What was your best ever sale and why?

[James Baggott 227]

Here's another thread to cheer us up - and I'm filling the pages of the mag right now so if you tell a good tale I'll include yours in that.

I want to know:

What was your best ever car sale and why?

Was it the car, the money made, or the person you sold to? Tell me.

[New year revolutions...... 197]

Sold a young lady 6/7 years ago a car,she came with her dad because all dealers are bad,anyway she bought it and never saw her for 3 years when she again turned up with her dad and wanted a newer car,I supplied her and off she went come xmas I got chocolates and a card and this has continued ever since,I've seen her twice during this period,once for a broke mirror once for a faulty drl,I dont get any servicing work or any mot work as she has her own local man,got invited to her wedding last year too, she recommends me to everyone she knows and so does her dad,her new man does a lot for his local church and I've even picked a sale up there from a congregation member moral of the story,treat people how you like to be treat yourself and you always get paid back in abundance

Sure theres loads more

A 76 year old customer phoned me this morning,I have supplied him cars for 25 years now,he was surprised I was shut,so the daily messages really aren't getting through to everyone about staying home

[James Baggott 227]

Love it @New year revolutions...... - customers for life! 

[trade vet 703]

Appologies for a long story from the distant past. We had sold to a London punter who paid up but wanted the log book ( check them out  ) before he collected .He was doing a number transfer.We wanted to know how that worked  because where we were you had to have the road tax office inspect your new vehicle to complete a transfer.The guy said that with the GLC you just had to take the log book along and they would do it.I was working for my brother at the time and he was a switched on ‘ full spec ‘ car dealer . So he asked an old scrap car guy if he had any old log books he might sell and that we would pay a fiver for them.The guy comes back with a large biscuit tin stuffed with log books.So we said how much and he says something like ‘ you did say a fiver ‘ .So we gave him a fiver for about 100 log books which were for cars scrapped many years ago.The reg numbers were often like  333 BB and 420 BS.So we advertised about 30 of these in the Sunday Times for about £25 each and the phones melted.As we were underselling these,we just said there had been some error by the paper and the price was double.Nobody quibbled the new price and we got cheques in the post for them all.We repeated this the next week  by tripling the price and sold them all and everyone got their numbers via the GLC.I can still remember some of the buyers.One guy called Brinsley Black sent a Coutts and Co cheque ( which we had never heard of ) for a BB number.I think our bank guy told us he was equerry to the Queen.However we had a cheque for a BS number signed by a Ben Sherman.It was exactly the same signature as on the shirts which we all wore at the time.So we lied to Mr Sherman about a misunderstanding and managed to get a lot more money.

Sales came to a halt a few weeks later after the GLC complained to the Sunday Times and transfers were then done properly.So I think we got about 10 grand back for an outlay of £5 plus the advert costs.Not bad for 1972.

[umesh 336]

 March 1998 that’s about 8 months after starting the business, a couple come in to look at VW Corrado 16V and VW Golf VR6 Highline on a Saturday afternoon, 1st they go out in the Corrado at £12400 and then the Golf at £16700, I’m thinking that’s a fair bit of difference in price but just did the test drives.

When they had driven both I couldn’t really get a feel for which way as she loved the Corrado and he loved the Golf, so having given them a drink and left them discussing in the showroom I went back to my office. After a few minutes the lady walks in says,” so how much are they again?” £12400 and £16700.

She says, “can I write you a cheque for £25000 now and pay the rest when we pick them up?”

I said you’re having them both. “yes, we can’t decide I love the corrado and John wants the Golf so we’ll have them both”

 

[James Baggott 227]

Love it! 

[Row 71]

34 minutes ago, umesh said:

so having given them a drink and left them discussing in the showroom I went back to my office.

That must have been some drink Umesh, was it a secret formula drug :-)

[trade vet 703]

Not the best ever but quite memorable.Early 80’s we had a pitch in Ashington Northumberland which was a mining town.The banks were always keen to lend to the miners who earned good money.There was this older guy hovering next to a Capri.I said hello and he says ‘ I’ll have that one ‘ just like that.He then says ‘ I will just go to Barclays ( 100 yd’s away) to get the money.He comes back soon after with a bank draft and asks if we can deliver it.The address he gives is 300 yards away.So I ask where he wants it delivered and it’s the same address.He said he didn’t drive so I asked why he was buying a Capri.He then produced a letter from Barclays saying if he wanted to buy a car they would be pleased to,lend him the money ! Apparently his friends at the pit were all getting cars so he thought he better have one.

[Nick M.K. 574]

A 3 year old high spec BMW i3 that I had in stock for 6 or 7 months in 2018 when the market wasn't quite ready for them yet. I must've shown that car to no less than five middle aged (and above!) couples and with that new technology every viewing was over an hour, some took two! I was very very happy to see it go. But getting rid wasn't the best part. 

I sold it to a very nice young bloke, he had just sold a rope access business for strong money. By then I had very small profit in the BMW but got a fantastic ML350 in part exchange against it at £18K which sold very quickly for considerably more to a finance customer. He in turn traded in an old 2005-6 BMW 330Ci Auto for which he wanted £1400 and I obliged. 

It sold quickly as well. That customer in turn part-exed a simlar age Audi TT for a grand. Yep, it sold quickly for a fair but more and I got a nice black Beetle Convertible in part ex. Yes, you guessed it, it sold quickly for £3489, I didn't expect the level of interest that car got. That's where the part ex chain ended. 

Just imagine if one of the five middle aged cash-paying no-finance couples had bought the i3. 

[Casper 272]

5 hours ago, New year revolutions...... said:

Sold a young lady 6/7 years ago a car,she came with her dad because all dealers are bad,anyway she bought it and never saw her for 3 years when she again turned up with her dad and wanted a newer car,I supplied her and off she went come xmas I got chocolates and a card and this has continued ever since,I've seen her twice during this period,once for a broke mirror once for a faulty drl,I dont get any servicing work or any mot work as she has her own local man,got invited to her wedding last year too, she recommends me to everyone she knows and so does her dad,her new man does a lot for his local church and I've even picked a sale up there from a congregation member moral of the story,treat people how you like to be treat yourself and you always get paid back in abundance

Sure theres loads more

A 76 year old customer phoned me this morning,I have supplied him cars for 25 years now,he was surprised I was shut,so the daily messages really aren't getting through to everyone about staying home

Treat people how you like to like to be  treated my moto in life . Manners cost nothing 

3 hours ago, trade vet said:

Appologies for a long story from the distant past. We had sold to a London punter who paid up but wanted the log book ( check them out  ) before he collected .He was doing a number transfer.We wanted to know how that worked  because where we were you had to have the road tax office inspect your new vehicle to complete a transfer.The guy said that with the GLC you just had to take the log book along and they would do it.I was working for my brother at the time and he was a switched on ‘ full spec ‘ car dealer . So he asked an old scrap car guy if he had any old log books he might sell and that we would pay a fiver for them.The guy comes back with a large biscuit tin stuffed with log books.So we said how much and he says something like ‘ you did say a fiver ‘ .So we gave him a fiver for about 100 log books which were for cars scrapped many years ago.The reg numbers were often like  333 BB and 420 BS.So we advertised about 30 of these in the Sunday Times for about £25 each and the phones melted.As we were underselling these,we just said there had been some error by the paper and the price was double.Nobody quibbled the new price and we got cheques in the post for them all.We repeated this the next week  by tripling the price and sold them all and everyone got their numbers via the GLC.I can still remember some of the buyers.One guy called Brinsley Black sent a Coutts and Co cheque ( which we had never heard of ) for a BB number.I think our bank guy told us he was equerry to the Queen.However we had a cheque for a BS number signed by a Ben Sherman.It was exactly the same signature as on the shirts which we all wore at the time.So we lied to Mr Sherman about a misunderstanding and managed to get a lot more money.

Sales came to a halt a few weeks later after the GLC complained to the Sunday Times and transfers were then done properly.So I think we got about 10 grand back for an outlay of £5 plus the advert costs.Not bad for 1972.

Great read trade vet . 

[have a word with the wife 299]

Many moons ago [during the war ] i got a skoda, it was cheap, real cheap, and not all that old at all, i offered it to the masses at a reduced price, as it had come cheap, and was happy with a quick flip, never having had one before, i thought the penny pinchers would be excited over this one but the phone was very quiet, after about 3 weeks, a few had come and gone, one chap tried telling me that "it had a valve off " yeah right, thinking he was trying it on i dismissed him.

Sitting down later and pondering what he said, it seemed he went into a bit too much detail really ? He had explained that one particular valve always burned out, and it got me thinking, so, i took it for "another" run, and realised it was a little slow, lifting the boot [ yes boot ! ] i listened, sod me, he was right, and i had missed it !

So, head gasket and valve ordered, readvertised for thursday, this time proper full retail price, sold with all confidence now, unfortunatley, skoda, at the time, had shocking parts departments, not in till thursday ! never mind, phones quiet, got bits first thing thursday, returned to base and began to pull it to bits [ a simple job on these i remember] so phone rings doesn't it  he is very keen, and travelling 80 + miles to view, and he is bringing wife to drive it back, and got folding, so its very hard to resist the temptation to say come tomorrow, well, i have never worked so fast in all my life, job done, just topping up levels when he "appears".

"just checking levels" i said, you got a long run back best to be safe i said, kicking the tool box out of view and hoping he does not see the old head gasket poking out of bin, well, his test drive was also my test drive ! 

keeping my eye on gauges we returned and hoping there is nothing amiss i lifted the boot for his examination, lovely, no leaks, no problems, kerching, paid, never worked so fast in all my life 

long time before i got another skoda, but next time i knew to spend more time listening as well as looking 

[Casper 272]

47 minutes ago, have a word with the wife said:

Many moons ago [during the war ] i got a skoda, it was cheap, real cheap, and not all that old at all, i offered it to the masses at a reduced price, as it had come cheap, and was happy with a quick flip, never having had one before, i thought the penny pinchers would be excited over this one but the phone was very quiet, after about 3 weeks, a few had come and gone, one chap tried telling me that "it had a valve off " yeah right, thinking he was trying it on i dismissed him.

Sitting down later and pondering what he said, it seemed he went into a bit too much detail really ? He had explained that one particular valve always burned out, and it got me thinking, so, i took it for "another" run, and realised it was a little slow, lifting the boot [ yes boot ! ] i listened, sod me, he was right, and i had missed it !

So, head gasket and valve ordered, readvertised for thursday, this time proper full retail price, sold with all confidence now, unfortunatley, skoda, at the time, had shocking parts departments, not in till thursday ! never mind, phones quiet, got bits first thing thursday, returned to base and began to pull it to bits [ a simple job on these i remember] so phone rings doesn't it  he is very keen, and travelling 80 + miles to view, and he is bringing wife to drive it back, and got folding, so its very hard to resist the temptation to say come tomorrow, well, i have never worked so fast in all my life, job done, just topping up levels when he "appears".

"just checking levels" i said, you got a long run back best to be safe i said, kicking the tool box out of view and hoping he does not see the old head gasket poking out of bin, well, his test drive was also my test drive ! 

keeping my eye on gauges we returned and hoping there is nothing amiss i lifted the boot for his examination, lovely, no leaks, no problems, kerching, paid, never worked so fast in all my life 

long time before i got another skoda, but next time i knew to spend more time listening as well as looking 

My old man owned one of them for about 3 months he traded it in for an older 205 the memories . 

[umesh 336]

14 hours ago, Row said:

That must have been some drink Umesh, was it a secret formula drug :-)

Shaken not stirred ! works every time  

[trade vet 703]

11 hours ago, have a word with the wife said:

Many moons ago [during the war ] i got a skoda, it was cheap, real cheap, and not all that old at all, i offered it to the masses at a reduced price, as it had come cheap, and was happy with a quick flip, never having had one before, i thought the penny pinchers would be excited over this one but the phone was very quiet, after about 3 weeks, a few had come and gone, one chap tried telling me that "it had a valve off " yeah right, thinking he was trying it on i dismissed him.

Sitting down later and pondering what he said, it seemed he went into a bit too much detail really ? He had explained that one particular valve always burned out, and it got me thinking, so, i took it for "another" run, and realised it was a little slow, lifting the boot [ yes boot ! ] i listened, sod me, he was right, and i had missed it !

So, head gasket and valve ordered, readvertised for thursday, this time proper full retail price, sold with all confidence now, unfortunatley, skoda, at the time, had shocking parts departments, not in till thursday ! never mind, phones quiet, got bits first thing thursday, returned to base and began to pull it to bits [ a simple job on these i remember] so phone rings doesn't it  he is very keen, and travelling 80 + miles to view, and he is bringing wife to drive it back, and got folding, so its very hard to resist the temptation to say come tomorrow, well, i have never worked so fast in all my life, job done, just topping up levels when he "appears".

"just checking levels" i said, you got a long run back best to be safe i said, kicking the tool box out of view and hoping he does not see the old head gasket poking out of bin, well, his test drive was also my test drive ! 

keeping my eye on gauges we returned and hoping there is nothing amiss i lifted the boot for his examination, lovely, no leaks, no problems, kerching, paid, never worked so fast in all my life 

long time before i got another skoda, but next time i knew to spend more time listening as well as looking 

Why did you not stock more Skodas.Early Skodas were for nowt and so were Polski Fiats,Ladas ( the best ) and even Yugos.We often did well with anything that was not fashionable within the trade but when priced right was attractive to punters.

[Casper 272]

4 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Why did you not stock more Skodas.Early Skodas were for nowt and so were Polski Fiats,Ladas ( the best ) and even Yugos.We often did well with anything that was not fashionable within the trade but when priced right was attractive to punters.

remember the Lada samara and the 4x4 niva trade vet  ? Also I remember the citreon bx being a big thing remember the big sell in the  80s actually remember a torquise one   In the showroom brand new when my dad traded his skoda in for the 205 

[New year revolutions...... 197]

My memories

Ladas terrible things always needed a clutch no one wanted to do them as the bell housing was right up to the firewall

Bodywork always needed tea cakes in them as filler was too dear

Polski cars were worn out at 3 years old terrible things really really terrible

Yugos I remember they were so rare parts were hens teeth and even back then a punter had to be desperate to buy one for their sprog usually

Skoda were fine just market resistance due to foolish press probably paid for by other manufacturers to dam them

Best cars to sell were the Talbot solarers, absolutely no traders would buy them at the block as they sounded really terrible due to valve gear wear and non adjustment of the rockets

All they ever needed were a buff and an mot and a bit of black tape on the 32 lights on the dash that meant fiddly squat

 

 

[trade vet 703]

27 minutes ago, New year revolutions...... said:

My memories

Ladas terrible things always needed a clutch no one wanted to do them as the bell housing was right up to the firewall

Bodywork always needed tea cakes in them as filler was too dear

Polski cars were worn out at 3 years old terrible things really really terrible

Yugos I remember they were so rare parts were hens teeth and even back then a punter had to be desperate to buy one for their sprog usually

Skoda were fine just market resistance due to foolish press probably paid for by other manufacturers to dam them

Best cars to sell were the Talbot solarers, absolutely no traders would buy them at the block as they sounded really terrible due to valve gear wear and non adjustment of the rockets

All they ever needed were a buff and an mot and a bit of black tape on the 32 lights on the dash that meant fiddly squat

 

 

Ha Ha ,forgot about rattly Talbot Solara’s.A lot of car for not much money but good profit makers.We would also have had issues with the aforementioned but stuff was easily fixable then and often for little money.

[Casper 272]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

Ha Ha ,forgot about rattly Talbot Solara’s.A lot of car for not much money but good profit makers.We would also have had issues with the aforementioned but stuff was easily fixable then and often for little money.

Remember a neighbour having a navy blue talbot  when i was a kid from memory and what dad always said over the years was his Skoda was fairly new at the time was an F reg good car and reliable but had a diesel car before it and says it was really bad on fuel which was the only reason he sold it for a diesel 205 another neighbour at the time had about 3 of them one after the other a blue one then an orange one i remember 

first car I remember dad having was an Mk3 escort then a renault 18 and there was a renault 30 in there some where too 

[have a word with the wife 299]

6 hours ago, trade vet said:

Why did you not stock more Skodas.Early Skodas were for nowt and so were Polski Fiats,Ladas ( the best ) and even Yugos.We often did well with anything that was not fashionable within the trade but when priced right was attractive to punters.

ladas, had a few, garage opposite used to get them brand spanking new in by the car transporter, ziebart [ ! ] them, literately dripping off going back on the wagon, always looked strange new, no wheel trims ! solara , did they have the glass bottle underbonnet with a lookalike bungy strap for the coolant overflow ? or was that the stinker 1501 [ simca ] 

[MarkTVS 209]

Well I suppose the one I have to say was years ago when I first started trading and it was more of a part time hobby, I bought a an ultra blue Corsa C SXI, was a nice low mileage thing had only done 50k Miles, it got delivered off the transporter and then a couple of minutes later a guy comes in asking if it’s for sale as he was looking for a car for his daughter. He wanted a deal and was happy to take it as was so done literally nothing to it and his daughter came in to collect the car. And had it not been for covid 19 I would be getting married next month and the man would be my father in law 

[have a word with the wife 299]

6 minutes ago, MarkTVS said:

Well I suppose the one I have to say was years ago when I first started trading and it was more of a part time hobby, I bought a an ultra blue Corsa C SXI, was a nice low mileage thing had only done 50k Miles, it got delivered off the transporter and then a couple of minutes later a guy comes in asking if it’s for sale as he was looking for a car for his daughter. He wanted a deal and was happy to take it as was so done literally nothing to it and his daughter came in to collect the car. And had it not been for covid 19 I would be getting married next month and the man would be my father in law 

********** STAR STORY **********

[trade vet 703]

4 minutes ago, MarkTVS said:

Well I suppose the one I have to say was years ago when I first started trading and it was more of a part time hobby, I bought a an ultra blue Corsa C SXI, was a nice low mileage thing had only done 50k Miles, it got delivered off the transporter and then a couple of minutes later a guy comes in asking if it’s for sale as he was looking for a car for his daughter. He wanted a deal and was happy to take it as was so done literally nothing to it and his daughter came in to collect the car. And had it not been for covid 19 I would be getting married next month and the man would be my father in law 

Best sale and the most expensive one !

[Stillnotadealer 1]

1 hour ago, MarkTVS said:

Well I suppose the one I have to say was years ago when I first started trading and it was more of a part time hobby, I bought a an ultra blue Corsa C SXI, was a nice low mileage thing had only done 50k Miles, it got delivered off the transporter and then a couple of minutes later a guy comes in asking if it’s for sale as he was looking for a car for his daughter. He wanted a deal and was happy to take it as was so done literally nothing to it and his daughter came in to collect the car. And had it not been for covid 19 I would be getting married next month and the man would be my father in law 

Fair play thats a cracking story that.

 

[Casper 272]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

Best sale and the most expensive one !

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

 

 .. 

the polo that i bought  when i first started around 15 years ago bought a few but that's the one that always sticks in my mind .there was an old guy and another guy who was his friend i knew them and used to stand with them at evening auctions every week 

the old guy thought he was a car dealer bought cars in-fact a bit of a wheeler dealer in general would buy and sell anything  would buy at grand and would sell them for two hundred after spending three on them and them sitting in his driveway for months 

the other guy was a similar though he dealt in £500 bangers 

this night we were at the auction and decide to buy something each as we would do sometimes for a bit of fun up to about £500  first a vectra comes in the younger guy buys that for £250 bid price drivers side all polished up new wheel trims etc passengers side both doors caved in and rear arch rotten he bought it from the drivers side of course he never walked round it got scrapped 

The old guys takes a fancy to a focus diesel buys it its smoking badly management light on  no-power takes it to an amateur mechanic  who of course is the best around think he paid £550 for car spend £300 on it changing filters and general stuff that it was never going to be put in the auction a few weeks later and sold it dor £275 bid price  

im standing there in comes a little polo hatchback demo plus 1 owner 50 k miles paint a bit dull needing a good polish missing all wheel trims number plates watermarked etc surface rust on the sills  short mot Says to them thats my car both look at each other then look back laughing declaring its scrap so i says ok well thats my choice bids it to £300 provisional get it for another £25 takes it out 

new set of number plates new set of trims as i did a lot machine polish a service and fresh mot couple of bulbs to pass garage never even charged for the bulbs  it had the full history in the glovebox by a Volkswagen dealer then the audi dealer in the same area as the previous lady owner  some black stone on the sills and some glass black paint then advertises it 

sold it in a week to a guy for his partner for £1200

now the passat and the diesel astra  i bought the following week there two I like to forget   We all get or good and bad ones and that night i think i got lucky . 

But after that the old guy was raging for weeks  and back then the younger guy would proceed to watch me bidding and proceed to bid on any cheap stuff i wanted then dropping out saying he never really wanted and never noticed me bidding when it came close to £500 

Happened on 3 cars i bought in the following weeks for £600

1 hour ago, MarkTVS said:

Well I suppose the one I have to say was years ago when I first started trading and it was more of a part time hobby, I bought a an ultra blue Corsa C SXI, was a nice low mileage thing had only done 50k Miles, it got delivered off the transporter and then a couple of minutes later a guy comes in asking if it’s for sale as he was looking for a car for his daughter. He wanted a deal and was happy to take it as was so done literally nothing to it and his daughter came in to collect the car. And had it not been for covid 19 I would be getting married next month and the man would be my father in law 

Good luck to u both mark wish you many years of happiness together and a long happy marriage when covid 19 is all sorted

Edited April 7, 2020 by Casper

[James Baggott 227]

1 hour ago, MarkTVS said:

Well I suppose the one I have to say was years ago when I first started trading and it was more of a part time hobby, I bought a an ultra blue Corsa C SXI, was a nice low mileage thing had only done 50k Miles, it got delivered off the transporter and then a couple of minutes later a guy comes in asking if it’s for sale as he was looking for a car for his daughter. He wanted a deal and was happy to take it as was so done literally nothing to it and his daughter came in to collect the car. And had it not been for covid 19 I would be getting married next month and the man would be my father in law 

My absolute fave by far!