Trader commission sale rights

[Ross Parker]

Hi guys im after some advice.

I own a performance car sale business and currently have a Maserati Biturbo in on commission sale. The long and short of it is that I have the car on commission sale, the customer wants £20k for the car but after doing some in depth research and contacting some people in the know I advised the owner that the car may be worth £14k max. I have had the car about a month now and have contacted the owner on 7 separate occasions to give updates and also sent an invoice for detailing which is now 4 days overdue payment. The gentleman is clearly reading my messages and active on social media but still hasn’t responded.

As with any motor trader im limited for space and am at a point now where I can’t afford to keep the car in dry storage. I wanted to know my options with this situation. Can I give the customer an ultimatum for collecting the car and if he doesn’t then start charging him for costs like storage and other fees?

I have advised on several occasions that the car isn’t worth what he has asked me to put the car up for. I have incurred fees for advertising the car at the price he asked that is included in my admin fee but the outstanding invoice is now overdue for detailing and I have had no response at all. I don’t particularly want to drop the car back to his house as he is away from home and I don’t want to risk him not paying the outstanding invoice and it would cost me a two hour round trip in fuel and labour. I have already incurred extra costs in fuel and time due to me offering to collect the car and it not having enough fuel in the car to get back to my workshop or to move it around.

Ultimately id like to drop a message to the customer to say the car needs to be collected within 5 days or further costs will be incurred in terms of storage fees and other costs. But I wanted some advice on whether or not this is legal or not.

Any advice is much appreciated. I feel that maybe the gentleman has simply used me for storage whilst he is away rather than actually wanting to sell the car.

[akirk]

what terms are there in the contract that you and he signed?

[grumpy52]

I feel this will not end well for you OP .
The customers expectations were way beyond reality and will no doubt blame you .
He was probably looking for the sale to cover all his costs and replenish his bank account.

[surveyor]

Two hopes of getting your money, unless you have a watertight contract.

Otherwise tell him you will be parking it on the road in 5 days and sending him his keys by special delivery so that he can collect the car.

^

PS Above might not be legal, but it is practical

[So]

Ross Parker said:

Hi guys im after some advice.

I own a performance car sale business and currently have a Maserati Biturbo in on commission sale. The long and short of it is that I have the car on commission sale, the customer wants £20k for the car but after doing some in depth research and contacting some people in the know I advised the owner that the car may be worth £14k max. I have had the car about a month now and have contacted the owner on 7 separate occasions to give updates and also sent an invoice for detailing which is now 4 days overdue payment. The gentleman is clearly reading my messages and active on social media but still hasn’t responded.

As with any motor trader im limited for space and am at a point now where I can’t afford to keep the car in dry storage. I wanted to know my options with this situation. Can I give the customer an ultimatum for collecting the car and if he doesn’t then start charging him for costs like storage and other fees?

I have advised on several occasions that the car isn’t worth what he has asked me to put the car up for. I have incurred fees for advertising the car at the price he asked that is included in my admin fee but the outstanding invoice is now overdue for detailing and I have had no response at all. I don’t particularly want to drop the car back to his house as he is away from home and I don’t want to risk him not paying the outstanding invoice and it would cost me a two hour round trip in fuel and labour. I have already incurred extra costs in fuel and time due to me offering to collect the car and it not having enough fuel in the car to get back to my workshop or to move it around.

Ultimately id like to drop a message to the customer to say the car needs to be collected within 5 days or further costs will be incurred in terms of storage fees and other costs. But I wanted some advice on whether or not this is legal or not.

Any advice is much appreciated. I feel that maybe the gentleman has simply used me for storage whilst he is away rather than actually wanting to sell the car.

What does your contract say you can do?

To be honest, it sounds like the car owner has outsmarted you.

I would also question the wisdom of asking on Pistonheads a question you should already know the answer to. This is, after all, your business.

[strain]

Surely when you agreed the sale value you done some research to see what the was likely to sell for to ensure you made profit?

In fairness he should respond and either lower the price or take it back, but if he pays the detailing / storage bill is another issue - you have clearly over promised to get an unrealistic price, partly the reason he chose you, if he knew it was only worth 14k would he have wasted money detailing it? It may be better to cut your losses on this one and hand it back to him, possibly better for business?

[Burwood]

one bit of advice. Pick up the phone and speak to the guy. Texting/email can be ignored and an easy 'i didn't see it' excuse. Have a proper conservation, prep some bullet points before hand. Get a commitment and follow up the call with an email 'further to our conversation earlier today, the following was agreed.

I find people take more pi55 when one shows signs of being a bit too laid back/lax.

Good luck

[C70R]

Who on earth takes/markets an overvalued car with limited space and no clear contract terms?

[t400ble]

C70R said:

Who on earth takes/markets an overvalued car with limited space and no clear contract terms?

Ross Parker

[C70R]

t400ble said:

C70R said:

Who on earth takes/markets an overvalued car with limited space and no clear contract terms?

Ross Parker

Oh, that guy.

[Butter Face]

C70R said:

t400ble said:

C70R said:

Who on earth takes/markets an overvalued car with limited space and no clear contract terms?

Ross Parker

Oh, that guy.

That was good.

[Ross Parker]

strain said:

Surely when you agreed the sale value you done some research to see what the was likely to sell for to ensure you made profit?

In fairness he should respond and either lower the price or take it back, but if he pays the detailing / storage bill is another issue - you have clearly over promised to get an unrealistic price, partly the reason he chose you, if he knew it was only worth 14k would he have wasted money detailing it? It may be better to cut your losses on this one and hand it back to him, possibly better for business?

This particular generation of Bi-turbo there are only 7 in the UK so as you can imagine researching a value for the car is hard, especially as this could be the only RHD manual. You have miss understood my original post. He wanted to sell the car at £30k originally, i did some further in depth research and found the car was likely only worth £10k-£14k according to specialists so my customer agreed to start at £20k, keep it at that for a couple of weeks then re-evaluate the situation against my advice. So i didnt promise any figures apart from that I could have a go at selling such a car and infact advised against putting the car up for that amount. The car was due its annual polish and protection anyway so i offered the service to him which he granted, but thats the last i have heard. Since i have further expressed my concerns that specialists have estimated the value way under what he wants and that he should make some decisions on what to do. Other messages included the invoice and a further push for him to make a decision on what to do.

[Ross Parker]

Burwood said:

one bit of advice. Pick up the phone and speak to the guy. Texting/email can be ignored and an easy 'i didn't see it' excuse. Have a proper conservation, prep some bullet points before hand. Get a commitment and follow up the call with an email 'further to our conversation earlier today, the following was agreed.

I find people take more pi55 when one shows signs of being a bit too laid back/lax.

Good luck

Thanks mate but i have tried calling him, emailing, texting and private message on social media. Fortunately he cant deny reading the message as it shows up my end that he has read them. I will certainly be tightening my terms and conditions in the future. Being a new business and sole trader some things you have to learn as you go.

[Ross Parker]

C70R said:

Who on earth takes/markets an overvalued car with limited space and no clear contract terms?

I have terms and conditions for all my commission sales however being a new business i evidently havnt thought of all eventualities yet and some things must be learnt as you go, I will certainly be expanding that text. I think your comment is a tad harsh. No trader has unlimted storage space for an unlimted amount of time. Im happy that some people have given some good advice here but comment like this are no good to anyone.

[xjay1337]

I would do the following

- Phone text and e-mail to say payment is over due for the detailing and that needs to be paid before the vehicle is handed back
- After 5 business days the vehicle will then get a storage fee added (make it nominal but serious enough to be of concern, let's say £20 a day)
- Vehicle will not be returned until all over due monies are paid.

If you wanted it more easy, then get him to pay for the detailing work and then simply hand him the car back and wish him good luck.