Is there money in used cars?

great advice · 27 Mar 2006 at 19:05

Firestar_3x said:
Unless you do an insurance backed warranty scheme, build that into the price of the cars then its not your problem

All that kind of stuff isnt as expensive as you would think. 3 months RAC warrenty (almost useless IIRC) and 48 hours drive home insurance is only £60 per car up to the value of £25k thats with Black Horse again.

I get returns, moaners and all the usual pain in the kneck problems you get with selling any product at the moment so im used to all that now

penski · 27 Mar 2006 at 19:16

I found three £1 notes folded neatly into squares when I stripped the rear seat out the Shuv...

*n

IainB · 27 Mar 2006 at 19:57

An interesting topic, dabbled with this a few years back - not on a huge scale, usually buying for myself and selling on again after a couple of months.
From looking at a few of the used car lots around here there is a market for the first car niche - something cheap and cheerful to get someone on the road, the middle / upper end is well taken care of.
Im quite sure if I started popping down the auctions again I could do a 25 to 50% increase on the purchase price - but then I would be selling from home and not premises

Kitchster_uk · 27 Mar 2006 at 22:39

I used to work for a second hand car dealer and have bought and sold the odd thing myself. Yes there is lots of money, you just need to be legit, buy glass's guide every month and hang around auction halls picking stuff up.

Extensive knowledge is preferable - research is also a good idea. Know your limits and stick to them - things get expensive othewise.

Just as a marker, look at unusual stuff. Bought an R plate 158k miles scorpio 2.3 auto Ghia with another member a while back and that shifted for £850 on ebay - no leather or alloys either.

The_Dark_Side · 27 Mar 2006 at 23:23

@ the OP
i find it odd that you would rather not reveal too much about yourself and your finances and consequently you'd rather not answer questions like these:-

The_Dark_Side said:
how much of a percentage of your income do you want this to provide?
how much capital do you want to invest?
how much effort do you intend to dedicate to this side of your business?

then you go on to say you are about to rent an old dealership AND that you can easily make an extra £500-£750 per week simply by increasing your hours at work, clearly indicating that you're wealthy.
seems a tad contradictory to me but hey ho.

to be honest to pull more than a grand a week profit is going to take a fairly high level of commitment both financially and in terms of occupying your time.
if you can increase your income by the amount above by merely working more hours then i'd be going down that route.
as Fox said, to sell expensive looking cars you need expensive looking premises, you need staff, backup etc and alll of these take money to setup and run thus cutting your profit margin per sale.

Maz · 27 Mar 2006 at 23:57

No money in used cars.

Replicant · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:04

IainB said:
An interesting topic, dabbled with this a few years back - not on a huge scale, usually buying for myself and selling on again after a couple of months.
From looking at a few of the used car lots around here there is a market for the first car niche - something cheap and cheerful to get someone on the road, the middle / upper end is well taken care of.
Im quite sure if I started popping down the auctions again I could do a 25 to 50% increase on the purchase price - but then I would be selling from home and not premises

The problem i can see with auctions though is that clearly there's going to be plenty of traders about who shift 10+ cars per week and are prepared to operate on high volume low profit margins, so for the average buyer looking to make a profit you'd need to have the right people in your back pocket as mentioned previously, and obviously the cars are sold as seen and you could end up with a lemon.

great advice · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:12

The_Dark_Side said:
@ the OP
i find it odd that you would rather not reveal too much about yourself and your finances and consequently you'd rather not answer questions like these:-

then you go on to say you are about to rent an old dealership AND that you can easily make an extra £500-£750 per week simply by increasing your hours at work, clearly indicating that you're wealthy.
seems a tad contradictory to me but hey ho.

to be honest to pull more than a grand a week profit is going to take a fairly high level of commitment both financially and in terms of occupying your time.
if you can increase your income by the amount above by merely working more hours then i'd be going down that route.
as Fox said, to sell expensive looking cars you need expensive looking premises, you need staff, backup etc and alll of these take money to setup and run thus cutting your profit margin per sale.

Im renting the old dealership anyways, thats why ive looked into selling used cars. Ill be using half to expand my current business interests and my brother who is well know in the area as being a legend of a mechanic, will be going full time as a mechanic in the building so it was on the cards anyway

Saying £500-700 isnt a lot of money to me is wrong, it is but i can earn that by expanding my hours as it is (id sooner not though but im not willing to take a big risk like this if i can just get the cash by working harder at what im doing.). Im not giving too much away in saying that, its no secret i have two rather pricey cars and there are members here who have been to my house (another OCUK pleb is coming down this weekend

). So my financial status is not a secret to a certain extent, id just prefer to keep as much as i can to myself

cymatty · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:28

great advice said:
(another OCUK pleb is coming down this weekend ).

Who would that be then.

The_Dark_Side · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:33

great advice said:
EDIT

to be honest, unless you like to take risks and can afford to do so on a scale involving relatively expensive motor cars, i'd be putting extra hours in at work.

great advice · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:41

cymatty said:
Who would that be then.

cymatty · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:44

great advice said:
[IMG

Not me then i have had a hair cut.

djbenjo · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:46

great advice said:
Ill be renting an old Rover dealership (for another use) from September so i have plenty of time to think about it if im honest - it might be just a pipe dream at the moment

Ooh what you doing up there?

great advice · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:47

cymatty said:
Not me then i have had a hair cut.

Have you got rid of the mutton chops too?

Looks like ill be skint soon anyways, the fraud squad are clamping down on moody blue peter badges, they are my biggest seller :cool:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4848670.stm

cymatty · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:48

great advice said:
Have you got rid of the mutton chops too?

You shall see on sat.

great advice · 28 Mar 2006 at 00:49

djbenjo said:
Ooh what you doing up there?

You know which one

the furniture shop has to be out by August and ill be moving in September - gunna be a showroom and workshop for my guitar business. Whilst my bro will be using all the car stuff to fix up old 200sx's that have rusted away

He;s gunna be building hyde park corners new demo car too :cool:

jpmonkey69 · 26 Apr 2006 at 08:23

I found £1.17 in my car when I bought it!

Whenever I remember it I snicker to myself, as the guy didn't want to take less than £1900 for the car.

He took 1898.83 because of that. I did text him to let him know when I got home.

So yes... SOMETIMES there is money in used cars.

/sorry

Sputnik II · 26 Apr 2006 at 10:09

jpmonkey69 said:
I found £1.17 in my car when I bought it!

I sold an Import to a friend and within a few days he pulled the ashtray out and found a big stash of japanese bank notes behind it :mad:

EddScott · 26 Apr 2006 at 10:27

Personally I believe there is if done properly. I am off to the local car auctions to see what is available. I recently sold our R reg Astra and it went in a few days being parked outside work in the town square. Its private land so the car won't be moved on by the police.

The intention is to buy a few cheap £500 cars, clean them up and sell them for £800+. Some I'll make on, some I'll break even. The point is to buy cheap cars that every body wants. Go out with a few £Ks and buy a bunch of imports nobody wants and nobody can insure.

Buy cheap boring cars that suit the masses. I'm looking at doing maybe one a month.

My concern is that how you work the V5? Do I put it in my name and sell it straight away. The conversation is going to come round to why I have bought the car and am now selling. I would then by obliged to tell the buyer its from an auction which will put off some people as they may think I'm trying to get rid becuase its knackered. Also the question of insurance is an issue. I can't keep the Astra insurance going and its going to cost me every new car I get to insure it whilst in my possession.

Just be aware that if the tax man cometh and you haven't declared the earnings, your in the poo.

Sputnik II · 26 Apr 2006 at 10:38

EddScott said:
Also the question of insurance is an issue. I can't keep the Astra insurance going and its going to cost me every new car I get to insure it whilst in my possession.

Just be aware that if the tax man cometh and you haven't declared the earnings, your in the poo.

You need to get a traders insurance policy that will cover you to drive any car.
There is money in used cars but, you win some and lose some. A friend of mine started trading in cars with £2000, he made a living out of it for 2 years before the rent on the showroom got too high and he couldn't continue.