1st August - brings back memories

[petrol head 46]

For those of us old enough to remember there was only 1 plate change annually the 1st August, it was the day of the year if you were in the motor trade.

Mine 1st one as a fresh faced teenager was 83, when the plates were reversed and the A was the start letter on the left hand side of the plate as you looked at it, have I got that right? That was some day and we got through it by delivering cars on the 30th / 31st where the cars were ready and the customers were entrusted not to drive the car. This was a process I continued to practice with the sales teams up until the change in 2001, where 1.3 & 1.9 never felt the same as 1.8.

I vividly remember as a kid counting the new registrations on very journey for about a month. 

Be interested to hear other peoples memories........

[XFS 70]

36 minutes ago, petrol head said:

For those of us old enough to remember there was only 1 plate change annually the 1st August, it was the day of the year if you were in the motor trade.

Mine 1st one as a fresh faced teenager was 83, when the plates were reversed and the A was the start letter on the left hand side of the plate as you looked at it, have I got that right? That was some day and we got through it by delivering cars on the 30th / 31st where the cars were ready and the customers were entrusted not to drive the car. This was a process I continued to practice with the sales teams up until the change in 2001, where 1.3 & 1.9 never felt the same as 1.8.

I vividly remember as a kid counting the new registrations on very journey for about a month. 

Be interested to hear other peoples memories........

I remember doing the same as a kid. 

I recall a lot of the big dealers stayed open late, so the punters could drive their new cars away at midnight in the 31st.

[trade vet 702]

Midnight Drive Aways I think we called them.We would loiter at the main dealers from 11 pm waiting for the swappers we had been promised to turn up.We would also try and capture the swappers promised to others,those were the days of the ‘ bung ‘ of course .When you see the cost of auction buyers fees now and vehicle collection problems it is probably worth trawling main dealers and trying to corrupt ( sorry I mean negotiate ) with a sales manager.£200 per time ‘buyers fee ‘ might do the trick .. But can anyone tell me how you would cover your tracks because I don’t know .Replies in the private lounge thank you.

[Dave2302 387]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

Midnight Drive Aways I think we called them.We would loiter at the main dealers from 11 pm waiting for the swappers we had been promised to turn up.We would also try and capture the swappers promised to others,those were the days of the ‘ bung ‘ of course .When you see the cost of auction buyers fees now and vehicle collection problems it is probably worth trawling main dealers and trying to corrupt ( sorry I mean negotiate ) with a sales manager.£200 per time ‘buyers fee ‘ might do the trick .. But can anyone tell me how you would cover your tracks because I don’t know .Replies in the private lounge thank you.

Oh so true

[David Ayers 171]

Underwriting 100 cars not knowing how many you would actually get.

 

[Casper 272]

Did the same as a kid become a bit of a family game on days out . 

[awc1000 93]

21 hours ago, trade vet said:

Midnight Drive Aways I think we called them.We would loiter at the main dealers from 11 pm waiting for the swappers we had been promised to turn up.We would also try and capture the swappers promised to others,those were the days of the ‘ bung ‘ of course .When you see the cost of auction buyers fees now and vehicle collection problems it is probably worth trawling main dealers and trying to corrupt ( sorry I mean negotiate ) with a sales manager.£200 per time ‘buyers fee ‘ might do the trick .. But can anyone tell me how you would cover your tracks because I don’t know .Replies in the private lounge thank you.

That's not the way these days, most sales managers are on trade profit bonus, they earn well out of this and look like hero's to management with the use of the likes of DA and manheim/ bca.

Its more a case of offering the full service - be willing to underwrite / price anything on the phone for them within 2 minutes 7 days a week , buy everything offered, sell them late used cars they can retail, use their parts department, give them the odd mot / service, throw them new car customers now and again, obviously if you are a retailer this isn't going to suit most folk.

I'm lucky with 38 years as a trade buyer you get to know a lot of managers and they do move around a lot hence there's always a door open somewhere, having said that if you rock up and offer more money than me you'll get served, its that simple, forget morals they are long gone.

regards bungs the cars are to dear to factor that in, more a case of going all in price wise to capture the cars,certainly no scope to be giving incentive on top.

so why bother? well like you said i don't have 5k a month auction indemnity's to pay, don't spend 3k a month on logistics, and if a car is fooked i get told beforehand.

Regards the old 1st august one word - chaos, 

[trade vet 702]

1 hour ago, awc1000 said:

That's not the way these days, most sales managers are on trade profit bonus, they earn well out of this and look like hero's to management with the use of the likes of DA and manheim/ bca.

Its more a case of offering the full service - be willing to underwrite / price anything on the phone for them within 2 minutes 7 days a week , buy everything offered, sell them late used cars they can retail, use their parts department, give them the odd mot / service, throw them new car customers now and again, obviously if you are a retailer this isn't going to suit most folk.

I'm lucky with 38 years as a trade buyer you get to know a lot of managers and they do move around a lot hence there's always a door open somewhere, having said that if you rock up and offer more money than me you'll get served, its that simple, forget morals they are long gone.

regards bungs the cars are to dear to factor that in, more a case of going all in price wise to capture the cars,certainly no scope to be giving incentive on top.

so why bother? well like you said i don't have 5k a month auction indemnity's to pay, don't spend 3k a month on logistics, and if a car is fooked i get told beforehand.

Regards the old 1st august one word - chaos, 

38 years as a trade buyer ......I could not possibly comment ( except in the private lounge ! )

[awc1000 93]

3 minutes ago, trade vet said:

38 years as a trade buyer ......I could not possibly comment ( except in the private lounge ! )

its been great and a blur, until about the last 5 years, obviously not so busy these days but that suits me fine, it's certainly not the thing to start out in these days.

been a bit longer than 38 years in theory, started trading a few shitters whilst still at school, first deal in 1980 a fiat 850 fastback reg TFK2M, in for £30 out for £80.

[Halfpenny 114]

3 hours ago, awc1000 said:

 

been a bit longer than 38 years in theory, started trading a few shitters whilst still at school, first deal in 1980 a fiat 850 fastback reg TFK2M, in for £30 out for £80.

Haha!  In the late '70s I was rebuilding knackered Triumph Spitfires and then selling them.  But my first 'proper' bit of trading was in 1978.  Also £30 in and £80 out!  It was a Hillman Imp.  Bought it privately on a Saturday as a non-runner - bad misfire and very stiff steering.  I sorted it later in the day (new dizzy cap and rotor arm and squirted lots of grease into the steering swivels).  Parked it up with hand-written 'For Sale £100' sign on Monday morning.  Got a call Monday evening and two Sikh lads turned up with £80.  Off it went. Happy days.  Always liked the Imp, they were fun little cars and had a lot of rallying success.

The annual plate change was introduced by the government as a way of leveraging British oneupmanship to boost the car industry. It was too successful though and completely distorted the market. I think up to 1967/68 it changed at the end of the year, then they moved it to August. My father was in the motor trade and so I vaguely remember this change...

[trade vet 702]

47 minutes ago, Halfpenny said:

Haha!  In the late '70s I was rebuilding knackered Triumph Spitfires and then selling them.  But my first 'proper' bit of trading was in 1978.  Also £30 in and £80 out!  It was a Hillman Imp.  Bought it privately on a Saturday as a non-runner - bad misfire and very stiff steering.  I sorted it later in the day (new dizzy cap and rotor arm and squirted lots of grease into the steering swivels).  Parked it up with hand-written 'For Sale £100' sign on Monday morning.  Got a call Monday evening and two Sikh lads turned up with £80.  Off it went. Happy days.  Always liked the Imp, they were fun little cars and had a lot of rallying success.

The annual plate change was introduced by the government as a way of leveraging British oneupmanship to boost the car industry. It was too successful though and completely distorted the market. I think up to 1967/68 it changed at the end of the year, then they moved it to August. My father was in the motor trade and so I vaguely remember this change...

‘ Always liked the Imp’ ,you must be joking.They jumped out of gear,had alloy heads so they were constantly blowing gaskets.It was the Imp’s warranty claims that finished Rootes Group who had built Hillman’s since the 20’s.I suppose if you doorstepped them they would be ideal ,no comebacks in those days.

 

 

[awc1000 93]

2 hours ago, Halfpenny said:

Haha!  In the late '70s I was rebuilding knackered Triumph Spitfires and then selling them.  But my first 'proper' bit of trading was in 1978.  Also £30 in and £80 out!  It was a Hillman Imp.  Bought it privately on a Saturday as a non-runner - bad misfire and very stiff steering.  I sorted it later in the day (new dizzy cap and rotor arm and squirted lots of grease into the steering swivels).  Parked it up with hand-written 'For Sale £100' sign on Monday morning.  Got a call Monday evening and two Sikh lads turned up with £80.  Off it went. Happy days.  Always liked the Imp, they were fun little cars and had a lot of rallying success.

The annual plate change was introduced by the government as a way of leveraging British oneupmanship to boost the car industry. It was too successful though and completely distorted the market. I think up to 1967/68 it changed at the end of the year, then they moved it to August. My father was in the motor trade and so I vaguely remember this change...

great stuff lol, another early one was an early vauxhall chevette which i thought i'd nicked at £120, in the common dark maroon with plenty of rust, after i had chopped the rust out of the wing the square headlight actually fell out, spunked my doh on that one, but i was soon in front again after spending a week filling and painting a sad old beige allegro, can remember my parents rollocking me for turning their garage white from rubbing down huge amounts of p38 filler.

[Halfpenny 114]

5 hours ago, trade vet said:

‘ Always liked the Imp’ ,you must be joking.They jumped out of gear,had alloy heads so they were constantly blowing gaskets.It was the Imp’s warranty claims that finished Rootes Group who had built Hillman’s since the 20’s.I suppose if you doorstepped them they would be ideal ,no comebacks in those days.

 

 

Yes they were unreliable. But I meant I liked them to drive. They were good on a twisting road. Not so good on a motorway on a windy day though...

[trade vet 702]

30 minutes ago, Halfpenny said:

Yes they were unreliable. But I meant I liked them to drive. They were good on a twisting road. Not so good on a motorway on a windy day though...

Apart from the problems,my only memory of Imps was an early case of identity theft which went wrong.We sold one on HP which in about 69/70 had to be 40% deposit as their was a credit squeeze on luxury goods.( Cars and jewellery were luxury goods ) A week after it went out,the Police called to say they had found it somewhere so we told them who we sold it to.The guy said it wasn’t him and it must have been stolen from the imposter.So we get it back repay the finance company and quickly retail it again having pocketed  the original 40% deposit.

[Frank Cannon 812]

Yes pre F reg plate changed at new year... E reg only ran for 7 months.