Selling Cars From Home as a Hobby
Discussion
Hi,
There may be one or two threads already on this, but the search facility is down and I haven't come accross one relevant to me. If there is, then sorry!
Basically I have come to the point where I have realised that in order to save up enough deposit to get my own place (my half of 25%), I need to be earning a little bit of money on the side to my 9-5. One thing that I enjoy and have become quite good at is selling cars for more than I buy them for, this has happened with the last 5 cars that I've had.
Anyone have any advice with regard to the feasablility of making a modest sum on the side? Im not planning this as a "get rich quick" scheme, but an extra for thousand a year to put into savings would help me out:
1. Do I need to do anything with regards registering as a trader? I get bored of my cars very quickly anyway and go through 2 or 3 a year. All I would be doing is adding another 3 or 4 cars on top. I would aim for 6 cars a year, somewhere between £1-£4k margin on each depending on initial value, as opposed to bulk buying. I have an interest free loan left over from previous car sale for the next 16 months so cash is available to put down.
2. I have previously used no-reserve Ebay auctions as my source, and will only buy rare and interesting cars that I am passionate about such as 80's hatches, Lotus Elise's in February to sell in May, maybe the odd 911 and Alfa's. Any thoughts whether this is sound?
3. Leading on from question 1, whatever car I buy will be my only car and will be used as such, so in my mind I see no issue with Insurance being for personal use only and the cars being sold as a private sale, please correct me if im wrong.
Thats all for now, any input good or bad would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Iain
There may be one or two threads already on this, but the search facility is down and I haven't come accross one relevant to me. If there is, then sorry!
Basically I have come to the point where I have realised that in order to save up enough deposit to get my own place (my half of 25%), I need to be earning a little bit of money on the side to my 9-5. One thing that I enjoy and have become quite good at is selling cars for more than I buy them for, this has happened with the last 5 cars that I've had.
Anyone have any advice with regard to the feasablility of making a modest sum on the side? Im not planning this as a "get rich quick" scheme, but an extra for thousand a year to put into savings would help me out:
1. Do I need to do anything with regards registering as a trader? I get bored of my cars very quickly anyway and go through 2 or 3 a year. All I would be doing is adding another 3 or 4 cars on top. I would aim for 6 cars a year, somewhere between £1-£4k margin on each depending on initial value, as opposed to bulk buying. I have an interest free loan left over from previous car sale for the next 16 months so cash is available to put down.
2. I have previously used no-reserve Ebay auctions as my source, and will only buy rare and interesting cars that I am passionate about such as 80's hatches, Lotus Elise's in February to sell in May, maybe the odd 911 and Alfa's. Any thoughts whether this is sound?
3. Leading on from question 1, whatever car I buy will be my only car and will be used as such, so in my mind I see no issue with Insurance being for personal use only and the cars being sold as a private sale, please correct me if im wrong.
Thats all for now, any input good or bad would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Iain
Cheers for the advice re search feature and technical details
Am i really a trader though if im only selling up to 6 of my personal cars per year? Granted im hoping to make some money out of it and there is a business plan (as there always should be when buying any car), but am I just down as someone who likes to change from one rare and interesting car to another on a regular basis?
I wont be buying 10x clapped out fiestas for £1k each and selling them on for £1200
Am i really a trader though if im only selling up to 6 of my personal cars per year? Granted im hoping to make some money out of it and there is a business plan (as there always should be when buying any car), but am I just down as someone who likes to change from one rare and interesting car to another on a regular basis?
I wont be buying 10x clapped out fiestas for £1k each and selling them on for £1200
Eric Mc said:
iain014 said:
Cheers for the advice re search feature and technical details
Am i really a trader though if im only selling up to 6 of my personal cars per year? Granted im hoping to make some money out of it and there is a business plan (as there always should be when buying any car), but am I just down as someone who likes to change from one rare and interesting car to another on a regular basis?
I wont be buying 10x clapped out fiestas for £1k each and selling them on for £1200
If you set up to sell things and make a profit at the same time, then you are trading, end of story. Am i really a trader though if im only selling up to 6 of my personal cars per year? Granted im hoping to make some money out of it and there is a business plan (as there always should be when buying any car), but am I just down as someone who likes to change from one rare and interesting car to another on a regular basis?
I wont be buying 10x clapped out fiestas for £1k each and selling them on for £1200
Whether you consider it a part time activity, hobby etc is totally irrelevant. Once you buy and sell things with a view to making a profit, you fall completely into HMRC's definition of "trading on one's own account" and will be subject to Income Tax on those profits.
Ive got up to £20k to invest in something to try and eek out another £20k plus savings in the next 3 years to get a good deposit together. Not sure that shares is the safe bet at the moment so back to the drawing board!
Throwing alot of ideas up in the air at the moment, but to clarify my original idea is to have one car at a time, bought for less than it is worth, run it as my daily driver, restore originality in the case of 80s hatches that have 6x9s cut into shelves, enjoy the car for myself then sell on a few months later for an overall profit.
Currently undecided whether to go for £1-2k cars that may have £1000 profit in them, or aim higher at up to £15k for higher margins. In either case I would only buy cars that I actually want to own and have one at a time so there is only one lot of insurance and tax, i only have one space in the garage too.
I doubt I could do more than 5 cars a year this way to be honest, but a £1k profit on each would make a bit of a difference to me, and would satisfy my itchy feet that I get with all my cars. Dont know what else other than "hobby" could be used to class this, its fun to me to buy interesting cars, i have a large bucket list of things I want to own one day, however a "business plan" is needed to ensure i dont lose any money.
Sort of accidentally I have kind of already started in that my 3rd car this year is up for sale on a similar basis to the above, however I did intend to keep all 3 at the outset before I got bored/situations changed
Currently undecided whether to go for £1-2k cars that may have £1000 profit in them, or aim higher at up to £15k for higher margins. In either case I would only buy cars that I actually want to own and have one at a time so there is only one lot of insurance and tax, i only have one space in the garage too.
I doubt I could do more than 5 cars a year this way to be honest, but a £1k profit on each would make a bit of a difference to me, and would satisfy my itchy feet that I get with all my cars. Dont know what else other than "hobby" could be used to class this, its fun to me to buy interesting cars, i have a large bucket list of things I want to own one day, however a "business plan" is needed to ensure i dont lose any money.
Sort of accidentally I have kind of already started in that my 3rd car this year is up for sale on a similar basis to the above, however I did intend to keep all 3 at the outset before I got bored/situations changed
205 gtis and mk1 and 2 golfs pop up quite often that dont need much more than the removal of chav items, a home service and a bit of care to turn back into original factory spec. Clean original models are worth a good premium over the norm because they are a rare sight now, too many rollcages and mean looking bonnets
Bought a porsche 944 for £1500 last year, spent £200 on an mot and slave cylinder, treated it to a bit of a polish and sold it 6 months later for £2250. Obviosly thats only £500 profit, but that was done with very little in the way of forthought, if id planned it a bit better I could probably have paid a bit less originally, and I only did the slave because I was keeping the car for a while.
Edited to add
Bought a porsche 944 for £1500 last year, spent £200 on an mot and slave cylinder, treated it to a bit of a polish and sold it 6 months later for £2250. Obviosly thats only £500 profit, but that was done with very little in the way of forthought, if id planned it a bit better I could probably have paid a bit less originally, and I only did the slave because I was keeping the car for a while.
Edited to add
Edited by iain014 on Tuesday 21st September 18:41
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