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Allstars

Never been this dead before

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Ive got about 15 cars advertised on autotrader and motors.co.uk and have a pitch with 25 cars on. 

Never ever has it been so quiet, only sold one clio this month so far and that was on the 1st

ive mainly got small cars for people who recently passed, and all of the stock is under £3000. I was thinking maybe my target customers (students) are just settling back in uni college ect hense why its so quiet BUT other traders up and down the road are VERY VERY quiet aswell so its not just me

is anyone else experiencing the same?

cheers

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Yes, very quiet on the sales front, a number of optimistic tyre kickers & big talkers on the phone. TBH I need stock after a half-decent last month so that may be some of my problem. 

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20 for the month so far with about 45 stock. We have not done anything different the weekend just went insanely busy. 

I tried to ensure my cars all had vids, adverts had enough correct info and the pictures were all looking good. Stayed open and back a bit later to ensure a few deals got completed. 

 

 

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Best trading month ever last month. Sold one so far this month - a £600 Skoda px. Go figure. 

Back on the beans on toast

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19 minutes ago, tradex said:

Beans?!? Luxury, when I wa a kid....

 

yup, deader than dead thing that's been murdered that goes for brand new, late or old.... counting the years to retirement now, can't wait to get out of this game to be honest.

I'm with you there. In fact, I've spent much of this year making some pension 'adjustments';)

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I've never a experienced sustained period of quiet months like it in the 7 years I've been doing this. I'm finding 95% of dealers saying the same thing - which is more worrying as it would appear there isn't much you can do to correct it.

The bills still need paying every month though , that's the issue.

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39 minutes ago, tradex said:

And as usual although everyone is cutting their throats, prices at auction are 'retail'

....typical and it's been like this since I can remember, and that trust me is a good few years, always thought that's bloody odd?

Like the first 2/3 weeks in January - traders in a rush to buy more cars and outcompeting oneanother at crazy prices but with no customers to sell them to. Odd

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It is scratchy out there managed 5 last week out of 17 but 2 weeks before that it was nothing. 

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Had our best ever month in August which was a surprise. Hit September and my god was it rough...barely saw or sold anything. This month was much the same until Saturday when we had our busiest ever day. Bit lost as to why at the moment but the forthcoming interest rise might be in peoples minds. Funny how the auctions have been an utter joke lately as far as price is concerned. 

It'll come good again in time though...

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Did 8 last month but generally very slow on the calls. Best we had for calls was a van. Love selling them

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Just a quick thought ... advice needed

cancel autotrader and motors because my stock is all under £2500 per car, so im thinking my response rate is low due to relying 90% on autotrader, whereas my sort of stock should be on gumtree and fleebay. 

Autotrader for 14 cars (priority listing) is costing me £1150 p/m

motors 15 cars £182 p/m

SO IM THINKING TO JUST CANCEL BOTH AND TRY.. gumtree 25 cars and ebay 2 months free trial will only cost be £300 ish hense MASSIVE SAVING on adversing

Been with autotrader for 2 years and im just hoping i will survive without them, will i??

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34 minutes ago, Allstars said:

 

34 minutes ago, Allstars said:

g i will survive without them, will i

58 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

 

Don't know what happened above, but Allstars, only you can answer the questions you're asking. 

AT, eBay, Gumtree, motors and whoever work differently for all traders. Me personally, I've taken the time to check what actually costs me more leads wise and where the footfall is driven by. This means that, for me, getting shot of AT is just something that I can't afford to do, and I don't much want to either. 

Have you ever tried selling different gear? 

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Ticking along but nothing to shout about here.

Does surprise me though how much new blood seems to want to get into the game, i have been saying for a long time that if i was starting out again from scratch i would definitely find a different business.

There is still money to be made but its getting harder and harder. Divide how many hours you actually work by your net profit and what are you earning per hour ?

How many of us are beating minimum wage honestly ?

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21 minutes ago, tradex said:

+1....chatting with the wife about my pension and in theory I could be retire next year.

Site rent is going up, everything else that goes with running a site is going the wrong way, we both not getting any younger, and, quite honestly the fun has gone out of the job, and it's just so tough now.

I may just retire, ya know and just do a few from home...doh!

Retire....BS....buying and selling is in your blood..You know that :) I'm never going to retire...My Mum used to take me to jumble sales when I was a kid, I used to buy all the blue and white china and ride my BMX ( early 1980's looptail  PK Ripper)  (someone will know) to the local antiques shops and flog it......

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A chrome MT Racing Silver Fox was my BMX of choice. I think it was something like £125 or £150 at the time - I was like a dog with two dicks.

Btw, in response to an earlier post I've also thought there seems to be some new blood. I reckon it's cos the jobs market is fucked (this won't make any sense if you're in the London bubble) so we've got a few people "having a go" cos, as we all know, this game's a piece of piss & we're all making £3000 per week undeclared!

As it the norm, most won't be doing it in a year's time - to be honest with the state of the pure shite that's getting traded-in my guess is these newbies will soon get sick within a few months. I've had 3 clutches walloped-in in the last fortnight & I can't see the new blood putting up with those sort of bills & there's only so many people you can rip off via Facebook or Bumtree.

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I have had quite a good year this year. August was superb and September wasnt bad.

HOWEVER the phones are quite quiet but i just seem to be able to put a deal together with people at the moment even though I am not seeing that many.

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16 hours ago, Max Branning said:

Ticking along but nothing to shout about here.

Does surprise me though how much new blood seems to want to get into the game, i have been saying for a long time that if i was starting out again from scratch i would definitely find a different business.

There is still money to be made but its getting harder and harder. Divide how many hours you actually work by your net profit and what are you earning per hour ?

How many of us are beating minimum wage honestly ?

Yep, if your playing by the rules and now little about the industry I just don't see the attraction. I'm in the process of clearing my back yard (oh matron) which could house an extra 30 odd cars. Of the options I've got, filling it with cars (or at least trying to) is at the bottom of the list.

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16 minutes ago, sparky said:

Yep, if your playing by the rules and now little about the industry I just don't see the attraction. I'm in the process of clearing my back yard (oh matron) which could house an extra 30 odd cars. Of the options I've got, filling it with cars (or at least trying to) is at the bottom of the list.

Caravan storage? Money for nothing at this time of the year...

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15 minutes ago, tradex said:

Honda C-90's & old 70's Step-Thru mopeds are where the smart money is, I may of missed the boat though, as usual.

Car wise, pass the crystal ball.

Bogger 90's? Never are they worth anything are they :lol::lol:

 

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More auction madness today. Interesting some insane and well financed internet bidding. I sometimes wonder if those internet bidders are 'real'?

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27 minutes ago, met said:

More auction madness today. Interesting some insane and well financed internet bidding. I sometimes wonder if those internet bidders are 'real'?

write the reg's down, check in a few weeks if its been tested and or taxed?

gives you an idea then

dont go mad though or your brain implodes:lol:

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39 minutes ago, s and b said:

write the reg's down, check in a few weeks if its been tested and or taxed?

gives you an idea then

dont go mad though or your brain implodes:lol:

To be honest, if I lose a car to another trader (that I know) I always follow its progress!:D

I'm wondering if all this price madness at the block at the moment is going to be incorporated into the 'guides'?

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Hi all,

Searched Google to see if there were any car dealer forums and this popped up.

The sole reason I was looking was purely to see if others are finding it very slow at the moment. It's good to hear i'm not alone but at the same time, it does absolutely nothing to help haha.

None of the traders I know sell similar stock to us so it's always tricky.

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