Introduction and advice.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

2 hours ago, Nick M.K. said:

Car dealing is actually very easy to get into. Staying in it profitably is the hard bit.

 

Agreed. The public think we buy for 1k sell for 2k and it’s that’s easy...... the public have no understanding of what genuine good dealers do. 

[Leekent 2]

2 hours ago, trade vet said:

Yes Len I think it is.To give you an idea of how tough this job is,take a look at Big Motoring World.Huge operation,vast stock and debt but a successfull company in your area.If finance commission and sales of warranties were removed from their financial results it appears they would not make any money.I know it is hard for electrical contractors with all the regs (we have plenty also)  plus I understand you guys need £5m insurance liability cover which is expensive so you can quote for good  jobs etc .You should take note from the guys on here,they are genuine with their advice.

 

I know the one. As a kid I lived a few doors down from Babchild motoring world which I think is where Peter Waddell (big motoring world) 1st started. I do appreciate the advice from all who’ve taken their time to reply. 

[stockedup! 63]

20 hours ago, Leekent said:

One of my friends has a pitch and stocks 25. The pitch isn’t anything special yard and portacabin style but is doing 16-22 units a month and claims to of made 165k this year after expenses. Just done his second years books...does this sound like bollox?   

Highly unlikely unless he has a constant supply of very cheap cars which, if he has, won't last forever.

To turn 80% of your stock/month is great going if you are pulling profit out of them, which he claims he is. What does he deal in? What is his stock outlay? Where does he get them from?

Some great advice on this forum, no matter how long you have done the job you still learn everyday.

Part time effort equals part time pay, how well would you have done with your current business if you did it part time?

I have seen many people blow their nads off getting involved in something they know little about, be careful and good luck.

[Leekent 2]

57 minutes ago, stockedup! said:

Highly unlikely unless he has a constant supply of very cheap cars which, if he has, won't last forever.

To turn 80% of your stock/month is great going if you are pulling profit out of them, which he claims he is. What does he deal in? What is his stock outlay? Where does he get them from?

Some great advice on this forum, no matter how long you have done the job you still learn everyday.

Part time effort equals part time pay, how well would you have done with your current business if you did it part time?

I have seen many people blow their nads off getting involved in something they know little about, be careful and good luck.

Mainly thinkgs like S-lines, M sports, AMG’s, etc seem to come in to stock often then sell within a month. I’ve been keeping an eye on his pricing and they all seem to £100-£250 cheaper than the top end retail price given by AT.  Other stock he keeps are the likes of qashqai’s, Tiguans and Kugas that seem to do well. I know he has a 250k stocking facility but not sure who it’s with....I would be interested to know. I suppose I could HPI one of his cars to find out? I know he uses BCA but buys using the online auction side of things rather than actually going down to the auctions. He did say he had a “buyer” as he called it. I’ve been keeping an eye on his sold vehicles as he marks them as sold on the website and he’s done 9 this month so far. 

He said he thinks he’s doing well because he offers same day drive away rather than the customer having to wait a few days to collect. He doesn’t valet or do any of the work on the cars himself and doesn’t have anyone at his pitch doing it so I can only assume he takes them somewhere for a valet etc. All cars are sold with a 3 month mechanical and electrical warranty, PDI’d etc. 

Edited October 13, 2018 by Leekent

[Leekent 2]

The other thing I’ve learnt from his that he advertises on AT, eBay/gumtree motors pro, car gurus, RAC, desperate seller, motors, RAC, Facebook and says they are all useless really apart from AT which is costing in the region of £1500 a month. The only reason he’s keeping up with the others atm is because of brand awareness. 

Edited October 13, 2018 by Leekent

[True trade 3]

Funny forum this. A wannabe car dealer claims he lost £156k in his first year yet believes he’s learned his lesson many years later that he pass on his valuable advice later. I do enjoy a chuckle 

[andymc1973 199]

He’s talking tripe 

[Marc 6]

Agree with arfur. general public have no idea how much work goes in to preparing and selling a car. 

Just as an example. I bought a car from auction for 1200. Im a one man band.. 25 quid taxi journey to auction to collect car with tools to get it going. It's had a rear caliper ,bonnet cable, driveshaft seal, valve cover gasket ,spark plugs, coils, gearbox oil, engine oil and air filter, mot and pdi. That's not over prepping that's what the car needed. Counting man hours and garage bills I'm not seeing much profit and I got that car cheap. 

What's really annoying is the trader who bought an almost identical car but high mileage and had it for sale next day at 1295 and sold it.. And no doubt the person who bought that smoker will never buy from a doorstepper again..be lost to pcp.

It's hard job if you want to do things right

[It's me 611]

4 minutes ago, andymc1973 said:

He’s talking tripe 

lets be honest

hes talking shite

[Leekent 2]

3 minutes ago, boring dave said:

lets be honest

hes talking shite

All of it or the bit about AT? 

[EPV 631]

9 hours ago, Leekent said:

All of it or the bit about AT? 

Certainly about AT. His AT bill will be more like £3k a month for 25 cars. 

[Mark101 536]

You’re in business, a quite successful one by the sound of it.  Therefore you know the difference between top line and bottom line.

I could easily sell my entire stock every month if I reduced my margins but I like to do the job right and stand by my customers if a fault occurs - that requires a lot of prep, proper servicing, paint, MOT, PDI, etc etc.

People often say to me, how much did you pay for that then? (Why the fuck do they think you should tell them that).  It is irrelevant.

I often have £2k gross margin (hammer price to selling price). Less:

Buyers Fee, transport, fuel, MOT, service, valet, paint repair, mechanical repairs, VAT margin and Tax (my variable costs)

less

Rent, heating, lighting, phones, advertising, etc (my fixed costs).

In truth on a good car, good deal - I may make £600 pre tax (taking everything else in to consideration) and if I am lucky sell 8 a month.

See my VAT margin looks great but in reality, like everything.  It’s not about what you bring in but what you pay out.

 

 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Mark101

[BHM 994]

10 hours ago, andymc1973 said:

He’s talking tripe 

Absolutely.

35 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

I could easily sell my entire stock every month if I reduced my margins but I like to do the job right and stand by my customers if a fault occurs - that requires a lot of prep, proper servicing, paint, MOT, PDI, etc etc.

People often say to me, how much did you pay for that then? (Why the fuck do they think you should tell them that).  It is irrelevant.

I often have £2k gross margin (hammer price to selling price). Less:

Buyers Fee, transport, fuel, MOT, service, valet, paint repair, mechanical repairs, VAT margin and Tax (my variable costs)

less

Rent, heating, lighting, phones, advertising, etc (my fixed costs).

In truth on a good car, good deal - I may make £600 pre tax (taking everything else in to consideration) and if I am lucky sell 8 a month.

See my VAT margin looks great but in reality, like everything.  It’s not about what you bring in but what you pay out.

Mark, you have hit the nail on the head with your last sentence. You are realistic and understand your outgoings substantially reduce profits - something I’m not sure many realise when I hear them quoting fantasy profits.

In this day & age overheads should be slashed to the bone. That’s why internet companies are king & high streets are dying on their knees - overheads. Give us a few more years & at this rate we’ll all be able to afford high street units just to use as car storage!

Years ago I realised, from my one-man-band viewpoint, that the highlighted sentence above was king. SIMPLE AS THAT. If you want to keep it simple, as opposed to grow the business, then you can make as much as you can but if you’re pissing away thousands every month on rent, advertising etc. it amounts to little because it’s basic mathematics - incomings, minus outgoings, equals profit. It’s not rocket science but it’s where many small businesses struggle.

[Screenman 47]

On 13/10/2018 at 9:14 AM, tradex said:

But old school has a warm look, so they tell me

I know main agents that don't clear that

I know main agents that lose that.

Turnover for vanity profit for sanity.

[Screenman 47]

Selling well presented clean desirable stock is easy, buying it is certainly not.

[stockedup! 63]

13 hours ago, Leekent said:

Mainly thinkgs like S-lines, M sports, AMG’s, etc seem to come in to stock often then sell within a month. I’ve been keeping an eye on his pricing and they all seem to £100-£250 cheaper than the top end retail price given by AT.  Other stock he keeps are the likes of qashqai’s, Tiguans and Kugas that seem to do well. I know he has a 250k stocking facility but not sure who it’s with....I would be interested to know. I suppose I could HPI one of his cars to find out? I know he uses BCA but buys using the online auction side of things rather than actually going down to the auctions. He did say he had a “buyer” as he called it. I’ve been keeping an eye on his sold vehicles as he marks them as sold on the website and he’s done 9 this month so far. 

He said he thinks he’s doing well because he offers same day drive away rather than the customer having to wait a few days to collect. He doesn’t valet or do any of the work on the cars himself and doesn’t have anyone at his pitch doing it so I can only assume he takes them somewhere for a valet etc. All cars are sold with a 3 month mechanical and electrical warranty, PDI’d etc. 

If he is buying good clean stuff from the block he will be paying top dollar for it so he hasn't got a cheap supplier

More than likely he has grossed or part grossed what he has said, not netted out which is a different matter altogether.

Any of us that have been in the trade a while have all met the lads who are always busy and making a fortune, some of them can even plait sawdust they are that good. The amazing thing is that they never seem to stick at the job and move(usually overnight)and leave a trail of devestation behind!!

The general consensus on here seems to one that he is over egging his pudding, I tend to agree!

[sparky 274]

20 minutes ago, stockedup! said:

If he is buying good clean stuff from the block he will be paying top dollar for it so he hasn't got a cheap supplier

More than likely he has grossed or part grossed what he has said, not netted out which is a different matter altogether.

Any of us that have been in the trade a while have all met the lads who are always busy and making a fortune, some of them can even plait sawdust they are that good. The amazing thing is that they never seem to stick at the job and move(usually overnight)and leave a trail of devestation behind!!

The general consensus on here seems to one that he is over egging his pudding, I tend to agree!

Aye; BIG cars and caralot, two darlings  of the used motoring media spring to mind. 3 in my area in the last 12 months have gone, the common denominator being stocking plans and overheads sprilliling out of control, aka greed and vanity.

Personally I'd rather have the models of a few of the lads on here, although I appreciate they are not sexy enough for some.

[andymc1973 199]

numbers are vanity and profit is sanity

[stockedup! 63]

17 minutes ago, sparky said:

Aye; BIG cars and caralot, two darlings  of the used motoring media spring to mind. 3 in my area in the last 12 months have gone, the common denominator being stocking plans and overheads sprilliling out of control, aka greed and vanity.

Personally I'd rather have the models of a few of the lads on here, although I appreciate they are not sexy enough for some.

As long as you make a good living by giving a good service, the rest matters not to me!

[David Horgan 564]

16 hours ago, Leekent said:

The other thing I’ve learnt from his that he advertises on AT, eBay/gumtree motors pro, car gurus, RAC, desperate seller, motors, RAC, Facebook and says they are all useless really apart from AT which is costing in the region of £1500 a month. The only reason he’s keeping up with the others atm is because of brand awareness. 

Stocking costs will tie his profits in knots 

AT bill £1500 liar , more like 3k + then the other site costs on top 

Buying online at BCA is not cheap at all , Period . 

Having it all prepped by 3rd party guys + mechanical will eat his profit .

Selling cheap doesn't mean a guaranteed sale 

He's one of the many that fools himself . 

One fine day he will be gone . 

[BHM 994]

5 minutes ago, David Horgan said:

Stocking costs will tie his profits in knots 

AT bill £1500 liar , more like 3k + then the other site costs on top 

Buying online at BCA is not cheap at all , Period . 

Having it all prepped by 3rd party guys + mechanical will eat his profit .

Selling cheap doesn't mean a guaranteed sale 

He's one of the many that fools himself . 

One fine day he will be gone . 

Errrr...I’m trying to add something else but I think you’ve said it all.

[trade vet 697]

19 hours ago, True trade said:

Funny forum this. A wannabe car dealer claims he lost £156k in his first year yet believes he’s learned his lesson many years later that he pass on his valuable advice later. I do enjoy a chuckle 

That’s a bit unfair,you don’t know the circumstances.My understanding was that it was a sizeable operation.You don’t know how the losses were accumulated,there could have been some extraordinary items,then there is depreciation,it happens.The guy was just pointing out his experience.Several years ago we were hit with a large HMRC assessment after we had invested in a connected party deal from 5 years earlier.HMRC were right but agreed we were innocent in that we had received mistaken professional advice so they waived any penalties.It could have been a lot worse but it was bad enough and it showed in our results.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

20 hours ago, True trade said:

Funny forum this. A wannabe car dealer claims he lost £156k in his first year yet believes he’s learned his lesson many years later that he pass on his valuable advice later. I do enjoy a chuckle 

Does being a patronising twat make you feel big ? Read his post, get your facts right. 

[EPV 631]

21 hours ago, True trade said:

Funny forum this. A wannabe car dealer claims he lost £156k in his first year yet believes he’s learned his lesson many years later that he pass on his valuable advice later. I do enjoy a chuckle 

I’d rather take the advice of someone who has lost a fortune and learned a lot in doing so, than the advice of someone like you who sounds like an arrogant cunt. 

Learning from someone else’s mistakes is quite a cheap way to learn.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

On 10/13/2018 at 0:15 PM, Mark101 said:

Just for balance, I lost £156k one year (2005).

We all take hits, some very much bigger than others, what we have in common is we are all trying to be a success off our own back's. You are still fighting, you are still making your own money and you aint someone else's bitch. 

12 minutes ago, EPV said:

I’d rather take the advice of someone who has lost a fortune and learned a lot in doing so, than the advice of someone like you who sounds like an arrogant cunt. 

Learning from someone else’s mistakes is quite a cheap way to learn.

Well put.