marc_p

Depends on where it’s coming from, I’ve had a few main dealer cars with no report as most of them don’t pay for mechanical reports on cars older than 6-10 years, all have been fine. If it’s not from a main dealer then avoid or proceed with caution, only car without a report that I got (that wasn’t a main dealer one) was one that I won for low enough price that it was worth a punt, it arrived with a major misfire but I lucked out as it was just a faulty coil pack.

Why was it on the road without trade plates? In regards to the tax, you’ve taxed it as the new keeper, so keeper change on the V5 will have no effect. I’ve done this a few times when I’ve had a car in stock that I’ve decided to run for my own use and tax’d them. When I do retail them, I’ll inform the customer that it comes with some remaining tax but will run out on ‘x’ date, then they can tax it themselves, either off the new keeper slip or the V5 once they have it in their name.

Thought I'd bump this with another update now its been nearly 1 month since I quit my job! Firstly, I've given up on the bounce back loan (wish I'd applied back in April/June time) as I can't seem to get a business bank account anywhere!!!! Stuck with trading out of my personal account. Secondly, now I'm building up several cars, I'm wanting to set up a website now that the company name/logo is done and was going to go with 'cardealer5', do people rate these guys well for a new business startup? Thanks Marc

I’d invite him to look at the car and when he tries to pay £9200, just say ‘oh I’m sorry, I misread it, I thought you said £19,200’

Ahh, that’s keyless isn’t it? Out of my comfort zone, it’s the ones with a key that I know still fire up ignition. One point I may raise though, I’m not sure how it is with JLR products, but some manufacturers these days have a built in system that literally bricks the ECUs when involved in an accident, so that could be the case with this one. That being said I’m not a specialist so please don’t take it as gospel!!

So firstly, if your wanting to part it out, send me a PM with the specs and a price as I’d be happy to take it off your hands . Secondly, I’m not to familiar with Snap-on as I actually use INPA, but does snap-on show a fault instances count? If you’re not too far away, I’d be happy to pop over and plug in INPA to do a fault read for you.

Thanks for all the replies guys, much appreciated!!! Thought I’d add a few responses to the points listed: - In regards to the BBL, thankfully, I’m actually entitled to one as (per my 1st post) I started in January, and it did affect me as I halted everything for a couple of months, when it comes to turnover I have to submit what would be my estimated turnover for year one (which I’m doing at £100k). - On the equipment front, I use INPA as I’m sticking to my legacy ‘E’ generation cars, I also use Carly for quick and easy fault finding, but have to use my INPA for more advanced calibration and fault clearing (for instance, nothing but INPA will clear a BMW airbag light once you’ve fixed it). If you’re having issues, drop me a PM and I’m happy to help. Out of interest, when you says it’s not connecting, do you mean that it’s not showing ignition on INPA? Usually the main cause of that is the wrong COM port being used (it has to be COM1), I actually had it recently as I mistakenly used my other OBD2 cable that was on COM 2 or 3(they look identical) and after 30 mins of swearing I realised my mistake. - On the finance front, I’m not expecting much and I won’t be offering PCP as I don’t want to move into newer stuff, but I’d like to stock an older E46 M3/E39 M5 and really good examples are in the £15-20k region.

Glad this thread got bumped as this gave me a laugh, not sure what I find funnier, the big eyed and hairy driver of the fact that last year apparently part of the car body wasn't secured to the floor

Firstly, you must have balls the size or Mars to get a JLR product with a serious electrical fault! Secondly, what year/model is the car? I'm not too familiar with the latest stuff but I know the earlier stuff should still bring up your ignition without coding in the new BCM, it just wont crank.

Whilst it's great that it's another thing that can be done quickly, I do wonder why it's being rolled out so slowly to all the different areas? Still waiting for my trade plates on the archaic, postal only, service.

Haha, yeah, weird mix of emotions going on right now, both excited and terrified at the same time, but what I do know for sure if that I haven't felt this happy for a long time!! Even if it doesn't work out, I'll be glad that I at least tried. Another point I thought I'd add is that even though I haven't been posting here, I have been reading everyone's posts and finding this forum such a wealth of information!! (will need to get myself into the private forum now though), but that being said, I noticed that a few people say to not trade the cars that you like, whereas I think (for me at least) that is what has helped me massively as I've been selling cars that I'm genuinely enthusiastic about and I believe that really comes across to the buyers and helps with the sale, which will probably mean I'll be stuck with this 318d for a lifetime as I find it a hateful little thing

Hi Guys, Thought I'd put a little update on this, I finally handed in my notice at work to go full time (last day is tomorrow), I wanted to start earlier but obviously that whole COVID thing got in the way. Managed to get myself a small 5 car unit, it's a cheap and a great starter unit, plus it's next to a bunch of other automotive companies including a friend of mine who has a much larger and more impressive unit and has said I can have his office and trade out of his unit if I want (he's a detailer so has no use for an office). Regarding how the car selling has been going, I'm still sticking to my BMWs but so far (touch wood) all have been attracting wonderful buyers with only the X5s occasionally getting the 'what's you best price mate' calls, which I usually just respond with the asking price. I'm still at the lower end (circa £5k cars), but all the cars sold so far have all gone to the first person who viewed them and all within 5 days of advertising them with healthy margins to boot (averaging around £1k per car). I have learnt a few things so far, mainly is that the car auctions seem a bit of a joke, I went to a couple with the intention of just sitting back and watching how it all operated, but I was quite shocked to see what price the cars were going for, I think I'd struggle to make anything on an auction car!! So I've stuck with just using ebay and hunting out the cars that I know I can turn into wonderful looking examples with a few hours work. I did also get one off Facebook Marketplace that was so cheap I thought it was worth a punt (2008 318d, 102k miles, £1300), but I'm still chasing issues around the car, it's also reminded me why I stay away from 4cyl BMWs and just stick with my straight 6's (and occasional V8's). Next step is to get myself FCA approved as I want to move to the £15-20k market, but this will be harder without being able to offer finance. Also trying to get myself a bounce back loan for more stock, I thought I'd wait when it was originally announced as I didn't need the money right then, but it seems to be severely back logged now! Cheers Marc

From my photo point of view and not wanting to repeat what others have said, my advice would be to make sure that on the close detail photos, the car is really clean and you are highlighting the condition (and make sure it's in focus )

Thanks Casper, really appreciate the response, firstly, it sounds like you guys seem to be working to my thoughts of aiming generally for a 4 week turnover time, I understand we are all going to have those exceptions that just wont budge. Also, thanks for the other point, the reason for the price increase was that I aim to deal with the BMW 'M' cars (bar the e60/e63, I love those V10s but they will bring nothing except pain), I may still dabble with the cheaper 330's, it will all depend on my premises, if I can work my way to a 15-20 car premises then I will definitely be looking at covering the 2.5k-20k range.

Is it a one size fits all fee or do they tailor the monthly/annual charge on a per car or dealer size basis?

Thanks for the reply Mark, can I ask (and feel free to tell me it's none of my business) are they are cars on stocking loans of bought outright? I'd also like to add that initially I will be selling cars in the 2.5k-5k region for the first 3 months then upping to the 5-10k region for 3-6 months and then moving into the 10-20k region which I intend to stick at for the following 18 months but as I progress, things may change.

I may be missing something but what is their USP? Why do they believe they can get to that figure? We have had online only companies before that have tried and failed.

Wow! I have seen some silly ones but can sort of understand (i.e. windscreen stickers) but they really shout that the MOT station needed some advisories to fill their quota.

Haha, out of interest, what have you been sat on for a year? The thing with me (and I may change my mentality after a few months) I would rather not sell someone a car than sell them the wrong car, I'll be initially starting with the more enthusiast owned BMWs from the 1990-2010 era and as an enthusiast myself I know that each one suits a different person.

Hey guys, Some of you may remember my post from a few weeks ago in that I am currently preparing to move away from my steady job and enter the world of being a full time trader. If you didn't, I'll give you the very long story in a very short summary! I'm selling my pride and joys to fund my start up capital to make sure no business loans/stocking capital is needed to start up and I have enough money set to one side to live on for 6-9 months with no income so I don't have to take any money out of the business during startup. With that very brief overview done, I have my next car being sold on Saturday and just one more to be put up for sale and go (shamefull plug: Anyone want a beautifully looked after '89 944S2?) then it's time to set myself up, get some premises and hand in my resignation! So with the time looming ever nearer I'm making sure my business plan is done best I can and to be my bible during startup! Now the question I have for you fine people is how long do you expect to hang onto a car for? I realise that this can be a 'how long is a piece of string?' question but for those of you who like to specialise in a certain brand or category (as I shall be doing), when you get a car, how long do you generally sit on it until you maybe start thinking that you should drop the price or try and market it harder? I'm not here to take what you say as gospel but whatever info you can give would be incredible helpful to my plan. Currently I have 4 weeks from purchase to sale in my plan but with the first 5 days having it sat in prep and then a price drop at the 6 week mark. Please remember that I am a newbie and I am prepared for a steep learning curve, I'll be starting with 6-8 cars and learning what sells the best in my sector as time goes on. Thanks in advance for any info you can bestow on me. Marc

I always use Meguiars metal polish with a microfibre cloth and some elbow grease which works 90% of the time, if its really bad then I use the same metal polish but swap out the microfibre cloth for a polishing wheel that you can put on a drill, most cheap ones will do the job perfectly fine, like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cleaning-Polishing-Kit-for-Metals-3-Mop-wheels-3-compounds-drill-attachment/143452981880?epid=3003403502&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item216676ca78:g:vgEAAOSwCmBd3R1A&enc=AQAEAAACUBPxNw%2BVj6nta7CKEs3N0qUjnU7JIS%2FjpgD67elh7yMmVBdIJorLp6aN0JM4so2zeQBaGJb4kYcApDARWnqHRCKs0ZM9vW8LYwKKCy6HQHed1qPDu8%2FuQkB%2BQq4AnLmE1RSa%2FOhI3eALj729ZR3RKCoJ9pXZfyvg4drrcOnht9wE9m0KgSUgJOSYn8WVO5JWlI7g1jJZupa4J0iM5AM%2BVOD%2Ba6eBImG9N0vTjwr8RxGMqdbJiO2OpWyyKXNlXC7u5z8rz04mmnhyXHvP572GFDeQL2BApzDla6AJDCePI6mtQViyvNFeG7vQ0trBR4Xx3a%2BWKFRDPXcPjv8FCff3ksaHqCi%2BuuZ%2FvGoJ2vU7115N78EGYIsNcNnT0JmEOxjIgl8Si%2Fk%2FDdRFnktuxSYU5IarJaO9UY8%2BwIeDITuixHvwmVkvSF8yiInE04BnaDwNHnmEtx7mvzLxIb8hsD1Ux95IPPrMtJEQJXbeFIQdAU5loGZOEnNBnjDjme3g1ZYsIiM0USLc5tW9chpBFbRM5HGddp4JOBiikP7F4S8ftdFaxwR1B91YbCjs4%2FcVCIkETNzNBR%2BrZ%2FZsdfWNfDlORN321Rqoa8UYYYfqqf8BypPJgV2638fz5l4EcfRGPpTuI4152Qt3GyH46tZeffHXXUpgzrMyMzETP9SzCJv10KS8wr1pnkRv1QVMM0nO6npadoHZ1rPNzCy5A%2F147nSR5NJa3DUAMK9AJQj7idmhP6SRDQDU72fYNIRdzAFCHQeaZJeBxvwCy85COkqDxdCFpjA%3D&checksum=1434529818809f482721ee77434eb1f9e88bbd15e7e6

Yeah, it's probably best me going to sit down with an accountant over the next couple of weeks and get into the details. Unfortunately not quite that far north, I'm near Harrogate, but thanks anyway Haha, you have no idea how many times I get that, tempted to just change it to Marcus Thanks Casper, appreciate the kind words, I very much like to over plan to minimise my risks as much as possible. I'm not blind to the risks though and have to accept that it may not work out but I'd rather try and fail than not try at all. It all started from my love of working on cars and doing light restoration work, however I really don't like working on other peoples cars, so I came to the conclusion that I'm best buying a car, doing the work I enjoy and then selling it.

As above, is it the cabin fan or the engine fan? Also, is it a late model 320d coupe(E92) or a 320d Saloon (F30)? Following on from that is it rpm related and only present when cold?

Yes, the BMW crowd can be a fickle bunch! Hopefully I'll be avoiding a lot of the more irritating buyers as my focus will be around the older and more enthusiast owned cars E36/E46 M3s, E39 M5s, Alpina's, etc where condition is a much larger factor than price. Thanks for your answer anyway! Although I will add that the servicing business would likely be under the VAT threshold and will not be VAT registered.

Hi Guys, I'm under no illusion that you are all probably sick to death of people like me with their newbie questions but hoping someone may be able to answer a quick couple of questions I may have. A quick back story on me, I have never worked professionally in the motor trade and have been stuck in a suit and tie selling IT solutions for the past 10 years, which has just ever increasingly drained the life from me! That being said I am passionate about my cars, I'm very handy with the wrench (from the basic servicing to building my old Toyota into a 700whp monster), a dab hand at detailing and great at finding the bargains. Although never officially a trader I do get through my cars (I want to try them all) and always make money on them at sale time, I decided in November to try my hand at just buying a couple of cars to sell and see how I fared, well I went from a £550 investment to a £3500 return in 6 weeks over just 2 cars, safe to say I know what I want to do. So, I've been researching intensively, writing up my business plan and preparing to sell a couple of my cars to raise the startup capital, I should raise around £40k for startup, this will allow me to cover all business rents and bills plus all personal expenses (mortgage, day to day spending, etc) for around 6 months so I can focus on getting the business up and running without the need to remove any profits from it for at least 6-9 months. I will be focusing around BMW's from 1990-2010 as I know the market for these very well, I can do all the prep work and servicing myself and I don't want to dilute my knowledge or lose focus at the moment. So the questions!!: - Should I create a separate business entity that will bill the main business for the servicing, prep work, etc? I will also want to be doing general BMW servicing as a side business just to generate some brand awareness if nothing else. If yes, what would be the benefits of this? Can you use these costs to reduce your VAT liability? - Location wise, I am 'oop north' so I am thankful for lower rent costs but I do want an indoor building which will house around 6 cars and don't want cars to sit outside as I'll be prepping the cars to a very high standard and aiming them at the top end of the market, so I want people to view them in a very well lit indoor environment that flatters their condition. I aim to move to a large premises after 12 months but want to start things a bit smaller and slower as I will make mistakes that I need to learn from. But moving on from that, I am currently about 20 minutes from the A1M, do you think it's worth spending a little more (about £200pm) to be closer to the A1M? Anyway, I hope I haven't come across too naive and I thank you in advance for any answers, also, apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes, It's been a long day and I'm ready to crash! Thanks Marc