Frankieola

Worked at a city central dealership where space was tight, was common practice to get the customers to drop off their cars at the NCP across the road on day of handover. We had a number of spaces on the 2nd floor. We were supposed to go over and reappraise the PX cars on handover whilst customers were sat in showroom with a coffee, this didn't always happen. Anyway, on this occasion I went over, looked round the car and all looked OK, didn't actually start it or get in it but looked OK. After customer had gone and a near perfect handover, went to move the car..... Can you tell where this is going? Got in the car, went to start it, nothing, no lights, must be flat.... Back to the showroom, get the jump pack, back to the NCP, open the car, open the bonnet........ NO ENGINE!!!!! CCTV showed it being towed into car park by a white van, customer denied all knowledge and then stopped answering the phone, it went legal for a while and I think the powers that be just decided they were getting nowhere. I think if was only the fact that I used to sell a fair few cars that saved me from getting the sack but I got a final written warning over it. Was regularly brought up though and I used to die a little bit inside every time.

As a rule I always allow an extra £100 to prep if its a grade 4, £200 to prep if its a grade 5. Hope this helps.

I've always found anything above grade 3 at BCA pretty much ready to retail. Get it delivered, quick bucket of water over it once it comes off the transporter and ready to go.

Not an inspection service as such, my friend worked in Kwik Fit for a while so he 'knows cars' The advice I posted earlier was what he done when a friend was looking at a car. Are carswithnoreservereading really that cheap compared to other places then?

I see your problem being that you ate far away from carswithnoreservereading. Have you asked them if they have any other branches nearer to you that they could move the car to so that you could view it? What car is it anyway and how much is it?

Can you see if another car at the auction has some air in one of its tyres that you could 'borrow'??

Probably best taking a mate who 'knows about cars' with you? Try to go in on a Saturday or Sunday as the salesman won't be busy thrn and can devote more time to showing you the car. When you first get there, be really short and business like with the salesman, you want him to respect you and not waste your time. Tell him that you are a cash buyer and use the phrase 'cash mate, no bits'. This will emphasise that you are ready to do a deal, salesmen hate faffing around doing finance quotes, cash is king. Once looking at the car, A good thing to do is to start the engine up from cold and really give it a good rev for about 2 to 3 minutes. If you do this and get your mate to lie on the floor looking under the car from the drivers side, the dealer will realise that you both know your stuff mechanically and are serious people to deal with. Make sure you run your hands around each tyre too, you'll get them a bit dirty but it's a good way of checking that the tread depth is even all round the tyre. If it's not, the car might have been in an accident and not repaired properly. Check the paintwork, look closely as even a slight scratch on a panel might be hiding a major previous repair. If you like the car, ask for a test drive. Once out on the road, make a sudden zig zag left and right movement once you get to about 20mph to check the steering. You can also see if there are any speed bumps locally, try to hit these as fast as you can to make sure the suspension and shock absorbers are up to scratch. Check the clutch by revving the car up to 5000rpm before changing up and then down a gear again, this will let you see if it is slipping or not. Regardless of what you think about the clutch, tell the salesman that you think its worn and needs replacing. This will be a good bargaining tool later on if you decide to buy. Whilst you are doing all this, get your mate to check all the electrics work, move the windows up and down, go through the radio presets whilst turning the volume up and down. Also check the heater by turning the heat and fan up to full power with the windows closed to make sure that works as well. Once you've done all this and are happy with the car, you can then try and negotiate if you want yo buy it. I'm happy to post more advice later if you want a few pointers on getting the best deal?

What happens if you are barred from a dealer on DA? Does the system not accept your bids in the first place or can you win an auction but then get told to do one?

PM me the details, I'll have it!

Company registration number is a company called Auto Vehicle Solutions Ltd, do you think they are using a genuine company's details on their website? Oh and I've emailed them saying I'm after 5 cars and will they do me a discount!!

My next door neighbour has an auntie in the RAF.

I'm getting really pissed off with the amount of three post wankers on here lately.

I often get service letters and emails about trade cars that I've bought. You'd think in these sophisticated CRM system times they would work out how to save the stamp money!

Or a bloke on an oil rig who can't get a phone signal to call you but funnily enough, can get on the Internet!!!

Which of the big 3 auctions, BCA, Manheim or Aston Barclay have the most reasonable buyers fees in you guys opinion? I've got all 3 the same sort of distance away, BCA looks the most expensive followed by Manheim and then Aston Barclay but is this still the case when they add on all the extras such as the online fees and sure check and the like? I've also seen that Manheim want £70 +vat just to set up an account, is this the norm or have people got round it? Many thanks

The only staff we employ on site are key handlers, drivers and payment clerks...... Ask one of our staff to give you a valuation for your vehicle! Who is the most generous out of then with PX values then?!

Don't know too much about them apart from what the article said, Glad that they got prosecuted if they were up to no good.

Just had a text from a customer about an old 2003 Volvo V70 I sold him, he's had the anti skid service required message come on, anyone care to take a guess as to what the most likely cause is? Also, do you think I should let his local garage look at it or try to get it back for my chap to look at? Cheers!

Was it a Stratstone Land Rover dealership? Surely they should have noticed the options? The whole UCM thing is how they price their cars but if they missed the options then someone seriously messed up! I think it was them that were banging out new Velars for peanuts on PCP a couple of months ago too wasn't it? £300 or so a month on 6000 miles a year.

How long roughly does it take for the amount you have to pay in back tax to come through? I had this happen to me, paid the release fee, got the the letter asking for details and telling me I might be prosecuted for back tax BUT it arrived after the date it said to send it back by! I called the dvla to explain and the chap said the matter was closed but I wasn't altogether convinced. This was the middle of January. What do you think I should do, chase it up and risk re opening things again or just take my chances and see what happens?

I know someone said this already but I can't remember when or where to look for it! When you check online if a car is taxed, What message at the bottom of the screen tells you if the car is in trade or not please? Many thanks!

A lot of the calls your friend will be getting will be about the car accident he had and not the car he has for sale! Relentless from gumtree! My current record is 35 seconds from pushing the submit advert button to the 'Hello, may I speak with Mr Frank'!!

This email is just screaming out that it is a scam, the language, spellings and general feel is just so terrible! 'taken over', 'parking lots', 'specialized' and 'shipping costs', these terms are just never used in connection with used cars and you don't really need to be a car dealer to hear the alarm bells ringing! I'm sorry people lost money but the warning signs were there.

Lads, We are all in the trade, we can have differences of opinion but let's stick together eh? The world is full of people who hate big bad car dealers so let's just try to get on. This is spoken as a fairly newish member on here who appreciates the knowledge sharing and banter that goes on most of the time.

How would you do this? Not heard of Topix, sorry.