Starting a Dealership??!!

[jd2507]

I've bought and sold a couple of motors as more of a hobby than anything else and would love to do this as a full time occupation. Does anyone out there know how to go about this officially or if there are any industry standards websites to help me get started?? How do you go about being an official dealer for a specific manufacturer!?! harder than i think i Imagen, but you don't know if you don't ask! Any advice would be muchly appreciated ..

[Chiswickboy]

I would have thought that to be a manufacturer's dealer you would need a vast amount of money and extensive experience of how the trade works to be able to persuade a manufacturer to put their name & reputation along side your's.

Probably better deciding what make you are interested in and specialising in used examples and building up from there. Start small and build up a reputation in your area as being THE person to go to.

[300bhp/ton]

jd2507 said:

I've bought and sold a couple of motors as more of a hobby than anything else and would love to do this as a full time occupation. Does anyone out there know how to go about this officially or if there are any industry standards websites to help me get started?? How do you go about being an official dealer for a specific manufacturer!?! harder than i think i Imagen, but you don't know if you don't ask! Any advice would be muchly appreciated ..

What type of dealership? I don't mean this nastily, but if you have a lot of financial backing I wouldn't have thought you'd actually need to ask such a question?

Most dealers, as in main dealers are franchised. There are then chains of used car and specialist dealers, these are also sometimes franchised.

However if you want to open up an independent dealership then there is nothing to stop you. All you need is money. So you'll want premises, some form of cash flow, correct insurances and you're good to go. Also you'll likely need some staff if you can't do everything yourself and some way of attaining stock.

There are no restrictions on what you can or can't sell or trade in, although you may get no support from the actual car maker.

You'll also need to decide if you want to just sell cars, or offer parts, servicing, repairs and so on.

[BarnatosGhost]

To start a proper gin-palace you need many millions. To make 2% a year. No thanks.

[jd2507]

Thanks for that,thinking about Land Rovers mainly. I have always owned them and "done them up" for lack of a better phrase. I meant what backing if any you get from the manufacturer if your not a franchisee. Can you get hold of new parts etc from anywhere other than main dealers etc. Have enough money to start small and bolt on to existing business but not to get my self a big sexy glass building!

Cheers

[markmullen]

The first thing will be to get some experience and contacts. Without those you've got no chance IMO.

Even the terminology / slang used in the trade takes some learning!

Selling a few cars is very different to doing it for a living.

[BarnatosGhost]

jd2507 said:

Thanks for that,thinking about Land Rovers mainly. I have always owned them and "done them up" for lack of a better phrase. I meant what backing if any you get from the manufacturer if your not a franchisee. Can you get hold of new parts etc from anywhere other than main dealers etc. Have enough money to start small and bolt on to existing business but not to get my self a big sexy glass building!

Cheers

Read up about Block Exemption. Good news for you. Bad news for the manufacturers.

[markmullen]

BarnatosGhost said:

Read up about Block Exemption. Good news for you. Bad news for the manufacturers.

And once you've read up on the principles research how it works in the real world.

[750turbo]

jd2507 said:

Thanks for that,thinking about Land Rovers mainly. I have always owned them and "done them up" for lack of a better phrase. I meant what backing if any you get from the manufacturer if your not a franchisee. Can you get hold of new parts etc from anywhere other than main dealers etc. Have enough money to start small and bolt on to existing business but not to get my self a big sexy glass building!

Cheers

Unless you are a troll..I would suggest getting a REAL job in the MT if you can, and seeing how it really works, then you will run a mile.

Think I will go for Troll though, sorry

[BarnatosGhost]

markmullen said:

BarnatosGhost said:

Read up about Block Exemption. Good news for you. Bad news for the manufacturers.

And once you've read up on the principles research how it works in the real world.

Quite. In short, OP, motors are not a happy place to be at the moment, and for the foreseeable future.

(There will be exceptions. But not many)

[Jonny671]

750turbo said:

jd2507 said:

Thanks for that,thinking about Land Rovers mainly. I have always owned them and "done them up" for lack of a better phrase. I meant what backing if any you get from the manufacturer if your not a franchisee. Can you get hold of new parts etc from anywhere other than main dealers etc. Have enough money to start small and bolt on to existing business but not to get my self a big sexy glass building!

Cheers

Unless you are a troll..I would suggest getting a REAL job in the MT if you can, and seeing how it really works, then you will run a mile.

Think I will go for Troll though, sorry

I have to say, I agree with this.

I would only want a dealership if I wasn't too bothered about money and wanted one as a train set, no chance would I have one personally with my own cash. Far too many empty showrooms around recently.

[300bhp/ton]

jd2507 said:

Thanks for that,thinking about Land Rovers mainly. I have always owned them and "done them up" for lack of a better phrase. I meant what backing if any you get from the manufacturer if your not a franchisee. Can you get hold of new parts etc from anywhere other than main dealers etc. Have enough money to start small and bolt on to existing business but not to get my self a big sexy glass building!

Cheers

All car makers can be funny about non franchised dealers. What end of the market were you thinking of and what sort of price range?

But in short they ca be difficult, e.g. if you advertise or trade as "Land Rover Specialists" then they'll probably take legal action against you, as they will claim that unless they say you are a Land Rover specialist then you aren't.

However if you trades as 'xxxxx' car sales specialising in Land Rover vehicles. Then they can't really do very much.

In terms of parts, well there are lots of pattern parts suppliers, so establishing contacts with them might be a start. But it's all about quantity, if you buy £50 worth of parts a month, then not many places will offer you trade discounts.

If you start spending £1000/month on parts then you'll soon find where to get good deals from.

I doubt the factory will supply you with parts though (or whoever supplies LR parts these days, used to be Unipart, then Caterpillar, not sure who it is now). Although your local main dealership might start and offer you more deals if you buy enough from them, as at the end of the day if you buy from them it's still more money for them.

In terms of stock, well depends what part of the market you are targeting, but auctions and just a keen eye on the local market are your best bets.

Remember as a trader there are certain formalities and legalities when selling cars. Just make sure you know the score.

[jd2507]

[/quote]All car makers can be funny about non franchised dealers. What end of the market were you thinking of and what sort of price range?

But in short they ca be difficult, e.g. if you advertise or trade as "Land Rover Specialists" then they'll probably take legal action against you, as they will claim that unless they say you are a Land Rover specialist then you aren't.

However if you trades as 'xxxxx' car sales specialising in Land Rover vehicles. Then they can't really do very much.

In terms of parts, well there are lots of pattern parts suppliers, so establishing contacts with them might be a start. But it's all about quantity, if you buy £50 worth of parts a month, then not many places will offer you trade discounts.

If you start spending £1000/month on parts then you'll soon find where to get good deals from.

I doubt the factory will supply you with parts though (or whoever supplies LR parts these days, used to be Unipart, then Caterpillar, not sure who it is now). Although your local main dealership might start and offer you more deals if you buy enough from them, as at the end of the day if you buy from them it's still more money for them.

In terms of stock, well depends what part of the market you are targeting, but auctions and just a keen eye on the local market are your best bets.

Remember as a trader there are certain formalities and legalities when selling cars. Just make sure you know the score.
[/quote]


Thanks, V Helpful. Thinking mid range 8k to 35k, stocking around 5 - 10 an any one time. all ready have a MOT / Service but no sales side.

[SubaruSteve]

I know of a couple of independents who specialise and have access to main dealer parts to sell on. In both cases they work through a nearby franchises.

In both cases there is no main dealer in the town they are located, so no direct competition. In both cases they are well established garages that have been around since before I was born and therefore probably have long standing relationships with the dealers/manufacturer.

I would imagine starting from scratch would be difficult and to have any reasonable chance you would need to able to prove you would be putting enough business their way to make it worthwhile.

Probably better off dealing in either just buying and selling the whole vehicles or breaking and selling one make second hand parts, if parts is more your thing. Good luck either way.