Car Sales Premises?

[HKQAC 2]

Hi all,

I am just looking for some insight and advice... Me and my business partner have ran our car sales company in Bristol for 18 months now.  We have done very well and built our car portfolio to over 30 cars ranging from £3000-£8000, without the help of car stocking loans.  However we are seriously out growing our premises, we are on a small private road and we rent spaces on another car sales pitch, so its really time consuming driving back and forth using to sites to sell cars from.  

We have been searching for car sales pitches in Bristol for a while now and there isn't anything around, we have even looked into outside of Bristol in areas like somerset, Gloucester, and Wiltshire but unsure on the distance.  Does anyone have any experience selling cars in these area's? currently we sell 70-80% of our stock on average every month would we expect this to drop if we came away from the huge car industry in Bristol?  And if anyone has any advice on finding new premises for 50 cars or have any advice on getting that amount of cars in stock for sale in unorthodox ways (e.g.  having a storage yard and do by appointment only and transporting the cars in for viewings?).   Or if you know of any places to let or for sale that could be suitable for us?

Cheers

[trade vet 704]

48 minutes ago, HKQAC said:

Hi all,

I am just looking for some insight and advice... Me and my business partner have ran our car sales company in Bristol for 18 months now.  We have done very well and built our car portfolio to over 30 cars ranging from £3000-£8000, without the help of car stocking loans.  However we are seriously out growing our premises, we are on a small private road and we rent spaces on another car sales pitch, so its really time consuming driving back and forth using to sites to sell cars from.  

We have been searching for car sales pitches in Bristol for a while now and there isn't anything around, we have even looked into outside of Bristol in areas like somerset, Gloucester, and Wiltshire but unsure on the distance.  Does anyone have any experience selling cars in these area's? currently we sell 70-80% of our stock on average every month would we expect this to drop if we came away from the huge car industry in Bristol?  And if anyone has any advice on finding new premises for 50 cars or have any advice on getting that amount of cars in stock for sale in unorthodox ways (e.g.  having a storage yard and do by appointment only and transporting the cars in for viewings?).   Or if you know of any places to let or for sale that could be suitable for us?

Cheers

I would say,just stick with what you are doing.Every pitch is different,I have had quite a few.You are unlikely to replicate your success especially in a lesser populated catchment area.I made this mistake,sold the lease on a good pitch and moved to what I thought was a better out of town site.There will be plenty of people with bigger pitches near you who would like to be in your position.

[HKQAC 2]

Thanks for the advice, I do absolutely see where you're coming from.  I am curious to know how scalable the business can be, and exactly how well the big dealers are doing with 100+ cars in stock.  Car sales definitely seems to be more profitable on a smaller scale from what I've heard but I could be wrong!

[Dealer 54]

Turnover is vanity........ Profit is sanity. Don't spoil a good thing by thinking bigger is better. 

[Stephen 21]

Big dealers are doing massive amounts of mobility cars and selling new subsidised cars, think I’d definately stay where you are 

[justina3 518]

The bigger you are the bigger your headaches become, my model is to have as close to 0 overheads as you can get, and when a quiet month turns up out of the blue i thank my lucky stars i do not have huge dd's going out at the end of the month.

 

[SuperLease 13]

Have you looked at moving in to an industrial unit? The main downside is loss of passing traffic which means you are more dependent on the internet for sales however the benefits far outweigh that for me. Usually a more cost effective way of expanding your business too. 

[grant8064 219]

Always be ready to pounce on a vacated pitch would be my advice.

Locally there have been a fair few pitches closing due to retirement and there has rarely been any warning, one minute they're open the next the forecourts empty and a boards in the window.

If you have time work out which current pitches you would be interested in taking on if they became vacant, size, cost, location are the determining factors and get some details about them in advance. Find out how much the rates are online, draw up some ideas about running costs for utilities and bills and use google earth to see how much stock you can fit on each site. Sooner or later one will become vacant and you'll be in a position to jump on it immediately before anyone else has a chance to work out costs and if they're interested.

Costs nothing but time and a bit of effort but when one that is on your list comes up you'll be in a great position to get a foot in the door first. Might sound a bit OTT but it's what we've done for the two pitches we now run. Managing agents like someone who comes in quickly so they don't lose income and if you have a good plan in advance they'll respect you even more.

[trade vet 704]

3 hours ago, grant8064 said:

Always be ready to pounce on a vacated pitch would be my advice.

Locally there have been a fair few pitches closing due to retirement and there has rarely been any warning, one minute they're open the next the forecourts empty and a boards in the window.

If you have time work out which current pitches you would be interested in taking on if they became vacant, size, cost, location are the determining factors and get some details about them in advance. Find out how much the rates are online, draw up some ideas about running costs for utilities and bills and use google earth to see how much stock you can fit on each site. Sooner or later one will become vacant and you'll be in a position to jump on it immediately before anyone else has a chance to work out costs and if they're interested.

Costs nothing but time and a bit of effort but when one that is on your list comes up you'll be in a great position to get a foot in the door first. Might sound a bit OTT but it's what we've done for the two pitches we now run. Managing agents like someone who comes in quickly so they don't lose income and if you have a good plan in advance they'll respect you even more.

That is good advice.Another alternative,if you see a pitch you really want which may not appear to be available,just make an approach and offer a lump sum key money.It can work,I have done that before,you also might be able to get a sub lease so the current operator who might be ‘getting on a bit ‘gets a lump sum and a future income.