OFF TOPIC QUESTION

[NacMan 67]

Did any of you guys go to uni? Do your GCSEs? When did you get into the trade. was it a first job?

[Row 71]

Just now, NacMan said:

Did any of you guys go to uni? Do your GCSEs? When did you get into the trade. was it a first job?

I left school at 16 no qualifications whatsoever, got a job as apprentice mechanic, went self employed at 19, that was 41 years ago.

[Nick M.K. 574]

Yes 1996-2000 in my home country. 

Arrived in the UK in Sept 2000 with little English, £230 in cash and a small bag with a few clothes and a Nokia 6110 phone (remember those?) 

Had a couple of jobs in London until 2005. 

Got in the trade in 2005 when I bought a car for £200 and sold it in a 7 day eBay auction for £800. At that point I honestly did not know the difference between brake pads and brake discs.

I would never want to do anything else, have no regrets but can understand why today's motortrade in the UK isn't for everyone. 

[NacMan 67]

8 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Yes 1996-2000 in my home country. 

Arrived in the UK in Sept 2000 with little English, £230 in cash and a small bag with a few clothes and a Nokia 6110 phone (remember those?) 

Had a couple of jobs in London until 2005. 

Got in the trade in 2005 when I bought a car for £200 and sold it in a 7 day eBay auction for £800. At that point I honestly did not know the difference between brake pads and brake discs.

I would never want to do anything else, have no regrets but can understand why today's motortrade in the UK isn't for everyone. 

Wow, what a way to come!

[Casper 272]

Left school at 16 with basic gcse passes did part of a vehicle body repair course . And a youth training in a garage did some apprentice mechanic and building work for a local company ive also did some planning and development work on a family farm  getting the process rolling for houses and steading conversation Went self employed early 20s selling cars and also buying for a about 4 - 5 other motor trader/van dealers one of which touch my a lot about the the motor trade suffered a few health problems so really just getting back on my feet. Now and also help care for me elderly father which takes some time up 

but as nick said i would never work for someone or do anything else now.  After 20 years vehicle related 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Casper

[NacMan 67]

an expert in the trade!

12 minutes ago, Row said:

I left school at 16 no qualifications whatsoever, got a job as apprentice mechanic, went self employed at 19, that was 41 years ago.

 

[Mark101 536]

Went to King Edwards and did A level Chemistry, Physics and Biology - was aiming for medical school but couldn't face another 7 or 8 years of education.

Dropped/kicked out and went to work at Butlins (best thing I ever did).

Started trading cars at 18 for a year, then got a job. Started again at 27 for 5 years (lost everything and ultimately went bust). Served my time and got a job of which within a couple of years became a Director, eventually becoming a board Managing Director. Had enough of the politics and bullshit, so started again last February (2018) - much older and wiser and slightly more risk adverse.

On the whole I love it but it can be very, very lonely at times (when it gets tough). Luckily, I have the support of a great woman, my kids have grown up and moved out, so I have no excuses left.

[NacMan 67]

1 minute ago, Casper said:

Left school at 16 with basic gcse passes did part of a vehicle body repair course . And a youth training in a garage did some apprentice mechanic and building work for a local company ive also did some planning and development work on a family farm  getting the process rolling for houses and steading conversation Went self employed early 20s selling cars and also buying for a about 4 - 5 other motor trader/van dealers one of which touch my a lot about the the motor trade suffered a few health problems so really just getting back on my feet. Now and also help care for me elderly father which takes some time up 

but as nick said i would never work for someone or do anything else now.  

I

[Casper 272]

Just now, NacMan said:

an expert in the trade!

 

Its good to now we have them here nacman  

[NacMan 67]

1 minute ago, Casper said:

Left school at 16 with basic gcse passes did part of a vehicle body repair course . And a youth training in a garage did some apprentice mechanic and building work for a local company ive also did some planning and development work on a family farm  getting the process rolling for houses and steading conversation Went self employed early 20s selling cars and also buying for a about 4 - 5 other motor trader/van dealers one of which touch my a lot about the the motor trade suffered a few health problems so really just getting back on my feet. Now and also help care for me elderly father which takes some time up 

but as nick said i would never work for someone or do anything else now.  

Wow, what a ride! 

1 minute ago, Mark101 said:

Went to King Edwards and did A level Chemistry, Physics and Biology - was aiming for medical school but couldn't face another 7 or 8 years of education.

Dropped/kicked out and went to work at Butlins (best thing I ever did).

Started trading cars at 18 for a year, then got a job. Started again at 27 for 5 years (lost everything and ultimately went bust). Served my time and got a job of which within a couple of years became a Director, eventually becoming a board Managing Director. Had enough of the politics and bullshit, so started again last February (2018) - much older and wiser and slightly more risk adverse.

On the whole I love it but it can be very, very lonely at times (when it gets tough). Luckily, I have the support of a great woman, my kids have grown up and moved out, so I have no excuses left.

It can get tough sometimes, but its the best trade to be in

1 minute ago, Casper said:

Its good to now we have them here nacman  

Indeed!

[Casper 272]

1 minute ago, Mark101 said:

Went to King Edwards and did A level Chemistry, Physics and Biology - was aiming for medical school but couldn't face another 7 or 8 years of education.

Dropped/kicked out and went to work at Butlins (best thing I ever did).

Started trading cars at 18 for a year, then got a job. Started again at 27 for 5 years (lost everything and ultimately went bust). Served my time and got a job of which within a couple of years became a Director, eventually becoming a board Managing Director. Had enough of the politics and bullshit, so started again last February (2018) - much older and wiser and slightly more risk adverse.

On the whole I love it but it can be very, very lonely at times (when it gets tough). Luckily, I have the support of a great woman, my kids have grown up and moved out, so I have no excuses left.

Well done mark give yourself a pat on the back . Glad to see it working out for you .

on here you come across as a top bloke who is very helpful and mannerly

good luck

casper  

[Mark101 536]

4 minutes ago, Casper said:

Left school at 16 with basic gcse passes did part of a vehicle body repair course . And a youth training in a garage did some apprentice mechanic and building work for a local company ive also did some planning and development work on a family farm  getting the process rolling for houses and steading conversation Went self employed early 20s selling cars and also buying for a about 4 - 5 other motor trader/van dealers one of which touch my a lot about the the motor trade suffered a few health problems so really just getting back on my feet. Now and also help care for me elderly father which takes some time up 

but as nick said i would never work for someone or do anything else now.  After 20 years vehicle related 

How old are you Casper? I'm just curious, you don't have to answer but you come across as such a nice person - I'm guessing 45.

1 minute ago, Casper said:

Well done mark give yourself a pat on the back . Glad to see it working out for you .

on here you come across as a top bloke who is very helpful and mannerly

good luck

casper  

As I said above, you come across as a lovely person.

[Casper 272]

5 minutes ago, NacMan said:

an expert in the trade!

 

Also nacman many i say a very interesting topic .   

[NacMan 67]

1 minute ago, Casper said:

Also nacman many i say a very interesting topic .   

Its good to have a off topic discussion every now and again

[TangoVictor32 90]

2 minutes ago, Casper said:

Also nacman many i say a very interesting topic .   

Still waiting on his background...

[Casper 272]

1 minute ago, Mark101 said:

How old are you Casper? I'm just curious, you don't have to answer but you come across as such a nice person - I'm guessing 45.

As I said above, you come across as a lovely person.

I used to like you  I'm in my late 30s mate   

[Mark101 536]

1 minute ago, Casper said:

I used to like you  I'm in my late 30s mate   

Lucky you - I'm 46 in December 

[Casper 272]

1 minute ago, NacMan said:

Its good to have a off topic discussion every now and again

 

1 minute ago, TangoVictor32 said:

Still waiting on his background...

Yes nacman what is your back ground how did you get involved 

[NacMan 67]

1 minute ago, TangoVictor32 said:

Still waiting on his background...

. Got my GCSES went on to do a apprenticeship as a vehicle technician got my qualifications, and sold my first car and made a profit, it turns out the whole family is at the business now. that was 28 years ago and 28 years going strong!

[AAM90 22]

I left school at 18 after A Levels. I should have gone to Uni but I was never committed enough to education.

Not knowing what to do as my father would not let me join the family business I worked for a bank for 10 years.

Loved banking to start with, great social scene as banks had lots of staff in those days. I took voluntary redundancy in 1997 as by that time it felt like working in a prison and the banks wanted hard sell of any products. I sold plenty of loans with PPI attached!

Joined the family business with my father(now retired) and been here ever since. Car trade is in my blood and always has been. But it's sooooo much harder to turn a good profit these days for many reasons

[Casper 272]

18 minutes ago, NacMan said:

. Got my GCSES went on to do a apprenticeship as a vehicle technician got my qualifications, and sold my first car and made a profit, it turns out the whole family is at the business now. that was 28 years ago and 28 years going strong!

Well done ive said before on here i wish i did more training feel now i could have done a lot more with regards to qualifications .. 

although ive always been a great believer that life is a good teacher  

25 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

How old are you Casper? I'm just curious, you don't have to answer but you come across as such a nice person - I'm guessing 45.

As I said above, you come across as a lovely person.

I just like to help people when I can mark my dad was the same when he was fit if I can offer help or advice to someone i will never been one for arguing over stupid stuff more so now as one of the guys I worked  with in the garage was a friend of my dads and and family friend knew him since i was a kid  had a stupid argument which actually results in me leaving that job and setting up my own thing but he passed a way with a brain tumour at 56 the mechanic we sorted it out but i always felt the friendship was never the same 

same happens with a friend who was more also like a father figure rush in to hospital and died after 2 weeks with heart trouble was actually his next of kin but we fell out for 6 months and sorted it out just a few months before he passed so wasted time 

life is really to short 

strange thing is i came across one of the keyrings for the first garage i worked for this morning before nacman made this post lol 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Casper

[Nick M.K. 574]

14 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Lucky you - I'm 46 in December 

I thought you were older Mark! 

 

[Mark101 536]

2 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

I thought you were older Mark! 

Coming from you 

[Nick M.K. 574]

2 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

Coming from you

I know I know... People living in glass houses...

[tradegirl 112]

Top marks at GCSEs and A Levels in languages. Got into a good uni and suddenly everyone was as good as/better than me, and it scared me. Went from top of the class to bottom. Ended up with a 2:2 French degree that no one wanted, because I didn't work hard enough. Started working in bars/nightclubs from 2005-2012. Fell into cars in 2013 with my business partner. He knew a bit about cars, I knew nothing. (And still don't know much haha)

Bumpy 6 years so far, but hopefully with some changes and hard work, the future will be better and brighter.

Otherwise I might have to find a rich OAP to sign his savings over to me.