Scooby who

Will there be a printed hard copy version at all?

Exactly that! Used to buy these years back when they went wrong, fit a clutch pedal and slave , tweak a few wires here and there, and it was a manual!

Take what you agreed on and move on. It's happened us all, I've sold cars for 1000 less than advertised due to having too many figures in my head. Very embarrassing situation after you realise your mistake. Have resorted to only referring to my website now for pricing and never trusting the few brain cells remaining in my head.

Wow! Wish there were people like this near me. I cannot get anyone to work for money let alone for free. Had a 22 year old for a couple of weeks doing valeting, spent more time on Facebook and Snapchat that he did cleaning. Young people are not eager to work in my experience. Give this guy a medal

I asked this of my accountant recently when doing returns and my understanding is that we can offset vat for goods purchased but not also a service BCA Assured is a service so therefore itemised separatly and the vat not something we can claim back Correct me if I'm wrong but that is my understanding of it

I'm buying more and more off Autotrader and Car Supermarkets lately. Buying far better stuff than off Dealer Auction or BCA and cheaper too. I have bought a few retail cars directly off main dealers too and again price is a times better than D.A. plus they are retail ready so no valet or prep. Have a list of about 5 cars I need to get for honest genuine customers, but there not showing up on the usual channels. Very frustrating

People like that make this job worthwhile. Would always give people like that free mats or a full tank of fuel. Sold a £20k Hilux to a guy lately, bought his last one off me 14 years previously. When it came to closing the deal he didn't haggle on price so I understood I was getting full asking price. When he came to collect, he had the bankers draft made out for 100 more, thinking it was a mistake I told him, but he replied: ''No I am delighted with the jeep, and you can't have made that much profit on it''

I generally always take them off. I find people get turned off them and the understanding is it's been towing this, that or the other. On occasion I get asked by a potential buyer if the car I'm selling ever had a tow bar fitted. I'll say no if it hasn't, and they seem pleased. Then they'll want one fitted as part of the deal, as they want to tow a horse box or whatever! They won't buy a car that had/has one fitted but when they find a car they want. they want one fitted Once I took one off a Golf, guy bought it and wanted a tow bar fitted, so I refitted it again and charged him 250 quid for my 2 hours work

This ones not that funny, actually more like scary. Selling a beautiful A5 S-line Black edition in bright red, Young Polish chap arrives before opening time, seems keen, takes the car apart, like totally goes through it. You know the type think they know all there is to know about cars. Takes out an electronic paint thickness gauge and askes if it's ok to use it on the car. Car never got paint or repair so I was ok with it. After many minutes of scrutiny he asks if we can go for a test drive. So off we head down a narrow road with lots of bends and junctions. As we approach the first blind junction I find he's keeping very much to the right hand side of the road and I get a bit on edge, we get through it and up the road nice and swiftly as he pushes it on. We get to the next blind bend, he's again on the RHS so I say ''can you keep a bit more to your own side mate these roads are quiet dangerous and someone could come against us just as quick'' he doesn't seem to heed me. On we go again and he's like way over the middle of the road on the RHS and I say ''do you realise we drive on the LHS of the road over here, it's actually different to Poland'', at which point he smiles and said ''Yes you are correct, in my country is big problem'' One test drive I wanna forget! He didn't buy it in the end, but did make me quiet a reasonable offer....... 1250 below asking! YOU COULD MAKE THAT UP...PRICLESS!! Snap! Could it be the same guy?

+1

I often have cars sitting in my yard for weeks before I get them advertised, it's not good enough I know, but unless I have it prepped 100% I'm never as enthusiastic when selling it over the phone. Also people can be very fussy, something as trivial as stains on seats or buffing circles on black paint can be a turn off for some. I find sometimes there is just one buyer out there for your car and if you mess it up first time, there's no second chance, far too much completion out there and they'll walk off and buy elsewhere. I tend to buy the same type/colour car a lot of the time. For example I have bought 4 2013 White Golf's in the past 2 months, I have used the same advert and photos to sell the last 3, therefore saving time taking pics, etc. People don't notice little differences as such, although one young lad did notice the car he was buying had no tinted windows while the one in the advert had. He still bought it but may not have come at all but for the wrong pics.

Guys After 2015 Toyota Rav 4 2.0 D4D with up to 60 k. Black or blue in colour.

Bought 3 x 2015 Rav 4 diesel between Dec and Feb for in or around £11750, now the same car 6 months later is making at least a £1000 more! Cant seem to source any anywhere now either privately or from the trade. (BTW if anyone has one in Blue or black with under 65k I'm interested) I sometimes find dropping a car 200 can get the phone ringing again but on a few occasions I have upped the price and got better results! In the odd case you have the same individual with cash in the bank to spend, watching you car over the space of a month or two, no major hurry on them for whatever reason. They see it's there a while and when you are routently dropping the price they know its not selling, and will wait to see how low you will go. When price starts going back up they get interested

Mmm...I had a Polish couple come look at a 14 Focus, had driven from quiet far away. Car had it all, a Titanium in nice blue with proper miles, nice wheels etc. After the boyfriend/husband telling me the date on the window glass was different on some of the doors (something I didn't know was dated in my 25 years in the trade) and claiming it might have been crashed. Which it clearly wasn't! They both drove it for miles while they spoke in Polish ( which is my pet hate with foreigners) We returned from the test drive and they haggled on the price. I was anxious to move it, so dropped quiet a bit on the price. They agreed and we shook hands. The lady then asked me how I wanted payment, I said card, cash or bank draft. They agreed on a bank draft from the local bank 10 mins away. I gave her directions and they checked the route on their phone. That was a 2pm on a Thursday in August, still waiting for them to return! So from that day on I never ever let anyone away without some form of a deposit, whether it be cash, debit card, their jewellery, phone or spare wheel.

Thanks guys for your comments. Reassuring to say the least. The law is strange and I think judges generally always favour the punter. In this case I believe I have gone over and above the call of duty, doing everything I possibly could to rectify the situation. I am willing to take my chances should it go to court as I am tired of people taking advantage day in day out. For a quiet life, and because I have a good reputation to withold, I always pay out on more or less anything that goes wrong in the 90 days but this time I know the car is fine and I'm dealing with a nutter.

Thing is I didn't supply her with a PDI. Also I'm sure she has text message correspondence saved on her phone relating to the issue within the 3 month warranty period. So even though I have tried to sort it out I think a judge may find I didn't. She really has annoyed me as she will not cooperate. I'm trying to see it from her point of view but still I think she is being unreasonable.

Sold a 2010 Avensis 2.0 D4D with 70k miles on the 17 August 2016 with a 3 month warranty, Customer complained after a month that flywheel or clutch were acting up. I was shocked as car was a real gem and drove impeccably. I asked her to take it to HER mechanic as she is 2 hours away. He drove it and reported he couldn't find anything wrong at all and said it must be in her imagination. He drove it again 2 months later, same story. Next thing I start receiving correspondence from her solicitor, so I send the countries top motor engineer round to investigate. He couldn't find anything wrong either apart from a tiny whine from the release bearing which he said was normal wear and tear and not relevant. Sent his report to her solicitor and offered (as a good will gesture) to supply a 3 piece clutch to her to have fitted at her expense. That was in October 2017 14 months after purchase. She declined and wanted me to pay to have clutch supplied and fitted by her local Toyota dealer. I declined and then offered to have my mechanic fit it if she dropped the car to me. She declined and wanted a replacement car while her's was with me and also wanted her legal fees paid. So I ignored her solicitors last two letters and now 18 months later I think it may be going to court. Funny thing is I think she will win if it does, even though in my eyes I have done everything I can to sort the situation. The joys of the motor trade!

Was at it large scale till the crash in 2008. Always kept a few japs since then but prices have risen in recent times. Sports cars have just gone through the roof in price and the 6-8 week shipping lead time is frustrating. I have a very reputable contact out there who's Irish and very trustworthy. PM me if you need more info

I always use them when photographing, but remove afterwards. Reason being, the car looks better with them on, also local people might spot my name and are more likely to click on the advert. Also it prevents cloning. I then put the registration number in the text in the advert. So if somebody wants to do a HPI it's there, and I'm hiding absolutely nothing.

I do wonder about electric cars. I remember as a teenager enjoying the trill of driving an XR3i for the first time, the performance ( or so I thought at the time) the purr from it as you drove it on. What will the youth of tomorrow have to look forward to? Battery technology will need to improve 10 fold in the years ahead, is that even possible? All fine for manufacturers to brag about the 200 mile range their car offers but what happens when the battery ages. Will your car end up like your phone, battery getting a false memory and charging up fully in no time, only for it to go from 30% to 2% in a matter of minutes and you left stranded on the motorway. The range needs to be in the hundreds of miles for it to become mainstream, otherwise driving will be just too stressful, constantly monitoring your battery power, turning off the heater/light/stereo etc to conserve power, especially on a winters evening. I don't see the change coming as quick as we may think. Who in their right mind would want to swap a 140 bhp diesel for a new Zoe or whatever. Sue as hell not me!! I always wonder why Hydrogen cars never got developed. I believe the oil companies had something to do with it NOT getting anywhere. It makes so much more sense that electric, firstly the world will never run out of water, secondly it's pretty simple to put a electrical charge through water and extract the hydrogen. It know it's probably down to safety but surely the gas can be stored safely somehow, somewhere in the car. Preformance would not suffer and mechanics would still be in a job.

Friend in Japan who used to supply me with Jap imports back in the day, stumbled accross a DC5 Integra Type-R in auction. Was stolen recovered with absolutely no damage whatsoever, just the VIN plate was removed and the stamped VIN was painted over. He seen it coming through auction but no bids. He bought it, then called me one day and told me he was shipping it over and I didn't need to pay him till I had it sold. When it arrived I located the stamped VIN under the paint/filler. Ordered a new VIN tag online and prepped it for sale. I remember advertising it late one Saturday evening around 9 pm. The following day at 3pm I had a deposit taken on it with roughly £2600 profit. Definitely the sweetest deal ever, and I didnt even have to invest my own money!

No-shows are what annoys me most Hate the ones who text last thing Saturday evening to make an appointment to view something on Sunday ( I don't usually open Sundays) then don't show up or ever contact you again. Or the ones who line up 3 or 4 cars just like the one your selling, just you happen to be at the end of there route and again they don't show cause the end up buying car 1, 2 or 3. Or the ones who drive everything on the lot so they get a feel for which model they'd like to buy. Head away without even pretending to be interested and say something like " thanks for that!" Then buy that model online from Motorpoint or the like.

I've bought quiet a few cars from them. Stock is hit and miss with some terrible rubbish been traded. Prices are generally low and they display a guide price which each car generally sells for. Descriptions can be inacurate at times, bought an A3 which was described with 'turbo whistle' only for it to be a DMF issue, when I complained I got satisfaction and was told they are not mechaincs, neither am I, but any idot would know it was DMF clatter. Birmingham branch is the worst, with very inaccurate appraisals from my experience

Copart are gangstas. I'm not surprised

Then there's the resident 'web designer' hanging out inside the side mirror. Every morning he has a new website between the mirror and door. For that I use a toothpick and the cordless vacuum. Tickle the web till he comes running out for dinner only to be sucked up by the James Dysons fly catcher. Still on the go for the avid DIY'er.................remember a pea sized measure of hardener to a golf ball measure of isopon is best