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Arfur Dealy

October

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1 today and 7 in prep. I’m gonna have a good last week and smash November 

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Two today and one I think will confirm tomorrow. Already better than the whole of September.  

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Dead with us. Did a couple of snotters and one retail this week out of 90 stock with both sales guys blanking. September wasn't great but October is flat as a pancake. Few more enquiries this end of the week but they're all sub prime and/or mental.

Hoping we have a strong end of the month but i'm not banking on it.

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11 minutes ago, grant8064 said:

Dead with us. Did a couple of snotters and one retail this week out of 90 stock with both sales guys blanking. September wasn't great but October is flat as a pancake. Few more enquiries this end of the week but they're all sub prime and/or mental.

Hoping we have a strong end of the month but i'm not banking on it.

Same here, very poor this week and last. Crossing my pubes that things change sharpish! 

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Plodding on with just one old relic this week after a couple of very busy weeks & a strong couple of months.

The trouble is is the latest sale always feels like it could be the last sale because, although I’ve had a good couple of months, enquiries are thin on the ground & most of my contact is from total & utter nutters.

Oddly enough just about every other small 1 or 2 man operation I’ve spoken too are claiming the last 6 weeks have been desperate except for those working for peanuts & selling unprepped cars.

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57 minutes ago, grant8064 said:

Dead with us. Did a couple of snotters and one retail this week out of 90 stock with both sales guys blanking. September wasn't great but October is flat as a pancake. Few more enquiries this end of the week but they're all sub prime and/or mental.

Hoping we have a strong end of the month but i'm not banking on it.

We’re not far from you Grant, it’s dead here too. Even the ad-views are nearly nonexistent. 

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22 minutes ago, Del Boy said:

We’re not far from you Grant, it’s dead here too. Even the ad-views are nearly nonexistent. 

I’ve stopped looking at the ad views obsessively like I used to. I’ve had cars with 70 ad views a day sit for 90 and ones with 25 a day sell in a week. 

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Absolutely shit here at the moment too.  Only enquiries I get at the moment are asking me to pay an invoice.

12-14 in stock, 1 sold at a small loss, the other healthy margin.

It is said on here a lot but as we’ve just moved to a VOIP phone system, I am constantly ringing myself to check it works.

Weather does not help lift my mood either but at least my stock is looking superb and indoors which can only help.

Onwards and Upwards.

In the words of D’ream.......

 

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15 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Weather does not help lift my mood either but at least my stock is looking superb and indoors which can only help.

This time of year works wonders on the appearance of my stock. Everything looks shiney & scratch-free in the compound when the rain clouds are above us.

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57 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Absolutely shit here at the moment too.  Only enquiries I get at the moment are asking me to pay an invoice.

12-14 in stock, 1 sold at a small loss, the other healthy margin.

It is said on here a lot but as we’ve just moved to a VOIP phone system, I am constantly ringing myself to check it works.

Weather does not help lift my mood either but at least my stock is looking superb and indoors which can only help.

Onwards and Upwards.

In the words of D’ream.......

 

It was only a month or so ago you were smashing it mate. Nothing is linear in nearly every business, peaks and troughs etc. 

 

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1 minute ago, tradex said:

Our take on things at the moment.

Finding it very hard to find good stock, that eternal problem seems to be even worse and it won't get easier, and then after seeing the dismal sales of the new cars I can see why, unless you want 1,2,3 year old gear that's just come off of PCP/lease/hire, which there seems to be a glut of at the moment and looks good value.

 

A few weeks ago I thought I saw some light at the end of the tunnel with regards to buying. I'm now back to banging my head against a wall, even the prices in Scotland are off the charts. Sadly, like you say, it's only going to get worse. Jesus, can you imagine what January will be like? With that in mind, unless something changes dramatically I'm going to write January off. Sack off AT for the month, two weeks of housekeeping prepping for Feb  and then if I can get the right deal, two weeks in Barbados taking in the cricket while most of the trade blows their brains out in the hall.

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2 minutes ago, sparky said:

A few weeks ago I thought I saw some light at the end of the tunnel with regards to buying. I'm now back to banging my head against a wall, even the prices in Scotland are off the charts. Sadly, like you say, it's only going to get worse. Jesus, can you imagine what January will be like? With that in mind, unless something changes dramatically I'm going to write January off. Sack off AT for the month, two weeks of housekeeping prepping for Feb  and then if I can get the right deal, two weeks in Barbados taking in the cricket while most of the trade blows their brains out in the hall.

I had 18 on my list yesterday. I bought 2 of the first 4 through at cap average. 

Last week though I sat through dozens and dozens before I got one. 

It’s all cyclical mate, like sales, everything seems to happen at once. Feast or famine. 

Nice idea regarding writing January off. I may buy a load in December, prep them all in early January and open for business in the third week of January. 

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7 minutes ago, sparky said:

A few weeks ago I thought I saw some light at the end of the tunnel with regards to buying. I'm now back to banging my head against a wall, even the prices in Scotland are off the charts. Sadly, like you say, it's only going to get worse. Jesus, can you imagine what January will be like? With that in mind, unless something changes dramatically I'm going to write January off. Sack off AT for the month, two weeks of housekeeping prepping for Feb  and then if I can get the right deal, two weeks in Barbados taking in the cricket while most of the trade blows their brains out in the hall.

AT double stock offer starts in December through to Jan, after that it's half price stock for Feb/March i believe. 

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26 minutes ago, EPV said:

Last week though I sat through dozens and dozens before I got one. 

 

Some days at the auctions I will "overbuy". I will buy 5 instead of the one or two I went for just because I can and because a week later when I really need the stock it may not be there. I prefer to pay BCA a couple of days of storage and my stocking provider another £30-£40 if I can get a car for a grand or two less than usual. 

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32 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Some days at the auctions I will "overbuy". I will buy 5 instead of the one or two I went for just because I can and because a week later when I really need the stock it may not be there. I prefer to pay BCA a couple of days of storage and my stocking provider another £30-£40 if I can get a car for a grand or two less than usual. 

I never let the small matter of having the money stop me. Something always sells :lol:

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1 hour ago, tradex said:

 

My friendly main agents are telling me that the p/x stock they are getting in is simply atrocious too, never been filthier, never been so tatty, never been so mechanically challanged. There are some stonking good new car deals around about at the moment but only the desperate with f*cked cars are buying.

 

 

yes this

its been building up now this past 3 years but even cars that look clean arent when you look properly

people arent even having oil changes now, the filters on some look years old and very rusty

it used to be bald tyres and a scuff now its deep clean /deep service

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On the stock front I am back out trying to buy privately as I am struggling at auction.

All I can say is it is logically a nightmare with private sellers blatantly lying about condition and even mileages. The last two I have viewed have had between 4 6 thousand miles more than advertised and been poo. The thing that amazes me is they do not give a shit. They are rude and don’t care if you buy their car or not....

2 so far this month but low stocks...

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3 minutes ago, DBDlloyds said:

On the stock front I am back out trying to buy privately as I am struggling at auction.

All I can say is it is logically a nightmare with private sellers blatantly lying about condition and even mileages. The last two I have viewed have had between 4 6 thousand miles more than advertised and been poo. The thing that amazes me is they do not give a shit. They are rude and don’t care if you buy their car or not....

2 so far this month but low stocks...

Exactly why I stopped bothering with private. Even when you ask them "is the gearbox noisy?" they tell you no then you turn up and guess what? Fucking crooks the general public.

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1 minute ago, Mojo121 said:

Exactly why I stopped bothering with private. Even when you ask them "is the gearbox noisy?" they tell you no then you turn up and guess what? Fucking crooks the general public.

I hate it when you ask them to see the service book / history and they bring out the V5 with a blank expression on their face.......

Although last year I bought a cheap runaround for myself, bought privately, the seller couldn't have been more helpful. Picked me up from the train station and even brimmed the car with fuel!! B) But yes, 99.9% of the general public, are lying, cheating crooks.....

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3 hours ago, EPV said:

It was only a month or so ago you were smashing it mate. Nothing is linear in nearly every business, peaks and troughs etc. 

 

Thanks for bigging me up (I need it).  If I could repeat the other months performance every month, I could achieve the figures spouted on the other thread but reality says out of 6 complete months proper trading, two have been stonking, two have been a minimum wage and two I may as well have shut shop.

Am I worried?  Not overly, I'm full of decent stock, my average value has increased and AT has just told me they will double my package for free Dec/Jan - what could possibly go wrong? :lol:

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7 hours ago, tradex said:

Our take on things at the moment.

Finding it very hard to find good stock, that eternal problem seems to be even worse and it won't get easier, and then after seeing the dismal sales of the new cars I can see why, unless you want 1,2,3 year old gear that's just come off of PCP/lease/hire, which there seems to be a glut of at the moment and looks good value.

My friendly main agents are telling me that the p/x stock they are getting in is simply atrocious too, never been filthier, never been so tatty, never been so mechanically challanged. There are some stonking good new car deals around about at the moment but only the desperate with f*cked cars are buying.

But they (friendly main agents) seem to be selling their nearly new second hand stock as it looks like great value I guess? Where as the older stuff looks double dear, but newer gear is where the value is, 1-3 years value, 3-5 middling over that is over priced.

Saying all that a FIAT/Alfa dealership I deal with (not local) have sold 2 cars in 2 weeks and unless they sell another this weekend it will be 2 in 3 weeks, both secondhand....now that's what I call going backwards:o

I wouldn’t want to be that dealership!

As for the rest of your post I couldn’t agree more. I think every single car, bar one, that I’ve bought over the last 4 months has needed spanner’s putting on it.

The 7-10yr old stock at the block is generally in a pitiful state, the trade’s so desperate that just about every vendor on DA has turned into a shyster & Sytner’s dealerships’ assessors have all been instructed to under-appraise.

However, as for the prices people are paying at the block! F*** me, yesterday I thought we were already experiencing January madness.

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Absolutely dead here is the South east, only on 5 for the month with a target of 15.

Strangley we seemed to buck the trend and had a good month in September. 

Lets hope for an end of month rush! 

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I’ve suddenly flatlined. Since before the weekend I’ve only had one phone call (telling me the deal I’ll give him!) & just one email from an alleged trader hoping to rape me over a lowish mileage diesel CRV (good luck on that score).

Yet a friend who’s been dead for weeks has sold 5 since yesterday (Sunday) morning. Swings & roundabouts.

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