bangna63

Clearly large dealerships with large turnovers, many staff, varied products and services etc. trade as ltd co.'s. However, I know effectively one man band car traders who do not do service, car hire, valeting etc. who trade as sole traders and others who have formed companies. I am interested to know why forum members made the choice they did and why and what lessons are there to learn.

s and b, good points and well taken. I am coming back into this many years since I last did it, and the insurance, trading standards, documentation etc has certainly tightened everything up but probably no bad thing overall. I will do my research before diving in too deep and making costly mistakes.

Andy, thanks, I suspected this would be the required route. I had a search around and was pleasantly surprised at how flexible and adaptive these policies can be depending on your circumstances and how big a dealer you are. I am just starting out and not in it full time yet but still found some interesting policies which did not over-insure the situation. One Sure Insurance was a good company for example.

Newbie here so bear with me, hope these are not stupid questions: I have a fully comp policy on my own car that allows me to drive other cars with 3rd party cover. But it states ''cars not owned by me''. Therefore if I bought a car at an auction or anywhere else then how do I get it home safely or drive it in the interim period before it is sold, I presume by this stage I own this car? Temporary insurance (very expensive)? How do I cover a situation of a potential customer wanting to do a test drive? I presume, assuming he has a fully comp policy on another car, he is covered 3rd party on the car he is considering buying? But if he does not or does not currently own a vehicle, what is the situation? Are there catch-all dealer policies specially designed for these scenarios? This whole issue is a minefield in UK whereas in other countries the car is insured regardless of driver, end of issue.

Excellent point James, no end of new cars on every media format already, online and off. As a newbie of only a few days only I have not seen a copy yet, but some kind of regional focus might be useful as there may be interesting trends across the UK which in turn may affect the viability of travelling to auctions long distance (or not), and the real cost of delivering (or not) might be put into perspective.

Thanks for the input guys. I have only done a few cars and all in this tax year so no' crimes' so far. I think at such small volumes/profits so far there is no big deal in declaring it all as is required. I was wondering if 'dealer' had some special definition. I was not aware of the warranty offer requirement so I'll look into that. I have always told purchasers I was trading. Clearly I need to update myself on all this, many years since I last did it and things have obviously changed quite a bit and I want to make sure I am doing it properly before going any further, hence the questions. Where is the best source to bring myself up to date on all aspects of this? Great site by the way, really helpful and supportive.

I am still in a full time job and doing some deals from home on cars I have done up. At what point am I obliged to register as a dealer in any official capacity, say the HM revenue authorities? I guess I should be declaring any profit on a tax return anyway, but if I up the ante and start doing more cars, where do I stand? Ultimately if I can convince myself I could do it full-time I would pack in my job and go for it. Any advice or websites I should look at?