Overheada

[MSP Motors 39]

Morning guys, 

Im interested to know the different range of monthly overheads you guys have. I am really struggling right now. Im a one man band and my monthly overheads are £3700 without paying myself. 

This month and last have been a real struggle and as always in times of despair, you begin to question yourself.

[justina3 518]

These kind of questions pop up a lot recently on here, I still struggle what difference or what help it will be knowing what my rent is ? my pitch could be ten times bigger or ten times smaller, I could be on a prestige estate so my rates are treble or in the back of beyond and there almost 0, how can you possibly work out why your quiet from that ? I am lost.

anyway apart from that we are desperate quiet as well on the plus side my pacman score is off the chart

 

[whitestone679231 113]

Its that piece of string question again, at the end of the day it isn't what your overheads are but how much you have left in the pot after they are paid, I know that if I didn't spend on advertising or prepping cars to the standards that I have and wiping customers backsides when they have a problem  then I would have substantially less overheads but I doubt I would make any money either, its just getting the balance right.

[BHM 994]

17 minutes ago, justina3 said:

These kind of questions pop up a lot recently on here, I still struggle what difference or what help it will be knowing what my rent is ? my pitch could be ten times bigger or ten times smaller, I could be on a prestige estate so my rates are treble or in the back of beyond and there almost 0, how can you possibly work out why your quiet from that ? I am lost.

A very valid point. 

After saying that my overheads are £175pm, which are my eBay fees, and I suppose a few quid towards my accountant. No mortgage, no rent, no finance, no stocking loans, nothing at all.

With respect, there are a lot of you 1 & 2 man bands renting a little pitch, have a load of overheads, paying up for AT and are coming out with scraps at the end of every month. For the small traders on here, this game isn't about  units or gross - it's about net & what goes into your pocket. Some of you would be better of doorstepping.

[Tom 164]

3 hours ago, MSP Motors said:

Morning guys, 

Im interested to know the different range of monthly overheads you guys have. I am really struggling right now. Im a one man band and my monthly overheads are £3700 without paying myself. 

This month and last have been a real struggle and as always in times of despair, you begin to question yourself.

Why are your over heads so much? can you break it down for us?

[twerp 69]

2 hours ago, Tom said:

Why are your over heads so much? can you break it down for us?

Small 1500sqft units in bad parts of the Midlands are £1500 p/m

£600-700 in rates

£1400 p/mth AutoTrader

£250 p/m Insurance

£3700 fixed costs aren't hard to imagine

[SC Derby 259]

I count VAT as a fixed cost too tbh, it doesn't go away.

[sparky 274]

4 hours ago, BHM said:

A very valid point. 

After saying that my overheads are £175pm, which are my eBay fees, and I suppose a few quid towards my accountant. No mortgage, no rent, no finance, no stocking loans, nothing at all.

 

No insurance, electric, rates, phone etc etc?

Luckily my overheads are pretty low due for the size of the business, if only for that pesky AT bill they would be three figures.

[Rory RSC 596]

Any business has overheads. Part of running a business must include planning and accounting for the poor or quiet times and not living hand to mouth. We all need a contingency.

I used to sail very, very close to the wind with leaving nothing back as I always used to just plough it back into stock, I sleep much easier having enough back to last 3 months without selling a single car as a reserve.  I was mental when I first started looking back.

[Mat C 77]

Good thread, I've seen our overheads increase and now we are with a new accountant we are now able to run monthly management accounts, gives us a real time view of exactly where we are, what we owe and who owes us what etc.. Scary really, as sometimes we sail very close to the wind with whats left in the bank. Moving forward we are definitely looking to cut costs. Its frightening to see how much we spend on fuel, valeting equipment, stationary........ I've just done a fortune on crap, air fresheners and key rings!! must give the debit cards to the other half to curb my spending!

 

Off subject but AT is more than our rent to advertise 11 cars... madness really, but I cant see us selling half of what we do without it, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea I guess. We are having a shocking month though, usually by now we've covered the cost and are into the black, not sold a car for a week and the enquiries are garbage for some reason. Actually feel negged out. Gonna pack up and go home now, might even take the day off tomorrow and watch Forest thrash Derby!

[trade vet 697]

Hi MSP

If you have a pitch,you have low overheads at under a grand per week.I have often found that traders with low overheads throw away their advantage by working on 2 grand mark ups even at this time of year when you have to be competitive. They are usually  the ones easily influenced by other traders who claim  to be regularly doing big lump profit deals when infact they are usually lying.As long as I can remember,October half term week is usually dead,prices at the block then drop by a lot and trade picks up until the second week in December !

[MSP Motors 39]

Hi,

This is how I get to my overheads;

rent                    900
At                      1242
ebay                 170

Motors              160
insurance          300
phone                70
Travel                400
accountant        150
misc                    300

All these figures are Gross. I am based  in Hertfordshire, just inside the  M25 and I trade from an industrial  estate, I have around  20 cars.  I have sold 3 cars this month and all have  come from Motors. 

[trade vet 697]

If you are doing heavy stuff,3 in the last fortnight is probably right.However,if it's bread and butter stuff ,I would say you are doing something wrong.!

[Max Branning 149]

1 hour ago, MSP Motors said:

Hi,

This is how I get to my overheads;

rent                    900
At                      1242
ebay                 170

Motors              160
insurance          300
phone                70
Travel                400
accountant        150
misc                    300

All these figures are Gross. I am based  in Hertfordshire, just inside the  M25 and I trade from an industrial  estate, I have around  20 cars.  I have sold 3 cars this month and all have  come from Motors. 

I would drop AT this alone would bring 1/3 of your overheads down overnight. Especially with xmas around the corner. Remember you can always go back after 3 or 4 months say if its not working without it !

300 a month on insurance seems a bit steep, have you shopped around on that ?

400 on travel? do you mean costs getting to and from auctions ? again seems a little steep.

Try finding ways of cutting down on the day to day running its surprising what a difference it can make - every pound you save is a pound you have made !

Go over your stock and re take photos, improve descriptions, upgrade website etc, small changes could make a massive difference.

 

[MSP Motors 39]

Hi,

I could get road risk cover for around 800/year, however I choose not to. Travel costs is getting about on the train and fuel costs for the month, I don't think 400 is that bad.

Im by no means high end and do sell middle of the road cars. I have had months were I have sold 15-20 cars this year, however last 2 months have just been dire!

I am really desperate to leave autotrader, it's just the fear of the unknown!

[grant8064 219]

God I wish my rent could be £900 p/m (where is the 'CRYING UNCONTROLLABLY AND SMASHING MY HEAD AGAINST A BRICK WALL' emoji?).

If you're worried you just have to assess your business model and work out why it isn't working if it isn't and what you can do to change it if necessary. Also remember that sometimes it's just a lean dead month and don't make unnecessary knee jerk decisions.

I have no idea about your setup but you need to look at the things you can change. Rent, rates etc can't go down in price so look into what you can affect. And don't do this once a year IMO. You need to always be looking at bottom line and costs and finding ways to save a few quid...it's coming out of your pocket afterall.

To me your insurance looks crazy expensive. We have five drivers on unlimited social/domestic/trade cover, two premises and have only been trading three years and our costs are nowhere near yours. Re negotiate that. 

Motors is a complete waste of time IMO so i'd be chipping that off. Ebay is full of time wasters asking for the best price so I would consider losing that. 

Travel...£400 per month needs looking at. That's over 10% of your fixed costs. Why? Can you save money buying blind online? Can you find a local auction closer to you? Buy locally privately? Advertise that you buy cars? Buying direct is so much better for the bottom line than buying from auction...consider forgetting travelling to cold smelly auctions and investing £300 of that £400 each month into pushing an advert drive stating you buy cars from the public and are a nice trustworthy guy. If WBAC can do it then I can do it better is how I position myself.

I personally find it's sometimes hard to care about saving £10 p/m here and there when we're out spunking 15k on a Wednesday on three hatchbacks and an estate but in reality those £10 p/m savings should give greater satisfaction than buying any motor because they really matter.

Apologies if it sounds a bit preachy, it's not meant to be.

[trade vet 697]

34 minutes ago, MSP Motors said:

Hi,

I could get road risk cover for around 800/year, however I choose not to. Travel costs is getting about on the train and fuel costs for the month, I don't think 400 is that bad.

Im by no means high end and do sell middle of the road cars. I have had months were I have sold 15-20 cars this year, however last 2 months have just been dire!

I am really desperate to leave autotrader, it's just the fear of the unknown!

Most of us will not understand the bit about trains !  If you are doing the same stuff now as when you were selling  a lot more,you have probably increased your margins.The brief experience I had down there ( South London) I learned  that because the traffic is constantly gridlocked,punters would not travel more than 5 miles unless the price was dead right !