Bmx Bandits

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Posts posted by Bmx Bandits

  2. Posted · Edited by Bmx Bandits

    4 hours ago, the old novice said:

    My take on things is.

    The fuel shortage was just a news story that went viral and perfectly illustrates how easy it is the get joe public to do stupid things ,in this case queue for petrol, at the start of the pandemic is was bog roll and the mind boggles as to what we may next nearly run out of. Although hopefully its Audi A4 cabrio's as i've got one hanging out of my arse. We run 15 large hgv's and eat through masses of fuel. All of our fuel suppliers contacted us to say it was " business as usual"  and to ignore the hype. The wagon driver shortage is also not far away from a non story as well. Although i do think certain sectors of the haulage struggle to source and retain drivers, this is mainly (in my opinion) due to how those guys are being treated and demoralized at  large mega warehouses where they are almost dehumanised told to wait in wagon, not allowed to go and have a brew in canteen,its only just been forced through that it wasnt lawful to stop a driver from using the toilet whilst waiting on your premises. Then the constant risk of finding an asylum seeker in your wagon who will 100% fight you for the right to hide in your wagon. There was, might still be a £2000 per stowaway found in your wagon if you're seek to have not taken enough precautions at thats for the driver  by the way! Overnight parking is a total lottery with facilities being more often than not complete shit holes. More investment is needed in  improving the facilities and this will quite easily solve many issues that are at play here, offering big pay rises doesn't work longer term, this will be only cause inflation to rise. We have all our hgv's mounted up and a waiting list of guys to start, thats not because we are good at what we do its because our guys  get looked after and shown a bit of respect and courtesy. Providing a   clean toilet, a rest room with free coffee and tea isnt rocket science  FFS.

    By biggest worry is the impending change in fuel regulations whereby red diesel/gas oil will not be able to be used on construction sites. Meaning that all heavy plant will be running on  white diesel/derv. I can only imagine at the amount of site theft of fuel that will now occur. So we are now looking at buying a fuel truck to fuel our on site plant rather than keep fuel on site. Security guards and camera's will have to be  the order of the day wherever we've got heavy plant located. I got notification this morning that the aggregate  suppliers are putting a cubic metre of concrete by £11.00 in April  2022 to cover the fuel uplift.

    Anyway, hopefully those that have read this far have found  my ramblings insightful.

    All of a sudden paying well into CAP clean seems easier like  piece of piss.

    Just got sell this soft top Audi now and a well earned piss up will be on the cards.

    Good to get the inside take on things and I’ve got a couple of spare convertibles just incase you get a run of panic buyers

  3. Posted · Edited by Bmx Bandits

    And don’t think we’ll even be able to buy pasta.

     

    There is a really good article here -  https://www.cittimagazine.co.uk/comment/fuel-shortages-could-the-uk-switch-to-e10-petrol-be-the-underlying-cause.html   about the fuel shortage and it being to do with the role out of E10 rather than driver shortages - they state that the tanker driver numbers have not changed markedly between August and September. (It’s written by a couple of University professors so is a little heavy going compared to a broadsheet). It’s also definitely not spam… not that you will be able to buy that soon either :lol:

  6. Posted · Edited by Bmx Bandits

    4 hours ago, Lakeside said:

    Possibly regional?

    Where about's are you in the country?

    I’m sure you have a good stock mix, are they fairly desirable and you advertise is all the usual places?

    We all have periods where we just seem to have the wrong stock and struggle to shift it. Your doing the right things for a normal market with the price drops but with the market the way it is, as mad as it’s sounds I’d be tempted to put the prices of a couple of your cars, last week we put aome of sour cars up, the ones that had crept into priced low and we’ve sold all of them except one. I can’t tell why but we did.

     

  9. Posted · Edited by Bmx Bandits

    I believe it’s a very clever move, especially if your listed on the stock market and you afford to do so.
     

    Marshall’s Daksh Gupta is a switched on character, and by reporting the paying back of £4m support and the senior management team turning down their annual bonuses, investor sentiment will continue to improve in Marshall’s and lead to further increases in its share price, which is currently at its highest level for over two years. Daksh alone own over 1.45 million shares  in Marshall’s so has done very well from all this news! 

  10. Posted

    I’m sure most of the main dealers selling older vehicles will be doing so out of necessity, their sales managers will be trying to fill the block hole left in their budgets from the fall in their new car sales.

    The reality is once these cars go into the franchise workshops they will be pulled apart, the majority of main dealers tech’s hate working on older and non franchise cars,  the only people earning money out of them will be the service dept. 

    I can’t help but imagine that when the tap for new car sales turns on again the franchise’s that have survived will go back to what they know best - selling shiny new things.

  12. Posted

    I was online for most of the day and couldn’t believe how strong the prices where and across all types of stock. I would not have believed the prices some cars where making at auction if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, it wasn’t just the normal German stuff either, it was everything from a 10 plate Qashqai with 80k making £1000 over cap clean to a late plate Lexus with a single digit desirability rating on Autotrader making almost £2500 over clean and all before auction fee’s. Even stuff needing work made all the money, a 15 plate SEAT Alhambra DSG with a declared gearbox whine make over cap clean, they started the lot over £3500 below cap. Seriously you could go online and buy many of the  cars I watched today from good independent and franchised dealers for the same money people where paying today all prepped and warrantied. Seems madness to me but I’ve only been doing this for 20 years so what do I know.

  14. Posted

    :lol: the pitch would be safe with Kier, but he probably wouldn’t have sold any cars so you wouldn’t be able to afford another holiday, Boris on the other hand would have sold most of your stock by promising every customer the world and agreeing to a deal at any cost. He is be the sort of salesman that would leave a trail of destruction in his wake for someone less important to clear up and deal with all that detail. Rock and hard place spring to mind

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  16. Posted

    Much the same as you Rory, we have been absolutely smashing the numbers, with last month being a record one for us.

    Things are still moving along really nicely this month but your spot on wondering how long things can carry on like they have, as it does very much feel like a bubble. 

    Having said that, I think it will all come down to what people can spend their money on and as TUI holiday booking are down 69% compared to the summer of 2019 and there are some horrendous lead times from certain car manufacturers and models, with a mate of mine being quoted 9 months wait for a Audi Q3, sure as eggs is eggs the population will spend their money elsewhere especially with many feeling they deserve to as they survived what was a terrifyingly and pretty unforgettable year.

    Which I feel leaves us in a good position with demand having the ability to balance/outstrip supply. So as long as the economy doesn’t overheat, people don’t start loosing their jobs in large numbers and we can control this shocking virus, we have the potential to sell good numbers of cars and more importantly make good margin. 

     

  17. Posted

    On 5/10/2021 at 8:48 PM, trade vet said:

    Off topic.Unless it is on over age stock,slow punters,’doubting Thomas’s ‘,that expect extras or money off,especially if it is on older stuff,don’t deal with them.It takes 2 minutes to qualify a punter either on the pitch or on the phone.When I used to buy from main dealers,they often had a hard boiled sales guy who sold the most who could spot proper punters by their body language alone before homing in on them.

    I often joke with my salesmen that I will pay them a commission for not selling certain prospective customers a car.

  18. Posted

    We always find it best to service and mot stock, ideally before advertising, it hasn’t got to be a full service just a warranty/multipoint inspection and lubrication service (oil change) and stamp the book accordingly. Put in in your advert and it can only help sell the car and stop the purchaser taking it to kwik-fit for one of their cheap services and finding £1000+ of exhaust/brakes/battery/suspension issues that you will then have to argue about and potential end up with a nasty review

  20. Posted

    Good luck all! 
     

    Will be interesting times. We’ve been operating by click and collect since January and I’ve been stunned at how many customers have been happy to buy cars this way, my salesmen who were dubious at first, now don’t want it to go back to how it used to be, they call it the take it or leave it close and love the ease and simplicity of the process now they have perfected it. 
     

    I can’t work out, given that we have probably had the best start to the year we’ve ever had, how much pent up demand there will actually be? The serious enquiries we’ve had this week, have been dealt and taken out of the market and we only have one appointment booked in for tomorrow for someone who would commit without a test drive, we are expecting some forecourt footfall this week but worry that a good proportion could be very bored serial test drivers/dreamers. 

    Would be interested to see what predictions you’ve all got for re-opening.

  21. Posted

    3 hours ago, DCS01 said:

    I’ve been driving around in an old transit connect I brought to do parcels in while setting up the business. I quite enjoy driving it.

    After years of being snobby about what demo I had and driving around in a new car every 3/4 months I’m surprised of how little I’m bothered about a nice car.  However there is an attraction of not paying £500 a month company car tax for a car that then gets loaned out for weeks to a customer. 

    I just like being able to keep stuff in my car and not get a talking too if it wasn’t full of fuel and cleaned every day. 

    • Like 1

  22. Posted · Edited by Bmx Bandits

    1 hour ago, Paul C said:

    Found the PDF and got to page 2 before I gave up. It says in bold "Unique proposition...."

    How is it unique when there's Cazoo, Carzam and Cinch? Not to mention, loads of other dealers now doing online selling of cars too?

    The unique could be........they could loose more money....more quickly? 

    22 hours ago, petrol head said:

    @Bmx Bandits  very valid point on manufacturers proactively disposing of their vehicles, not sure I will see it in my lifetime? 


    Your spot on, they likely never will, in all my experience with manufacturer management are they are only concerned with shifting new metal, they really are missing a huge trick, I know some do try and manage short term daily rental stock but are really missing a trick with some of the 36/48 months lower mileage PCH cars

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Edited by Bmx Bandits

    I wouldn’t feel to offended. I’m sure Mr Chesterman would say pretty much anything to try and float this company.
     

    It will be interesting to see it’s value in 12 months time.
     

    I’m amazed some of the manufacturers don't all get together and insist on buy back contracts when they offer big discounts to the lease companies. They could direct the prime stock through their own dealer networks and in effect restrict the supply to these start-ups.

    2 hours ago, BHM said:

    Neither do I :lol:

    I don’t trust customers :lol:

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    2 hours ago, Halfpenny said:

    Presumably you mean the bolt head had swollen up, rather than the threaded portion? This is because the bolt heads are 'capped'. They get overtightened with an impact gun and that damages the cap. Water gets underneath - corrosion - swelling. Chrysler/Fiat bad for this.

    Spot on, threads where fine but the head of the bolts where noticeably swollen and oversize.