March sales so far

[Mark101 536]

49 minutes ago, SC Derby said:

Test drive yesterday...loved it but forgot his wallet so couldn't leave a deposit. Heard that before. Gave him bank details and said transfer it in when you get home.

 

Low and behold 65 minutes later the money was in, couldn't believe it.

Result - I'd agree, sounds like a typical "get me out of here"

[MattR 177]

I had a 'forgot my wallet' last week too, he even did the pocket check like airport security do! But, as above, he was back 30 minutes later with the deposit! My faith in Joe Public is returning!

[Mark101 536]

I always forget mine when I go to the pub, never any other time....strange that

[have a word with the wife 299]

5 hours ago, Matt Reid said:

I had a 'forgot my wallet' last week too, he even did the pocket check like airport security do! But, as above, he was back 30 minutes later with the deposit! My faith in Joe Public is returning!

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water 

[Mark101 536]

27 minutes ago, have a word with the wife said:

just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water 

My all time favourite film!

[Boydy1985 0]

Hi Guys,

Is there any calculation on whats a good target to hit for sales per 100 cars for example? I have 50 for sale online at all times and have done.

Jan- 52

Feb- 28 (Moved Premises So Wasn't Pushing as Hard)

March- 48

 

Should i be doing more?

 

Many Thanks 

[Mark101 536]

Personally (and I am working on seriously fewer numbers) - stock churn should be 60 days.

If you're turning roughly 50% of your stock every month, you are doing well and meeting my criteria - providing there aren't too many "stickers" in that mix.

[EPV 631]

39 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Personally (and I am working on seriously fewer numbers) - stock churn should be 60 days.

If you're turning roughly 50% of your stock every month, you are doing well and meeting my criteria - providing there aren't too many "stickers" in that mix.

Everyone has different criteria but unless you’ve got great margins in your stock i’d say 60 days is 20-30 days too long. I aim to turn my entire forecourt over once a month. My average turn rate is 29 days although like you I am working on far fewer numbers. That said the theory should be the same. If you have desirable stock, price it correctly and market it as best as you can, then an average stock turn of 30-40 days regardless of the size of your forecourt is a realistic aim. 

[BHM 994]

A few years ago I’d of agreed but unfortunately nowadays I’m nearer the 2 month, rather than 1 month mark. Unfortunately 100% turnover p.m. nowadays is just a pipe dream for me.

Occassionally something flies off the shelf but cars sitting for a few weeks is the norm and we all (I assume) collect a few ‘sticky’ ones along the way - whenever one goes I always realise that I’ve yet another sticky one coming up behind it.

[grant8064 219]

I've never been too concerned over how many numbers we do per month. All about the margin for me.

I'm much more happy to do 50% less turnover with double the margin and half the potential screamers, half the paperwork etc. Maybe it's the wrong way to go about it but it works for us in the area we're in. Pretty fortunate we're not near any car supermarkets and whilst we're competitive we're certainly not the cheapest option but still shift enough locally.

[BHM 994]

Tbh I’m not concerned about units moved - it’s profit that does it for me. I’d turn over more by slashing prices but my attitude’s the same as yours.

[EPV 631]

26 minutes ago, grant8064 said:

I've never been too concerned over how many numbers we do per month. All about the margin for me.

I'm much more happy to do 50% less turnover with double the margin and half the potential screamers, half the paperwork etc. Maybe it's the wrong way to go about it but it works for us in the area we're in. Pretty fortunate we're not near any car supermarkets and whilst we're competitive we're certainly not the cheapest option but still shift enough locally.

I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong way. Personally I aim for a grand per unit and turnover in less than 40 days. If I doubled that turnover to 80 days i’d want to double the profit and i’d personally struggle to get £2k out of a £6k car. For me it’s easier to stock a quicker turning car with less margin than a longer turning car with more margin. 

Whatever works, works. 

[Mark101 536]

It is so difficult to source good stock at sensible money, so with this in mind - I need to maximise my margin on the good stuff I have got rather than "give it away" only be to be back in the same place of sourcing stock to "give away."

When it starts to get silly, i.e. I've had something for nearer 90 days, it's time to cut loose but If can see a good return and that takes 60 days, I'm a happy boy

31 minutes ago, EPV said:

I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong way. Personally I aim for a grand per unit and turnover in less than 40 days. If I doubled that turnover to 80 days i’d want to double the profit and i’d personally struggle to get £2k out of a £6k car. For me it’s easier to stock a quicker turning car with less margin than a longer turning car with more margin. 

Whatever works, works. 

Or double your stock and retain the same margin over extended period = same effect

[EPV 631]

22 minutes ago, tradex said:

A grand per unit, or double if in stock longer......you got Faberge eggs in the gloves boxes. Such margins are a thing of the past round here. Punters round here like cheap, and sadly too many value that over quality until it all goes pear shaped

We prefer to turm them over in less than 4 weeks, usually 2.

Well, i’m saying I could never get £2k out of a car, no matter how long I persevered with it! But £1k ppu is very achievable. My average ppu is £1100 and average stock turn 29 days. 

39 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

It is so difficult to source good stock at sensible money, so with this in mind - I need to maximise my margin on the good stuff I have got rather than "give it away" only be to be back in the same place of sourcing stock to "give away."

When it starts to get silly, i.e. I've had something for nearer 90 days, it's time to cut loose but If can see a good return and that takes 60 days, I'm a happy boy

Or double your stock and retain the same margin over extended period = same effect

Hmmm, not quite. 

So each day, a car costs you money. Money in advertising. money in storage rent, rates etc. And a little depreciation. I’ve estimated that cost to be about £8 per day for me. So 30 days to turn is costing me about £250 in overheads. 60 days would cost me £480. If I let that go to 90 days, well you get the drift. 

For me if a car gets to 40 days (i’ve only had two so far) then it gets moved on. I expect when I increase my forecourt size to 12-15 then i’ll either suffer smaller margins or an increased days to turn period but hopefully the higher turnover will provide more turnover. 

All good in theory but in practice who knows! 

[Mark101 536]

See for me, a home trader - my expenses are seriously limited beyond what I already pay - arguably, a little more electricity and gas used.  Adverts on Fleabay cost me £15 pcpm, so that is not here or there and as far as depreciation is concerned, negligible over max 90 days on the age profile of the cars I stock.

I find that if you wait long enough (within reason), someone will come along and buy the car if it is presented well and they like you.  Despite the "general" public, there are still a few which will pay a little extra for added value, quality and ease.  If someone wants to drive 400 miles to save £200 - go for it. If they want a car realistically priced, full MOT, freshly serviced, valeted and with a warranty - here's my details........

Having said that, I had a terrible March, so I'm probably completely wrong and you can ignore all of the above 

[EPV 631]

2 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

See for me, a home trader - my expenses are seriously limited beyond what I already pay - arguably, a little more electricity and gas used.  Adverts on Fleabay cost me £15 pcpm, so that is not here or there and as far as depreciation is concerned, negligible over max 90 days on the age profile of the cars I stock.

I find that if you wait long enough (within reason), someone will come along and buy the car if it is presented well and they like you.  Despite the "general" public, there are still a few which will pay a little extra for added value, quality and ease.  If someone wants to drive 400 miles to save £200 - go for it. If they want a car realistically priced, full MOT, freshly serviced, valeted and with a warranty - here's my details........

Having said that, I had a terrible March, so I'm probably completely wrong and you can ignore all of the above 

Well, whatever you think is best! It’s your business after all. March was good for me I turned my entire forecourt over and i’m expecting to do the same again in April. After that, i’ll possibly look to get a credit line going (overdraft most probably) and increase my forecourt size. 

[Mark101 536]

4 minutes ago, EPV said:

Well, whatever you think is best! It’s your business after all. March was good for me I turned my entire forecourt over and i’m expecting to do the same again in April. After that, i’ll possibly look to get a credit line going (overdraft most probably) and increase my forecourt size. 

Hi EPV - I think we have a similar sized business at the moment (albeit you present your photos far better than me, something I am addressing).  If you want my simple advice (from past experience) do NOT use an overdraft - at any time the bank can call that in (they did it to me on a £1m facility and it hurts).  If you really want funding, which is clearly to give you flexibility to grow - get a personal loan of say £25k over 60 months - you can dip in and out of whenever you want and ultimately, one way or another it gets paid off - meaning you'll have "accidentally" expanded your investment pot and depending on how the business is doing, you could repeat.

 

[EPV 631]

13 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Hi EPV - I think we have a similar sized business at the moment (albeit you present your photos far better than me, something I am addressing).  If you want my simple advice (from past experience) do NOT use an overdraft - at any time the bank can call that in (they did it to me on a £1m facility and it hurts).  If you really want funding, which is clearly to give you flexibility to grow - get a personal loan of say £25k over 60 months - you can dip in and out of whenever you want and ultimately, one way or another it gets paid off - meaning you'll have "accidentally" expanded your investment pot and depending on how the business is doing, you could repeat.

 

See I think the opposite. Assuming I could  get a £25k personal loan (unlikely) then I am bound to pay back xyz a month, no matter if I have a great month or terrible month. 

With an overdraft, I can as you say dip in and out and only pay for what I use. 

I cant see a single reason why a bank would withdraw the facility unless I was defaulting in late payment fees etc. 

Main alternative for me would be a personal credit card that I bought stock on and paid off each month. 

[Mark101 536]

2 minutes ago, EPV said:

See I think the opposite. Assuming I could  get a £25k personal loan (unlikely) then I am bound to pay back xyz a month, no matter if I have a great month or terrible month. 

With an overdraft, I can as you say dip in and out and only pay for what I use. 

I cant see a single reason why a bank would withdraw the facility unless I was defaulting in late payment fees etc. 

Main alternative for me would be a personal credit card that I bought stock on and paid off each month. 

I ran a business turning over between £12m-£15m (I was only an employee but the MD).  We had had an overdraft facility of £1m for 10 years or more - never reached the limit but operated within it.  As a consequence of the 2008 credit crunch, banks had to call in as much of their credit lines as possible and overdrafts are generally an easy target (i.e. as soon as there is a credit balance in your account, they can switch the facility off).  For example, if your bank has issued a record number of loans/credit cards/mortgages etc - they have to work on the fact that if everyone fully utilised their lines, there needs to be "enough" in the pot.  Whether you use you O/D or not, banks have to ensure they have your maximum amount available.  I recently had my O/D reduced from £1,000 to £400 (on my personal account) for this reason - I had never used it.

In your case, credit card would be my preference.

[EPV 631]

10 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

I ran a business turning over between £12m-£15m (I was only an employee but the MD).  We had had an overdraft facility of £1m for 10 years or more - never reached the limit but operated within it.  As a consequence of the 2008 credit crunch, banks had to call in as much of their credit lines as possible and overdrafts are generally an easy target (i.e. as soon as there is a credit balance in your account, they can switch the facility off).  For example, if your bank has issued a record number of loans/credit cards/mortgages etc - they have to work on the fact that if everyone fully utilised their lines, there needs to be "enough" in the pot.  Whether you use you O/D or not, banks have to ensure they have your maximum amount available.  I recently had my O/D reduced from £1,000 to £400 (on my personal account) for this reason - I had never used it.

In your case, credit card would be my preference.

Credit card doesn’t allow me to buy private stock, which is a big part of my stock I process! So it all points to an overdraft. Hopefully there won’t be another 2008 crash! 

[RH Trading 80]

Been a very busy end of March and Easter bank holiday for us. 36 cars sold in March and better still zero comebacks (so far and quickly touches wood) only 1 where an A3 had a slow puncture but I'm not counting that

This will be a record month for us, we stock around 30 and aim for 40 days stock turn and around £750 ppu which we've also hit. Saying that I've probably completely jinxed April but have 3 on the board already so not looking bad so far, long may it continue

[Mark101 536]

Fantastic - well done, hope April follows suit

[Rory RSC 596]

19 hours ago, EPV said:

Credit card doesn’t allow me to buy private stock, which is a big part of my stock I process! So it all points to an overdraft. Hopefully there won’t be another 2008 crash! 

It does - Just bang it in your own card machine and then withdraw as cash / bank transfer to pay for cars. Got to find ways to make stuff happen in this job not ways not to.

He is right about overdrafts btw -plus its cheaper to borrow personally than as a business.

 

Dead on 50 retail Cars sold for March. Best month yet been amazing particularly when you consider a couple of patches of bad weather.

Lets see what April has to offer, best of luck to all.

 

[EPV 631]

6 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:

It does - Just bang it in your own card machine and then withdraw as cash / bank transfer to pay for cars. Got to find ways to make stuff happen in this job not ways not to.

He is right about overdrafts btw -plus its cheaper to borrow personally than as a business.

 

Dead on 50 retail Cars sold for March. Best month yet been amazing particularly when you consider a couple of patches of bad weather.

Lets see what April has to offer, best of luck to all.

 

Interesting idea, however a couple of things that have popped into my mind;

Not sure what card machine retailer you use but I get charged 1.4% transaction fees for accepting credit and debit cards, includes Amex. 

If I have received money into my bank account, and the revenue decided to investigate me for whatever reason, would these deposits in my business account not be viewed as income? I’m assuming they would be? If so they would be subject to vat and tax?

[Arfur Dealy 823]

47 minutes ago, RH Trading said:

Been a very busy end of March and Easter bank holiday for us. 36 cars sold in March and better still zero comebacks (so far and quickly touches wood) only 1 where an A3 had a slow puncture but I'm not counting that

This will be a record month for us, we stock around 30 and aim for 40 days stock turn and around £750 ppu which we've also hit. Saying that I've probably completely jinxed April but have 3 on the board already so not looking bad so far, long may it continue

Great result !