Whats your thoughts on my dilemma.?

Whats your thoughts on my dilemma.?

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sean19

Original Poster:

672 posts

201 months

Wednesday 16th January 2008
quotequote all
Im after your thoughts on my dilema!

A friend of mine has a 306 XSi 2.0 16v S-reg 102,000 miles on the clock.

He's selling it for £350 as it's an MOT failure with no tax. I am considering buying it and getting the following work done to bring it up to MOT standard:-

1) fronts seatbelts affected by loose seat fixing (not to sure)
2) CV joint requires boot as current is loose.
3) Rear brake pipes corroded
4) Centre exhaust requires replacement
5) Rear discs are warped req' replacement.

Also new MOT £35 and tax £99 (6 months)

I was considering buying it and selling it hopefully at a profit, however I am thinking about getting the work done and selling my car (Saxo VTR worth bout £1800)

Is the list too extensive or worth a go. I have a mate that reckons he could do the work for about £300-400max depending on seat belt issue (inc parts). The timing belt went 5K ago so had the head skimmed, new valves and service is this good or bad?

Sorry for the long post and Thanks!

CarlT

3,423 posts

248 months

Wednesday 16th January 2008
quotequote all
IMHO - it will still be a 10 year old, 102K mile Peugeot (with an MOT). I would guess not worth much more than £500 with a full MOT and taxed.
HTH

MotorFocus

2,358 posts

200 months

Thursday 17th January 2008
quotequote all
With an MoT it sbould make more than £500 - but maybe not enough to earn you significant profit.

None of those failure items are major.

If it's a three door, the ratchets on the seat rails are prone to failure - not certain how that could affect seat belt performance though, other than the buckle is attached to the seat so the belt would loosen if the rails allowed the seats to slide backwards.

If this would be a one-off, don't bother IMO. But if you're looking at this as a way to kick start a car sales hobby, might be worth a go... especially if you can manage the dealer trick of nicking it for £100

sean19

Original Poster:

672 posts

201 months

Thursday 17th January 2008
quotequote all
Well I have always wanted to dabble in cars such as this as a hobby with a small profit, and its simply good timing that I have come into cash and my mate has such a car.

Well I have bought it now, been estimated £300 for the work so that £650. So anything above this (ish) will be profit. Hopefully I can then use this to buy another car and do the same!

Thanks for your replies.

anonymous-user

55 months

Thursday 17th January 2008
quotequote all
i would have thought that with 12 months MOT and a noice clean up the 306 should easily make you a profit. would be interesting to see what your next car is, you could go for a cheap classic, limited market or another regular car and try your hand. its something i would love to do if i had the time.

i think the boy racer market could be tapped into quite easily, the reasonably hot corsas and the like, if you can find a standard one so they can "modify" it could be quite profitable. of course you have to question your desire to trade with such cars and people! but if you are finance focused, does it matter?!?

keep us posted!!

sean19

Original Poster:

672 posts

201 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
pablo said:
i would have thought that with 12 months MOT and a noice clean up the 306 should easily make you a profit. would be interesting to see what your next car is, you could go for a cheap classic, limited market or another regular car and try your hand. its something i would love to do if i had the time.

i think the boy racer market could be tapped into quite easily, the reasonably hot corsas and the like, if you can find a standard one so they can "modify" it could be quite profitable. of course you have to question your desire to trade with such cars and people! but if you are finance focused, does it matter?!?

keep us posted!!
Well I am keen on keeping the cars mainstream (ford/peugeot) etc as parts and labour are cheaper. I think I want a 205 GTi after this. There always seems to be people on the look for clean models, and I have a good friend of mine that works in Peugeot and could do work to them fairly cheaply.

Always LOVED the 205 GTi (especially the 1.9) so may be tempted to keep it if I ever lay my hands on one!

Well wish me luck! Thanks!

Mr Whippy

29,078 posts

242 months

Friday 18th January 2008
quotequote all
All the work there bar the rear brake pipes is easy DIY 2 spanner Haynes stuff... probably £100 in parts tops.

Warped rear discs? Sounds a bit odd, more like just fooked generally?

Only thing is seat, but you could get any 3dr seat from a scrapper, and swap the base over. The bearings go and they just start to wobble around, then eventually the linkages start to metal fatigue due to movement/deflection and then they can fail too.

Dave

anonymous-user

55 months

Saturday 26th January 2008
quotequote all
sean19 said:
pablo said:
i would have thought that with 12 months MOT and a noice clean up the 306 should easily make you a profit. would be interesting to see what your next car is, you could go for a cheap classic, limited market or another regular car and try your hand. its something i would love to do if i had the time.

i think the boy racer market could be tapped into quite easily, the reasonably hot corsas and the like, if you can find a standard one so they can "modify" it could be quite profitable. of course you have to question your desire to trade with such cars and people! but if you are finance focused, does it matter?!?

keep us posted!!
Well I am keen on keeping the cars mainstream (ford/peugeot) etc as parts and labour are cheaper. I think I want a 205 GTi after this. There always seems to be people on the look for clean models, and I have a good friend of mine that works in Peugeot and could do work to them fairly cheaply.

Always LOVED the 205 GTi (especially the 1.9) so may be tempted to keep it if I ever lay my hands on one!

Well wish me luck! Thanks!
i have noticed a real decline in the 205 market recently. it seems to go through peaks and troughs, some times there are loads for sale, other times very few. mine is an 88 F plate and although the body and major chassis components are fine, the little things are annoying like every bolt corroded and so on, to buy one and rebuild it for a profit is nigh on impossible.

people do want mint condition cars but even then, want an awful lot of car for the money, as i say these are french built cars in an era when their industrial base was not what could be considered as good. the chances of getting a "friday afternoon" car are high!.... now stripping them and selling them as track day cars would be very profitable. you could buy one for £300, strip it, sell the bits you dont want, fit new suspension and bucket seats, harnesses and give the engine an refresh all for under £1000 and you shouldnt make a loss on that, and its easy!

if that doesnt appeal, consider the budget classic market, mg midgets are always on ebay as restoration projects and most are in a state worth rebuiding. a tidy one would make an interesting alternative to an MX5 for someone...


Steve_D

13,749 posts

259 months

Sunday 27th January 2008
quotequote all
If you want to do this for profit then you need to be doing the work yourself.
First time round you can call on a mate but that won't work if you are going to do it again and again. If you learn to do these jobs yourself you will also be more aware of what you are buying and in a better position to drive a hard bargin on the purchase.

Steve