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Hi folks, Wondered if I could pick your brains on a issue with my van. It's a 2012 vw caddy maxi c20 that's a 1.6 diesel with a DSG gearbox. For quite some time now the vehicle has what I can only describe as an intermittent problem. Every so often, like maybe a 2 or 3 times a month, suddenly while driving the tone of the engine changes, a deeper tone. The vehicle also appears slightly less smooth/sluggish between gear changes. A smell that is quite pungent enters the cabin, maybe a bit like oil burning or like somethings hot. And also sometimes while its entered this state it will do a jumping/juddering when reversing and sometimes when crawling at a busy roundabout, when you edge forward (maybe a little bit heavy footed) you hear the most disturbing noise of all which sounds like, some kind of belt slipping or something. Very strange. I've tried to describe this as best as I can. I guess that's what intermittent problems are like. But then for 95-98% of the time the van is absolutely normal... Has any one got any ideas. Very much appreciate your comments Nathan

Car Values ! That old chestnut ! We all use various guides to value car s/ buy car s/sell cars ..but everyday its gets more and more challenging on not only what to buy m what to pay and then what to retail it for to make a workable margin. Find myself today question WHO is is really giving a TRUE VALUE of a car. Golf TDI BMT Match 5dr - 2015-15 -14000 miles VALUES AS Follows GG Trade £11970 Retail £13510 CAP Clean £12000 Retail £13695 Autotrader Retail £13759 In reality they are all very similar , a lot closer than many other cars I've checked On AT Prices start at £12395 / Loads at £12500 12/14000 miles - one owner On motors prices from £11999 with 17000 miles - One owner The low prices are mainly from car supermarkets / bid group - so does this mean they dictate what the retail market is ? I'm told auction prices are fetching cap clean + , don't forget the commission , transport etc etc , so how do we the independents compete ? As we all know customers who search these platforms will naturally do the ' price' checks but if they are selling at £1500/2000 less than the 'suggested' market price , surely these customers will travel and buy them ? ( I'm sure they will end up paying more with the bolt on's any way !) I'm sure the manufacturers of some these cars must be getting worried a Golf to depreciate circa 45% ?? ( 21500 new - trade circa 12000) ! Thoughts ?

Guys & Girls This maybe help you answer some of you customers questions and concerns if their VW is affected by the Emissions Recall! It still gives no detail about when the recall will start however does give you the opportunity to contact your customers before VW do , so you can score BROWNIE POINTS! to check the VIN number of your customers and your stock VW's http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/dieselinfo Jim Reid

Underselling or maximising FULL profit potential. Here’s an interesting bit of info for anyone interested. Hopefully everyone on here likes to make the’ maximum profit’ on any car you've bought, don to the last £25/50 [They all add up just think if you’re selling 25 cars per month – extra £25 per vehicle = £7500 year-end profit, sorry I digress] Just trying to do a deal on a Golf Plus 2011-11 – 17000 miles, one owner FVSH + Few extras. I've valued the car with Autotrader Price £8650 Glass Guide £9060 CAP Clean £9375 [Live today £9475] Slight variance; happens on them all but what is the Retail price for this car? I use Glass Guide and the useful feature is ‘Radar’ For those who don’t know about ‘radar’ it shows same/similar vehicles either for sale or sold throughout the country , who is selling it/ sold it and days in stock and on average how many days that car takes to sell. So I check who’s got one and what they’re selling for or have sold for. Hopefully not boring you but the 1st 4 cars sold as follows £8999 14 Days in Stock Suzuki Dealer £9490 93 days in stock VW Dealer [£10490 – 2 months £9490] £8950 92 days in stock Ford Dealer [£9450 – THEN £10,000 –Reduced to £8950] £9995 86 days in stock VW Dealer [£9995 – 2 months then £8999] Is it that the car has been undersold? or is that the correct retail price , if that’s the case then are the trade values wrong? After that we have to think DO - GG/ CAP/ Autotrader ++ collate this info , look at the ‘retailed prices’ and adjust the ‘trade values’ down due to the retail values being lower? Retail values according to Autotrader £10825 GG £10800 CAP £10950 [Live £11095] So I’m sure we’d all agree retails are £11000! Have these dealers missed ‘ extra profit potential ‘ would they have been better simply ‘trading’ these cars from day one and even made more profit than retailing them ? Your thoughts ? Hope it all makes sense ? Over to you ! *PS the mileage of all the cars is not 17,000 but even taking the variance at most of £500/600 - I feel the retail value would have been £10500. Also note the vehicle i valued is today the cars were for sale since November where the trade/ retail values would have been higher ?