grant8064

Cheap cars attract cheap punters...always harder to sell a £600 part ex than it is a £6000 bit of retail stuff IMO. Just because you're knocking out old shitters doesn't mean the customers don't have high expectations. Loads of stuff needs replacement wheel trims, a valet wouldn't go amiss, some paint on many, floor mats etc. Cheap fixes and more effort i'd say. I can't stand sub £2000 punters because they're so unrealistic about what £2000 buys in our location and the cars ALWAYS need a load of money pumped into them. Have you thought about knocking out all those old sheds and dropping your personal expensive cars and re investing in say a dozen nice mid priced units?

...go away for a couple of days and it's all got a bit political! I had two decent walk ons today and one wa**er whose name was Boris...how very apt. As someone under the age of 35 I can say i'm thoroughly bored of Brexit...it comes to something when our footballers conduct themselves more professionally during a world cup than our elected 'leaders'.

This. Just templated text or an image that goes over the photo each time. Clickdealer have a really nice overlay tool on the image uploader. I haven't used cd5 in a couple of years but they might have it...if not ask them to produce one. Pretty sure it's simple to do for techy wizards and it would be a good selling point for their platform. ( I could be wrong, maybe it's a big thing to implement, I know nothing about computers)

That indoors shot looks really crisp Simon. For the type of stuff you're selling I think it works really well, shiny, Germanic, clean. Have you considered painting a big logo on the wall or using an overlay for your shots? Our photos are crap but an overlay really tidies them up and makes them stand out well on AT & eBay listings when people are scrolling.

At risk of stating the obvious don't just go for a house that offers the highest comms, you need someone that you can have a relationship with (I know, i'm sounding like a finance rep now). We were with Santander originally and other than throwing a million pens at us we never saw our rep after we signed with them. Using Moto now and our rep really does work hard to help us out, deal with problems and pull a few strings when something needs a helping hand. It makes a big difference.

I believe paying for a few full page colour ads per month helps... (awaiting my forum ban)

Got told the same from our broker last week. Was news to me! I always assumed it was 14 days grace and then make sure it's on MID and remove when sold...he looked at me like I was mad! Going to save me a couple of hours a week which is great!

Had a Sportage someone was looking to sell yesterday. Glass £5600, CAP £5730, WBAC £4250.

I don't mean buying their stuff out of auction (no way jose)...I mean the prices they are offering Joe public online seem to have dropped about 20% behind book compared to last year when they were offering book money online. Obviously they feel the brand is strong enough that they can squeeze the prices they're offering. It's been good for us as we've had a few punters come to us for a double check on prices and been able to offer just that little bit more!

Last year most stuff I typed into WBAC was quoted online at pretty much bang on book value. So far this year i've noticed that the vast majority of things i've typed in they've been offering 20% - 30% below book money for...and that's just the online valuations. Have to say we're not complaining, nicked some cheap cheap stock from them in the last few months.

These are Lambos, Ferraris, Bentleys and Rollers though right? Just joshing, if you have the time and staff to do it then i'm sure it's worthwhile.

+2 I had some of those metal clip ones but they only fit the front of half of our stock and rarely fit on the rear of anything...definite finger cutters too!

+1 I sincerely hope it goes well. Enthusiasm and drive counts for a hell of a lot in my opinion, so many don't have it. When we started I got so lost on a 5 mile test drive we ended up in the middle of nowhere and then ran out of juice. Had to walk to a bloody farm to beg for a can and directions to get going again. I must have seemed like a complete and utter tit but we still shook hands on a deal. It's amazing what you look back on and think 'how?!'

Great thread! Really enjoyable reading through those. Mine is a bit more recent. My father unfortunately suddenly passed away and given I hated my job as an auctioneer/antiques valuer I quit after 12 years (bloody terrifying leaving the only real job i'd had after working my way up the ranks) and spent the summer on the beach before realising that I NEEDED a job. It's always funny how I imagined a life of being on the beach, touring Europe and bumming around was my dream but in reality I need a focus and i'm a grafter not a player. Brother in law that I barely conversed with at the time worked at a main dealer and suggested starting up together and running a used site. I had never driven a car at this point. Signed a lease for a 30 car site and I had two months to get passed. Failed my theory first time round by not studying and thinking 'how hard can it really be' and eventually passed two weeks before my practical. Smashed it out the park and within a week I was cutting down overgrown bushes and learning how to clad a Portakabin with UPVC. We went out and bought 25 cars in two weeks from our local halls (my god the bad stock we threw our money into, we were so green) and I learnt how to open a bonnet, watched a Youtube on how to charge a flat battery and worked out that some stuff needs to have the clutch depressed to start it (that took half an hour to work out). Spent a lot of that first few months very very worried...out of my depth is understatement of the century. I used to go on test drives in the passenger seat with the handbook in my lap; 'what's hill decent? One moment whilst I find page 85-3.' I spent a lot of time in cars, driving everything, opening everything, reading every handbook, online every day watching and reading forums. Three years in and now we have two sites, 100 cars and two staff. I understand and use the CRA15, know how margin scheme operates, get what an EGR does and why it gets clogged, know all buyers are liars and have a love/hate relationship with it. Not my most modest sentence but we've come a long way and i'm bloody proud. (feel sorry for those first few punters I had to handle though!)

We've used first response a bit lately. Really can't stress enough how pleasant and on the ball the team on the phones are. Excellent online prop portal and they pay commissions even for sub prime.

As much as we all slag them off, what a great return on T/O.

+1 We only really buy from local auctions and I did ask after getting yet another set of near new mats and that's the reason they gave.

You're generous...only joking! I learnt a long time ago how crap those £12.99 ones are.

...if it was an option I said. Not complaining about the comms but think how easy life would be if finance and all that it entails didn't exist.

+1 Part ex's are where the money is to be made these days. Took a lovely sub 100k CRV in this week for £1200. That's making £2000 in the block all day long plus we got to drive it, check the history, suss out the punters story etc. Hard to get excited about something making above book in the block but the swapper coming in against it is always fun. As for finance it really depends how you set out your stall. We really struggle to get BACS off anyone but then we have a card machine sitting next to the desk so that's fair enough. Do plenty on strap at that price point but cash buyers are generally speaking more sensible and less likely to scream afterwards. I'd happily not do finance if it was an option.

It's more satisfying than knocking out something overage or with a massive lump in it! Few better feelings in the world which probably means I need to improve my sex life or find a new hobby

Jan/Feb - Good March - Bit below average April - Cracking June - Steady so far but nothing to shout about I forgot May - Cracking

We mark ours as sold and then they disappear off the website after 7 days so it's not clogged up with sold stock. The solds get removed from AT, eBay & other feeds automatically so we're only paying to advertise available stock. I think it creates a bit of demand from people viewing if they see something sold each day, stops them umming and ahhing for weeks on end. Also it's nice stick two fingers up at that time waster from two days earlier that wouldn't commit or tried to chip on price even though you told them you had someone else on it. Our local rival has 40 odd on his website but only 10 in stock and he's doing it wrong IMO.

I do enjoy your posts BHM.

As other have said, nice website! Really well presented and nice see one not riddled with spelling mistakes. Our local German specialist does solely AT but I know others do really well off FB and with your tech skills i'm sure you could build a bit of a brand on there. Ditch the sportswear for the video (you did ask for opinions). No one wants a shiny suit these days but someone in a footie shirt is almost as off putting as buying a car from a Midlands postcode from a guy with a tracksuit and one of those stupid Eastern Euro bags they all wear. Just an opinion though. Nick makes a really good point about the lower price point. You probably know more about German metal than me already but you will make mistakes, it's inevitable in this game and it's better to cock up on a 5K lump than a 15K one. Also, unless you're doing it for a bit of fun, just remember the fundamentals. I don't mean to sound like a d**k but so many new traders forget. If you earn 1K clear out of a sexy 15K 3 Series and £800 clear out of an ugly 5K 1 Series then you want to be stocking three boring one series not one shiny 3 series. If you only want to stock the sexy stuff then it's a hobby/vanity project not a business. The forum is a wealth of knowledge, must be an answer to almost every question, so worth reading through a lot of the old posts. Finally, best of luck!