We begin with our FREE 15 minute phone or video call, where I hear more about what you need and I introduce my service.

Once we have agreed to work together I commit to:

1.      A further more detailed conversation where I assess your needs for the vehicle and cover critical areas such as your budget, lifestyle and journeys. The process is very iterative, we will speak often and I listen carefully to your needs or changes as we move through the process.

2.      If you do not have a specific model in mind I start off by researching and then providing you with a broad list of models that will be suitable for your needs. This is a carefully selected list, showing real world examples within your budget that I have identified that will be suitable and reliable. I exclude any models, manufacturers or engine choices that are proven to be less reliable or won’t be efficient or suitable for the journeys you do or how you will use the vehicle.

3.      We then discuss the list I have provided and you can then make some further decisions to refine the list to just a few model types you are interested in and might purchase.

4.      I then go away and look across all relevant platforms (so Autotrader, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Pistonheads, Ebay and others depending on vehicle type and budget) for appropriate choices, ideally these vehicles will be local to you in the first instance. If we cannot find suitable vehicles locally we will look nationally and discuss the implications, i.e. distance buying and delivery. For each car I put forward I will list key features, include costs such as tax, overall efficiency and also look at the cars MOT history (if more than 3 years old) and assess online reviews of the dealer (if not being sold privately). I will only put forward dealers with good or excellent reviews.  If I have doubts or need more information, I will contact the seller/dealer and ask questions to better inform my responses to you before putting a vehicle forward for consideration.

5.      I can then help by organising test drives of your preferred vehicles and if helpful/reasonably feasible accompany you for the test drive to get a better look at the cars on offer(NB this may incur an additional cost for my time). I also have a handy guide I can give you to help you test drive cars successfully, showing what to look out for if I don’t accompany you. Please note, I can assess a car visually for you and its overall condition to a good level of confidence, but I cannot certify a car mechanically, for this you may wish to employ a local specialist mechanic, the RAC or AA to carry out a multi point health check.

6.      If helpful I can either advise you on what conversations to have with the dealer/seller or have these conversations for you, including any conversation intended to lead to a purchase. This includes advising on what I think the car is worth vs the price being asked and any key points you should haggle on or be prepared to walk away. Please note I do not (currently) advise on or introduce finance or warranty packages for car purchases. I may introduce this service in future.

7.      Once you make the purchase I can advise on things to look out for or plan for post purchase such as servicing and any items you might want to consider to improve the car or properly maintain it.

8.      I remain available post purchase for any questions or queries you might have.

If you have a vehicle already and this needs to be moved on I can advise on the options you will have, including a valuation based on market rates for a similar car in age, mileage and condition. I benchmark these valuations against all the well known car selling platforms and services to give you a fair indication of value.

I will give you values for the following options and advise of likely timelines should you choose to go with one of these options including:

1.      Private Sale (and the various options to do this and their costs)

2.      Trade in

3.      Selling to a service such as WeBuyAnyCar or Motorway (I don’t endorse either but they are widely used)

I will advise you on any preparation you should consider undertaking before putting your car up for sale, such as a thorough clean inside and out (this can really affect trade in values and sales) cosmetic repairs, touch ups for scratches and any other things that may put off buyers. If the car has faults I always advise an open and honest advert stating these and taking into account the cost to rectify these faults in your sale price.

I can write the For Sale advert for you (not using AI!) and advise on or assist with photography of the vehicle for the advert. The quality of a For Sale advert can make a huge difference in the interest you get. Proper presentation is critical in selling any vehicle.