Introduction and advice.

[Stalker 180]

Just a quick calculation

6 members of staff @ £50 per day x 5 day week = £1500 per week! Bloody nice wage like if you have free time your extremely lucky!

So if you worked a full week at £200 per day that would total £2500 per week.

If you had some contract work during shut downs on weekends ££££££ more money.

 

I wouldn't bother with cars if i were you!

 

Are you on a Electricians forum?

I'm thinking about sacking off this shite and joining you guys?

[It's me 615]

9 minutes ago, Stalker said:

 

 

Are you on a Electricians forum?

I'm thinking about sacking off this shite and joining you guys?

####me too 

[NOACROSS 414]

1 hour ago, Dealer said:

Soooooo many bullsh1tters in this game it's unreal, they are all the best buyers, best sellers, best description writers, best photographers, have the best sales pitch etc etc etc. I've got upto 50 in stock, main road site and best month ever was 27, haven't touched that for a while though. He's either exaggerating his sales figures or quite possibly w4nking them away with too little profit which for me is quite frankly not worth doing as overheads for us are massive, 5k a month advertising, 3 wages, parts, rent, tyres, mot and repairs, fuel, transportation costs, paint all come out at around 20k plus. 

Had I read this thread before you Dealer,  my reply would have mirrored yours almost word for word.

Same sort of stock holding, site etc but my advertising is less (as I don’t use Autoraper. 

Used to do up to 40 a month, with an average of 30. Now I’m happy with a 20 month!

To the OP- I would stick to your current job for sure or diversify as has been said to property or something in the same ballpark  

As EPV says, you can make a living if you work it very hard, but part time is difficult (unless you specialise maybe?) and don’t need the money/are prepared to lose quite often.  Part time is good to learn the ropes and build it slowly, but it’ll take much more of your life and dough than you imagine.

Keep us posted though!

 

[trade vet 703]

Hi Lee

Rather than ask your friend to show you his annual accounts,you could casually ask how much VAT he paid last quarter.Tell him how much you pay etc.

[Row 71]

1 hour ago, Nick M.K. said:

I am yet to meet a dealer that doesn't exaggerate their stock holding or their sales figures or their profit margin or a combination of the above.

I don't exaggerate my figures Nick but then again I never blab.

[Mojo121 229]

1 hour ago, David Horgan said:

Part Time selling cars , Never work .

Every one makes the mistake of selling car and earn £500 x it by 8 = 4k  suppose you will sell that 8 is every month = 48k a year , Simples  

Reality is so far from that , believe me , finding stock, fetching stock , prepping stock , dealing with the non sellers as there will be some , waiting for customers , down time time with faults , expenses , VAT , wages , parts , fuel , cleaning products , bills from fixing , tyres . MOT tests , warranty costs , and the list goes on . 

12 cars selling part time wont work .

Not a matter of getting a £40 day jobber a mate to sort any faults and sell car.

More to it than you think my friend .

But if you have spare 50/60k kicking around you wont miss go for it , bet you will remember it for a while to come . 

BUT , nothing ventured , nothing gained , hope it all goes well whatever you choose . 

This is what I thought. The issue with this job, as I've always said, is the demand on my attention constantly. I buy, I choose how to fix and prep, I deal with screamers...

[Mark101 536]

12 hours ago, Leekent said:

One of my friends has a pitch and stocks 25. The pitch isn’t anything special yard and portacabin style but is doing 16-22 units a month and claims to of made 165k this year after expenses. Just done his second years books...does this sound like bollox?   

Just for balance, I lost £156k one year (2005).

[MattR 177]

1 hour ago, Mark101 said:

Just for balance, I lost £156k one year (2005).

I wish I had that much to lose......

[Ocsltd 133]

15 hours ago, EPV said:

Do you want to rent your unit out to me? I’m looking for a place exactly like you describe. In Kent. Preferably near Bromley. Or in it 

You could never run a pitch/unit of 12 cars part time. Never. Not on your own. It’s massively time consuming, some days you just end up doing what feels like fuck all. Today was a day like that for me, i’ve done a full day and felt like i’ve done fuck all. The reality is, I sold one, mopped another, photographed and videoed two, bought two online, but i’ve still got another 3 to photo and video, 2 of those will need a mop, I have two arriving early next week, it just goes on mate. I wouldn’t change it mind. Just saying this isn’t a business you can set up and run in the background. It’s not a string to a bow. It’s the bow, all the strings, all the arrows and anything you can hit with the arrows. 

You’re either conkers deep or you’re not. 

Thats not me being pessimistic, if I can do it anyone can. It’s me being honest. 

He's bang on and is exactly what my reply would have been. (Apart from I'm not looking for a unit! )

[Rory RSC 596]

Not a part time job. Requires too much time you can't sit back doing other stuff its all reactive. Go from being sat about drinking brews all morning to selling 3 cars out of the blue with no prior customer contact all hands on deck.

 

When I first started I worked 7 days and about 100hrs a week to get things moving. I work less hours now and have a bit more balance but I am still here 7 days a week.

Not a part time job.

[David Horgan 564]

2 hours ago, Mark101 said:

2 hours ago, Mark101 said:

Just for balance, I lost £156k one year (2005).

Wow , that,s some loses my friend .

Hope you have got back on your old feet from that one . 

 

[Leekent 2]

4 hours ago, trade vet said:

Hi Lee

Rather than ask your friend to show you his annual accounts,you could casually ask how much VAT he paid last quarter.Tell him how much you pay etc.

Having a conversation the other day about and he said 12k. If my maths is correct that equates to 72K profit marginal. 72K/3 months=24k a month. If he’s averaging say 19 units that’s £1263 on average per unit. I was thinking surely this is bullshit. 

[grant8064 219]

1 hour ago, Rory RSC said:

Not a part time job. Requires too much time you can't sit back doing other stuff its all reactive. Go from being sat about drinking brews all morning to selling 3 cars out of the blue with no prior customer contact all hands on deck.

 

When I first started I worked 7 days and about 100hrs a week to get things moving. I work less hours now and have a bit more balance but I am still here 7 days a week.

Not a part time job.

You need to take more time of chap unless you've got an end goal? The mechanic we use does 7 days and he's always fighting a cold or something and it's not doing him any good.

[Rory RSC 596]

19 minutes ago, grant8064 said:

You need to take more time of chap unless you've got an end goal? The mechanic we use does 7 days and he's always fighting a cold or something and it's not doing him any good.

Fully my intention to work hard but fit in 3 or 4 good holidays next year and enjoy some of the rewards of having worked hard. Health wise tend to do alright I stay in the warm office rather than cold workshop though 

[Ocsltd 133]

4 hours ago, Mark101 said:

Just for balance, I lost £156k one year (2005).

All those dial a shags don’t come cheap....! 

[grant8064 219]

5 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:

Fully my intention to work hard but fit in 3 or 4 good holidays next year and enjoy some of the rewards of having worked hard. Health wise tend to do alright I stay in the warm office rather than cold workshop though 

Good to hear it. No point making it all work, work, work. Be a long time dead as our MOT tester says (as he breathes in another smokey old oil burner!)

[Blenheim Car Sales 111]

6 minutes ago, Ocsltd said:

All those dial a shags don’t come cheap....! 

are "dial a shags" tax deductible though 

[Max Branning 149]

19 hours ago, Leekent said:

Hi all, long time lurker here and decided to sign up just now. Absolute newbie here from Kent. 

Ive been avidly reading the forum for about 7 months and think I’ve possibly read every thread from when the forum 1st started lol. I own an electrical contractors business and employ 6 so business isn’t a new thing for me but obviously this trade is...Looking for a little advice really and wether it’s worthwile having a go. I have a unit and parking that would comfortably fit 6 inside and 6 outside. I’ve found 4 traders within a 40 mile radius that advertise their stock as sold on their websites. Over the past 6 months I’ve been recording what cars sell and what seems to sit about a little longer. The stock I’ve identified seem to pretty much sell within 30-40 days If under 90k miles, no older than 2012 and priced a couple of hundred quid under the top end price given by auto trader using their valuation tool. I have a bit of money myself and a private backer and thinking of having a go. Being able to offer finance would be a must IMO for my preffered stock so would need to go down the FCA route etc. sales would be by appointment only at my unit which I’m there pretty much 8-5 Monday to sat. I have friends in the trade that run their own businesses auto electrician, mechanic, body shop etc. would you say go for it or totally sway someone like me totally away from having a go? If I kept 12 cars in stock my projections would be based on doing around 7 a month...does this seem reasonable? Thanks for your time Lee

i am a strong believer in sticking to what you know and are good at.

If i was a qualified electrician with my own company then why would i sacrifice my time on starting a fresh business as a car dealer with no experience ? What is your endgame ? to leave the electrical business and go in to cars full time ? I assume getting to the level your at with 6 employees must of taken a lot of hard work, just dont get why you would be looking at cars instead ?

[Leekent 2]

Yes it has taken a lot of hard work. I’m not looking to jack it all in and become a car dealer over night. I’m just interested in making more money whilst I’m young and able to. I would like to build the business in to a position like my electrical business eventually. 

[Blenheim Car Sales 111]

I think the minimum level of commitment and hours to be worked are greatly underestimated by anyone outside of the trade in order to make any sort of a profit, Your learning curve would be vertical and i personally could not see me  ( even with your expertise) running a successful Electrical company along side what i do, its just impossible you dont have that spare capacity to do both 

[Nick M.K. 574]

10 minutes ago, Max Branning said:

If i was a qualified electrician with my own company then why would i sacrifice my time on starting a fresh business as a car dealer with no experience ?

Before I started my business in 2005 I was a NEBOSH Certified Health and Safety assessor, securely employed by a growing private company, earning close to £30K a year before tax. 

I would never get back to that, if someone is doing a job they are not 100% happy with I always encourage them to jump into something else, just like I did. 

Car dealing is actually very easy to get into. Staying in it profitably is the hard bit.

 

[sparky 274]

5 hours ago, Row said:

I don't exaggerate my figures Nick but then again I never blab.

Like.

[Dave2302 387]

51 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Before I started my business in 2005 I was a NEBOSH Certified Health and Safety assessor, securely employed by a growing private company, earning close to £30K a year before tax. 

I would never get back to that, if someone is doing a job they are not 100% happy with I always encourage them to jump into something else, just like I did. 

Car dealing is actually very easy to get into. Staying in it profitably is the hard bit.

 

/\ /\ /\ +1

BTW I spent most of my life in Kent successfully running a medium sized and well respected Transmission business within the Motor Trade ...........................

The Customers mostly all became scammers or screamers, they all want champagne for lemonade money and the competition can all do it cheaper, until it goes tits up !!

That's partly why I fucked off out of the "Rat Race" eventually

Whatever you choose to do I wish you all the luck in the world

[trade vet 703]

1 hour ago, Leekent said:

Having a conversation the other day about and he said 12k. If my maths is correct that equates to 72K profit marginal. 72K/3 months=24k a month. If he’s averaging say 19 units that’s £1263 on average per unit. I was thinking surely this is bullshit. 

Yes Len I think it is.To give you an idea of how tough this job is,take a look at Big Motoring World.Huge operation,vast stock and debt but a successfull company in your area.If finance commission and sales of warranties were removed from their financial results it appears they would not make any money.I know it is hard for electrical contractors with all the regs (we have plenty also)  plus I understand you guys need £5m insurance liability cover which is expensive so you can quote for good  jobs etc .You should take note from the guys on here,they are genuine with their advice.

 

[Max Branning 149]

1 hour ago, Nick M.K. said:

Before I started my business in 2005 I was a NEBOSH Certified Health and Safety assessor, securely employed by a growing private company, earning close to £30K a year before tax. 

I would never get back to that, if someone is doing a job they are not 100% happy with I always encourage them to jump into something else, just like I did. 

Car dealing is actually very easy to get into. Staying in it profitably is the hard bit.

 

Yes i agree but this is a totally different situation. Someone jacking in a job they dislike to start a business should be commended and i would fully encourage it...but someone who already has built a successful business but maybe thinks the grass is greener doing something else i do not.