grant8064

I'm in the East Sussex and yep...rent and rates are a huge expense. It's depressing frankly. I run a 40 - 45 car site and often think how much lower my costs would be if the site was in the Midlands or somewhere. Can't move though...I go crazy if i'm not near the sea and am really lucky to be living here. Gotta enjoy where you live and work or else what's the point?!

Cardealer5 are ok. We used to use them based on costs and had approx 20 vehicles in stock. Really easy to use and quite presentable.

Around fifty... It would never have normally been so long but it was bought right so there was still money in it taking into account the reductions and cost of the space etc. I take most of the overage stuff out for a blast and troubleshoot monthly so no new batteries here!

March for me was awful...just over breakeven. April was dead until about the 20th. Since then I have done loads of business, mostly on the cars I have had in stock forever...i'm talking over a year on some. Thought they would never sell but they all have whilst the really really good new stock I have not opened a door on. Sometimes the world is just weird and unpredictable but I am learning not to stress over it so much these days. Have some money in the bank to cover those quiet times and stop worrying so much. If your cars are right, they're right. My stock's excellent and well priced so I don't need to worry. It'll come.

Snap. I had the same thing recently with a turbo claim. Told him to go legal which he did and then so did I. Never heard from him again. Also I can sleep at night because I used the car myself regularly and I know that it was mint. If your friend knew the head gasket was likely to go he should pay it in my opinion. If it was a proper car fight it. Ultimately just be honest.

We are seeing a massive swing in petrol's favour...even on bigger stuff like Kugas and Insignias. Lot of punters who are turning up even ask not to be shown anything diesel. They're the customer and obviously right but who wants to be towing a caravan getting 15 mpg out of a petrol Kuga or Mondeo? Mental in my opinion. Petrol's good though, as SC Derby points out...they don't really go wrong. On a side note...after the disaster that has been the last few weeks I've just had my busiest week ever. Sold eight and five were cars we had resigned to never shifting...had all five over 6 months and a couple over 12 months. Very weird but very very welcome.

I'm finding it a bit more normal now. One Monday (been in stock six months...no more yellow cars!) and one Tuesday that isn't a surprise to be sold at full price. It's a bit quiet on the enquiries and footfall but much better than the last two weeks

One today...finally! Been a dire month so far and March was pretty pointless too. Hopefully now Easter is out the way and the schools are back it'll get back to normal. Been a very odd six weeks.

These are the ones I use...excellent things! Really good value for money, robust and you can re configure them to show the original plate or cover it completely

In the words of Bjork...'it's oh so quiet' Test drove a mint 04 Cmax yesterday we have as a part ex clearance. Lovely thing, one elderly owner from new with 12 stamps in the book but naturally they needed to go away and think about it Couple of walk ons since Friday and that's about it. Rubbish March so hoping after Easter and the school hols April picks up

Never going to get that from us! There are far too many dreamers, chancers and timewasters out there who would love that option. I tell all my customers the same; a car is a big purchase, make sure it's what you want before you sign that order form because once you sign it your deposit isn't coming back full stop, weeds out some of the idiots. Best of luck with it btw, sounds like you're approaching the business sensibly. I started a couple of years ago and it is a steep learning curve but if you do things right from day one and keep taking on advice it seems to pay off. Cars are fine all the time we drive them or have them on the forecourt but seem to always throw up a EML or issue once sold. Live with it and just try to resolve it for the customer as quickly as poss would be my advice.

I use the metal clip ones that fix to your tradies with a plastic wind on nut and bolt and clip over the original plates using the metal clips which are sprung. They are about £12 on ebay. Don't be suspicious and assume because they are cheap they will be cr*p...they're really quite decent and have lasted six months of daily use. Rear plate can be a faff because some cars have barely any gap above the plate or a moulded bumper around the plate but overall i'm very happy with them. Never had an issue...my partner though religiously just chucks one on the dash and tbf he has never had an issue either.

I have had such a crazy day I need to tell someone because the missus isn't interested! 9 test drives. Nothing sold. All the cars were minters and really well priced. Started with a 4x4 7 seater in black with EVERY available extra, MOT yesterday with zero advisories....even the tester said how lovely it was. £1500 less than any other in the country. Customer got their finance approval earlier in the week and came today for handover. Quick drive and they literally ripped it to bits and even criticised the fact it was a diesel and not a petrol...pretty sure it was a diesel on Weds when they asked all the questions and did the finance! Not sold. Kept the deposit though and had four calls on it today so that took the edge off it but, seriously, unbelievable. Then a Fiat 500 handover which drives lovely. They tried to chip it further because one wiper arm had slight loss to the blacking!!! It's 5 years old and has done 60k! The son then drove it but refused to talk to me, even when I asked if he minded me opening the window because it was baking hot. They took it because it really was a great example but it took two hours of discussion about whether to back it or not. Almost bought a Focus until they stated they wanted 3k above book and had a Disco with 170k on the clock and the seller wanting 1k above retail. Unreal day.

I use the small metal sprung clips that go over the existing plates...bit fiddly and you have to mind the paint on the bumpers. I'm still covering the plates. As tradex mentions; I don't understand why the police or revenue collectors (one and the same sometimes) are fussy where the plates are displayed, surely the more important thing is that they are there! Plenty of tax dodgers out there that would be easier to catch. I'm still shocked how many people want to drive away on handover without taxing their new car.

^^^ Had a busy day with walk ons...not sure if any will come back but it's nice to see some people! Done a 12 plate 500 lounge just now from a walk on...62k but as they go it's a minter and drove lovely. Onwards and upwards

THIS. Cheaper the car the higher the expectations usually. I find anything over 3k clients handle the occasional issue pretty well but anything under and they scream and scream. Same goes for non mechanical issues too. Come to see a 5k Focus and they'll accept the odd scuff that compound won't take out. Come to look at a £500 Focus and the odd scratch and rust bubble become terminal issues that must be a sign it has had a moody MOT or been in an accident.

Looks cracking! I'm hopeless at reviewing websites but I know I would feel confident in the car having seen how pro your site is. Hope it pays dividends!

Blanked today...again. Had a few walk-ons but my only potential wanted £1000 for his part ex. It booked at £340 but had a faulty EGR with EML showing...he couldn't quite understand why we wouldn't offer the £1000 and do a deal even though he did agree our Zetec S fiesta was the cheapest and cleanest within 50 miles Did three handovers and only had one screamer come back twice to complain so right now i'm gonna call that a success.

Yer hopefully the busy spell will be today...the weathers beautiful so i'll be quite happy to spend all day wandering the forecourt. I'd taken the Zaf in chop at silly money so yer there was still profit in it. Not if you take into account the space its been occupying and the 10 cars I could have sold in that time but hey ho!

CONGRATS! Always nice to hit a record beating month once in a while. Enquiries are slowly picking up but it's hardly rammo with sales. Did manage to shift a Zafira i've had for 14 months though :-)

I really struggle with trade sales also. I have a local breaker/fixer upper who buys odd cars but he's picky about makes/models and also seems to have a £75 limit. I honestly thought we'd have loads of local part time traders knocking on the door when we moved but nobody has ever asked. Local auction is pointless for me...'dealer part exchange' as the vendor kills the sale and the charges are far too high. If the cars are good for scrap/fixing up I trade them to our local guy for £50 - £75. Anything too good to scrap but not retail-able I stick on ebay. Start them at 99p, explain every known fault, describe it as spares and repairs only, no warranty, etc. Try to be as honest as possible and basically describe the car as worse than it really is. Not had a comeback yet but it will happen. When it does i'll simply refund the buyer and relist. Not worth the hassle of trying to fight them.

Without sounding too pessimistic...5 mil in AT world really isn't going to make much of a dent IMO. I can think of better ways of investing it. Best of luck tho.

It's a very strange month...hate to say it, and I hope you pick up, but i'm glad it's not just me. I'm convinced there is something going on in buyers minds at the moment because barely anybody seems willing to commit to a bigger purchase. I'm getting a lot of customers very anti diesel. Lots of customers confused by the tax rules coming soon. The Vauxhall/Peugeot thing hasn't helped me shift any VX's lately. Not sure what the reason is, could even just be a general quietness, but there's something strange going on IMO

We wrote our terms ourselves but heavily based them on other peoples. I used a few old invoices from other dealers I found in part ex's for the wording and hashed it together from those.

Is it quiet everywhere this month? Had reasonable footfall but buyers won't get into anything over about 4k...just been knocking out part ex's all month and the odd bit of cheaper retail here and there. Seems very dead. Guy down the road with 20 on his forecourt has done one all month and another guy with 40-ish prestige bits has managed a grand total of three!