WHAT’S in a word?

IT’S TIME TO BE AWARE OF WHAT A BUSINESS MEANS WHEN IT SAYS BOUTIQUE

You have recently heard the word “boutique” describing an investment bank, childcare and pensioner flats. You thought a boutique was a small shop selling fashionable clothes and accessories. Just what does a business mean when it describes itself as boutique? “Boutique” is the go-to word now to describe so many businesses and services that it’s almost lost all meaning. The word was originally a French one meaning shop. In the 1960s, the word crossed over to English, meaning a very small shop selling fashionable clothes, shoes, jewellery etc.

But there is also an alternative meaning of boutique, which is a business that serves a sophisticated and specialised clientele. This will be the meaning that investment banks, childcare centres and pensioner-flat owners are striving for. While some of these operations may have set up a sector of their business serving sophisticated and specialised clientele, I suspect most use this rather lovely word more for effect than anything else. Some may simply mean they are generally smaller and more agile operations. The word boutique has clearly evolved into something with less specific meaning that the consumer needs to be concerned about.

You are selling your late father’s effects, which include a little car trailer. You assume you can’t just find a buyer, take the money and wave it goodbye. What must you do to ensure the sale of the trailer is legal?

All light car trailers must be registered and licensed. So you will need to find the registration papers or arrange new ones. Selling a trailer on an “as is where is” basis is wise if you don’t know much about it. If you are not sure what is and isn’t working, especially with regards to the lights, tell the buyers. If you aren’t sure if the tyres need replacing, say so. The trailer should have a WOF issued no more than a month before the exchange of the vehicle to the new purchaser. However, if there is a current warrant but it’s more than a month old, you may sell as long as you have written confirmation from the buyer that they accept the warrant of fitness was issued more than a month ago. If the trailer has no current WOF, you can sell it if the buyers give you, in writing, an undertaking that they won’t take the trailer on the road except to get a warrant.