Gavin@Rousdon

We all get them, it would be nice if they just said a simple "nice car, but not really for us". It seems they have to find a reason to criticise the car to justify walking away. I had a random one the other day, he walks in the office and states 'Your CR-V is a bit expensive, bit over priced' (its up for £11450) Me "I don't think so, given all the spec its got on it, SAT NAV, LEather etc" Him " I use a Map, prefer cloth and hate sunroofs" Me "Well it's not the car for you. So are you looking for a CR-V then?" Him "Yes, want to spend £10k on a basic model, same age and mileage as that" Me "So mine isn't over priced considering SAT NAV and Leather etc give about a £2k premium over a base model" Him - Blank look and a few muttered words. I think some people see us as the enemy and they have to prove us wrong at any given time. Don't ask me why, either that or a fair few people don't have the social skills to comunicate what they really want to say.

I imagine the 'Black Market Cash Economy' is distorting the stats more then anything else.

Had a similar situation last year with a customer on a 53 Plate BMW. A week after picking it up he claimed there was a chip and a 3 inch crack in the screen and that it shouldn't of passed an MOT, I asked him to bring the car in but instead he sent pictures. He claimed that the screen was going to cost him £125 on his insurance. I offered to pay £50 but would need to see the car or have a report from the windscreen company. Next he claims the screen has already been replaced and starts getting a little agressive in his emails. I ask him to scan the report from AutoWindscreen and a copy of the invoice and send it to me. Next I get a copy of the invoice, hand written on a invoice book you can buy from a shop. I now know he is trying it on and I respond via email (all this is done by email!!) telling him so and pointing out what a poor attempt it is. He get all agressive again, threatens court etc etc. 4 days later I get an email saying the ABS light is on, I say bring it in. Turns out it was a genuine ABS fault but he will only drop it off after hours and pick it up after hours (leaving the key somewhere safe) clearly trying to avoid me!! As expected the windscreen hadn't been replaced and the crack was a mere mark outside of any line of vision. Turns out he had spent £100 at BMW getting the fault code read in trying to avoid bringing the car back to me, once they had quoted him BMW prices to fix it ( over £400 ) did he decide he would have to admit defeat and bring the car back. Morale of the story, always ask the customer to bring the car back so you can see the fault, they will try it on. In the end him trying to get money out of me ended up costing him. The joy of customers !!!!

To repair a windscreen chip is no more then £25+ VAT max. Most insurance companies will do it for free in any case. Also challenge his wording. its clearly not a 'significant defect' its at best a 'minor defect consumate with the age and mileage of the vehicle' Also why did he not report it on Friday, the delivery day. Point out you didn;t notice it nor did he when he first looked at the car and left a deposit or when he picked it up (unless he did everything on one visit). I would asked him to return the car so you can inspect it. If he does, claim it wasn't there when you sold it but offer to repair it with him paying £25 and you will pay the rest. If he refuses to return the car say your not paying for what you can't see. Its it really worth having an unhappy customer for the sake of £25???

I've had 2 attemps at riding a motorbike, both times I fell off. I took at 50cc scooter in p/x once, I lost money. What do I do with bikes......ignore them!!!!

www.taxdisc.directgov.uk Go to the site above Chose 'Vehicle Enquiry' on the left hand side of the page Enter the vehicle reg and make It will then show if the vehicle can be taxed at a Post Office without the V5 If it can you will need a V62 and it will cost an extra £25 Hope that helps

Its a good idea but like you say if you don't enter the reg number it will bypass the system. Maybe they should introduce an 'unverified' marker for when the reg number isn't shown and a marker for all the vehicles that are clear too. Its a start and I'm sure once it's in place they won't be happy at people trying to beat what is a fair system.

I doubt I would stock a 3 Series with wheel trims but I don't think there are many about, I've seen a few 1 Series. I'm not scared of basic spec BMW's, normally ES's in the models from 2005 onwards as they offer great value for money and aren't that different to the SE spec. With BMW's I find the difference between a basic ES and a top spec Business Edition SE is around £2000 - £2500. With Merc's I don't ever consider buying one with a manual gearbox, maybe me being old fashioned !!! As long as you price a car right colour and spec don't really matter, as my old boss once told me when he bought in a non-metallic bright green/purple Peugeot 306..."It's had 3 owners, so 3 idiots have bought it before and 3 more will buy it in the future". Good advice !!

As tempting as some are to retail I always trade them out via a couple of local traders. Personaly I always try and make sure I sell them a few decent cars that I would retail because it keeps them happy and helps me when I have some sub-prime cars to move. The local auction is a last resort, I've tried BCA too but never had much joy.

DVLA never stop amazing me. Last month I sent a cherished transfer off and forgot to put in the cheque, silly mistake but I'm sure I'm not the first. So I phone them up and explained, offered to pay over the phone but they claim there is no way of linking a payment to the forms, I asked if they would call me as both my telephone number and the customers number is on the form once the forms got processed, no, they just send them back (Why bother ask for phone number then??). The cherished transfer before that was rejected because the car the plate was going on already had a private plate on (had had 2 owners since), I had to write a letter on behalf of the customer declaring they had no interest in plate. Yet again a simple phone call would have sorted this and saved time and postage. It's an organisation that seems stuck in the dark ages and who seen to have no interest in engaging with independant dealers.

Was at a VWFS last week and values seemed to of eased a little, unless it's a white convertible which seem to make 130% of CAP Clean. A lot more provissional bids then I have seen for a while. Retail enquiry still seems steady but I'm only a small dealer so I don't notice massive changes.

Thinking back to selling cars 20 years ago 'Power steering' was a major selling point (remember everyone throwing their arms through the drivers window at auctions to rock the steering!!) modern cars seem crammed with features, SAT NAV, Heated Seat Cruise Control, Air Con etc etc Looking around your forecourt, if you had to jump in a car to do a few miles in today what the one feature that would make you choose a certain car over another (apart from half a tank of fuel and tax!!!) ??? For me its a Bluetooth phone connection everytime, if i'm driving without it my phone never stops ringing, closely followed by DAB Digital radio. SAT NAV never bothers me because I have no intention of getting lost (but normally do!!) So whats everyone else's ?

I did talk to Kevin a few years ago about certain points and he did listen but they have very little control over how dealers act on a given day. I know he talked about 3 warnings and then you were out (this was in relation to 'buyer's but i'm sure it was the same rule for all). The truth is that no one at ATM is going to compensate a dealer who has spent a day travelling 200 miles to pick up a car only to find it's not a described. The same problem exsists on Dealer-Auction, dealers just want to get the highest prices for the car to balance to books, most don't care because it's not their money, its the people who are buying with their own money that lose out either financialy and or in time and effort. With the monthly price of ATM going up at will I finally lost faith with it.

Great stuff James, would be interesting if they speak to you as I guess the largest number of un-taxed vehicle will be sitting on dealers forecourts.

One of the main reason I stopped using ATM, your basicly dealing with a bunch of people who don't care about your business. It almost became a 'Retail' site a few years ago and there are no safegaurds in place to protect the buyer. Sometimes the amount of unprofessional service in the motor trade amazes me and lots seem to be from Main Dealers. I know you don't like auctions Umesh (I'm sure you have said before but correct me if i'm wrong) but aleast you know what your getting as most have condition reports etc etc and you know if its yours or not.

Will they be issuing a refund with a cheque like they do now or will they just charge the customer they extra between the price of the new tax for the new car and what they are getting a refund for? In a way it means that tax isn't a problem for dealers anymore as it's up to the customer to deal with it but how can the customer tax the car if it isn't yet registered in their name? Does the car even have to be registered in their name to get a tax disc? If it doesn't dealers can then tax a car, use it for a few months and claim a refund (like taxing it on the green slip at present) Have any dealers been consulted on this issue? Maybe a job for CD magazine to see if they can get an interview with the DVLA to explain how us dealers will be affected.

Not a Utd fan then William !!!

Just a money making machine but until another company 'Floods' the market it won't change. And by 'flood's I mean adverts in every commercial break on every channel, billboards everywhere, adds in every paper and a pricing structure for dealers around 50% of AT then AT will take notice. Autotrader is there for the taking with dealers wanting an cost effective alternative but all these other advertising portals seem content only to nibble away at a small percentage of the market.

2500 Pre-registrations did I read? How many dealers are there? 2000 or more, so each dealer pre-regs about 1 a year. Is seems it was late in the day and he had already been coached in what answers to give. Shame but I guess we all know SMMT's guilty secret.

We sell a £1000 car to person who wears the clutch out and Trading Standards want us to pay. On the same day a estate agent can sell a £1/2Million house with a 100's of faults and not have any comeback. Seems very wrong to me.

Welcome to the world of the Vauxhall M32 Gearbox !!! Whinning in 5th and 6th gear and finally the bearing goes through the gearbox casing. I think its due to the bearing overheating but maybe wrong, we have rebuilt a few as one of our trade customers buys 'Non-Running' Vauxhalls (oh Joy!!) but now prefer to just fit a recon box. It can happen at any mileage but watch out for car around the 80k mark. Also fitted to the Astravan and Vivaro (plus Renault Traffic and Nissan Primastar). Be carefull if using second hand gearboxes as a fix as I believe the ratio's are different for cars and vans. If anyone needs a recon M32 gearbox I use a company who are fantastic and slightly cheaper (about £150 ) then those who advertise on ebay and other sites. Very professional outfit and highly recommended (mainly by word of mouth) here in the South West. Happy to pass on their number if anyone wants it.

How old is the B Class and how many owners? Reduce the part exhange price by £250-£500 and take the change that you can find some history for it. Check the service indicator as a sign that it has been serviced (some customers reset them themselve but lots don't know how to) and check MOT history and ring around. Sometimes a few hours work can provide a FSH. Don't expect anything for Arnold Clark, if they had the book they would of sent it on by now.

Peugeot 309 GTI...everyone loves and saves the 205 GTI's but I haven't seen a 309 for a few years.

It's a shame there isn't more like you William, my experience is very mixed when it comes to Main dealers, a few are very helpfull but others don't seen to realise the value in forming relationships with us independents.

Toyota seem to play be the rule yet when the recall cars it's always reported as a 'bad new story' for the brand. In my eyes it shows a company that care once the car has left the showroom. With 'software' issues most manufactures only do important updates when they see the car in their workshops, hidden as part of the service, hardly fair on people who don't use main dealers. In the last few months I've fitted 2 geniune Land Rover alternators to Disco 3's, both vehicle have the same fault after fitting. After a little probing and searching Land Rover parts tell me there is a issue with a batch of alternators. I then speak to the service department at the same dealer who claim to know nothing of the problem. After 4 weeks of figthing and having a service manager speak down to me the customer have his car back with a brand new alternator supplied by Land Rover. My point is there may still be X number of cars fitted with a faulty alternator, Land Rover knows this but is happy to let customers suffer.