Another Day, Yet Another Newbie...

[Pete CWC 4]

Yup... Here's another rookie looking to start out in the car sales business...

 

Although I've not worked in the motor trade, in my teens I did start training as a mechanic - before life took me in a totally different direction (went from rebuilding engines to rebuilding computers!). That was three decades ago, but I've always done most of the servicing on the cars for my family, mopping minor scuff repairs, etc.

 

Got made redundant last year - but can't really go back full time work as now I'm looking after my very elderly Dad (part time). Luckily my kids have grown up, mortgage is paid off, and I've got a decent amount of spare time so I want to give it go as a small scale doorstepper. The idea is to get some experience in the trade while keeping overheads to a minimum. No great ambitions to get rich or become the next Car Giant, probably only a couple of cars per month to begin with. Just want to *try* covering my basic household bills and (low) business costs - anything above that would be a bonus! However it will be done fully above board - trade insurance, plates, registered with HMRC, selling cars with PDIs, etc.

 

This forum really is an absolutely bloody goldmine of info, allowing me to think through a plan which I'm hoping would be viable. I'm thinking of selling large non-German estate cars or maybe 4x4's as winter approaches. Prefer to sell for cash at around the £5k mark and hoping to clear around £700-800. Otherwise I might focus on small new-ish automatics, as I live in a city (Southampton).

 

I'd set aside a bit from each sale to allow for comebacks or hidden gremlins, etc. and be happy to take in p/x if needed to seal a deal (and hopefully make a few quid from that side too). I'm willing to wait for a decent sale price rather than engage in a 'race to the bottom', as I'm not frightened by the idea of having a car stuck for several weeks.

 

Sourcing decent stock at the right price is going to be the hardest part. I'll probably have to spend ages trawling private ads to begin with, but Blackbushe isn't too far away so I'll most likely be lurking there a few times to see how it all works. Might even raise my hand eventually, if I feel there could be a chance of some profit! :-)

 

Fortunately I'm also aware that there is a 'search' function on the forum, so I'll try my best to avoid asking newbie questions which have been answered a dozen times already!

 

Apologies for the overlong intro. Feel free to tell me why I'm doomed, being too unrealistic, etc...   :-D

 

Cheers!

Pete.

[andymc1973 199]

several weeks?? good luck with that mate, welcome to the forum BTW

[justina3 518]

Nothing wrong with newbies we all started somewhere, instant like from me for doing your own homework and not expecting a golden ticket response from the members. 

Lone thing I would point out that is don’t underestimate how much time even a few cars around you will take up, I note you didn’t want to go back into full time work, this industry full time is only the half amount of hours you will end up putting in.

[EPV 631]

Great introduction. Good luck to you. 

Being part time is great for learning but you could never do this job part time long term. You can’t dip in and out, like you could with other jobs. I was part time for 5 months but luckily my old job was very relaxed and truthfully I was spending too much time learning the ropes and not enough time doing my day job. 

Auctions happen when they happen, punters want to see a car when they want to see it, rain stops you photographing, mopping, smart repairing. It’s something you have to arrange your life around, at times.

Lots of people want their own business, why not, it’s rewarding. And why shouldn’t you have one, no one is stopping you.

As a doorstopper you HAVE to understand the importance of digital advertising, marketing, have an eye for detail, stand out, don’t be sloppy with presentation etc. Online buying is going nowhere, it’s a big part of the world and will only get bigger. 

Good luck mate, trust me if I can do it you can. Learn fast work hard. You’ll be sweet. 

[Nick M.K. 574]

13 hours ago, EPV said:

Good luck mate, trust me if I can do it you can. Learn fast work hard. You’ll be sweet. 

+1. 

The faster you learn, the less hard you'll have to work. Spend a few days going through old threads on the forum and a few hours on a couple of trips to Blackbushe. I like your idea about small newish (petrol?) automatics, not because of the city you live in but because of the London market which is an hour away on the train from you and they WILL travel an hour, trust me. 

[DBDlloyds 18]

Welcome to the forum Pete & good luck.

 

[Pete CWC 4]

Thanks for the feedback & advice guys.

 

I've spent a LOT of time over the past couple of weeks trawling through the last few months of posts on this forum - and it's been a *very* worthwhile investment of my time. Many "interesting" personalities (!) here with very different experiences, approaches and locations, etc.

 

There's just so much information here - from Nick's tips on taking fantastic photos his cars, Simon's very informative pre-sales videos, James' journey from part-to-full timer, BHM's opinions of VW buyers, and too many other people to list here. Oh, and of course that epic thread "poss selling price on 09 astra?" from Benji...  :-)

 

I'm hoping to follow a path from part to full time. At the moment I think I've got enough time to devote to the business if I limit myself to shifting just one or two cars per month from my driveway. At that level I can self-fund my stock. Currently I have the time (and attention to detail) to prep very thoroughly. However for - sadly - inevitable reasons I probably won't need stay part time for very many more months. Hopefully by time that happens I'll have a better idea if trading full time in this business is feasible for me.

 

I suspect that initally finding a niche and learning how to work profitably within it will be very important as a first step. Nick's suggestion about the distance which buyers of small autos will travel is VERY interesting - especially as I'm only around 10 mins from Southampton Airport Parkway station. That type of car may well be my first purchase... So now I'm wondering if buyers of small automatics are as choosy about paint colours as the buyers of bigger / more prestige cars...

 

Anyway, thanks for the welcome and very useful advice!

[Dave2302 387]

Hi, Welcome, and wishing you all the best

[Nick M.K. 574]

1 hour ago, Pete CWC said:

So now I'm wondering if buyers of small automatics are as choosy about paint colours as the buyers of bigger / more prestige cars...

Hahaha, hell NO! 

They care about price, price and price. Also history and long MOT. Mileage is important to them but if the price is right they will buy at whatever miles. Also, don't obsess over number of previous owners, does it have two keys, does it have leather or sat nav. 

And learn which automatics to avoid, which automatics are NOT automatics and also which automatics the trade avoids BUT are easy to fix when broken. My hate list is led by the Ford Powershift, Toyota MMT, Audi Multitronic and anything French or Vauxhall. Not much left to choose from, I know :-)

1 hour ago, Pete CWC said:

opinions of VW buyers

Don't get me started...

[It's me 615]

i tried specialising in autos many years ago,i just couldnt find the stock

i suggest you go through say local ebay adverts autotrader adverts etc and see what sells well ie do you live near council or million pound houses where 108 's for poppy might be popular,if council then purrgot 207 is an ideal car for the man of budget but wants a looker

[EPV 631]

1 hour ago, boring dave said:

i tried specialising in autos many years ago,i just couldnt find the stock

i suggest you go through say local ebay adverts autotrader adverts etc and see what sells well ie do you live near council or million pound houses where 108 's for poppy might be popular,if council then purrgot 207 is an ideal car for the man of budget but wants a looker

Small petrol autos go for stupid money at the block, from what I have seen. 

[Nick M.K. 574]

8 minutes ago, EPV said:

Small petrol autos go for stupid money at the block, from what I have seen. 

The one or two we looked at together the other day certainly did. Exceptional prices. But they did tick all the boxes. The trick is to find something that doesn't tick everyone's boxes. 

[lastyboy 23]

Good luck to you but i would say this is a long term job. Look after customers, prep your cars well and be honest. Over the years you will get more and more repeat business and hopefully make more money.

Thats my take on it anyway.

[Pete CWC 4]

2 hours ago, Nick M.K. said:

They care about price, price and price.

2 hours ago, EPV said:

Small petrol autos go for stupid money at the block, from what I have seen. 

So the customers are entirely price driven... and the cars are really expensive to buy. This doesn't seem like a recipe for success...  LOL 

 

[Dave2302 387]

If you are going to Retail Automatics, the secret is to find and look after a Very Good, but also HONEST Auto Trans Firm, many of the boxes Nick Mentions do not actually need a full rebuild, usually a simple fix like rebuilding shift motors with new brushes stuff like that, trouble is a lot of AT Specialists work on selling "units" rather than doing a repair with say a 3 month warranty

When I had my Trans Firm, we'd much rather do a Repair (on a box that was actually good internally), thatway we only had to give a shorter guarantee on the repaired item, so we wouldn't be waiting for the Monday morning brrrrring brrrrring :- "Since you did my Gearbox" Call for 12 months 

Very Good, but also HONEST Auto Trans Firm is a very rare animal 

[sparky 274]

42 minutes ago, Dave2302 said:

 

Very Good, but also HONEST Auto Trans Firm is a very rare animal 

Aye; along with those that 'rebuild' engines. 

[Dave2302 387]

/\ /\ /\ +1

And Manual "Coggers"

Oh, and ECU / ABS / Electronics Fixer Uppers

Oh soooooooo many Cowboys in this game, and the trouble is you simply don't know that until you have a problem, that's when you realise what a shower of shit they really are !!