Dad’s Car Parts shop closing down - stock to clear

[Pocket-cars]

Hello, my Dad has owned a car parts shop in London for the last 20 years. Unfortunately he is unable to continue running the business due to health issues, so is looking to close down.
He holds a lot of stock which has not moved since he bought the shop 20 years ago - Japanese and European parts and accessories which are still new in box. Items from service parts (air/oil/fuel filters), wishbones, brake discs, brake pads, bulbs, spark plugs, rocker gasket covers, mirrors (glass only) etc.

Looking for a way to clear these without having to dump them. Advice appreciated, thank you.

[E63eeeeee...]

You see this kind of thing on eBay as a clearance/ job lot periodically. No idea how successful that approach is though, presumably depends on how much value there is in it. If it's specific makes maybe owner's clubs.

[Countdown]

If you’ve got the time and the storage space I’d second the EBay suggestion.

My mate runs a garage and gets loads of parts from Ebay.

[MattsCar]

eBay them as a job lot, on auction or try Facebook marketplace, however, don't expect to get anything more than 99p for the stuff, consider anything more as a bonus.

This type of stuff is unsaleable and not worth people's time to list, due to eBay already being flooded with air filters (as an example) for obscure, unpopular, 20-30 year old cars, for pennies, which sit around on the site for years.

Also the returns rate tends to be high in this category.

Might be worth having a quick browse through for some big ticket items which you could list separately, but for little stuff like filters, belts, brake pads, it is not worth the time or effort.

[981Boxess]

Can I ask what part of London the shop was in?

The answer to the question is pick out the cream and eBay it - job lot the rest.

[StevieBee]

Is there a reason why he (or you on his behalf) can't sell the business as a going concern?

If there is and you want a quick and simple way to off load the stock, speak to similar businesses and see if they're interested.

[A500leroy]

John Pye auctions

[vaud]

Worth trying the owners club forums? Someone might bored and have space to take them all and eBay them over time?

[981Boxess]

vaud said:

Worth trying the owners club forums? Someone might bored and have space to take them all and eBay them over time?

The problem you usually find is all the cream has gone and what is left is generally hard to shift because of what the parts are. Forgetting the few old cars that people want today (RS2000s, Cosworths etc) old cars are generally not worth fixing today so there isn't likely to be many takers for those parts anyway because the cars are gone.

The only parts that are worth money are new old stock eg Genuine Ford parts, Tex wing mirrors etc

[981Boxess]

StevieBee said:

Is there a reason why he (or you on his behalf) can't sell the business as a going concern?

If there is and you want a quick and simple way to off load the stock, speak to similar businesses and see if they're interested.

Because car spare shops are finished

[StevieBee]

Another left-field idea...... North Cyprus.

Because of the odd political situation there, it's exceptionally difficult / impossible for western companies to trade there. All of their cars are imported from either the UK or Japan and there's no manufacturer service network - just indy garages and blokes fixing cars. Quite odd to see £100k Mercs and Audis being tended to in back-street ramshackle garages!

Cars also last longer there because of the climate so many more older cars needing parts.

Spotted this there a few weeks back:



Everything imported is 'grey' and has to go via Turkey.

There's companies and brokers based in the UK (mainly north London) that ship cars and parts there via Turkey. If you can find these, I'm pretty certain they'll take whatever you've got providing the price is right.

[981Boxess]

StevieBee said:

If you can find these, I'm pretty certain they'll take whatever you've got providing the price is right.

Pretty certain based on what exactly?

It’s not just about the price, nobody is going to ship rubbish at a cost plus all the associated effort.

[StevieBee]

981Boxess said:

StevieBee said:

If you can find these, I'm pretty certain they'll take whatever you've got providing the price is right.

Pretty certain based on what exactly?

It’s not just about the price, nobody is going to ship rubbish at a cost plus all the associated effort.

Based on me working on several institutional North Cyprus projects since 2016, 32 trips and counting including one recent trip that required me to engage with garages and mechanics in the north part of Nicosia who explained to me the difficulty they have in getting parts and how they go about importing them, the details of which I have imparted here.

amongst those I met is this chap....



Has been trying to restore an old Morris Traveller and Mini for years but has to wait for parts to become available.

I'm sure you're right about it not being about the price and not shipping any old rubbish but as that's not been mentioned by anyone but you I think it safe to say that this doesn't apply to the OP.

Whilst my work there is not directly connected to the motor trade, because I'm interested in cars I tend to ask questions and take note of things on the subject to levels others might not. This provides me the ability to throw an idea that is at least informed into the hat in response to questions such as that posed by the OP rather than just turn up and pour scorn on others that do.

[981Boxess]

Mine is based only on my decades in the motor game and having bought the entire contents of two car spares shops, which went into my motor factors and walking away from the third which wasn’t worth the effort.

But I am sure you know lots about car spares so I am sure the OP will put your knowledge about the industry to good use.

[vaud]

981Boxess said:

Mine is based only on my decades in the motor game and having bought the entire contents of two car spares shops, which went into my motor factors and walking away from the third which wasn’t worth the effort.

But I am sure you know lots about car spares so I am sure the OP will put your knowledge about the industry to good use.

Isn't it one of those scenarios that makes no sense if if it is your bread and butter, but might make sense if you were retired, bored and had the space/time?

[InitialDave]

Someone who does autojumbles might want it.

I think given no-one's bought any of it in the last 20+ years, though, it's probably safest to operate on it being worth practically nothing. There may be the odd bit that's worth hundreds... but only to the right person, and after you've spent the hours digging through to find it.

[vaud]

InitialDave said:

Someone who does autojumbles might want it.

I think given no-one's bought any of it in the last 20+ years, though, it's probably safest to operate on it being worth practically nothing. There may be the odd bit that's worth hundreds... but only to the right person, and after you've spent the hours digging through to find it.

You could probably use AI to catalogue it.

[981Boxess]

vaud said:

981Boxess said:

Mine is based only on my decades in the motor game and having bought the entire contents of two car spares shops, which went into my motor factors and walking away from the third which wasn’t worth the effort.

But I am sure you know lots about car spares so I am sure the OP will put your knowledge about the industry to good use.

Isn't it one of those scenarios that makes no sense if if it is your bread and butter, but might make sense if you were retired, bored and had the space/time?

If you know what it is you are looking at, understand what parts sell and don't and are willing to do it for free then yes you could store it all, catalogue it and do it because you want to.

[981Boxess]

InitialDave said:

I think given no-one's bought any of it in the last 20+ years, though, it's probably safest to operate on it being worth practically nothing. There may be the odd bit that's worth hundreds... but only to the right person, and after you've spent the hours digging through to find it.

Spot on

[clive_candy]

981Boxess said:

StevieBee said:

Is there a reason why he (or you on his behalf) can't sell the business as a going concern?

If there is and you want a quick and simple way to off load the stock, speak to similar businesses and see if they're interested.

Because car spare shops are finished

There's a little car parts shop on a corner near me that's an absolute Alladin's cave. I'll always try it first for bits and pieces - usually cheaper than Halfords - but I wonder how much longer will it be there given cars just aren't DIY-friendly any more.