grant8064

You're going to piss off a few Norfolk locals when you join in the pub quiz!

Well he's the other director & family so trust is pretty crucial. We chat beforehand, we both know what we need to be stocking, compare lists pre auction and discuss bits we disagree on. 95% of the time we think each other has made the right call. On the other 5% we try to prove each other wrong so it kinda just works. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I go a bit strong on one through the door, sometimes he buys a dog, but that's always going to occur with hindsight.

May 2018...pah! Amateurs! I have a beautiful green machine bought in very early 2017. She gets her second birthday soon and i'll have a cake and card ready. Got a 1 series in the corner that we've had similar time but it won't f**king move and has a seasonal Christmas tree dash so I can't blame that one for not selling.

One of our pitches is sandwiched between a railway line, incinerator, animal testing unit and a garage that seem to do more re gens than they have cars to do them on...when it comes to finger pointing I won't know which one to blame. Not knocking the risks but the auctioneer at our local indie has been in the game since cars had winding handles on the front and he's fine. (I say all this from an ivory tower though as I don't go to the block, hate the smell, hate the people, hate the cold)

When the phone rings off the hook.... ...sit down and prepare for the screams (we're mostly email now...get more calls from card operators than punters)

Our painter usually so pissed he can't even do silver properly...had one back in primer today. I don't know whether it's the fumes or the boozer 10 steps from his yard

I always forget the most crucial of stereotypes! Down here the flat caps are usually worn by someone in a band, the whippet is usually a four figure rare breed own by an interior designer and the quaint pigeon is replaced by a shitting seagull the size of a labrador trying to snatch a baby from a pram. Maybe I should just book my train ticket now...

Ha, I used to think it was all whippets on a bit of old rope, racing pigeons on a wet Sunday afternoon and going to be disappointed by the black cats but ever since I ventured further north than Victoria station it's grown more appealing.

I'm in the 'affluent SE' and, with the usual exceptions, a lot of people here are pretty skint, it's so expensive to live and work here. I've had a few mates in the last few years that have UK average paid jobs leave to move to bits of South Wales and the North East. They're the kind of people that won't see their wages rise or decrease much wherever they're based, NHS, teaching, retail, so it makes a lot of sense to halve the rent and reduce your council tax. Shame they left though.

Paid in full and delivered for us but it's a pitch so different to home/unit. Carry anything that's not gone out into the next month. Don't think it makes any real difference though, year ends still the same whenever you count it. Get more than a few that deposit, cancel and forfeit the dipper. All helps out on prep costs.

I don't know the first thing about new/nearly new but in the humdrum world of 4k - 7k used i've noticed a pretty sharp upturn in the number of declines we're getting from mainstream lenders in the last four months. Spring time we were getting auto acceptances on people you had to check hadn't nicked an office chair on their way out, not any more. Could be as simple as us attracting more poorly rated punters but it does feel like lenders are tightening up a fair bit and being more cautious (not before time IMO).

Agreed, maybe I should have said sub 1k have the most unrealistic expectations. On the subject we've gone a good two months without any noticeable screams for stuff to be fixed under warranty. Suddenly had half a dozen in the last week, same every year around xmas but a lot more are trying it on this time around for stuff the rest of us would be too embarrassed to pick up the phone about. You can tell whatever money these chancers have is going under the tree and not on the lump sitting in the road.

I must be a bit of a boring straight edge too... New MOT saves the hassle/grey areas of selling something SOR and commands a better price. If it fails badly it's scrapped and shouldn't have been sold anyway and if it passes it's retailed. I leave the selling of stuff with a few months ticket to the recovery truck boys on facebook. Sub 1k world is the hardest market because people expect the earth and haven't got a penny to maintain anything they buy...no point muddying the water selling spares or repairs stuff to the mums and dads on the local estate.

Haha, I wasn't being catty about the well done bit mate...couldn't resist on the leads though!

Ah nice well done, something tangible ...unlike their leads

Is that a proper one or the one we all got sent out? ...still waiting on our pair of socks!

Improving the business each month, whether it's presentation, more efficient admin, cutting costs etc. That's the stuff that gives me 'job satisfaction'. Trying to improve is my motivation. Sales and wages are great some months but sometimes you'll just have a crap month for no real reason, and sometimes it's just plodding along average....no point beating yourself up about it. I've never known the old days but if it was as good as people make out then I'd struggle to find any sympathy, used to be easy money everyone old school says to me. A fair few of the old guys we see down the block are just bored, wife doesn't want them at home. Should have retired ten years ago but haven't learnt how to relax and wouldn't know what to do with a week off. One in particular sits in the cafe every week moaning about how it's not like it was, internet this and that...

You can tell it's been a quiet day... Been watching Children of Men this afternoon and so far they've used a Citroen XM, Renault Avantime and Fiat Multipla as main vehicles (the director must have had a mechanic and electrics whizz kid on the payroll). Anyone else as tragic as myself and get a kick out of seeing something unusual on the screen?

Our Saturday car wash kid would have bitten your hand off for that...it's a shame he doesn't put as much effort into leathering off our stock as he does finding ways to get cheap(er) insurance for his death trap. Given most car makers now have an entry model to try and hook young drivers early on and build some brand loyalty the idea of drawing first time buyers to a particular platform and hoping they revisit in a few years when they upgrade has some merit IMO...not sure it would ever work but it's more reasoned than some of the people that try and scalp AT. Maybe some tie ins with some of the big franchise driving school companies would be another way to get footfall? All said and done as an advertiser all I want is views and sales...the reason everyone that has tried to join the party has failed is because they either don't get the views and/or don't generate the sales. The random ones we still use that don't work, RAC, AA, etc, are free hence why we're there. And they're only interested in generating site traffic and data capture...not producing a AT competitor. Best of luck.

Yep, we vary our package all year and downsize a bit in Oct/Nov ready for the double bubble in Dec. 55 listed at the moment and the offer means everything can go on which helps. Currently trying to buy just about everywhere we can but it's not easy. I think everything we had marked down at BCA today made retail minus £200 - £300 unless it was smoking/battered, our stock will look good value once all the overpriced stuff starts hitting the forecourts.

You'll have a bad month (October ) for no real reason sometimes and a stonking one with the same stock the next. So you can't worry too much, but you do have to keep your eye on the ball every week. One of the good things with this trade though is that you can always change your business model or make tweaks pretty quickly compared to a traditional business. When the diesel crap first started we were (apparently) the only local dealer to take note of what punters were saying for a couple of weeks and simply shifted them and stuck solely to petrol for a while. Previously undesirable petrol stuff was cheap and we were turning them over for fun whilst our local friends had oily stuff stuffed up their arses for months. If we measured the diesel sales quarterly we'd have still been buying smokers for months.

I can't wait until 2030 for business to pick up!

Believe me if we'd sold out I wouldn't be sitting indoors on a Friday night! As it stands it's curry and hope for a decent (if somewhat rainy) Saturday.

We did a full page ad in the local rag with BF discounts on half the stock...sold nowt.

I genuinely did that old cliche of checking the phone was working today. October was our worst ever month for units sold and profit. November has been much better but still not stonking for units gone, thankfully a few have had decent lumps in them. Starting to get some write off replacements now the roads are dark and slippy which helps but recon will start to increase with batteries, discs and calipers now it's getting cold. On a plus i've managed to paint the office, lay a new floor to replace the stained carpet we inherited with the cabin and build some new furniture...i'm knackered, this game sure makes you unfit.