The back lot/ trade in corner...

[UmBongo]

Totally agree with you on this specific point - there was no internet car sales when I was looking around for my first few snotters back in the late 80s, so it was old school poring through the small ads in the local rags.

 

Hmm, I sense an interesting new topic for us to discuss here, chaps - describe your shite in small ad form, maximum 20 words (you used to get charged by the word, so you used to get some great use of the English language by sellers eager not to broach the £1 price for a small ad).....

 

Shame I'm stuck on having my first few posts needing to be authorised, otherwise I'd have done it myself

 

Golf GTi, 25k miles in Mars red, one owner, baby/12 month ban/wife/lack of funds/work van/leprosy forces sale...

[Stevebrookman]

I remember Empress Cars. They were like a prototype supermarket type of dealer. Very keen prices but the stock was large numbers of 1.6LX type vehicles. My dad got a Montego from them, 18 months old but 80K on the clock. ISTR he traded in his green 2600 SD1 there.

 

Wonder if it was the same one-the reg of the Rover was GOB something.

 

Steve

[Hendry]

it seems older/cheaper cars are making a comeback, remember years ago main dealers would still be selling 8/9 year old stuff? Arnold Shark have started doing this thing called "Value Range" which in the salesmans words is "cheaper older cars we would normally send to auction but if the miles are low enough, theyve got a service history and have been through the workshop and dont need loads of work doing, we retail them now"

 

Proof of this was a 58 plate Corsa D in the used car showroom amongst all the 14/64/15/65/16/66 stuff that 90% of their cars were. A quick check on their website reveals quite a few older/cheaper things (still moderns to us lot though) and cars with high miles, 10 plate Mondeo with 110k on it for example, £4.5K. One of the branches even has a base model 52 plate VW Lupo for sale!! VW main dealer selling a 15year old car! Never thought id see the day.

 

Evans Halshaw have some "Runabouts" sections at some branches, these really are the back lot/trade in corner stuff, hidden out of site round the back of the building, yes its moderns but anything upto 12 years old, proper high mileage, rusty, rough bodywork, worn interiors, just really ropey stuff, the stuff they should be punting to auction. 

[DodgeRover]

Tbh I think it's too much grief as a proper trader to bother with cheapies now, you know you're always going to get grief/ trading standards threats etc from someone no matter what you do. It's easier to pass part exs onto a kerbside dealer to shift on via Facebook or straight to auction/ frag when the price is up.

[ruffgeezer]

So I went back for more pictures, remember this place is a mere 10 miles from SF17!

 

 

 

Tigra!

 

There is also a brace of E36 Bmws, an Fto and some grim modernist Vauxhall shit.

[JohnK]

How much was the Tigra?

 

Not that I want to bring a Tigra home from my second AS outing of the year.

 

I don't think towbars are too common for Talbot Solara's either...

[greengartside]

Shame about that Golf - checks reveal it's a 1.9 TDi Anniversary edition, so would be worth a little more than a normal one.

 

Was there any price on it at all?

[Chris2cv]

As a main dealer, we are only allowed cars up to about 3 years old on the forecourt.  We do have a used site, but even that only goes to about 5 or 6 years old. To be fair, I do accept that they are probably just not worth the aggro for normal cars. I dare say that a 10 year old Porsche or Rolls Royce will be rather better cared for than a 10 year old Fiesta- although this is often a perception rather than a fact.

 

  I like looking at the lower end sales yards, but there are very few left around my way. We used to have 2 within a few hundred yards of home, both now gone, another half  mile away, now flats. Driving around today, I was shocked that quite a few of our customer's yards have been redeveloped. I suppose that many dealers or their landlords would rather sell the yard than scrape by selling shite!

 

 I do wonder where the old stuff goes, but around here (South London) very few people seem to want a car older than about 5 years old (not including me obviously) Many people either finance or see cars as disposable. My neighbour earlier asked about trading her 5 year old 20,000 mile Micra, but I suggested that she keeps it until it has a problem - probably 10 years or more !

[Sir Snipes]

So I went back for more pictures, remember this place is a mere 10 miles from SF17!

 

20170515_192034.jpg

 

20170515_192039.jpg

 

Tigra!

20170515_192124.jpg

 

There is also a brace of E36 Bmws, an Fto and some grim modernist Vauxhall shit.

That mouldy Saab I find strangely appealing.....

[Hendry]

As a main dealer, we are only allowed cars up to about 3 years old on the forecourt.  We do have a used site, but even that only goes to about 5 or 6 years old. To be fair, I do accept that they are probably just not worth the aggro for normal cars. I dare say that a 10 year old Porsche or Rolls Royce will be rather better cared for than a 10 year old Fiesta- although this is often a perception rather than a fact.

 

  I like looking at the lower end sales yards, but there are very few left around my way. We used to have 2 within a few hundred yards of home, both now gone, another half  mile away, now flats. Driving around today, I was shocked that quite a few of our customer's yards have been redeveloped. I suppose that many dealers or their landlords would rather sell the yard than scrape by selling shite!

 

 I do wonder where the old stuff goes, but around here (South London) very few people seem to want a car older than about 5 years old (not including me obviously) Many people either finance or see cars as disposable. My neighbour earlier asked about trading her 5 year old 20,000 mile Micra, but I suggested that she keeps it until it has a problem - probably 10 years or more !

 

Really? ALL the main franchised dealers in the whole of Scotland sell 8/9 year old cars on the same forecourt of their premises as the brand new, pre reg, nearly new and 6month old ex rental stuff, Hence its possible to see a £40K brand new Ford Edge on the same pitch as an 08 plate £3K Fiesta. For a while a lot of them sold slightly older stuff, then they stopped and it was limited to about 6 years old, now theyve gone back to really old stuff, so much so most of the big groups have actually developed "Value/Runabout" Ranges/brands to market their older stock under so it must be profitable to them dealing in older stuff. Probably give a grand for it as a trade in, saying its an old banger and will go up the market, then tidy it up, fresh MOT and valet it and stick it on the lot for £3.5/4k

[TRW]

Years ago there used to be a garage in Abertillery called Empress Car Sales-it sold good, cheapish cars (owner sold for millions years later). It had an offshoot for all the "older cars" run by Dan the Banger Man-friend bought two Sd1's- a Green Series 1 2600 and an Oporto red series 2 2600 (the red one went like the clappers). Unfortunately nothing like that around now.

There also used to be a place in Taffs Wells which had super prime shit. I once bought a Daimler XJ6 2.8 mod BTG 708J for £450. Sold it for £500 a few years later and then saw it years later on ebay for £5000.

 

Steve

 

Remember Dans Bangers well. Every Wednesday there would be a full page advert in the local South Wales Diamond Freeads with all the stock starting at £99 up to £2000 or whatever it was.

 

There's a dealer in Barry that sells cheap stuff from (just about holding on to a current test certificate) from £200 upwards. I've not been that was for 2 years or so, but they use to do quite well.

[brickwall]

"Trade-in to clear" was always the section I looked at in the press.

[Felly Magic]

Burton Street Motors in Leeds used to be a real fleapit for cars with Stevie Wonder MOTs, that little corner of Dewsbury Road seemed to be the real gutter end of used car sales in Leeds

[Jazoli]

"Trade-in to clear" was always the section I looked at in the press.

 

Me too

[ruffgeezer]

That mouldy Saab I find strangely appealing.....

I'm sure it had £3k in the window!

 

As for the golf and Tigra I'm happy to enquire...