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Hi guys, a bit of background about me. I'm late 30's, have always enjoyed fixing up cars and am looking to turn my hobby into a business. I am under no illusions it will be hard work without a guarantee of success so the goal is to start off part-time, keeping my full time job, keeping costs low, while I see how things go. I do want to be an above board trader from the start though, offering cars with a warranty for peace of mind, etc. There's a loads of great threads on here with the nuts and bolts of starting out, etc. so I have a good idea of what's required (I've ran a few IT contracting LTD's so know what's required on the accounts side of things). BUT I wanted to run my business plan by you guys and get your thoughts if you don't mind. Constructive feedback welcome. In general I want to offer modern classics (90's era) coupes and convertibles. I think having a niche is a good plan and will let me focus on a few core models at first (MR2, MX5, MG, etc.). I'm looking to find fundamentally good cars that need work to bring up to scratch. So something with good history, low/average miles/owners but has body/mechanical/presentation issues (no write offs) then fix any issues, full service, MOT, valet, polish, etc. full prep prior to sale. The goal being restore them back to their former glory on a sensible budget, build a good reputation and learn the ropes. Not chasing profit yet but working towards being able to jack in my soul destroying IT job eventually if it works out. As I'm starting out the goal will be to learn rather than take any big risks so I'm thinking get something worth a bit fixed up but relatively cheap to buy when they need sorting out - MK1 MX5 being a good example. Eventually I'd like to restore/update older classics, sort out bigger bodywork jobs, improve drivetrain/handling/.etc - I'm thinking MGB V8 conversations would be popular and a good earner (a big process I'm reading up on at the moment). I have a double garage at home with a pit and some storage around the side of the house. It's presentable so initially to keep costs low I plan on starting out from home (but as a trader as I mentioned). If things work out I'll upgrade but the goal is keep costs down in the early stages so it doesn't make sense to rent somewhere bigger at the moment. What do you reckon? Cheers, Matt

I was only being curious its your path to walk, i think the days of hiding behind a ltd company for protection has lone gone, any major financial implications these days are mostly covered by a personal guarantee from a director (apart from the recent bounce back loans before some smart ass fires that at me) if anything the accounting requirements and director legislation are a dead weight to a small business over a sole trader set up.

sounds good and a real advantage if you can spanner, weld, and paint, in the short term though it sounds like you will be time poor, sadly you can't buy your time, i would advise to start by buying cars that need little or no work, with you working full time you will probably only find an extra 20 odd hours a week to prep cars, once you have sold your first car without so much effort for a profit you will soon loose interest in the heavier prep cars anyway, then if things work out to the point where you do the cars full time you can then justify the heavier prep cars as you will at this point be looking to fill 60 hours a week instead of 20. regards your post you mention that you are not bothered about a profit to start with, forget that, now't wrong with earn as you learn, there's nothing more motivating than seeing a profit, good luck.

Totally agree- weldng skils is a must fixing that type of stuff. Mr2 mx5 supras e30 944 and other desirable 90's classics are mostly fuel injected anyway so forget carbs.

Welcome to the forum good luck with your new business ..

If you can weld and fix carburettors (not at the same time!!!), there will always be something for you.

You’ll have fun (and stress) doing that part time and might even make a decent side income but as a full time business I’d say no. Your time will be swallowed trying to find, fix and retail these cars. Also realistically how many are available at any one time and via what source? Could you for example source 10-15 a month that you’d need when the business is full time? While you might take the best part of a month, sourcing, fixing and prepping a couple of 90s Mercs, you could have bought and sold 10 “retail ready” modern cars. Don’t let me put you off btw, if you want to try it go for it, you may find down the line you could stock modern Mercs and other newer cars but have a few nice 90s classics too to keep that side of your passion going. Anyway, good luck

I've always been into classics and it sounds like a fun idea. However, renovating/restoring classic cars is a bit of a rabbit's warren. Little things can take months and months due to parts non-availability, or people selling secondhand parts "take the piss" with prices because they know its rare etc. IMHO only really on the upper-end stuff do you have a chance of making decent money. Also....not sure I'd buy ANY 90s MG.....they stopped the Midget and MGB/MGC in 1979-80, there's the MGF but then we're into MG Montegos and other stuff in the 90s...

You will spend more time fixing than selling but if that's what you want to do that's fine, but my aim is to do less fixing and more selling.

Great idea. Something I fancied for years myself... Just can't imagine how you can make profit with this business model unfortunately. Especially doung it part time.

just do it

When I read that the government want " a greener future " out of the recession, then any chance of scrappage on petrol or diesel is not happening, so the word is "greener future " sorry chaps

god knows, looking at the ownership you would think they are well propped up financially, going to be interesting to see how they try and replace lost revenue from lack of entry's moving forward. when you look at the business model of some auctions - advance the vendor Cap clean, collect and sell car, finance the buyer, it's all fine in a buoyant market but looks fragile in times of uncertainty, they now have to do this without knowing how wounded their vendors or buyers are. the recent case i know of was a franchise vendor who had multiple entry's in a sale, 6 sold but no funds were forthcoming, auction claimed the buyers hadn't paid, that may be true for some of the cars but unlikely for all, its resolved now but it took them over two weeks to resolve, and it was before lock down, as you can imagine it's left a bitter taste for the vendor who is now looking at disposals elsewhere.