XFS

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Posts posted by XFS

  1. Posted

    2 hours ago, sparky said:

    Did they put a gun to your head Narcos style when they did this?

    I'm sorry you seem to be struggling with the job I really am, but this attitude is everything that is wrong with modern society. FFS, take some responsibility for you own actions, man the fuck up and start to row your own canoe.

     

    Jeez, just when you think you've read it all.

    I understand your frustration, I really do but I would like to make 3 points.

    1. There is absolutely no basis for legal action against autotrader. None whatsoever. an expansive excersize in futility at best. If you found a lawyer opportunistic enough to take it up...and it would be oppertunistic, because they would KNOW there was no chance of success...in court when the judge stopped laughing he/she would find in favour of autotrader and award costs against the plaintiffs without a doubt.

    2. Autotrader do not care about you, me or most on these forums. They don't need to, most of our accounts are four figures monthly. Can you imagine the monthly spend for big franchises and supermarkets? These are the clients Autotrader are interested in and will take notice off.  The price markers will suit them as it gives the impression that the cars they sell are low priced and good value. 

    3. We are all big boys and girls here, so are responsible for our own destinies. We are under no obligation to use Autotrader or any other platform. If we do its on their terms and conditions (within the law obviously) the same as when a customer buys a car from me, its on my terms (within the law obviously) and I can ask any price I choose.

  2. Posted

    2 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

    I am Bulgarian. I’ve had worse. Much worse. 

    I’m not sure what the Bulgarian hooch is but it can’t be worse than some of the Scotch Whisky from the Islands.

    I don’t mind the Highland (where I’m from) and the Speyside malts and I actually like some like Balvenie Doublewood, but generally I prefer Irish Whiskey (terrible admission for a Scotsman)

  4. Posted

    1 hour ago, trade vet said:

    Sorry XFS I was just directing my experience to the newbies and some of them often refer to my posts as doom and gloom.Clearly you are not one of them.

     

    I used to confuse reality and sensible caution with doom and gloom myself in my younger day.

    It cost me a lot of money and some painful lessons.

  5. Posted

    On 1/31/2020 at 5:05 PM, Huggins said:

    I read this thread yesterday and having convinced previously convinced myself my purchase from BB was going to be alright, I broke out in a cold sweat reading the advice. My purchase was an in hindsight a very foolish roll of the dice. It's a rare motor so I took a chance on the basis it was a 1 owner with good history etc BUT it was grade 4 with the overage "look at the basic photos" report only and sold as seen and 7k and I was the only bidder! 

    Turned up today and I emerged with my eyes squinted to minimise the retina damage from the horrendous bodywork and not to mention the noises from the engine and gearbox.

    In this event it turned out to be a peach but I won't be this brave / stupid again. 

    I have turned my best profits this way.

    The secret of buying blind is to make sure the potential profit on the car will cover any eventuality, so if its a lemon, the worst that can happen is you don't make any money. So don't bid unless the potential margin is big. Doesn't happen often!

    It generally only works with older higher value grade 3 and 4 cars. 

    Grade 1 and 2, everyone and their dog wants it and cheaper model grade 3/4 there is not enough margin for the risk to be worthwhile.

    In my experience almost every car over 9 years old is graded 3/4. Often, they turn out to be grade 2 at the worst. I find the opposite to be true with newer cars. Often a 4 year old grade 2 will need as much spending on it as a 10 year old grade 4

     

    • Thanks 1

  6. Posted

    18 hours ago, trade vet said:

    Sorry guys gloom and doom again but you need to use a chartered accountant.Good record keeping may be a boring subject but it is very important should you in future be randomly selected for some inspection where they go back years.You newbies should also bear in mind that in the event of your accountant messing up ( and even the best do)  HMRC will hold you responsible for their actions.I found this out after trading for many years and there is a price to pay.

    I don't think sound advice is doom and gloom TV, but I'm not sure who it is directed towards. Obviously not me :)

    You can't be that much my senior. I have had a 40 year working life, mostly in some form of business, often with a number of employees, usually VAT registered. I have used the same firm of (Chartered) Accountants since 1997. The main difference between you and I is that although I have been buying and selling car for 40 odd years, previously the most cars I have had in stock is half a dozen and my accounts were so simple, even I could do them...and I hate numbers and bookwork with a passion.

    I have endured VAT inspections before it was virtual. At one point the VAT man was camped at my place for 3 days. We ended on first name terms and I used to phone him up for advice.

    I know no better than most not to give HRMC any excuse, hence why I want to make sure that I give myself the best chance possible of avoiding errors.

  7. Posted

    1 hour ago, Arfur Dealy said:

    With "making tax digital" that's exactly what I did, found a local accountant to do everything, I just hand him my paperwork every quarter and he does the rest. It's worth every penny XFS, good luck with the new venture :)

    BTW, it was the wife who previously my accounts and she's a very happy bunny too 

    Thanks. Looking forward to it. Should give me new lease of life I reckon. I’m so glad to get out of my previous full time business even though I have it to thank for giving me the money to invest in this. To be fair I,ve also done pretty well out of part time trading over the years and learned a lot of important lessons along the way.

  9. Posted

    6 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

    Buy yourself a cheap dedicated PC with Windows (£300) and pay VT and Sage £500 in total per year and you are 100% sorted. 1 press of a button on the 7th of Feb and my VAT is done, I am compliant, my books are always up to date every single day before I leave work. Takes 10 mins per day and makes you feel so much better knowing your real financial standing.

    My partner has a spare windows machine I can have. I had a look and looked at the tutorial. It seems very good, but possibly to complex for me. I will speak to them on Monday, but my current thought is just let the accountant do it all.

  10. Posted

    1 hour ago, trade vet said:

    I take it you do know about signing up to a Making Tax Digital compliant provider.( that’s £20- £30 per month ). plus if you are like me, you will need somebody to upload all your invoices onto the system.Good Luck.

    I am aware yes. Even watched HMRC Youtube videos on the subject. Ten mins of my rapidly deminishing life I won't get back.

    I will probably end up with my accountant doing it.

  11. Posted

    9 minutes ago, justina3 said:

    Depends on your level of input required most accountants will offer an entry system and charge a nominal fee just picture snap the invoices wing them over and they do all the entry work, you may be surprised with the cost v work required.

    Back in our car audio days we had close onto 30 staff and the accountant used to charge £50 a month to do payroll wasnt worth our effort or headache just emailed him hours last day of the month and payslips turned up within an hour job done. 

     

    That may be a possibility. My accountant charges are very reasonable and I hate doing paperwork.

  12. Posted

    12 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

    VT just google BBSOL

    Works a treat for me.

    Looked great...then I read that it needs windows as an OS :( I use Mac, but I will drop them a line in case there is a way round it.

    Thanks for the info.

    7 minutes ago, BHM said:

    :lol: I thought that before I even opened up this topic.

    My posts are usually pretty boring, but I've excelled with this one :)

  13. Posted

    A bit of a boring topic. Sorry in advance.

    Ok, so I am making a fresh start with a new Unit based business. We start trading early March with a stock of 12 to 15

    I am looking for an easy way of make accounting and VAT easy.

    My accounts recommend A programme. Cant remember which one, but it didn’t look particularly appealing to me.

    Any recommendations ?

    Thanks in advance

     

  14. Posted

    I don’t think CAP is an accurate guide on a lot of cars. There are many newer cars I would not pay anywhere near CAP clean for but others, particularly older, low mileage, scarce cars, double cap clean might not be particularly outrageous.

    Selling price and work backwards, it’s the only truly accurate guide and costs nothing.

  18. Posted

    1 hour ago, awc1000 said:

    with this one being quite a distance could you possibly tell us roughly how much this has cost per mile, and was it for one car? cheers.

    BCA quoted £287 plus Vat for one which was fine but couldn't do it until after Christmas. I managed to pick up another car and paid around the same per car. The cars are from two locations about 30 miles apart. Its around 362 miles.

    I had a guy offer to plate them for 230 per car but I would rather pay extra to get them on a wagon.

  23. Posted

    I wonder if anyone knows a reliable plater/transporter. Or if any of you guys have a spare day?

    Looking to get a car taken from BCA Livingston to Swindon Bet 17th and 20th Dec. BCA can't do it before new Year and I would rather not go up there.

    Would prefer a transporter, its an Audi TTRS so will need careful handling.

     

  24. Posted

    I think its possibly something which needs to be raised with the Office of Fair Trading.

    I suspect nobody has actually reported them (AT) to the OFT

    I do think that in all probability some of their practices are dubious to say the least. 

    They can speculate whether a car is priced high/med/low in relation to the market but as it is a used item who's value is subject to condition, this could be construed as misleading unless made very clear that the price indicator assumes a particular standard.

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    52 minutes ago, tradex said:

    Sounds like a new cluster? 

    Indeed it was. BCA got back to me...which I am impressed by and have updated the system to show the correct milage which is 50% more than the mileage originally listed as correct.

    I guess thats my good deed for the day.