Nick

Hi all, Just a real quick question. Can I claim back a car service on my own car as part of my expenses? Cheers, Nick.

Thanks for the replys guys. Helpful as usual, shame you can't just walk in and take there better px's. Back to Manheim........Or are there any other good auction houses in and around the south west? Bristol is the best for me and luckily they seem to have the largest vehicle amount per week, but mostly newish stock, like 3 years old. That's why I ended up with a £10000 Juke and an £8000 DS3 live and learn, i'm now thinking £5000ers might be the way to go. But where to source? Manheim do do them so i'll have to keep a close eye i guess. Cheers, Nick.

Hey All. Yep still newish to the business. Started in Jan. Things going ok but finding that px's are the money makers (funny as when I was setting up I hated the thought of them) Just made a nice little profit on a auris of £1600 and that was a px from a £10000 Juke which ended up being a £500 profit. So.....do you any of you guys have contacts with main dealers? My neighbour works for Nissan and he says they send all the exchanges to auction (shame he is a bit of a tosser) Do you think they are approachable, as in walk in with cash and ask to see what they have and if there is something worth buying take it? Or do you know if they HAVE to send them to auction? I want good stock like everyone else it's just sourcing them that seems to be the issue. Have also found the people are liking the £4000 cars much much better than the 8-10-15 grand vehicles. Advice appreciated as always, Cheers, Nick.

Right just had an online chat with Zuto and the guy said I didn't need a CCL or register with the FCA just the usual. Trading name, my name, address etc. Lets hope he is right as he is forwarding my info onto the dealer department tomorrow. See Cars Derby. would you mind sending me the form they sent you? Nick

Can anyone tell me how much a Consumer credit licence costs. I have heard from £100 to £670 as a sole trader which I am and £1667 for a dealership. Bit confused. Cheers.

As a small home seller and a newbie. I have given up on AT already. Paid for 4 adverts and not one phone call or mail. For me FB is the way to go. I usually have an enquiry daily. Or at least every other day. You do get some twats or people that have had a few beers and think......oh that looks nice, shall we go buy it darling? And yes the add on AT is very well presented and I agree that people are now searching for cars in the evening on their pc's or phones etc. But i'm sticking to FB and it free! But I do have to do a lot of bumping as I have cars advertised on about 50 groups, but happy to spend half hour bumping instead of spending £50 for a single ad. I do still do use motors, tradeit, and freeads.

Thanks for the reply. I clicked on one website and it was stating £670 for a sole trader and £1676 for a dealership. £100 isnt to bad. I need to get off my ass and get it sorted. I really do think i'm losing a lot of business not being able to offer. Probably being a bit thick but what or who are circa? Thanks again.

It was evolutionfunding.com I havent followed it up yet as been to busy. I did see The Close brothers advertised so might give them a try. Do you have to pay for the Credit licence and are there costs involved when using a company like the Close brothers for example or can money actually be made by making money for them, ie commision? Cheers.

Thanks for the reply. Not good news, i thought they would be glad to have as much business as possible. I emailed a company today, let's see what happens. Cheers.

Hi Guys, Ok it's been a while. Started as a home dealer on the 8th of Jan. I have 2 cars, a Juke and a DS3. Have had loads of enquiries. Firstly people asking for px which I couldn't do, but sorted now. Same with warranties. People are now asking if I do finance, which I don't at this point, but NEED to. Would appreciate you guys pointing me in the right direction, ie, best companies to use? Also probably a stupid question but are there any fees for using them for me, the dealer? Or can I actually make a few quid on commission? On a separate note, learning curve. Buy cheaper cars! Must improve sales pitch, first viewing didn't go too well. AT is a waste of time and so expensive, not even using ebay, rac or any other paid advertising anymore. All enquiries have come through FB. I am in loads of groups and seems to be working well. On a positive note my FB page is getting quite a few hits as with the website. But like I said I don't have a clue about offering finance??? Many Thanks, Nick.

I just used my trade plates letter. but any will do i think.

Yeah I understand pricing needs to be treated with caution. I look at CAP GLASS then look at AT Motors.co.uk find the mean and go from there. BORO Paul, no it wasn't the flipping cars show. I have fingers in a few pies. I work as a photographer with Getty Images - very part time now. I am head of maintenance at a huge 16th century mansion in the Cotswolds which I love, mainly because i'm the only bloke amongst 10 women, hehe! I have also tried selling watches on Ebay, Importing coffee from Indonesia, Property developing, but fell out with family, selling gadgets etc but think the margins/profits/risk and my liking for both cars and superbikes is where I think I want to be at the moment. Plus the risk involved is low, I have something I could sell back to a trader or stick it back through an auction if things go tits up. As for overheads, yeah you are right. But I still have faith that I can still and will make money out of this business : ) If im wrong im wrong but let's see what happens. We arnt talking millions........Yet!! Thanks for the best of luck and I will keep you guys posted.

Going to give it 10 days as it stands now, drop the price if no bites and see what happens. (Not rushing after the Bike sale this time) No overheads is also a positive for me. Also already got my eye on a few at the next auction. NEED more capital. I'll update if and when I sell : ) On Finance, not a clue. Suppose I could look it up.

Well here it is http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201512239640828?search-target=usedcars&sort=default&maximum-mileage=up_to_30000_miles&maximum-age=up_to_2_years_old&price-to=11000&aggregatedTrim=Acenta Premium&minimum-mileage=from_20000_miles&price-from=10000&radius=40&model=juke&onesearchad=used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew&page=1&make=nissan&postcode=GL10 3AS&logcode=p But the point of this thread was about CAP & Glass pricing being so far out. Or is it that dealers are just prepared to pay more and take less profit??

Thats a good idea, the letter. Didn't think of that. I did find an email address on one of her services but no reply. I will ring Manheim tomorrow if there open and see if there is anything they can do. Cheers.

Been to 2 now. Not much experience as yet but gotta start somewhere. I believe there is some good money to be made in the business, i also work nearly full time 25-35 hours a week,meaning i'm flexible to attend auctions. I like the experience of the auction and even if I sold 2 cars a month i'd be a happy man. I'm going for cars from about £7000 to £10000 with full histories, one owner etc. The Juke I bought is Mint : ) But I think it will be down to price as to how quick I will sell. I sold my CBR600RR not so long ago and I'm not a patient man so dropped the price to quickly. The buyers said they would of happily paid the 400 pound more that I had dropped it for after only 3 days up for sale. So this time i'll try and wait just a little longer. Ha!

Hey Guys, Right, went to my first Manheim auction on the 22nd and bought a Juke expecting CAP and GLASS pricing to be accurate but how wrong was I! Cap retail on my Juke is supposed to be £11400, Yeah right - All the used car sites they are going as low as £10000-£10500 (They won't go for £11400) I'm aiming and would be happy with £10750 - CAP clean wasn't to far out on this one at least at £9175. I was interested in a c-max, bmw 1 series, another juke, Kia sportage all only a couple of years old and every single car that went through that day went way over the CAP, GLASS valuations........So how do you guys value? I seem to think AT is the best place to see what cars are going for so who would pay the 2 biggest valuers in the country stupid money if there valuations are so far out? Btw i'm not. What are your opinions? Also would be interested for the smaller home dealers like me to know roughly the time it takes to shift from auction to sold. A week? Month? Longer? I understand it depends on how much profit you're aiming for. Lastly am I missing anywhere else to advertise? I got it on AT,Gumtree, Preloved, Ebay, Motors.co.uk, RAC, FB, What about pistonheads? or is that just American? Also bloody pisssed off that I got the car and the last owner or someone took out the sat-nav nissan connect sim card. So that's going to cost me another £120, not happy. Learning curve I guess. Tried looking her up on FB but no luck. Would she take it out if buying new again? Any help, advice, opinions appreciated as usual. Cheers, Nick.

Well I put it on for £13.03 Classified Add and there is no final valuation fee.......so it says?!? Not to bad then if compared to AT.

Hey fellow traders. Right I won my first car at auction. Ive put it on FB, AT,RAC, Anywhere else that you guys can recommend? Also I want to put on Ebay motors but can someone please tell me there fees? Is it as a classified £19.99 + 1% final valuation fee? If so on an 11000 car that's going to be £110 + the £19.99 so basicly £130 thats way to much!! Am I wrong? Cheers, Nick.

Reggaj to answer your question. Manheim charge £70 to set up a trade account. If you buy more than 12 cars in a year they won't charge the following year. With BCA they charge nothing and gave me a silver card to start. I asked them there silver card fees and they are very close to Manheim. Here is the mail from BCA, hope it helps. As requested, please find some of the buyer’s fees below for silver card holders and some examples of the other levels. I am afraid the full lists are not published on the website, although I do hope this information will give you an idea of what to expect at the branch. Hammer price Blue Silver Gold £3,000 £414 £279 £223 £4,000 £441 £287 £231 £5,000 £465 £292 £240 £6,000 £488 £296 £245 £7.000 £511 £300 £251 I do hope this helps, but if there is anything further I can do please let me know.

I'm sorted Manheim had messed up and also for one with bca. I had better get buying

I did it online so no Christmas post problems. Yeah I agree that they r very helpful over the phone so will give them a bell in the morn. I'm not writing off bca either. One step at a time for me. Cheers.

Cheers for the reply Phil. I though 48 hours would have been plenty of time for them. Oh well, I'll give them a bell tomorrow and see what's going on.

Anybody know how long it takes Mannheim to set up a trade account once I've sent all the paperwork? I did it online. So they had it straight away.

Rj, do u just advertise on ebay as a classified ad? Do they take their usual skanky final valuation fee? And where on FB? I found a few groups that have quite a lot of members but do you know some which our better than others? What about motors, aa, rac, etc like sparky said above, any joy? Cheers.