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The Inner Sanctum

Where the magic happens....

I have just got back from visiting my eldest daughter in London – the highlight of which was us both going to see A CHRISTMAS CAROL at the Old Vic Theatre. When you consider Charles Dickens wrote this over 170 years ago its message is still as poignant today. Wonderful – wonderful – wonderful!

So in the words of Tiny Tim…

“A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US ALL; GOD BLESS US, EVERY ONE!”

DW

Micra under the Micra-scope!

Why we love them...
Selling cars over the last couple of years I have been able to put my old share dealing knowledge to good use. Collating and analysing data on cars and then concluding which I wanted to sell and why. There are many factors taken into consideration – some are obvious and some are not. You may be surprised to learn that my “wanted” list is not very long – despite the fact there would appear to be so many cars to choose from. Sitting right near the very top of my list is the Nissan Micra (There is no actual number one – that will vary depending on individual customer needs). Why choose a Nissan Micra?  Well Put Together  Reliable  Good Economy  Well Equipped  Highly Regarded by those who should know – MY MECHANICS! All in all - a right Little Belter! ...AND IT JUST SO HAPPENS WE HAVE SOME IN STOCK – WITH MORE ON THEIR WAY!

Recently it was my granddaughters 8th birthday. As she lives some way away from the rest of the family she received money as gifts. Shortly after whilst watching Children in Need she decided without prompting or encouragement that she did not need all of it and donated £20. Like any grandparent, I felt immensely proud of her. Her selfless act of kindness was a reminder of what the really important things in life are. (My grandson also donated part of his pocket money)

So what has this to do with selling cars?

I am always curious about how consumers think and act. Over recent weeks I have been specifically studying how people look at and inspect cars. Now bearing in mind my chosen market could be described as the Aldi rather than the Waitrose price sector I was keen to see exactly what potential buyers actually look at before arriving at a decision – either

I have not been purchasing Diesel cars from Main Dealers for almost a year. My reason being I could see how things were likely to develop in the Diesel sector and the impact this would have on prices.   My fears were well founded and prices have really suffered – it would be fair to say there is now a glut of Diesel cars on the market as “distressed” sellers look to mitigate their losses.   NOW – I learned many years ago in my stock-market days that “fire sale markets” bring with them great buying opportunities. One of the basic lessons in any market is – if you can GET IN 5% off the bottom you are doing very well! Neither I nor anyone else can be certain we have reached that point – however, I believe we are much closer to it than 6 months ago and now is the time to take

Some months back we sold a car to a gentleman who, with respect, was one of those in life who is vulnerable to being taken advantage of. It was – AND STILL IS – a smashing little car which cost less than a thousand pounds. In the last week or so the car developed a fault – as he is some way from us he decided to take it to a Main Dealer. They repaired the fault at a cost in excess of £150 and then went on to inform him that he needed to spend a further £800 on the car – as he does not have that sort of money they invited him to take out finance!

Fortunately, before he agreed to go ahead he rang us and the following day brought the car in. So first of all the repair – this was a job we would have carried out at approximately

dsc_0988Having been established for a while it would seem our reputation for providing great cars is growing. It is lovely to see our long standing “garage” customers coming to us to buy their next car AND often trading in their existing one. In addition, we are seeing a steady flow of new customers who are coming to us on a recommendation from those who have already bought from us.

This is a great position for any business to be in- however, it is having a knock on effect. Buying the right stock is never easy – hence why we travel FAR AND WIDE to get them. More and more we are selling cars before we can even get them on our website or even having put them through the LITTLE – BELTERS MAKE OVER! Customers who

Mr and Mrs Smith (name changed to protect the innocent – words written by an actor so you cannot identify!) wanted a car for their daughter. We had nothing that was of interest in their budget range and specification which was - Roomy + 5 Door + Low on Tax and Insurance – Less than 50k miles + No more than 3 owners with Service History).
Keep an eye out for me!
Some might say that this proves, without any doubt - that I'm definitely a certified, fully paid up BARM POT! Who cares? I came across an ad' for this AIXAM MEGA MULTITRUCK – All Electric VAN – Never heard of them? – Not to worry, neither had I.
Some 6 months ago we made a conscious decision to stop buying Diesel cars. Now the reason for doing so now seem pretty obvious BUT at time they were not. Not only did we stop buying them we strongly advised those customers who wanted to purchase Diesel vehicles against doing so... Read more
What follows is not merely car sales talk!

Presently we are selling cars faster than we can source them. This is why you will notice our stock levels are falling. Some would see this as a good problem for any business to have – Demand exceeding Supply. However, from our point of view this is a real problem as it means buyers are going elsewhere as in most instances consumers are not in a position to keep waiting and waiting.

In order to address this, we are spreading our net wider and wider in order to source more of the RIGHT cars. BUT we cannot compromise on our buying criteria – after all it is that which has placed us in this position.

I am confident that over the coming weeks our efforts will pay off and stock levels will start to rise.

From your point of view all that I would ask is that

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