Second hand dealer experience

[Andyjc86]

He reconed most of his 4x4's got shipped out to Africa. And I think he included a 3 month warranty from an external company before his £250 profit.

[markmullen]

ajb85 said:

Sounds good but when you are grossing just £250 per car, and said car comes back with a fault + unhappy customer, you end up netting a big fat zero.

Having said that, it is a numbers game these days, volume is the way forward, but a business can only exist on making profit on every vehicle.

I disagree, I'd rather do fewer units with more margin than run myself ragged for pennies and with no margin, as you say, for aftersales issues.

[ajb85]

markmullen said:

ajb85 said:

Sounds good but when you are grossing just £250 per car, and said car comes back with a fault + unhappy customer, you end up netting a big fat zero.

Having said that, it is a numbers game these days, volume is the way forward, but a business can only exist on making profit on every vehicle.

I disagree, I'd rather do fewer units with more margin than run myself ragged for pennies and with no margin, as you say, for aftersales issues.

Agreed, and of course this can be achieved with the niche stuff with healthy margins. Unfortnately for the likes off myself selling middle of the road cars, I try my level best to do a healthy amount of business each week, turning them round fairly quickly - this can mean my profits per unit aren't quite where they deserve to be. To net £250 per car however, sounds pitiful. It makes no inroads into paying the rent and quite what you're left with after the tax man sticks his nose in is barely worth thinking about. If I can net £600-£1,000 on each I'm a happy man, I know of dealers with far bigger set-ups that struggle to achieve the same.

[snowdude2910]

iqwerty said:

2008 Focus 1.6 zetec at £7295,

How much? that seems to be almost double the price of some cars on autotrader of the same year and engine

[Sir Bagalot]

StottyZr said:

Whats wrong with your C4? Going to a 1.6 Focus seems like quite a sidestep, especially for a £5900 cost of change.

C4 and Focus are planets apart