JKG

So after 3 years out of the game I'm planning on making a bigger comeback than Billy Ray Only problem is I rang my old broker and they no longer deal with motor trade, passed me over to another broker who got me 2 quotes, 1 was 3 times what I paid previously and the other was reasonable but when I mentioned I wanted to do a bit of research before accepting they gave me a 4pm deadline or the price would go up, these bloody pushy salesman , maybe I should of just taken it but my gut said no, rang another one and the underwriter wouldn't give me a quote because they couldn't see my premises on google maps , whats next, dna samples and pictures of my arse Now with so many insurers / brokers on the market I thought I'd come and ask the question and see if you lovely lot have got any suggestions I just want a straight forward no nonsense insurer, not the cheapest because in my opinion cheap is normally crap Look forward to your responses

You aren't wrong, It's a tough road, luckily I have a very understanding & supporting wife who continues to put up with me, thanks for your reply. I'm a website content manager (effectively the copy and paste guy) for my sisters company, she chucked me a lifeline to stop me becoming unemployed and so I could keep a roof over my kids head, for which I will always be grateful for and I have no plan to give it up yet, but it's not me and it certainly isn't what I want to be doing. I did consider getting a couple of cars, I've got the space to do it, the problem is I live next door to mr & mrs Nosey Parker who would shop me in a second, having never traded from home I don't know the legalities of it and having mr council bod turn up on my doorstep is not something I want the pleasure of at the moment. thanks for your reply

Hi guys. Some of you may remember me but I won't blame you if you don't, it's been a couple of years since I was officially "in the trade" Closed my pitch in 2017 as it was no longer financially viable for me, a couple of you said at the time if it was in my blood I would be back, and you were right, I have a void in my life Since then I got a job working from home and then got depressed, I know some of you will think I'm mad but I really do miss it (sometimes I even miss the customers ), I'm at a loose end and I have some free time so.. If any of you are local to me (Grantham, lincs), and want a free pair of hands to help out please let me know, I'd be happy to do anything you needed (even making coffee), just feeling like I'm involved with something I have a passion for would be a massive help Frankly you would be doing me a favour.

Physically yes, mentally he's still being breast fed Forgot to say no best price, last price or how much for cash rubbish. No emails, txts or calls If you want to buy from me you need 5 character references, an all clear mental health medical exam and a full background check before we engage in conversation

No idea what you are on about But funnily enough a mate of mine offered me a Alto, hateful unsellable boxes, unless you have 2, Arnold Schwarzenegger buys them in pairs to wear on his feet so I hear! Anyway he needs the money to repay the loan he got off his nan and he's going back to his paper round

What Suzuki is it?

Listen mate, you are clearly trying to be funny but this is serious, I'm desperate to get rid of this car and have some "Me" time so I can work out where it all went wrong. Since I started in the trade yesterday I've gone grey, my wife's left me and I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown so please try and have some compassion and take this seriously. Unless you are offering cold hard cash or a 20 year old blonde with double d's and a tight body I'm not interested As per my original post I don't even have a camera (somebody obviously can't read ). The best I can do is get my 6 year old to do some more drawings and I'll forward them to you via carrier pigeon I think there was a recall on that! It was a cut out for the sunroof but they did it upside down

Nothing a machine polish won't sort out though, I do find the steering a bit loose on them but I guess that's just a characteristic

Yea my mate Tony can sort out the finance no trouble, interest is a bit on the high side in my opinion but beggars can't be choosers, I can get it delivered to your front door via UPS for extra money and the car will obviously have to be paid for up front Just stress to your customer that this is very rare 2 tone and they are getting more for their money I don't take coins unless they are made of gold and handed over to me by a bloke with a eye patch and a parrot...sorry

Right guys, got a proper bargain for you here. Bought my first car yesterday to sell for profit, I asked all my local dealers for free advice and they all told me to eff off, not sure what that's about? Anyway I chucked a bucket of water over it this morning, unfortunately I don't have a camera so I got my 6 year old to draw a picture on a piece of A4, she didn't have the right colour crayon so she just wrote "Red" on it, but I don't think that would be a issue. Put the add up in the window of my local corner shop a hour ago and I haven't had a single call! No idea where I'm going wrong. So based on that I've decided to go off and reevaluate my mistakes for 1 or 2 weeks then come back...honest Anyway About this car its mint apart from scuffs, scrapes and dents has full service history in the form of old Mot certificates it's only done 326 miles from new, it does have a invoice for replacement clocks but I honestly think that mileage is genuine it runs excellent, depending on the shoes you are wearing According to Parkers it's worth 10k all day long but I'll take 9.5 since we are all in the same game It's a 2009 little tikes cosy coupe with rare 2 tone paint (4K optional extra) Anyway let me know if you're interested, and no silly comments please, this a serious business, I'm not here for fun.

Just thought I'd chime in with my advice. Don't do it at 20, I started at 21, managed to get myself a nice lump of credit, 7 years on and I'm no longer in the motor trade but I'm still throwing lumps of meat to keep the wolves from my door, all because I thought I new it all and had guaranteed success. It was and still is my dream career and I learnt a lot but was it worth it? I don't think so, I wish I'd worked hard for somebody else At the end of the day the choice is your's and you may well make a great success of it but I wish I'd listened to the people around me who told me to wait. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

The biggest issue for me was sourcing the stock, made my fair share of mistakes, overpaying e.t.c, but I've learn't my lesson for the next time, when it's good it's great but when it's bad it's rather depressing Was based near Nottingham, plenty of dealers in the area so I'm sure I won't be missed

Well, as of today I am officially out of the motor trade, it's been a fun couple of years with lots learnt along the way but financially it hasn't worked out for me, no regrets though, if I get the opportunity I will be back...watch this space, and thanks for all the advice, your knowledge has been invaluable, I haven't thought about what I'm going to do next but maybe I'll end up working as a yard boy for bca..I often wondered what it's like on the other side of the fence who knows, maybe I'll see you there

Mine have always been capped at a fixed £1.00 per transaction for debit cards but they have just let me know they can no longer do it & are switching me over to percentage

Thanks mate, appreciate the info

Thanks for your input everyone, much appreciated

I use to be an anything & everything dealer, but I mainly buy Swedish stuff now, Saab's & Volvo's aren't for everyone but I find they sell well & the buyers tend to be more mature

Ok, so I am in need of some advice, my ears & eyes are wide open Business hasn't been performing as well as I would like over the past 12 months, and I know exactly why, I don't have much trouble selling cars, the problem is sourcing them, I buy all my stock from the block, but they either sit in the workshop for too long, cost too much to turn around which eats the profit or I have to overpay to get a quality car which again eats the profit, I pride myself on supplying 100% quality cars so cutting back on prep is not an option for me, I exhausted all my local main dealers last year which came to nothing so that option is a no go, which is why after much thinking, drinking & head scratching I have decided to ditch the block & buy private, there are plenty of bargains around & I have the time to source them/view them e.t.c so I figured it's worth a try. The only thing that puts me off is I've only ever purchased from a private seller once, I had a customer who wanted a specific car which I found on AT at a very good price, I was open & honest, very polite, didn't try finding a million faults to get the price down (because I'm a nice guy), all I got in return was attitude, he refused to let me have the logbook, made me fill it out in my name, wanted to see my driving licence because he didn't believe my name is Jon Smith (no it really is!), so the whole situation was a royal pain in the backside! Do any of you source private & how do you deal with them, open and honest or "it's for my brother"

I've only ever sold 2, both taken in p/x The 1st was a 2002 cooper in silver with 112k, engine/box/clutch/steering all spot on, abs & tyre pressure lights on, both sensors, sold with a 6 month warranty, didn't see it again. The 2nd was a 2002 cooper in blue with 121k, again engine/box/clutch/steering all spot on, drivers window not working (reg), airbag light & horn not working (airbag squib £20 off fleabay & 20 mins to fit), passenger seat back jammed (jumping on it sorted that out), couple of brake pipes for Mot, sold with a 6 month warranty, came back in 5th month, passenger door seal leaking, easy fix. I think I was lucky, but as I said these were part exchanges, I've never purchased one specifically for retail & never bought 1 from the block

Do aston have a fixed buyer fee for all dealers or is it a similar system to bca/manheim & dependant on how many you buy per year? I never got the account application I requested so still don't have an account with them despite the good things I've heard

We all put so much time/effort/money in to making a business work & when you reach the point where you have no choice but to let it go it's gut wrenching, I've been there before more than once & feel your pain, so many good traders seem to be folding up at the moment & it's very disheartening, even more so when the roadside cowboys are raking it in tax free. I wish you all the best & hopefully we see you back up and running in the future.

Yep offer them a refund, you don't need customers like that, they will just keep finding things for you to fix until they bleed you dry. I had one recently, on the phone every week for the most ridiculous things, in the end I asked him politely to return the car and I would give him a full refund, never heard from him again & the day his warranty expired I purchased some party poppers

Unfortunately this is the reality of the motor trade, many of us are struggling & we have overheads to pay, vat e.t.c, It's a struggle to make decent margins on low end stuff from bca, it's really only worthwhile if you have a large forecourt to keep stocked due to the sheer volume that goes through on a daily basis, or high end & ex lease stuff. I've recently been buying a few bits through my local selling pages on facebook, I'm sometimes amazed at the cars that are being given away on there! you can get a half decent motor for 10 quid & a bag of quavers, then stick it on gumtree or ebay where there's a much larger audience & make a decent margin, plus you can view & drive before you buy, any recon costs when you buy from auction kill the profit

We all have customers we would like to punch, dare I say some of them probably deserve it I give myself a big pat on the back for making it through another day in the motor trade without being arrested or dragged off in a straight jacket

Glad you got somewhere with them, they've rejected my claim! apparently the engineers report stated a high clutch with a smell of burning which isn't covered, however that is absolute rubbish, the engineer told me it's knackered, he couldn't get it to pull away without slipping, funny how between leaving my premises & the report arriving at bca the story has changed just enough to give them the upper hand.