WFH alternatives? low income retirement fund source
Discussion
Similar to other posts ( Im of a certain middle age lets be generous and say I'm 50 and with some moneys in the bank but prefer not to divulge how much publically). Have some monies in places like ISAs and premiums but less inclined to mess about with riskier investments and no experience thereof.
Whilst I have some experience of doing some fix it jobs ( head gaskets on cars, fitting electronics etc):-
I wonder if its possible to turn over a few car fixer ups / spare repairs type things and selling them on to make a little money?
Maybe enough to tide over and meet supermarket bills without going over the basic tax threshold for instance
I doubt I'm going to become the next Matt Armstrong though
I understand cheap cars aren't eligible to captial gains and I also wouldn't try to become a full trader just selling private if that could net a bit of money in lieu of actual salaried income although its a bit unconventional?
As I get older and into semi retirement territory of taking it a bit more easy - more relaxed attitude to money or perhaps being a bit frugal myself do I really need an average salary full time job or should I keep pushing that for now to keep building the pot ?
Already fully own our home, my wife has a little job for her spending too, have no direct dependants only pets, I have no concerns about handing money down to inheritance when I die myself although if I have anything left more than happy to send my half to local or nationwide animal charities - need to make up a will actually for that which I might discuss with them if they do it free.
Whilst I have some experience of doing some fix it jobs ( head gaskets on cars, fitting electronics etc):-
I wonder if its possible to turn over a few car fixer ups / spare repairs type things and selling them on to make a little money?
Maybe enough to tide over and meet supermarket bills without going over the basic tax threshold for instance
I doubt I'm going to become the next Matt Armstrong though
I understand cheap cars aren't eligible to captial gains and I also wouldn't try to become a full trader just selling private if that could net a bit of money in lieu of actual salaried income although its a bit unconventional?
As I get older and into semi retirement territory of taking it a bit more easy - more relaxed attitude to money or perhaps being a bit frugal myself do I really need an average salary full time job or should I keep pushing that for now to keep building the pot ?
Already fully own our home, my wife has a little job for her spending too, have no direct dependants only pets, I have no concerns about handing money down to inheritance when I die myself although if I have anything left more than happy to send my half to local or nationwide animal charities - need to make up a will actually for that which I might discuss with them if they do it free.
daytonavrs said:
I wonder if its possible to turn over a few car fixer ups / spare repairs type things and selling them on to make a little money?.
It depends if you do it legally or not.If you do it legally (taking out the necessary insurances, registering as a trader, and also providing warranties on the cars that you sell) I don't think you'll make much money.
If you do it as an unofficial driveway trader and selling the cars as private sales then yes, it's possible to make a few hundred on each sale.
I read something about 12 cars limit providing main salary? Wouldn't go beyond that.
Would need to be relatively major things i think like either cat accident repair cars or clutch jobs where the difference between buy/sell could be more thousand+ makes more sense to me
Probably not even worth the hassle tbh....what with the labour government clampdown of even hobbyist levels of buying and selling, maybe even lower salary jobs could be considered if necessary....I always find drawn back to usual career though not really bothered about money so much lately
Would need to be relatively major things i think like either cat accident repair cars or clutch jobs where the difference between buy/sell could be more thousand+ makes more sense to me
Probably not even worth the hassle tbh....what with the labour government clampdown of even hobbyist levels of buying and selling, maybe even lower salary jobs could be considered if necessary....I always find drawn back to usual career though not really bothered about money so much lately
Edited by daytonavrs on Friday 19th September 14:05
daytonavrs said:
I read something about 12 cars limit providing main salary? Wouldn't go beyond that.
IIRC there was an approximate number of cars that you could buy and sell during the course of the year and argue with HMRC that these were casual sales and not a business activity.However if you consciously buy and sell just one car for business purposes then that limit doesn't apply.
So it goes back to whether you want to do it properly/legally or not.
I'm mildly amused at the idea of their being a difference in personally profiting money from selling something you own to the degree of it being one car and somehow having more of a business hat on about it-
Would I have to make Mike Brewer like sales quips and back slaps to qualify for the business hat?
If not I think I could happily stick to being Mr Private
This was in the back of my mind for retirement also, I've built & refurbished a number of cars and trailers over the years, my intention was to refurbish and sell on privately 1-2 vehicles / trailers etc a year mainly to keep me active and add a little to the cash fund for further projects so it's not coming out of my savings/pension.
I looked at becoming a sole trader, LTD, etc but I tend to get trade prices from my current suppliers anyways so the tax advantages of becoming a business are outweighed by business costs for small scale in my case.
I looked at becoming a sole trader, LTD, etc but I tend to get trade prices from my current suppliers anyways so the tax advantages of becoming a business are outweighed by business costs for small scale in my case.
These threads about car-flipping always go the same way.
1) Once you are "trading", even if it is one car, than technically you are a trader - that said, at low enough volumes and long enough sale times, then who is really going to know.....(as long as you don't post your plan on pistonheads, you should be fine
)
2) Where do you source your cars from? - And the answer tends to be :
a) auction - where low volume buyers have worse terms than high volume buyers - i.e. you are immediately at a disadvantage based on your "I'm not a trader" model.
b) facebook etc (i.e. the same as everyone else)
c) some connections to a steady supply of doer-uppers.
3) you have to sell them to wallys - e.g on Facebook or autotrader, and you then need to handle the idiots of the world which eats into your margin
Without having 2) sorted, it makes it difficult before you even get to 3).
There's a chap on YT that flips cars, and he "claims" to be able to buy at ~500 and sell for ~2K each time having done some work in the middle (panel sprays and mechanical). No idea how "real" his numbers are though.
1) Once you are "trading", even if it is one car, than technically you are a trader - that said, at low enough volumes and long enough sale times, then who is really going to know.....(as long as you don't post your plan on pistonheads, you should be fine
)2) Where do you source your cars from? - And the answer tends to be :
a) auction - where low volume buyers have worse terms than high volume buyers - i.e. you are immediately at a disadvantage based on your "I'm not a trader" model.
b) facebook etc (i.e. the same as everyone else)
c) some connections to a steady supply of doer-uppers.
3) you have to sell them to wallys - e.g on Facebook or autotrader, and you then need to handle the idiots of the world which eats into your margin
Without having 2) sorted, it makes it difficult before you even get to 3).
There's a chap on YT that flips cars, and he "claims" to be able to buy at ~500 and sell for ~2K each time having done some work in the middle (panel sprays and mechanical). No idea how "real" his numbers are though.
Years ago a dodgy neighbour of mine had a side line in buying Cat D cars, repairing them and then flogging them. This was back when cat D was the lowest write-off category. His speciality was buying "Stolen recovered" where the cars usually had lock damage only or maybe a couple of damaged panels. He wouldn't touch anything where the suspension might have moved or anything with front-end damage. It was at the bottom end of the market where even a trivial repair would exceed the value of the car. he was basically buying cars under £2k and selling them for roughly £5k - £8k depending on the level of work involved. He obviously wouldn't tell people that the cars were write-offs because people would immediately assume "death trap cut and shuts" (and also because he was a scumball)
He made a tidy living from it until HPI became more and more common. On at least two occasions buyers turned up at his home address "politely requesting" a refund. in the end he decided there were safer ways of earning money .
Anyway cool starry bra
He made a tidy living from it until HPI became more and more common. On at least two occasions buyers turned up at his home address "politely requesting" a refund. in the end he decided there were safer ways of earning money .
Anyway cool starry bra
Buying any 'bargain' cars you spot randomly for sale (eg. underpriced car advertised on a postcard in the newsagent window) that you can tart up and flip for some beer money is one thing, but doing it repeatedly for an consistent income is totally different and much harder.
These days, if you live in suitable area, I suspect you might just be better off just doing a few shifts in some 'gig economy' driving job - running Amazon parcels, JustEats, etc - when you have a free day or evening.
(I've said before, I know someone who semi-retired into driving an Uber 4 mornings a week for a couple of years, plus 'off book' airport runs by word-of-mouth. Which seemed a decent part time job if you are morning person and could stomach buying a Prius).
These days, if you live in suitable area, I suspect you might just be better off just doing a few shifts in some 'gig economy' driving job - running Amazon parcels, JustEats, etc - when you have a free day or evening.
(I've said before, I know someone who semi-retired into driving an Uber 4 mornings a week for a couple of years, plus 'off book' airport runs by word-of-mouth. Which seemed a decent part time job if you are morning person and could stomach buying a Prius).
Just don't do what one of our neighbours does, expand drive way and put 4 cars on it, then find you don't have enough space and start parking them up and down the road but changing position of said cars every couple of weeks until he has space/time to put them on his drive.
Council are useless, and just accept his version of its one car at a time... unless we can take photos of them to prove otherwise which is difficult as we can't exactly take a photo of the front of his house every few days
Council are useless, and just accept his version of its one car at a time... unless we can take photos of them to prove otherwise which is difficult as we can't exactly take a photo of the front of his house every few days
There is no fixed “12 cars” rule. HMRC looks at intention. If you consciously buy a car with the aim of selling it at a profit, you are trading, even if it is only one vehicle.
Casual disposal of your own car is fine, but repeated buy–fix–sell activity is likely to be seen as a business.
Casual disposal of your own car is fine, but repeated buy–fix–sell activity is likely to be seen as a business.
paddy1970 said:
There is no fixed 12 cars rule. HMRC looks at intention. If you consciously buy a car with the aim of selling it at a profit, you are trading, even if it is only one vehicle.
Casual disposal of your own car is fine, but repeated buy fix sell activity is likely to be seen as a business.
This.Casual disposal of your own car is fine, but repeated buy fix sell activity is likely to be seen as a business.
OP are you up to servicing cars? Guy down the road from me does this for the locals, many people have older cars that just need a basic service and car taken for an MOT once a year. Always has some work on. He does my old banger, usually costs me £250 all in for a basic service and MOT.
I did this years ago. There are a lot of naysayers on here but honestly you can buy and sell and keep under the radar. Don't be stupid about filling your drive up with cars or filling up your road. You can quite easily have 2-3 cars on the go without anyone noticing. I knew my neighbours and they'd often see me talking to buyers on my drive but I didn't inconvenience anyone and so there wasn't any problem. I did it for about a year.
The public are generally nice and I can't say I had any problems with any.
I love cars so even driving cheap ones was fun. Most traders couldn't care less about cars, they are just things to buy and sell.
You need trade insurance which is/was easy to get and then it's just a case of finding the right cars. That's the hardest part. Valeting the cars kept me fit too!
It's really not hard to start, you could do it today.
The public are generally nice and I can't say I had any problems with any.
I love cars so even driving cheap ones was fun. Most traders couldn't care less about cars, they are just things to buy and sell.
You need trade insurance which is/was easy to get and then it's just a case of finding the right cars. That's the hardest part. Valeting the cars kept me fit too!
It's really not hard to start, you could do it today.
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff