sharkbait

We are straying OT though – in business there’s def a fine line between having a nice car and taking the pish.

Well thank you, that’s kind of all I was saying. I drive past the place every day and it always makes me think.

Some people must be really bored at work today, what a crap thread!

euans2 – Member

Some people must be really bored at work today, what a crap thread!

What a great contribution. Thanks.

Private plates serve no purpose other than vanity, therefore shallow and self centred.

Private plates serve no purpose other than vanity, therefore shallow and self centred.

We used to have a car in for repair and the plate was GAY 69. What does that say about the owner?

Man makes big money with his company and buys nice motor. Fair play to him.

I turned a builder away who turned up in a brand new merc van without a quote as his prices would be to high for me as I know how much they cost.

How very odd. By this logic you wouldn’t get into a Mercedes taxi, despite the fact that the driver may well have saved up to buy something that will be reliable, not spend days in the workshop and will get his / her passengers to their destination safely.

Said builder will also presumably be able to turn up to do his job as he has a reliable van. Additionally, if he appreciates good quality workmanship in his transport he may well provide good quality workmanship himself.

You deserve a Trabant as a taxi.

cranberry – Member

It is a shame Brits don’t more often think “wow he must pay for a whole load of nurses and teachers each year”. 😀 😉 I see what you did there !

Junkyard – Member

I turned a builder away who turned up in a brand new merc van without a quote as his prices would be to high for me as I know how much they cost.
Prejudice for sure but that money has to come from their customers

Given that a brand new van is likely to be leased, the Merc might only cost £150 a month or £5 a day more than a Transit. Maybe he did charge an extra £5 a day to fund his lavish taste in vehicles, or maybe he was just good at his job and always busy!

How very STW….

Whenever I see a owning of a hand car ash I think I wonder what area of organised crime they are involved in and laundering the money for.

The MD where I used to work insisted that he paid nearly £600 a month for a car because ‘it is expected’. Claimed he wouldn’t have it otherwise. It was there only to park on the pavement outside the window when new clients arrived, with the keys laid out on the meeting room table. He had no real interest in cars.

Mind you, almost every client would turn up flash cars, so maybe he had a point. Senior management is a really odd and quite shallow world.

So much angst about other peoples wealth.
nothing better to worry about?

I wish I did not care like you …swoons

By this logic you wouldn’t get into a Mercedes taxi,

Yes that is exactly what it means Sherlock

It in no way means I would expect to pay more in a Mercedes taxi than the Trabant and thanks for the logic lesson.

Yes it might only cost that more then again you might just have made up the figures to labour your point….how very STW 😉

Found a pertinent quote in the Sunday Times this morning…

No man has a right to be respected for any other possessions, but those of virtue and talents.

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Finance/article1617629.ece

Found a pertinent quote in the Sunday Times this morning…

No man has a right to be respected for any other possessions, but those of virtue and talents.
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Finance/article1617629.ece

Get you and your flash Sunday Times subscription, parking it round here for us all to see…

Junkyard – you do realise that a Crafter is just a Sprinter with another badge right? You normally come across as quite sensible but that really is the most ridiculous thing I’ve read on here in a while for all the reasons already given.

As for the Bentley driver, wonder what his other business interests include?

It was a merc van

IMHO the person with the most expensive van is the one that has the largest overheads and therefore has to charge the most for their goods/labour.

you are free to find this thinking ludicrous and , for example, buy from the LBS rather than the internet as overheads wont make any difference to pricing

Found a pertinent quote in the Sunday Times this morning…

No man has a right to be respected for any other possessions, but those of virtue and talents.

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/business/Finance/article1617629.ece

I absolutely agree, that why i’d rather get to know someone rather than judge them on what they look like or what they drive…..

Saw a plasterer’s van yesterday with a private plate – SKIIM OK 😀

Junkyard – you do realise that a Crafter is just a Sprinter with another badge right?

And a different engine. [/pedantmode]
Sorry, as you were.

The bloke that owns our local car wash turns up in a Porsche Panamera. He has lots of car washes and probably other businesses too.

On a different level I used to get snide comments about turning up in a reasonably nice 4×4 pick-up, rather than a van. I point out that it’s also a family vehicle and that no-one would bat an eyelid if I had a transit van and a nice car sat on the drive probably costing more in total, before punching them on the nose and telling them to mind their own business – the last bit may be made up

IMHO the person with the most expensive van is the one that has the largest overheads and therefore has to charge the most for their goods/labour.

Or they are good at their job, have enough work to afford a newer vehicle and cannot afford reliability issues associated with an old nail of a van. If it’s clean maybe it also shows they also take pride in their workmanship.
I’m looking out of my office window at the farm next door – they farm their own land and are contractors also. Every evening you can see them jet washing their [very very expensive] tractors even though the next morning they’ll be out in the fields again. Why do they do it? Because it shows that they care about their equipment and, by association, their work. It’s all about projecting the right image.
There are times though that you can go too far and project the wrong image.

If they can afford the newer vehicle it because they are making more money . They make their money from customers
I prefer not to help them

Do as you please in the same scenario but lets not pretend the more expensive vehicle costs are not passed on to customers.

I absolutely agree, that why i’d rather get to know someone rather than judge them on what they look like or what they drive…..

The rest of the article basically calls anyone who buys flash cars etc shallow and talks about all the great philanthropists who travel modestly but give millions (and in some cases billions) to charities…

Basically if you feel the need to even own a Bentley with custom plates, you’re a knob.

They make their money from customers
I prefer not to help them

Good work = more customers = more money
Poor work = less customers = less money (or maybe overcharging to compensate for lower number of customers)

Junkyard – lazarus
If they can afford the newer vehicle it because they are making more money . They make their money from customers
I prefer not to help them

Do as you please in the same scenario but lets not pretend the more expensive vehicle costs are not passed on to customers.

Who decides what is allowed? If he turns up in a new transit, should be be turned away for not driving a 20 year old one? If he has a 20 year old one, should be not be turned away for not having a rickshaw?

Everyone makes money from their customers – do you go to work for free? Should your employers customers not object to the fact that you earn enough to have a roof over your head and own a bicycle?

That really is one of the most ignorant things I have ever read on STW and that is saying something!

sharkbait

Good work = more customers = more money

*Exploiting immigrant workers = lower labour costs = more money.

*He may not be exploiting those Romanians but they all walk to and from work and appear to pull 12 hour shifts 7 days a week.

They make their money from customers
I prefer not to help them

this is the best logic I’ve seen on here since tandemjeremy said marketing didnt work on him!

I prefer my tradesmen to project a professional image, and part of that is the sense that the business is doing well, making a reasonable margin, with happy customers. Rather that than some cowboy in a three wheel van!

Junky – much as I love you, and envy your luxurious locks and superior dietary choices, you can tell one thing for absolute sure from your van-related comments on this thread…

You’ve never run a business.

And please, for your own benefit, and for the sake of keeping a roof over your own head, never ever ever contemplate doing so 😀

djglover

I prefer my tradesmen to project a professional image, and part of that is the sense that the business is doing well, making a reasonable margin, with happy customers. Rather that than some cowboy in a three wheel van!

How much so though? What if your tradesman arrived in a Brabus G700, wearing a Brioni suit and a Breitling Bentley BO5 watch.

For me, no limit. He may have other income streams or have saved up. I would judge based on his quote, how he came across and previous customers satisfaction.

I couldnt care less what he turned up in, but alarm bells would ring if it was a tatty old van with bald tyres.

When I used to go out to client it was a case by case decision whether to take my company car (BMW 320, nothing super fancy) or borrow one of my teams older/cheaper/smaller cars.

When negotiating fees, some clients would say “well that’s why you’re driving a BMW” whilst others would think you’re unsuccessful and small fry if you turned up in a 10 year old Ka. Superficial, but it *could* be a factor with certain businesses.

Personally I don’t give a stuff. Transactions like paying for a car wash are a value call. If it’s too much I’ll go somewhere else. Car choice of owners is not on the list.

*Exploiting immigrant workers = lower labour costs = more money.

*He may not be exploiting those Romanians but they all walk to and from work and appear to pull 12 hour shifts 7 days a week
My statement was in reply to Junkyard’s ‘interesting’ theory only.

*He may not be exploiting those Romanians but they all walk to and from work and appear to pull 12 hour shifts 7 days a week.

Are they there through choice?

Who decides what is allowed?

the customer at that point and perhaps I should have said excessive for clarity as of course they all make money from customers.
Still the point remains the higher the overheads the higher the fees required to recoup these.

YOu can do as you please and so can I I dont care what other dont and am not calling them names even though I disagree

I prefer my tradesmen to project a professional image, and part of that is the sense that the business is doing well, making a reasonable margin, with happy customers. Rather that than some cowboy in a three wheel van!

Damn if only there was some point between brand new merc van and knackered old three wheeler for me to use for picking the builder

Thanks for the logic lesson though 🙄

You’ve never run a business.

And please, for your own benefit, and for the sake of keeping a roof over your own head, never ever ever contemplate doing so

I hear you and the productivity would be so low and the profits so non existent its a no brainer.
Christ that company would go under, once i had invested my inheritance in all the car washes, before the I had time to insure the private reg Bentley . Still at least I would be ok still living at home with my folks.I learnt this business sense from this thread 😉

I have to say I am very surprised it has raised the shackles of so many people. Its pretty obvious a high overhead company [ expensive new van] has high overheads and that the customers are paying these.

You are all free to have your milk delivered in rollers and have your window cleaner drive a private plate Jag if you wish but i would be looking for the fella with a ladder and some shoes

YMMV but i fail to see why its so controversial or “interesting”

Jimjam – sharkbait was replying in the context of the tradesman turning up in a merc van, not the car wash owner.

Sharkbait – nail, head.

Junkyard – hilariously your argument doesn’t really hold water, a three grand price difference (at the lower end, only a grand at the top) or twenty quid a month on hire purchase is all that separates a Vito and a Transit custom, hardly the end of the world when you consider the time it would take write it off. You’re talking about the price of some pointless n+1 bike or a wood burner that so many folk seemingly find the ‘need’ for.

Yes you are right a brand new merc van is not more expensive than a second hand 10 year old transit

Forgive me me maths fail there

You are all free to have your milk delivered in rollers and have your window cleaner drive a private plate Jag if you wish but i would be looking for the fella with a ladder and some shoes

Personally I think the shoes are an unnecessary extravagance.

😆

Chapeau and a genuine belly laugh from me

Yes you are right a brand new merc van is not more expensive than a second hand 10 year old transit

A brand new merc van will probably keep running 365 days a year, but the second hand, 10 year old transit probably won’t.

The second hand, 10 year old transit will thus be considerably more expensive, as while its costing you money to fix, its also losing you business, and depriving you of your income stream. So its a double hit every time.

Now I’m going to go a bit further and say that not only should you never ever start a business, its probably best that you’re never ever put in charge of making any major budgeting/investment decisions either 😀

Junky, say there was a tradesman who had an old van (so therefore you would employ his services) but it finally rusted away/died, so he got a brand new van on HP ….. presumably you would no longer use him?