Starting out as a trader

[notchback 1]

Hi All,

I've recently been trading a few cars from home as a side line, I have always been involved in cars as a hobby, restoration work, panel beating, mechanical, mig welding etc etc. I've been buying a few CAT N damaged cars and repairing them properly (not like some CAT N & S repairs i've seen!) and selling them on, also a few stolen recovered cars too. 

It's gotten to the point where I need to set up as a trader, I currently have 4 private insurances running now which is an expensive way of keeping these cars on cover. I also need trade plates as some cars I have purchased haven't had a V5C so I couldn't tax them for 4 weeks waiting for DVLA to send me a new log book! Having to hire a road trailer to move a perfectly good car around is just annoying and expensive! 

So, looking for any hints / tips on setting up properly, best trader insurance deals, any tips on using trade plates etc. 
Any suggestions / recommendations welcome!

[EPV 631]

Just read through this forum mate. There’s so much good advice on here it’s untrue. Also read the gov website regarding trade plates etc. There’s too many things to sum up in one post for “good tips” just read every thread on here from the last month and it will answer 90% of your questions. Good luck. 

[Area 51 33]

20 minutes ago, EPV said:

Just read through this forum mate. There’s so much good advice on here it’s untrue. Also read the gov website regarding trade plates etc. There’s too many things to sum up in one post for “good tips” just read every thread on here from the last month and it will answer 90% of your questions. Good luck. 

+1 great amount of help and detail.. All the best with it

 

[DBDlloyds 18]

Good luck....

[Dave2302 387]

Good luck wi' it

 

[Mojo121 229]

My advice, for what it's worth.

• Setup a LTD company - costs £12. Do it yourself. These are accident damaged cars and you will get screamers.
• Find a good accountant, he will have dealt with car traders before and will save you time and money. For a small business like yours expect £100 a month roughly.
• Get your trade insurance setup. Impossible to run without this. Your accountant will know someone. Tradex normally take on newbies.
• Apply for some trade plates.

Try to not let any of the above distract you from doing your job 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Good luck. 

[justina3 518]

As in any business finding what works for you is the expensive bit where mistakes are often made sounds as if your ahead of the game in that respect. 

Bumpies with the new listings are very trendy these days so you should do well. 

 

[BHM 994]

4 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

Good luck. 

I’m reading between the lines here.

Now the football’s knackered it seems every man & his dog fancies a dabble. I think we’ve been here before once or twice.

[tradegirl 112]

6 hours ago, Mojo121 said:

• Setup a LTD company - costs £12. Do it yourself. These are accident damaged cars and you will get screamers.

What does a LTD company have to do with screamers?

[SC Derby 259]

24 minutes ago, tradegirl said:

What does a LTD company have to do with screamers?

Can’t claim against you personally 

can’t lose house etc 

[tradegirl 112]

13 hours ago, SC Derby said:

Can’t claim against you personally 

can’t lose house etc 

I see...that's pretty interesting. And useful to know.

[tradegirl 112]

Just now, tradex said:

I've said it before, but I'll say it again,  in this game how can you NOT be a LTD company.

Tradex, we were up until a couple of months ago. Company has now officially been struck off, but we have a court case coming up with a proper screamer (wouldn't negotiate AT ALL) for a car. We sold as a Ltd company. He's taking us to court even after we repaired the car, claiming he had to fix other problems, and despite us offering £400 towards his £530 "extra expenses"

Invoice was from Ltd company name, not our personal names. Maybe we don't have a problem after all.

[tradegirl 112]

4 minutes ago, tradex said:

are you no longer trading cars then?

We were winding it down at the beginning of the year and closed the company.

Decided to give it another go though since April and will stay as a partnership for a few months to see how it goes.

Interesting though how it only costs £12 and our accountant charged us £300...

Edited July 14, 2018 by tradegirl

[Mojo121 229]

15 hours ago, tradegirl said:

What does a LTD company have to do with screamers?

Sorry for the late reply. We all get screamers, I agree, just from my point of view there's value in the personal protection a LTD company gives. Say a judge takes a dim view of an otherwise well prepared but previously accident damaged car and decides to tar you with a bad brush and tear you a new one. 

I'd never do this job as a Sole Trader.

2 hours ago, tradegirl said:

I see...that's pretty interesting. And useful to know.

I'm shocked you didn't know that.

2 hours ago, tradegirl said:

Tradex, we were up until a couple of months ago. Company has now officially been struck off, but we have a court case coming up with a proper screamer (wouldn't negotiate AT ALL) for a car. We sold as a Ltd company. He's taking us to court even after we repaired the car, claiming he had to fix other problems, and despite us offering £400 towards his £530 "extra expenses"

Invoice was from Ltd company name, not our personal names. Maybe we don't have a problem after all.

The company is closed, gone. You worked for the company and all of it's assets are now liquidated - gone. There is no one to take to court because the company no longer exists.

2 hours ago, tradegirl said:

We were winding it down at the beginning of the year and closed the company.

Decided to give it another go though since April and will stay as a partnership for a few months to see how it goes.

Interesting though how it only costs £12 and our accountant charged us £300...

Just to make it worse it takes 10-15 minutes.

[notchback 1]

Thanks for all the advice. I was thinking about forming a sole partnership (with my fiance) so do you recommend forming a limited company instead? 

As I am just starting out, what kind of warranty should I be offering? Most of the cars I have been dealing with so far have been under 3 years old and so are covered by the manufacturers warranty still, and I've also kept mileages under 50k. I wouldn't sell a car that needed any work doing so I would be pretty confident with any cars I sell. I've been looking at the lawgistics driver options, does anyone use these?

I have read that a dealer is responsible for any car sold for up to 6 months, Is that the case?  

I've been getting a number of road risk quotations and the best price so far is £1600 fully comp with up to £25k car values. 

Edited July 14, 2018 by notchback
more info

[Arfur Dealy 823]

On 7/14/2018 at 11:55 AM, Mojo121 said:

Sorry for the late reply. We all get screamers, I agree, just from my point of view there's value in the personal protection a LTD company gives. Say a judge takes a dim view of an otherwise well prepared but previously accident damaged car and decides to tar you with a bad brush and tear you a new one. 

I'd never do this job as a Sole Trader.

I'm shocked you didn't know that.

The company is closed, gone. You worked for the company and all of it's assets are now liquidated - gone. There is no one to take to court because the company no longer exists.

Just to make it worse it takes 10-15 minutes.

Notchback, do you intend in doing this job correctly ? 

[notchback 1]

11 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

Notchback, do you intend in doing this job correctly ? 

On a part time basis for the moment, yes. 

[tradegirl 112]

On 7/20/2018 at 6:05 PM, tradex said:

Not withstanding all that has been said before, we are talking small claims court here, whereby the magistrate may not go by the letter of the law, just a reasonable view, and that view could be you are trying to pull a fast one, closing the company but still trading?

.....just saying that the law and small claims do not go hand in hand, been there.

You could then appeal after that and get legal.

Tradex, got a letter through saying that the court fee hadn't been paid and the case has been struck out, and the court date vacated. A nice bit of good news, as I was dreading opening the letter! Thanks for the advice though!

[tradegirl 112]

On 7/20/2018 at 6:05 PM, tradex said:

Not withstanding all that has been said before, we are talking small claims court here, whereby the magistrate may not go by the letter of the law, just a reasonable view, and that view could be you are trying to pull a fast one, closing the company but still trading?

.....just saying that the law and small claims do not go hand in hand, been there.

You could then appeal after that and get legal.

Tradex, got a letter through saying that the court fee hadn't been paid and the case has been struck out, and the court date vacated. A nice bit of good news, as I was dreading opening the letter! Thanks for the advice though!

[Paddy 31]

On 14/07/2018 at 1:50 PM, notchback said:

Most of the cars I have been dealing with so far have been under 3 years old and so are covered by the manufacturers warranty still. 

Are you sure about this? not an area I deal in but I'd imagine manufacturers warranty would be void after an insurance loss which is what you said you deal in, worth checking anyway... As for insurance have you tried Bollington? Usually quite good for home traders. 

[sparky 274]

On 7/13/2018 at 1:45 PM, Mojo121 said:

My advice, for what it's worth.

• Setup a LTD company - costs £12. Do it yourself. These are accident damaged cars and you will get screamers.
• Find a good accountant, he will have dealt with car traders before and will save you time and money. For a small business like yours expect £100 a month roughly.
• Get your trade insurance setup. Impossible to run without this. Your accountant will know someone. Tradex normally take on newbies.
• Apply for some trade plates.

Try to not let any of the above distract you from doing your job 

Good advice although I disagree about the cat n screamers. If done properly they'll be no worse than any other screamer and the chances of them being mechanically fecked are probably less than most of the shite that goes through BCA.

[notchback 1]

9 hours ago, Paddy said:

Are you sure about this? not an area I deal in but I'd imagine manufacturers warranty would be void after an insurance loss which is what you said you deal in, worth checking anyway... As for insurance have you tried Bollington? Usually quite good for home traders. 

Hi, I have contacted both Audi & VW UK to ask about warranties with repaired cars, and so long as the cars are repaired using genuine parts, the warranty will not be affected. I also had to send a 2016 Audi Q3 in for some warranty work, the engineer that worked on the car couldn't believe that it had been a front end write off as I ensure everything is put back exactly as it came out the factory. 

I tried Bollingtons and they gave a good quote, but in the end I found a really good deal with Adelphi Insurance brokers, Luke was super helpful. £1500 fully comp with £20k indemnity and all the bells & whistles. 

2 hours ago, sparky said:

Good advice although I disagree about the cat n screamers. If done properly they'll be no worse than any other screamer and the chances of them being mechanically fecked are probably less than most of the shite that goes through BCA.

I'm beginning to think the Cat N's when repaired correctly are great for keeping customers happy, as an example I sold a 2017 Audi Q3 S-line with only 3k miles on it that was fully loaded to a customer, he was over the moon because if he had bought a non category car for the same money he'd be looking at a car 3 years older with no Audi warranty and much higher mileage. So long as they are 100% repaired correctly, they are going to be as good as new. 

Edited August 2, 2018 by notchback
more info

[Tedlikesstuff45 0]

Good luck ! This forum really helped me just reading through it so hope it help you too , have fun too

[BAS 4]

Hi Notchback, I'm in a similar place to you, just in the beginnings of home trading.  After much shopping around, I got a great deal with Covea thought Adelphi.  I have my trade plates, my domain registered and 3 cars currently in stock.  Just need to find the best way to advertise / market them now!  I'm currently sole trader (had to start this way for other reasons) but now looking to go limited in the very near future.