M.J

I've already made my decision that if i get any negative review on my Autotrader account that is not verified or not fair i'm handing in my notice with Autotrader, that'l be me done, i'll use ebay/facebook and do individual ads with Autotrader.

I admire your optimism and genuinely wish you the best of luck, but your calculations are based on everything going swimmingly, what happens when you get 3 cars come back on the same week all for warranty claims, what happens when two of the cars you purchased are duds, what happens when you get a week full of time wasters? That's not factoring in valeting/collections/mot's/garage work/etc. In the sub £2k market pretty much every car will have a problem or will develop a problem within 6 months of you selling it. I speak from experience as my intention when i entered the car game years back was to operate part time ''whats the big deal, i'll sell a couple of cars a week part time and have plenty of time to focus on my other business'' haha, how wrong i was! The problem is to earn enough to make it worthwhile its a more than full time commitment. Anything less than full time and you'll find what you're earning out of it is simply not worth the hassle, there are easier ways to earn £10k a year. Just my to cents. Good luck and keep us posted!

A 5 minute test drive is an extended test drive for me! Mine is down to the roundabout turn around and back up, 2 mins and can't wait to get out!

As Umesh said you can visually relate to the area which i like

Nissan X-Trail 2.2 diesel that i took in recently, owes me 500 quid, great for the dog and feels bomb proof, even got cooling cubby holes to keep your drinks cold, what more could you want! When i get something really nice in i always say ''right keep this one, you deserve it'' but a few days later its up for sale Hate having money tied up that could be used for stock.

Depending on my mood sometimes i just play along. ''Ok when would you like to collect?'' Never get a response, just dreamers especially on a £40k+ car!

Walked in the auction this morning, spent 15 mins there and left, madness indeed!

Try Shiply.com I've used them around 4 times in the last month, always got a lot of quotes and you can see full details and reviews about the delivery company.

As the clutch is still fully operational then i'd class the odd noise and rattle on an 11 year old car with 111k as fair wear and tear and to be expected.

What year and mileage is the car? For example if the car is 15 years old and has done 150k makes a difference than if its a 4 year old vehicle with 25k

All the best mate, onwards and upwards!

I'm in the same boat as Scooby, i stock 25 and do everything myself. I wouldn't recommend it longterm as it does take its toll and the main problem is the time that you have to be away from your premises, auction days, collecting a vehicle, going to get tyres/mot's etc. Also when you are away from the business for extended periods of time that's another issue, for example i just got back last night from a 4day trip to Spain, i switched on my phone this morning and i had 20 voicemails, 1 car coming back for a warranty claim, people that wanted to view cars over the weekend that i missed, etc, etc. Imagine i had gone away for 10 days Now i've got a day or 2 of trying to catch up and get everything back in order, with a member of staff in place most of it would of been taken care of whilst i was away.

Done all my restocking before Christmas so i don't have to get involved with the January madness, will start buying again last week of Jan when prices settle down.

If you're not FCA registered then i believe you can't mention anything to do with credit or finance in your ads.

Never actually sold a vehicle using paid facebook traffic, probably boosted around 10 vehicles over the last 6 months, lots of enquires/emails/messages but no direct sales via facebook.

I think productivity is more important than arriving or leaving 10 mins late or early. For example you could have a member of staff that is super punctual and stays after hours but takes an extra 30 mins to carry out each service just because they are not as compitent as the other worker who knocks off bang on 5.15. I've got a part time mechanic that is shit hot and i couldn't do without at the moment, not the most punctual but i know that it would be hard to replace him so its a bit of give and take, as long as he's not taking the piss then i'll let things slide. If he was just a bog standard average mechanic then i may require him to be more punctual.

I've got one that is now close to a month! Paid in full and started off as ''i'll collect next week'' then Christmas was approaching so they said can they collect just after Christmas, then just after the new year. I'll be on the phone to them 9am on the 3rd to collect their vehicle!

Been back since the 27th and sold one each day since i've been back including one today, a good end to the month and a good month overall hitting my target.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year to all!

Bloody text central here! Whats with all the texts, have people forgotten how to talk in December??

I've got one nut at the moment where the deal fell through due to his unreasonable demands, now he's texting from different numbers pretending to be different interested customers offering less than he originally did. I knew from the start what was going on but i thought i'd entertain him until yesterday when i got bored of it so told one of the phantom enquirers that i now had somebody coming to buy the car tomorrow. Within 30 seconds of sending that text i get a text and missed calls from his original number saying he's ready to do the deal, will pay a deposit today, etc, etc. Gotta love December, seems like all the customers have been let out on day release!

I struggled big time with the one and only clubman I've ever had, took over 3 months to shift! But it was an odd limited edition (Hampton) very firm ride.

2 yesterday but both with not much in them. Had a promising start to the month but its dropped off, similar to November. Just going to start focusing on the new year stock now as the end of this year has been poor. Bring on 2017!

Thanks

2 today, ticking over nicely so far in December, much better than November, hope it continues!