XFS

I need to get a 7 seat SUV for the winter. The 7 seats and carrying capacity are the biggest factor. A Land Rover Discovery is the obvious choice but they don't seem to go 5 minutes without breaking down. I need reliability as I,ll be in Europe and have an 1800 mile drive to get to my winter digs. They are also pricy. An X5 would be fine, I,m familiar with an X5 and know how to buy them, but it's not a great 7 seater. Not very keen on Q7,s for some reason and it would cost 20k for a decent one. A Volvo XC90 seems good value. I can get a high spec 50/60k mile 2012 model for 14k. I,ve never even looked at one though. Are they good? Around 15k, under 80k miles and no older than 10 plate is where I want to be. Any thoughts?

I need to get a 7 seat SUV for the winter. The 7 seats and carrying capacity are the biggest factor. A Land Rover Discovery is the obvious choice but they don't seem to go 5 minutes without breaking down. I need reliability as I,ll be in Europe and have an 1800 mile drive to get to my winter digs. They are also pricy. An X5 would be fine, I,m familiar with an X5 and know how to buy them, but it's not a great 7 seater. Not very keen on Q7,s for some reason and it would cost 20k for a decent one. A Volvo XC90 seems good value. I can get a high spec 50/60k mile 2012 model for 14k. I,ve never even looked at one though. Are they good? Around 15k, under 80k miles and no older than 10 plate is where I want to be. Any thoughts?

Some of you guys must have the patience of saints. I couldn't deal with these people, I would be sectioned in a week or in Jail. I don't sell anything under 5k and only have low owner, full history, low milage mint cars so people can't catch me out on anything. Luckily most of my customers barely look at the car and a deal rarely takes more than half an hour to complete. Trade ins go straight to auction. I learned!! I took a 1 owner low miles 03 plate pug once and decided to retail it as it was so clean. £1295. Phone was off the hook and emails, texts with all the stupid stuff. I think I had PTSD by lunchtime. First guy came to see it, was over it like a nasty rash, underneath, inside, gave it the mother of all test drives, brake tests, steering tests....2 f*cking hours. Looked at this, checked that... He bid me £1150 because he detected "some wear" in a place that may or may not exist. Normally, I would have told him to go forth simply because he had screwed around for 2 hours, but rather than put myself through that again, I said fine...just take the car and go. Never again.

I,ve been trading again for a couple of years now, having been a full time car dealer previously in pre internet days. I am going to quit for the winter and move to the sun for a few months an reassess. It's just been so quiet and my search for suitable premises has so far been a time consuming waste. I did finish (well just about finish...still got 3 to move on) on a high note though. A couple of weeks ago a couple wanted to buy a £7400 car, said they were going on holiday and would collect in 10 days. £200 non- refundable deposit taken. 10 days later woman phones me and claims major financial crisis and can't pay. Fair enough. It's actually the first time I,ve had a sale fall through after a deposit was taken. I thought the car was a bit cheap so I readvertised at £7700. Within 48 hours I sold it for £7700 with the customer paying on the spot and driving away. I'm £500 up on the original deal. It's difficult not to smile.

Maybe. I tend to avoid Blue, the exceptions being Alfa's Breras/Spiders in Blue and Audi,s in Sprint Blue and BMW,s in Estoril Blue which seem easy to sell. I,ve not had JasperBlue, but it looks like a quite a Pearlescent colour and my instinct would be that it's just a good colour for the model.

It's a pretty saleable car in normal circumstances. Mileage, spec, history, colour all good. As long as it has no more than 3 owners it's good stock even at this time of year. In normal circumstances ie. when people are actually buying cars that would be a fairly easy retail at £8995.00 for me. I guess you need to decide what you can get for it. And how much you are making on the car it's being traded against. I would say you would have to be cautious and between 6.5k and 7k is probably about right given the time of year and the fact you may be stuck with it all winter. If someone came on to my drive with the car right now trying to sell it to me, 6.5k is as far as I would go.

Audi with a phone holder fixed to the dash. It's the Audi option, so take it off and there is a 35mm square hole in the dash. I usually by newer cars so I,ve not encounter this. It's a low mileage 2008 S3 so still a 5 figure car, so not something I want. Any ideas?

I don't accept that the dealer is always in the wrong and I will stand my ground. If the cars right when it goes out and I,m confident my cars are, and the customer has declined an extended warranty, then after the statutory 30 day period they are on their own within reason. A head gasket goes 6 weeks after purchase and the customer has the right attitude I,ll probably repair it, after 3 months I would offer a contribution. Again depending on attitude, but I would not feel under obligation to do so. We need to stand up for ourselves.

Thanks for the input guys, I'm having a site meeting tomorrow with the agents, so I think I,ll go with the caveat "subject to suitable planning consent" I really want this place, it's the first location I,ve seen that has made me go, yeah, I must have this. I don't want a sales pitch or anything roadside, the last thing I want is random walk ins. I,m a bit like Arthur Dealy, unless they are actually coming to buy a car, then I don't want to know:) April was the last time somebody appointed failed to buy. But I do definitely want somewhere I can store and prep all my cars under cover and in space and comfort.

Ok, I, am thinking about leasing a premises with B1 permitted use. My car sales business is by appointment only and the main use for the building is repairs, prep and storage. As I said we will not be open for walk ins, viewings strictly by appointment. Yes, I know it's restrictive, but I simply don't have the patience to deal with the riff-raff. And I genuinely like to give my customers my undecided attention. There are already a couple of auto businesses on site, one operating classic car renovation business with ancillary sales and the other a straight repair garage. What do you guys recon about planning? Do I need to apply for car sales planning or just wing it? I don't want to ask the planning people if I need planning as they will be alerted and then do their best to complicate things anyway. I suppose in theory I could just drive the customer to my house and do the deal there, but my idea is that I want home and business entirely separate. Any of you guys have experience with this type of situation?

I have my best stock ever, every one a winner and better and cheaper than any others available within 100 miles. The only car I have had a serious enquiry about this month was my most expensive and the customer arrived as appointed, took a quick look, declined a test drive, shook my hand, completed the paperwork and money in 20 mins and was driving away in a 22k car. The rest I,ve barely had a phone call about in the last 3 weeks.

I probably loose out on a few sales because I have a very low threshold for knobheads. If their first question is "what's the least you would take" I usually loose them as my immediate response is, "if that's your first question then you are looking for a cheap car rather than a good car and I,m probably not your best bet. However, If you are looking for a good car perhaps we can start the conversation again?" Having said this, I am pretty happy with the customers I get, they tend to be nice people and if they make the effort to view 9/10 times they buy. I don't discount, but I gave an old guy a fifty pound note yesterday as a "luckpenny" as he and his son were such a pleasure to deal with.

I did subscribe to CAP, but to be honest it's pretty irrelevant as a lot or in fact most of the valuations are no real reflection on the current market, so I no longer pay for any guides. I felt it was in fact detrimental and in certain respects clouding my judgement or inhibiting me. The way I value a car whether it is a stock vehicle or a trade in is to establish my selling price using experience and the current market as a guide and then base what I am prepared to pay based on condition and the profit I want to make.

Not had so much as a phone call yet! Mind you July turned out a great month and it was two weeks in before I had a sniff.

Check what similar straight cars are selling for on Autotrader etc and ask at least 40% less. Rule of thumb is Cat D knock off at least 30%, Cat C more like 40% to 50%

I hate scumbags as much, probably more, than the next man. But having dealt with real scumbags in previous occupations I probably have a lower or higher (whichever) threshold for the definition. Thoughtless or rude people...or low-ballers are simply an irritation but seldom get anywhere near scumbag status. I think a lot of people see motor dealers as fair game for behaviour they might not consider when dealing with vendors in other arena's but then to be fair, there are a lot of scumbags in this business. Just go to the local auction and they are swarming around like flies around the proverbial turd. A lot of people we deal with are time wasters of some form or another, but most are no more than that.

I prefer to think of it as being on my own level with my own standards.

I think that's perhaps an extreme view. People take advantage of the anonymity of modern communications, they are perhaps inconsiderate and thoughtless, but not necessarily scumbags. They could well be fairly polite and mild mannered in real life and are simply bolder behind a keyboard, it's a common trait online, not exclussive to this arena. I,m with Mat, I tend to politely reply to all communications even if it's to tell them to fuck of and stop being ignorant but in truth I'm more likely to say that face to face than online. I,m pretty old school. My writing is polite and middle class and seldom rude. In person I,m a working class grumpy Scotsman and not inclined to accept bad manners or rudeness with good grace.

I bought a car from BCA today. Unusual in itself, because it's 2 months since I,ve had a look in with anything at BCA. I paid £500 below my limit for the car, It's also a grade 1, never thought I would ever get near a grade 1. There is not a mark on the car other that a nasty scuff on the trim in the rear which the grader missed. History checked and is genuine. It's literally the first car I,ve bought this year that needs absolutely nothing but a price tag. It's even been mot,t and serviced in the last couple of months. What can possibly go wrong?

Until 10 days ago, I thought it would be an awful month, then I ended up doing my three best deals ever in quick succession.

Rude people are rude people. I don't put up with it, don't have the patience and never have and I,m not scared to tell them. I don,t deal with rude people whatever their race. There are plenty of rude native British people.

The same heritage as whom? If you mean Asian, then no. Could not be more opposite. All my heritage is from in the U.K. Certainly for the last 300 years anyway. I have no idea prior to that, but Viking Or Pict would be my guess.

I,m on drugs yes. Prescription ones. Never taken an illegal one in my life. I can only speak as I find. My Asian customers tend to be in the 30 to 40 group (heading for middle age as I said) last week I dealt with a father and son. The son was buying, the father was paying. Both were gentlemen. The chap I bought that particular car from was also an Asian around 35. His mother made me the best cup of tea I,ve ever had and fed me chocolate biscuits. As I type this I,m on my way to the Midlands to buy a car from another Asian family and all the signs are that the car will be as described and the deal will be smooth. I may be controversal here but I think I score with Asian people because I give the older ones who,s English is not great a bit of time and patience and try to understand them. Also, I think a lot of buyers (and sellers) immediately switch off and lose interest as soon as they hear an Asian voice on the line. A bit of respect goes a long way.

It's threads like these which reign me in every time I deicide, right that's it I,m going full time. I think I would hate it. Right now I pick and choose what I sell and whom I sell to. Nothing which attracts families! Nothing which attracts young tyre kickers. Nothing which attracts idiots. I also prep the cars properly, do anything which needs doing and don,t try to hide anything. I operate strictly by appointment, deliberately make it quite difficult for the customer and make sure they have to make a proper effort if they want to view, so I,m pretty sure they are serious. When they get here I am nice to them, give them my full attention and tell them right away that I won't try to sell them the car, they must want to buy...and if they don,t then the appointment I have lined up next will for sure. I also make it clear right at the start that the price is the price and is not negotiable. A good percentage of my customers are (heading for middle age) Asian men whom I generally find are a pleasure to deal with. I also buy many cars privately from Asian families and again I always find them very polite and respectable. East Europeans I'm not so keen on. I generally like them as they are hard working and great if you want a job done, but hard work to buy a car from or sell one to. I very rarely have problem customers and 9 times out of 10 (literally and statistically) the first to view a particular vehicle buys it) That said, it may take me several weeks, even longer to attract even one viewer for any particular vehicle, but my thinking is...I only need one. I can literally go weeks without a single appointment and begin to think my phones cut of...then sell two or three and it's all fine again. So, generally customers rarely piss me off. It's the non-customers, they ones who I make sure never get near my place who drive me nuts. I think if I allowed walk-ins I would probably end up killing someone.

The photos won't be any better with a DSLR unless you are prepared to shoot in raw and use a digital darkroom program. If you take the photos in favourable circumstances, avoiding harsh light, shadows and close contrasts, most cameras are capable of great results. Cameras are simply a tool. In the right hands they will mostly all do the job if they in good working condition and set up properly. There should be a function on your camera to sharpen/increase contrast etc. However the most important thing is to make sure the focus is correct. I see so many poor car shots where the problem is simply that shot out of focus, which is the one thing which is almost impossible to correct in post no matter what camera or programme you use. This said there are numerous free programmes available which will quickly and easily correct/enhance a shot. Also, I would not be tempted to use any of the easily applied effects you sometimes see. I don't think it helps. People just want decent photos which represent the car accurately.