Max Branning

What has been quoted by the guys garage to fix it? If its reasonable then prob just best to pay, for the sake of the 40% towards the cost of the repair bill it could lead to bad reviews etc so just not worth it. I do find though when receiving these sorts of email it is best not to respond straight away, take a few hours to think it over, speak to other people and get your head clear with the right thing to do before replying or you can sometimes aggravate the situation further.

Thankyou sir. Very helpful indeed !

I noticed this site is no longer available, does anyone know a similar option for checking timing belt intervals on all models?

You need to be prepared to invest a few quid in the business yourself. I doubt the stocking loan companies would take you on if you have no trading history / premises. Do you not have any funds at all to get it going ? just to buy 1 or 2 to get the ball rolling? Bank loans / overdraft facility may be your next bet once you get a few sales under your belt.

have you looked in your local newspaper for car buyers Often they advertise as wanting anything from scrap to 5k etc If you are prepared to let stuff go cheap then i am sure you can find someone local.

What are these like? Never had one before. Just been offered one at the right money but a 1.0 engine scares me a bit.

Getting rid of them to the trade would be easy, you could list them all on ebay for example as trade sales only, my guess is you would have people queuing up to buy them. Once dealers know there is an outlet they can just pop down to buy some stock offloading is a piece of cake, i would say a fair proportion would have to go to auction though, the ones no one wants. I still don't know if you would get enough people looking to sell to you though to have it as a stand alone business without doing retail sales. To keep a set up like that going you may have to be buying in 20 cars a week or so to make it pay.

Don't most roadside pitches have a big sign outside saying "cars bought for cash" already?

First ask them what THEY want for the p/x. This will let you know straight away what you are up against. If they just want rid and state a silly low price then happy days. If they ask for something well over the top just sit them down and show them the trade valuations in black and white. If its something tasty i may offer CAP clean or more depending on how desirable it is, but usually i will just go in at CAP average tops, this means if worse comes to the worse i can offload it to another trader and break even on it or maybe just get a drink. If you do not have access to CAP then value how you like but remember you have to show the buyer sometimes in black and white how you come to the figure offered to get them to part with it.

Don't blame them though really, the first thing i do when checking a potential buy is look at the MOT history.

Unfortunately the country is broke and the government need to get some money in. Britain has the highest VAT threshold in Europe and there were rumours it would be reduced. In the Netherlands it is around only 1k to be registered. How many car dealers / builders / plumbers keep their books just under the threshold of £85k to avoid being registered ? It would be an excellent money maker for the government to reduce the threshold whether we like it or not. Look at what has happened in the private rental sector with landlord taxation. Totally unbelievable but the government will make billions, unfortunately there will be a lot of landlords made bankrupt and homelessness will rise.

The VAT threshold will more than likely be reduced come 2020. There was talks of getting it in line with the rest of Europe, in Germany i think its around 10k.

Goes over bumps lovely - as he hangs on for dear life

There is a chance that even if you give him a refund that you may be stuck with the car until Feb anyway ? £500 is a fairly healthy deposit so i would be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and wait. If he is a no show in Feb then you keep all of the deposit and re advertise it.

If you are operating in the course of a business then an O licence is required for anything over 3.5 ton. Bear in mind you need insurance to cover what you are doing. If you was only ever moving your own personal vehicles then maybe you would be ok but again what happens when they check your insurance and find out you are a motor trader? If it was that easy to get away without an O licence every transport company currently using a 3.5 ton would just upgrade to a 5 ton / 7.5 ton and be able to do a lot more work ! This is another reason the 3.5 tons fetch such good money and you can often pick up a bargain on the heavier payloads.

Even for moving your own stock you would need an Operators licence. I think if you are only moving within a 50 mile radius of base or something like that then tacho is not required. Recovery operators are exempt from O licence but it must be purely recovery work ie moving disabled vehicles.

When i went to the DVLA offfice many years ago for my trade plate interview, bringing a briefcase full of receipts and stuff that was requested, how things have changed ! Anyway the chap that issued me the plates did explain that they should be placed on the outside of the vehicle, but his exact words were " If it was me i would just put them inside the car as it is safer " I have done this ever since and will continue unless i am strictly told otherwise.

Some of the deals are quite good though for customers, 0% interest for 18 months etc. If the buyer is sensible then using a credit card can be a clever way to buy even if they have got funds available... Its the people that want finance on a 2k car i worry about.

Good value plot really at £150, what sort of lease is the landlord offering though? no good if its month to month. Being roadside is not the be all - i would prefer the lower overheads and spend more on advertising or offering delivery. Just doing 10 a month could easily make it viable.

Would it not be worth investing in a 3.5 ton recovery truck ? If you are picking enough cars up it could pay for itself in no time.

I have had it often before where a customer will give the bulk of payment in cash notes and the the last £5 or £10 starts counting out shrapnel, looking at you with puppydog eyes waiting for you to say "forget the rest". I just sit there and watch them count every penny. Money is money !

I would drop AT this alone would bring 1/3 of your overheads down overnight. Especially with xmas around the corner. Remember you can always go back after 3 or 4 months say if its not working without it ! 300 a month on insurance seems a bit steep, have you shopped around on that ? 400 on travel? do you mean costs getting to and from auctions ? again seems a little steep. Try finding ways of cutting down on the day to day running its surprising what a difference it can make - every pound you save is a pound you have made ! Go over your stock and re take photos, improve descriptions, upgrade website etc, small changes could make a massive difference.

Izettle have now reduced their commission to 1.75% on a transaction, this is both debit and credit card. Although this is quite high on a debit transaction there is no contract or monthly fees so you are only paying when you actually do a deal. I now push for bacs payment but if the customer insists on paying by card i add 2% fee (occasionally if the customer looks like they are walking i suck it up). I do not charge anything on deposits and usually accept £200 to hold something.

I can remember a few years back when 2k-4k stock was a good earner. Now it just seems increasingly hard to find good retail stock with enough margin left in it after preps etc. If you are operating a forecourt specialising in this price range then it is going to get harder as overheads are only going to go one way and margins are gradually being dragged down. As i said earlier how many traders are honestly beating minimum wage for the hours they put in ?

Ticking along but nothing to shout about here. Does surprise me though how much new blood seems to want to get into the game, i have been saying for a long time that if i was starting out again from scratch i would definitely find a different business. There is still money to be made but its getting harder and harder. Divide how many hours you actually work by your net profit and what are you earning per hour ? How many of us are beating minimum wage honestly ?