Cheap cars

[arashtrip 4]

It seems that some members like David and Mojo121 are not helpful at all and even do not bother to read the previous comments carefully!!! I am well aware of the consequences of such malpractice and negligence. but I am new and I know each industry has its own common practices and what i've seen so far (I can say over 5 dealers in my area) that they all said with confidence that they did not check the car and as far as it has a valid MOT it is fine! Also when I checked the MOT history plenty of the cars sold by many dealers do not have fresh MOT and some MOTs are over six months old. you can do a simple research in autotrader.

On the other hand, i saw in autotrader that a car (say an old vauxhall) is on the market for £700 with plenty of advisories on its MOT but the same model, age, mileage is being sold for £1,600 with no advisories. So I was wondering that what these people do? go to a mechanic. are they themselves mechanic or they just buy clean and easy cars?

So, I wanted to ask this question to see what are you guys doing and what is the common practice. Guys like Casper, No Nothing, Row and Lakeside were helpful and I thanked them and said that I would follow their advice.

 

but the above two seems looking for a kind of virtue preaching!!!

Edited September 11, 2019 by arashtrip

[CRW 73]

1 hour ago, arashtrip said:

On the other hand, i saw in autotrader that a car (say an old vauxhall) is on the market for £700 with plenty of advisories on its MOT but the same model, age, mileage is being sold for £1,600 with no advisories. So I was wondering that what these people do? go to a mechanic. are they themselves mechanic or they just buy clean and easy cars?

First lesson is no two cars are the same. 

Second, the £700 will sell first.

Third, the £700 might, ironically, be a better car than the £1600 one.

Fourth, the £700 might be a damaged repaired car.

Fifth, it might not be, but the £1600 might be.

Sixth, the MOT testers discretion will dictate the advisories.

Confused yet?

Its the nature of the trade, nothing is simple or straightforward. There's no rules to pricing. 

With regards to whether they are a mechanic or not, how on earth are we to know? Perhaps phone them and ask?

[arashtrip 4]

20 minutes ago, CRW said:

First lesson is no two cars are the same. 

Second, the £700 will sell first.

Third, the £700 might, ironically, be a better car than the £1600 one.

Fourth, the £700 might be a damaged repaired car.

Fifth, it might not be, but the £1600 might be.

Sixth, the MOT testers discretion will dictate the advisories.

Confused yet?

Its the nature of the trade, nothing is simple or straightforward. There's no rules to pricing. 

With regards to whether they are a mechanic or not, how on earth are we to know? Perhaps phone them and ask?

yeah you are right and we do not know anything about the above points and it was the reason that in first place I wanted to ask and just thinking loud.

About the pricing cannot agree more. I would say your sales skills have a great say in how much you will get.

 

so, no, I am not confused.

Edited September 11, 2019 by arashtrip

[Tony911 79]

The only way to find out is too just do it, this way you will understand what everybody on this forum are trying to explain to you. It might take a month or a couple of years for you to figure it out but to be honest been doing this job for over 10 years now and can honestly say you will learn something new all the time. You might think it's a bit harsh but to be fair the advice you have been given is the best free advice you will ever get. Let us know how you get on with your first sale

[J.T 39]

1 hour ago, arashtrip said:

It seems that some members like David and Mojo121 are not helpful at all and even do not bother to read the previous comments carefully!!! I am well aware of the consequences of such malpractice and negligence. but I am new and I know each industry has its own common practices and what i've seen so far (I can say over 5 dealers in my area) that they all said with confidence that they did not check the car and as far as it has a valid MOT it is fine! Also when I checked the MOT history plenty of the cars sold by many dealers do not have fresh MOT and some MOTs are over six months old. you can do a simple research in autotrader.

On the other hand, i saw in autotrader that a car (say an old vauxhall) is on the market for £700 with plenty of advisories on its MOT but the same model, age, mileage is being sold for £1,600 with no advisories. So I was wondering that what these people do? go to a mechanic. are they themselves mechanic or they just buy clean and easy cars?

So, I wanted to ask this question to see what are you guys doing and what is the common practice. Guys like Casper, No Nothing, Row and Lakeside were helpful and I thanked them and said that I would follow their advice.

 

but the above two seems looking for a kind of virtue preaching!!!

Hi Arash,

What you've done probably isn't the best way of understanding what other people are doing, and you have to decide what you want to do. Some dealers might not MOT a car until it's sold and some might as you say just not bother and sell it with the MOT that is has, obviously this can be a dangerous game to play and you could be selling something that had a moody MOT three months ago and be a complete death trap. 

You need to either have a mechanic inspect your cars or have a new MOT, ideally both but as a minimum a new MOT. You must be sure what you're selling is safe, don't be one of these 'dealers' that thinks a PDI is removing the auction stickers!

Your question regarding the £700 car and the £1600 car should be self explanatory, firstly no two cars are the same. The more expensive car has no advisories so is priced accordingly, the cheaper car with the advisories might need hundreds of pounds to correct and bring to the same standard as the more expensive car.

 Good luck with your venture.

[arashtrip 4]

57 minutes ago, J.T said:

Hi Arash,

What you've done probably isn't the best way of understanding what other people are doing, and you have to decide what you want to do. Some dealers might not MOT a car until it's sold and some might as you say just not bother and sell it with the MOT that is has, obviously this can be a dangerous game to play and you could be selling something that had a moody MOT three months ago and be a complete death trap. 

You need to either have a mechanic inspect your cars or have a new MOT, ideally both but as a minimum a new MOT. You must be sure what you're selling is safe, don't be one of these 'dealers' that thinks a PDI is removing the auction stickers!

Your question regarding the £700 car and the £1600 car should be self explanatory, firstly no two cars are the same. The more expensive car has no advisories so is priced accordingly, the cheaper car with the advisories might need hundreds of pounds to correct and bring to the same standard as the more expensive car.

 Good luck with your venture.

thank you so much. I will do the same. Like all other industries there are plenty of dodgy players in the market. I am happy that I found this forum to avoid big mistakes.

[Casper 272]

6 hours ago, arashtrip said:

On the other hand, i saw in autotrader that a car (say an old vauxhall) is on the market for £700 with plenty of advisories on its MOT but the same model, age, mileage is being sold for £1,600 with no advisories. So I was wondering that what these people do? go to a mechanic. are they themselves mechanic or they just buy clean and easy cars?

So, I wanted to ask this question to see what are you guys doing and what is the common practice. Guys like Casper, No Nothing, Row and Lakeside were helpful and I thanked them and said that I would follow their advice.

 

but the above two seems looking for a kind of virtue preaching!!!

I refer back to my original post that many main dealers do not fresh mot all stock yes there are many dealers who will sell  without fresh mots and also various dealers who will sell without checks etc ask yourself this would you buy from one or put your family in it untested or no checks carried out I know I wouldn't some traders just want to make a quick buck 

also as above every dealer is different with regards to mot many will mot on arrival many will wait till sold many will do a bit of both

many large main dealers have a large customer network a small home trader or local independent car dealer doesn't always have this luxury  when customers return 3 or 4 times for replacement cars recommend family etc you know your doing something the right way .       

as I said small dealers are opening themselves up  to problems if a major fault develops later down the line .or end up in court with an untested car sold with present mot  Main dealers probably have funds and insurances etc available for this also large workshops staff etc to turn around warranty claims Also bearing in mind though there is 3 main dealers who freshly mot and warranty everything near me there is also 3 that don't anymore than 6 months mot it goes with that and 3 months warranty

theres also a small dealership near me for sale which sells car unchecked but has a lot of bad google reviews .   

I could also tell you stories of guys that buy from auction and then sell them on pretending to be private sellers who bought the car for there niece but she didn't like it was the wrong colour etc it goes on has done for years and probably always will new pay and go sim and they have another car on next week doesn't mean its right though and as you said above there is dodgy people in every trade 

as to advisories there at the testers discretion so effectively the same car could go to one garage and get 10 advisories and be moted at a different car the next day with none or maybe more 10 more or 10 different ones extreme example but just to make the point and paint the picture  .

it may even just pass or fail at others as really the mot is at the testers discretion  seen lots of cars with stuff advised to pass at a different garage the following year with no advisories but the advisory not having been done for example a tyre place may advise a tyre and a place that doesn't do tyres may not 

one piece of advice i would offer about any car ask yourself if you would be be happy to use it as your own personal car before you sell it thats normally a good indication 

again welcome to the forum and I do wish you luck . And hope your business works out for you keeps us all posted 

all the best .. good luck 

and finally give it a try or you will never know and ask yourself what if ..here to help

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by Casper

[arashtrip 4]

I have two more questions:

-which free valuation sites are you recommend apart from AT and Arnold? And which one is more accurate in your view? I checked and it seems for CAP and Glass you need to be a member.

-Is there any Professional Indemnity Insurance available for car dealers like some other trades? Motor insurance just covers up to the point of sales but PII will cover you against future damages. Is it a common practice for the car dealers to have such insurance?

Edited September 12, 2019 by arashtrip

[BHM 994]

I want my arse wiping.

Anyone care to do it for me?

[Casper 272]

On 9/12/2019 at 1:09 PM, arashtrip said:

I have two more questions:

-which free valuation sites are you recommend apart from AT and Arnold? And which one is more accurate in your view? I checked and it seems for CAP and Glass you need to be a member.

-Is there any Professional Indemnity Insurance available for car dealers like some other trades? Motor insurance just covers up to the point of sales but PII will cover you against future damages. Is it a common practice for the car dealers to have such insurance?

Insurance You need combined cover with roads risk and public liability insurance inc. 

as for pricing the best thing I can suggest is autotrader etc we buy any car but be prepared to pay more cause there stuff goes to auction anyway ..