Stripping cars - viable business model?

[lost in espace]

At present I am a full time dad, I used to work in IT but getting another job will be hard with the kids at school 9-3.15. Like everyone else I am looking at getting my hands on some extra income. I am thinking about stripping cars bought off ebay as non runners. The plan is to strip one car at a time.

I have a large garage and very big shed, a decent MPV which is capable of pulling a fair sized car on a trailer. The MPV weighs 1800kgs. The garage will be used to strip the cars out of sight of neighbours (I am not overlooked anyway) and the shed for storage. I will need a decent second hand trailer. If my venture goes tits up I can always sell the trailer on and if I buy at the right price I would seem to have little to lose. Also my MPV runs on veg oil so my fuel expenses will be low, I may have to get business cover for my insurance although initially I can perhaps say I was buying a second hand car for myself. When scrapped the shell can be sold for scrap.

Any pointers for the sort of car I need to be stripping? I plan to dispose of parts on ebay.

If anyone can see any flaws in my logic let me know!

[RB26DETT]

I know of someone whos making a killing doing this with JDM cars.

Could work depending on the type of car.

[jas xjr]

I think it is a viable business model. I have done this a few times with cars / vans I could not sell.
Do you intend to specialise or just whatever you can buy?

[K87]

It's possible but you need to research which cars would bring in the most income.

[JB!]

A friend has broken 4 VR Corrado's, and made a healthy profit doing so, but the current will be his last, too much competition now and good breakers are drying up.

You need to specialize, find a good non-eBay place to sell (owner's forum) and price & clearly advertize everything well. Break the car BEFORE advertising if possible.

Also, don't send pannels by courier.

Edited by JB! on Monday 26th July 01:08

[The jiffle king]

It might be worth selling the parts via specialist forums. I know a mate who buys VW parts from a VW forum and seems to get fair prices for all the parts....

I guess you also need to think about how to dispose of the parts you don't want or how to store them. This might not be easy or it might be costly

[lost in espace]

Storage is no problem with a 300 sq ft shed. This actually looks like it might be a goer then. I will trawl ebay for a cheap car trailer, thanks for the comments. Specialist cars rather than general everyday stuff seems to be the way to go.

[clarkey]

How close are your nearest neighbours? How do you get on with them? Are they likely to object to you using your garage and shed as a breakers yard?
It may be viable, but without proper premises and in a residential area you may get shut down pretty quickly....

[lost in espace]

Breaking one car at a time in a closed garage, my nearest neighbours are not going to be a problem. I wouldn't be doing this if I thought it was anti social or would cause a disturbance, but your comments are appreciated.

I can see the problem may be if it takes off and I need to break more than one car. I think a trailer is going to be about £750 to start. I also have the opportunity to buy cars which have been neglected and have no MOT, sort them and then sell on with the benefit of a trailer. Example

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1992-MERCEDES-230TE-AUTO-BLU...

[Eric Mc]

lost in espace said:

Breaking one car at a time in a closed garage, my nearest neighbours are not going to be a problem. I wouldn't be doing this if I thought it was anti social or would cause a disturbance, but your comments are appreciated.

I can see the problem may be if it takes off and I need to break more than one car. I think a trailer is going to be about £750 to start. I also have the opportunity to buy cars which have been neglected and have no MOT, sort them and then sell on with the benefit of a trailer. Example

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1992-MERCEDES-230TE-AUTO-BLU...

If you are running what is essentially a scrapping business in a residential location I would suggest would be very much of concern to your neighbours - as well as the local council.

Even if you manage to "keep it secret" you are still, almost definitely, breaking a number of environmental and planning regulations.

Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 26th July 11:42

[Lawsome]

Know the guys who started MiniSparesUK and based on that - you're on to a winner. Perhaps specialising will help

[V8mate]

Eric Mc said:

lost in espace said:

Breaking one car at a time in a closed garage, my nearest neighbours are not going to be a problem. I wouldn't be doing this if I thought it was anti social or would cause a disturbance, but your comments are appreciated.

I can see the problem may be if it takes off and I need to break more than one car. I think a trailer is going to be about £750 to start. I also have the opportunity to buy cars which have been neglected and have no MOT, sort them and then sell on with the benefit of a trailer. Example

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1992-MERCEDES-230TE-AUTO-BLU...

If you are running what is essentially a scrapping business in a residential location I would suggest would be very much of concern to your neighbours - as well as the local council.

Even if you manage to "keep it secret" you are still, almost definitely, breaking a number of environmental and planning regulations.

Very definitely.

OP: How do you propose to dispose of all the crap? Tyres, batteries, fluids etc.

[Eric Mc]

Not to mention the noise and safety aspects of the tools that would be used such as angle grinders, oxyacetlylene torches and related gas bottles and storage.

[lost in espace]

If I can get the car to the scrap man he can deal with a lot of the fluids, and presumably pay me for whatever is left of the car. I assume a scappy will take even a shell plus bits I cannot remove?

Waste oils can be disposed at my local tip along with tyres/rims, albeit on a non commercial basis. I was not planning on using torches or such like. Any fuel in the tank can be safely removed and stored for use.

Please keep the comments coming for and against, its still something I am mulling over at the moment before I committed to buying a trailer I wanted to check with the PH massive that I was not being a bit bonkers.

Stripping individual cars quietly in a close garage should not cause any problem for my neighbours.

[Eric Mc]

You intend to run this as a business in a residential area.

I would strongly suggest that you would not be allowed to under normal planning rules - either business or environmentally related.

If you go ahead anyway, you woyuld be open to prosecution, fines etc etc.

[JB!]

my friend's rado thread: http://the-corrado.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&am...

you might have to register, but its worth looking at just to see how organized it is.

[V8mate]

lost in espace said:

If I can get the car to the scrap man he can deal with a lot of the fluids, and presumably pay me for whatever is left of the car. I assume a scappy will take even a shell plus bits I cannot remove?

Waste oils can be disposed at my local tip along with tyres/rims, albeit on a non commercial basis. I was not planning on using torches or such like. Any fuel in the tank can be safely removed and stored for use.

Please keep the comments coming for and against, its still something I am mulling over at the moment before I committed to buying a trailer I wanted to check with the PH massive that I was not being a bit bonkers.

Stripping individual cars quietly in a close garage should not cause any problem for my neighbours.

The fluids will be the first thing you'll need to attend to, not the last and scrapyards will charge you to take away a bare shell as the revenue from it alone will not warrant the visit.

And don't take the guys at the tips for fools; they'll soon recall 'that bloke who brings round 4 tyres every week'.

Eric is right about running such a business from home too.

But...and this is a big but... assuming you ignore the law and get away with doing so, have you thought how the revenue stream will run against the time and expenditure stream?

How would you feel if you had fully dismantled four cars, cleaned and catalogued all serviceable parts, to have only sold one headlamp unit?

[JB!]

V8mate said:

lost in espace said:

If I can get the car to the scrap man he can deal with a lot of the fluids, and presumably pay me for whatever is left of the car. I assume a scappy will take even a shell plus bits I cannot remove?

Waste oils can be disposed at my local tip along with tyres/rims, albeit on a non commercial basis. I was not planning on using torches or such like. Any fuel in the tank can be safely removed and stored for use.

Please keep the comments coming for and against, its still something I am mulling over at the moment before I committed to buying a trailer I wanted to check with the PH massive that I was not being a bit bonkers.

Stripping individual cars quietly in a close garage should not cause any problem for my neighbours.

The fluids will be the first thing you'll need to attend to, not the last and scrapyards will charge you to take away a bare shell as the revenue from it alone will not warrant the visit.

And don't take the guys at the tips for fools; they'll soon recall 'that bloke who brings round 4 tyres every week'.

Eric is right about running such a business from home too.

But...and this is a big but... assuming you ignore the law and get away with doing so, have you thought how the revenue stream will run against the time and expenditure stream?

How would you feel if you had fully dismantled four cars, cleaned and catalogued all serviceable parts, to have only sold one headlamp unit?

bare shells with no interiour/ mechanicals actually are easier to get rid of IME, as with nothing other than metal and maybe a windscreen, they can be sold straight to the metal merchants rather than having to dispose of fluids etc.

[Eric Mc]

But don't scrappies have to have a licence to operate?

I have a client who recycles on a reasonable scale and has to conform to all sorts of returns and record keeping.

I would have a quick check on the regulations covering recycling and scrapping. The Environment Agency website might be the first port of call.

[JB!]

if your doing this above board, rather than as a "hobby", good luck getting planning permission for a vehicle recycling yard.

a friend tried to get a liscence to buy and part out Cat B write-offs. local authority were having none of it. He approached someone with a liscence, to "partner" him (they buy, he breaks, they dispose of and split profits" but they were also having none of it.

if you are just buying the occasional car, and can afford to sit on parts, you'll be ok using the local municipal dump. if your breaking one a week, no chance.