colnecarcentre

I spotted it last week and added it to the list of things to try and remember to do at handover. As we are just sales and don't carry out repairs it should work well for us... well, here's hoping!

Just had a chuckle!!! Watching 'The Sheriffs are coming' on BBC1 this evening. The Court enforcement officer is trying to enforce a Court Judgement on a Used car Dealer. The stock is not in the name that the order is named in.... The stock is owned by Used Car Sales Colne Ltd.... The company that is named on the website I originally commented on. Be interesting if those that parted with money on the original website scam were watching.... as it seems the company has assets!!!

Sometimes I do wonder if it is me. Following the information gleaned (and Thanks for all assistance on that) Consumer Direct have taken all the information. Their next suggestion made me chuckle though, they recommend I register for Telephone Preference Service to stop any future phone calls !!!! Why do I think they haven't just understood fully.

That's the company details, I managed to find that myself whilst just sat at home. But, thanks for the link and support. Now a matter of getting the pistonheads link to open!!!!

Not sure if it's a heads up, or a request for advice!!! Since Thursday I have had an influx of phone calls for cars I do not have in stock. Initially I assumed that it was just a wrong number, but, after the third call I started to question each caller until a pattern emerged. A large number of cars for sale at knock down prices, no phone number on the website concerned.... The company name on the website is used car sales (colne) ltd. My company is Colne Car Centre, google, used car sales Colne and we come up as the first garage on the list. This website asks you to register, pay for the car, which is then shipped to the buyer within 5 days, once you have it you have 3 days to inspect and if you don't like it, your money back.... All backed by their money back guarantee. I have contacted the Police and managed to get a log number, but, Fraud action wont log it as no fraud has occurred against me, Trading Standards and Consumer Direst are the same. I am now resorting to telling people who ring to please contact the Police or consumer direct to log it, just to create some form of log about it. After getting on to the website it shows an address in Burnley, which when you google is a 2 bed terraced house. I had a call earlier today from a guy who was at the address trying to find the forecourt to look at the 1281 cars they show as in stock. He confirmed the address is deserted. These cars that are on the website are being advertised somewhere.... AND they will have been lifted off other websites. I have to assume it is a scam... The website is colne-usedcars.com if you get five minutes search and see if any of your stock is on there, if so, please contact whoever you think fit, at least if someone approaches it from that angle it may be enough for someone to do something about it. At the moment I am only getting calls from people wanting to visit and see these silly cheap cars..... The next worry is when I start getting the calls from people who have paid the money and the car has not arrived... Even though I have absolutely no relation to this scam set up... Try telling that to a confused buyer who has been ripped off. Suggestions would be appreciated.

So, "That's the deposit, how would you care to pay your balance?" Is not as customer friendly as I thought..... Perhaps I better have a re-think!

Thanks... I can at least have a look

Does any one have any suggestions for a real sub... SUB prime lender. I have a customer who has fallen down the ladder... already knocked back at Advantage, First Response and MoneyBarn level. If anyone has any recommendations of one of the 'black box' PIN number lenders that you have some decent experience with, I'd appreciate the heads up!

December feels more upbeat than November. Only on 3 so far, two being cheapies under a Grand, but, a decent retail one with it and a few enquiries about.... fingers crossed!

I've a Merc SL500 coming up 12 years old in February, Warrantywise are in the region of £500 for a decent 6 month warranty for that with up to £2500 claim limit if it helps.

I've sold quite a few of the C1, 107 and Aygo. Always a cracking first car, cheap to run and insure. I have got in to the habit now of making sure I remove the rear upper brake light and the light clusters, clean them up really well and a nice silicon seal to avoid some of the water ingress issues. I have done some rear hatch seals too but expensive for what they are. If over 60k I get the water pump done, they have a habit of leaking and had one cause a problem with starter and alternator. On a couple of older ones had clutch kits replaced. Kit is about £40 plus Vat and 3 hours labour. Touch wood, over the past few years, I reckon I've sold 60 plus and only had the odd warranty job back. I must admit, the higher the mileage the slower they sell, but, priced right they always tend to sell and make a bob or two

I've used Barclays for years! Bank charges work out at £6.50 per month, then I get a loyalty reward back of something like £1.85 for some reason. We use faster pay a lot. Only time one has ever gone overnight was from First Direct on a car that the customer came to see at 6.00pm on a Wednesday night but wanted to take with her.

table dancers?..... okay posting time....I need that 25!!!!

I may be a bit off tangent here, but, just reading the email off the customer he is looking for a bit of a face saver. Both of you will have been told you each have a case, but, both of you have looked at this in the cold light of day and thought..... hang on! If you are back to getting along, I'd be trying to chat with him, off the record, be dead straight and ask two questions, 1.... Does he still like the car.... if he's fallen out with it, you are going round and round in circles anyway, it just becomes a thorn in everyone's side. 2, being reasonable, as you are both attempting to be, what does he seriously consider to be acceptable for you both to put this to bed and move on. If you get a response that you feel is acceptable to the pair of you, bite the bullet, but, ask him if he would put it in writing to you via email that x and y will resolve the situation. I've only ever once had to go to court in 32 and a bit years of being in this job.... we won, but, it is not something I'd readily repeat. Good luck however it transpires though.

Back in around 2004 I had to do a vehicle refund on a new Peugeot 307 for a customer when I was GM at a Peugeot dealer. The customer had had the car for 3 or 4 months and covered 3 or 4000 miles. I recall at the time, after researching it online that the RAC had a mileage calculation which worked out at around 45p per mile. HMRC still quote 45p per mile if you are claiming expenses, if that helps in any way.

October 1983, straight from school, into the family Citroen dealership..... First car sold a GSA Special in brown with brown velour interior!!!..... Then the memories of the part exchanges ..... Marina TC's, Allegro Equipe's, Fiat 126's and the odd 124. The virtues of the old vinyl roof's so we didn't have to paint, pin striping the oldest car on the forecourt and calling it a Special Edition. Getting to drive anything that was taxed at the time, over the moon when you got your first Citroen LNA as a demo......

Catching up on the reading on a Saturday afternoon! I recently purchased a pre-reg Twingo off a Renault Retail dealer for a customer. I received an email from their Finance department with the pro-forma invoice stating unless I paid by Bank Transfer at least one day prior to collection there would be fee's incurred for debit card and credit card transactions. I must admit, I don't charge for Debit cards, but, do push Faster pay when I can.

Some Manufacturers do a 'Master set'. If you tend to stock a few of one brand it can be very useful, I have VW one which gets me out of the mud with the four brands and some BMW's. It originally cost me about £60 plus VAT off my local friendly VW dealer, but paid for itself time and time again.

Our local Autosmart does a thing called Aromatex Neutrox, you buy the insert for around £60 plus the VAT and he lends you the fogging machine, set it off for a couple of hours and then re-check it after. I used it on one with spilt milk in the boot on a 5 series, I had it in my mind I could still smell it, but, the guy who bought the car never mentioned it at all. The coffee works too to help disguise it, but, the fogger seems to get rid of the smell with some effect. The insert is good for about 10 uses, so very cost effective after a decent valet.

It does work, but, it took a bit of trial and error to come up with the right format to answer the initial email enquiry to gain a response as you don't have the customers contact details. Biggest let down is if you have a high spec vehicle that commands a premium as the site doesn't seem to differentiate.

We had a 'webuyanycar.com' office open up on the supermarket car park across from us. I ended up having some signs done for the Showroom windows and have bought quite a few over the past year, most have been crackers. I take V5, copy of drivers licence and a utility bill, plus all payments have to be made direct to the registered keepers bank account, or Finance company direct if needed. I now always check on the Vehicle information site first to ensure the V5 I have is current, just in case of a log book loan that hasn't been picked up on. The webuyanycar office over the road closed a few months ago, not just had as much traffic since, but still get the odd one or two.

Quiet start, but, a 2013 VW Passat Estate sold has put a smile on my face!.... Onward and Upwards...

So long as it is 'yellow slipped' there shouldn't be an issue, but, still gives me the colly wobbles these days

If it helps... I tend to put £100 per car sold into a deposit account and use it as my contingent liability fund, I use World of warranty to administer it, but, invariably end up just dealing with the customer directly. If I am selling out of area, or if someone wants a higher level of cover or for a longer period I use mainly Warantywise. They do some decent point of sale... (apart from the complicated and convoluted flag, but.... that's another story) and I have been quite impressed with them if I have had a claim. I do like to think that we send everything out properly prepared and try to cover all bases.