Gavin@Rousdon

I wouldn't worry about the customer service, pay more attention to the complex pricing structure which changes by the week and requires a Enigma machine to decipher !!

If your buying out of local dealers ALWAYS drive the car where possible before paying. If they don't like it tough, it's your money. As fair few of these cars will have been p/ex then parked up. The average salesperson won't know or care much about it, it maybe fine but it may also have a host of faults which a simple test drive will show. The salesperson hasn't paid a penny of his own money for that car and is only interested in balancing the books on the deal. It's a little different if you buy out of Dealer-Auction but if you find your buying the same dealer a few time hopefully you can build up a relationship with them. If you use Sytner Auction it was in there terms and conditions that your allowed to test drive the car, point this out and use it where possible. Remember its your money. In the price range your buying you will always get a few bad ones, it's happened to us all and still happens no matter how much experience we have. How you deal with problem cars can define your business. Sometimes it's best to get rid and move on. If its a sold car be fair with the customer and they will hopefully be fair with you.

Part of learning the trade is to know which lines to buy out of BCA from. Year's ago at Bridgwater the 'Multi Source' line used to be cars from various local car dealers and Scotland for some reason. If I entred a car it used to go into 'Multisource', now 80% of the time i would be selling it at auction for a reason...because it had a fault!!! so I'm guessing the same applied for other dealers. If you want a safe bet UKCG (Uk car group) is a good line for mixed stock at BCA in my opinion. Saying that I haven't bought out of it for about 2 years now so it may have changed. If you have lost £15000 in bad deals maybe you should try buying newer cars or maybe you should give up!!! You can find bargin's at auctions but I'm not giving anyway my tried and tested technique just yet!!! Out of interest what sort of cars are you buying and selling??

My response is ..........."if Mr Parkers can get me one at that price I will have 5 of them please!!!"

Just had a customer inform me that a Mini i've got for sales at £15995 is only worth £14000 because that's what Parker's tells him. I get this a fair few times over the year and it always seems to under value my car whilst over valuing their part exchange. Now I understand the general public have limited options with price guides but Parkers does seem to do a dis-service to the trade, I wonder where they get their data from. OR is it that Mr Joe Blogg's can't read the guide correctly and only see's the retail figure for his part ex and the trade figure for the one the dealer is selling. a sort of 'price guide dyslexia' which only affects users of Parkers ??!!! I've just done a quick check on Parkers online and is gives the price of my Mini as £15k with 40k miles it with no extras. Mine has done 8k miles with Media Pack and other extra's. Hopefully one day someone will find a cure for this rare illness.

I used Garage Data Systems (GDS), only a basic system, workshop invoicing with a car sales module, it has other bits which I don't use like stock control etc etc Not sure how much a month it is as I purchased it up front before they started doing monthly payments.

No, you use the reference number of the green slip V5C/2 'New Keepers Slip' so the DVLA know a new keeper will be registered shortly.

Lets not push it Chris !!!!!!!!!!!

Well it took me 2 hours but I got there!! Taxed the car using the reference number on the Green Slip V5/2C, brings up details of car (VW Golf) and cost, you confirm then onto payment, put in your email address (or mobile number) and a confirmation will be emailed to you. When working fine it will be easy. I didn't have to enter the new keepers details anywhere in the process so I'm guessing DVLA are still relying on the V5 getting sent to them as before.

What you say is correct CJ. Car on our forecourts with tax on put 'in trade' before the 1st October the tax disc is still valid until we sell the car.

It's crazy, i'm all up for doing everything online as much as possible BUT the systems have to work. We live in a' instant' world where we want to clink and have things sorted, this is what the DVLA want to but they fail to deliver. No reason why this new system could have been put in place from the mid of September for tax starting 1st October. Them must know lots of people leave it until the 1st to renew especially with the offer of a direct debit scheme. Roll out a new system on your busiest day of the month...what could ever go wrong!!

Well it's 8.18 am !st October and I need to tax a car I sold last night....................guess what, the DVLA site is down !! Laughable yet predictable at the same time!!

It one of these laws that is totally un-enforcable, like asking for trade plates to cover the number plates !! In my opinion its the DVLA's way of trying to tell the trade that we were never allowed to drive these cars in the first place so we haven't lost anything when the new tax laws come in. They maybe right but it just highlights the massive gap in communication and trust between the motor trade and DVLA.

Have you ever know anyone get fined or prosecuted for driving a vehicle on the road with on registered keeper??? We in the trade must have done millions of miles between us in taxed 'in trade' cars, never heard of this rule being enforced.

More confusion then!! If the car was put in trade before the 1st OCtober the tax is still valid, thats whats the DVLA have been saying for the last month and they confirm this in the PDF files Phillip posted on the other topic about this.

I've not heard of this and have never heard of it being enforced. It can take the DVLA upto 6 weeks to issue a new V5, why haven't we had irate customers calling us over the years because they have been stopped whilst their new car is still showing as 'In Trade' whilst the DVLA awaits the old V5 to change the name. Sounds like the DVLA trying to scare the trade !!!

There is very little we can do other then remove all the tax disc's off the screen, remember which one's have tax in case we need to jump in a taxed car sometime in the next few months. Next thing I will do is check the DVLA's website on Wednesday and see how we go around taxing cars online using the V5C/2 Green slip, which is one of the new facilities the DVLA have promised.

You become a dealer when you buy a vehicle with the aim to sell it on for a gain. I sure HMRC etc have software to scan adverts for phones numbers which come up frequently in adverts. The biggest danger is falling foul of the Sale of Goods Act (or whatever its know as now) and been caught advertising as a private buyer. Profits should be declared on a tax return but the chances of the taxman catching up with you if you don't range from very unlikely too highly likely !!!

Horror stories about cars we have purchased or taken in part exchange!! The best buying guides are learning from other who have suffered !!!! We all know a BMW 320D is better with SAT NAV etc etc but may not be aware of the dangers of an 2003 Audi RS6 !!

Hi James Best bits are Big Mike!!, Law Stories, stories about other dealers and their histories, James Linton's column (he once traded a car to me!!) and the column by the YTS lad James can sometimes be worth a read!! I will read certain interviews, I thought the DVLA one was a good high profile one to get (shame the DVLA let us down with a lesson in avoiding the questions), other interviews with MD on big dealer groups I may skim through as they don't really have much relevance for me. I rarely read the new car reviews, I never have so its nothing against how you do it but I will read reviews/buyer guides on used cars (I guess it's more my market). Going forward I would like to see more content towards the used car market, 3-10 year old cars etc. Interviews with people like the OFT trying to help us understand what they expect (and in return we can show then the used car market can't be covered by a 'one size fits all' approach), BCA, Dealer Auction etc basicly the people we use and have to deal with in the course of our business. Maybe reviews of valeting products etc The fun and informative approach of present is great, I guess it would be impossible to produce a (free) magazine that gives everyone 100% what they want.

Taking the DVLA as an example, what will they have to change if Scotland votes Yes this week, in truth very little, cars on UK plates will still be liable for road tax etc payable to the DVLA until they are notified the vehicle has been exported. Wouldn't be hard for Scotland to start up its own DLVA but the cost of re-registering the cost would be huge, they could always pass on the cost by charging people but I imagine it wouldn't go down to well ! As for finance I'm sure the finance companies will become risk adverse and start hiking the costs to protect themselves, I'm sure all the new FCA regulations are produced under 'copywrite', I'm sure the UK government will be happy to 'SELL' to the Scottish regulators as will the DLVA be happy to sell its services the Scottish. I get the feeling Scotland wants to finish the relationship yet still pop round and sleep in the same bed when it suits.

No idea why prices were so high out there, I drove an Ice Cream van (got sacked!!) Cleaned Lamp Posts (best job in the world!!) and did building (broke my foot!!). I do remember seen an Nissan Almera (Pulsar) SALOON on a forecourt about 3-4 years old and worked out it was something like £10k in English money!! I'm sure you could buy one new over here for the same money!! This is back in 2000 and there seemed to be lots of old cars out there (driven badly). Same with New Zealand when I went back about 3 years ago, old stuff we trade for £300 makes about £1500 over there. Saying that, look at the prices in Spain and they are the same for old used cars. I'm guessing we are a car buying nation so that drives 2nd hand values down a bit.

The DVLA is a government department and they have identified a way to raise more money, the way it will affect the trade is of no consequence to them. I'm sure the first places they will look when they send an enforcement team out to clamp untaxed cars will roads outside bodyshops, valeters and car dealers. Easy pickings for them and hassle for us. As for trade bodies you must have noticed they do very little for the small person other then take your money. Mr Jim Reid from Aberdeenshire has communicated the tax charges in one post more then they have in the last 12 months. The DVLA don't care for us much and there is very little that will change that. Our customers are DVLA's customers too, DVLA know they are spending more with us so are happy for us to offer the customer service experience so they don't have too!!

I wonder how many customers will log their vehicles as 'in trade' using the new online system due out on 20th October before the CT is complete? I wonder how DVLA will handle this?? I will inform my customers that they may lose there private if they do this!! One silver lining, at the least p/x will remain tax'ed for the duration of the CT so can be used as a runabout for a bit !!!

Do people still wear watches????