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Hi All, Newbie's here from South Wales. My partner, Ryan, has always been in and out of the industry. He's mid-twenties now and his father has always been in the car trade. I work in finance so no car expert! We've opened a small independent site just over a month ago after a friend (now landlord) decided he was calling it a day with his site here due to another big job opportunity and family commitments. Pretty much one stop shop here, workshop with tyre bay, 2 ramps, sales pitch and showroom and a detailing bay as that is Ryan's true passion and existing business. Not here to get rich quick or work 8-4, we're both realistic and aware of the sacrifices. But we're young so you've got to take a chance and work hard while you can! Mainly will be myself using the site but I will try and contribute where I can :-) Any advice is taken on the chin and greatly appreciated. Thanks, Kelly

Hi all, I'm the Digital Marketer at First Response and just wanted to share some industry knowledge with you guys. Facebook have just updated their algorithm (how they decide which posts get seen) and they've made it extremely hard for any business Page to now show on people's newsfeed. Essentially, to get onto a newsfeed you will now have to pay for it or have incredible engagement. If you're a Facebook-focused dealer then you will likely need to start thinking strategically. Facebook want conversations between a dealership and its fans/customers. I would not be surprised if over the next coming weeks you see your reach dropping significantly on your posts and your engagement coming to a halt (calculate this by adding likes, comments & shares over the week or month then dividing by number of likes). My best advice for dealers at the moment is to: Allow conversations on your page (reviews, posts, comments) and actively respond back to them Use video - this naturally has more reach and live videos are even better Stop posting the same stuff over and over again, it's about quality not quantity (if applicable) Start thinking about what your fans want to see (not what you want to show them) Consider putting aside some budget and/or man power for your Facebook There's a lot to take in there but I am happy to answer any questions! Jade Digital Marketer First Response Finance

Ive been reading these forums for close to a week now and decided to make an account and ask some real motor traders if im doing anything wrong, or even right! So, I seriously disliked my job but loved cars and decided to get into motor trading about a year ago, i done months of research but only decided to start buying about 6 months ago. I'm just a small trader who trades from home but I would love to turn it into a full time job. As of now, in the past 2 months ive spent roughly £5,500 on cars (from BCA, silver card holder). But ive only made about £400 profit. Heres what I do from start to finish. Day before an auction I read through their catalog and write down some cars im interested in, day of the auction I go check them out and 50% of the time I do end up getting one, I take it home, clean it and stick it on Gumtree (good pictures, descriptions). On avg. it takes me about 1 week to sell the car and I make about £100-£150 on each car, now If I want to turn it into a job obviously I couldn't on that profit, so Im just looking for literally any advice from some real motor traders. Where I think I'm going wrong is I'm paying to much for cars, for example traders can spend more on a car because they own car lots and can afford to bump up their price and have the car for weeks or even months, where as I can't so I'm forced to drop the price for a quick sale. Also, not to mention auction fees are killers. EDIT: I just realized I think I posted in wrong forum . Sorry!

After successfully helping guide a small start up in it's infancy to greater things I now find myself at the point where I'm more than happy to help anyone in the motortrade looking for assistance. This doesn't have to be a start up , maybe a business that feels that it has gone off the tracks a little or someone just looking to get some business ideas bounced about. Now I'm NO self confessed car guru or expert however I have learned many things over the last 30 years in the trade and especially the last 13 + years building my own business and I am happy to share this experience FREE of charge if anyone feels they would benefit from it. Many of you won't know me or my business so I have attached my LinkedIn Profile as a link, https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jimreidvehicle If you feel you can benefit then contact me on jim@jimreidvehiclesales.co.uk I'm eager to get my teeth stuck into something very soon! Jim