Scooby who

I would take the deposit but as mentioned by others, let him know that it is non refundable under any circumstance. Either way you will be up a few hundred. You may think you have 3 buyers for the same car and that you may have it under-priced or whatever, but the longer it takes for you to get it into stock the more likely you will be left with just the one or none at all.

Won a 62 reg Focus from a Ssang Yong/MG dealer in Lancashire on D.A. a few weeks back. Advertised as having ''Full service history" under Service History section. Additional comments read: "Retail ready car, some small chips and very light scratches, full service history" Paid top money, then had car paid for by BACS within 4 hrs of auction end and collected by a third party. Car arrives and I go through the book pack, no service book to be found anywhere! So I email them twice, no reply. I call twice, salesman is off. I call again the following week, salesman is back but hasn't had time to address emails and will get back to me. 2 days later and no update, I call again but "he's off at auction" Following day I call again and told he's busy and will return my call.......he doesn't, surprise surprise! With patience running thin, I call Dealer Auction, they tell me to email the complaint to them, I do. A few hours later I get a call from D.A. who say they will contact the dealer. A week goes by. Nothing. I email D.A. again. They call me again and say they will get to the bottom of it. Finally dealer calls me and says the car was advertised in good faith WITH service history. Service book was in the car and if it's not, then "we both can point fingers as to where or who has it" He says he bought it from a Jaguar dealer, and will contact him/them, to see if they can find out from the previous owner where it was serviced, if at all! Meanwhile I write a nice letter (offering money in return for info) to the previous owner asking the same questions and send by registered mail. Since then nobody has contacted me. What should I do??????? It's and absolute joke that: 1) This dealer is allowed to get away with this. 2) I get no refund or partial refund for a car advertised with service history but hasn't 3) Service history booklets are left lying around in cars for anyone to take as they wish ( if that's what happened) 4) D.A have more or less wiped their hands of the issue. 5) This will happen time and time again.

The latest car that I I've purchased, so I can scrutinise it for faults before it's advertised. I find it the only way, otherwise you get customers phoning or calling back once sold with stupid complaints like squeaky wipers, tracking off a tad, pollen filter blocked etc.

I must have OCD. No way could I valet any car in 1.5 hrs. I once spent 2 hrs going over a car I had outsourced to a kid up the road (dog hairs, dirt in crevices etc). Thus the reason I now just do it myself. I start with a full pressure washing of engine bay, underneath, wheels and door/boot jams. Wet vac every square inch of carpet. Once dried I clean the glass and condition the plastic and generally remove scratches with 2000 paper and compound followed by a coat of Autoglym wax. Would take me a full day!! What's wrong with me!? Thing about doing everything yourself is, when something goes wrong you tend to blame yourself and learn from your mistakes. Others just don't care IMO

Bloody hell it takes me a whole day at least.....you must buy very very clean stock I do everything myself also, have 20-25 n stock. Do the buying, selling, phone calls, advertising, valeting, mechanical, driving to the test centre etc. To be honest it's too much and I have absolutely no time to myself, it's just work work work. My stress levels are off the scale

Same here. White fly's out the door, especially if it's a car targeted at younger drivers >45. However I often find OAP'S don't like it. White cars generally are more expensive to purchase, but fetch more also. Black is still a safe colour and preferred by the vast majority. Worst colour in my opinion is green, followed by navy, followed by wine/red

I never tell them it's sold over the phone, I let them arrive in my forecourt..........THEN and ONLY then I tell them "Oh I just sold it" ! (extra satisfation in knowing I wasted some of their time)

I would say two thirds of my stock moves within 30days. Often within 24hrs of it being advertised if it's a really low mileage example priced correctly. I think price is a huge factor, Most of my stock would be below the average mileage for that year, which probably gives me an edge over the competition. However no matter how low the mileage is, if its the wrong car and the price isn't right then I know because it just sits there with no enquiries. I've had some cars for 3 months or more, at this stage I know something isn't right. If it is of low spec or the wrong colour or something else and it's not selling I drop the price. If that doesn't work I try moving it off to a mate in the trade who may have better luck, or have a customer lined up or whatever. After 6 months it has to go regardless. Even if I have to take a heavy loss, that money is best put into fresh stock I'm more confident WILL sell. I find colour is a huge factor, black fly's out the door, everyone loves it.... except me! (always needs a mop or polish), white nowadays also. Silver is safe enough but a bit old fashioned and doesn't suit every model of car. Red can or cannot be good, they either love it or hate it. After that certain greys and then that's it for me regarding colour

Never tried the 'cat litter tray' Had a beautiful A3 a few weeks back, Strong stench of cigarettes. Valeting every single inch of the car to an OCD standard. Changed the pollen filter and cleaned the glass. Once it dried it was no better. Next I sprayed 5 bottles of Febreze all over the roof cloth and seats. Though I had it sorted and it smelled like new. But once the Febreze dried out, same story. Cut open onions and placed coffee granules inside the car which masked it a bit. Tried two of those vanilla odour bombs, waste of time! Brought it round to a chap who has a Ioniser machine, left it with him overnight. next day the car smelled normal again. With all the time, effort and products used, I'd have been better off buying one first off.

Only way around this is an air ioniser machine. Autosmart do one called the Aromatex. Will cost you, but well worth it in the long run if it's a problem you encounter regularly.

I'm in Ireland and need someone TRUSTWORTHY to source cars for me. Would be a steady few quid in it for you, if you want to stay in it part time. If it's of interest to you or anyone else, just let me know.