Ken

Hi Gavin, We actually have used Law Logistics warranty books in the past to be honest with you. We just find it's better for us to offer the Warranty Wise warranties. On average they only cost about £40 + VAT. The law logistics books were about £7.50 each I think? Although Warranty Wise wanted £600 for a 3 month warranty on a RX8 recently!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL! Apparently they are high risk. We have got wise now and learnt a lot over almost 12 months of trading. It's been a real learning curve. I do enjoy it though, and I think that's half the battle! If I'm unsure in the future, I think I will just start a thread on here like the OP. Thanks for the advice!

Thanks Gavin, We too use Warranty Wise for all of our Warranty's. I've been told on a few occasions by other dealers that I'm a little too soft with some things. But like the OP, we are trying to build up a good reputation. I wouldnt supply anything with known faults. I'm just not like that!

Legally doesn’t the car have to be fit for purpose for 6 months after the date of sale? I have had a similar issue on a couple of occasions where customers have taken cars bought from us to franchised dealers and they have ripped them to shreds. The customers have then expected us to cough up, which we have! One occasion we sold a car at cost to a customer and well below the retail value. They were happy with the deal. They then took it to a Honda garage then we were sent a £1600 bill! We coughed up though, as like you, we are trying to build a reputation.

We've just been letting the customers tax their new cars since the change over. We just provide them with the reference number off the Log Book the day before they collect the car and they do it online. We've had no issues so far. *touch wood*

He doe's well genrally! He does get the odd bad one as you would expect. But to be honest, I wouldnt do it either. There's no cositancy either in the grading system I've found.

There's a dealer local to us that buys all of his stuff blind online at BCA, and without mechanical repots. He genrally does well with them! Let us know how you get on

We had a Focus with the bottom end knocking from Sytner via BCA. It was not apparant until it was warm. Sytner online auctions not bad though.

Andy, Thanks for that. I do factor in services, MOT's and Cam Belts normally But its very sound advice, and I didnt do that when i first started. I now always work backwars from the price I would like to acheive for the car. I don;t like touching anything with an EML on the dash. It could be very expensive like you say! I've had the experience of a Dual Mass issue too. Luckily, the dealer that sold it me had it back. I think I'll have a ago on a couple and see how it goes. Thanks to all for the input. I really do appreciate the time taken for your replies too.

Have you looked in to where you would stand on if something goes wrong with the car after 2 months or so? It could be a money pit I feel! You would have to make a decent margin on it just in case you got a comeback. Do you have dealer portal? If so, enter the reg of the car and mileage and have a look at the other adverts if any for that kind of car. You can also see on there the advert age. This should give you an indication if you're going to get stuck with it or not. Ken

One for got to ask was. If you do end up with a bad car from Auction, how do you dispose of it? Do you stick it back in the Auction in the general section?

Thanks Sensei. never heard of the Bonnet Cable being cut before! Although, I have heard alot of other stories. A local dealer to me, if there is a engine management light on, he simply removes the bulb! I might look in to buying privately Sensei. To be honest, it's not something I've really thought of doing before. I'm not mechanically minded at all, but we have a very good mechanic on the industrial park we are on, just round the back. He doesn't generate work either. Thanks for the input

Hi All, I've decided to give BCA another go. I'd like some advice on how to appraise a car mechanically and what I should be asking the drivers. I'm pretty good now on the body work side, it's just the mechanical side that scares me a little. I went to a local BCA yesterday, but only looked at BCA assured ones, so I only had to check the bodywork. I did end up buying one online as a result. What should I be looking for? Any rule of thumb I should follow? Thanks in advance Kind Regards, Ken

Yes very good advice and I'm soaking it up like a sponge Thanks all!

That's good input Sparky. We are on both Autotrader and Ebay at the moment. I must admit, most od our leads are from Autotrader. But like you say, it's at a cost and also our biggest overhead. Are you on Ebay too Sparky? Just wondering how Motors compares to that?

Hi Gavin, That's really really helpful! I think if I get a problem car in the future, I may seek advice on here. I actually signed up about 3 weeks ago to Sytner. Some good stuff on there! I've only had one so far, and it was as described. Dealer PX is ok too. I'm also on Auction for cars, but to be honest I have heard a lot of bad things about them, so I've not entertained buying stock off them. Like I said, I was very naive to start with and too trusting. I now know there are a lot of sharks around too. I only now purchase franchise part exchanges. I wouldn't touch small dealers again or ATM Thanks to all for your advice and guidance! Much appreciated!

I'd be interested in the feedback with this too. We had a rep visit us offering us good rates to advertise on Motors. Substantially cheaper than Autotrader!

Thanks for the replies I'll sign up for a subscription later I know to be a bit wary of the 2.0 Diesels with the Fords. I always check for any noise from the dual mass for example. I've already had one that was gone! Again all part and parcel of the learning curve. I got suckered in by a local trade dealer based in Derby. He's my accountants partners best friend too. We bought alot of cars from him that we thought were straight, and we have had alot of comebacks too. Our last purchase was a Citroen Berlingo. He claimed it had just done 15,000 miles! We had customer who wanted to buy it, and luckily I double checked the paperwork and found there was a speedo change! It had covered about 60,000 miles. Pretty much the same experience from another dealer in Stoke off AutoTrade Mail. We had quite a few off them, that turned out to be bad. Unfortunately, I'm a little too trusting. We could not sign up to Dealer Auction at the time, because we were not VAT registered. We've not had many bad cars off there since signing up off there But decent cars within our price range are few and far between. So BCA is a resource I would like to tap in too. Here's our Ebay showroom http://ebayshowroom.ebaymotorspro.co.uk/emp/showroom.html?cid=fBkFhyoMSb%2FLcvkqSsQxrQ%3D%3D It will give you an idea of what we sell "we" btw is myself and my other half Sarah-Jane We also have a 14 month son that helps us out. Well, in a fashion hehe. He's our motivation Thanks once again for the replies and input I appreciate your time!

Thanks for the reply :)I really appreciate the input! I too go for cars around the 2-4K range. What kind of margins do you guys aim for on 2-4K Cars? I try and aim for about 400-500 net profit. We have to hit about £550- £600 to break even with all of our overheads! I know that's nothing compared to some of you guys. Sales are slow at the moment. Anyone else find it slow going at the moment? Thanks again for all the posts :)

Thanks for the reply Gavin. I won't give up bud. Not in my nature I knew it was going to be hard and that I was going to lose money to start with. I've learnt alot over the last 10 months! And I still enjoy it I'm determined to turn it around We buy allsorts. I must admit though, 2 of those 3 bad cars were not from franchises. So that was also part of the learning curve again. I have at present 16 cars I think? I'm going in the morning to a BCA auction to look at a few that are BCA assured. Hopefully I can find something! Thanks again for the replies guys. I also appreciate the advice too! It's good getting feedback from experienced dealers. So thanks again!

We I've rang up BCA, and they will only cover a car if its a BCA assured car with a AA report. Terms and conditions apply

Thanks Andy! I think I may give BCA another whirl! It's just very disheartening. I think I have probably lost about £15,000 in total through bad deals at present

Hi All, Finally managed to get on here! I started trading in cars at the begining of the year just outside of Derby. I also have an online company that sells Ink Cartridges. That's really started to slow down sales wise because of asian competitors, so I decided to go in to cars before it got really bad. Its something I've always wanted to do! It's not been plain sailing by any means, and I didnt expect it to be, as I have been cutting my teeth learning the trade. I mainly buy cars from online from Dealer Auction at present. I did use Autotrade Mail before this, but we got stung quite a few times and lost alot of money. I also bought 4 cars from BCA one day, 3 of the 4 where in a very bad way. One had an auto gearbox that reverse would no work propely. That was a 2 grand fix so I had to sell it for spares or replairs! The other had it's Head Gasket gone and the final one the bottom end was knocking when warm. I wrote off about 4K in that trip Do you think I was just unlucky buying 3 bad cars out of 4? Or is this part of the learning curve? I really want to tap in to BCA because the sheer volume of cars they have. Would I have any comeback if the engine or gearbox was bad if I bought it on line via their live auctions? Thanks in advance for your help and advice. Kind Regards, Ken