How long do you expect to sit on a car?

[marc_p 6]

Hey guys,

Some of you may remember my post from a few weeks ago in that I am currently preparing to move away from my steady job and enter the world of being a full time trader. If you didn't, I'll give you the very long story in a very short summary! I'm selling my pride and joys to fund my start up capital to make sure no business loans/stocking capital is needed to start up and I have enough money set to one side to live on for 6-9 months with no income so I don't have to take any money out of the business during startup.

With that very brief overview done, I have my next car being sold on Saturday and just one more to be put up for sale and go (shamefull plug: Anyone want a beautifully looked after '89 944S2?) then it's time to set myself up, get some premises and hand in my resignation!

So with the time looming ever nearer I'm making sure my business plan is done best I can and to be my bible during startup! Now the question I have for you fine people is how long do you expect to hang onto a car for? I realise that this can be a 'how long is a piece of string?' question but for those of you who like to specialise in a certain brand or category (as I shall be doing), when you get a car, how long do you generally sit on it until you maybe start thinking that you should drop the price or try and market it harder? I'm not here to take what you say as gospel but whatever info you can give would be incredible helpful to my plan. Currently I have 4 weeks from purchase to sale in my plan but with the first 5 days having it sat in prep and then a price drop at the 6 week mark. 

Please remember that I am a newbie and I am prepared for a steep learning curve, I'll be starting with 6-8 cars and learning what sells the best in my sector as time goes on.

Thanks in advance for any info you can bestow on me.

Marc

Edited February 27, 2020 by marc_p

[New year revolutions...... 197]

How long do you expect to sit on a car?

 

until the flooding goes down

I have a car here coming up for a birthday so you cannot say, every car is different

Y ou have to remember theres always a bum for a seat its just finding the bum and prising  the money off him/her/it

[marc_p 6]

20 minutes ago, New year revolutions...... said:

How long do you expect to sit on a car?

 

until the flooding goes down

I have a car here coming up for a birthday so you cannot say, every car is different

Y ou have to remember theres always a bum for a seat its just finding the bum and prising  the money off him/her/it

Haha, out of interest, what have you been sat on for a year?

The thing with me (and I may change my mentality after a few months) I would rather not sell someone a car than sell them the wrong car, I'll be initially starting with the more enthusiast owned BMWs from the 1990-2010 era and as an enthusiast myself I know that each one suits a different person.

[MarkTVS 209]

Ideally within 30 days to a maximum of 90 then I start pulling hair out.

[marc_p 6]

1 minute ago, MarkTVS said:

Ideally within 30 days to a maximum of 90 then I start pulling hair out.

Thanks for the reply Mark, can I ask (and feel free to tell me it's none of my business) are they are cars on stocking loans of bought outright? 

I'd also like to add that initially I will be selling cars in the 2.5k-5k region for the first 3 months then upping to the 5-10k region for 3-6 months and then moving into the 10-20k region which I intend to stick at for the following 18 months but as I progress, things may change.

[Casper 272]

1 hour ago, MarkTVS said:

Ideally within 30 days to a maximum of 90 then I start pulling hair out.

Agree with mark but not always possible we've had a couple sit over a year due to various things mechanical problems awaiting repairs etc . 

1 hour ago, marc_p said:

Thanks for the reply Mark, can I ask (and feel free to tell me it's none of my business) are they are cars on stocking loans of bought outright? 

I'd also like to add that initially I will be selling cars in the 2.5k-5k region for the first 3 months then upping to the 5-10k region for 3-6 months and then moving into the 10-20k region which I intend to stick at for the following 18 months but as I progress, things may change.

Marc p  can I also suggest my advice not to put all your eggs in one basket and look to see cars in to the 2.5-5k bracket the 5-10k bracket and also 10-20k bracket as this will broaden your customer search and availability. So effectively stocking cars from 2.5k up to 20k 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Casper

[marc_p 6]

4 minutes ago, Casper said:

Agree with mark but not always possible we've had a couple sit over a year due to various things mechanical problems awaiting repairs etc . 

Marc p  can I also suggest my advice not to put all your eggs in one biscuit and look to see cars in to the 2.5-5k bracket the 5-10k bracket and also 10-20k bracket as this will broaden your customer search and availability. So effectively stocking cars from 2.5k up to 20k 

Thanks Casper, really appreciate the response, firstly, it sounds like you guys seem to be working to my thoughts of aiming generally for a 4 week turnover time, I understand we are all going to have those exceptions that just wont budge.

Also, thanks for the other point, the reason for the price increase was that I aim to deal with the BMW 'M' cars (bar the e60/e63, I love those V10s but they will bring nothing except pain), I may still dabble with the cheaper 330's, it will all depend on my premises, if I can work my way to a 15-20 car premises then I will definitely be looking at covering the 2.5k-20k range.

[Nick M.K. 574]

For those types of car at a market price (not bargain) expect 70-120 days in stock. 

[EPV 631]

1 hour ago, Nick M.K. said:

For those types of car at a market price (not bargain) expect 70-120 days in stock. 

Correct. 
 

Fiesta, Corsa, Astra, Focus, 10-30 days. Good luck making a living selling 6-8 of them a month. 
 

Cheap, old German stuff could go in a matter of hours and at all hours. 

But properly prepared, low mileage, low owner niche German stuff, will sit for weeks because there just isn’t enough people willing to pay £8995 for a 2004 S500 or £6995 70k E46. 
 

I couldn’t think of a market I’d like to sell less to. The ratio of perverts to callers must be astronomical. 

[Grantlfc81 88]

Our record was a lovely black scirocco 2.0 gt tdi

lovely looking car. 342 days in stock. Didn’t make sense

[MarkTVS 209]

My current pain in the arse is an immaculate 2012 Golf GTI with 50k miles, full leather and dsg box just can’t give the bloody thing away.

What I learned fairly quickly Is that the stock I really like doesn’t tend to sell fast, I like big rwd v8 things etc, yes there can be good margin in it but not when it sits for 3 times as long. You would be better aiming for nice 320d’s and adding value to them by fitting the black grills spoilers etc.

[tradegirl 112]

I sell German stuff between £6-10k, and a month and a half is my average.

Before when I was selling Corsas, Fiestas etc though, if a car wasn't sold in 2 weeks I'd be panicking.

[chrishowie 14]

An impossible question. 2 months and I tend to look over everything from adverts, new pictures, better detailing etc etc.

I aim for 1 month. This week I've done 4 cars,

3 in stock 48 hours

1 in stock 3 months

Got 2 cars currently been in stock 4 months so you can never tell.

[Ek cars 17]

If it aint gone in 3 month im happy with 150 and money back to get away.

[justina3 518]

No reason to any of it, I had an out of the box 107 envy in white piano black trim 24k grade 1 all the way sit for 3 months, then a similar model on a 10 plate 61k £500 cheaper on a 10 plate sell within 3 days.

But sorry have no idea about your kind of stock at all only sold one BMW 320td in a while and very quickly reminded me it wasnt a market for me for a reason.

[BIGNIT 4]

I budget each car a month of advertising. I dont know exact averages but most dont go much over a month of advertising. I sell £1000 to £4000, older petrols with good miles, good history.

Obviously that doesnt include prep times. Prep adds anything from a day to a month. But most are online in less than a week of arriving.

[CRW 73]

One extreme to the other here this week. Sold a 64 plate Ibiza on the first day it was here, followed by a 64 plate Focus that had been here...……..2 years!  Nothing wrong with the car, 28k miles, FSH, 1.6 Zetec, just stuck. Amazingly I should still come away with a profit on the deal.

[Halfpenny 114]

We start to get a bit edgy at 90 days...   Mostly stuff goes within 6 weeks. We have an Alfa at the moment that is 200+ days...

One thing I would say, marc, having been in this business a long time is don't mix business with pleasure. It is dangerous. You are enthusiastic about these cars and its an appealing idea to run a business buying/selling them. But to make a living you need to be ruthless and dispassionate - it can't be a hobby...

One of my mates is very rich. Big house and owns a plane. He deals in potatoes (I am not making this up!). He has zero interest in potatoes he just buys and sells in bulk between overseas suppliers and UK wholesalers. Makes a fortune.

Its good to know about cars and their foibles, but the main idea is to shift metal and make a profit. 

[New year revolutions...... 197]

13 minutes ago, Halfpenny said:

don't mix business with pleasure. 

this

if i buy a car i like its a sticker

if i put my worzil gummidge hat on and think some tart will love this ,i get a quicker easier sale

plus the more you know the less you tend to bu,y, particularly if you go and view

i went across the country monday morning in the worst weather i can remember,got to the company,kicked the tyres offered a small dip and 20 minutes later paperwork done heading back to work,if i had appraised it properly i wouldnt have bought but this was outside my comfort zone and i needed to buy it so i did

[EPV 631]

9 hours ago, CRW said:

One extreme to the other here this week. Sold a 64 plate Ibiza on the first day it was here, followed by a 64 plate Focus that had been here...……..2 years!  Nothing wrong with the car, 28k miles, FSH, 1.6 Zetec, just stuck. Amazingly I should still come away with a profit on the deal.

Sorry but that’s very unlikely. Even if you allowed £100 a month advertising on that car that’s £2400 in advertising you have spent on that car. 

[trade vet 704]

Hi Marc

Dont worry about stock sticking everyone gets them.Your business plan is good because you are doing one product and fixing them yourself.That is a big advantage and should save you 30 o 40 grand a year if you are doing 5 or 6 per month.Good luck.

[CCC 31]

One thing I’ve learnt from here (and where we went wrong), is the more expensive the car, the better the part ex and the more opportunity to make a profit. We too started with the cheapies and moved up but wasted too long at the bottom end of the market. 

I was like you, a knowledgeable enthusiast,  experienced in starting and running companies, and had dabbled in buying and selling and done nicely on the occasional opportunist car, but making good money from trading regularly was far harder, and I jacked it in when I got offers to do other stuff which gave a large regular income with half the effort. 
 

I’d stick to potatoes. From my own experience I know where there’s muck there’s brass.
 

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by CCC

[Halfpenny 114]

5 hours ago, CCC said:

One thing I’ve learnt from here (and where we went wrong), is the more expensive the car, the better the part ex and the more opportunity to make a profit. We too started with the cheapies and moved up but wasted too long at the bottom end of the market. 

 

This is so very true. A £2k car can easily have the same sales costs as a £6k or £8k or £12k motor. Its going to occupy the same space and probably require the same effort to sell. A more expensive car will generally have more 'fat' on it and is less likely to be one breakdown away from the scrapyard. Customers buying cheap cars don't necessarily moderate their expectations either.......

[CRW 73]

15 hours ago, EPV said:

Sorry but that’s very unlikely. Even if you allowed £100 a month advertising on that car that’s £2400 in advertising you have spent on that car

That's on the assumption that I use AT, which I don't. My total advertising bill last year for the sale of 90 cars was around £3k. I'm a one man band with a 20 car site on a main A road, so don't feel the need to haemorrhage money on advertising. Yes, I could spend more on advertising, but AT doesn't work down here.  If I was selling more, I would need to employ staff and in my opinion my business model works fine for me.  The Focus was just unfortunate, but whilst other stock was selling I just left it run.

[EPV 631]

33 minutes ago, CRW said:

That's on the assumption that I use AT, which I don't. My total advertising bill last year for the sale of 90 cars was around £3k. I'm a one man band with a 20 car site on a main A road, so don't feel the need to haemorrhage money on advertising. Yes, I could spend more on advertising, but AT doesn't work down here.  If I was selling more, I would need to employ staff and in my opinion my business model works fine for me.  The Focus was just unfortunate, but whilst other stock was selling I just left it run.

Ok, so you average £33 per car x 24 months is £800. Add in costs of overheads associated with your pitch and the lost revenue that you could have made from spinning the money in that focus three or four times on something else. It doesn’t add up.