BIGTIME advice needed

[Allstars 1]

Hi all

Im Bilal, u can call me Bill 

started off 12 years ago on my drive away, at age of 18, then age 24 moved into a little indoor unit, then after 3 years packed up. Came back 3 years later. Now I been successfully running a site for 16 months, vat registered, card machine, Recovery truck, working 7 days, late nights, really really working my b*lls off

I have invested about 35k and all my stock around £1200-£2000 

i feel my model is great, because I've only got 35k invested, a pitch that can hold 40 cars. 25 cars always in stock. We get the odd few 3k 4k cars aswell.

had a fantastic year, made a good 25-30k

no employees, just me and my truck

advertised on gumtree £178, motors £312, Autotrader £1500 

had a few very quiet Months recently,?ended up cancelling gumtree and motors due to lack of enquiry 

never ever tried eBay 

my question is, for the price range I'm dealing with, would I be better off cancelling Autotrader (£1500 big bill) Autotrader seems to be better for expensive stock anyway. And instead try eBay and gumtree ONLY, I'm scared I might die if I left AT. Or should I be on all AT GT and eBay?

we have no foot traffic and it's a side road.

and also am I wasting my time on running in/out of auctions, mot workshops, car washes on almost a daily basis working 7 days and selling for an average margin £300 20-25 cars most months. would I be better off just investing another 20k and stocking 3-5k cars???

New to the forum, in the motor trade for 10 years on and off - only really have become all kitted up and serious 18 months ago / and I'm dealing with the low end. Haven't ever stepped up to 5k cars or above 

[justina3 518]

I would say I am pretty much in the same market as you, only difference is our bottom lines £300 is not a lot of profit for the level of work your putting in I would look there first off and answer yourself why, then look to change it.

I have no experience with AT so can't answer you there sadly loads of other guys and dolls on here do so I am sure someone will pop along shortly to help there.

[sparky 274]

Agree with Justina, at that end of the market you need more box profit. Don't be scared to charge a bit more. As someone said to me when I first started off, 'shy men make no dough'.

 

As for AT/ebay/motors etc. It's a bit like debating whether your better off playing 442, 433 or 352 etc. It's a conundrum that very few have the answer to and more importantly, are able to back up. My own view is that you either go on everything else apart from AT or you go on AT and really nothing else (unless it's cheap). There is also some kind of social media (whatever that is) the kids talk about that you can shift a few motors on, apparently a bloke in Scotland does very well on it. I can't see it myself

[justina3 518]

Wales hold up well the same as our Scottish friends what that kind of media, just be picky what you promote, a flame red Fiesta zetec for say £2k will fly out on there where as a Volvo estate wont go no where.

 

 

[metcars 395]

35 minutes ago, sparky said:

There is also some kind of social media (whatever that is) the kids talk about that you can shift a few motors on, apparently a bloke in Scotland does very well on it. I can't see it myself

I'm of an age when FB/twitter etc leaves me cold. so I'm with you BUT, social media and Ebay virtual showrooms are the future like it or not. The whole balloons, bunting and "car of the week" is dying on its feet. The whole nature of shopping, and the whole "one-click-delivery-by-drone-if-you-don't-like-it-send-it-back-for-a-full-refund is the business model of the future. I would think that for you guys that are in your 20/30s there are some interesting times ahead.

[justina3 518]

Problem i always found with fleabay is the search default which is always set to best match, not closest first as it used to be back in the day, so you get into stupid discussions about someone 150 miles away from us has the same car for £50 less, where as gumtree and mongbook doesnt have that problem.

 

 

[justina3 518]

Coming from Wales people from Devon used to ring us daily saying your only 20 odd miles away yes if you take the ferry if you take the car your talking more like 250 miles, one donkey even left us negative feedback saying whats the point listing a car so far away.

that was the last straw for me stopped using them after that which was a shame up until the big changes it used to work well for us.

 

 

 

Edited March 20, 2017 by justina3

[Allstars 1]

4 hours ago, sparky said:

Agree with Justina, at that end of the market you need more box profit. Don't be scared to charge a bit more. As someone said to me when I first started off, 'shy men make no dough'.

 

As for AT/ebay/motors etc. It's a bit like debating whether your better off playing 442, 433 or 352 etc. It's a conundrum that very few have the answer to and more importantly, are able to back up. My own view is that you either go on everything else apart from AT or you go on AT and really nothing else (unless it's cheap). There is also some kind of social media (whatever that is) the kids talk about that you can shift a few motors on, apparently a bloke in Scotland does very well on it. I can't see it myself

Thank you, love the quote 'shy men make no dough'

currently im on AT and that's it .... it works most months to be fair. I think I might try a few freebies like Facebook and eBay (free 2 month trial if your VAT Registered) 

thanks so far guys for you feedback and advice

[andymc1973 199]

cut auto trader back and try ebay, they have a free 3 month  trial I think

[metcars 395]

3 hours ago, tradex said:

Yes, I thought that was just me...should default to closest first.

I even get caught with this, was bidding a dingy only last week, then found to my amusment the boat was located in Harwich...doh!

I used to know a guy that delivered boats for a living. He had some great stories to tell