Trade Insurance

[carbers205 1]

Hi guys, looking at doing trading a bit more full time in the New Year and would like your recommendations of good value insurers please!

There wont be many cars on at a time and the value needn't be any more than £10k a car if that makes any difference.

 

Cheers

Andy

[foreigner 0]

I went on quotemetoday.co.uk and quote I had was £850.

[Ant 2]

Hi,

 

Bollingtons were the cheapest for standard cars, but had a daft excess for Ins group 17 and above

 

Tradewise were slightly more, but dont have a high excess..

 

Regards

 

Ant

[Carl Chambers 7 2 Cars]

I use Tradex as they seemed the cheapest, plus I have no limit on insurance groups or the amount of cars I have on it or any mods they have, Im paying around £600 but I am an old git! lol!

Edited January 2, 2011 by GKZ 206

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I'm with Avaya via Andy C, Not the cheapest but the you get what you pay for

[carbers205 1]

Good stuff, thats a nice selection of names I can start ringing round when they open back up for business.

Many thanks.

[skyinsurance 2]

Feel free to contact our commercial/trade department, tel: 0208 3645500

[carbers205 1]

Spoke to a very helpful chap at Sky today and am waiting on a price from him now.

A couple of other questions for you lot, for those of you with decent personal cars have you got a standard policy for them as from what I can gather only trade price will be paid for any vehicle on the policy in the event of a claim.

The other question is what is the application procedure and cost for a trade licence? The DVLA site seems completely devoid of useful info on the subject!

[Carl Chambers 7 2 Cars]

Spoke to a very helpful chap at Sky today and am waiting on a price from him now.

A couple of other questions for you lot, for those of you with decent personal cars have you got a standard policy for them as from what I can gather only trade price will be paid for any vehicle on the policy in the event of a claim.

The other question is what is the application procedure and cost for a trade licence? The DVLA site seems completely devoid of useful info on the subject!

 

I have my Clio V6 insured seperally for that reason but all my others are on the traders insurance.

 

Trade licence? what do you mean by that? Trade plates come from the DVLA and cost the same as a normal tax disc for a car so just over £200 a year, you apply for them then in a few months the DVLA will inspect your books to prove you have been trading. Trade plates let you move un-taxed cars, you may have to go into a local office to get them rather than on the websites etc.

No other Trade liceence is needed. Are you just going to be buying and selling cars yes?

[carbers205 1]

Cheers Carl, yeah just buying and selling.

And yes I was just checking that what was referred to as a trade licence was indeed just like road fund licence rather than anything more complex and expensive!

Why they didnt just call them trade plates on the application form I dont know.

While Im here, another couple of thoughts....I presume I can only use the yellow part of the V5 once I have registered for plates at the DVLA, and secondly, what happens re the V5 when purchasing from auction? Presumably if a dealership has taken a car in p/x and put it into an auction the dealership is on the yellow part already so can a car go from dealer to dealer before being sold to a private customer?

Hope all this makes sense.

[Carl Chambers 7 2 Cars]

oh I see, they were just called trade plates when I applied for mine!

 

Yeah if you buy a off someone just fill in the yellow part of the V5, you trade plates to do this, it just informs DVLA that the car is in the trade, and saves putting another owner on it.

 

Once the yellow part is filled in, you can sell it to another dealer without having to inform the DVLA or anything, just keep invoices to prove who you sold it to incase you need them at a later date and to cover your @rse.

 

When you sell it to the public you fill it in the normal way, so they get the green slip and you send off the blue part, then it goes in their name.

 

At an Auction as your say either the dealer does it when they get it, or normally the Auction house does it if the car has come from a lease company or something. Once you get friendly with an Auction and other trades it will make life easier, and some good deals will come your way.

 

I no longer buy and sell cars (unless I get offered something really good) as its became to much hassle getting the cars at the right prices.

[Andy_C 50]

Trade policies don't always settle on trade only basis - but as Miles says you get what you pay for.

 

I can accomodate pretty much anything including race cars and classics BUT I'm on garden leave until 8/2/11 so can't do anything untul after then.

[carbers205 1]

Ok, that makes sense, many thanks.

Andy, the fact you are away til next month isnt a massive issue, my private insurance isnt up til the 26th so I shant be sorting anything until then at the earliest. Ill shout you in Feb if Im not sorted.

[dale205mills 39 7 Cars]

Insurence companys go on book price alot of the time and you fight from there to get a fairer price. My Bmw is on my traders policy and I payed £9500 for it and the lowest it is valued at is £7500 in the traders bible, but that is for a high mile car in poor condition, the better condition of the car with low miles mean you have got a better chance of getting a fair price for it.

 

The main thing is do not let you car out of your sight in it get smacked as soon as it gets in the system there is a good chance you will lose you car and get a crap price for it. I allways keep the vechicle in my control as you can call the shots. I have seen so meny cars and motorbikes get lost on the system due to clear out of recovery storage yards and go to the salvage yards.

 

I had to fight a insurence company for 8 years, long story but I do no the games they play and I have been in and out of the motor trade for a long time.

[Carl Chambers 7 2 Cars]

Agreed with the above, I would always get my car delivered back to my house if anything did happen, my brothers Clio Willy was gone from the recovery place within 2 days, he lost all the stuff he had in it aswell as the car, no one knew or would say where it went and we had a major fight over its value!

[foreigner 0]

Exactly.

 

Golden rule - never ever let the insurance prganise recovery.

[carbers205 1]

Well, s*it service abounds in this sector by the look of things!

Sent out about 8 quote requests last week, have had two back thus far and dont envisage any more without a bit of prompting.

So, bigup to Quotemetoday who quoted quickly, gave a courtesy call the next day and even rang to let me know they couldnt match my better quote, and Tradeplan who have provided a reasonable quote at the first time of asking.

Might as well call out those I can recall that havent responded.....Sky, Clegg Gifford (Via Tradex), DNA, Staveley Head.... maybe do a bit of prodding this week and report back when someone decides to help!

[damien 22 1 Cars]

how did you go about starting up? i mean did you get a business loan? money out your pocket?

did you have to get a business plan done? how much you planing on making (after tax etc) a year?

 

ive been toying with the idea but unsure weather its worth the risk of losing all my savings (which isnt that much)

[carbers205 1]

It was surprisingly easy mate, I knew I had to sort a business bank account to keep everything seperate so I popped into RBS who I bank with anyway and checked out what they had on offer.

They were doing 2 years fee free account as opposed to 18 months with HSBC who were my other option, when I went to sign up I needed no written business plan, though I obviously told the manager who dealt with me what I had in mind.

To my surprise I was offered an overdraft of £5k straight away at 6%ABR and a further £3k on a business credit card! I had planned on releasing some money out of one of the houses we rent out but given access to this amount of money its really not necessary atm.

I imagine a lot of it will come down to your credit rating and history with your bank, mine seems pretty good so thats a bit of a winner.

My target for the year is to make £30k before tax, Im planning on avoiding registering for VAT and the current threshold is £70k so as long as I turn over less than that all is well.

As far as losing money is concerned, I think if you plan on operating at a low level in terms of market value but a high turnover so you are earning little and often is the way forward. I suspect you know your way round a car pretty well and thats half the battle. Pick popular little cars, nothing obscure and they should sell fairly well. There will obviously be the odd car that throws up unexpected problems or sticks on the market but thats to be expected.

If you want any more info or ideas on setting up just give me a shout.

 

Andy

[Peetypug 5]

Yeah if you buy a off someone just fill in the yellow part of the V5, you trade plates to do this, it just informs DVLA that the car is in the trade, and saves putting another owner on it.

 

Once the yellow part is filled in, you can sell it to another dealer without having to inform the DVLA or anything, just keep invoices to prove who you sold it to incase you need them at a later date and to cover your @rse.

 

sorry for the hijack , if i was buying and selling cars as well as stripping and scrapping (some are too good to kill) how do i go about that? i dont have trade plates as i have a recovery truck. does this mean i am officially not classed as being in the trade?

 

i am waiting for my motor salvage licence to come through, this is going to be my primary business. would that class me as being in the trade

[carbers205 1]

Hijack away Pete, you are right, the fact you dont have plates means you are not recognised as being trade by the DVLA.

Its not the end of the world but of course it means you cant use the yellow slip and therefore would have to register the car in your name.

Im not sure how the salvage licence would affect matters as it wasnt something Id researched on, however I found the trade plate application surprisingly easy and quick. I had to provide the following evidence at the meeting in my local DVLA office:

 

Trade insurance cert

Stock book with V5s

Company stamp (like for service books) if you have one

Photocard licence or passport for ID

 

Plus at least 3 of the following: (think I got away with 2)

 

Company cheque book

Letterhead/business card

Auction charge card (if applicable)

Consumer Credit Licence (as above)

Fleet Service Records (ditto)

Written contracts

VAT reg cert (if applicable)

Registration/incorporation cert (ditto)

 

Its a bit of a catch 22 situation insofar as you cant apply to DVLA without stock, but you cant really buy trade stock without registering at DVLA! I was fortunate in that all my local auction wanted as proof of trade was the insurance cert so I could get one stock car a few days before my interview.

If you get accepted for plates you will go on probation til the end of the year at which point you will have to take proof of trading back to them in order to get upgraded. My plates cost me £165 til the end of the year and they were issued there and then.

If you want me to email you the application form just send me your address.

 

Andy