grant8064

I've had the same issue before, is yours filling the cabin with the evil smell also? Last couple haven't shown a dpf light even though it was clear they should have. I managed to get away with a forced regen despite the dpf being full but it'll take a fair bit of driving and make sure you open the windows for a bit of fresh air. Allow a good 45 mins minimum. And as Stalker suggests...make sure you've got a fire extinguisher or can pull over if it all gets a bit warm!

Nice Dead as expected here. Good time to catch up on paperwork and tidy up a bit but it might get boring in a weeks time

There all as bad as each other generally but German stuff is an absolute joke given its presumed reliability 'because it's German built'.

£3000 - £5000 stock is fine to finance but it depends on what it is IMO. A £3000 old Merc up on miles is a lot scarier to have hanging over you on finance than a much newer £3000 low mileage Aveo. We do fine with sub 5k finance and a lot of it is not sub prime but you have to tailor your stock accordingly. As Mojo suggests take it slow and try your hardest to find a finance broker that has a good rep who will help you along the way.

I feel like it's going to be a very mediocre December but you never know. Priority for us also is to be buying in advance of the Jan/Feb silly prices but we need to find some stock worth buying, hard work at the moment

Always be ready to pounce on a vacated pitch would be my advice. Locally there have been a fair few pitches closing due to retirement and there has rarely been any warning, one minute they're open the next the forecourts empty and a boards in the window. If you have time work out which current pitches you would be interested in taking on if they became vacant, size, cost, location are the determining factors and get some details about them in advance. Find out how much the rates are online, draw up some ideas about running costs for utilities and bills and use google earth to see how much stock you can fit on each site. Sooner or later one will become vacant and you'll be in a position to jump on it immediately before anyone else has a chance to work out costs and if they're interested. Costs nothing but time and a bit of effort but when one that is on your list comes up you'll be in a great position to get a foot in the door first. Might sound a bit OTT but it's what we've done for the two pitches we now run. Managing agents like someone who comes in quickly so they don't lose income and if you have a good plan in advance they'll respect you even more.

Whereabouts in the UK are you Anglo9?

A wise decision IMO. Got an S320 that is going the same way...standard Merc issue (ie it can be fixed but only for a kings ransom. Shitty German shit.

There seems to be a massive difference in how everyone's doing out there. We're on for our best ever year and November has been on par with our busiest (and most profitable more importantly) months. Literally can't get quality stock quickly enough despite not being a particularly cheap forecourt for our stock range. On the flip side a similar set up 3 miles away packed up in autumn and our nearest competitor a mile up the road has just called us up offering us his stock because he's packing it in at Christmas. Gotta feel for those of you not doing so well because we're all very aware how quickly it can change. Chin up lads and best of luck.

33 miles?! Did you manage to keep a straight face when he asked for money off? Sounds like a clear case of buyers remorse to me. If it's a nice sell-able lump i'd be refunding in full because people like this are not worth doing business with and a good car can easily be sold again. If it was a sticky car then i'd ask him to please take his grievance through the legal channels and hope he just disappears. He would under no circumstances be getting a discount. Refund in full or keep the car as is. He's being a c**k so he doesn't get to dictate anything IMO

Hahaha do we use the same garage?

Pretty much business as usual for us. Selling plenty (all the shit for some reason with the nice stuff remaining on the forecourt) but struggling to buy...as always.

I'm not going to disagree with you BHM, because I think a lot of what you say is on the money there, however for MY business I find a decent review rating does help. We deal with quite a lot of young and/or nervous buyers and I know for a fact they check our google, AT and other reviews before coming in. That doesn't mean we have to brown nose everyone or appease every slightly disgruntled punter who is being unrealistic about how their 8 year old car should perform and we don't. We've got a fair few 1*'s but I make a point of responding to every review, good or bad, because that's my right. A couple of them are really funny and if anything make potential punters realise we're nice, normal guys who have a sense of humour and know how to deal with obvious time wasters. All I know is that when I book a hotel or holiday I read reviews, when I buy something on Amazon I read reviews and when I watch a film I read reviews. I'm of an age where online reviews are a natural thing for me to go to before doing something that costs me money. As for keyboard warriors...they always get a reply from me although it's not always polite. Sometimes it's just too hard to resist a bit of needling.

So when they leave it at the charge station how do they get home and then back again to pick it up in the morning? Taxi, bus or walk? I like the idea of all this stuff but how long until Musk goes bust and this whole EV thing takes a big confidence knock?

We've had a few RX's and IS... I guess it depends what the car is like but all of ours have been incredible machines. Fantastically reliable, amazing build quality, all sold quicker than anything else. If I didn't think they were so ugly i'd have one myself but i'm not a fan of the cabin layout. IMO they're one of the few brands that have stayed reliable and cause less grief than MOST Mercs and almost EVERY Beemer I end up with. Proper built cars still. Not had anything newer than an 09 so far though so can't comment on the more recent stuff.

+1 however I would say that if it's super rare they WILL come to you if they're serious. Remember you have what they want...I don't know why you would mess with that dynamic and put all of the power in the buyers shoes so they can chip you even further when you turn up and they find one stone chip on a ten year old car and you are faced with a long fruitless trip home if you don't discount. Some buyers will do ridiculous stuff to get a discount and do it in your face...travelling distance with an unseen car and expecting it to all go swimmingly is naive beyond belief IMO.

Putting a £250 in a car and happy? Hopefully it's not boasting if I say I find that idea completely insane, even a home trader would want more than £200 in a car. No one is making £1000's out of units anymore but there are still sensible lumps in cars, or at least there should be for considering the risk & liability they are.

Distance selling a car for £250 profit...no offence Jimbo but that sounds mental. Good luck but i'd be thinking about more than just this deal if you're sticking a couple of hundred in each unit and still having to sell to people miles away.

Not for me. We're knocking out boring standard stuff though and aren't cheap enough to warrant a distance purchase. Did a few in the past and it was always because the car was rare but the cheapest for miles. Hassle every time selling to unrealistic "buyers". If the buyer is serious then they'll turn up to view it...if they can't find the time to view a car then they're not serious IMO.

02 5 door recognisable automatic with decent miles and a clean last couple of MOTs...be £1495 all day long for me. Prime bit of stock that. Any part ex auto under 3k and under 100k miles is like gold dust to me.

Yer, we get plenty of the same. Pretty obvious they're bogus enquiries to convince you to sign up to the full package...bit ironic considering that they have the opposite effect!

We've just cancelled our contract. No sales from it since spring with 80 cars listed on there. More so than the lack of sales was the quality of leads that disgruntled me. Phone calls from people not knowing what car they were calling about, the price the mileage or even the colour, always up the other end of the country, never turn up to a test drive, never reply to emails etc etc. I have my suspicions about some of the enquiries and just how real they were but we'll never know. Glad to be out of it, £400 a month I can put into something else.

If it's a white one with 90k on the clock I might have underwritten it a couple of weeks ago?! Either that or this situation is rife at Seat because that's a very similar story to one I got off a young female punter who was getting nowhere at the main stealers

Agreed. We have always stayed well clear of offering PCP, much to our brokers annoyance. Idea is a nonsensical ticking time bomb IMO. If you can't afford a Q7 on HP you simply can't afford it. Clever maths and future value predicting is asking for trouble and only a short term fix for manufacturers to keep increasing their sales year on year.

My stock turn is appalling compared to some of you guys. I literally have no interest in turnover though, I could sell them all tomorrow if I put nothing in them. Much more interested in earning proper money per unit, selling less and being picky with who I sell them to. Whats the point selling 100 cars a month when 30 will net you the same profit with two thirds less potential issues and comebacks and only a third of the prep work to do? Turnover is pure vanity IMO. Profits pay the bills. (your mates job sounds like pure headaches and stress to me...easier ways to make a living)