countryman

Hi, I have done a couple of retentions online for customers. It's easy and it gives you the registration that the car will go back on to straight away so you can get plates made up. The customers have had the new V5s within just a few days. https://www.gov.uk/keep-registration-number

... and .co.uk is registered to you!

Personally, I would buy both domains and have the WBAC abbreviated URL point to the longer one. If, as you say, the longer one 'does what is says' it will give you better search engine results and if We Buy Any Car kick off you can just get rid of that domain, redirect it (or sell it to them?). Your bigger concern, if it is a similar business model, I would have thought would be 'passing off'?

sinsha...

I am beyond 'a little quiet'! For me it has been very quiet for some time, last month was one of the worst that I have had on record. To be honest, it hasn't really picked up as it ought since the Easter break; Initially I put this down to Easter Holidays, General Election etc., but for me it never truly recovered. Worryingly we are now coming in to the summer holiday season which is traditionally quiet anyway! I rely on a bouyant second quarter to fund a quiet July/August. Anyway, enough doom and gloom ...

​Sorry GG but as a fellow pedant I just needed to get this off my chest. I really think that it should be 'p.s.' as the full stops are used to denote the omitted letters in an abbreviation; in this instance 'post script'.

​http://www.trusteddealers.co.uk/dealer-directory-results

​but the street address: Domain name: trusteddealers.co.uk Registrant: Trusted Dealers Ltd Registrant type: UK Limited Company, (Company number: 7342935) Registrant's address: 12 Cardale Court Cardale Park Beckwith Head Road Harrogate HG3 1RY United Kingdom ... is the same as JudgeService http://www.judgeservice.com/en-gb/car-dealership/about/contactus/

​Me either. But it's irrelevant anyway, as it isn't for independent dealers - only 'approved' dealers, whatever they might be. The site's rubbish anyway, painfully slow and only a handful of dealer groups advertising on there anyway with a useless search mechanism. However, it does prove that Auto Trader have very little interest in smaller independent garages.

I have had, what I consider to be, an excellent business idea. It has the added bonus that, if successful, would make a serious dent in Auto Trader's business. If anybody has a large amount of money to invest, or some serious contacts - give me a call on 01342 457071

​Out of curiosity, and perhaps Phil H can help with this one too, where do you advertise your vans for sale? I know when, on the odd occasion I have been looking for a van for a customer, I have found the Auto Trader's website to be next to useless. When selling vans I have had a good response from eBay but the search mechanism doesn't seem to be that well suited to searching for vans, unless just typing out exactly what you want in the search bar? Would be interested to hear your thoughts/experience.

To my mind, the problem that the RAC faces is not one of volume of cars advertised, but of brand. Whilst I accept that the RAC is a well known 'household brand', it is not known for advertising cars for sale. Whilst a high number of vehicles listed for sale will undoubtedly help its organic Google rankings, it would need to spend millions on TV advertising over (at least) a 3 year period to enter the public's consciousness. Just look at what motors.co.uk has spent. That said, Auto Trader's biggest enemy is itself - it has a lethal combination of complacency and greed. Its business model surely relies on people ONLY looking at the Auto Trader website for their next car. As the number of cars advertised by Auto Trader starts to fall and the number advertised by their competitors increase, more and more consumers will look at other sites to find the car they want. I firmly believe that only a small number of customers would look only on the Auto Trader website for their next car. I know if I am looking to make a major purchase, be it a fridge or a house, I would not look only at Curry's or the Rightmove website. So the task in hand for any competitor to Auto Trader is that of awareness.

you're right - you do have a potty mouth

a few to be getting on with: KAK KXJ UWH XYK

I'm running out of good 'X' words now! zips up zealously zoos understand zebras

jane's normal x-ray?

xerox dead, sorry xylophone dings silently xenons dimmed subtly

It's the most hopelessly addictive game - don't do it! Alternatively, download it for your phone or tablet from google play or apple store ... prepare to lose hours of your life, though! http://haydaygame.com/

Sounds a great game, unfortunately I'm too busy playing HayDay...

... calling GreenGiant

I used to use Dragon2000 until they put their monthly subscription up a huge amount which no longer made it feasible for me to continue using. I have now been using 'Motor Trade Assistant' since the middle of last year which I find to be very good and much better value than Dragon2000. The other advantage is that it has a Cash Book built in as well which makes VAT returns etc much easier. Dragon2000 would output to Sage, but I never really got on with Sage so found myself running a manual cashbook in Excel. You can download a free trial version here and have a play with it: http://www.motortradersassistant.co.uk/downloads.aspx They are very helpful with regard to support etc as well. The interface is a bit clunky and looks a bit dated compared to other on the market, but it's much cheaper! Hope this helps!

Dealer Review - but, as I understand it, the onus is on the dealer to provide Auto Trader with the customer's contact information (via Dealer Portal) to leave a review for a car that they have purchased. I don't think the general tyre-kicking unwashed can leave reviews willy-nilly!

I notice that you haven't posted this on the Auto Trader forum (which conveniently is much harder to find now that they have 'improved' Dealer Portal) - were you intending to? For those of you with a Dealer Portal login, their forum can be found here: https://explore.autotrader.co.uk/forums/?forum=general-discussions If you don't use the forum perhaps one of us could post it on your behalf?

I was caught by a mobile camera at the side of the road and received this letter: I replied stating that the car was being driven on Trade Plates (which were on the windscreen) and received the following back: There is a thread about this on the Twitter Car Dealers forum, for those that are members: http://twittercardealers.ning.com/forum/topics/re-you-have-been-fined?id=6602840%3ATopic%3A21344&page=1#comments

You spent most of the time in this video looking like you were going to 'honk' any minute!