Can We Keep Up? | Dealership Diaries EP.57

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00][music] [music] [music] [music] >> I'm doing this car. This car came in today as a part exchange and is absolutely hoofing. Absolutely disgusting inside.

[00:00:32]James gave it a quick refresh.

[00:00:36]But as you can see, it's not been very well looked after.

[00:00:41]>> Is that a candy cane?

[00:00:43]>> Yeah, it's absolutely disgusting. So, I'm going to get cracking with car.

[00:00:48]I don't know what on earth that is in there. I don't want to know.

[00:00:53]But I'm about to get cracking with it.

[00:00:55]I'm just going to tell Craig it'll probably take me best part of like 2 and 1/2 weeks to finish. Yeah, I'll probably be on this for quite a while and everywhere you look there's just more and more. I like to say that the car's quite nice, so it's not bad. New shape Mini, well then more up-to-date one.

[00:01:11]I've taken the boot floor out.

[00:01:14]Seats aren't actually that bad. They seem to be fixed.

[00:01:21]But I'll try and document me cleaning it as best as I can as I'm sure you're all can't wait to see it. It's real edge of the seat stuff, too.

[00:01:31]Buckle up, you know what I mean? Don't get too excited or anything. Meanwhile, Damien's been on this car for the last 48 hours.

[00:01:39]If I'm being honest, it looks absolutely no different than when he started, but I'll tell him it looks amazing.

[00:01:44]Looks good, Damien.

[00:01:49]Looks good.

[00:01:50]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Hello there.

[00:02:21]>> I need space for a phone machine.

[00:02:23]>> Sounds like excuses to me, David. So, you're not doing anything the rest of the day.

[00:02:33]Laziness beyond belief.

[00:02:37]>> I don't know what's wrong with you.

[00:02:38]Moaning the entire day.

[00:02:40]>> Here we go. Watch this.

[00:02:45]>> If you want some, I'll give it you.

[00:02:53]>> Can I help? Take a picture.

[00:02:56]>> Of what?

[00:02:57]>> Me. It'll last longer.

[00:02:59]>> Walk first time.

[00:03:03]>> Schminger stinger school.

[00:03:05]So, this all is a lot cleaner. But, I haven't finished properly cuz they're still sticky down in there. I'm going to try and use a steam cleaner.

[00:03:18]I don't really like using it. That's like if the car is really dirty, which it is, so steam cleaner is getting a broken out.

[00:03:26]Steam cleaner's down there in the bottom of my trolley. I just need to wait for it to turn the water into steam before I can do that bit of the job. So, I need to wait a few minutes.

[00:03:37]So, we'll do that just now. We'll wait a few minutes, and then give it a go.

[00:03:42]>> [music] [music] >> Hi guys, it's 11 of November and Jake has us finish this car. It took long, but to be honest, very good job. No stickers.

[00:04:11]Everything nice and shiny. I just found something if I had to be picky, but I'm >> I told you what I JUST TOLD YOU, JAKE.

[00:04:18]>> OH.

[00:04:19]>> WHAT DID YOU FIND?

[00:04:21]>> You know.

[00:04:21]>> Yeah.

[00:04:22]>> Side of passenger seat.

[00:04:30]Here.

[00:04:37]>> You didn't see anything.

[00:04:42]>> Wow.

[00:04:57]That's good job.

[00:04:59]But I'm not going to tell him because he will be over the moon like, "Oh, I've done the car." And he will comment it every day, so I don't tell him.

[00:05:08]Could be better, but Yeah.

[00:05:10]>> Yeah. I mean, if you if you done it, you wouldn't have messed that kind of stuff.

[00:05:15]>> That's normal.

[00:05:15]>> I know.

[00:05:16]>> Especially if you have that dirty car.

[00:05:20]>> Even I know that.

[00:05:22]>> That's very visible that he had very good master.

[00:05:27]Who showed him how to do this job.

[00:05:28]>> It's true. LEON SHOWED ME EVERYTHING.

[00:05:30]>> WOW. [clears throat] >> Leon showed you everything?

[00:05:34]>> Everything. On the MG.

[00:05:36]>> On the MG, oh.

[00:05:39]>> [laughter] >> They ask you how [music] you are and you just have to say that you're fine, but you're not really fine.

[00:05:49]>> Hello, guys. Wednesday, we're going to move this forecourt apart and reset it this James because it's been a while since we've [music] done anything in the forecourt. We've been so busy selling cars we've not actually had time to move it. So we've got the whole team out here and we're going to move all stuff. We've got the drone.

[00:06:05]Okay, everybody grab a set of keys.

[00:06:09]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> I do that every time, don't I? Clap sorry, but my face is full of sausage roll. Um, let me move this out of the way. Right, okay, so I want to give you a brief rundown of where we are in the month cuz this month has been pretty challenging for me personally anyway for uh but for the business with MJ moving on it left a big hole in terms of bodies, numbers, and experience, you know? So trying to replace that with just me is hard going.

[00:07:14]Although I've stepped in, so to give you an idea of numbers, we had a target to do of 60, right? When I set this budget, that was assuming there'd be three bodies here, right? I've still got in my head still got to try and achieve that number. We have to, you know, cuz that's you can't just accept the fact that it's gone down. So you you what is it?

[00:07:29]>> [clears throat and cough] >> Excuse me, what is it called again?

[00:07:32]Aim for the stars and hit the sky.

[00:07:33]That's where myself and Jack are heading right now. And to be fair, I think we've done pretty well. It's not over yet. It's the 23rd of May now, okay? And the numbers we stuck on right now. So, remember 60 for the month, we're on 48. Now, for me, I think that's bloody good. Jax he's on his record. It's the highest he's ever done, which is great, because there's more people around about.

[00:07:55]There's only two of us now.

[00:07:56]I've only done 20. That's absolutely shocking. What's going on? Obviously, you've still got to try and buy cars, run the business, do some other bits and pieces. So, for me to to do that amount of numbers and still maintain what I'm doing is is a absolute challenge. But, anybody in the same position will know exactly what it's like, you know? But, I'm chuffed.

[00:08:15]But, with that, when you look deeper into the numbers, right? And I'm going to spit out some numbers here for you.

[00:08:20]So, I'm looking at my screen here. So, we have done pretty well in terms of gross profit. That's for me, gross profit is one thing you look at.

[00:08:30]It's not the ultimate thing, because even though you look at your gross profit, by the time you take off your VAT, that's your what's your gross profit number. You've still got your costs and all that kind of things to come off that. So, right now, we're looking at a net bonnet of around just on 2,000 quid, right? I think that's going to come down a considerable amount, because there's some cars missing off the list that are still good to go through prep. So, that will come down slightly. But, if we're above 1,500 pounds, that's where I am on my target.

[00:08:56]I think I'll be over that, which is good news as well. Although, I'm not doing my overall unit number, my profitability is still decent. So, that's a good number metric. So, great. We've then got our finance. Our finance is lower this month than it has been. We are we target ourselves 50% finance pen. We're at 40, well, 39.6, if I'm rounding up. But, what's good about that is we've had some big balances. So, that means the customers coming in and the vehicles that we sold have been of a higher balance than the way we normally do, which is great, because with the higher balance comes more commission from the lender.

[00:09:29]And from that, we're on 718 pounds per finance case, which is great. And that's an additional bonus into that, which means more profitability. We then warranty warranty is bang on budget. I say bang on, we target ourselves 30, we're at 29.2. We've got a few more cases to do to consider going to keep on doing a number, but our penetration is exactly where we want to be. That's great. Myself and Jack are doing well on there. And overall, that means our add-on profit per unit is higher than it needs to be. So, whilst we might not hit our targeted number in terms of volume, what we're doing with the current volume you've got is good, and that's exactly where you want to be as a business. The only thing that we're missing is an extra body. And you can see and feel that myself and Jack are stretched, been able to cope with one, the customers coming in, the phone calls, and also putting the cars out. You know, to to put 48 cars out for just the two of us in what we've got, I know we'll be missing some bits and pieces. So, if we have missed an opportunity where you guys haven't come back to you quickly enough and things like that, I apologize. Um it's a challenge just now, but we do have a new person starting. We've had a bit of a recruitment challenge, I'm not going to lie.

[00:10:46]Um it's not been great and it's not been pleasant um to deal with as a as a business, but I think we finally managed to find our person. I'm not saying anything until the person's actually in the door and I'm all this and happy with. Sad to see James go, but um I'm really chuffed for Stuart because I think he was he slotted in really well.

[00:11:05]Uh and I think he'll be an important member as we move forward with this. But yeah, that's our numbers so far for May.

[00:11:10]We've still got a little bit to go.

[00:11:11]What's that? A week a week to go.

[00:11:14]Let me just see. Yeah, a week to go. I'd like to think we've got a lot of things out there as prepped, ready to go. I'd love to hit our number. We we average 14 a week. Look, who knows? I think we'll be mighty close. And if you look, even if we're mighty close, that for me is an absolute result considering it's just myself and Jack.

[00:11:33]And then we move into June where [clears throat] I was going to be a challenge, too, to be fair, because I'm not going to be here for a few days at the end of June, and then half of July.

[00:11:43]That time that I'm away, well, I'll still be active in the business although I'm on holiday. I still will be checking in every single day. They'll have a process for that to make sure that the the guys are supported whilst I'm away.

[00:11:56]But, yeah, that that that's another challenge that's moving into June. The number is still significant because the business still has to operate. So, with that, I'll keep you posted. Um but just now, that's a wee flavor of to where we are in the month.

[00:12:12]>> No, Hyundai Kona. The car is done, ready to go. I'm sure that Craig's parents will be delighted because I spent a lot of time with clean car to make it even better than it was. Hyundai Kona and Tesla is going out today.

[00:12:29]Tesla's not here on the washing bay at the moment. I'll show you inside.

[00:12:34]Beautiful white interior.

[00:12:36]The car is immaculate, perfect.

[00:12:39]Have a look on this big screen.

[00:12:41]Beautiful car.

[00:12:43]Everything is clean, so I'm very happy.

[00:12:48]If you compare this car to Nissan Qashqai, for example, to CRV, to Kuga, even to Kuga, I love Kugas, but this car looks better. It's much more modern. This car looks like 2026 car. I'm very happy.

[00:13:07]>> Right, come on.

[00:13:08]>> What are you doing now?

[00:13:08]>> Sudo.

[00:13:09]>> You're doing >> Sudo. Sudo.

[00:13:12]I don't know what I've done with the keys.

[00:13:13]>> Well, you get your nails done, were you?

[00:13:14]>> Dad doesn't like them.

[00:13:17]He says he doesn't like >> See, you know, like them for >> What are you talking about?

[00:13:22]>> LOOKS LIKE >> THEY'RE ACTUALLY really nice.

[00:13:24]>> I like them.

[00:13:26]>> But you said you didn't >> No, I picked the colors.

[00:13:28]>> You picked the colors.

[00:13:29]>> I JUST SAID >> [laughter] >> YOU LOOK LIKE YOU GOT DIRTY NAILS.

[00:13:36]>> [laughter] >> I SAID IT LOOKS LIKE A >> [laughter] >> THEY LOOK AS IF MY NAILS ARE DIRTY.

[00:13:47]>> [laughter] >> I SUPPOSE THEY DO.

[00:13:53]>> RIGHT, THAT'S ALL YOUR STUFF.

[00:13:54]>> Going to be washing that.

[00:13:57]>> [snorts] >> Right, okay. Come on in. Let's show you how to start this.

[00:14:04]>> [snorts] >> Right, come on in.

[00:14:08]New car?

[00:14:09]>> A new car.

[00:14:10]You like it?

[00:14:13]I got a phone.

[00:14:15]>> [laughter] >> Happy new car.

[00:14:19]>> Thank you, son.

[00:14:19]>> Thank you.

[00:14:20]>> Right, come on in.

[00:14:24]>> Did you learn anything?

[00:14:25]Do you mean you didn't know that there's space recognition?

[00:14:28]>> All right.

[00:14:29]I didn't know it did that either.

[00:14:30]>> All right, there's that other thing there.

[00:14:31]>> Oh, sorry. Yes, I did that. Yeah. Yeah, so Yeah, watching the road. Yes. Yeah, beeps at you. Can't get away with that.

[00:14:37]There'll be an app as well that goes along with this. So, um do a bit of research on, you know, how the app works and all that kind of stuff. Okay. Yes, that'll get you going.

[00:14:48]Okay, that's just tired.

[00:14:50]All right.

[00:14:53]Okay, that's Always start in normal mode. See this is drive mode here. It's like a little jog wheel. Turn it to your left. Yeah, go and turn it to sport. Click it back to the turn it different ways. Keep going.

[00:15:10]Just turn it different ways. Yeah. You do different modes. Always start in normal mode. Even if you put it in sport mode, you [clears throat] switch it off, switch it back on again, it'll start in normal mode. All right, okay.

[00:15:17]>> So, will it come up sport mode?

[00:15:18]>> No, it comes up in the dash. Comes up in the dash. You'll never need need to touch it. Right, so you've also at the bottom there you've got different settings. You got heated seats and cooled seats as well. So your air conditioning can blow up your You know what I'm saying? It's cool.

[00:15:28]Uh heated steering wheel as well, two settings, uh low and high. Auto hold, you'll never need to touch that, don't worry about it. Parking sensors and parking camera, don't worry about them, you'll never touch it. They come on automatically, so don't worry about it.

[00:15:38]Go and twist it into reverse, if you can. Put your foot on the brake.

[00:15:46]>> Brake off.

[00:15:48]>> Get out of the car.

[00:15:49]>> [laughter] [music] >> What's that guest profile thing? What's that?

[00:16:01]The guest profile thing cuz you haven't set up correctly. It's almost like a security thing. Right, okay.

[00:16:07]Back in it. Why did you get out, Mom?

[00:16:09]>> You shouldn't get out OF THE CAR.

[00:16:11]>> [laughter] >> RIGHT, OKAY. START THAT AGAIN. OKAY.

[00:16:17]RIGHT, GO stick it in reverse. Okay.

[00:16:19]Here you go. I've never really understood the picture on it there because, you know, you can see the picture of the car. It doesn't bear the resemblance to where you're actually going, but it's quite cool.

[00:16:25]>> And it parks itself?

[00:16:27]>> Parks itself, aye. Yeah, so there'll be no No excuse for any dented bumpers or anything.

[00:16:31]>> [laughter] >> What I'm trying to say is that you've got reversing cameras and cameras and cameras and cameras, right? So you should be fine. Now see the buttons on the Go and put it into drive, Dad, if you can. Okay. See that touch screen at the other side there? See it? They're the light Go and touch them. Go and touch the different ones, yeah?

[00:16:46]Go and touch that light. Go and press that one.

[00:16:48]Okay.

[00:16:48]>> Oh, wow.

[00:16:49]>> Yeah, so it does all the different things. You can see what's behind you.

[00:16:51]There you go.

[00:16:53]>> All there.

[00:16:54]>> Yeah. Different ones. Go and press this Go and press different cameras, yeah?

[00:16:57]>> Oh, smart.

[00:16:58]>> See how See how far away you are?

[00:17:00]There's a car [snorts] There's a wee drone following you about all the time.

[00:17:03]>> That's smart.

[00:17:06]>> [laughter] >> Did you see his face? The cogs were turning in there. Absolutely rocket.

[00:17:13]>> [laughter] >> No, it's uh on the back of the um where the spoiler is over here.

[00:17:18]>> That's smart. Maybe there's no excuse for you hitting the curbs new.

[00:17:22]>> Absolutely none. Looks like great that.

[00:17:23]Look at that for you can you can reverse park to the curb reverse park to the curb. It's just a really small car, Mom.

[00:17:28]Look.

[00:17:28]>> What's that?

[00:17:29]>> Oh, yeah. That's the car.

[00:17:30]>> Oh, so it is.

[00:17:32]I can't [laughter] You're going to have fun with this thing.

[00:17:35]>> Jesus Christ.

[00:17:36]This is uh >> Dad's not going to be watching it on TV.

[00:17:39]>> Oh, crap. Yeah, you're going to be You're going to need your charger before Wednesday, I tell [laughter] you.

[00:17:44]No, no. Don't worry you're playing buttons.

[00:17:46]Right. Okay. So, you can charge your phone in the center console as well. So, uh no, no. Uh you can't I but see the the the bit that Where's your phone, Mom? You can just lay your phone down.

[00:17:54]>> Put it on there.

[00:17:55]>> There you go. Charge your phone.

[00:17:56]>> Charge your phone.

[00:17:57]>> Oh, I got I could live.

[00:18:00]>> I love that.

[00:18:02]>> Don't need cable now.

[00:18:03]>> [snorts] >> Don't need a cable. You need to play about with it.

[00:18:05]>> What would you say is the most important thing we should focus on right away?

[00:18:10]>> Just getting used to the car.

[00:18:11]>> I I mean the setting up.

[00:18:13]>> Nothing. Nothing. It's all set up for you. There's nothing you need to do. You just need your code straight on. You know, how does it feel like driving an automatic when you've been driving for a wee while?

[00:18:21]>> All right.

[00:18:21]>> Just get used to the car. All these other bits you can mess about with and get used to. You know, it's just gimmicks with anything else. For you, just treat it like a normal car. You know, just drive it like you normally would do. It is going to cost you about four quid a charge once you're all kind of set up and what not.

[00:18:36]>> [laughter] >> Right. See you later.

[00:18:39]Drive safe. All right, folks. That is the whirlwind that is my mother and father.

[00:18:45]wild. Anyway, that's our first electric car. Um we'll see This is a great experiment because those two are the most technophobe people in the world. They don't have a clue about anything. They've trusted their son with the right advice to put them cuz I think it's perfect for them, if I'm honest with you. We'll see how how they get on with it. We'll check in with them every now and again to see what they're getting on with or still trying to throttle at other. And uh yeah, great great little test out for an EV.

[00:19:15]Anyway, that's me. I'm away home. It's 5:00 now, 10:00 to 5:00 on a Saturday.

[00:19:21]We've had a good week, to be fair. A really good week. We finished on 15 for the week, which is really good considering there's just myself and Jack. And Jack played a blinder when he was on his own for a couple of days. If you could, as usual, I ask this every single week. If you like our our content, it is quite different. I appreciate that. It's wholesome. It's true. I'm not here for the content creation as such. It's more about promoting my business and the standards and the values that it goes along with that. I appreciate sometimes it's not always as sexy and YouTube-ish, but here we are. If you do like it, give us a little subscribe, comment, like, all that kind of jazz. I'll do my best to reply to any of the comments as we move forward, but that's it, guys. Have yourself a good weekend, and we'll do it all again next week. All the best.

[00:20:09]>> [music] [music]