XFS

It would be a bit of a mission to get it here from Bulgaria and the chances of it not being damaged in transit.... Also, it’s for a left hand drive model, so the tow hook cover plate is on the wrong side.

Thank you. It’s very tempting but perhaps risky considering it would only represent a saving of About £160 Looks like I,ll have to bite the bullet and accept the wasted £500 odd as a fine for my carelessness and stupidity.

Not as simple as it sounds. This is a 18k car and needs to be essentially manufacturers spec. painting the trim black would look ok, but this would mean painting ALL the trim on the car black which is no easy task and would end up more expensive than buying new parts. The only practical solutions are replace the parts or a high quality repair to the damaged areas specifically.

If only. It would mean painting front trim and side trim also It started of as a car with a fair bit of profit in it to.

Yes. the Chrome trim is plastic, I just wondered if it could easily be rechromed. The plastic bumper is textured, so would need to be retextured, not just repainted. Just trying to spend less than £500 on what is fairly minor damage. Had it been the painted part of the bumper it would have been a lot easier.

So, this morning I hops into a Merc ML350 to take it round to the bodyshop for some minor refurb. Despite having a reverse camera and parking sensors which go off like an air raid siren if you get within half a mile of anything, a low lying wall which has never moved before decided to proceed rapidly towards the rear of the car and then quite blatantly and deliberately cause some minor damage to the rear plastic bumper valance and trim. I have priced up replacement parts at £400 odd plus VAT. Then there will be £100 odd plus VAT in labour as I really can't be arsed myself. My question..have any of you experience off or knowledge off having plastic trim repaired and chrome trim rechromed? My bodyman doesn't do and doesn't know anyone who can.

I am aiming for the over 50's cash buyers who are comfortably off and probably voted for Brexit, and have bought stock which hopefully appeals to my target buyer in terms make/model/spec/milage and provenance. But we will see.

I,ve just come back into the trade after a couple of years. As we know, it’s all in the buying and buying decent stock has always been hard work, loads of miles, loads of wasted journeys looking at misdescribed shitheaps and loads of time standing at the block and spent online. Its taken me two days to stock up. 70k spent, 5 cars bought, all grade 1 and 2 and all appart from one at Cap below. Its been to easy. And that is what worries me. It’s never been easy to buy before, so that leads me to believe it’s going to flipping near impossible to sell. I should be excited. Now I,m worried that I should have kept my money in the bank and stayed out of it.

Almost invariably recognised U.K. banks, Barclays, Lloyds, RBS etc are instant or even if there are security checks, very quick. The banks which can give problems are HSBC or Santander. I always ask customers who bank with one of the foreign banks to either make the payment before they arrive or allow for having to hang around until the payment clears.

I understand what you write and for a business turning over several cars a day, dealing with finance, employing staff etc, I would guess a card reader is essential. But the OP stocks 3 cars. I personally try to avoid anything other than the bare necessities because I don’t want complications or additional overhead, I simply want the customer to turn up at the appointed time and make their payment. The next one won’t be due for a couple of hours, so there is plenty of time. I guess if I ever stocked more than a dozen cars or allowed walk- ins then I would have a card reader to.

+1 Bank transfer is so easy nowadays and free. But I guess it depends on the type of customer you are targeting. I suppose nowadays people do buy cars on CC

Looks to me like the judge mishandled the case. You could appeal and also make a complaint against the judge to the JCIO - Judicial Complaints Investigation Office. As for the alleged fault with the car. There are all sorts of anomalies there, not least that there would not appear to be any proof that the fault ever existed. Judges have a duty to be fair and procedurally correct and are not immune from being held to account for misconduct.

Thanks for the replies. I guess not relying totally on this for my income, means I do have the luxury of not being under pressure to sell, which is essential if you want to pick and choose your customers I guess. Although having said this, I found previously failing to make a profit on a car really hurts and I don’t really remember the cars I made a big profit on, but I do remember very well the Porsch I lost money on. I have it as a screensaver on my phone to remind me.

That’s a great reply. Interesting to see what works for others.

Nothing went wrong, just got fed up with the space I had, couldn’t find the right set up, so took some time out in the sun. Lol...I,m not friendly, I,m a miserable C*nt.

6 to 8 Selling 4/6 per month on average, mainly 7k plus up to 20k odd

I see loads of tales of woe on the forums. Who are your target markets ? Im in the process of setting up again with the same target market as previously. I am only interested in affluent pre family individuals or post family/kids all gone people. Dont do families, sub-prime, finance, time wasters of any description. Kids are simply not allowed on the premises. Try and avoid local customers to and won’t sell to anyone I know socially. Rules out the majority of potential buyers I guess, but previously I rarely needed more than one per car. I am pretty brutal in assessing customers....if I sense a pest, they don’t get further than an email or phone call.

You are looking at the wrong cars. Most of us couldn’t or wouldn’t bother competing for the cars everybody wants. There is no easy road, you need to learn what to buy and to do that you need to learn about what you want to buy. At the start it’s risky and time consuming and you will lose money, but then you will gain the knowledge to make a profit. I am at a different end of the market from you, but I know what I have a chance of buying because I know what to take a risk on and what to avoid. EML on puts people of, but there are certain cars you can gamble on because it’s nearly always a quick and easy fix. Things like Small dents in nearly all panels gets a poor grade and lowers the price, but if you know your stuff in terms of whether the dent guy can fix them easily, then it may be a very cheap repair. There we’re certain models of convertible I would buy with the roof inoperative because I knew what the likely cause was and how cheaply I could fix it. Can you fix minor scratches without spraying, can you compound polish a car? Do you know how to get rid of smells?, can you clean a roof lining? Can you make a decent repair on a leather seat? There are many things you can do yourself to add value and that’s where your money is. Standing at an auction and trying to buy a ready to retail car and expect to make a profit on it? Why do you think you can do that? Why would any of the established guys let you. Oh, here you go old chap, you take the profit on this one. Not going to happen.

I,ve won in court as a defendant 5 times in the last 30 years, two criminal cases, three civil. Used a lawyer once as the case was to complex for me. Three of the cases were wearing my motor trader hat, although none were against punters to be fair.

Another thing. I don’t know how complex this case is, but if it’s important...ie a lot at stake, it may be worth running all the paperwork passed a solicitor even if you are representing yourself. The outcome of many cases rest on paper and procedure. For example, has the plaintif complied with everything is respect of sending you copies of the relevant documentation within the timescales etc.

Assuming it’s a County Court. My experience is that it’s pretty informal for civil cases. If you are absolutely sure of your facts and the legalities and feel you can present a good case, do it yourself. Some judges allow lay persons quite a lot of leeway. It pays to be well dressed, respectful and never get angry or confrontational and never, never argue with the judge. My view is that if you are able to represent yourself, you have a better chance of winning. Civil case rest on the balance of probability and who the Judge believes as well as evidence. A good impression counts for a lot. Also, if the other party is being represented, be wary of them, you may we’ll meet up in the ante room before the case. Don’t let anything slip which helps the opposition. Their agent may be very friendly and try to get a handle on you, just be careful what you say. proceduraly, the judge will keep you right. You will probably be in a small court room sitting at opposite sides of a table, it will be very informal. if you feel you want to represent yourself but are a little unsure of certain aspects, you could take a lawyer along as advisor. They would sit with you, but would only be there to advise on legal points not represent you. Good luck!

There are no magic formula really. The basics are the same for every small trader. You have to have some idea what is likely to sell in your situation and how to market your stock to people likely to be interested. And most importantly you have to know what the likely selling price of the car you are intending to purchase is, what you are likely to spend on making it saleable standard, and then make sure you can buy it at a price which leaves you a sensible margin. If there is no margin walk away. You will waste a lot of shoe leather walking away, if your doing it right. We are all essentially fishing from the same ponds, some people have the knack for catching fish, others do not. Patience and persistence is key. And once you have caught the fish, it’s no good to you unless you have a ready market to take it to. I don’t mean to be brutal...I,m sure others will be. If you have not figured it out how to catch some fish in 2 years, then maybe it’s time to put the rod down and find something more suited to your talents.

I suppose forums are a bit like the pub. Get away from the wife for a few hours of macho bullshit fantasy and then go home and be normal. The difference is what is said in the pub is forgotten as soon as you go out the door. What is written on a forum swirls around in cyberspace forever and can give an entirely false impression of who the person really is. This forum is viewable by the public. If the Wee Free’s up there catch you watching those type of videos, you’ll be burned at the stake....mainly so they can have them.

So, are you guys ok with builders wolf whistling and making lewd comments when a girl with a short skirt passes by and stuff like that? ie. she is wearing a short skirt so it’s open season? Maybe I have misread something. I thought I was pretty normal and had a normal adult viewpoint.

I don’t really like the tone of some of the comments on this thread. Hopefully, the lady in the picture or her family will not see this. Its all very well having a laugh and mocking the car, the photo, the place, the impression the add gives, but not the Lady, she only posed for a picture.