How did you start in the Trade ?

[Arfur Dealy 823]

I started at 15 as a Saturday boy site car washer, then a Petrol Pump Attendant, then Consol operator  then became a Valeter at 16 at the same garage, when I passed my car test at 17 I bought my first PX, a Moggy slpit screen in dove grey... I was on £50 a week and I bought the Moggy for £150, sold it to a Dr for £800 out of the local paper on the Thursday the paper came out... Absolutely hooked from there on.. 

[It's me 615]

passed my test and only had £150 saved up ,i was on £14.16 take  home a week so the only way to buy a car was at the auction,never been out of it since but the first 10 years of my adult life i  was a doorstepper so thats why i always like to help because nobody helped me back then,think of me as mr carnegie 2

[NOACROSS 414]

My earliest memory: being shouted at by my dad for letting the T Cut dry and not keeping the muslin cloth flat and not turning it over/not using all the cloth. 

Really enjoying valeting a mustard Opel on my own when they went up to the block up country.  Doing a great job and the w****er didn’t even say well done but promised me 50 quid-  it never arrived..

Watching them make a grand a time in the early 80’s like shelling peas.

My own first trade car (Didn't give me a penny) so I had to buy a Viva with my own money with a knackered box and I put a Chevette gearbox in it on the old bastard’s driveway and got no help so had to figure it out myself.  

Good old days  

 

[RHO 15]

Started in 1980 @ 16 valeting. Bought a Mini Van and started going around the industrial estates touting for cleaning cars. 

I know,16 no licence blah blah, had a good few weeks and saw a Mini 1275GT for sale. Can't remember the price but got it, cleaned it up and sold it on. Hooked. 2 years down the line I sold Gleamers car valeting for decent money and set myself up in an old farm barn buying and selling. Business was booming back then. Selling Montegos a few years later for fun then bought myself a Porsche wide body (Personal) and proper fooked myself up. Lost a shit load  

Got taken on by 2 gentleman who dealt in prime German stuff and learnt the trade. Set myself up again 3 years later with their blessing and their help. Have a hell of a lot to thank those 2 guys for. They were known as the underwrighters to the Motor trade. 

Here I am today doing the same thing to a young guy and his business  

no idea why, satisfies me, dont want him burnt,  He's honest and does the right thing and I like that a lot  

 

jeez I'm welling up here...

 

[have a word with the wife 299]

saw a cortina in a card in a shop window, bought it, no tax or test on it, minted it out of its tree, and doubled up by putting it back in same shop window, if you want to know how i made the next million, buy my book "four wheels to a fortune "

available all good shops

[ charity  ] 

Edited June 21, 2018 by have a word with the wife

[Arfur Dealy 823]

18 minutes ago, RHO said:

Started in 1980 @ 16 valeting. Bought a Mini Van and started going around the industrial estates touting for cleaning cars. 

I know,16 no licence blah blah, had a good few weeks and saw a Mini 1275GT for sale. Can't remember the price but got it, cleaned it up and sold it on. Hooked. 2 years down the line I sold Gleamers car valeting for decent money and set myself up in an old farm barn buying and selling. Business was booming back then. Selling Montegos a few years later for fun then bought myself a Porsche wide body (Personal) and proper fooked myself up. Lost a shit load  

Got taken on by 2 gentleman who dealt in prime German stuff and learnt the trade. Set myself up again 3 years later with their blessing and their help. Have a hell of a lot to thank those 2 guys for. They were known as the underwrighters to the Motor trade. 

Here I am today doing the same thing to a young guy and his business  

no idea why, satisfies me, dont want him burnt,  He's honest and does the right thing and I like that a lot  

 

jeez I'm welling up here...

 

 we are all at different levels, that's whats great about this forum. It welcome to all  

[RHO 15]

5 minutes ago, Arfur Dealy said:

 we are all at different levels, that's whats great about this forum. It welcome to all  

How very true. 

[EPV 631]

I started 6 months ago with fuck all experience but a lot of enthusiasm. I’m doing it full time, for now. If I can’t make ends meet i’ll have to get a job. 

It’s hard work and stressful but i’m like a pig in shit. The thought of going back to being told what to do by someone else petrifies me. 

[Stephen 21]

That’s the motivation you need to be successful

[trade vet 702]

Started washing cars on an open pitch age 15,in a street where there were a dozen more open pitches.They had to be done by 10,I had to paint the black back on the tin no plates.No window stickers,I used to price them up with descriptions writing backwards in whitewash on the inside of the w/screens.Then I would be taking off wheels,rubbing down the rims and hand painting them  alliminium/ silver .The people I worked with were horrible.You were working outside all day in all weathers in a rough part of town.I was educated ‘on the street’,by the time I was 20,I was buying,selling,valeting by day and doorstepping at night.

[grant8064 219]

Great thread! Really enjoyable reading through those.

Mine is a bit more recent. My father unfortunately suddenly passed away and given I hated my job as an auctioneer/antiques valuer I quit after 12 years (bloody terrifying leaving the only real job i'd had after working my way up the ranks) and spent the summer on the beach before realising that I NEEDED a job. It's always funny how I imagined a life of being on the beach, touring Europe and bumming around was my dream but in reality I need a focus and i'm a grafter not a player.

Brother in law that I barely conversed with at the time worked at a main dealer and suggested starting up together and running a used site. I had never driven a car at this point. Signed a lease for a 30 car site and I had two months to get passed. Failed my theory first time round by not studying and thinking 'how hard can it really be' and eventually passed two weeks before my practical. Smashed it out the park and within a week I was cutting down overgrown bushes and learning how to clad a Portakabin with UPVC.

We went out and bought 25 cars in two weeks from our local halls (my god the bad stock we threw our money into, we were so green) and I learnt how to open a bonnet, watched a Youtube on how to charge a flat battery and worked out that some stuff needs to have the clutch depressed to start it (that took half an hour to work out).

Spent a lot of that first few months very very worried...out of my depth is understatement of the century. I used to go on test drives in the passenger seat with the handbook in my lap; 'what's hill decent? One moment whilst I find page 85-3.'

I spent a lot of time in cars, driving everything, opening everything, reading every handbook, online every day watching and reading forums.

Three years in and now we have two sites, 100 cars and two staff. I understand and use the CRA15, know how margin scheme operates, get what an EGR does and why it gets clogged, know all buyers are liars and have a love/hate relationship with it. Not my most modest sentence but we've come a long way and i'm bloody proud.

(feel sorry for those first few punters I had to handle though!)

[EPV 631]

1 minute ago, Stephen said:

That’s the motivation you need to be successful

I hope so. 

I have a bit of an enigma at the moment, a project car. Range Rover sport. Sat Nav thinks it’s in Germany. I had the wheels refurbished and slung the old centre caps away and now I can’t find any of the right size to replace them. Little niggly jobs and I got pissed off. Then I think about going back to a job I hate and the enigmatic RR suddenly seems like a family member. 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

8 minutes ago, EPV said:

I started 6 months ago with fuck all experience but a lot of enthusiasm. I’m doing it full time, for now. If I can’t make ends meet i’ll have to get a job. 

It’s hard work and stressful but i’m like a pig in shit. The thought of going back to being told what to do by someone else petrifies me. 

Once you make your own money you’ll never be a bitch again... You make your own destiny 

[EPV 631]

Just now, Arfur Dealy said:

Once you make your own money you’ll never be a bitch again... You make your own destiny 

I was self employed in my former life so I wasn’t exactly a slave to the clocking in machine but even so, I still had to report to people and as the years went by I slowly gave less of a fuck about the job although the money was great. Now i’d happily earn £2k a month less and be happier even if this job is a pain in the arse at times. 

4 minutes ago, grant8064 said:

Great thread! Really enjoyable reading through those.

Mine is a bit more recent. My father unfortunately suddenly passed away and given I hated my job as an auctioneer/antiques valuer I quit after 12 years (bloody terrifying leaving the only real job i'd had after working my way up the ranks) and spent the summer on the beach before realising that I NEEDED a job. It's always funny how I imagined a life of being on the beach, touring Europe and bumming around was my dream but in reality I need a focus and i'm a grafter not a player.

Brother in law that I barely conversed with at the time worked at a main dealer and suggested starting up together and running a used site. I had never driven a car at this point. Signed a lease for a 30 car site and I had two months to get passed. Failed my theory first time round by not studying and thinking 'how hard can it really be' and eventually passed two weeks before my practical. Smashed it out the park and within a week I was cutting down overgrown bushes and learning how to clad a Portakabin with UPVC.

We went out and bought 25 cars in two weeks from our local halls (my god the bad stock we threw our money into, we were so green) and I learnt how to open a bonnet, watched a Youtube on how to charge a flat battery and worked out that some stuff needs to have the clutch depressed to start it (that took half an hour to work out).

Spent a lot of that first few months very very worried...out of my depth is understatement of the century. I used to go on test drives in the passenger seat with the handbook in my lap; 'what's hill decent? One moment whilst I find page 85-3.'

I spent a lot of time in cars, driving everything, opening everything, reading every handbook, online every day watching and reading forums.

Three years in and now we have two sites, 100 cars and two staff. I understand and use the CRA15, know how margin scheme operates, get what an EGR does and why it gets clogged, know all buyers are liars and have a love/hate relationship with it. Not my most modest sentence but we've come a long way and i'm bloody proud.

(feel sorry for those first few punters I had to handle though!)

Nice. 

Even now when I look back at the 4th of January 2018 when I had my first punter I wonder how I ever sold a thing. Luckily I’ve got a sense of pride in my stock and I can detail a car to a professional standard which goes a long way. I’d be fucked if I had to fix anything beyond a basic level. 

[RHO 15]

3 minutes ago, EPV said:

I was self employed in my former life so I wasn’t exactly a slave to the clocking in machine but even so, I still had to report to people and as the years went by I slowly gave less of a fuck about the job although the money was great. Now i’d happily earn £2k a month less and be happier even if this job is a pain in the arse at times. 

This game is always a pain in the arse but the buzz is still so addictive. The things we did for a sale back in the day  Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll....

Even the idiots won't ever dampen my spirits  

 

 

[grant8064 219]

16 minutes ago, Stephen said:

That’s the motivation you need to be successful

+1

22 minutes ago, EPV said:

I started 6 months ago with fuck all experience but a lot of enthusiasm. I’m doing it full time, for now. If I can’t make ends meet i’ll have to get a job. 

It’s hard work and stressful but i’m like a pig in shit. The thought of going back to being told what to do by someone else petrifies me. 

I sincerely hope it goes well. Enthusiasm and drive counts for a hell of a lot in my opinion, so many don't have it.

11 minutes ago, EPV said:

 

Even now when I look back at the 4th of January 2018 when I had my first punter I wonder how I ever sold a thing. 

When we started I got so lost on a 5 mile test drive we ended up in the middle of nowhere and then ran out of juice. Had to walk to a bloody farm to beg for a can and directions to get going again. I must have seemed like a complete and utter tit but we still shook hands on a deal. It's amazing what you look back on and think 'how?!'

[MrV 66]

Inspiring stuff, now I see why virgins like me get both barrels!

[trade vet 702]

6 minutes ago, RHO said:

This game is always a pain in the arse but the buzz is still so addictive. The things we did for a sale back in the day  Sex & Drugs & Rock n Roll....

Even the idiots won't ever dampen my spirits  

 

 

Do you think we could tell them what went on.....they would not believe us.

[RHO 15]

Think some of us would be in jail by now..

 

glad things have have moved on/ cleaned up. 

Wouldnt like to be starting now so to all you new guys, well done for giving it a go. 

[Nick M.K. 574]

In 2004 I was working full time for a health and safety consultancy in Southwark in London. Had been in the country 4 years (I am Bulgarian), just learnt the language and had no real interest in health and safety. Had a nice sideline selling iPod cases on eBay that I was importing from the US and I had gained very high eBay feedback score. I was always interested in cars but at that point didn't even know the difference between a brake disc and a brake pad. Ignorance is a bliss they say. 

I bought a BMW 518i E34 from a private seller for £800 and listed it on an eBay auction with a reserve of £1100 to see what will happen. Sold in 7 days for £1950, I'll never forget my first customer, Tony from Leeds. He said he saw my feedback score and decided he wanted MY car. The name of the BMW colour was Dunkelblau. Similar to 90 day blue but more like 150 day blue. From that moment on I was never seriously interested in doing anything else, watching the bid increases on my cars on eBay was addictive. Quit the day job in late 2005 and soon after was selling 11-12 cars a month from a "stock" that never exceeded 4 or 5, delivered them for a nominal charge and did so little "prep", it was shocking. 

Ignorance WAS a bliss... 

the eBay frenzy died down eventually, the novelty wore off, I also tried Gumtree for a while but in London the response was overwhelmingly idiotic so I moved on to AT after the crunch of 2009-10. 

 

Edited June 21, 2018 by Nick M.K.

[MrV 66]

7 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

In 2004 I was working full time for a health and safety consultancy in Southwark in London. Had been in the country 4 years (I am Bulgarian), just learnt the language and had no real interest in health and safety. Had a nice sideline selling iPod cases on eBay that I was importing from the US and had very high eBay feedback score. I was always interested in cars but at that point didn't even know the difference between a brake disc and a brake pad. Ignorance is a bliss they say. 

I bought a BMW 518i E34 from a private seller for £800 and listed it on an eBay auction with a reserve of £1100 to see what will happen. Sold in 7 days for £1950, I'll never forget my first customer, Tony from Leeds. He said he saw my feedback score and decided he wanted MY car. The name of the BMW colour was Dunkelblau. Similar to 90 day blue but more like 150 day blue. From that moment on I was never seriously interested in doing anything else, watching the bid increases on my cars on eBay was addictive. I was selling 12 cars a month from a "stock" that never exceeded 4 or 5, delivered them for a nominal charge and did so little "prep", it was shocking. 

Ignorance WAS a bliss... 

the eBay frenzy died down eventually, the novelty wore off, I also tried Gumtree for a while but in London the response was overwhelmingly idiotic so I moved on to AT after the crunch of 2009-10. 

 

Very interesting and fantastic to see your journey and how far you've taken it, do you only sell on AT now?

[Nick M.K. 574]

Compared to others my journey will probably seem shorter and I still to this day advertise on eBay in their classified ad format but yes, majority of my new customers come on the back of my AT advertising. I also have a package with Motors.co.uk and a medium package with CarGurus (for which I have given them a cancellation notice). 

54 minutes ago, EPV said:

I started 6 months ago with fuck all experience but a lot of enthusiasm

Do you think the lack of previous (especially MAIN dealer) experience might actually be an advantage in this trade?

[MrV 66]

6 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Compared to others my journey will probably seem shorter and I still to this day advertise on eBay in their classified ad format but yes, majority of my new customers come on the back of my AT advertising. I also have a package with Motors.co.uk and a medium package with CarGurus (for which I have given them a cancellation notice). 

What would you say is the biggest reason you're here now at this point? Learning from mistakes? Adapting to changing trends/demand? Old school determination?

[trade vet 702]

47 minutes ago, RHO said:

Think some of us would be in jail by now..

 

glad things have have moved on/ cleaned up. 

Wouldnt like to be starting now so to all you new guys, well done for giving it a go. 

I remember when all these flash dealers were worried,the trade would never be the same again,what with clocking being outlawed and now VAT.....it was early 1973 !

[EPV 631]

39 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Compared to others my journey will probably seem shorter and I still to this day advertise on eBay in their classified ad format but yes, majority of my new customers come on the back of my AT advertising. I also have a package with Motors.co.uk and a medium package with CarGurus (for which I have given them a cancellation notice). 

Do you think the lack of previous (especially MAIN dealer) experience might actually be an advantage in this trade?

I don’t know, possibly! Thank fuck for this forum though i’d be bolloxed without it.