which cars to buy and sell for fun (and bit of profit)

[CraigVmax]

Hi all,

Interested in your opinions in the following.

Whilst I'm no guru on prices & cars I know a bit & I generally always buy and sell reasonably well..

I'd like to start buying and selling as a bit of a hobby/small business and interested in your opinions on which types of cars to go for..

i'm not talking huge money, sub £10k each time, what i'd ideally like to do is buy something, run it for a while, make sure its mechanically sound and tarted up cosmetically then sell on.

I need to strike the balance between something dull which sells easily (hatchbacks/saloons) to more interesting cars which are a little more specialised (but of course more niche and may take longer to sell) - I'm thinking Porsche 928's, Maser 3200's, Jag XJS, etc etc.

Interested in your thoughts..throw the floor open!

Thanks all. Craig

[Sour Kraut]

Despite your reasoning, do you think that a short period of ownership will create a negative perspective with potential buyers?

[CraigVmax]

i'd be very transparent about my motives.

[Garlick]

Never worked for me.....

[Sour Kraut]

CraigVmax said:

i'd be very transparent about my motives.

I think it would scare people off. A trader who wants to run cars for 3 months first? Makes you 'not a trader' and 'not a private seller'.

[Kentish]

Garlick said:

Never worked for me.....

So, when can I buy your RR Classic Paul?

Or am I too late?

[Garlick]

Waaay too late!

[Shaw Tarse]

Kentish said:

Garlick said:

Never worked for me.....

So, when can I buy your RR Classic Paul?

Or am I too late?

I thought it was long gone?

[redgriff500]

If you do it for profit you are a trader which brings a lot more pitfalls.

However it really depends if you want to have fun or you want to make a profit.

Assuming you are dealing from home (neighbours and council can object to that) then you need cars that people will travel for... so similar type cars are a good idea.

My Dad is a trader (he fell into it as he always had a few cars and one day the taxman came calling) he used to like USA cars then moved into classics as he got older. I know traders who deal exclusively in estates or even one make or model of car.

Selling 'exclusive' cars circa £10k is NOT a market I'd like to be in as they can go very wrong and the cars aren't worth fixing yet are too expensive to walk away from. Plus buyers of £10k cars expect them to be good and want a warranty and just selling them a £200 warranty does not release your obligations.

[Kentish]

Garlick said:

Waaay too late!

How was it overall?

A pain or a joy, would you say?

[Kentish]

Back to the topic

I think I'd specialise in smart Roadster and Coupe and early Lotus Elise.

Always easy to sell on and very stable values.

[CraigVmax]

yep, take all points on board.

What i was thinking is that, as i dont have to buy and sell them, i can wait for good ones to come along, Low mileage, low owner cars, have them serviced, put a decent warranty on them and make them prettier. I'm not doing it to make millions, more as a bit of fun.

Selling from home not a prob.

good call on the smarts/elise.. keep em coming, thx all

[Kentish]

I'd also consider some good starter classics like MGB and Triumph Spitfire/GT6, perhaps looking for those where they are rolling restorations and not quite completed.

These examples can be really cheap to restore if you are careful in buying the right car with the important things already done (sills on MGB for example).

The rest is easy and you are likely to find examples with little completion required.

Values on these are again very stable and appreciating in most cases.

Cheap TVR's possibly?
The Chimera can now easily be bought for less than an S series - the Chimera will appreciate in the same way as the S is in the years to come but right now they are a great buy. Just check that chassis carefully!

Same story with the Cerbera although they are not perhaps as desirable to those on a limited budget looking for a weekend toy as they can be expensive to run and maintain.

[lordlee]

As someone who is qualified to discuss shifting 928's I would say they usually take a good while to shift as would an XJ-S. As mentioned before the Elise is a good shout as are mint 205 GTI's and R5 Turbos.

[CraigVmax]

all great ideas, 205's & Chims had also been in my head so nice to see others suggesting them.

[Sour Kraut]

lordlee said:

As someone who is qualified to discuss shifting 928's I would say they usually take a good while to shift

Breaking 928s for spares is more fruitful

[redgriff500]

Problem is its not hard to sell mint cars.

Its hard to find them.

Again whilst its fun to sell TVR's there ARE going to be many more warranty claims than with Audi estates.

I think what you will do is simply decide what car you fancy say 928, buy a good one then sell it then decide you want an XJS etc

Its what I do but you will be lucky to break even. I typically own 10 cars at a time of which I run 5 (constantly MOT'd, taxed and insured) its a lifestyle not a business.

If I were to trade in cars I think I'd go for:

S2000
350z
Elise

Then as they aren't going to sell in the winter

BMW / Merc / Audi Estates

[Kentish]

redgriff500 said:

I typically own 10 cars at a time of which I run 5 (constantly MOT'd, taxed and insured) its a lifestyle not a business.

Have a word with my wife will you; I keep telling her this is quite normal but she is not happy to add a 3rd to our current fleet

I had good ammunition though.

I keep saying I want to get an estate or 4x4.

I went off to collect 2 bookcases from Ikea at the weekend & despite the size of them measuring up to the available space in our largest car, I spent 45 mins driving there and found there was no way they'd fit.

"you see dear, if we had an estate car......."

[edo]

Cars I have made no loss or a small profit:

1. 1998 E36 323i. Owned by an old gent. Only done 24k. Owned for 6 months. Bought for £3900, sold for £4200.
2. Elise 111S S2. Owned for a year (bought from a main dealer). Sold for what I paid for it (£17k IIRC).
3. 2005 SLK350. Bought for £14.5k, sold 6 months/6,000 miles later for £17.2k to a Mercedes buyer. (bought this in the "slump" at the beginning of 2008).

I'd say if you aren't buying "at trade" bottom values, its a tall order to make no loss/profit.

[petemurphy]

ive always reckoned theres a market for getting 3 series etc and sticking nice wheels on them bought second hand and resell. bit like doing up a house. how many times have you looked at cars for sale and gone urg 16" wheels etc. and i mean get original nice wheels not some maxpower job.