close Brothers - I haven't given much thought about sub-prime yet - is it even worth it? Your thoughts are most welcome. My stock is mainly VW, up to 9 years old, 1 or 2 owners, FSH, highly prepped and under 70k miles. I'm in a semi-rural fairly affluent location, nearest city is 25 miles away, my customers tend to be very similar; frugal, 35-60 years old, middle class and funds don't seem to be an issue but price, condition and the history of the car does. It's rare that I'm asked for finance as my punters don't appear to need it. Naturally I'm frothing at the mouth to start putting some finance deals through to progress into the higher commission zone so I'm wondering if you lot find a particular price point, brand or some other demographic that is likely to attract more sensible finance punters? I'm unlikely to change my current model drastically as it seems to be working but I'm curious none the less. Cheers 15

October was blinding for me, November suicidal but so far December has been super busy with tons of enquiries, only 2 sales but 5(!) viewings lined up for tomorrow which is major for my stock level.

Appreciate that David, thanks. I've done this about half a dozen times this year without a hitch, but I've always done it at my local PO. Poor practice I realise but assumed it'd be ok.

Evening All Sold a car yesterday evening - it is nearly new and very low miles. I took it from a punter as a downgrade part exchange. The punter couldn't find the V5 so I HPI'd it and took it in. The car is A1, serviced, MOT'd, PDI'd, 12 months warranty etc. Punter insisted he needed it, so I let him get on his way with a V62 to tax and change keeper himself after he'd paid, signed PDI and invoice etc. The punter (nice chap) has just been into his PO and they're saying the system is declining the car and they are unable to tax and change keeper as they need previous owner's postcode. I've never been asked for this, I have the previous owner's postcode back at the office so will forward it tomorrow but I've never experienced this before - any thoughts please?

Shockingly accurate. In my experience the ~ 3K VAG stuff in particular attracts the biggest PITA punters I’ve ever experienced; they’ve not got a pot to spit in, yet they’re expecting absolute perfection.

Quite possibly on the new systems, I wouldn't know, my Sky box is ancient and I only usually use it to watch the freeview crap

Rarely watch TV these days, but have been relaxing in front of the box for the last couple of hours, seen 3 Car Gurus ads in that time, albeit on music channels, but looks like they’re trying at least

If AT introduce a ‘days in stock’ feature - presumably one could delete the advert and start again to reset the counter?

BCA Blackbushe or Mannheim Bristol, some great cars there and they can’t give them away at the moment, they’ve also slashed buyers fees for new accounts. Carlsberg don’t do posts in this forum, but if they did, they’d be the best in the world.

Welcome aboard mate, I’m sure many of the vets on here will advise you better, but I will say older motors don’t appear to be plentiful right now. Back in the summer I was easily buying 2-5k stuff from various auctions and making sensible money on them. Now anything older in decent condition and solid service history is fetching well beyond book and often upto forecourt price at the auction houses I’ve been watching. Saying that, October was a blinding month for me, but I didn’t take a full day off and clocked up a few thousand miles simply buying the stock. I started off with cheap cheap crap, but it can be way more trouble than it’s worth. I certainly wouldn’t ditch the existing business for now, but do some leg work and find some sources for the right cars. The profit is in the buying. Good luck

I'm not a million miles from Bristol; a TSI motor I have in stock has jumped to +400% in AT Portal in the past two days, I had 2 calls about it yesterday and woke up to 3 emails about it. It is a really good example and priced well tbf but it does seem a hell of a coincidence.

Transport never fails to amaze me even though it's the industry I come from. I know owner drivers with £100k 6 leg tractor units, pulling at 44t for 10 hours or 400km (whichever comes first( for £450 - and that's a 'sensible' rate. It only takes a breakdown or blowout to wipe out their entire week or months profit even though they could be working 80-odd hours a week. Last I heard, some of the container work was paying £1.30 a mile.

Snap, no more reactions left!

Blimey, thanks for that, deffo be going to the office first

Thanks mate, I'm approx 80 miles West of London I was starting to panic then!

Really appreciate the replies, thank you. My local workshop village workshop that do all my warranty stuff/mechanical work/PDIs have billed me £788 ex. VAT for this. To be fair, everything I stick in there is back out within 48 hours but usually same day. Cheers 15

No, total price ex. VAT

Yes, outsourced. 70k - they also do PDI and fill out the Lawgistics PDI pad

Thanks mate, I think I'll ask in the office before it kicks off!