grant8064

What's your website again Mark? Love looking through other sites when I get downtime (read that as nicking ideas!)

carandclassic....

Thanks for highlighting this Simon. Big Like. I spent a long time last summer reading and UNDERSTANDING the CRA15. After thinking i'd learnt a fair bit I added a return to base for repair clause on our invoices last year and it got tested for the first proper time last week, around the time you posted this. We sell 90% within a 10 mile radius but had one with a gearbox go 5 months after purchase and 80 miles away. Bit of a disagreement between us and Billy but the clause stood up to the test, with Lawgistics on the case for good measure. Well worth having this clause on your paperwork guys. We don't usually apply it to local dramas, were very accommodating, but in this case it's saved us a lot of grief.

I'd say commission on hammer isn't an add on because it's (supposed to be) how they earn their money. I don't begrudge comm because I can build it into my bid but the extra waffle is where I don't agree, the extras are unnecessary add ons to me. Things I can live without but am obliged to pay for.

But with Ryanair at least the basic transaction (a ticket) is cheaper than elsewhere. With BCA the basic transaction (buyers fee/commission) is significantly more expensive than both the local indies we use...they're not even cheap to begin with before you get into the world of add on fees.

Never been busier here. Feb was our best ever month and March has hit record numbers but might not be as good money wise, quite a bit of overage stuff needing messy recon. Had a real touch with swappers because we can't buy a thing in the block lately.

If you can successfully sell cars then sell cars. If you can't hack it branch into other areas of business.

It's definitely getting worse with all the google lawyers! Both of this weeks ones were justified but it's been an upward trend over the last 12 months for us. Less warranty claims though so we're doing something right I guess.

Cheers! And I really wasn't being mean. Fault with the punter NOT with the car.

Not wishing to s**t on your post but i'm a firm believer that what you stock determines what kind of people you attract. 150K 'I can't afford better' complicated SUV = hassle. I'm not saying it's a fault with the car but more the punter. I'm not deliberately trying to be a c**t btw, celebrated my birthday today with two refunds and three warranty claims, we all get 'em

I'll stick with my honest 4.5 on google thanks. Do the job right and you'll make plenty of profit without sacrificing your principles.

Isn't that a £500 a year tax jobbie? Not had one in ages but we've been smoking a Lacetti for the last year as a bitch car...super comfy thing.

Old Saab estate for the short commute and tip runs/b&q on the weekend. Missus gets the bus or bikes to work and we usually use trains for long journeys and taxis in the evenings...i'll do pretty much anything to avoid driving

Great quality conversion. Our mechanic does four or five T4's a year (he doesn't trust the newer T5 & T6 stuff) and whilst they're good they're not up to your kind of standard...bit of a different price point though. How do you find these for reliability? Do VW do a petrol engined Transporter yet?

Glad to hear it mate. Are you the RS chaps based around Cheshire? We're having it away at the moment. Had a quiet Oct & Nov, so it's about time we got a good month in. Real shortage of nice 5K generic stuff around our way at the moment which is helping massively along with some moves made previously that are starting to pay dividends.

I like this bit of the plan. It's a game where every purchase is a calculated roll of the dice but holding a bit back for quiet times is sensible. In my opinion £300 per unit is nonsense, you may as well stack shelves in Tesco for that kind of return. My only advice would be to spread your risk. 10 cars owing 3K each are better than 5 cars owing 6K each. More return on investment, more chopper opportunities, less risk of high recon wiping out all your money in one go. Oh and best of luck!

On for a record breaker down here.

Quick turnaround, minimal prep, throw it in the block after a couple of months and take a hit. There's a million and one rumours about how they've been doing over the last year but so long as their doors are open you assume it must be making sense on paper. I wish all the big places had standards like theirs, makes our well prepped stock stand out a mile.

I don't have kids but sell to a lot of youngsters in our area and I always ask blackbox yes or no. Get one fitted would be my advice. It's not a big monetary issue, usually a 10% - 15% annual saving but it really does seem to make them more cautious, aware, safer. The apps that link with the boxes are really well designed and good at enforcing them and most of the youngsters really pay attention to their app at the end of a drive and take tips, are aware of excessive speed/braking etc.

I'm with Nick. We used to add/remove everything when necessary and it was a right pain in the arse. Changed insurer and now it's only taxed vehicles we have to add on MID; the occasional courtesy vehicle or personal/play stuff. Your issue i'd guess was having the tradies in the window and not upside down, vertically placed, laminated in glitter, reverse flipped, 72 degree angle on the roof or whatever stupid position they've decided they should be in this month.

Having been a bit militant before I should add I have a lot of time for your opinions Nick, same goes for all the lads on here. I'm just an opinionated prick about certain things, really I just think we should focus on our collective USP...which is ourselves. Our cars are generic but we're the reason people buy them. We do the job right, don't BS too much and i'll bet not one of us owns a shiny blue suit. Hell I bet even BHM is a nice enough guy sometimes. I've still got the scars from a blown micro charger though so i'm holding firm on that point!

He bought it from Amazon because it was quick and easy to get delivered. It's a very boring generic item with no emotional attachment. If he was buying jewellery, coffee, some local foodstuffs, decent shoes, meaningful gifts, I like to think he wouldn't because a good high street offers better service and an experience not just a transaction. Or at least it does around my way. Clever retailers know they can't compete on the price of a 60 watt light bulb so stopped trying years ago and made their shop about more than just the transaction, it's about service, quality, uniqueness, locality, relationships etc. All things online simply cannot offer no matter how hard etsy et al pretend to try. Businesses that failed to grasp all of that simply fade away. It's the same reason not everyone buys from CarGiant/Imperial/etc and buys from us guys instead...some people value service and interaction when spending their money. Some people still appreciate face to face reassurance when making the second biggest purchase of their lives. The whole point of being an indie (other than making a living) is being dynamic and offering something different. Remote sales with zero personal interaction is 100% available from main dealers and big used groups already. My USP is to not be like Arnold Clarks.

Shops on the high street still work around here, in fact our local high streets are thriving. It's just a case of making an effort and not taking things for granted. The reason people didn't shop in my local bakers is because they hadn't changed their business model since 1970 whilst Greggs were improving every week for years. Once the hunger's gone and you're coasting you may as well throw any business model out of the window.

I do like the Midlands. My missus is from Stamford, near Peterborough, and it's idyllic, somewhere i'd really consider moving to. You just can't change loving where you grew up can you, it's why she moved here and I didn't move there....i'm a stubborn bastard! My local opposition loves his yacht but it's bankrupted him. I keep toying with the idea of an inland widebeam but everytime I see how stressed he seems it gets kicked to the back burner!

We each run one forecourt and overlap a bit. Generally I do the scabby one because the stock needs more looking after and he does the cleaner one with stuff that generally just needs standard ticket and service stuff. Took a while to find our roles but it works well. Clear communication and lack of ego is the key. (Secretly I love dealing with the hard work stuff, gives me more satisfaction, probably because of the OCD) I fully agree with you being fussy btw, the stuff on your site always looks really well prepped and pictured, nothing wrong with being a fussy git when it's your capital involved.