Another question related to selling, travelling !!

[MrChipShoulder]

I've just been looking through the for sales and read quite a few post from buyers saying the travelling is too far for them, why? Just get in your car, turn your brain off and drive! Whats one day compared to the time you'd own it and enjoy it?

I used to fly model helicopters, did it for 12 years all over the country. For a model I wanted (just as fragile and hard to post as a gun) I'd drive for hours. Then you get it in the field for a few months and as model heli's do, crash it eventually ! I can tell you, crashing a 2k model heli is sole destroying and then it's almost worthless for many reasons. I'd fix it and get back flying it until the next bump, thats what you do, thats the hobby.

Guns are not like model heli's cos they don't fall out the sky and destroy them selfs! You shoot them for months or years and sell them on for almost no loss, wheres the problem, it's a hobby. The money you spent on fuel to collect is nothing when you divide it up over the hours you'd been shooting the 'collected gun'. The 'I've no time to collect' argument is also rubbish, you got the time to shoot the thing but no time to travel to get !!

I am of coarse assuming you'd be buying something rare or hard to find!

If the travelling really is a problem, make it a weekend thing, maybe with mates. Look up the local camp site and shooting club in the area you'd be collecting and turn it into a 'trip'. It's amazing how people think these days, it's no wonder hobbies are struggling.

Just my thoughts on travelling coming from someone how travelled thousands of miles for their old hobby, nothing personal.

[piggy589]

I think buyers are more than willing to travel for the right item,but the monetary and time costs involved are foremost in their minds.

[Shed tuner]

yeah, £40 of fuel and a few hours of time (say also £40) might be only 5% of the value of a £2k helicoptor, but it's more like 25% uplift on the average gun... suddenly you are at virtually "buying it new" prices...

Also guns are really not that fragile.. with sensible packing, I've never had a problem buying or selling several 100 guns.

And no, I've got no time to shoot either, so what little time I have can't be wasted driving around the country. Plus I hate driving

[bighit]

Not every one that shoots drive's. Trains cost a fortune too . What if you get there and it's not worth the asking price nevermind the travelling costs ? yes you can take a few pics but not all blemishes will show on pics . I tried to show all the marks on my rifle but the camera did not pick them all up but I could see them clearly by my mark 1 eyeball.

Wont be the first time a buyer has driven to pick up a rifle and find its already sold or the seller did not even show up .

I travelled from my home to Inverness with my mate to buy a rifle as I don't drive. .The seller on here is well known and I trusted his word and it was correct. The rifle was almost brand new despite being made in 1991. It cost me nothing in fuel as my mate drove me and his company paid the fuel costs ( he was allowed to fill his car on the fuel card for getting to work).


It could have ended up the other way .

[Tony.T]

Difficult one really.
I used to live near to Gatwick and a Guy I bought a gun form delivered it on his way to the airport- at 5 in the morning- I asked him to leave it in the wheelie bin outside!

I even drove a little way up the M1 a few years ago to meet someone in a layby, and more recently just down the A25/A264 near Tunbridge wells to meet in another layby. What is it about layby's that attract gun owners? (no replies please )

Now I live in Cornwall there's very few guns for sale nearby so driving is not an option, mileage is to far. I only ever buy from people willing to post.

[bighit]

Difficult one really.
I used to live near to Gatwick and a Guy I bought a gun form delivered it on his way to the airport- at 5 in the morning- I asked him to leave it in the wheelie bin outside!

I even drove a little way up the M1 a few years ago to meet someone in a layby, and more recently just down the A25/A264 near Tunbridge wells to meet in another layby. What is it about layby's that attract gun owners? (no replies please )

Now I live in Cornwall there's very few guns for sale nearby so driving is not an option. I only ever buy from people willing tpo post.

I handed over a green military wooden crate plus £50 and received a .22lr rifle in a TESCO car park in Inverness .

It was an ex army metal detector in the crate and not some stinger missiles

[bootneckbob]

Oh well now you put it like that I'll ask the mrs if she's okay with me spending £140 quid (that we don't have) on fuel and spending the weekend on the road leaving her without the car or me for that matter. Still she'll be okay as she's got the animals to walk and feed.

There's a really nice rifle that I would like for sale at the mo but as I'm in North Devon and it is up in Leeds with a genuine 20 hrs non stop and no traffic (which is just impossible) I'm affraid it is just would really like. Other people may have the money, time and freedom and good luck to them. I remember those days.......

Actually before we were married and lived in Cheltenham with me and her on decent money I did do a fair bit of driving for rifles; buying and selling. Laybys and Motorway services; great for arms dealing.

[secretagentmole]

We have been over to Gloucester for a Super 10, the Lake District for an X2, sold a Hatsan 60 in Wrexham (we were visiting my sister at the time though), did London, and Leicester in a big loop in a day, selling an HW100, getting a Prosport and XS19 and cash, selling the Prosport in Leicester Forest East services in front of the traffic cops, and going back to Lynn,

[Rich]

HMRC allow 45p per mile as a legit travelling expense.

If I charged myself that it would mean £90 return just to go and look at a rifle only a hundred miles away. Having committed that much it would be quite difficult not to buy it.

[johnbaz]

I was offered a pristine Acvoke for £200 but it meant a trip from Sheffield up to Newcastle (Or somewhere near there), Now I hate driving so much that I almost can't be bothered to make the journey to work which is only 8 miles away!!

I wish now that I had driven up as I would have had two lovely Acvoke pistols now!!


John

[don1971]

HMRC allow 45p per mile as a legit travelling expense.

If I charged myself that it would mean £90 return just to go and look at a rifle only a hundred miles away. Having committed that much it would be quite difficult not to buy it.

What do HMRC rates have to do with the price of fish? 45ppm is for the first 10k only, and is used to take into account insurance, tax, depreciation, wear, servicing, and fuel. Beyond 10k it’s a lot less, and covers fuel and wear only. This is aside from the fact HMRC rates of 45p are for work, not leisure activities.

If you are already an owner/driver of a vehicle, the cost to go and collect/meet for a private purchase is fuel plus about 5%. Anything other than this is cloud cuckoo land.

[secretagentmole]

People, it is not just about a gun, load the family up, have a day out, a nice road trip.
Make it a day out.

From the sales section on these pages I picked up a Hortista for £375, cost £40 for fuel, £415 for a £600 gun....
I lost nothing.... Sureshot are treating it like I won it in the first place so any warranty work is covered.

[Rich]

What do HMRC rates have to do with the price of fish? 45ppm is for the first 10k only, and is used to take into account insurance, tax, depreciation, wear, servicing, and fuel. Beyond 10k it’s a lot less, and covers fuel and wear only. This is aside from the fact HMRC rates of 45p are for work, not leisure activities.

If you are already an owner/driver of a vehicle, the cost to go and collect/meet for a private purchase is fuel plus about 5%. Anything other than this is cloud cuckoo land.

Don't be daft. A car isn't any cheaper to run for leisure use than business.

And do the sums for yourself - add up the cost of servicing and repairs and consumables such as tyres and so on, even if you want to see tax and insurance as fixed items. Then divide that over the mileage. I've just changed my car as the cost of servicing and repairs in the last two years came to £2,300 over 15,000 miles, which was about the same amount as I paid for diesel. That's over 30p a mile on its own.

How about you have your car on a PCP deal where you pay extra for mileage above the contract, typically 8p per mile plus the fuel. That's not 5 percent.

I should not have given this analogy; it's obviously too hard to follow.

[angrybear]

I agree with the OP, subject to price, obviously fuel cost has to be considered but if you already own, tax & insure the vehicle then it's fuel cost alone as far as I'm concerned.

I drove up to Southport from west of Exeter for a tool cabinet off the bay, £600 so airgun type money, easy up & down in a day £80 ish in fuel.
In the past I've gone up to Shrewsbury, Derby & Sheffield with a trailer to collect quads again easy up & down in a day.

If you want it, you'll travel for it, if you're not prepared to travel then you obviously don't want it enough.

Honestly I think it's just that some people have never done that sort of driving/traveling & are frankly a bit scared of a 500 mile round trip.

[Rich]

You might be right in some cases, that they are put off from long journeys. My daily commute used to be 136 miles. I'm glad not to have that any more.

You can't dismiss costs other than fuel though. Moving things wear out.