grant8064

Couldn't get to you yesterday...they knew.

At least you're getting enquiries of a sort. Dead day so decided to take a bit of stock for a run...on the side of a verge 20 mins later awaiting a recovery truck with a flashing oil light and lots of smoke. Thank f**k it's the weekend.

A random sensor deciding to fail 5 minutes before a handover throwing up an EML. Punters expecting us to do their private reg transfers for them. Trying to turn a max one hour deal into a half day marathon/outing...there's a reason we don't supply tea/coffee.

When I started four years ago i'd had my license three weeks, only ever driven a Ka and a learner Sandero and had to google how to open a fuel filler on an Ibiza. Safe to say for two years I hadn't a bloody clue but after that period I thought I was getting to grips with it. Then we expanded and I spent a year learning how to run a business after I realised I didn't have a clue about that new found world. The following year we took on staff and I started to understand employment law, pensions, obligations, H&S etc. Next year they'll be something else new to learn and so on and so on. You never stop learning in this game. And there's a lot more to it than just getting to grips with cars.

Back on the subject of September (or would I rather not go there?)....my god what a stinker so far. Good first week but since then it's been dire. No enquiries, no leads, no footfall and no sales. Bloody awful. I got so fed up today I moved the entire pitch on the sales guys day off, 50 cars shifted and I smashed my head on the same punto door twice...god knows why they made the corner so sharp!?!? On warranties we do 3 months/3000 miles, new/long MOT, oil & filter. I'd consider it pretty standard pitch cover with a Lawgistics booklet and £100 per unit dropped into the pot. Goes down well and helps sell. Not too many claims as the booklet is pretty comprehensive and we have some very clear and stern terms on our invoices. Three this week though...my first head gasket in four years, a weird (read expensive) injector on another and a gearbox. Plus a refund on a knackered Zafira...always hits you when it's quiet eh!

Never had an issue with one...but yeah, they're shit. Not as bad as all the 08 - 11 plate PSA crap we get though. Autos...love them but it's always a roll of the dice for us.

Nicer than a c1/107 and a bit more spacious than a Ka/500. Not had any issues with our ones other than the fact they take FOREVER to shift. For 5k i'd rather be in a 10 plate Yaris 1.3 with money leftover to pay for the insurance but maybe the badge isn't shiny enough?

‘ there could be economic chaos with a no deal Brexit and house prices could fall by a third if interest rates rise’ Blokes doing his job as far as i can see, it's called due diligence. Once you get past the scaremongering tabloid headlines and dig into it it's just part of a larger body of text stating it's a worst case scenario. A worst case scenario not an expected scenario. Stress testing banks is a pretty good lesson learnt if you ask anyone that stood outside a Northern Rock bank early in the morning a decade ago wondering if their life savings would still be in there come opening time. Would it make brexiteers feel better if he came out and declared that whilst the government are seemingly unable to force a favourable deal with the EU through, multinationals are refusing to invest in the UK, financial institutions are relocating and there is a considerable drop in EU nationals applying to work in roles unfulfilled by the UK population it's all going to be tickety boo? Ultimately 52% voted to upset the status quo, for better or worse. I didn't but accept it. But to then complain when someone in power acknowledges that there are probably a few waves on the horizon is a bit bloody rich.

Well we've just had to use them on a windscreen !excess and no excuses or blustering on their part. Seem quite sensible so far!

F**k me, what are you guys doing to get bought bottles of wine and thank you cards? And how long are you spending with them? Never had anything off a punter myself bar their money which suits me fine, it's a business not a social club. If they turn up without being full of buyers remorse and don't phone on Monday morning with an EML on then that's a job well done in my book!

Ours is with Covea so hopefully they're sensible...only gonna find out when a claim is made really but they came fairly high up the list from our broker.

Doing OK here in the SE. Nothing like August...if anyone can explain why a typically dead month was such a cracker i'm all ears. One thing we've noticed is that a LOT of people are flat out broke currently. I know we all moan about strapped up pot less punters, it's par for the course usually, but this month seems particularly bad. For every acceptance there are three declines, people can't raise a £200 dipper to hold anything for a week and 'beg, borrow or steal' isn't even an option for many because mum and dad are in the same boat. The usual jokes aside it's hard not to feel sorry for some of the seemingly decent working families we've had in one door and out the other wanting to buy but just not able to find a way to. Maybe they've just spunked all their dough over the school holidays but it seems a bit different at the moment to me.

That's not as bad as the £180 for used A class facelift ones we found...I hate powerfold indicator mirrors with a passion!

We sold a car to a guy who was the frontman for a heavy rock band that had a BIG surprise number one hit in the UK and Europe. Such a lovely humble bloke. We had no bloody idea who he was but he showed us his Vevo video on Youtube (not in an arrogant way, I usually ask what people do for a living, and he was clearly very proud/amazed that he'd ended up in his position). He really was one of the nicest guys we've dealt...horrible music but X millions can't be wrong I guess. ...car was a f**king nightmare post sale. Pretty sure he dumped it and went straight to main dealer after his experience of used.

I can't remember the exact figures but the part was Toyota only and around £600 - £800 a couple of years ago. Caused all kinds of issues with multiple warning lights, loss of power etc. Clutch on them is cheap enough but needs to be set/programmed after fitting by Toyota so worth bearing in mind if you send one to an indie garage as we do.

Actuators on these are a bloody expensive and common thing to need to fix, the rest of it's cheap enough to repair but there's always a list when we get one in. Aygo/107/C1 autos are one of the ultimate boomerang cars IMO

Maybe the figures are suggesting what we've been saying for ages....it's s**t and a waste of time and investment

Ours went down. Fourth trading year with no claims and shortened the age bracket for un-accompanied test drives.

It's a Pluriel...i'd expect nothing less!

Done a few to Frenchies as we're next to a port. Furthest was a 5k A class to Malta...never heard from them after so I assume it made it there or the boat sank!

Second vote for First Response. Really good portal, decent acceptance rates and quick.

On the subject...I know a guy who is a self proclaimed 'professional' gambler. He claims to only put on five or six bets per year but surely getting them placed is impossible if he's telling the truth? My old boss used to have a team of runners placing for him all over the place because of his limitations. Is that less of a thing now because of exchanges online?

I remember when I had this exact same scenario and was as green as grass (now i'm only just a dis-trusting angered shade of green) and got a bill for £212 for a battery. It wasn't even a special one...£212! No call out charge. £10 fitting fee so £202 for the battery alone! Christ it still makes me so bloody angry. From that day onwards it was a signed piece of paper or replied to email in agreement for any work I wasn't totally in control of/at distance with an agreed £figure. You soon learn when it hits your back pocket. ...if someone had told me i'd need to be a quasi lawyer/accountant/economist/marketing exec/property consultant i'm not sure i'd have got so stuck in...finding a Mini bonnet release is a struggle most days

I don't know what downtime is these days...so much stock now so when I get a quiet day it's admin, weedkiller, painting the office or take a few for a run to clean the brakes off and try and pop up an EML before a punter does! Nothing better than a day doing fuel runs and seeing which window switch has decided to stop working. Back before we got busy my colleague and I played a fair bit of poker on rainy days...fun but not necessarily a money maker!

June was our best ever month. July is on track to be our worst ever.