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Ok- so you've probably had millions of these posts but here we go anyway. So, after 20 years stuck in an office job but with a passion for cars and racing I'm going to take the plunge. I have £5k capital so where is the best chance of return. Should I start with say 4 x £500 cars (but prob sell 10 a month (bargain buys) and sell at £850...... or buy at £1200 to sell at £1800 approx but sell less a month. So, daft question probably so be gentle!! thanks in advance from yet another rookie. By the way, I am in Buckinghamshire so you don't need to give me advice if your're local as you don't need yet more competition on your block.

Petrol 1.6 qashqais are very good sellers for me. N tec models are popular. Only issue we have had is they all sound very squeeky on start up so new fan belt does the trick.

Qashqai's are good, got one in at the moment good spec Tekna with full leather and pan roof. Never had a Juke think they are a bit marmite for some.

They're both popular on Motability which is why there are so many lower mileage ones around. On the 2WD vs 4WD thing, (and utterly unrelated to the original post) Nissan have stopped offering a 4WD automatic with the new Qashqai, which has lost them two sales just from people in my office. I guess this shows that the vast majority of buyers will take better economy and a lower price (and tax) rather than all wheel drive, and that the Swiss market isn't hugely important to Nissan's product planners!

I've started to look at the Qashqai (diesel) but they do seem an awful lot of money for what they are. Interesting (and this doesn't happen very often), according to i control North Wales should be the home of the Qashqai, gaining more stars than Nigella's Xmas Pudding.

Always done well with 2wd Qashqai's even in Devon where 4x4's are popular, plus 4x4 ones are rare and seem to attract a premium price wise. The can show wear if they have been abused, think more Renault interior quality then Nissan. I've a few with dogdy radio displays too, LCD goes funny when hot. Both 1.5DCi and 2.0 DCi good new in my opinion. As for Juke's, have always done well again especially with higher spec Tekna / Acenta Premium Pluswith SAT NAV etc but have to buy later one well behind book as prices seem to be all over the place

I have got a cracking deal on a timeshare it will be perfect for you.....

And this, people, is what a lot more of us should be saying to a lot more customers/suppliers/timewasters a lot more often. Jeez, if the Greedy, Greedy boys or legislators don't get you, the scammers will. How have we ended up here? This job is no fun anymore: all work and no play. I think I need a holiday. Just so I can be ripped off by some other scumbags somewhere different...

You will always get these kind of things going on. Unfortunately where there is money to be made there will always be crooks who try to take advantage of peoples naivety. I have had all sorts of people trying things on. So called mechanics that come out with clever terms to describe something wrong with the car. I normally just ignore them and wait for them to say "whats your best price mate bearing in mind its gonna need some work" I then just point to the board in the window and say "that is the best price" if you dont want it dont buy it. If at any time when selling a car the buyer points out any faults that you dont understand then DONT take their word for it get it looked at yourself. Tell them "thanks for pointing this out" and that you will take the car off sale while you investigate the so called "fault". If they still want to buy the car but at a knock down price then it is your choice. No one is forcing you to sell the car. If you aint happy just say NO.

Hi. Would just like to share our story as we have nearly been scammed twice with selling our car! I saw on other websites and forums some people referring the oil in coolant trick as a Facebook click bait and it's not true but I can tell you it certainly is! Tonight 3 guys (Romanian/Turkish I'm not sure) turned up at 10:30pm tonight (should of been 9pm) to view my wife's Audi A4. They had been calling texting her up to this point to view and sounded desperate to view it. When we both went out to meet them they saw me approach them and one guy muttered "typicle" almost like they were only expecting to deal with my wife. We had been done before by a similar group who distracted us and ruined the coolant with a bit of oil, dipped there finger, then tried to buy it for £200 (we're selling at £1500) saying the head gasket had gone. (Head gasket would make the coolant gooey like mayo not pure black oil and clear water) Well tonight was frosty and stupidly when the bonnet was open and they were checking they asked I de-ice the screen with warm water. While I ran in to get that (big mistake) they asked my wife to open the boot and have a look there. 2 was round the back one under the bonnet. My wife was wary of them and as I come back out one guy jumped away from the bonnet so my wife lost it and asked what they were doing to the car. They all started to get very annoyed saying we were discriminating and waving money at us saying that they were buying for one of their wife's etc. my wife took a pic of there car and they drove off swearing and shouting stuff. We then checked the coolant and the cap was done up real tight so we know they fiddled with it as we had it looser. Hey presto! it had black oil in the coolant so we know we had been scammed as before they arrived we made sure it was clear as it's happened to us before. So this is the 2nd time and no, the head gasket hasn't gone. This is 100% real and no Facebook scam. Just thought we'd share our story as we saw other articles similar to ours and we don't want these f***ers scamming others out there.

Just just get some business cards made up, give them to customers looking to px but say it's a friend who is hard of hearing and can only reply by text or email ... Then quote them a low price at the dealers and bid them higher when you get a text/email.

well I have been told to buy one at £1200 as opposed to two "old bangers". But I agree with Corsas- I would be aiming at the low cost, low insurance, low running costs end of the market. Thanks for heads up on the Insurance firm too ! When I start i'll bore you to death with my weekly progress !!

The guys have basically cover it on the comments above Simon. There are some major costs incurred with setting up included in the thread above including the fact that at some point you will have to register for VAT. But even if you do manage to keep under that threshold , £500 cars are the cars we move through the auction for a reason! If there was some type of profit in them without customer comeback then we would all be doing it. Sorry, in my humble opinion you either 'do something right or don't do it at all'!

Simon, you need to consider the following. Trade insurance (most policy's cost £1k + Trade plates (unless you are planning on taxing each car) If you are working from home you will need planning permission (it won't be long before your neighbours report you) If you are going to be working from premises you need to work out your in going costs. warranties (whether you will use a 3rd party or be covering the warranties yourself) Prep (repairs/mot's/bodywork) unless you know a couple of tradesman or can put lots of work their way you will most likely be paying retail prices. With lot's of overheads, and a lot of time and money going into a car to bring it to retail standards it's not as cut and dried as just buying it for 500, selling it for 850 and bingo 350 profit, unless your lucky, and don't forget the customers who will try and beat you down with a big stick. 5K is a small budget for this game, not impossible but hard, if you get a lemon you won't have much to fall back on. It might sound like I'm trying to put you off but after considering the above if you feel it's viable for you then I wish you every success, we all have to start somewhere. Kind Regards.

I always remove all the books/book pack and put them all in a cupboard and split the keys too - Every car - every time ! You just never know.What a shocking story ! I'm always very cautious when you get a 'gang ' of men looking and they're all over the place !