BBC 2 9 pm tonight. Supercars v. Used Cars : The Trade Off.

[MGJohn]

Two salesmen at the opposite of the used-car market trading places.

Should be worth a watch ...

Knowing our media's usually anti-Brit Car stance, I wonder if any of "our" favourite cars will be featured.

[Rockey5uk2001]

That show annoyed me!

[PetrolMG]

Two salesmen at the opposite of the used-car market trading places.

Should be worth a watch ...

Knowing our media's usually anti-Brit Car stance, I wonder if any of "our" favourite cars will be featured.

Is this just a one off programme or a series ? I also watched it last week and it was rather interesting. What it does show is why the sales industry has such a high turnover in staff. £30 commission for shifting a car is extremely low.

[MGJohn]

Two salesmen at the opposite of the used-car market trading places.

Should be worth a watch ...

Knowing our media's usually anti-Brit Car stance, I wonder if any of "our" favourite cars will be featured.

Is this just a one off programme or a series ? I also watched it last week and it was rather interesting. What it does show is why the sales industry has such a high turnover in staff. £30 commission for shifting a car is extremely low.

I think it was/is a one off.

Even allowing for the slant TV presentation always builds into programmes like this, I found it both interesting and enjoyable.

Unsociable hours and working Sat/Sun, unrealistic sales targets and low commission all combine to give a high turnover in staff. Often good staff are pressured unreasonably and so decide to leave if they are not sacked for not reaching those targets.

During and since Thatcher most of our Governments and media look to unreliable consumer targets and levels as an indicator that things are healthy within the UK economy. Those are not reliable yardsticks. No way will this Nation consume its way out of recessions to sustained prosperity. Sales managers avidly tell their sales staff ... Hey, things are on the up and folks are buying cars.... confusing registrations as sales .... and those are mostly fleet company registrations which are vastly different to consumer sales margins. So why are you not selling ... Here's your P45.

[PetrolMG]

Very true. The sad thing about it all is when you visit a car dealership for example Arnold Clark, they have about 15 salesmen on the floor. I had to deal with someone obviously under pressure from the Sales Manager and you could tell the guy was miserable at his work. He showed me a couple of cars but none were "for me" and he was trying his hardest to get me on a finance package. When i was leaving i looked up and the sales manager and salesman were staring at me in the car park. The Sales Manager was talking so i'd assume he is saying something like "thats another customer leaving that hasn't bought a car".

[maestrovdpt16]

fleet company registrations are still vehicle sales, and in general a fair reflection of trade within the uk. When aren't registrations not a fair reflection of sales?

confusing registrations as sales .... and those are mostly fleet company registrations which are vastly different to consumer sales margins. So why are you not selling ... Here's your P45.

[mg-richard]

Most people who buy new these days do so because they have to.
No deposit money/or cash to buy good used
Motabilty
Been screwed over with motor repairs and have had enough
Business use
Stuck on a 3 year revolving pcp

[MGJohn]

fleet company registrations are still vehicle sales, and in general a fair reflection of trade within the uk. When aren't registrations not a fair reflection of sales?

Unsold pre-reg cars... That's when! Demonstrators and fleet sales are at hugely reduced margins compared to what the private consumer has to pay. Demonstrators when six months old provide a huge tax saving for companies to set against costs. Maybe the same with fleet hugely discounted cars. Benefits like that are not available to the private car buyer of new or even used cars. Fleet sales hugely distort the UK market.

Thirty years ago, I used to regularly attend car auctions and bought a few. One car "Straight from the Company" with an on the road new cost of £11,000 I bid on was just over six months old and my top bid of £4800 was below the reserve. However, I got a call later to confirm my bid had been accepted. There were two other identical cars lined up for the auction next week ... three consecutive reg nos. When a work colleague saw what I got for my outlay, he wanted to bid on one of the others. We went along the next week and he got one of the other cars for £5,500 as there were a few more bidders present. Still a bargain. There were only a few bidders present the previous week owing to the foul weather. Bad weather can work in your favour sometimes ...

Traders wanted to have private punters like me and my work colleagues excluded from such auctions. Later, that third car turned up on a used car lot not far from me with a mark up three grand more than I paid for the identical car!

You could buy a lot of new car for £11000 thirty years ago. Buying one just over six months old was a real bargain at about 40% of the on the road price!

Back in the mid-1960s, my boss asked me to jump in his Daimler and he took me to a remote field in Essex full of unsold new pre-registered cars. He had bought one of those "new" cars and I drove it back to our workplace. That still goes on within the trade. I have seen other fields of cars elsewhere since then.

Back in 1955 when I was only thirteen, my father took me along to a car auction in Tewkesbury operating out of a war time Nissen Hut Barn structure. That little business developed into the massive company today and the owner became a multi-millionaire.

I have been very interested and fascinated by cars and car auctions ever since....

Funny old game cars and folks.