Cash may not be king for too much longer

It looks like the phrase ‘what’s the best deal for cash’ may shortly disappear from the vocabulary of the smaller car dealer as HMRC looks to have independent car dealers firmly in their sights as prime candidates for tax avoidance.

They are beginning a purge on those who handle sums of cash and do not pay tax on it and the revenue insists it is cheated out of millions each year by smaller car traders or ‘one man bands’ who sell predominantly from small pitches or trade from their houses.

The problem is, as anyone who has been in the trade a long time will tell you, anyone with a digital camera, an auction account and some space to store cars along with a few quid of capital can set up and sell cars to unsuspecting members of the public and subsequently give the rest of us a bad name.

The other aspect, and again this is in no way directed at the legitimate car dealer however small, is when you get people who operate outside the rules they will often not be to scrupulous about what cars they sell and, crucially, whether they have the right provenance. As long as they can make a quick buck they’re happy.

The bottom line is, as long as the right people are targeted the genuine should have nothing to worry about and if there are a few less of these ‘dodgy dealers’ after the clampdown then all the better for the rest of us who do want to do the job properly.