RH Trading

all interesting topics, but whats stopping you all from cancelling if you feel so strongly? I dislike AT, its a big greedy beast, its arrogant, its a monopoly and abuses its market position with annual prices rises. But it works!, Ive checked my advert performance and its been unaffected, Im now putting videos on there (inspired by Cheshire Cars) and noticed response and calls on these cars go up. last month I sold 31 cars. I know 23 of those sales came directly from AT, and sold as far afield as Portsmouth and Newcastle. I would never have got these sales elsewhere. Ive tried everywhere else and nothing works and until my AT response dries up, until it stops giving me a decent ROI, then unfortunately I'm staying put. My rep has been brilliant and has been for about 10 years. Im really puzzled by the likes of people that whinge about the supplier and stay put paying the massive bills year after year if it doesn't work!!!, if it doesn't sell cars - they've not handcuffed you to them, Cancel. if it works, you sell cars, yo make a profit then whats the problem? and no doubt I'll get slated for this

Throw away the CAP guide as find its way too much of a distraction, know how much you can sell each car for before you bid then decide how much you want to pay. I started much the same way many years ago and now have a service centre as well as sales. My advice when moving to a premises is people are more likely to bring a car back to you if there is the slightest of problems. when selling from home people knew that's all I did and didn't expect the earth, with a professional premises they expect a hell of a lot more, better prep and you soon learn to up your aftercare levels. My advice is to to have a contingency, put something aside for the profit from each car because you'll need it sooner or later, invest in security, cameras etc, I found employing people at the beginning a real nightmare so don't be tempted to take anyone on unless you really need to, keep it within your means until you're confident in growth. have a stock plan of how long each car is going to cost you, how quickly do you sell your cars on average? whats this against the depreciation cost. and then of course there's the dreaded tax, keep records for everything and invest in a good accountant at least twice a year (year end was always a nightmare) - in some ways I'd prefer to be working on my own from home again, no people management worries, pensions, etc etc but good luck, always great to see new blood coming in

What happened to that autovolvo site you were the head of Jim? was toying with paying them £400 a month on your last advice but didn't like the sound of it in the end, are they still going? have you cancelled with them as well? nice advice on google ads, we've been doing it for some time for autolounge with some success on certain keywords. Good luck Jim, anything that can break the monopoly has got to be welcomed

How much money are you investing in this Smurf? Alternatives to AutoTrader come along all the time, but don't seem to stick Autovolvo promised the earth then disappeared without trace, then theres motor2go, Carsnip, hellocar, and just on Monday saw an advert on cardealer for new site coming soon called motor1.co.uk. they generate hope in the industry that things will change, listen to dealers, be the next big challenger, Its not pessimism Smurf its just you're not the first, we've heard these things time and time and time again and all we get is disappointed, crushed dreams and broken promises. If your shiny new site can give me the same return as AT for a fraction of the cost then obviously we're interested. if its another autovolvo scheme for us to invest in an unproven start up, then its not for me. If your serious about building a challenger then be prepared to spend serious money, I mean millions of pound of investment and wait several years before you break even - I wish you the best of luck Smurf

do you know how much each car costs you per day? I'm not blessed with loads of space but can comfortably get around 35 cars on, at a push 40 but that's a squeeze. I catn physically hold any more so need to sell quickly but not at the cost of a decent margin. On my sales side I've got 2 full time sales people/1 part time/valeter/part time admin/book keeper/ all their wages and the rent/gas/electric ect. then on top of that the cost of advertising, all comes out of the profit (sorry I know its obvious and don't mean to sound preachy) I try and make between £800 and £1200 GPU. As Matt C said earlier I try to get the max out of the car in first week, after 1 week if no enquiries, like everyone else, fresh pictures, description blah blah, then start to reduce by small amounts until I see it getting enquiries. I roughly worked out that each car costs me £10 a day, at 4 months that's £1200 so I move it on and replace it with something I think I can sell quicker before it starts to cost me. it works for me and luckily the service side of the business keeps me busy so could sit on cars longer if I wanted to but I don't carry dead wood. has anyone else worked out what their daily cost is? apologies don't mean to sound like Im teaching my grandmother to suck eggs

Average for me is around 35 days from being live to being sold. would never sit on a car for longer than 3 months whatever the reason. work out your daily overheads, rent/utilities/advertising/wages etc then divide it by the number of cars you have and you'll soon see how much each one costs you. If anyone says they've still made a profit on a car after 12 months I'd doubt it but guess it depends on your type of stock and what overheads you have. I need to shift my cars on if they go past 100 days, each car costs me about £10 per day, so the quicker I sell it the more profit I make. If it gets to 100 days I trade out of it as that's 3 times longer than my average so could have sold 3 cars in its place, 3 lots of service bookings, 3 chances at finance, etc etc. I'd kill to sell in 9 days but wouldn't be able to replace them that quickly which is the biggest issue.

Anyone know any decent warranty providers? thinking of moving from Autoprotect, but you only know how good these companies are when you need them. Anyone any good stories abut their current warranty provider?

Agree with MJ, I've got a workshop that I think is a fair size, wont even dream of trying to calculate the footage (don't want to incur GG's wrath) but its got 3 bays each with a 2 post car lift and could probably squeeze 10-12 cars in with the doors closed. Trouble being the doors are always open with cars coming in and out but found putting a plastic industrial curtain in has helped. only have 2 oil filled heaters and they're rarely used to be honest outside of the coldest winter months. you'll be surprised how much heat it can keep in, as long as the workshop is well ventilated it works a treat - good luck with it Umesh

Great result Umesh, this prompted me to look back into my portal enquiries tab for last month, I respond to every email, some are timewasters chancing it with a cheeky offer, but found its worth replying and sending more photo's/details of why they should buy from me, looking back had 18 emails which resulted in 4 sales in last 30 days and 3 still thinking about it - all started from emails. I never ignore any, it takes 2 mins to reply, its like ignoring a ringing phone I like your stepladder photographs and your videos must sell a lot - that's something I should really do more of

Thanks for starting this post metcars, must have tried everything under the sun to get rid of the smell of stale cigarette smoke. will try some of these. This is what I come to this forum for, learning and sharing great tips and advice

I tend to stay away from them as well, We've got one in our service centre right now, lady who dropped it off said gears seem to be sticking, 09 Cooper, book full of main dealer stamps this is first time its not gone into a mini dealer. I'm just about to ring her - clutch is on its last legs and we're going to have to replace the gearbox, she's not going to be happy.......and its pink!

So wondering if I should cancel and now go with Autovolvo?

Ive had it for about 10 months now, in all seriousness if you use it as a guide to back up your own instinct and experience on the whole its worth having. since taking it on I wouldn't say I've sold more cars but I have changed what I'm stocking slightly, bought cars I would never have dreamed of stocking in the past and sold for a decent margin, kept on top of the prices and noticed I'm selling cars quicker. I used to have the old problem of cars sticking like glue to the pitch without even a sniff, takes a while to get into it but its not a bad little tool and saves me a lot of time

Very interesting, so did I hear Jim correctly?, AutoTrader are now entering the cash for cars market, they'll be buying our part exchanges and selling them back to us through auctions???????

does the review site not offer a right to reply Rory? its gutting I know I've had a few and no doubt you'll get more in future, its a question of numbers you'll always get one numpty and you cant please everyone. suggest you do a push on asking satisfied customers to post good reviews to outweigh the bad one, anyway one bad review makes the others look more credible so don't worry too much mate

Actually considered this several times over the years Max and know a few who've done just that. Lower overheads and costs are a big factor but also the fact you don't need a huge amount of staff. I've got 2 fulltime salesman, 1 part time, 1 manager/buyer,1 valeter, 1 driver, 2 admin/office/payroll/accounts, 3 mechanics, 1 apprentice (my grandson so guess doesn't count ) and dealing with staff issues takes up huge part of my day, my biggest headache, sick/maternity pay/pension/H&S/contracts/finding the right staff/sacking (thankfully not done for years) all the bloody red tape that comes with employing people. Friend of mind sold his 30 car pitch to developers for flats, sat at home for 6 months, got bored and now rents a small, out of town unit, pays buttons for it, view by appointment only, decent hours, selling around 5-6 cars a month, preps them himself and loves it, says he should have done it years ago. He still makes decent money and doesn't want more sales "Last thing I want is to employ someone"

Hope things have picked up, (Ive gone a little quiet since the bloody sun came out) had a quick look at your website and spotted a spelling mistake (this is the type of detail that will put some people off, particularly if they're looking at buying high end prestige stuff) also agree with bestprice4cash - I'd retake some of your photographs as the angle is a little odd, you've got a Tigra that I thought was an Insignia at first glance Basildon Car Sales, Specialise in German cars and offer finance with Main Leander's also GG would probably have a view on - LIKE A CAR WHY NOT COME DOWN TODAY being a complete pedant should it now say - LIKE A CAR? WHY NOT COME DOWN TODAY good luck, you've got some really nice cars there so don't understand why they're not selling

as long as I'm still selling cars as result I don't give a monkies tbh. Im not a fan or loyal but AT does a job. advertise good cars at realistic prices and they sell and I make a profit. I've tried other avenues and still tinkering with FB and eBay which gets the odd sale but very time consuming. As Umesh said on the video the other day, if it doesn't work for you, cancel and advertise elsewhere. the moment some other website gets me the same amount of enquiries for less I'm off but until then I'm happy where I am. Thankfully I don't just rely on advertising, its repeat business and a busy service centre that keep dealers afloat during lean times. give great service and people come back. I've noticed a big increase since my reviews went onto my adverts, customers commenting on my ratings and saying that's what made them buy from me. give good service and you've got a good future

Agree with GG here, just a publicity piece to plug another classified site but also confusing as they're shouting about a third of buyers not using classified sites so contradictory. would really like to know how car buyers are going to find carsnip? with all the new companies coming across from the US like carwow, carguru's etc. and the established guys like motors, autotrader, ebay gumtree, rac, etc how will a car buyer choose carsnip or even find them? Saw huge posters around here (M6 Midlands) promoting autovolo a few weeks ago, and what happened to carspring.? Motors must spend a fortune on advertising but when I used them last year received 0 sales from very few leads, same cars advertised elsewhere online sold so its nothing to do with photo's or prices, use FB boosted ads, its very time consuming but if you've got the time probably worth doing, did sell 1 which for cost of £40 wasn't bad. I'm always looking for other avenues and will try anything so good luck, look forward to seeing how this will all work out as there seems to be another site announcing every other week

11 so far this month, Jan and Feb also great, March took a dip but back on track now

I tend to avoid UKCG cars for the same reason, had to spend too much on prep for the ones that I did buy and ate substantially into my margin. People that sell to them and WWAC tend to be distressed sellers eager to part with a nightmare. As Daylight says the only ones worth looking at are Premium but there aren't many of them and they tend to command a high hammer price

I threw out CAP last year, they've not been accurate for ages and I object to autotrader putting these valuations on my adverts. Knowing what price to give on a part ex is my job and every car is different, ownership, history, condition, car buyers tend to think its a quote from me and hold me to it. I notice Motors.co.uk doing the same but sending buyers to wewantanycar!!!!!!!! Ive had about 10 of these valuation emails in the last week and whilst ive managed to deal on a few, most of them aren't accurate, gave nearly £2k more on a Range Rover TD V8 Vogue than I valued it at when they turned up, customer well pxxxed off

Saw Umesh's video and was surprised, never knew they had that many people working for them seen the video Umesh and its surprised me pleasantly, never realised they had that many people working there. must admit my auto edit was compromised about 2 weeks ago and if it wasn't for the security team would have been a complete nightmare, someone tried hacking my adverts and scamming punters using my account and they got it sorted within an hour no fuss. To Nicks point - I also use facebook but only seem to sell the cheap end and far too few, even using boosted adverts, to make a serious living. need to sell 30-35 a month, have sold 2 from FB this year but its worth it for the little money. I want repeat business and more local sales as most of my income from service/MOT and workshop. the 2 FB sales came from Scotland so wont be seeing them again in a hurry

Good solid start to the year, 28 sold for January in total but quieter in last week as weathers taken a turn, hope everyone else is doing OK

would love to walk away from the big bills but honestly get a lot of sales from AT, finding a few now from FB but not enough to give up AT completely by a long way, any help on how to get more FB sales very welcome, takes up a lot of time and loads of timewasters but there's gold in them there hills