Daylight

I'll jump in here if TML doesn't mind. I emailed them yesterday as I couldn't find any other contact details. They called straight back, I was offered a package at £160 p/m on a 6 month contract. I guess it will vary on the number of cars you wish to advertise but they'll be best placed to answer that

Haha! I wouldn't go that far but I used the old touch up technique on a set of quite badly kerbed wheels on a mini with no profit left in it (new gearbox & alternator required ) this week and got it sold to a picky person. It's not right, but it's ok

Further to this, and it is a bit of a bodge: VW Reflex Silver touch up paint (on the shelf pre-mixed in Halfords) is a very good match for a lot of silver alloys. If you've got a couple of small nicks this will certainly take the eye off them, as we know most cars sell from an overall impression from a couple of feet away. If it shouts kerbed from a distance you're into discount or repair, if it looks presentable then most people won't look closer. Don't judge me please

I use Warrantywise for my vehicles with a 3 month warranty put on every car at the screen price and then the option to extend at their cost to 6/12 months etc. I can certainly see the reasoning behind self insuring but if the customer is not local then you're automatically into more costs to either get the vehicle transported back to you or pay a higher labour rate for their local garage. The extension is an upsell with margin too so if they can be persuaded into this then it cuts into how much you're paying out for the initial 3 months as well as keeping them from your door many months later when, really, it's not our obligation to fix. I have been fortunate to have very few claims since I've been using them and only 1 unhappy customer, this was due mainly to the fact he refused to have the vehicle off the road for ANY time at all to be fixed so can't really blame them! In time with an in-house workshop I will certainly self warrant as the costs then become minimal with the labour cost being absorbed internally, until then I think it just pays to prep the cars as well as is possible to save dramas.

How perfect. Brilliant!

Really interesting so far guys, appreciate the input. Any information about what you're selling well and what you've had hanging around you is also good as it gives us an insight into where the trends are lying too. Keep it coming!

Interesting Philip, i'll drop you a mail on that as it's always good to hear what other dealer's experiences Countryman- I'd probably say it's been very quiet for me too to be honest! I guess we all have a sense of pride and many people don't want to stand up and admit things aren't great in case everyone else is having it away and we're just the only one! It's not doom & gloom (well that wasn't my intention), just sharing experiences and talking about it helps us find ways to make things better for ourselves or at least justify it a little. Anyone else? Any thoughts on what is causing this unseasonal slowdown?

After reading Umesh's post about smaller independents I thought I'd ask the question: Are you guys busy at the moment? Personally I've had a few pieces of good stock priced very well and sat with me for a while now, no time wasters, just no interest at all. I bumped into another small independent dealer locally yesterday and he reported the same, the phone is a little quiet right now. Is it holiday season a bit early or what's going on?

I personally think there are as many types of buyers with as many types of preferences as there are types of dealers. The big guys gain and build their customer base with the customers that like 'every car in every colour', a manufacturer badge over the door and, whilst browsing, get greeted by a pretty lady in a freshly pressed uniform waiting to serve them tea and biscuits in their brightly lit car palace. They get called sir or madam and treated like they're the most important person in the world, they know the customer's satisfaction (regardless how unreasonable the request is) is of the utmost importance because that is what they get bonuses on. These customers will always shop this way, the big guys take this capital gained and buy up those that are trying to compete in this market but simply can't afford to keep up. The other hand is us lot who (hopefully) treat the customer like a human being, build a rapport and gain their trust through honest trading, not a veil of clever pre-learnt phrases taught at this weeks training course taken by a person who's never been near a car showroom. Our customers come back to us because they like us, they tell their friends for the same reason and, as long as we keep heart when the times are tough and continue to do so, we have a chance of strong survival & to flourish if the business model is good enough too. Something has to give to allow us to work as i've described though, we can't keep paying too much for good stock, too much to let the public see our stock AND backing them up to the hilt to keep the customer happy if it goes wrong. As Phil said, we can't live on fresh air alone! Just my 2p

If the margin is tight i'd be inclined to leave them with minor damage (if it is minor) and then arrange to have them refurbed if they make a fuss to get the deal done. It's all about getting people through the door to look at the car(s), then you can manage them whilst they are there. If the margin was larger I'd always say get them sorted first so there is nothing for the buyer to knock the car down on and asking price is the only option but if you've got a small margin after your service, MOT (with potential failures) & tyres you're better running the chance they won't notice/care IMO. Moral of the story, buy better!

I agree but it would be near impossible to know if the person bidding on each lot is a trade or retail buyer until the hammer has gone down & account details taken. These auctions are certainly 'trade-centered' if not almost entirely trade buyers, it could be argued that any of these poor old retail punters that find themselves pulled into the trade foray for a cheap car run the same gauntlet we do and may get themselves a neat bargain or may buy a heap of trouble.

I think the reason for them being exempt from the SOGA etc is less to do with whose stock is being sold but more about the platform on which it is marketed. BCA & Manheim are trade to trade auctions and therefore the terms of the act don't apply. I'm sure you wouldn't want to give another dealer all of the rights of a retail buyer if you traded out a car to them at trade price. I'm not defending them and I can only imagine how much these "greedy boys" rile you when they sew up a corner of the market and create themselves millions of pounds of revenue but it's not unlawful as far as i can tell. Bouncing bids off the wall though, that definitely is! (another thread i'm sure)

Same here. It should be automatically cancelled when the DVLA receive the change of ownership details but i'll be cancelling direct debits to be sure i think

I watched this with vested interest as I know the business fairly well (no personal involvement, but a family member) and the stories you hear about media twisting things are all too true here it seems. There were problems with the way the business was set up in my opinion, staffing, presentation of stock and layout were big issues. However my main problems were: 1. One of the 'salesmen' presented on the programme as a problem isn't even a salesmen but the group buyer who has no involvement in the sales process. She might as well have dragged an accountant out and told them how their sales technique is all wrong too. Makes good TV though, right? 2. Mary has zero knowledge of the motor trade which was painfully obvious in the programme for all to see. I know there are basic rules when it comes to selling any product that have to be right (I teach this stuff myself), but if you have no knowledge of how the industry works you can't be best placed to fix it. To listen to some scaremongering about how women feel scared when they go to buy a car isn't a good basis to amend a business. Lessons learnt by any parties? I doubt it

I agree that the vast majority of potential buyers will be a lot more aware of Autotrader and as such our stock exposure is much higher with them (I know their market dominance is debated regularly), however; My parents (late 60s, early 70s) were recently looking for a new car (Golf Plus), and decided to have a look on the internet to see what is around to get an idea of colours etc. During this search my mum sent me a link to a couple she liked the look of to gauge my opinion, these were all on the RAC cars site and none on autotrader. I have no idea how she ended up there, as I didn't ask at the time but this shows that even the less internet savvy amongst us can still wander across the site. If it's free we have nothing to lose, so I'll be trialling some stock on there and see how we fare.

I personally wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. My understanding is that distance selling regulations give the customer a cooling off period of 7 days from delivery of the vehicle in which time they can return the car for a full refund including delivery costs for any reason. This leaves the system wide open to abuse to some of our, shall we say 'complicated', customers. I'd be happy to offer customers nationwide delivery at a cost but only providing they have physically come and seen the car first, this negates distance selling regulations and should lead to an easier ride but still wont protect from the card scammers williamblackshaw mentions above.