Small motor trader - premises advice please

[Kellerman]

Hello all,

I am a small time motor trader, with around 10 cars in stock, but rapidly growing as I've got high margins and a bit of capital behind me.

I'd appreciate some advice on my three options for premises:

Option 1) *Current premises*
Pros:
- Yard space for 20 cars
- Seriously cheap (£250pcm)
- Secluded location
- Landlord is lovely

Cons:
- Unit stores only one car (2 at a push, if I were to reshuffle). This delays my cars being prepped and is slowing the business down massively.
- 25 minutes from home (40 mins in traffic).
- 1 mile of potholed road leading up to my unit

Option 2) Potential new unit
Pros:
- Unit stores 6 cars. This means I could fix them up "in parallel" rather than one at a time
- 5 minute drive / 15 minute walk from home simplifies logistics
- Unit is very secure

Cons:
- Yard space for 6-10 ish cars (haven't properly spec'd it out)
- Yard isn't very secure
- £800pcm

Option 3) Other potential new unit
Pros
- Unit space for 10-12 cars.
- 3 minute drive / 5 minute walk from home simplifies logistics
- Secure yard and unit

Cons:
- £1500pcm asking price
- Landlord has a poor reputation

Other things to note
- I have stock of vehicles cover to cover my stock. So yard security might not matter that much? I weigh all the OEM cats in on most of the cars I sell, replacing them with eBay cats.
- I have enough cash to get another 8-10 vehicles bought in
- I am open to keeping the current premises along with a new one
- I employ a mechanic part-time to do most of my work. I could do with one or two more mechanics, or start taking my cars to garages nearby to increase turnover speed?

Interested to hear other perspectives, or left-field ideas. I am not at all trained in business, I have no idea what's holding me back, or how to expand and move forward.

Thanks in advance.

[cliffords]

weigh all the OEM cats in on most of the cars I sell, replacing them with eBay cats


What does this mean ,why would you do this ?
Thanks

[Pit Pony]

Option 3. Landlord has a poor reputation.

It's all in.the contract. Get an expert to negotiate the lease.

[Kellerman]

cliffords said:

weigh all the OEM cats in on most of the cars I sell, replacing them with eBay cats


What does this mean ,why would you do this ?
Thanks

OEM Cats contain platinum, rhodium and other stuff. Making them targets for theft, or valuable for me to turn a profit on. I get up to £950 per cat.

So I swap them for non-OEM ones which are worthless.

[Kellerman]

Pit Pony said:

Option 3. Landlord has a poor reputation.

It's all in.the contract. Get an expert to negotiate the lease.

Fair comment and I agree.

The problem is, he's a millionaire and has an attitude of "take it or leave it". Absolutely no room for negotiation according to other tenants I've spoken to & his Google reviews.

[Dingu]

Kellerman said:

OEM Cats contain platinum, rhodium and other stuff. Making them targets for theft, or valuable for me to turn a profit on. I get up to £950 per cat.

So I swap them for non-OEM ones which are worthless.

So you are a dodgy trader basically. Good to know.

[crofty1984]

Is that like saying "I take the alloys and good tyres off, flog them, and pit steelies with ditchfinders on".
Do the new car owners know the cats have been replaced with cheap ebay ones?

[cliffords]

Kellerman said:

OEM Cats contain platinum, rhodium and other stuff. Making them targets for theft, or valuable for me to turn a profit on. I get up to £950 per cat.

So I swap them for non-OEM ones which are worthless.

Great I would not buy a car from you then. Really surprised you surrender that information. Whatever premises you choose I hope it's a long way from me.

[Kellerman]

Why is removing an old cat, that's MORE likely to fail an MOT, and replacing it with a brand new one, which is guaranteed to pass an MOT and be unappealing to thieves a bad thing?

Seriously?

Not one buyer has noticed or cared, in dozens of sales.

[Kellerman]

crofty1984 said:

Is that like saying "I take the alloys and good tyres off, flog them, and pit steelies with ditchfinders on".

No, it's not.

I'm replacing an underperforming, theft-magnet with a new, type-approved, unappealing-to-thieves cat.

Your analogy is ill-informed and idiotic.

[dave_s13]

That's borderline fraudulent.

An eBay cat is surely of lesser quality than OEM.

[Dingu]

Kellerman said:

crofty1984 said:

Is that like saying "I take the alloys and good tyres off, flog them, and pit steelies with ditchfinders on".

No, it's not.

I'm replacing an underperforming, theft-magnet with a new, type-approved, unappealing-to-thieves cat.

Your analogy is ill-informed and idiotic.

Lol, no you aren’t. You are doing it to boost your bank balance and not telling people. You are as bad at trading cars as you are at driving on track. Dodgy backstreet dealer.

[Kellerman]

cliffords said:

Great I would not buy a car from you then. Really surprised you surrender that information. Whatever premises you choose I hope it's a long way from me.

That's hilarious.

Like you'd know if a 90's hot hatch had an OEM cat or an aftermarket cat.

Don't be so stupid.

[cliffords]

The thief mid steeling the item stops as they see it's not original, after taking time to closely examine it .
Carefully replace the heat shielding and leave quietly.

[Kellerman]

dave_s13 said:

That's borderline fraudulent.

An eBay cat is surely of lesser quality than OEM.

How? If it's type approved?

I've never failed an emissions test on a new cat. Old ones sometimes fail.

The new ones are not "lesser quality" at all. They're just made from non precious materials.

[Kellerman]

cliffords said:

The thief mid steeling the item stops as they see it's not original, after taking time to closely examine it .
Carefully replace the heat shielding and leave quietly.

Why would they need to closely examine it?

A shiny, almost mirror-finished catalyst is clearly not 20 years old.

Have you ever been under a car before?

This is hilarious.

[Kellerman]

cliffords said:

But your saying the thief does know ?

Yes. It's their job.

Can you tell these two apart?

[cliffords]

Back to your question. Option 3 I suggest.I think you and the landlord are ideally suited.

[Dingu]

Kellerman said:

How? If it's type approved?

I've never failed an emissions test on a new cat. Old ones sometimes fail.

The new ones are not "lesser quality" at all. They're just made from non precious materials.

Why aren’t your customers aware then? Surely if you are doing it as a conscientious and caring dealer you must have it in your adverts and be telling them about your kind deed.

As a reminder you said nobody had noticed so you can’t have told them.

[Kellerman]

cliffords said:

Back to your question. Option 3 I suggest.I think you and the landlord are ideally suited.

No need for sarcasm because you got schooled.

Next time just ask for something to be explained, rather than jumping to some ridiculous conclusion.