Max Branning

This is the problem with relying on someone else to deliver the car, The dealer says the service book was in the car, you say it was not when the car was delivered. It is your word against theirs i am afraid as annoying as it is. I dont see how you could make a claim against them unless the car delivery guy marked it down as having no service book present on collection? I try to pick up everything myself these days but when i cant i make sure before the delivery guy takes the car he checks everything is as described, including all paperwork present.

Virtually every renault megane scenic that i ever come into contact with (usually by part exchange) has a new digi dash fitted, no problem really if you have proof of the changed unit and it stacks up with the MOT history. Some customers will shy away from this type thing and some really dont care if the price is right and you have the documentation. I just wouldnt go out of my way looking for something like this.

Speak to a mortgage broker before going to the Halifax. A good one will more than likely charge for their services but they know exactly what the lenders need to get the mortgage through otherwise you could end up getting an agreement in principle from the bank just to end up getting turned down later down the line. They will also have access to all rates across lenders so you could end getting a much better deal with a broker.

The cars should be appraised better before being auctioned, its obvious most buyers cannot physically come and view the car before buying so you are relying on the person listing the car to give a good description. They often hide behind the words "cars have not been mechanically inspected in our workshops" but why not when they have a workshop and mechanics on site? It would take 10 minutes for a skilled mechanic to give the car a quick inspection and appraise the car to a reasonable trade standard. As a car dealer you must expect a lemon now and again and things will crop up that you didnt see or hear at the auctions but the majority of the time the sellers on these type of sites really just do not care - Its a trade sale - tough luck...!

Dont run before you can walk ! Start selling a few cars and let nature take its course, things will fall into place within time. I am assuming you are gonna be closing your fencing business? Trying to buy and sell cars while running around putting fences up will be a nightmare, unless your just aiming to sell 1 or 2 cars a month from home on the side maybe?

Ask to borrow Green giants diagnostic tool, this should resolve any issues.

2 months can sometimes feel like 2 years when you keep looking at the same car day after day and no one seems to want to look at it. One thing i like doing is moving my stock around on the pitch every week or so just so certain cars dont feel like there growing roots in one place, i have had customers that will come in one day and walk past a car and not look at it - they come back one week later and the same car is in a different spot and for some reason they want to have a look round it, i would guess its the same in any retail business, shop window displays etc.

I would say 6 weeks is the average for me. Some stuff shifts within days and some sits for several months. If something is hanging around for more than 3 months and i have done everything i can to shift it then i will consider price dropping to clear it. A lot also depends on how much space you have, if you have space for it to sit there then some would just leave it until it sells, if your struggling for space then it could be more efficient to get it gone and replace it with some fresh stock.

Each to their own, and i get the thing about not having enough time but... If you sell say 200 cars a year x £99 = £19800 Last year i would say i spent no more than £3000 on repairs to customers so this is big money savings we are talking about. Obviously you could have a bad year and pay out much more but really would it ever be more than £19800 ?? I would not touch an insurance warranty with a barge pole - unless the customer really wants one and they are paying for it.

I self warrant but recently received an email from a company offering a 12 month bells and whistle warranty for £92 this sounds good i think...maybe i can upsell these to my customers for say £150 a nice little side line. After reading the small print on cars over 6 years old , which is the vast majority of my stock, it only covers 50% of the parts and labour cost, called betterment i believe. So for example my customer buys a 7 year old car for £2995 then pays me £150 for 12 month warranty. Month 2 gearbox blows up lets say a £1000 fix, poor customer who has already paid me £150 for such great cover now also has to pay £500 towards the cost of the repair. Is anybody really going to be happy with this? I would expect in this situation the customer would expect me to foot the full cost of repair? So its £92 down the drain in my opinion and this is just one example of why i self warrant. Everything is done on MY terms and customers get treated better all round.

This answers your question.... Self warrant.

Exactly why these fees need to be passed on unless you already work it into your margin before putting the car up for sale. Either way the customer needs to be paying.

Was actually a youngish bloke, i didnt bother asking why he had a towbar, didnt really want to get into it...ive had enough nutters lately to last a lifetime.

Why does someone put a towbar on a 1.0 toyota yaris? Just had one come in p/x tidy little thing but i think i will remove the towbar before up for sale, its annoying me looking at it.

2.5% on debits ??? Shop around even if you have only just started trading there is no way you should be paying that. I am with paymentsense and although i have heard some bad reviews on them i have never had a problem. I have considered switching to a possible cheaper option but really just have not got round to it yet. I think i pay 0.2% on debits + 40p or something like that. Around 3% credit which gets passed on.

Yes some buyers could be put off by this and if it really meant them walking over a £10 charge then i would probably just say "ok dont worry we will let it go this time " but many will just accept it i think. No one has ever really moaned about the 3% credit card fee, they always pay it. I have had several customers now do a bank transfer with their phones when my card machine went down so this could become the norm if a fee is being charged to use plastic.

What about just passing this fee on? With the increase in debit card charges i am now thinking of passing this fee on to the customer. My statements seem to be increasing month on month. I have always added 3% for a credit card transaction which i think is reasonable, but have never charged for debits. I will maybe now add 1% for debit payments or they can do a bank transfer for free. Anyone else doing this?

I usually tell them to come in and see me and then we can discuss the price and see what i can do for them. If they actually bother to turn up then its worth sorting something out, often these morons that just ask for your best price without even seeing the car dont turn out to be buyers anyway. By the way Umesh my guess is hes looking for the 999 to be taken off " for cash mate"

You do not have to give his p/x back. You just refund the full asking price the car was purchased at and keep it especially if you are able to turn a few quid out of it. If the customer is not happy just explain that it is not financially viable for your business to repair the vehicle and a refund is the only option, if he does not like it still then tell him to take it further and just wipe your hands of him.

Has anybody signed up with a dealer package with Autovolo? If so what is it costing you and have you any response at all from your adverts? Is it worth looking into?

I have been stung a few times and will now not buy anything that i cant go and collect myself. If you have a good delivery driver who will help you and give the car a good checking over before loading then maybe ok but most of the time they will just chuck it on the back of a wagon and drop it in to you with any problems. Very rarely will the trainee salesman who is appraising the cars bother to lift the bonnet and even if they did would not know what they was looking at so its a gamble. What does piss me off is that they sometimes avoid taking a picture of any damage/scratches but just mark it as a S on the diagram. Is it really that hard to get a close up picture of the damage so we can bid accordingly?

More often than not private sellers will want retail money for the car. If they have gone through the effort of listing the car online there is a good chance they have already price compared with dealers. Go along and offer them CAP clean and they will laugh at you. Only exception to this is the people that want to offload the car to the likes of WBAC etc. Advertising in the local rag is not a bad way to get a few bargains we did this years ago but be prepared for lots of timewasters and liars, and also it is hard to compete with the online buyers these days. If you are looking for specialised stuff like steve seems to be doing then buying privately can work.

Do you not know anyone that would come in to the business with you as a partner? If you have established premises, fsa etc then there must be someone who would jump at the chance to get involved. Even a small injection of say 10k could get it back on track. Whatever the outcome though, good luck with whatever you choose to do next.

If they let there own "mobile" mechanic do anything at all to the car i would not offer to help them. How do you know this mechanic has not made a bit more work for himself knowing you are a friendly dealer who does not mind forking out for repairs. Tell them to pee off as politely as possible.

Is there no way you can keep it going without stock funding? Overdraft or loan, get some cheaper stock in and turn them over and try and build it back up?