Max Branning

If you really could of got a dragon on board then that is the kind of help you would need to get noticed by the public. When someone wakes up in the morning and decides they want to go out and buy a new car where is the first place they are going to think of looking? Obviously it is not all just AT but unless people are purposefully going to your site to search then its going nowhere as no dealer will pay for it and then you cant generate any revenue to keep it going, unless you are relying on advertisements to prop it up? Im still not sure if this is a wind up thread though to be honest !

What exactly are you going to do marketing wise so that joe public know you exist? Even if you have every single dealer in the country advertising their stock on your site, unless joe public actually use it to search for their next purchase and the dealer knows without shadow of a doubt that that lead came from your site, there is no way any dealer is going to sign a contract and hand you over cash ( not for long anyway ) Put yourself in the mind of a buyer who maybe has not got a clue where to look for a car, what comes to their mind first. I have tried several options to AT that were all a waste of cash AA cars / Motors / RAC all dead money for me. Ebay is the only real competitor for AT for me as it actually brings in leads for a good value contract. Do you honestly believe you can offer more and have a bigger budget than AA / Motors / RAC and do something that they could not....?

Depends how large your current outfit is and whether you want the stress of keeping it going as is. Taking on a new partner is an option but unless its someone you know and trust this can just lead to more stress. If the current site is doing well it can be difficult to walk away from it and start from scratch somewhere else. Unless of course you have had enough of it and just want to slow down a bit? I know plenty of traders doing well from units etc so its definitely viable if you choose to go that route, especially with 12 years experience behind you !

Just find a local car wash that offer a full valet service. There is one near me do a great job for £50 full works really do make the car like new. They also offer a mini valet at £10 which is good value if they just need a freshen up quickly. I occasionally do them myself if i am bored, but if you have a busy schedule its time that could be put to better use elsewhere.

Just do it and see how you get on. To say whether it will be successful or not is hard to say...one person may start off with a couple on the doorstep and in 2 years have a 40 car pitch - it is achievable....but on the other hand someone else may fail miserably and go back stacking bananas at tesco's after a few months that is achievable as well ! Just give it your best shot and let nature take its course.

1 and 1/2 days to do a valet ??? if hes on min wage then your paying him what £60 a day ? So £90 a valet + holidays / sick pay / pension. I think its time for the P45 to come out to play.... I use a place near me do me a full valet for £50 unless its really really bad then they price it a bit more. They do a really good job for the money.

Not sure how many traders would agree with you there !

For a 20 car package you would be looking in excess of £1000 per month.

I was with the AA a couple years back and was a waste of time, i was not an approved dealer but had their website and advertising, think it cost about £150 month but really was a waste dont think i sold 1 car from it in a year. We offered the 1 year free roadside assistance on all our cars ( did not just have to be AA leads ) but most people either already had it or just thought there was some sort of catch. If i remember the customer would have to go away and sign up themselves with a code to get it giving bank details for future subscriptions.

Unfortunately as dealers we have very little choice in terms of advertising. Facebook seems to be gathering pace with many dealers as another option to get sales but many will stick with the same old costly route that gives results. The advertisers know this and rinse us for every penny possible. I doubt it will change anytime soon.

Holidays are for wimps....So is lunch.

Not really a special relationship, just they do not mind you coming down to view before bidding, where i have been regularly they are always helpful and even if i ring up they will give me any info i need on the phone. They wont do any deals though, everything has to go through the auction. I think they may have had a few bad experiences with dealers previously which i can understand.

Yes but if the seller is not too far away, then its not too much trouble to pop in and have a look, if they allow it, not all do by the way. If you have actually seen the car in the flesh it helps to decide your max bid, for example i may be prepared to go an extra £200 if i have seen it and its nicer than they have described. Which may mean the difference between actually winning the car or not.

If you just stick to the dealers that are near to you so you can pick the cars up yourself then it can be worthwhile. You can go and check the cars over before bidding at some places as well. There is a great dealer on there around 20 miles from me, always very good with descriptions and is happy for me to pop down and kick the tyres before bidding. Unfortunately they do not seem to have a great deal of what i am usually buying but i may get 1 a month from them so its worth it just for that.

I think on a lot of occasions they are making more money on the p/xs than they are on the new sales. A few months ago when prices were through the roof they must of been laughing their heads off. I was talking to a mechanic at one of the big dealerships who was telling me about a car they gave the customer just £1 for in p/x. Now maybe it was a bit rough but even if it fetched £500 on DA then that's one hell of a mark up !

It really does vary from site to site, i know of a few main dealers that offer all there trades on DA and are very genuine, will describe the cars accurately and i will not be afraid to buy from. Other dealers on the other hand go out of their way to avoid giving an accurate description and hide behind the trade sale sold as seen rubbish, once taken away you've bought it "tough luck" basically.

Yes you will be 100% liable for the car if you are selling it. The fact you have a deal in place with the person you are buying it from is irrelevant. You should treat the car exactly the same as you would with any other vehicle in stock.

If you can arrange with the person you are buying the car from to pay them after it sells then that is an option, but you should only be paying what you would for any other piece of stock you had bought yourself. Once you sell the car on it is your responsibility so make sure there is profit in the deal to make it worthwhile.

Mrc said that the warranty does not cover it, which leads me back to the warranty argument of self warranting the cars. Especially in situations like this. The warranty companies just wont pay out or help the customer in any way which leads to more frustration all round, the customer is much more likely to come back to you with the hump after they have been fobbed off by someone who probably knows nothing about cars in a warranty call center. I put £100 from each sale into a separate warranty fund and let it build, when i have to pay out for a repair it does not hurt so much and i am usually quids in at year end. Why anyone wastes money on insurance backed warranties anymore is beyond me.

who said it needs a cat? where did the guy take it? could you not just ask him to come back to you so you can run a check on it yourself? This is what i would do. I have had many cars come back with eml on dash several weeks after sale, often O2 sensor and i will just erase the code and take the car for a drive with the customer in the car. As long as the light stays off then send them on their way, if the light comes back and is persistent then maybe look to start changing parts. Quite often though you will never see them again.

Hunting stock is the killer for me, selling really is a piece of piss if you have the stock at decent money. Would be nice if there was a used car cash n carry you could just pop to once a month and buy 20 units!

Good luck with it...you seem to have the right attitude. One thing though if you are an experienced mechanic and specialize in Landrovers would it not make sense to offer a repair service as well as the car sales? I sometimes look at my local garage who are flat out with repairs and think it must be nice to have a constant flow of work and money, rather than the famine or feast nature of sales.

Not a Chinese Breitling by any chance ?

What is the most cash you have found in a car? Just finished valeting one myself and found £6.40 and 3 euros under the drivers seat Right cheered me up that has

I tend to avoid Peugeots like the plague lately, never seem to have much luck with them although they do seem to attract buyers. I used to like the old diesel 306s...bulletproof them things.