Rory RSC

If you do things right nothing to worry about.

Speak to the branch manager at B'ham. This sort of thing is dealt with at branch level. Be polite but firm. They missed it and you used their 'normally excellent' reports to influence your buying decision. I have always found having bodywork and interior defects sorted out in my favour painlessly. If only Surecheck were as easy to deal with.

I make some very good money off the PX to clear stock. Do not give them away.

Who needs a roadside pitch? They all use sat nav and they all search online to find you. Industrial estate pitch or an indoor warehouse is probably the best bet.

Don't ring BCA or manheim. Just don't bother. You might be ok with a local small ish independent Auction I can suggest a couple in the North West but it depends on where you are. Best thing to do is list them really cheaply, with brutally honest adverts showing all the bad bits and listing any faults you know of and sell selectively. I never get any money back for stuff at auction, waste of time generally speaking.

Motonovo can be a bit like that when you first set up. Try Close they are a bit friendlier. On a side note does anyone know a rep for Alphera as I am wanting to send a bit their way but cannot for the life of me get a response out of them.

I sell around 40-50 cars a month. This month probably being hitting 35. Stock sourcing and a bit of time off has slowed us down a touch,but given a chance to catch up on other areas. The majority we sell are not on finance. We do some finance deals and it is a useful tool and makes us more money. I would not get to fixated on that being the reason you are not selling.I used to think like that but you will be surprised how many people buy cars of all values without needing finance. Videos help sell cars. Good pics help sell cars. Being polite and professional with a good standard of communicating is really important whether that is on the phone, on your video, in your written adverts, on your social media etc. Good reviews are your word of mouth recommendations. I wished I had started getting them in earlier. Huge boost for buying confidence. A good website will look more professional and should really shout about your business. Use it to make you look bigger, better and slicker than you are. It is your shop window. Good luck and if you need anything drop me a pm.

Whilst BHM lives in the past and places no emphasis on reviews a more modern dealer would respond to any negative review. Just rip them to shreds factually, show them up for the numpty they are anyone reading will see you are a good dealership.

Can I go home yet?

I couldn't understand that either. I just can't get excited about electric cars in the slightest. They do nothing for me.

The most honest and brutual adverts I write are for the cheapies. Rare to have them in stock more than about 48hours. Price it cheap and they will sell. Be selective with who you sell to.

What do your Ts and C's say? Make him bring it back, its an old banger and you are being more than fair. Hardly means an old banger is not of satisfactory quality or fit for purpose. Help me help you sir.

Got a lad in with a fancy camera to take pictures for us. Absolute nightmare at first as it really knocked us back in quality. Iphone and Samsung were better as they auto adjust everything. With the fancy cameras you really need to spend considerable time editing to get it right, finally just about back up there now. Video walkrounds are awesome.

Use a £50 a time valeting place and get a cheap PX worth say £100/£150 and just always leave it there when you don't have a car there. Even when the car blows up just scrap it. Time saver. You can then get on doing more useful things for your business instead of cleaning the cars.

Always feel really sad for them when a bloke turns up in his 40's / 50's buying a car and its an old parent paying for it. Sometimes people hit hard times, more often than not I suspect its permanent hard times.

Think of it like this as as well because I used to be a bit like you back when we first started. Now we are more established we get a lot of walk on customers. I think around 60% of customers we have had no contact with ( email / phone / facebook / carrier pigeon) . They just turn up. Lets say its 9am and I get a call from someone who says is the X5 still for sale thinking of coming round a bit later. Yes it is. I always ask them are they coming a long way, do they want to secure the car with a £100 holding deposit, all my adverts mention the deposit and all my videos mention the deposit. This sorts out the men from the boys and the serious ones travelling from London, or booking a flight from Aberdeen will do it. Lets say 10:30 I open office door someones looking at X5 likes it and says I want it mate, let me pay the asking price and I will even buy it on finance netting you a nice bit of commission. Do I say -'nah sorry mate, some guy called earlier' or do I say ' Old out yer hand geezer'. If a few hours later the original caller turns up to view it and finds out its sold I do not feel bad, not even for a second because they had the choice for it not to be like that. Simple.

Its for sale until its sold. First to see can have it. Not a chance and you are being too nice. Sell it to whoever pays first. I offer £100 refundable holding deposits to secure the car and if you don't like or I have mis described the car then have your deposit back.

Should not have bid on it then should you...

Call BS on that one

Put a 56 1.6 petrol Touran on Autotrader 130k 500- rough looking thing 2 weeks mot and I just gave a brutal advert. runs and drives but its very battered. 8pm last night - 10pm last night the calls were coming in. Best price mate? Its a bit above my budget mate Does it need any work mate? Will you take a px mate? African trader bloke rang this morning, came down half an hour later took 2 minutes to look at it and snapped it up- could not wait to remove it from AT.

Some terrible advice being dished out here. Trade vet come on it is not all doom and gloom. Get a finance company to set you up, Close or Motonovo, get a broker to help with the declines do not use Jigsaw the automatic broker Close send declines to. Close pay more Commission and are a lot more helpful and supportive when setting up. Need anymore help or advice PM me.

John France @ Premier Car Insurance Winsford saved us an absolute fortune and has been a thoroughly decent chap to deal with. 01606 863400

One of the easiest parts of the business is the avenues to source stock. Auction. Main dealer connect. Private. Offer car buying service or hunt down the classifieds. Trade ins. Buying and making money, not so easy. Not much more to it.

Its not your website. Autotraders sites are not great either. Check your stock is being displayed correctly as sometimes glitches can happen with AT and moving stuff around, speak to your AT rep and get them out to go through performance with you. Don't listen to the upsell but some of what they say will be useful. You may just be quiet so hammer your social medial, throw some special offers, clear those sticking bits of stock and rewrite your adverts and make sure that you have good images. Get this last bonk holiday out of the way and then get ready for a busy September. Best of luck.