Gavin@Rousdon

In my experience as a forum gets bigger it has the potential to become slightly harder moderate. There is always the odd trouble maker who likes to make life difficult for the people who run it. Hopefully a forum like this is a clamer envoirnment to debate issues but we should all be aware that people can be 'brave' from behind their keyboards. I have nothing to hide!!! Gavin Nation, Rousdon Car Centre Ltd, Lyme Regis

I only have a small team of myself and 2 mechanics. The mechanics get a monthly £100 bonus if the workshop takings hit a certain target but I don't offer a Christmas bonus as such. As for a Christmas party I will take one mechanic and few close business people to the football, this year it was hospitality at Villa v's Man Utd last weekend, last year Arsenal v's Villa. The other mechanic isn't a social person so I allow him unpaid time off to spend with his family in Spain (They are English but there is no work over there for him). Opening hours over Christmas, personally I would open Christmas day if I thought I could do a deal !! but this year I'm closed on the 23rd and reopen on the 28th main due to Childcare and my son's birthday, but I'm on the end of the phone if anyone wants to make an appointment to view a car. My workshops are closed 23rd December to 2nd January.

It's such a small number of people who post on here spread over such a large area (Devon to Aberdeen from what I can make out) that at present I can't seen any issues with letting people know who I am and what I'm about, BUT thats my choice and if people don't feel the need to reveal who they are thats fine as long as they aren't causing trouble.

I was always under the impression that 'UK Car Group' & 'C&C Trade Sales' had an element of stock sourced via 'We buy any car'. I've not brought many but the 10 or so I have purchased from 'UK Car Group' lines have been prime stock. I maybe wrong but had anyone else heard this?

I would say locking yourself in a office away from everyone will only cause a big divide. If your only employing a few members of staff its easier to allow abit of give and take whereas with larger numbers you have to stick by the rules more. Most important is to be visable, my wife manages in the care industry, most managers will find a office tucked away from the 'floor' but she makes sure she has one right in the middle. That way staff can see her, ask questions and she has a grip of whats going on and get to know the people who work for her, the troublemakers can't hide and the good staff get noticed. It has being a very sucsessfully policy for her and gains the respect of her staff. If your staff respect you and you feel in control of the business the balance will be right, the way you achieve this will vary for each member of staff.

I've always enjoyed January, normally see few sales at the start of the month but does tend to drop of towards the last week, by which time I'm off skiing !!

Pretty much what Green Giant says, in my eyes a car isn't sold until a decent deposit has been taken. I refuse to take 'holding' deposits over the phone from customers who are a few hours journey away but insteed will will 'hold' the car from the time a customers journey starts until the time they arrive, the last thing I want is to take a car off sale on a Tuesday and wait until Saturday for them to view it. Other than that I operate a 'first come, first served' policy which I find is the fairest way. The art is making sure you control the process and not the customer.

I took the same vehicle in part exchange earlier this year, S reg and Blue !! The 'mature' owner couoldn't stop saying how much he loved it so it seems Almera GTI's have an 'effect' on certain people !!

I see your point Barrie but would you prefer BCA to focus more on selling to your customers?

So if BCA was made to offer 'private' buyer warranties they would just hand pick the prime stock, inspect it and grade it them promote the auction to the public and rake in the massive buyers fees they charge private buyers with the added cost of the warranty on top. So the trade would be deprived of 'Prime Stock' or forced to pay big money bidding against the public. The trade are then left to fight over the Grade 3-5 cars which will need bodyshop attention, tyres etc, they may come a touch cheaper but the time getting them out on sale will be longer due to the added re-con. I say leave the element of risk there as it's whats stops more private buyers attenting auctions.

I'm not suprised but without seen the email enquiry that was sent it's hard to comment. Let be honest, how many email enquires are solid genuine enquires? 50% maybe. It's no excuse as every enquiry should be handled as 'red hot' but it's easy to become cynical when so many email leads turn out to be time wasters.

Lets remember this is VOSA and the government we are talking about, the last load of MOT (re Airbag lights etc) changes they bought in about 3 years ago took until this year to become part of the test and then they were watered down. I imagine the rfr (reason for refusal) will be along the lines of 'If the tester can clearly see the DPF has been removed they must fail the vehicle' or something along those lines or we will have to fail cars because the warning light is on. Somebody will them point out the warning light only means there 'may' be a problem mean the tester can't say 100% in the DPF if working or not and the whole idea will become another 'pass and advise' item.

Which do people prefer? And which is the most reliable considering sometimes there can be £1000 - £1500 difference between the two!! When buying at auction I find CAP to be the more accurate with the ex-lease cars I buy, which I guess should be the case as BCA seem to prefer CAP. Come P/EX time I check both and try to use the lowest as a start point (Normally CAP) check what sort of price the car will retail for, by then it's about 50/50 with Glass's becoming a slightly more realistic guide. I know they are only 'guide' prices and we realisticly know our own market prices but with sometimes such a large difference we can easierly take in a 'bargin' p/x or a very expensive p/x. Also no idea what Glass's are thinking with their 'High' 'Average' & 'Low' prices (other then to copy CAP) as sometimes a 'Low' prices is only £50 below their given 'Trade' price !!!!

James, I agree totaly with your first point, but your second point means a vital ladder of the motor trade get removed. There are honest roadside traders, I'm sure of it, so saying they should be banned is akin to the days where only Main Dealers could service cars under warranty because of the so called 'Experts' could do the job properly. All bad dealers should be crushed and stopped. All honest dealers should be given a fair chance by them roadside or franchised in £10m showrooms.

James, does every VAT registred dealer play by the same rules? Of course not some of the worse 'traders' I've come across have been 'legit' on the surface. Sticking stickers on windows seems a very vigilante approach and will do more harm then good. I'm sure we can think up something better then a 'mob rule' attitude. Or maybe sometimes customers get the cars they deserve.

Not sure, if we are sure they are crooks fine, but it smacks of arrogance to claim the we are 'real motor traders' and they aren't. Where does it stop, Main Dealers slapping stickers on Independants car's just because they 'think' they are better? A better way it to try and get Trading Standards to classify which type of 'trader' causes the most complaints by asking......'Main Dealer' or 'Indepedent with forecourt' or 'Home Trader' or 'Roadside Trader' etc etc then the facts will speak for themselves. Maybe it's time we had to register as a car dealer with Trading Standards?

VW Polo Harlequin, almost every panel a different colour. saw one the other day and still looks impressive !!! Also VW did an 'Open' edition on the Polo / Lupo which had a full length canvas sunroof.....which leaked !

For a £500 hit it must of being very badly described !! But he must have know as he still did the deal and went away happy.

Isn't this a idea by the charity 'Brake', who despite good intentions towards safety seem to come out with the most anti-driver ideas such as lower speed limits on motorways, zero alchool limits which seem designed solely to take people of the road. The truth is that people are going to speak on their phone in a car no matter what, a hands free system is the safest way and is no different to speaking to someone sat next to you. I would say a SAT NAV is more dangerous then hands free as its something you looks at rather then the road. Also as humans we deal with distractions whilst carring out tasks 24 hours a day. If we drove a car and focused solely on that task we would quickly get in a 'zone' where we cut out noise and activity around us (proved by most Nissan Micra drivers!!) which is far more dangerous.

The question of a P/X value crops up many times, when the customer and the car is in front of you it's a simple process, you can see the car and value what you see. But how do you deal with the question when its made via email or telephone? You can't see the car and its condition, its spec and which colour it is (they say blue but it could Monaco Blue, Montego Blue or Bluewater). We want to get the customer and car in front of us but also don't want to be used as a valuation service or give a price that we then have to try and knock £100's off when we see the car as it's not as described. As much as I push, customers don't like saying how they value their car via email (sometime phone is easier). Do other dealers find the enquiry goes dead once they send an approx value via email? Do you class them as serious enquires or dreamers hiding behind an email? I'm sure it's not just me who finds it frustrating, how do other approach these situations??

If we didn't have to offer a warranty lets think what would happen. Main dealers would rent a big field and sell all their P/Ex's to the public or the public would flock to BCA. The independents would have there stock supply cut off over night. We can spend £400-£500 easy on mechanical recon on most cars add our profit onto that and you could be trying to sell a car for £1500 more then is advertised in the Main Dealers 'Part Exchange Field' .

Same old story i'm afraid. Autotrader dominates because it works. I would like to hear from any small dealer selling £5000 - £25000 cars who doesn't used AT and still does the numbers. I would also like to see these new advertising portals put their money where there mouth is and give us 12 months advertising for free so we can see it for ourselves.

I guess alot depends on your roll in the business, if you are solely sales then a smart presentable appearence is a must. When I started in would valet the cars myself and be in the workshop repairing them too, so looking smart was next to impossible but people could see why and the stock was sub £1500 so I didn't find it a problem. Now my stock is £5000 - £20000 I have to project a different image and balance that with the fact that I also run the workshops so will be in and out of the oily parts of the site!!! Smart jeans, company polo shirt and smart coat let down maybe by wearing trainers (try wearing smart shoes in a busy workshop and see how long they last!!) There is no flashy showroom but I try to impress on my customers how the business works, the process our cars follow coupled with the skills and knowledge we have. Hopefully it soon becomes clear the sales and service sides are run together and the New Balance trainers are forgiven. If a pair of trainers means more then this maybe the customer deserves to pay £2000 more for the same car at the local BMW / Audi dealership.

Work with trading standard and show them the issues from our side, ask them how it is possible to prove our case, show them that customers aren't 100% honest. Maybe they should set up an service where when the trade and the customer don't agree for a set fee TSI will come and mediate so the problem get sorted quickly and fairly.

Unless I'm wrong before you can get a V5 for a CAT C or D doesn't the car have to undergo an MOT? Could it be made law that these cars have to undergo a far more indepth examination carried out like an MOT test but by VOSA say. It may have to cost £300 but it could help prove these cars are safe. Good for the buyer and good for the seller. If the repair it done properly CAT D & C repaired cars should be some of the safest on road with everything set up correct, new compontants etc. Lets remember there are lots of unsafe, badly repairs cars on the road which haven't been part of an insurance claim. If the customer is informed (vital) and a traceable repair history can be shown lets remove the stigma and embrace another part of our diverse industry.