Mat C

No, you have to nominate yourself for a category(s) and then you’re mystery shopped / checked and then you’re told if you’re shortlisted for the finals. If you want to attend the finals you have to buy a ticket. Or get invited by one of your suppliers / partners. i.e black horse had 2 tables at the awards the other night. ( I had 2 seats! )

The AIEA are in March next year, they are one of the cheaper awards to attend, as the Cardealer Magazine ( November ) and Motor Trader Magazine ( June ) awards are much more expensive, almost double. Autotrader ( June ) is free ( about the only thing that is! ) but you have to be selected by them for most of the awards, based on your reviews, response rates etc.., you can apply for a few of theirs from memory, but they're odd catagories. Its good to enter these things in my opinion. Its been a massive help to us on social media and also cementing to our customers that even little old us can win awards.

Thank you, its been a tough year, but things like this make it a little sweeter..

Cheers, Self promotion is the best form of marketing for us. We enter everything we can, and this year have been really successful, This is the 3rd award we've won along with being highly commended in 2 others. The fact that these ones are decided with Mystery shops and the content of your reviews etc and then judged by a panel makes it feel a bit better. Bear in Mind you have to pay for the tickets for the event too, unless you can get your website provider or finance company to cough up ( nudge nudge Cardealer 5 and Motonovo ) We had a great night and am still feeling the effects. Getting too old for this.

Cheers Nick - thats the Hat Trick for us this year, so very pleased...

I have just about recovered, my head still hurts. The funniest part was I thought i'd got a hot lead as had a missed call from an unknown number, went outside to call it back without realising that only 10 minutes before i'd been speaking to James and he'd drop called my phone so we had each others numbers.... I think the 2 bottles of Pinot had already taken effect.....however the good sport that he is owned up straight away rather than pulling my leg. Also my Partner Steph got highly commended in Rising Star Award too. Great night had and was nice to put faces to names. and well done to to you guys for getting shortlisted, its a big achievement and I still feel way out of my depth at things like this.

I don't mind anyone asking... Depending on the year / model a clutch would be circa £299 for just the clutch, a clutch and Dual mass flywheel for a cooper S / JCW you're looking at £599 It involves bumper off and subframe out to get the gearbox out so its a pain in the ass job, but once my guy gets going and gets his head down, he can sort it in a few hours. Bit like timing chains, he can rattle ( excuse the pun ) one of those out in around 2 hours now as he's done that many, he can do them in his sleep so he tells me.

Only had a few, but its a tell tale sign its done... Get a new one fitted i'd say. Of all the mini's we've stocked and sold, we've done probably 4/5 clutches and 3 have been in the last 2 months. We've done probably 4 customer service jobs in the last 4 months too. Maybe its the season for em! Same as batteries, not done one in a year, done 3 in the last 2 weeks!

Shut your unit door when taking the pics, it makes a huge difference, Also get all your photo's consistant. I don't mind the 2 tone background, and i have a similar unit, however have started taking my pics outdoors, but i much preferred them when they were indoors but it was a right faff having to dig cars out all the time etc..

Yep, taps back on! My price changes obviously worked. 6 Enquiries Thursday / Friday tuned into 4 Deals Friday / Saturday so we're Now on 5 already for Nov and got some cash back in the bank. So strange how a couple of deals can completely change your outlook. Enquiries seem better quality all of a sudden, wheras everything we got whilst we were dead seemed dross or lunatics! I'm staying lucky and holding out for a decent November..

Hi Dave, thanks for the 'Like' I think the market is still there ( he says having not sold a car for 16 days! ) i was just moaning as my partner is bored of looking at my sad face! it always comes good.... well it has done for the last 20 years! I think the Mini market is still busy, we're very selective about our stock but its all kind of come at once, a few cashback high value deals and then all our capital's tied up and someone unplugs the phone. could just do with a few ££ back in the bank and re assess. We're going to possibly extend our service department in the new year so will scale down the sales side ( possibly just specialise in JCW models ) and stock 6-7 examples of these and push the service side as we seem to do well out of this locally and without really forcing it. There's definitely room for improvement and definitely more margin in servicing

Cheers, I know its quiet out there but this is killing me. I know it'll come good as it always does, but doesn't hurt all the same. We've got a big service job in this week so at least I can keep the lights on, but still, need more. Last October was tough too but this one was really bad. I'm a very lucky guy too, so hopefully some of it will just arrive in 3....2....1...

We were on 10 on the 13th ( we stock 12/13 cars ) so were on to have a decent month - Finished on 11 and 1 carry over into Nov - Worst Month for a long time. We'll blow money this month, a real sickener. We're fully stocked and have some ( for us ) lumpy stuff so could really do with someone turning the tap back on....... Please..... We haven't sold a car for over 2 weeks, which never happens. I've re priced, checked pics, videos, even mopped the floor and tidied up and got rid of some weeds etc.. for some reason its just not happening. New Month today, new year for our accounts and hopefully the tide will change. Squeaky bum time for sure...

I love Will you take an offer? - Yes sir, offers over the asking price are more than welcome...

Autosmart Eclat for me - We have to use this twice weekly on all our stock as dust is a major issue here. Spray on - wipe off and it stick the dust to the microfibre like glue. Also Autosmart Blast - chewing gum flavour - give it a "blast" half hour before customer arrives and every time they say, "wow" this car smells amazing. I also 2nd/3rd Tardis, great stuff for tar removal. ( the Autosmart guy does well out of me every month! )

Every Day is a School day. I learn all the time, wish i'd not done that last week, but I won't do it again etc... and I've been selling cars for 20 years. I can only say I think that customers will get pickier, margins will get tighter and times will a change, people will get left behind and people will prosper... IMO its all about customer service, doing the right thing and not getting angry and taking things personally. However I wish I knew then what I know now!!

just make sure they include the tensioner too, tbh I stock tensioners from BMW directly as theyre only around £13 each and thats usually the first port of call,

we use euro car parts or Sutton Auto Factors. HPFP's we get from Neo Bros via ebay

Nope, I try to speak to as few people as possible when on holiday. I have to deal with the general public every day, so holiday is my 'recluse' time. 10 days is my best effort yet without speaking to a single soul ( except hotel staff! ) oh and when the phone rings...

Been on Holiday en France for a week, had a carry over ( CF24/7 Deal ) sold an old px swapper on Monday when we arrived, took a dipper on Friday for a lovely JCW Roadster and then just sold a lovely Cooper S Coupe on the ferry on the way home about half hour ago! Happy days

The fact that Santander charge a % for paying in cash but then they wont even take it at their branches boils my p1ss. So you have to use the PO. How do they get away with it?

I had a similar thought about the Dart charge, i've driven over that bridge a few times and have to remember to pay the charge online. Now if my dad ( rest his soul ) had driven over the dartford bridge, how would he have paid it. No mobile, no internet, no email address etc..... ?

we only sell cars with 2 keys, full stop. If it comes with only 1, we get another cut straight away. However we have some decent suppliers out there and a new Mini key we can get for sub £130. We like to do the job properly, so for me its a standard thing we do.

We usually attend The Nottingham BMW sale and the Perry Barr one, however we went to Perry Barr last week the prices were off the scale, mini's fetching daft money, scruffy cars needing £££ spending. First time in a long time we've waled away without buying a car! Then we always have the Nottingham sale as back up,as its the weeks after and its on my doorstep and they sell the more leggy stuff that we like so we don't get the Franchised dealers bidding - After scouring the catalogue, scratching my head, I didn't even bother going today as most of the Mini's looked like scrap. I think BCA are spreading their wings with the BMW / MINI Auctions and now having 2/3 a week all over the country, rather than what used to be the staple 5 a month at Brighouse, Blackbushe, Bridgwater, Perry Barr and Nottingham. We've still picked up a few from BCA this week, but all having the odd Mini mixed in with the rest, Johnsons ,Bristol Street and Porsche etc... Prices are on the up for sure

Portaloo and a shipping container in the first photo on what looks like a building site....... Your pictures are your shop window. This has been covered 100's of times on here, i'd re take the photos in a better place.. My 10p