Discussion
Does anyone have any thoughts on this as a business?
Small industrial units in my local area are very cheap (no space at home), cheap enough to rent from my wages and get kitted out. I've been thinking of a way to make one of these spaces make some decent money as I'm pretty stuck In my current job and want out.
Take on small unit for 300 per month, easily achieved round here I think. Buy for example a borked E65 7 series for a couple of grand, where the wheels alone can be £100's each not to mention Lots of other very expensive parts which bargain barge owners might not want to pay full price for. Obviously parts won't all sell at once but the difficult to get hold of or most expensive should go fairly quickly if advertised well, paying for the unit cost hopefully and turn a reasonable profit before the cheaper bits are stripped or sold and the rest scrapped. Rinse and repeat.
Am I taking too much of a simplistic look at this? Obviously there are people already doing this sort of thing but I think focussing on higher end cars with expensive parts could be a winner. A bit of a pub story but I was being told about a friend of a friend who bought a crashed 06 plate M5 and made £7000 by breaking it for parts.
Cheers,
Phil
Small industrial units in my local area are very cheap (no space at home), cheap enough to rent from my wages and get kitted out. I've been thinking of a way to make one of these spaces make some decent money as I'm pretty stuck In my current job and want out.
Take on small unit for 300 per month, easily achieved round here I think. Buy for example a borked E65 7 series for a couple of grand, where the wheels alone can be £100's each not to mention Lots of other very expensive parts which bargain barge owners might not want to pay full price for. Obviously parts won't all sell at once but the difficult to get hold of or most expensive should go fairly quickly if advertised well, paying for the unit cost hopefully and turn a reasonable profit before the cheaper bits are stripped or sold and the rest scrapped. Rinse and repeat.
Am I taking too much of a simplistic look at this? Obviously there are people already doing this sort of thing but I think focussing on higher end cars with expensive parts could be a winner. A bit of a pub story but I was being told about a friend of a friend who bought a crashed 06 plate M5 and made £7000 by breaking it for parts.
Cheers,
Phil
Surely that is going to take up more time that would be available for a "bit on the side"? Stripping/cleaning/photographing/posting/packaging each individual part is going to be extremely time consuming if you're working full time already.
If you weren't working already and had a couple of quid behind you for startup then I'd say go for it but not knowing your time constraints I'd be very sceptical that you had enough hours in the day tbh.
If you weren't working already and had a couple of quid behind you for startup then I'd say go for it but not knowing your time constraints I'd be very sceptical that you had enough hours in the day tbh.
To be fair, if the rent on the garage isn't crippling then the car can sit there for however long he likes, a few hours at the weekend removing the expensive bits to cover car purchase price and garage rent for the month and the rest is profit. If the model proves to be as easy as the OP makes it sound and takes off, then I guess it's goodbye to full time work and spend more time and attention on it.
I'd also be interested to know what liability you'd hve selling car parts though, if any.
I'd also be interested to know what liability you'd hve selling car parts though, if any.
CX53 said:
I'd also be interested to know what liability you'd hve selling car parts though, if any.
I expect it would be to replace any parts that turned out to be NFG. Bigger problem is going to be the licensing, though he might be able to get around that by removing the prime parts and weighing the rest in at a licensed scrapper.
Worked with a company who is essentially a car breakers a couple of years ago. They did 85% of their trade at the time on eBay, other 15% was over the counter at their yard. They turned over 40-60k a month on eBay alone. It is doable, but a lot of people are at it, and I just don't think you would do enough business over the counter with no reputation in the early days, so many struggle to shift parts. The outfit I worked with have been in business for probably over 40 years now and are well-known in the area, hence why they do any over the counter trade at all.
There is money to be had though. If it were me, I would start with VAG products, or find statistics on the most crashed car where you live if possible and start with those brands/models.
There is money to be had though. If it were me, I would start with VAG products, or find statistics on the most crashed car where you live if possible and start with those brands/models.
brman said:
I know nothing about the business but the first thing I would check out is liability and insurance.
And thisTBH I thought about this in the 1980's and was put off by the local Planning Officer
THere's a lot of legalities, insurances, contaminants, H&S etc etc
I stripped an old car on my drive once I'd knacked it and made more in bits than selliing complete but there's a lot of hassle and stuff to get rid of that no one wants
Hi,
I recently started a side line business buying and selling new and used car parts... It's a side line at the moment as I run another business full time.
I have also broken 1 car... As an experiment more than anything else, to see if I want to break more in the future.
There is definite money in it if you find the right car... I broke a 2007 Saab 9-5 which was in very good condition... The engine, gearbox, bonnet and bumpers were the first things to sell... Other items have taken a little longer, but they are selling.
From what I can tell so far you would need a good turnover of cars in order to make a living from it... It is something I would like to explore a bit more - but I need more time and storage space, so for now I will concentrate more on buying and selling individual parts.
Global
I recently started a side line business buying and selling new and used car parts... It's a side line at the moment as I run another business full time.
I have also broken 1 car... As an experiment more than anything else, to see if I want to break more in the future.
There is definite money in it if you find the right car... I broke a 2007 Saab 9-5 which was in very good condition... The engine, gearbox, bonnet and bumpers were the first things to sell... Other items have taken a little longer, but they are selling.
From what I can tell so far you would need a good turnover of cars in order to make a living from it... It is something I would like to explore a bit more - but I need more time and storage space, so for now I will concentrate more on buying and selling individual parts.
Global
marshalla said:
globalcarparts said:
Hi,
I recently started a side line business buying and selling new and used car parts...
You should probably change your username then, the one you have looks suspiciously like it could be your business name and that's not allowed by the PH rules.I recently started a side line business buying and selling new and used car parts...
I wouldn't have thought a unit costing £300 per month is likely to be particularly large in footprint. Where are you going to put all the cars you buy? Unless you completely strip everything as soon as it arrives and get rid of the shell you are very quickly going to run out of space.
I guess you will be treading a fine line to becoming essentially a scrap yard / end of life vehicles operator https://www.gov.uk/guidance/end-of-life-vehicles-e...
What will you do with the car afterwards/V5? the disposable liquids etc.
What will you do with the car afterwards/V5? the disposable liquids etc.
If you are going to do it then it makes sense to specialist is one particular make of car, thats cheap to buy but has a strong owners scene - MX5, VW, BMW, Volvo.
If you are breaking the same type of car then you will learn the quirks so each one gets easier to rip apart and you know exactly whats in demand part wise and the correct pricing. Owners clubs are a great way to flog the parts as well.
Whilst I didn't run it as a business I broke an MX5 and literally everything bar the shell which was rotten sold - people even wanted me to cut out sections for the car so they could use them as repair patches. I made 2k profit from breaking the car and it only took a few weekends stripping bits off as and when needed.
My local scrappy then collected the shell and gave me £50. If I had a trailer I could have taken it down to them and got even more. As long as you aren't going to fall foul of local legislation etc then give it a whirl - hell break one on your driveway first just to see how you get on.
If you are breaking the same type of car then you will learn the quirks so each one gets easier to rip apart and you know exactly whats in demand part wise and the correct pricing. Owners clubs are a great way to flog the parts as well.
Whilst I didn't run it as a business I broke an MX5 and literally everything bar the shell which was rotten sold - people even wanted me to cut out sections for the car so they could use them as repair patches. I made 2k profit from breaking the car and it only took a few weekends stripping bits off as and when needed.
My local scrappy then collected the shell and gave me £50. If I had a trailer I could have taken it down to them and got even more. As long as you aren't going to fall foul of local legislation etc then give it a whirl - hell break one on your driveway first just to see how you get on.
I bought a crashed MK3 MX5 as I needed spares for my race car, I kept the main bits and sold the rest. Even keeping the engine, box, diff hubs uprights brakes bumpers etc I still got my money back.
If I had sold the rest I would have made a couple of Grand.
Selling all the bits was a massive PITA. If it was me I would get the parts worth a fair amount off and scrap the rest, too much hassel otherwise.
If I had sold the rest I would have made a couple of Grand.
Selling all the bits was a massive PITA. If it was me I would get the parts worth a fair amount off and scrap the rest, too much hassel otherwise.
PhilThePower said:
Small industrial units in my local area are very cheap (no space at home), cheap enough to rent from my wages and get kitted out. I've been thinking of a way to make one of these spaces make some decent money as I'm pretty stuck In my current job and want out.
Take on small unit for 300 per month, easily achieved round here I think.
Don't forget it's not just the monthly rent to consider when you take on a unit. Add on some fixed costs:Take on small unit for 300 per month, easily achieved round here I think.
- service charge
- business rates
- utilities (inc. phone + internet)
- insurance
- security
And don't forget your "startup" costs:
- premises deposit
- solicitor / legal fees
- clearance/setup/signage/kitting out
Plus zero or more possible variable monthly costs:
- premises maintenance
- tools/breakages replacements
- rubbish disposal / recycling / scrapping trade waste
- pest control
- accountant
- marketing / advertising
- office supplies
Plus have half an eye on your exit costs:
- repairing/restoring per the lease
- solicitor / legal fees
That's just off the top off my head when I looked in to starting a business and considering a unit. It's worth putting such a list together with some numbers against the relevant items to get a good picture of what your costs could be, to give you a base from which to consider what revenue you need to generate in order to cover your costs and leave you with some cash in your pocket.
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