grant8064

We had a quiet October and have some fairly boring stock in at the moment so have gone down the "£500 minimum part exchange" offer route to drum up a bit of interest. Seems to be working well so far!

After two dead as weeks we finally broke our duck today...at long last! C Max gone today with plenty in it. 11 plate Polo and a Volvo auto diesel estate prepped for deals tomorrow. Won seven cars in the block today too which is our best buying day ever...think all our neighbouring sites have been as quiet as us the last couple of weeks which made the auction much much quieter

Not much help but we use Motonovo and they are the same...no financing options for Cat C/D

Hey all, So currently we just sell cars which is pretty straightforward but we fancy trying a few vans on the forecourt. So, hypothetically, we buy a van from auction and pay £600 VAT on the purchase price of £3000 . We then offer the van for sale at 5000 + 1000 VAT on the sale price? So how does the maths add up as we have taken £400 extra in VAT...does the VAT basically always get repaid to the Gov whatever the amount on each transaction? In other words is the total of VAT irrespective of the bottom line once sold? ...apologies if this is a school boy question but I had to ask!

Nothing! Three no shows today. Got a few irons in the fire but so far this month is ending badly

We have 40 in stock usually and do about 16 - 20 incl part ex's on an average month. Currently on 14 so a little bit behind. Last couple of weeks have been very quiet.

We used to knock them out for fun in any spec...even offloaded the odd petrol one. Same thing has happened with them here now though. This one was an oddball...low mileage, titanium, fsh, great condition etc. Just couldn't get anyone into it until now. Strange because it's a genuinely lovely car to be in for the money

One today...Mondeo titanium, only had it in stock since January

Cheers guys, i've offered a full refund but they have decided they would rather get the car looked at first in case it is something minor. Agreed to a £100 cap on any works and that anything above this has to be authorised by ourselves in writing prior to the work commencing...just got to play the waiting game and see what their garage come back with!

Hey guys, So I recently sold an automatic part ex clearance car for circa 2k which I have just been informed has developed a gearbox fault a week later. Customer has started quoting the usual consumer rights stuff and simply do I have to offer a repair, a refund or both? I want to, and have offered, a full refund. I do not want to offer to repair the car as there is not much profit in it and it might be a bottomless pit. So basically where do I stand? Do I have to offer to repair it or is offering a full refund enough? Ideally i'd like to give them back their part ex back also as it has developed a power steering fault since being road tested but will keep it if needs be.

Haha snap...1 all week, Clio petrol sold in 48 hours (almost the same deal). Done ZERO all week other than that. Terrible week really but it happens even if it does wrangle me and make me question everything! Decent enquiries on a 8k Golf auto and a 8k Volvo auto but right now my faith in people coming back with funds is being tested. Funnily enough I took in a A170 auto in chop, 03 plate. Thing is decent apart from a knock in the steering...any ideas what might be causing it?

Yes I agree, personal preference is part of it and also every customer is different. Our stock is rarely ready to go hence the £300 just to make sure they are committed. I did a Freelander last week and asked for £1000 deposit because I was sceptical the deal would go through but he's turned out to be one of the nicest customers I have dealt all year!

You lot are a bit cheap, £100?? Minimum £300 holding deposit from us. Commits the customer to the car more than £100. Also removes some of the time wasters because if £300 is a problem to find then the £6995 screen price is going to be even harder stump up.

This.

Couldn't be more different here! Not had a phone call or walk on in two days now...I know it goes that way sometimes but one part ex Clio all week is not what I expected. Hope it picks up tomorrow

PM'd you

Hopefully it's not just me that gets them... I spent mine swapping an electric mirror/window switch on a Pug, swapping a Picanto light cluster and then changing a few descriptions on the website. Plus lots of sitting, waiting, hoping and hammering Radio 4. How do you kill those dead hours when you're bang up to date with everything else?

I'll go first then... Unsurprisingly i'm Grant and run a forecourt. I came from a totally different sales sector and it's also the first time I have run a business but it's going really well. 12 months in and I think I have learnt a lot...finance props, buying right, PDIs, cashflow control, liasing with a mostly helpful garage and the all important bit SELLING! So much more to learn so i'll be picking your brains regularly and asking mostly stupid schoolboy questions no doubt!

Thanks for the reply Umesh and all others... Normally I don't handle the buying from public (auction only for myself) so just wanted to check i'd done everything right. In hindsight I think there is probably nothing wrong with the deal, all addresses match, hpi clear etc...he wad just a bit of a weird guy and it all seemed a bit too easy!

Yer I wish I had now...never expected him to come back which is what has made me suspicious. Having done a HPI check, taken a copy of a council tax bill, copy of driving license and checked the address matches the V5 there's nothing actually wrong with the deal though is there??? The car is only going to go to one of the local banger racing guys so it's not like we're going to let it back onto the roads

Haha definitely not... I honestly didn't want the car so shouted out a stupidly low bid on it just to get rid of him...I never expected that he would go away, have a think, and come back and accept it. Didn't really leave me a way out of it unfortunately.

I don't handle the buying off the public but my partner is away for a few weeks. Had a guy pop in a couple of weeks ago with a 2001 BMW 320 which I priced at £200 (it is horrible) and he went off never to be seen again which was fine as the car is a dog. Then, today, he turns up wanting to sell it. I suspect he's a part time trader but the car has been owned by his wife for three years so maybe i'm just being overly suspicious. Anyway, I took the V5, copy of his drivers license and copy of his council tax bill. All registered to the same address as the car and the hpi report is clear. Anything else you guys do or is that usually enough? For some reason it just doesn't sit right with me and I cannot work out why!

These bloody things used to be the bain of my life... Car sells, goes out and then you get the call saying they got a puncture and couldn't change the wheel etc etc etc. Now when we get a new car in we check pre-sale it has the correct locking nut. If it does it is written as 'Present' on the pre delivery checklist and signed by the customer. If it comes in with a missing nut we order some new ones pre-sale and get the garage to change them all over. Usually a socket and hammer will get them off if the extraction tool doesn't work!

Yep, you could just tell they were going to be hassle later down the line...unrealistic expectations of a used car and already asking what they can do if they decide they don't like it in a couple of weeks etc. Normally I just tell them straight how it works but if they got accepted and signed up for finance it makes it all the more complicated if they want/find a reason to back it. I swerved them by but interested what others would do?

Heated seats but every 9-5 we've ever taken in has had more issues than you would ever think possible. They're one of the few cars on our 'NO, NEVER, I DON'T CARE HOW CHEAP IT IS' list.