Wheelerdealer1

I'm guessing these newer rules will make the margins a bit smaller for the big used car dealers, and could in fact take down a small Indy on tight margins, a few gearbox or engine replacement refunds would see many I know out of business, yes it would be bad luck but it can happen , a colleague of mine was hit with a Range Rover turbo replacement and also a Ford Focus auto gearbox, both that he had to cover and it almost ended it

Sounds good Phil, looking forward to seeing it

A great article James, but to get action you need the other small dealers to be in favor, and while we have a great bunch on these forums out there in the wide world of trading it's dog eat dog, most traders see people like me going down as less competition for them, so cruel as at may sound not enough will care. but as the consumer carrys on complaining to the higher powers, and the trade get painted with the same brush as dodgy Dave, then I'm guessing the smaller dealers will care, but by then it will be to late. As much as we might hate big brother brining in these draconian rules , I'm afraid it's the only way to sort this out , dealers and small indys won't care and there isn't enough of them that do care..

And I'm guessing one of the reasons why a few traders are unwilling to fix a problem is because they are making so little profit on the deal in the first place, the customer wants to have their cake and eat it, low sale price, and refund policy, in reality it just doesn't work

Another newbie, so what are you going to do that's different to the rest ? Genuine question. Also where did you see the profit in this business compared to a diff type of new business? Or are you doing it mainly out of passion ?

I know someone who has had to move three times due to threats from unhappy buyers, and his cars are what I would call well prepped and high end mostly as well as the usual run of the mill stuff

Back to when pajero and lucida were hot cakes! The good ol days! pm me the a1 details please?

We could take the Chinese approach! http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2015/09/why_drivers_in_china_intentionally_kill_the_pedestrians_they_hit_china_s.html

Still getting mails from the unorganised ATM lot asking for payments from months when I cancelled ages ago, a farcical organisation, shame as there was a time when it was quite genuine

The real losers here will be the badly informed private buyer, I took many cars through px that were cat d and unknown to the buyer as they didn't do a check when they bough it, the little note on the cat c cars log book was useful in that sense, I guess the real winners here are those blokes who flog these damage repair motors on the side streets !

The E46 and E36 M3 are very much in demand, they are going for silly money and that won't change anytime soon either as demand is that high, I have had plenty of both models and they are great cars, proper future classics

I used to run a fleet of insignias and passats both cars were much trouble but luckily they were new so under warranty, to be fair they were used as courtesy cars so driven quite hard, the most reliable cars on fleet were by the the lexus is220d and is250 petrol

One of the dangers of trading from home, I think you did the right thing in those circumstances

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/fraud-check-cut-set-to-save-motorists-money i know it was decided last year but the rule kicks in the next month, means that you won't see the CAT c VIC marker on the v5 notes section, so just a heads up to those taking in low value px cars, beware !

Guys how do the salvage yards get around this, as they sell as trade but just write in the relevant guff on the invoice

Don't you worry umesh I know exactly what to do with them

I'm quite sure they are ex company cars, off lease and off rental , I say that as my relatives leased Merc turned up there after he gave it back direct to MERC in Manchester, I presume they buy in bulk direct to get the lowest prices

Get through some of those private AT ads that are quite obviously not! A tell tale is a list of 4 or 5 motors all private, pics taken in the same area with the same back drop ok so who is going to do a survey of how many illegal traders there are out there, now that's something that may actually be useful to us !

the best one is the old check engine light that appears while your test driving the px, had so many that go into limp mode a few minutes into a journey I lost count, the e46 bmws were the worst offenders, talk about German realibilty!

We used to go down to the auctions at southampton docs regularly, a1 car auctions and motorway plus a few other used to sell direct off the ship, I think they all closed when the currency became less appealing and the IVA was put it as its a bit tougher the SVA, I would love to know if the Southampton docs auctions still happen, anyone ?

A question to the smaller guys , your out goings must be very low if your happy to get by on a few cars a month , or do you hope to even it out in busier periods?

If anything the bigger outfits can swallow the cut in bottom line now, but for how long I wonder ? I think changes are on the way, what changes exactly I'm not sure !

Salvage is sold online mostly you won't get to go inspect it or bid on it in person, motorhog, co part and other insurance write off specialists are the same

Very true

Yes you would be, and to be honest if I had to pay a few £100s to get become an accredited trader I would, if that meant Del Boy down the road is taken out of the picture