OK, another possible idea

OK, another possible idea

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Discussion

umar b

Original Poster:

1,484 posts

272 months

Thursday 24th July 2003
quotequote all
After the responce i got last time, i have another idea that i would like some opinions on.

I have been looking at all the different car hire companies IE prestige and sports car hire,

Anyway, is it possible to start of with cars of this type straight away? has it been done? how is it done? will the bank laugh in my face whe i ask for money?....again

opinions appreciated

mikeylad

31,608 posts

258 months

Thursday 24th July 2003
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On similar (but much easier) lines, why not spend 10 grand on a Roller and a grey suit and do weddings?

Hates_

778 posts

258 months

Thursday 24th July 2003
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I dunno, but thinking about how much you would need to borrow about how much you could potentially earn. I think you'd be hard pressed to make any profit. Considering the possible maintenence plus insurance of these high flying cars, I'd think of something else.

Idealy something which takes as little startup capital as possible

grahambell

2,718 posts

280 months

Friday 25th July 2003
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Just tot up the cost of buying a few of these cars - say one 911, one Esprit V8, one F360 and one Tuscan - and you'll be well into 6 figures. Then there's insurance, which will be massive, the cost of somewhere secure to keep them, and all the hefty maintenance and depreciation costs.

Unless you have lots of spare change lying around or large collateral the bank can take from you if it all goes wrong it's going to be a non-starter.

Even if you can get it off the ground there's still risks. Know of one supercar hire company that folded after they had not just one but two Ferraris written off in as many weeks and found their insurance going up to something totally stupid that effectively made the whole business unviable.

There is a company in Warwickshire that hires out classic sports cars like MGBs etc, which could be a much cheaper route to doing something similar, but would still require a sizeable amount of start up capital.

Steviebee

13,350 posts

260 months

Friday 25th July 2003
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Damon Hill has set up this sort of business - P1.

Quite a few years back, I started to work on a plan for a performance car time share business. The basic premis being that few can afford a £100k Ferrari but you'd probably find ten people who'd stick in £10k each for a share of it - or so you would think.

The reaserch I did established that I'd probably end up with a 10% share in a few decent cars but be unable to earn a living. As nice as the cars would have been - I would still need to eat and the work required to manage the operation would preclude me from working else where.

Simonrockman

6,889 posts

260 months

Saturday 26th July 2003
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Umar, whatever you do you should get a copy of The Business Plan Workbook.
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0749434996/qid=1059219928/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/026-7715769-4716422

It's an excellent way to think about what you need to do when you start a new business. I took about three months working trough it to write my businss plan.

It meant that venture capitalists took me seriously (well, until they found out how little I wanted to borrow). In the end one of the bankers at one of the big merchant banks said "this is too small for the company, I'll put my own money in".

I'd lend you my copy, but I've just lent it to someone who wants to start a cat-care busines.

Simon

Hates_

778 posts

258 months

Saturday 26th July 2003
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Simonrockman said:
Umar, whatever you do you should get a copy of The Business Plan Workbook.
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0749434996/qid=1059219928/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_2_1/026-7715769-4716422
Another book worth reading is "The New Business Road Test: What Every Entrepreneur Should Do Before Writing a Business Plan". The book sets out exploring your idea and seeing if there is a market before you put pen to paper and write a busines plan. Good if you are unsure if there is already a market out there etc etc.

www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0273663569/qid%3D1059221955/026-9467753-0432447

Steviebee

13,350 posts

260 months

Sunday 27th July 2003
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I have a couple of clients who are Mortgage Repackagers - basically bundling together mortgage deals for the sub-prime market (those that are unlikely to get a mortgage from the high street). Neither of them come from a financial background and both appear to be doing rather well whilst also appearing to do little in the way of hard work!