Lambchop

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Posts posted by Lambchop

  1. Posted

    19 hours ago, Rory RSC said:

    @Lambchop   'failed car washer here'. Bought and sold a few got sick of having a completely weather dependent business and the headache of staff plus the constant influx of easter european / asian washes using the cheapest products in a race to the bottom. Gradually took over the pitch with clean, well presented cars gave the valeters something to do on the wet days. If the car wash was busy the customers cars took priority. 

    Honestly never looked back.  'Failing' was the best thing I ever did. Grew it as much as I could organically re investing all the time not touching a penny of car sales profit, opened a workshop on a neighbouring unit employed a tech for our own cars,. Did the cars right, when the time was right and the foundations secure borrowed some funding to stock up the space I had available. Its gone very well so far. 

    Best thing I ever did and kept me out of a lot of trouble.

     

     

    9875631-Nil

    thanks for the response , actually tried selling cat d cars for a family member a few years back  Up there (for no profit more of a favour) And got nothing but screamers , put me off. Encouraging see that you can actually make a living starting from scratch . Gonna persist and start trying to sell more up there hopefully it goes well . 

    Here’s one idea , the yard could hold bout 30 cars plus there’s secure storage in the back. Is there money to be made in buying breakers and selling for parts . Could you do that as a 1 man band ? Has anyone considered or done this already? 

  2. Posted

    6 hours ago, Rory RSC said:

    @Lambchop   'failed car washer here'. Bought and sold a few got sick of having a completely weather dependent business and the headache of staff plus the constant influx of easter european / asian washes using the cheapest products in a race to the bottom. Gradually took over the pitch with clean, well presented cars gave the valeters something to do on the wet days. If the car wash was busy the customers cars took priority. 

    Honestly never looked back.  'Failing' was the best thing I ever did. Grew it as much as I could organically re investing all the time not touching a penny of car sales profit, opened a workshop on a neighbouring unit employed a tech for our own cars,. Did the cars right, when the time was right and the foundations secure borrowed some funding to stock up the space I had available. Its gone very well so far. 

    Best thing I ever did and kept me out of a lot of trouble.

     

     

    9875631-Nil

    thanks for the response , actually tried selling cat d cars for a family member a few years back  Up there (for no profit more of a favour) And got nothing but screamers , put me off. Encouraging see that you can actually make a living starting from scratch . Gonna persist and start trying to sell more up there hopefully it goes well . 

  3. Posted

    Thanks Rory , nice to see someone else has been in same position, was my dad bought the pitch years ago was a car wash then the fella who was renting had enough and I took over . spent all my earnings on it and am currently at end of my tether . Would have gave it up a while ago but know the location is good and don’t want to give it up . 

    I’ve actually had loads of Albanians asking to buy/ rent of me , but if I want to sell cars up there will struggle to get them off again . 

    Well when my dad bought it was car sales .

  5. Posted

    St. Helens Merseyside, just on the outside of town centre , don’t think I’ve got the money to turn into flats. Was seeing a lot of artificial grass sales places popping up and considering that seems like less of a headache than cars but don’t know how long that would last . 

    I think if I turned into a service station doing exhausts batteries brakes etc would do really well with the tyre bay next door , however would require building work and seems like would be hard to find a good mechanic .

  7. Posted

    Hi , currently have a pretty big pitch. Good location with a tyre fitters next door . Currently have a car wash and sell a few cars there. Anyway, sick of breaking my back working at the wash 7 days a week and thinking of going all in with selling cars . However got a few months before I take the plunge . Just wondering if there’s anything else that I could use the pitch for , any ideas? 

  11. Posted

    I’d recommend hendry or George, you don’t really need the machine to put chemical on, get yourself a spray bottle and brush , mit do it yourself, you just need it to suck it out of seats . My advice would be to take to car wash cos they your really paying someone bout 3 pound an hour if you take into account time taken etc . But take it when it’s a rainy / dull day ,they’ll be empty and spend all day on it . 

    Then go over any bits your not happy with yourself 

  13. Posted

    I’d say steaming there’s a chance you’d do more damage than what it’s worth, same with steam cleaning exteriors , I used to use hot through our pressure washers at my car wash, if you got hot water in a chip could bubble paintwork . I’d say most inportant in doing a good job is the chemicals you use and how strong you make them . 

    I used to use auto smart brisk , bio brisk. 

    You can also use g101 from auto smart which cleans better I’d say but doesn’t smell as good, you have to be careful with it cos can damage leather though 

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    Ye I work 7 days as is . I would be salesman and valeting. Its more trying to shift cars, the only 1s I currently can get for good money are cat d’s and I’ve found them hard to get rid off . Would you find the cars with high mileage but clear history go quicker? 

  20. Posted

    Ye I actually have spoken to a local trader who is desperate to get on the pitch, to which was willing to go halfs on all the profits. The pitch could probably hold 50 to 70 cars . But I don’t know if it’d make enough for 2 people. Im sure people on here would know better than me . Plus if I say yes I’m stuck with him and could get trouble down the line . 

  21. Posted

    To be honest the main reason I’m thinking of stopping the wash is because of dealing with staff , most, if not all other washes in my area are not English and I’m pretty sure they don’t get payed decent money if any . I don’t have the connections to hire those type of staff and don’t think I’d feel comfortable Exploiting people like that . You try getting the local teens to put a shift in, turn up on time etc . The pitch is in a great location just looking for the best use of it without spending a fortune. Was considering doing painting dents myself in the back and selling cars from the front .

  22. Posted

    Ye good idea Casper , as it seems a lot of the problems dealers are having is getting good priced stock . So maybe they’d be willing to take the ones I couldn’t afford . To be honest I’ve had 2 cars up for sale up there for bout a month and already had 2 people in asking me to buy their cars . That’s without a sign up . 

  24. Posted

    Exactly my thinking Roy , I don’t want to be associated with selling cat d’s but for the £1000 to £3000 price range I think you get a good deal however , there is a real stigma with damaged cars for example the car I’m driving at the moment is a 2011 1.4 fusion diesel  with 65000 miles , I reckon someone would get 4 good years from this I want £1400, however a trader I know is selling the same car but with clean history but done 110000 miles on a 2007 plate for £1800 I know what I’d prefer but as soon as I tell someone cat d they run a mile , it literally had 2 doors replaced 

  25. Posted

    Thanks for the reply’s ,  stuck between two ways  to stock the place really, I could get cheap cat d’s with low miles that probably have a few good years in them or high mileage ones with clear histoy’s that’ll prob pack in shortly and have a lot of problems . Problem is as soon as a customer hears damaged repaired they want to run a mile . Even though when ur paying 1 to 2 k cat d really isn’t that much of a problem .