Is there £ to be made in building then selling a Kit Car?
Discussion
How much is a kit?
How much will it sell for once done?
Does the difference in the two make it worthwhile, given the time and money I will use building it?
I know someone who does this sort of thing with bikes. He's currently doing a GN400 and a Royal Enfield for a couple of customers, fabricating parts, customisation, making sure they're good mechanically and restoring parts.
He loves it and does pretty well from it, working from home.
How much will it sell for once done?
Does the difference in the two make it worthwhile, given the time and money I will use building it?
I know someone who does this sort of thing with bikes. He's currently doing a GN400 and a Royal Enfield for a couple of customers, fabricating parts, customisation, making sure they're good mechanically and restoring parts.
He loves it and does pretty well from it, working from home.
thescamper said:
Suggest that you do some research on what kits actually are selling for. I would suggest that there is not a lot of profit to be made. it is invariably cheaper to buy a good quality second hand kit than to build from scratch.
yeah this was my suspicion.Just have about £25k coming my way and I was just thinking of more fun ways to make something more out of it, rather than the usual usual.
High end kits have a much better chance of offering a return for input.
Rare kits may offer profit potential.
Replicar has not been offered for sale yet. No idea what a turn key one might fetch.
There could well be a decent living to make with the right product to the right standard.
You could offer a custom build "prices from" of say a GT40/Cobra/Replicar/GD etc.
Residual prices can be pumped up if the perceived value is good. The accepted price for a small drink in Mac's is the "regular" size price. They don't do small. Cornflakes are half empty when you open the new packet, kit cars can be comparable to high end mainstream cars at £30k when they only cost £10k.
Rare kits may offer profit potential.
Replicar has not been offered for sale yet. No idea what a turn key one might fetch.
There could well be a decent living to make with the right product to the right standard.
You could offer a custom build "prices from" of say a GT40/Cobra/Replicar/GD etc.
Residual prices can be pumped up if the perceived value is good. The accepted price for a small drink in Mac's is the "regular" size price. They don't do small. Cornflakes are half empty when you open the new packet, kit cars can be comparable to high end mainstream cars at £30k when they only cost £10k.
There are people out there who do builds for people. But it always seems to be a part of a bigger business.
e.g.
http://www.talonsportscars.com/buildservice.php
http://www.southwaysautomotive.co.uk/SSC2/kit-car-...
e.g.
http://www.talonsportscars.com/buildservice.php
http://www.southwaysautomotive.co.uk/SSC2/kit-car-...
No. There is no money to be made buying a new kit, building it and selling the car finished.
Companies that offer a build service make the money charging the owner to carry out the build at either an hourly rate or agreed job cost.
There are a couple or 3 kits out there that you may not lose too much on if you don't take your time into account.
Hawk Stratos would be one. Though it would have to be a pretty exact replica with all the difficult to find and expensive parts.
Companies that offer a build service make the money charging the owner to carry out the build at either an hourly rate or agreed job cost.
There are a couple or 3 kits out there that you may not lose too much on if you don't take your time into account.
Hawk Stratos would be one. Though it would have to be a pretty exact replica with all the difficult to find and expensive parts.
An alternative is to pick up (search deep and haggle hard) a slightly tatty Caterham, fettle, possibly engine swap/tune/upgrade and that may add 10% to the outlay. As for kit cars, I built one of the more established mid range ones to a reasonable spec and lost 35% three years later without taking into account my time, blood, sweat and tears. IMO People who buy second hand kit cars given the choice between a new built at the kit price +10-20% and a two year old one with 2k miles on the clock (same spec) for kit price -20% will probably go for the latter.
It's much the same as buying any car really. Drive it off the forecourt and you've lost money straight away.
If you're building a car specifically for a customer because he/she does not have the time, skills or space to do it themselves then OK you make money on your labour but the days of buying anything and doing it up to make a buck are gone be it a car or a house.
My advice is get yourself a car and have some fun to treat yourself. Forget making money
If you're building a car specifically for a customer because he/she does not have the time, skills or space to do it themselves then OK you make money on your labour but the days of buying anything and doing it up to make a buck are gone be it a car or a house.
My advice is get yourself a car and have some fun to treat yourself. Forget making money
Stuart Mills said:
High end kits have a much better chance of offering a return for input.
Rare kits may offer profit potential.
Replicar has not been offered for sale yet. No idea what a turn key one might fetch.
There could well be a decent living to make with the right product to the right standard.
You could offer a custom build "prices from" of say a GT40/Cobra/Replicar/GD etc.
Residual prices can be pumped up if the perceived value is good. The accepted price for a small drink in Mac's is the "regular" size price. They don't do small. Cornflakes are half empty when you open the new packet, kit cars can be comparable to high end mainstream cars at £30k when they only cost £10k.
Rare kits may offer profit potential.
Replicar has not been offered for sale yet. No idea what a turn key one might fetch.
There could well be a decent living to make with the right product to the right standard.
You could offer a custom build "prices from" of say a GT40/Cobra/Replicar/GD etc.
Residual prices can be pumped up if the perceived value is good. The accepted price for a small drink in Mac's is the "regular" size price. They don't do small. Cornflakes are half empty when you open the new packet, kit cars can be comparable to high end mainstream cars at £30k when they only cost £10k.
I doubt you will get a more informed opinion than this from Stuart Mills: good advice indeed. Steve D makes the point that premium bonds are more secure and could give a better return. Very probably a lot less work too. As a retired Chartered Accountant with a penchant for kit cars who has built a lot of kit cars over the years, I have always lost money on my projects particularly if the hours of work on the car are costed even minimally.
It might be possible but I would suggest a more directly commercial orientation of purpose would be very much more likely to succeed. Business is very lean in the UK generally at the present time. If you are seeking reward I would suggest that this needs to be your primary objective in seeking a direction in business. Hobby trading (which is what I think you are seeking) is a very difficult path to follow.
Steve_D said:
Steffan said:
......Hobby trading (which is what I think you are seeking) is a very difficult path to follow.
Tell me about it!!!!!!!!Steve
It is a lot less complicated to accept the expense of a very enjoyable hobby IMO.
rudecherub said:
Dumb question perhaps, but how much money can be made or should that be lost... in buying a kit - building it ( let's assume to a good standard ) and then selling it - say on Pistonheads?
Someone I know is building an MX5 based kit, which vaguely looks a bit like an Atom. He reckons that if he builds it nice enough, and drives it for a couple of years he will 'make' £3K on it.
I worked out his hourly rate and it's about £1 an hour, but that's not the point. He enjoys the build, and will want to build something else after a couple of years.
The dream of many is to buy a winery in France or Italy..... and they say (of running your own winery)that "It's easy to be have a business worth a million pounds..... just start off with two million pounds!"
The kit car business is much the same.
You 'might' be lucky building one but you'd be competing with the factories / specialist builders who have done it (on a particular kit car a dozen times before)
Big boys may prosper but unless it is a true hobby, in which case you won't mind losing money (in real terms), I wouldn't expect to do anything other than break even (ie supply your labour for nowt or pence per hour).
If you want to make money on a hobby business you'd probably do better to buy a completed (SVA'd) but rough car and modify/improve
The kit car business is much the same.
You 'might' be lucky building one but you'd be competing with the factories / specialist builders who have done it (on a particular kit car a dozen times before)
Big boys may prosper but unless it is a true hobby, in which case you won't mind losing money (in real terms), I wouldn't expect to do anything other than break even (ie supply your labour for nowt or pence per hour).
If you want to make money on a hobby business you'd probably do better to buy a completed (SVA'd) but rough car and modify/improve
Type R Tom said:
If you want a project an Elise with a Honda K20 go for a premium. By a poorly Elise and do it up I doubt you'd lose much, not a kit car but nearly as fast.
Whislt they are a very few cars that i think you could make a true profit on, when you divide the profit by the time spent, you'd make more money working in MaccyD's! So as a buisness case it's a poor one. BUT, if you have the money to spend irrespective, and hence are willing to risk the money and accept that the "fun" of the job means the low hourly pay is acceptable, then go for it. All i will say is that the most important part will be the re-sale value, for which i think some sort of Caterham is probably unbeatable in that respect.Gassing Station | Kit Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff