LMC - Life-Making Chod, a business diary.

[Asimo]

I like the look of that, or I would do without the screen.   Is the screen essential or can it be put away whilst driving?

[mitsisigma01]

Yuk, how can that be called good design. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

6 minutes ago, Asimo said:

... Is the screen essential or can it be put away whilst driving?

Essential for everything in a Tesla. There's nothing else except for the steering and pedals!

[Noel Tidybeard]

does the Mishymushy Colt have the £450 sunroof option? 😁

[vaughant]

Enjoying this thread and good too see someone making a career from chod, albeit reasonably high spec stuff from what I've seen so far. 

 

I loved trading back in the late 90's to  mid 2000's, the thrill of the chase, grabbing the free ads on a Thursday morning and seeing what's around and about for a reasonable price, or even sounding a bit exciting like a nova with a 2.0 home brew in it or an RS Turbo lookalike with a diesel in it. 

Even hunting out the back of the spares section to find something needing a clutch or just how bad that bodywork damage was after matey had clipped it on the way home after a heavy Bank Holiday Monday session desperately trying to sell it before he goes to see HMP for a few months. 

I loved the advent of ebay in that respect and the even bigger excitement of going around the country trying to find a nice little gem somewhere like Surbiton or Macclesfield. Good Times. 

However, like anything else I started finding life itself required my time more than cars did and my other half started getting fed up with moving 4 cars around to get one out!!! 

I generally did ok with it but more the opposite ends of the market to you, small engined stuff that sold quick, often needing no more than a few mot jobs, a good buff and clean. 

Sadly I feel personally the games changed a bit more now and not in my favour, it seems the timewasters are everywhere and unless you're at a certain point in the price range you're either dealing with people who can't really afford the car and are trying it on or those that think the £500 ka they've bought is supplied with a 36 month warranty. 

Gone are the days of a decent handshake and word of mouth which is a pity. Not saying that's the case for all as I've found some decent people out there still but also a LOT of dross. 

Currently trying to shift some 20" vw T5 alloys, range rover type. Their in ok order and I'm asking £275 but will take £200 for them. 

Had two interested parties, one asked a million questions and never responded to my answers and the other the same but gave me a £150 2 nite M8 style offer. 

Told him £200 lowest and he never even replied to say yay or nay, something I'd never do to a seller, I find it far easier to be upfront. 

 

[Daviemck2006]

I've got fed up too of the hassles of trying to sell cars with the idoitic questions you get from buyers. Plus my health is making it difficult for doing work myself, and when you start having to pay folk to do the work then the profits get eaten up. As folk say I'm too old for this shit now!

Sent from my SM-T585 using Tapatalk

[R9UKE]

12 hours ago, vaughant said:

Sadly I feel personally the games changed a bit more now and not in my favour, it seems the timewasters are everywhere and unless you're at a certain point in the price range you're either dealing with people who can't really afford the car and are trying it on or those that think the £500 ka they've bought is supplied with a 36 month warranty.

I agree. I never quite got to experience the good old days of the Auto Trader magazine and a printed Glasses guide, but I’ve learnt a few golden rules to limit the exposure to mongrels.  The golden one is - Facebook marketplace is where they ALL live.  
 

When I first started working at the auction, Gumtree was a basic, free platform, long before eBay got their greedy mits on it, and it was incredible for buying ANYTHING for £2-300 on the block then advertising it for double the next day and it would be gone in hours. Obviously now, having a business name and a reputation attached, it’s a different story, but those were great days for starting out.
 

Now, I really hate selling anything sub £1k for the reason you just mentioned. I generally keep their ads confined to Auto Trader and marked “p/ex to clear”. It attracts a more educated crowd who know their budget and what to expect. Not broke, entitled, Kyle’s with no credit rating standing outside your front door with their tragic offspring and bitter wife for two hours doing an MOT on a £450 Renault Migraine after you’ve had to show them how to open the bonnet. 

[Bstardchild]

Really enjoying this thread - thanks for sharing

One question - what are the ferry costs like - that picture of the V50 looked like it was very very lonely on the deck!!!!

[vaughant]

7 hours ago, R9UKE said:

I agree. I never quite got to experience the good old days of the Auto Trader magazine and a printed Glasses guide, but I’ve learnt a few golden rules to limit the exposure to mongrels.  The golden one is - Facebook marketplace is where they ALL live.  
 

When I first started working at the auction, Gumtree was a basic, free platform, long before eBay got their greedy mits on it, and it was incredible for buying ANYTHING for £2-300 on the block then advertising it for double the next day and it would be gone in hours. Obviously now, having a business name and a reputation attached, it’s a different story, but those were great days for starting out.
 

Now, I really hate selling anything sub £1k for the reason you just mentioned. I generally keep their ads confined to Auto Trader and marked “p/ex to clear”. It attracts a more educated crowd who know their budget and what to expect. Not broke, entitled, Kyle’s with no credit rating standing outside your front door with their tragic offspring and bitter wife for two hours doing an MOT on a £450 Renault Migraine after you’ve had to show them how to open the bonnet. 

I love this and so true!!! 

My haunt was Leominster Car Auctions which was a bit of a trek from my house but a great drive home of you bought something cheeky. 

Reason I chose it was the huge quality of chod they had, the fact anyone locally to me would ever think of looking there was low to nil, especially for the type of customer I was looking for and that you had just a long enough drive home to find out of you'd bought a complete nail or not!!

Popular sellers back then were the Astra estate in 1.7d form, they sold instantly, anything Ford with an mot, usually had to be 10 months or longer, some vw but you had to be careful of those as they usually ended up in the auction with a major issue that would cost many £££ to fix. 

Pug/citroen derv stuff was always a winnah in that respect as well. 

Great days and hopefully coming back soon when we're all free of corony and it's restrictions. 

Interesting insight into Facebook marketplace, it often seems a good place to buy as stuff does seem a lot cheaper but then I'm guessing it all comes with a story where you realise it's not good value after all with its 15 logbook loans and stench of weed inside. 

[Tadhg Tiogar]

22 hours ago, R9UKE said:

Isn't it just.  So clinical and soulless.  

Reminds me of a 1970s Formica kitchen worktop

[R9UKE]

2 hours ago, Bstardchild said:

What are the ferry costs like - that picture of the V50 looked like it was very very lonely on the deck!!!!

Yeh, the boat is very quiet at the moment. But prices haven't changed.  Averaging about £140 one way, though coming back I pick the generally undesirable late sailing because I'm 5 minutes from Belfast port at the other end so don't lose much sleep.  It's usually £109.

 

1 hour ago, vaughant said:

that you had just a long enough drive home to find out of you'd bought a complete nail or not!!

Absolute key! The dread of hitting real speed in an auction car still fills me with anticipation.  Wheel bearings hanging out of it!? Limp home mode ready to kick in!?  You can get such a story of how a car has lived through it's first minute or so on the road. 

They must've been great days for all of that fun.  Astras, 306s, Escorts!!!  Ever had any auction-related disasters?

I had a brief few experiences of going to auction as a kid during the 90s.  I remember my uncle very naïvely buying a three year old M reg Mondeo only to jump into it to take it home and realising it was an automatic.  I'll never forget him looking down at the shifter then yelling, "HOW THE F*CK DO YOU DRIVE AN AUTOMATIC!?".

In other news, my little C30 sold this morning. First viewer fell in love with it's poverty charm and left, proud as punch.

 

I've also booked a flight to the midlands on Friday to collect another car I shouldn't have bought but am so excited to try.  I've had a few XMs, all incorrectly fuelled and I never really got on with them.  I thought I'd missed the boat on trying a cheap V6 XM, so I just had to jump at this.  

 

 

[Bstardchild]

4 minutes ago, R9UKE said:

I've also booked a flight to the midlands on Friday to collect another car I shouldn't have bought but am so excited to try.  I've had a few XMs, all incorrectly fuelled and I never really got on with them.  I thought I'd missed the boat on trying a cheap V6 XM, so I just had to jump at this.  

 

 

That's bloody lovely - just the exhaust tail pipe looked wrong to me when I saw it on the web

Thanks for the ferry info - looking at alternative driving based "holiday" options for later in the year (if we ever get let out again)

[R9UKE]

Oh, definitely consider the Irish Wild Atlantic Way, if you haven't done so already.  Just the most stunning scenery, fantastic roads and bloody brilliant boozers.  If you can manage 5-7 days, it's the perfect amount of time to take it all in.  Once it's legal to cross the border of course!

[hairnet]

2 hours ago, R9UKE said:

Yeh, the boat is very quiet at the moment. But prices haven't changed.  Averaging about £140 one way, though coming back I pick the generally undesirable late sailing because I'm 5 minutes from Belfast port at the other end so don't lose much sleep.  It's usually £109.

 

Absolute key! The dread of hitting real speed in an auction car still fills me with anticipation.  Wheel bearings hanging out of it!? Limp home mode ready to kick in!?  You can get such a story of how a car has lived through it's first minute or so on the road. 

They must've been great days for all of that fun.  Astras, 306s, Escorts!!!  Ever had any auction-related disasters?

I had a brief few experiences of going to auction as a kid during the 90s.  I remember my uncle very naïvely buying a three year old M reg Mondeo only to jump into it to take it home and realising it was an automatic.  I'll never forget him looking down at the shifter then yelling, "HOW THE F*CK DO YOU DRIVE AN AUTOMATIC!?".

In other news, my little C30 sold this morning. First viewer fell in love with it's poverty charm and left, proud as punch.

 

I've also booked a flight to the midlands on Friday to collect another car I shouldn't have bought but am so excited to try.  I've had a few XMs, all incorrectly fuelled and I never really got on with them.  I thought I'd missed the boat on trying a cheap V6 XM, so I just had to jump at this.  

 

 

@Frogchodto the garlic telefon sil vous plait

[Frogchod]

49 minutes ago, hairnet said:

@Frogchodto the garlic telefon sil vous plait

Cor, for 895 I'd put up with the steering being on the wrong side and no Diravi 😊

[FakeConcern]

6 hours ago, R9UKE said:

 

 

 

It does look lovely, in fact they generally do, but I never really liked my V6 XM (I feel so much better now).

[eifion]

6 hours ago, R9UKE said:

Yeh, the boat is very quiet at the moment. But prices haven't changed.  Averaging about £140 one way, though coming back I pick the generally undesirable late sailing because I'm 5 minutes from Belfast port at the other end so don't lose much sleep.  It's usually £109.

 

Absolute key! The dread of hitting real speed in an auction car still fills me with anticipation.  Wheel bearings hanging out of it!? Limp home mode ready to kick in!?  You can get such a story of how a car has lived through it's first minute or so on the road. 

They must've been great days for all of that fun.  Astras, 306s, Escorts!!!  Ever had any auction-related disasters?

I had a brief few experiences of going to auction as a kid during the 90s.  I remember my uncle very naïvely buying a three year old M reg Mondeo only to jump into it to take it home and realising it was an automatic.  I'll never forget him looking down at the shifter then yelling, "HOW THE F*CK DO YOU DRIVE AN AUTOMATIC!?".

In other news, my little C30 sold this morning. First viewer fell in love with it's poverty charm and left, proud as punch.

 

I've also booked a flight to the midlands on Friday to collect another car I shouldn't have bought but am so excited to try.  I've had a few XMs, all incorrectly fuelled and I never really got on with them.  I thought I'd missed the boat on trying a cheap V6 XM, so I just had to jump at this.  

 

 

That XM was mine a for a while a few years ago. It was a lot of fun and it's good to see that it's still around.

[SiC]

11 hours ago, R9UKE said:

I've also booked a flight to the midlands on Friday to collect another car I shouldn't have bought but am so excited to try.  I've had a few XMs, all incorrectly fuelled and I never really got on with them.  I thought I'd missed the boat on trying a cheap V6 XM, so I just had to jump at this.  

Ha! A friend sent me that advert and I was really rather tempted.