Anyone dabble with buying and selling cars?

[D1on]

So a few questions....
Where do you source the cars from? What profit do you like to see from a car? And do you do it from home?...

[anonymous-user]

I think this was asked recently about flipping cars but you need to know what you really want to do first.

Do you want to maintain gardens, be a motorbike mechanic or car dealer?

[Trevor555]

D1on said:

So a few questions....
Where do you source the cars from? What profit do you like to see from a car? And do you do it from home?...

We all started somewhere, myself and a few others started off from home, but 24 years ago now for me.

It's a very different game nowadays, you can't just go to an auction anymore and pick out a few nice cars, many closed to the public, and prices are sky high for the nice stuff.

The hardest part of the job is finding nice cars, the selling bit is really easy.

You'll be able to start off without registering for VAT until you reach the threshold, then it's 20% of your margin straight to the VAT man/lady

I know a few people who trade from home, all good as long as you're selling proper cars.

For trade insurance nowadays you'll have to prove to them you're actually trading, same with applying for trade plates.

I'll guess margins will be tight these days for run of the mill stuff, if you want a bigger margin you'll have to buy rare cars, or very low mileage cars that some will pay the premium for.

I used to source very low mileage Z3's, my mates said "you'll never draw £.... for that!!"

I always did, but had to wait for the right buyer to come along.

If I was to start up again now I'd buy ultra low mileage stuff from the 1990's up to mid 2000's..

There's always someone out there who wants to relive their youth in a car they used to own, and they often have the money to pay the premium asked.

One last thing, doing it from home, it could annoy the neighbours.

[D1on]

Trevor555 said:

We all started somewhere, myself and a few others started off from home, but 24 years ago now for me.

It's a very different game nowadays, you can't just go to an auction anymore and pick out a few nice cars, many closed to the public, and prices are sky high for the nice stuff.

The hardest part of the job is finding nice cars, the selling bit is really easy.

You'll be able to start off without registering for VAT until you reach the threshold, then it's 20% of your margin straight to the VAT man/lady

I know a few people who trade from home, all good as long as you're selling proper cars.

For trade insurance nowadays you'll have to prove to them you're actually trading, same with applying for trade plates.

I'll guess margins will be tight these days for run of the mill stuff, if you want a bigger margin you'll have to buy rare cars, or very low mileage cars that some will pay the premium for.

I used to source very low mileage Z3's, my mates said "you'll never draw £.... for that!!"

I always did, but had to wait for the right buyer to come along.

If I was to start up again now I'd buy ultra low mileage stuff from the 1990's up to mid 2000's..

There's always someone out there who wants to relive their youth in a car they used to own, and they often have the money to pay the premium asked.

One last thing, doing it from home, it could annoy the neighbours.

Great reply! I'll take note. Thank you

[Puzzles]

With rights, warranties, finance etc I’d have thought you’d want a decent turnover to make it worth it.

[ingenieur]

Puzzles said:

With rights, warranties, finance etc I’d have thought you’d want a decent turnover to make it worth it.

I'd imagine you'd want to be selling 20 to 30 cars a month to be able to pay the overheads. That's gotta be right on the limit of what one person can physically do so you may be looking at hiring staff. And for the volume you'd probably require premises.