If you didn't sell cars what would you be doing?

[ExCouncilJobsworth 27]

This should be fun. 

So if you didn't sell cars what you be doing? Another trade?

Prior to my planning work at the council I did think about being a doctor and moving to Australia 

Or what would you like to do instead? (No not everyone enjoys selling cars but like most people am sure there's some of you that just do it as it pays the bills)

Edited February 23, 2019 by ExCouncilJobsworth

[Screenman 47]

I got out of selling cars for an easier life, I am a dent and screen guy who only wants 20 hours a week and I also am a distributor for a USA tool company. When dealing cars I always wanted a product that when sold I could just replace it easily with another, Delta Kits gives me just that product.

[Nick M.K. 574]

I would own a garage repairing cars. And vans. 

After years of paying garage bills I think that business is much better than my own. Purely from an income view. 

It would be one of those garages approved by every scheme under the sun and which always include £15 oil flush in their invoicing and where the receptionist always asks the customers if they are sitting down before starting to quote. 

[MrC 142]

Build camper vans... Oh hang on a minute

[Arfur Dealy 823]

56 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

I would own a garage repairing cars. And vans. 

After years of paying garage bills I think that business is much better than my own. Purely from an income view. 

It would be one of those garages approved by every scheme under the sun and which always include £15 oil flush in their invoicing and where the receptionist always asks the customers if they are sitting down before starting to quote. 

You can still do it Nick, add a bodyshop and that’s your pension sorted. 

Oh and I’d be a cider drinking, tractor driving gigolo 

[Nick M.K. 574]

I don’t like spending time in garages. I don’t think it’s for me plus I’ll be a horrible boss that the whole staff will probably hate and leave all the time and I’ll spend all my days with HR lawyers and in courts suing people for losses etc. 

I’ve thought about it of course but I Prefer to wheel and deal. 

[NOACROSS 414]

1 hour ago, Nick M.K. said:

I would own a garage repairing cars. And vans. 

After years of paying garage bills I think that business is much better than my own. Purely from an income view. 

It would be one of those garages approved by every scheme under the sun and which always include £15 oil flush in their invoicing and where the receptionist always asks the customers if they are sitting down before starting to quote. 

I've been considering this for quite a while.  There is a potential opportunity with a long established workshop that's next door -where the owners are at retirement age.

It's just weighing up the pros and cons (large investment of my time more than anything).  Quite a bit of time I can give- all of my time I can't.  

[Nick M.K. 574]

1 hour ago, NOACROSS said:

There is a potential opportunity with a long established workshop that's next door -where the owners are at retirement age.

Why don't you ring Umesh for a bit of advice on this, he did a very similar takeover a couple of years ago. 

[Mojo121 229]

3 hours ago, Screenman said:

I got out of selling cars for an easier life, I am a dent and screen guy who only wants 20 hours a week and I also am a distributor for a USA tool company. When dealing cars I always wanted a product that when sold I could just replace it easily with another, Delta Kits gives me just that product.

That’s quite literally what I’m thinking. Sourcing stock is just ridiculously time consuming and prep is getting worse and worse. My skills are presentation, marketing and sales. Anyway, back to looking for that magic bullet 

What made you definitively decide that Delta Kits was the way to go? What made you make the jump?

[It's me 615]

having a garage is usually not the problem

its hiring and retaining good staff that is

[Stalker 180]

5 minutes ago, boring dave said:

having a garage is usually not the problem

its hiring and retaining good staff that is

I was talking with a garage owner the other week that has just had his best guy leave, he offered him £40k to stay and he still left. 

Now £40k in the north east is a bloody good wage!

Supposedly he wasn’t that good either! 

[Area 51 33]

28 minutes ago, Stalker said:

I was talking with a garage owner the other week that has just had his best guy leave, he offered him £40k to stay and he still left. 

Now £40k in the north east is a bloody good wage!

Supposedly he wasn’t that good either! 

I'd say over the last 12mths I've seen a range of local Indies advertising for time served spanners; local Merc & Vauxhall do too..

Must be the same as most trades, the few experienced lads that are about are in demand..

My lad is a time served joiner, picks his work, hours and charge rate and he is approached weekly by local and national construction firms with silly offers.. 

[DBDlloyds 18]

There is definitely no perfect career, I left a very good Job and started trading cars a couple of years ago to get a better work life balance....

The reality is I am actually working more hours at 50 years old than I ever have, but I love it.... (most of the time)

For me, we all know the recipe for success and it would be easily achievable if the stock required was readily available, but it isn’t and that’s that. 

I look at some of the guys on here and it gives me the push I need sometimes to say success is achievable and it’s up me to do it.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by DBDlloyds
Spelling

[trade vet 702]

42 minutes ago, DBDlloyds said:

There is definitely no perfect career, I left a very good Job and started trading cars a couple of years ago to get a better work life balance....

The reality is I am actually working more hours at 50 years old than I ever have, but I love it.... (most of the time)

For me, we all know the recipe for success and it would be easily achievable if the stock required was readily available, but it isn’t and that’s that. 

I look at some of the guys on here and it gives me the push I need sometimes to say success is achievable and within reason it’s to me to do it.

 

 

We should have told you Dean.To do this job successfully you have to eat and sleep cars and all the problems all day every day.I now only go in for 30 mins or so per day but I am still constantly trying to think of better ways of doing the job.I used to keep a pen and notepad by the bed incase I thought of something during the night.

I think starting and running a some sort of charity would be a good idea today,next time someone knocks on your door wanting money for a good cause,check them out on Charities Commission.A lot of them have directors earning big money for doing very little I imagine.

 

[Screenman 47]

2 hours ago, Mojo121 said:

That’s quite literally what I’m thinking. Sourcing stock is just ridiculously time consuming and prep is getting worse and worse. My skills are presentation, marketing and sales. Anyway, back to looking for that magic bullet 

What made you definitively decide that Delta Kits was the way to go? What made you make the jump?

I had a business that was running me, I was trading, retailing and auctioning and moving 500+ unit a year between 78 and 88, it owned me I did not own it. Getting into PDR and screens was an accident really, I was looking for something for my eldest son to do when he left school and bought him a franchise, he was 15 at the time but the aim was to build it up a bit and hand it over to him in 1991 when he was 17 and driving, well blow me down it was bloody brilliant fun, paid £4,000 for the franchise and had that money back in 6 weeks, even today I still get a buzz from the job. Pdr I saw somebody do that in 1991 and though why not, took me a few years to get the hang of it and agian I still enjoy it. Selling the tools, well in 2008 I got the industries top award out in the USA despite never been there, this opened doors for selling tools over here as a couple of companies out there were interested in me.

All time as a dealer I always lusted after what I have now, so bloody lucky I guess, I max out at 4 days a week, short days at that, all business overheads are paid for by Monday afternoon and I have a great bunch of customers.

The last time I did any cars was about 3 years ago, up till then I was still ticking over with a couple a month, dealer auction I think was one of the things that made me stop completely, but I would never say never again, it is in my blood. 

[trade vet 702]

42 minutes ago, Screenman said:

I had a business that was running me, I was trading, retailing and auctioning and moving 500+ unit a year between 78 and 88, it owned me I did not own it. Getting into PDR and screens was an accident really, I was looking for something for my eldest son to do when he left school and bought him a franchise, he was 15 at the time but the aim was to build it up a bit and hand it over to him in 1991 when he was 17 and driving, well blow me down it was bloody brilliant fun, paid £4,000 for the franchise and had that money back in 6 weeks, even today I still get a buzz from the job. Pdr I saw somebody do that in 1991 and though why not, took me a few years to get the hang of it and agian I still enjoy it. Selling the tools, well in 2008 I got the industries top award out in the USA despite never been there, this opened doors for selling tools over here as a couple of companies out there were interested in me.

All time as a dealer I always lusted after what I have now, so bloody lucky I guess, I max out at 4 days a week, short days at that, all business overheads are paid for by Monday afternoon and I have a great bunch of customers.

The last time I did any cars was about 3 years ago, up till then I was still ticking over with a couple a month, dealer auction I think was one of the things that made me stop completely, but I would never say never again, it is in my blood. 

Great story.It is usually the case,the best things you do in business are not planned but happen by chance.

[Mojo121 229]

42 minutes ago, Screenman said:

I had a business that was running me, I was trading, retailing and auctioning and moving 500+ unit a year between 78 and 88, it owned me I did not own it. Getting into PDR and screens was an accident really, I was looking for something for my eldest son to do when he left school and bought him a franchise, he was 15 at the time but the aim was to build it up a bit and hand it over to him in 1991 when he was 17 and driving, well blow me down it was bloody brilliant fun, paid £4,000 for the franchise and had that money back in 6 weeks, even today I still get a buzz from the job. Pdr I saw somebody do that in 1991 and though why not, took me a few years to get the hang of it and agian I still enjoy it. Selling the tools, well in 2008 I got the industries top award out in the USA despite never been there, this opened doors for selling tools over here as a couple of companies out there were interested in me.

All time as a dealer I always lusted after what I have now, so bloody lucky I guess, I max out at 4 days a week, short days at that, all business overheads are paid for by Monday afternoon and I have a great bunch of customers.

The last time I did any cars was about 3 years ago, up till then I was still ticking over with a couple a month, dealer auction I think was one of the things that made me stop completely, but I would never say never again, it is in my blood. 

It all takes time, that’s what I’m learning, lucky I have time and pleased and admire that your vision has come to fruition.

Luck might be a bit of it but from reading that building up and the hard work is probably the other 90%. 

Thanks for the answer. 

(Now, where are the customers today??? Did someone say half term!)

[Mark101 536]

12 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Great story.It is usually the case,the best things you do in business are not planned but happen by chance.

When I had the pitch, as a consequence I bought a car transporter and trailer.  The pitch went very quiet, the ex's went through the roof with staff, servicing debt and two premises so, I spent most days ferrying cars up and down the country at £1 per mile round trip (not one way) per car and earned a great living.  I recall thinking to myself, I wish I could unwind my pitch, staff and loan commitments and just do this because it was easy, no thinking, plenty or work and a great ROI - easy money.  Sadly, it was too late as I was in too deep with the long term agreements, debts, staff et al.

After a 12 year career as a (well paid) employee outside of motor trade, the trade never left me.  I recall thinking about just buying one or two transporters and shifting cars around as before.  In the meantime, Movex, Shiply and every council estate in the country now offer the service I did at a fraction of the cost, so I missed the boat.

So here I am selling cars - no staff just a border collie for company and a very supportive better half.  It's stressy but I still love it.

Edited February 23, 2019 by Mark101

[justina3 518]

Only way i have managed to retain decent staff was by a profit share in the business in the long run best move i ever made. 

Oddly enough i do less these days and earn more.

Building is getting hard work though so that is being scaled down over the coming years once all the land owned / in the pipeline has been built on, yet again the council has killed the industry and given it all to big family housing companies who mark my words will bite them in the ass the second they have the control they need which isnt far away.

 

 

[DBDlloyds 18]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

We should have told you Dean.To do this job successfully you have to eat and sleep cars and all the problems all day every day.I now only go in for 30 mins or so per day but I am still constantly trying to think of better ways of doing the job.I used to keep a pen and notepad by the bed incase I thought of something during the night.

I think starting and running a some sort of charity would be a good idea today,next time someone knocks on your door wanting money for a good cause,check them out on Charities Commission.A lot of them have directors earning big money for doing very little I imagine.

 

Thanks Ian,

To be fair Tradex did after my first post on here, ha ha

 

[Dan W 57]

Door to door salesman selling doors I think.

Never given it a thought to be fair, sold cars for 14 years only job I have had not sure if that's a good or a bad thing

 

[Rory RSC 596]

No qualifications, or grades etc, not particularly academic or clever probably a dead end boring office job and hate everyday like quite a lot of people seen to. 

The thought genuinely terrifies me and I remind myself of that every now and again, probably why I tend to work 7 days and not take much time off.

[ExCouncilJobsworth 27]

15 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:

 

The thought genuinely terrifies me and I remind myself of that every now and again, probably why I tend to work 7 days and not take much time off.

F me!

I wouldn't do 7 days a week.

Your sole purpose of being on earth isnt to work...

"You work to live. You don't live to work" 

I read a review left on AD's AT page. Someone was moaning about AD not being able to do a viewing on a Sunday. AD replied "i work hard for my family and they deserve to spend time with me"

[Mark101 536]

I work flexi time - in other words, I work when I need to.

Generally speaking Mon-Fri 8.00 - 5.30 and weekends by appointment but...

Wednesday morning I went for a haircut and took an early dart for the karting in Bristol.  Today I have declined a couple of appointments because I fancied a weekend off.

Caveat, I will always attend viewings at the weekend if someone is ready to buy/collect but not just, I have 5 to look at, what time are you open until.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

23 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

I work flexi time - in other words, I work when I need to.

Generally speaking Mon-Fri 8.00 - 5.30 and weekends by appointment but...

Wednesday morning I went for a haircut and took an early dart for the karting in Bristol.  Today I have declined a couple of appointments because I fancied a weekend off.

Caveat, I will always attend viewings at the weekend if someone is ready to buy/collect but not just, I have 5 to look at, what time are you open until.

Our second home is a static in Cornwall "Rosie" our site reopens 1st March...  We go down every Friday for the weekend unless the weather is horrendous...  Family first.... 

A lot of customers want to collect at the weekend, but as soon as you tell them I work all week 6am to 9pm, the weekend is family time they then work into your remit....