Newish to the game :)

[Ken 10]

Hi All,

 

Finally managed to get on here!

 

I started trading in cars at the begining of the year just outside of Derby. I also have an online company that sells Ink Cartridges. That's really started to slow down sales wise because of asian competitors, so I decided to go in to cars before it got really bad. Its something I've always wanted to do! It's not been plain sailing by any means, and I didnt expect it to be, as I have been cutting my teeth learning the trade. I mainly buy cars from online from Dealer Auction at present. I did use Autotrade Mail before this, but we got stung quite a few times and lost alot of money. I also bought 4 cars from BCA one day, 3 of the 4 where in a very bad way. One had an auto gearbox that reverse would no work propely. That was a 2 grand fix so I had to sell it for spares or replairs! The other had it's Head Gasket gone and the final one the bottom end was knocking when warm. I wrote off about 4K in that trip

 

Do you think I was just unlucky buying 3 bad cars out of 4? Or is this part of the learning curve? I really want to tap in to BCA because the sheer volume of cars they have. Would I have any comeback if the engine or gearbox was bad if I bought it on line via their live auctions?

 

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Ken

[Andy Entwistle 96]

Hi Ken

 

Welcome to the forum and welcome to the never dull world of Car Dealing.

 

Online buying is a great idea to help widen the appeal of stock, but if you are new to the game then there is nothing better than actually eyeballing the stock. As you start to get a better feel for the types of vendor and what works then buying online is less of a risk. It does sound like you have been a tad unlucky and in the case of the BCA experience, you may find you have some recourse if there was a major mechanical defect, however it depends how bought and how significant the problem was.

 

I would speak to BCA in the first instance, however until you are really comfortable, you simply can't beat kicking the tyres

 

Andy

[Ken 10]

Thanks Andy!

 

I think I may give BCA another whirl! It's just very disheartening. I think I have probably lost about £15,000 in total through bad deals at present

[Ken 10]

We I've rang up BCA, and they will only cover a car if its a BCA assured car with a AA report. Terms and conditions apply

[Gavin@Rousdon 137]

Part of learning the trade is to know which lines to buy out of BCA from. Year's ago at Bridgwater  the  'Multi Source' line used to be cars from various local car dealers and Scotland for some reason. If I entred a car it used to go into 'Multisource', now 80% of the time i would be selling it at auction for a reason...because it had a fault!!! so I'm guessing the same applied for other dealers. If you want a safe bet UKCG (Uk car group) is a good line for mixed stock at BCA in my opinion. Saying that I haven't bought out of it for about 2 years now so it may have changed. 

 

If you have lost £15000 in bad deals maybe you should try buying newer cars or maybe you should give up!!!  You can find bargin's at auctions but I'm not giving anyway my tried and tested technique just yet!!! 

 

Out of interest what sort of cars are you buying and selling??

[Ken 10]

Thanks for the reply Gavin.

 

I won't give up bud. Not in my nature I knew it was going to be hard and that I was going to lose money to start with. I've learnt alot over the last 10 months! And I still enjoy it I'm determined to turn it around

 

We buy allsorts. I must admit though, 2 of those 3 bad cars were not from franchises. So that was also part of the learning curve again. I have at present 16 cars I think?

 

I'm going in the morning to a BCA auction to look at a few that are BCA assured. Hopefully I can find something!

 

Thanks again for the replies guys. I also appreciate the advice too! It's good getting feedback from experienced dealers. So thanks again!

[Sensei 12]

Hello Ken

 

we (mself and my business partner) have bought and still buy cars from auctions normally the Aston barclay @Chelmsford its the normal run of the mill that we buy of sold as seen etc and yes we have bought some cars that we shoudnt but many that we should and its been ok .. we mainly trade cars £2000/£4000 max as we are 53/06 plate focus example

 

I personaly still like eBay as i do a daily check of new listing and ive bought many a lovely car from a private buyer and having time to look and test it .. ok our profit margins can accomodate this very well.

 

One of the best things we used to do when the Autotrader was a magazine was for example just buy the issue 1st of the month and circle every car you would like to buy or be interested in .. then put the magazine to one side for a full calender month and then ring up the cars you had circled etc a month later .. and you would be surprised the amount of cars that we used to buy that way as thier advert had run out and if still for sale buy the owner we would view then and 9 times out of 10 get a very good deal from a buyer who had given up selling it if you understand

 

Anyway best of luck Ken and hope your business goes well :-)

[Ken 10]

Thanks for the reply :)I really appreciate the input! I too go for cars around the 2-4K range. What kind of margins do you guys aim for on 2-4K Cars? I try and aim for about 400-500 net profit. We have to hit about £550- £600 to break even with all of our overheads! I know that's nothing compared to some of you guys. Sales are slow at the moment. Anyone else find it slow going at the moment? Thanks again for all the posts :)

[Sensei 12]

We average about the same Ken give or take etc ... business isnt too bad at the moment it ticking along and hopefully can stay that way as christmas can be slow

[James Baggott 227]

Welcome to the forum Ken - it's interesting to hear your experiences. Wishing you the best of luck with the venture.

 

A subscription to Car Dealer would obviously be your best investment at £39.99.... you get lots of benefits too.

 

www.CarDealerClub.com

 

All the best

[sparky 274]

Hi All,

 

Finally managed to get on here!

 

I started trading in cars at the begining of the year just outside of Derby. I also have an online company that sells Ink Cartridges. That's really started to slow down sales wise because of asian competitors, so I decided to go in to cars before it got really bad. Its something I've always wanted to do! It's not been plain sailing by any means, and I didnt expect it to be, as I have been cutting my teeth learning the trade. I mainly buy cars from online from Dealer Auction at present. I did use Autotrade Mail before this, but we got stung quite a few times and lost alot of money. I also bought 4 cars from BCA one day, 3 of the 4 where in a very bad way. One had an auto gearbox that reverse would no work propely. That was a 2 grand fix so I had to sell it for spares or replairs! The other had it's Head Gasket gone and the final one the bottom end was knocking when warm. I wrote off about 4K in that trip

 

Do you think I was just unlucky buying 3 bad cars out of 4? Or is this part of the learning curve? I really want to tap in to BCA because the sheer volume of cars they have. Would I have any comeback if the engine or gearbox was bad if I bought it on line via their live auctions?

 

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Ken

I don't think you were unlucky Ken. I'd imagine you could have listed those three on here before you bought them and I'm pretty sure most of us on here could tell you what faults those cars are likely to have and what you need to allow for because we have all been bitten on the arse by them at some stage in the past. It's not nice but it's the best learning curve IMO. 

 

If your unsure what to buy then probably best keep it simple. For example a petrol Ford Focus isn't going to give you much grief, on the other hand a 2.0 diesel one.........

 

 

Thanks Andy!

 

I think I may give BCA another whirl! It's just very disheartening. I think I have probably lost about £15,000 in total through bad deals at present

 

Thanks Andy!

 

I think I may give BCA another whirl! It's just very disheartening. I think I have probably lost about £15,000 in total through bad deals at present

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of stuff are you buying?

[Ken 10]

Thanks for the replies

 

I'll sign up for a subscription later

 

I know to be a bit wary of the 2.0 Diesels with the Fords. I always check for any noise from the dual mass for example. I've already had one that was gone! Again all part and parcel of the learning curve.

 

I got suckered in by a local trade dealer based in Derby. He's my accountants partners best friend too. We bought alot of cars from him that we thought were straight, and we have had alot of comebacks too. Our last purchase was a Citroen Berlingo. He claimed it had just done 15,000 miles! We had customer who wanted to buy it, and luckily I double checked the paperwork and found there was a speedo change! It had covered about 60,000 miles. Pretty much the same experience from another dealer in Stoke off AutoTrade Mail. We had quite a few off them, that turned out to be bad. Unfortunately, I'm a little too trusting. We could not sign up to Dealer Auction at the time, because we were not VAT registered. We've not had many bad cars off there since signing up off there But decent cars within our price range are few and far between. So BCA is a resource I would like to tap in too.

 

Here's our Ebay showroom http://ebayshowroom.ebaymotorspro.co.uk/emp/showroom.html?cid=fBkFhyoMSb%2FLcvkqSsQxrQ%3D%3D It will give you an idea of what we sell

 

"we" btw is myself and my other half Sarah-Jane We also have a 14 month son that helps us out. Well, in a fashion hehe. He's our motivation

 

Thanks once again for the replies and input I appreciate your time!

[Gavin@Rousdon 137]

If your buying out of local dealers ALWAYS drive the car where possible before paying. If they don't like it tough, it's your money. As fair few of these cars will have been p/ex then parked up. The average salesperson won't know or care much about it, it maybe fine but it may also have a host of faults which a simple test drive will show. The salesperson hasn't paid a penny of his own money for that car and is only interested in balancing the books on the deal. 

It's a little different if you buy out of Dealer-Auction but if you find your buying the same dealer a few time hopefully you can build up a relationship with them. If you use Sytner Auction it was in there terms and conditions that your allowed to test drive the car, point this out and use it where possible. Remember its your money.

 

In the price range your buying you will always get a few bad ones, it's happened to us all and still happens no matter how much experience we have. How you deal with problem cars can define your business. Sometimes it's best to get rid and move on. If its a sold car be fair with the customer and they will hopefully be fair with you. 

[Ken 10]

Hi Gavin,

 

That's really really helpful! I think if I get a problem car in the future, I may seek advice on here.

 

I actually signed up about 3 weeks ago to Sytner. Some good stuff on there! I've only had one so far, and it was as described. Dealer PX is ok too. I'm also on Auction for cars, but to be honest I have heard a lot of bad things about them, so I've not entertained buying stock off them.

 

Like I said, I was very naive to start with and too trusting. I now know there are a lot of sharks around too. I only now purchase franchise part exchanges. I wouldn't touch small dealers again or ATM

 

Thanks to all for your advice and guidance! Much appreciated!

[CJ Underhill 34]

I think we have all been there Ken.

 

I started about 4 years ago, and got stung a few times, but as you say, its all a learning curve.

 

The biggest thing i found was to build some good contacts. Relationships in this business are key. I got a good realationship going with 3/4 dealers and a couple of old fashion "traders" that you can trust.

 

I found these key to building my business.I'd know if the guy said it was a "good" car or "a little rough" exactly what he meant.

 

I also made a couple of contacts in localish similar sales centres. Ideal for swapping the odd overage stock, and trading cars between each other

[James Baggott 227]

Great thread this and exactly what we were hoping it would be used for when we launched the forum. It's great to see so much encouragement and advice shared. Warms the cockles!

[Ken 10]

Yes very good advice and I'm soaking it up like a sponge Thanks all!

[Wheelerdealer1 91]

It's a tough business to be in, the good blokes are few and far between, I know quite a few guys who have tried to stick it out over a few years only to come away with losses and a very bad taste in the mouth

It's strange as there is no sure recipes to success.

What's helped me is that I am a car geek, and so are most of my family and friends, we work on our own cars where possible, and the mechanical knowledge we have between us helps to spot the dodgy ones from the straight ones, but even with all that behind me I still get stung from time to time, it's the nature of the game

Your brave to carry on as the nature of this business is that it's not cut out for some, and it's just second nature to others