30 Years as an Independent Used Car Dealer in Suffolk: What We've Learned
30 years as an independent dealer in Suffolk
By Caroline Shield
In 1996, Simon Shield borrowed some money from his father-in-law, found a small site in Great Bricett, Suffolk, and started selling used cars.
His father-in-law's expression at the time, Simon recalls, was roughly that of a man who didn't expect to see that money again.
He got it back. And this year, Simon Shield Cars turns 30.
To mark the anniversary, Simon sat down with James Baggott and Jon Reay on the Car Dealer magazine Podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve5Bfx4UNCo&t=395sto talk about three decades in the used car trade - what's changed, what hasn't, and what he'd tell himself if he could go back to the beginning. You can watch the full conversation on YouTube, and it's well worth an hour of your time.
Here are the things that stuck with us most.
Staying Small Was the Smartest Decision We Ever Made
One of the first questions Simon was asked was whether he'd ever wanted to scale up. The answer was no and he explained why better than I ever could.
"Going from stocking 20 cars to stocking 100 cars doesn't earn you any more money."
We've watched dealers try it. The overheads scale up faster than the profits. The stress scales up faster than the reward. And somewhere along the way, the thing that made the business good in the first place - the personal touch, the careful buying, the genuine relationship with customers - gets lost in the machinery of running something bigger.
Simon and I have always been the only two people here. No sales team. No machine to feed. That means we don't have to buy 20 cars on a Monday because we sold 20 on Saturday. We buy when the right car comes along, from the right person, at the right price. It keeps the quality up and the stress manageable. Most of the time.
Why Buying Right Matters More Than Selling Well
Simon is, by his own admission, terribly fussy about what he stocks. It's the thing he's proudest of and the thing that causes him the most headaches.
Since COVID, the sourcing landscape has changed dramatically. Main dealers, who used to be a reliable source of quality part exchanges, now retail their own older and higher-mileage stock rather than passing it on. Auction stock has become harder to justify: too much uncertainty, too much preparation cost, too thin a margin once you've spent what needs spending.
So we've moved almost entirely to buying used cars privately - from people who know us, from repeat customers, from part exchanges, from word of mouth. It means we sell fewer cars than we used to roughly half the volume of ten years ago. But we get to the end of the year having made the same money, because we're not haemorrhaging margin on cars that needed more work than we paid for.
The lesson: if you know your stock inside out - if you've met the person who drove it, seen the service history, understood the provenance - you're in a far stronger position to sell it with confidence. And confidence is catching.
If you have a car you're thinking of selling privately in Suffolk or the surrounding area, we'd love to hear from you.
The Late 1990s Were the Golden Era — And We Didn't Know It
Every dealer over a certain age says the same thing, and Simon is no different. The late 90s and very early 2000s were, looking back, the sweetest period to be in the trade.
Cars were relatively straightforward to buy and to fix. Advertising meant a call from the rep at the East Anglian Daily Times once a week - half an hour, a cup of tea, three cars in and three cars out and the phone rang on Saturday. Simple.
Now, advertising one car properly - photographs, walkaround video, AutoTrader listing, social media, website - takes the best part of two hours. The reach is incomparably better. But the workload is incomparably heavier. (Which is where I come in. Simon handles the cars. I handle everything else.)
What Simon said that really landed: "You kind of wonder what you did with all your time previously." The answer, probably, is that you enjoyed it a bit more.
How Customer Expectations Have Changed in 30 Years
Customer expectations have shifted beyond recognition, and not entirely for the worse. People know their rights now. They research before they visit. They read reviews. They watch walkaround videos before they've even picked up the phone. The days of turning up to a forecourt and taking whatever you were told are long gone.
That's mostly a good thing. It means the dealers who do things properly - who invest in their reputation, who put the work into every listing, who stand behind what they sell - are rewarded for it in a way they simply weren't 30 years ago.
Simon's view is that dealers have broadly got more professional over the years, and that reviews and social media have been the driving force. A strong Google rating and a solid AutoTrader profile say things about a dealer that no amount of advertising ever could.
There are still bad actors, of course. Simon's position and it's one we hold firmly, is that the industry should require formal licensing to trade. No qualification, no forecourt. It would raise standards across the board and give customers the baseline protection they deserve.
The Best Era for Used Cars: 2000–2017
Ask Simon what era of car he'd most want to sell and the answer comes quickly: somewhere in the 2000s through to about 2017.
Good technology that actually worked. Decent engines, proper gearboxes, none of the over-engineered complexity that makes modern cars so expensive to diagnose and repair. Cars that a good independent workshop could get to grips with. Cars that gave you the information you needed without making you feel like you needed a software engineering degree to turn the radio on.
He's just bought himself a new Lexus. He can barely work the radio.
Cars have absolutely improved in terms of reliability and longevity, Simon would be the first to say so. But the cost of fixing them when they do go wrong has risen steeply. The technology is better. The bills are bigger. If you're buying a used car in Suffolk and wondering which era of vehicle offers the best balance of reliability and running costs, it's worth having that conversation with us before you decide.
Thirty Years. Same Site. Same Values.
Simon has been on the same plot of land in Great Bricett, Suffolk, for the entirety of those 30 years - roughly 100 metres from the main gate of a military airfield, which means army traffic is a regular feature of the view.
It's not a glamorous location. It doesn't need to be. What matters is that when someone drives through the gate, from Ipswich, from Stowmarket, from Needham Market, from further afield - they're buying from people who care about what they're selling. Who've been doing this since before most of their customers had a driving licence. Who still gets excited about a well-maintained car with a good history and a clean bill of health.
"All we've ever wanted to do," Simon said, "is make a living out of the job. Do it properly."
Thirty years in, that's still the plan.
Watch the Full Conversation
Simon's interview with James Baggott and Jon Reay on the Car Dealer Magazine podcast is well worth watching in full. He talks honestly about the realities of running an independent used car dealership in today's market - the challenges, the changes, and why he still wouldn't have it any other way.
📺 Watch on Youtube
And if you're looking for a handpicked used car in Suffolk — from someone with 30 years of very fussy buying behind him — you know where we are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why buy from an independent used car dealer rather than a franchise or supersite? With a family-run independent like Simon Shield Cars, you're dealing directly with the owner — someone whose reputation depends on every single sale. There's no sales team with monthly targets, no pressure, and no cars bought cheaply at auction to hit a volume quota. Every car we sell is one we've handpicked and are happy to put our name to.
How does Simon Shield Cars source its used cars? Almost exclusively through private sellers, part exchanges, and main agent contacts - not from auctions. This means we know the history of every car we stock: who drove it, how it was maintained, and why it's being sold. That provenance is something you simply can't get from auction-sourced stock.
Does Simon Shield Cars sell cars outside of Suffolk? Yes. While we're based in Great Bricett, we regularly sell to customers from across Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, and beyond. Many buyers are happy to travel for the right car from a dealer they can trust.
How long has Simon Shield Cars been trading? Since 1996 - making us one of Suffolk's longest-established independent used car dealerships. Simon has been on the same site in Great Bricett for all 30 of those years.
Can I sell my car to Simon Shield Cars? Yes - we're always interested in hearing about privately owned, well-maintained used cars. Get in touch and Simon will have a conversation with you about it.
Simon Shield Cars — Family-run, Great Bricett, Suffolk, since 1996. Handpicked used cars sourced privately. Honest advice. No hard sell.
Contact us: 07702 410254