How Much Can You Earn Part Time?

[mancars 1]

Be easy on me as I am new to the forum.

I have got back into car dealing recently after few years out. I have never done it as a full time job, but more as some side income. 

I have the trade insurance policy already. I know the basics of buying cars at auction, and have a silver account with BCA which I want to turn into GOLD very quickly. Mainly due to lower fees.

This time round I would like to have a more structured approach to the business - where I actually make some good money rather than just playing around.

Let's say I wanted to make 15k before tax selling cars part time. The cars I am dealing with are under £2k - I think they are much easier to sell. 

I use Auto Trader and Gumtree for most of the leads. 

What profit margin should I be aiming for and how many cars do you think I would need to sell in order to achieve my annual profit target.

I look forward to your help.. 

 

[Mat C 77]

Basic Maths

£15000 / 12 = £1250 Profit per month

£1250 / 5 Cars per month ( 1 a week part time ) = £250 Profit per unit

However 60 cars a year at circa £2000 per car = £120,000 turnover so you'll need to VAT registered.

Autotrader 5 cars per month circa £400 a month

Gumtree another £100

So to take £250 per car after Vat/prep/Advertising from a £2000 car I think you'd be doing well

Also this is before - Screamers/Consumer Protection act/Lawsuits/Warranty claims/people turning up with a broken down car kicking your door in.... etc - of which there'll be plenty in that kind of market

Just my 10p worth..... 

[Ocsltd 133]

I think you already know the answers..... 

[mancars 1]

On 18/02/2017 at 1:22 PM, Ocsltd said:

I think you already know the answers..... 

What Makes You Think That? lol

On 18/02/2017 at 0:54 PM, Mat C said:

Basic Maths

£15000 / 12 = £1250 Profit per month

£1250 / 5 Cars per month ( 1 a week part time ) = £250 Profit per unit

However 60 cars a year at circa £2000 per car = £120,000 turnover so you'll need to VAT registered.

Autotrader 5 cars per month circa £400 a month

Gumtree another £100

So to take £250 per car after Vat/prep/Advertising from a £2000 car I think you'd be doing well

Also this is before - Screamers/Consumer Protection act/Lawsuits/Warranty claims/people turning up with a broken down car kicking your door in.... etc - of which there'll be plenty in that kind of market

Just my 10p worth..... 

Thanks for taking time to help out. 

So what would you say is a acceptable target profit as an average for 1k to 2k cars?

[andymc1973 199]

with all due respect if you need to ask on an open forum I wouldn't be doing it, it is so easy to lose money in this game

[sparky 274]

On 2/18/2017 at 0:21 PM, mancars said:

Be easy on me as I am new to the forum.

I have got back into car dealing recently after few years out. I have never done it as a full time job, but more as some side income. 

I have the trade insurance policy already. I know the basics of buying cars at auction, and have a silver account with BCA which I want to turn into GOLD very quickly. Mainly due to lower fees.

This time round I would like to have a more structured approach to the business - where I actually make some good money rather than just playing around.

Let's say I wanted to make 15k before tax selling cars part time. The cars I am dealing with are under £2k - I think they are much easier to sell. 

I use Auto Trader and Gumtree for most of the leads. 

What profit margin should I be aiming for and how many cars do you think I would need to sell in order to achieve my annual profit target.

I look forward to your help.. 

 

If you don't mind me asking, what's your full time job?

[metcars 394]

6 hours ago, sparky said:

If you don't mind me asking, what's your full time job?

I was just wondering what the definition is of 'part time'. If there's a full time job that allows me unlimited days off to go to auctions, prep and deliver cars and be available to deal with customers anytime at short notice I want in!

[mancars 1]

On 20/02/2017 at 6:10 PM, andymc1973 said:

with all due respect if you need to ask on an open forum I wouldn't be doing it, it is so easy to lose money in this game

We all have to learn from time to time. I always love to help people and when I need help I ask. Rather get some pointers from experienced individuals than learn the hard way. But I am also known to learn the hard way.  

12 hours ago, sparky said:

If you don't mind me asking, what's your full time job?

I don't have one!  I am self-employed looking to try 3 different business and see which one takes my fancy. 

[Uncle Ron 0]

1 minute ago, mancars said:

I don't have one!  I am self-employed looking to try 3 different business and see which one takes my fancy. 

This is a scary thought - one is enough to keep me awake at night - best of luck to you!

May I ask what the other two are?

[mancars 1]

5 hours ago, metcars said:

I was just wondering what the definition is of 'part time'. If there's a full time job that allows me unlimited days off to go to auctions, prep and deliver cars and be available to deal with customers anytime at short notice I want in!

By being organised getting up at 5.30am - doing one part of my day by 8am - kids ready and school run. Back for 9.30am - 30m to check auction if auction day. Try to fit cars which will go through within 1 hour and 30 minutes. Never pay for cars on the day! Normally go the day after when I can jump straight to the desk and sort the paperwork within 15 minutes. The rest of the day - I deal with various activities from answering emails, doing another part of my business and so on. Try to have 3 hour break in the evening. If not too tried after everyone has gone to sleep I will try and either read something constructive which will help me improve my skills.. Not easy, but as I want to build a business which will give me freedom than I am willing to miss out on TV.. 

[It's me 609]

4 minutes ago, Uncle Ron said:

This is a scary thought - one is enough to keep me awake at night - best of luck to you!

May I ask what the other two are?

part time brain surgeon

and a dustman on fridays

Edited February 21, 2017 by s and b

[mancars 1]

4 minutes ago, Uncle Ron said:

This is a scary thought - one is enough to keep me awake at night - best of luck to you!

May I ask what the other two are?

Hahah.. It does keep my awake a night. But we only have one life, so might as well try to find our true path. It might work it might not. One is marketing, and the other is photography. 

2 minutes ago, s and b said:

part time brain surgeon

and a dustman on fridays

Not sure how to take your comment. 

[Uncle Ron 0]

Well - they should both come in useful if you do want to sell cars. Currently deep into YT video creation lessons to create some cool content to support the stuff I'm selling!

[mancars 1]

Just now, Uncle Ron said:

Well - they should both come in useful if you do want to sell cars. Currently deep into YT video creation lessons to create some cool content to support the stuff I'm selling!

Video is the way forward in marketing. It looks like you know this already. Is this for cars or something else?

[Uncle Ron 0]

It's for classics - there's loads of youtubers making a great success of supercars and new cars but very little for classics. Figure I'll have a stock of classic cars, each of which will have a following of its own, just happens all the motors I make content for are for sale and the content is to make the shop window bigger.

For a couple of grand and some time editing the level of quality you can get to is pretty staggering.

[mancars 1]

6 minutes ago, Uncle Ron said:

It's for classics - there's loads of youtubers making a great success of supercars and new cars but very little for classics. Figure I'll have a stock of classic cars, each of which will have a following of its own, just happens all the motors I make content for are for sale and the content is to make the shop window bigger.

For a couple of grand and some time editing the level of quality you can get to is pretty staggering.

That is a really good idea - make sure you learn YouTube SEO - it's much easier than google. Also, it might be worth adding Google Adsense - as it's something which will be watched after you sell the car but you can still to continue to make something from it. What about doing a E-Book on how to buy a classic car and what too look for? Maybe a video training for anyone looking to either get into buying classics to flip or they just looking to start collecting them. Extra passive income never hurt anyone. Just some ideas! That is my problem..

 

[M.J 35]

8 hours ago, mancars said:

By being organised getting up at 5.30am - doing one part of my day by 8am - kids ready and school run. Back for 9.30am - 30m to check auction if auction day. Try to fit cars which will go through within 1 hour and 30 minutes. Never pay for cars on the day! Normally go the day after when I can jump straight to the desk and sort the paperwork within 15 minutes. The rest of the day - I deal with various activities from answering emails, doing another part of my business and so on. Try to have 3 hour break in the evening. If not too tried after everyone has gone to sleep I will try and either read something constructive which will help me improve my skills.. Not easy, but as I want to build a business which will give me freedom than I am willing to miss out on TV.. 

I admire your optimism and genuinely wish you the best of luck, but your calculations are based on everything going swimmingly, what happens when you get 3 cars come back on the same week all for warranty claims, what happens when two of the cars you purchased are duds, what happens when you get a week full of time wasters? That's not factoring in valeting/collections/mot's/garage work/etc. In the sub £2k market pretty much every car will have a problem or will develop a problem within 6 months of you selling it.

I speak from experience as my intention when i entered the car game years back was to operate part time ''whats the big deal, i'll sell a couple of cars a week part time and have plenty of time to focus on my other business'' haha, how wrong i was! The problem is to earn enough to make it worthwhile its a more than full time commitment. Anything less than full time and you'll find what you're earning out of it is simply not worth the hassle, there are easier ways to earn £10k a year. Just my to cents.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[andymc1973 199]

9 hours ago, mancars said:

We all have to learn from time to time. I always love to help people and when I need help I ask. Rather get some pointers from experienced individuals than learn the hard way. But I am also known to learn the hard way.  

I don't have one!  I am self-employed looking to try 3 different business and see which one takes my fancy. 

sorry if i came across as rude, it wasn't my intention, it's just so easy to lose your shirt

[mancars 1]

3 hours ago, M.J said:

I admire your optimism and genuinely wish you the best of luck, but your calculations are based on everything going swimmingly, what happens when you get 3 cars come back on the same week all for warranty claims, what happens when two of the cars you purchased are duds, what happens when you get a week full of time wasters? That's not factoring in valeting/collections/mot's/garage work/etc. In the sub £2k market pretty much every car will have a problem or will develop a problem within 6 months of you selling it.

I speak from experience as my intention when i entered the car game years back was to operate part time ''whats the big deal, i'll sell a couple of cars a week part time and have plenty of time to focus on my other business'' haha, how wrong i was! The problem is to earn enough to make it worthwhile its a more than full time commitment. Anything less than full time and you'll find what you're earning out of it is simply not worth the hassle, there are easier ways to earn £10k a year. Just my to cents.

Good luck and keep us posted!

You have made some very good points. Actually the points which worry me the most, and this is the solution I am trying to kind of resolve. regarding warranty claims - I think I need to outsource this and something I will have to stress with the customers and on the invoice. I know you will get some idiots, but I suppose that is the case with any business you are in. The good job is majority of the people are normal and understand the difference between a small home trader to a full dealership. 

The cars I sell come with full service history and are generally well looked after cars. Hence why I was asking about profits. As the moment my profit is not good enough to have a business which would be worth my while. Most of my cars are sold on the first view. Which says something about the cars i stock. 

You are probably correct about making easier money elsewhere - but I like cars, I like wheeling and dealing. So, it just seems to fit what I am doing at the moment. However, who knows what the future holds. 

Thanks for your advice - it has opened my mind a little further. Not for the good but the truth sometimes hurts.

 

2 hours ago, andymc1973 said:

sorry if i came across as rude, it wasn't my intention, it's just so easy to lose your shirt

No offence taken.. It's all lighthearted. 

[david gott 58]

For the cars you are planning selling it will be hard to get them at good prices at the auction, having spent hours, days, weeks!! wasting my time trying to get fsh, clean cars at auction is very hard, the bigger dealers are happy to sit on these for months, old school dealers even years!!! so if you want to make good money your gonna have to go for the stuff that needs paint, repairs, oddball, little bit higher mileage in order to get good margins, trying to do this part time can be done BUT imho opinion the people who do it part time and make a success have already been doing this game for years full time, they've got their pot of money, they know their cars inside out, when your starting off your going to come across so many hurdles, warranty claims, cars you think you have bought cheap, only to get it home and realise its a lemon, you need trade insurance, plates, storage (for the cars your planning on selling you probably need a stock of 6 - 8 to be selling 1 or 2 a week) before you know it you will be paying vat, youll need an accountant etc etc but if your hearts in it theres no better job/game, best thing I ever done.

[BCC 9]

On 2/22/2017 at 10:44 AM, mancars said:

You have made some very good points. Actually the points which worry me the most, and this is the solution I am trying to kind of resolve. regarding warranty claims - I think I need to outsource this and something I will have to stress with the customers and on the invoice. I know you will get some idiots, but I suppose that is the case with any business you are in. The good job is majority of the people are normal and understand the difference between a small home trader to a full dealership. 

The cars I sell come with full service history and are generally well looked after cars. Hence why I was asking about profits. As the moment my profit is not good enough to have a business which would be worth my while. Most of my cars are sold on the first view. Which says something about the cars i stock. 

You are probably correct about making easier money elsewhere - but I like cars, I like wheeling and dealing. So, it just seems to fit what I am doing at the moment. However, who knows what the future holds. 

Thanks for your advice - it has opened my mind a little further. Not for the good but the truth sometimes hurts.

 

No offence taken.. It's all lighthearted. 

How are you getting on now?

[BHM 994]

I think he got some overtime;

On 21/02/2017 at 10:54 PM, s and b said:

part time brain surgeon

and a dustman on fridays