Long time trader first post

[James01 21]

Hi guys,

long time browser but this is my first post.

A bit of background I have been in the trade about 12 years and have a love hate relationship with it like most!

I was after some advice, I am currently and have mostly traded from a large road side site with another trader which has always worked well. Unfortunately he is moving abroad which leaves me in a bit of a situation. I can take the site on myself but this leaves me with rather large overheads as we have always halved everything and having to take on a salesman which I am not really to keen on.

The other alternative is to move to an industrial premises and work as a one man band (which I have done in the past) and work mainly by appointment. With the power of the internet now I am not sure a road side site is really needed. My main questions are has anyone taken this step or work from such a premises and how do you get on? Also can you sell cars from an industrial premises aka a small warehouse with yard?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again.

[Stephen 21]

Hi

New to this myself but have looked at units near me and they seem to dislike the trade, they have got tenants who are selling cars by appointment only and repairing. They are however having a bit of a cul they said and wouldn't allow any more on their sites. They own units from 1000-35000q ft. Seems like they want industrial companies 

Worth ringing some potential agents as see what they think but I'm slightly struggling and decided to start from home. There are units around here but some are not the most appealing estates or units, but suppose what value car your selling. Someone buying a £500 car probs wouldn't be bothered but a 8K car they might just turn around and drive off

Just my thoughts, Can you not try and find another partner if its successful surely there will be other people that would be interested, 

[trade vet 701]

Hi James,surely if you have been running this pitch for years and it works,why change.If it is a big pitch,you must have employed staff.In my experience,visible pitches on busy roads with good curb side appeal are always the best.Passing trade alone should generate 3 or 4 deals per week.You won't get that on a trading estate and unless your new pitch is close bye,you may lose a lot of repeat customers.There may be someone on here who may be interested,why not let people on here know what area you operate from.

[Max Branning 149]

Depends how large your current outfit is and whether you want the stress of keeping it going as is.

Taking on a new partner is an option but unless its someone you know and trust this can just lead to more stress.

If the current site is doing well it can be difficult to walk away from it and start from scratch somewhere else. Unless of course you have had enough of it and just want to slow down a bit?

I know plenty of traders doing well from units etc so its definitely viable if you choose to go that route, especially with 12 years experience behind you !

 

[James01 21]

Hi Guys,

appreciate the feedback.

We have a driver but due to 2 of us being here have never required any more staff than that as we sell each others cars when either of us are away from the site.

I agree I do not know anyone in the trade whom i would trust enough to share a site with at this moment.

I would say that we get around 3-4 cars via passing trade each month, no more. Most of our customers do come via the internet and via autotrader it pains me to say.

With things a bit quieter than they have and buying stock an ever ending issue, minimising overheads just seems a sensible way to go hence my main question of how well people do from 'behind a hedge'.

 

 

 

[MattGM 12]

I'm trading from an industrial unit on an estate, doing reasonably well within the first 12 months, but there are things to be aware of.

Most units suitable are classed under the 'B' bracket, which is general industrial office, and distribution. To retail from your unit you will need A1, and getting that depends what the local council are like as it'll require planning permission, and indeed a landlord willing to seek it. I fell lucky with mine, as the previous leaseholder ran a fixings company, and the unit came with A1 when I took it over.

I have heard of industrial units gaining A1, there's recently been a 'Screw Fix' open up on an estate neighbouring mine, so they must have got it also, but I've also heard stories of it being a royal P.I.A.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

James, its personal to you  it's what you want. I trade from home retailing about 150 a year selling everything by video. The internet is my forecourt  

[Mojo121 229]

Hi James - on the subject of whether or not to keep the roadside pitch:

What's your stock profile? How many do you keep at a time (Would you keep with the whole site)?

As for going it alone if you have the money there and you want to take the next step forward, increasing earnings but also headaches(!) I'd say go ahead

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Rent a farm, live in luxury and start a cottage industry

[have a word with the wife 299]

on a roadside you know your neighbours, generally retail, with a keen sense of tidiness, different on a estate, neighbour could move in tomorrow and does mattress recycling [ example] and dump rubbish everywhere, reason a lot of landlords dont like motor trade as they seem to dump cars too ! 

location location etc, thats what its down to, and just a idea popped in my head, go through your old invoices, pick out the good ones, and mailshot them that youve moved ?

very hard to find round here what you require  

[1] drive in [2] good landlord [3] tidy yard [4] good sound dry unit [5] secure [6] sensible price.

good luck... 

[sparky 274]

16 hours ago, James01 said:

Hi Guys,

appreciate the feedback.

We have a driver but due to 2 of us being here have never required any more staff than that as we sell each others cars when either of us are away from the site.

I agree I do not know anyone in the trade whom i would trust enough to share a site with at this moment.

I would say that we get around 3-4 cars via passing trade each month, no more. Most of our customers do come via the internet and via autotrader it pains me to say.

With things a bit quieter than they have and buying stock an ever ending issue, minimising overheads just seems a sensible way to go hence my main question of how well people do from 'behind a hedge'.

 

 

 

I'm on a main road pitch, your classic ex petrol station. One deal a week from passing trade is not to be sniffed at as that's surely got to be worth at least a couple of grand a month. Personally I think you'd be mad to give that up and work from a unit where your going to get no passing trade at all.

If you don't want to fill the site with cars, maybe look at getting some storage containers to rent out  if it's a big pitch.

[Mat C 77]

On 7/18/2017 at 7:11 PM, MattGM said:

I'm trading from an industrial unit on an estate, doing reasonably well within the first 12 months, but there are things to be aware of.

Most units suitable are classed under the 'B' bracket, which is general industrial office, and distribution. To retail from your unit you will need A1, and getting that depends what the local council are like as it'll require planning permission, and indeed a landlord willing to seek it. I fell lucky with mine, as the previous leaseholder ran a fixings company, and the unit came with A1 when I took it over.

I have heard of industrial units gaining A1, there's recently been a 'Screw Fix' open up on an estate neighbouring mine, so they must have got it also, but I've also heard stories of it being a royal P.I.A.

Hi Matt, 

Correct me if i'm wrong but i'm sure you need Sui Generis Planning to run a car sales operation. We don't fall under A1 Retail i'm pretty sure. Luckily my unit had this application already granted. None of the council run business parks in my city accept car sales from a one of their units either. 

http://www.gilmartinley.co.uk/resources/planning-uses

I got lucky and bagged the second one I looked at. I also had my first unit pulled from me at the last minute by the landlord as he'd changed his mind about me selling cars from his lovely refurbed place. Funnily enough, 18 months later its still empty!  every cloud.....

We are looking at buying our next place, setting up a ramp and hopefully setting up a service outlet at the same time. but slowly slowly......

[TownMan10 0]

On 18/07/2017 at 1:38 PM, trade vet said:

Hi James,surely if you have been running this pitch for years and it works,why change.If it is a big pitch,you must have employed staff.In my experience,visible pitches on busy roads with good curb side appeal are always the best.Passing trade alone should generate 3 or 4 deals per week.You won't get that on a trading estate and unless your new pitch is close bye,you may lose a lot of repeat customers.There may be someone on here who may be interested,why not let people on here know what area you operate from.

Agreed. I'm not sure it's worth losing the appeal of passing trade.