Advice for starting out as part time motor trader.
Discussion
I am working two jobs back to back and clocking up about 70 hours per week everyweek.
Both are badly paid (I think I earn about £375 after tax).
I am presently unable to relocate and there are no jobs i am well qualified for within a realistic commuting distance.
I don't expect to become the next Alan Sugar but can anyone give advice on setting up and running a part time traders business. Where the best places to sell are, advice on insurance, selling vehicles 'as seen', ways of advertising and getting potential buyers interested without having too many vehicles on my books at one time.
How is the V5 handled, as a trader I would sign a different box, how long does it take the DVLA to issue a new V5 so I can sell the vehicle on?
If this enterprise could earn me £200 per week for 30 hours work I'd be happy.
Is this realistic?
Both are badly paid (I think I earn about £375 after tax).
I am presently unable to relocate and there are no jobs i am well qualified for within a realistic commuting distance.
I don't expect to become the next Alan Sugar but can anyone give advice on setting up and running a part time traders business. Where the best places to sell are, advice on insurance, selling vehicles 'as seen', ways of advertising and getting potential buyers interested without having too many vehicles on my books at one time.
How is the V5 handled, as a trader I would sign a different box, how long does it take the DVLA to issue a new V5 so I can sell the vehicle on?
If this enterprise could earn me £200 per week for 30 hours work I'd be happy.
Is this realistic?
There are a few threads on this, but as a starter...
advice on setting up and running a part time traders business - Loads of books/web pages on this about getting set up as a sole trader.
Where the best places to sell - I have always found Autotrader for 'run of the mill' cars
advice on insurance - Part time Motor Trader Ins (I'm 23 and pay £2500 per annum)
selling vehicles 'as seen' - Use a warranty company to cover your cars
£200 per week for 30 hours - If you dont make £200 p/week for 30 hours work selling cars, your doing something wrong.
Have you checked if you can legally sell cars from your personal address?
You also may struggle getting traders insurance if you dont have a business address.
Regards,
J
advice on setting up and running a part time traders business - Loads of books/web pages on this about getting set up as a sole trader.
Where the best places to sell - I have always found Autotrader for 'run of the mill' cars
advice on insurance - Part time Motor Trader Ins (I'm 23 and pay £2500 per annum)
selling vehicles 'as seen' - Use a warranty company to cover your cars
£200 per week for 30 hours - If you dont make £200 p/week for 30 hours work selling cars, your doing something wrong.
Have you checked if you can legally sell cars from your personal address?
You also may struggle getting traders insurance if you dont have a business address.
Regards,
J
Very very hard to make an honest profit trading cars.By the time you factor in insurance,storage,warranty repairs(you are certain to get comebacks of some sort) and the general decline of the motor trade at present.
Also on very dodgy ground with sold as seen type sales to the general public,consumer protection laws are biased towards the customer.
Then consider how you will source then make a living profit on any car that is in good,fault free condition.Plenty of money to be made selling dodgy vehicles with hidden faults but do you want or need the aggravation of the comebacks.
Just some points to consider.
Also on very dodgy ground with sold as seen type sales to the general public,consumer protection laws are biased towards the customer.
Then consider how you will source then make a living profit on any car that is in good,fault free condition.Plenty of money to be made selling dodgy vehicles with hidden faults but do you want or need the aggravation of the comebacks.
Just some points to consider.
I've done this for a while and to be frank i started with peanuts and to be fair i haven't done to bad, if you have a good week and have stock of about 6 cars you should be able to clear £500.
The 6 cars combined to be valued at about 6-7k for example.
Remember something don't ever buy cars that you want to keep just buy whatever is cheap. Also another point to mention you will loose money as hard as you try not to you will its inevitable i am not saying major looses but there will be some. I have had cars that have hung around for months etc.
I bought a turbo diesel and on the way home the turbos gone pop etc etc so you have a 8k car with a turbo which cost over 1k to replace.
You will also end up going to look at cars all over the place and will return empty handed (I personally hate when that happens)
I have had £200 cars to luxury cars worth north of £10k
But believe me as any job it gets boring. As you can see in the employment section i am looking for advise to get out of it.
The 6 cars combined to be valued at about 6-7k for example.
Remember something don't ever buy cars that you want to keep just buy whatever is cheap. Also another point to mention you will loose money as hard as you try not to you will its inevitable i am not saying major looses but there will be some. I have had cars that have hung around for months etc.
I bought a turbo diesel and on the way home the turbos gone pop etc etc so you have a 8k car with a turbo which cost over 1k to replace.
You will also end up going to look at cars all over the place and will return empty handed (I personally hate when that happens)
I have had £200 cars to luxury cars worth north of £10k
But believe me as any job it gets boring. As you can see in the employment section i am looking for advise to get out of it.
Ive very little to add here - but the only thing i would say - is do your research on all the varius cars you might be interested in purchasing for resale carefully.
Certain cars don't have the best reputation - and as a small trader - i think you may have to decide to not actually sell certain models as retail sales (ie with a warranty).
If i was a motor trader - the following are cars i would not be retailing - simply because i think the risk of been caught out with issues due to manufacturer design faults/build quality issues etc is far too high
Any Mazda with the 2.0 commonrail turbodiesel engine (the 3, 5 and 6), Peugeot 407, Renault Laguna II, the Toyota and Lexus with the 2.2 d4d engine (head gasket issues), VAG cars with the 1.4 twin charger (the one with both the turbo and supercharger). Those cars ive just mentioned - i would only take in as part ex - and only value them as what they would make at auction - and send them straight off to auction - no comeback.
I know all cars have their issues etc - but for a small car trading business - you really don't want the risk of something like a Mazda 6 diesel. Incidentally - i also know of a trader who refuses to stock anything with the 1.4 d4d Toyota diesel engine - but in that case - i think he just got unlucky with a couple and that was that - as opposed to a widespread issue like the Mazda diesel issues.
The other thing i would suggest is to work out what cars sell well in your region - its pointless buying in cars that don't sell well in your target market.
Best of luck with whatever you do.
Sir Fergie
Certain cars don't have the best reputation - and as a small trader - i think you may have to decide to not actually sell certain models as retail sales (ie with a warranty).
If i was a motor trader - the following are cars i would not be retailing - simply because i think the risk of been caught out with issues due to manufacturer design faults/build quality issues etc is far too high
Any Mazda with the 2.0 commonrail turbodiesel engine (the 3, 5 and 6), Peugeot 407, Renault Laguna II, the Toyota and Lexus with the 2.2 d4d engine (head gasket issues), VAG cars with the 1.4 twin charger (the one with both the turbo and supercharger). Those cars ive just mentioned - i would only take in as part ex - and only value them as what they would make at auction - and send them straight off to auction - no comeback.
I know all cars have their issues etc - but for a small car trading business - you really don't want the risk of something like a Mazda 6 diesel. Incidentally - i also know of a trader who refuses to stock anything with the 1.4 d4d Toyota diesel engine - but in that case - i think he just got unlucky with a couple and that was that - as opposed to a widespread issue like the Mazda diesel issues.
The other thing i would suggest is to work out what cars sell well in your region - its pointless buying in cars that don't sell well in your target market.
Best of luck with whatever you do.
Sir Fergie
I buy from auctions and private ads, I tend to keep clear of gumtree and eBay. Half the battle of selling a car is having a well written advert with decent (honest) pictures. I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to cars, you need to know exactly what you are buying and always factor in risk, these days the non 'petrol heads' of Britain, will only change car when something is going wrong with their current chariot! Depending on original investment 1 bad apple could right off your profit.
A good point regarding the choice of vehicles, I like to stick to Hondas and VAGs, they sell well and I know them well enough if anything goes wrong. I also keep to a budget of £4000ish when buying stock, as when you go into the £5k bracket your up against garages offering 0% deals and the general public would rather have a 62 plate corsa for £150 a month, rather than a big out lay for a 4 year old car from yours truly!
Money wise, will it ever make me rich? I doubt it......I do it out of enjoyment but it obviously makes me an acceptable profit but I also don't see myself leaving my FT career anytime soon! For the few hours a week I put into it, it definitely pays well and keeps me in spending money.
Regards,
J
A good point regarding the choice of vehicles, I like to stick to Hondas and VAGs, they sell well and I know them well enough if anything goes wrong. I also keep to a budget of £4000ish when buying stock, as when you go into the £5k bracket your up against garages offering 0% deals and the general public would rather have a 62 plate corsa for £150 a month, rather than a big out lay for a 4 year old car from yours truly!
Money wise, will it ever make me rich? I doubt it......I do it out of enjoyment but it obviously makes me an acceptable profit but I also don't see myself leaving my FT career anytime soon! For the few hours a week I put into it, it definitely pays well and keeps me in spending money.
Regards,
J
Im also considering starting this up part time. However I intend to aim for more specialised cars. cars I don't expect to turn around very quickly but look to make larger margins on them. Anyone else gone down this route?
I've factored in insurance, advertising and premises (of which I don't have yet)
Regards
I've factored in insurance, advertising and premises (of which I don't have yet)
Regards
Heads up for part time traders; I got a good deal on my insurance here as i only trade part time and have another job -
http://www.unicominsurance.com/part-time-motor-tra...
http://www.unicominsurance.com/part-time-motor-tra...
Jordan1989 said:
There are a few threads on this, but as a starter...
advice on setting up and running a part time traders business -
...
selling vehicles 'as seen' - Use a warranty company to cover your cars
...
A person selling a car in the course of a business cannot lawfully sell it "as seen". The sale is always subject to the terms implied by the Sale of Goods Act 1979. How those terms apply in any given case depends on the age and price of the car, but a trader who attempts to sell cars " as seen" might as well be wearing a badge saying "I am Arthur Daley".advice on setting up and running a part time traders business -
...
selling vehicles 'as seen' - Use a warranty company to cover your cars
...
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