…NEWS FLASH…
For almost as long as there have been cars, there have been used cars!
New cars were bought, and old cars…the majority of them anyway, were…
Well…
SOLD AGAIN!
And the beat goes on as strong as ever!
“But, sold by whom?”
Of course, there are car dealerships…
For our purposes here, we’ll swing wide around these ‘danger zones’!
They are, however, a great place to learn a tip or two about selling a car!
There are also car wholesalers, many of whom actually possess a dealer’s license… just not a dealership!
We’ll take a peek into their world in a bit.
And oh, by the way, have you ever sold a car? Sure ya have! Who hasn’t, right?
But, have you ever considered it as a sideline to make a few…or more…bucks?
By the time we’re finished here, it might not look too bad as a supplemental income!
Let’s really consider it!
Right up front…taking nothing for granted in contemplating this venture, or rather, what level of this venture to contemplate …
One must assess their own skills and capabilities!
This isn’t to say that if you, “can’t empty a bucket with the instructions on the bottom”, you’re disqualified.
This does mean that, if you fit the above description, in order to resell, or ‘flip’ a car for a profit…
…You must take great care to choose your merchandise wisely!
Any issues a vehicle may have that are beyond your capability to repair are going to cost you in terms of outsourcing that repair!
We’re talking about your money here! What goes out must come back in…
…BIGGER than it was when it left…as profit!
So, you are that person down the street that everyone calls when they can’t get their car crunk?
Crunk: Past tense of crank; syn – cranked, started
Then…”you da MAN”… or “MA’AM”! (This is not gender specific!)
You, ‘the car-smart person’, do have more latitude regarding what you choose as a *fixer upper, but even still, choose wisely!
*Fixer upper : here-in-after referred to as a “flipper”!
Which ever category you fall under;
To sell a car for a profit, first we’re obviously going to need a car!
Let’s go car shopping…logically!
We could go get tangled up in stats and figures and analyses and track records of which cars are the most popular in terms of resale value, etc…but,
…how’s that bucket? Still Full?
While such specific info can be useful as a guideline and is nice to know;
Before donning the blinders and going ‘cherry picking’ all over town looking only for cars that fit the mold according to stats, etc, bear this in mind…
To assemble a list of cars that are touted as the ‘best flippers’ , please, excuse me for a week or so while I go dig up some data and organize it by year, make and model, accessories and finally color!
I’ll also gather all of the different opinions based on region, the varied and vast personal experiences of others, what last month’s Consumer Reports had to say, and the month before that…and on and on!
***Ka-BOOM!!!*** (That was my head exploding!)
What I’m saying is this…
There are more resources and, variations there-of, regarding this subject than one can possibly track in a reasonable amount of time…say…a lifetime?
Here’s a shining example of the importance of taking variables into account;
In one of the many forums I’ve read, a fellow was talking about how he had very nicely rehabbed a BMW and ultimately, he almost had to give it away just to off-load it!
He said that by trial and error, he finally figured out that pick-up trucks and SUV’s were his thing! He couldn’t get those vehicles fast enough!
Then he went on to say that he had a buddy in another town about 100 miles away whose niche was sports cars, BMW’s included and his buddy sold them like hotcakes!
He said his friend ‘in the city’ got stuck with a nine year old F-150 pick-up that was harder to get rid of, for a profit anyway, than a bent nickel!
…and it wasn’t the truck’s fault!
Rural vs City! Ya Think?
Seems they could’ve benefitted from some ‘buddy-to-buddy’ networking!
Research to your heart’s content if you wish, but that information, while it may give you a hint as to what to keep an eye out for should you happen upon one, is not all inclusive due to so many other variables!
What’s another very important factor? Ranking very high on the list is…
<drum-roll please>
COMMON SENSE!
Okay, about that car we need…
Hmm, where to start…
Ever been to an Auto Auction? Don’t know where to find one?
Search ‘auto auction (your town)’ …Voila!
What did you find? Umpteen thousand results in a nanosecond!
Without going into a full ‘How to’ dissertation about auctions…not yet, anyway…
(BUT! Coming soon to a computer near you, as a follow-up to this article!);
I’ll offer a glimpse…
Who might you bump into at an auto auction?
Aside from a myriad of sellers to include financial institutions with a slew of repos, rent-a-car companies unloading last year’s fleet, buyers from dealerships looking for “turnable” inventory…and more…
…Remember those car wholesalers we mentioned earlier? This is their playground, also!
Auctions are certainly a viable option when looking for flippers!
Not revved up about visiting the ‘Flea Market of Cars”?
There are many other sources for great, flippable cars as well!
Note: Car dealerships are not the place to shop for flippers!
They are in same business as you…profit…and they need lots of it! After all, they have to pay someone to scream at you for 30 seconds at a time…
…Every 15 minutes while you’re trying to watch a movie!
Otherwise, used cars are everywhere!
- Auto Trader Magazine
- The newspaper
- On the bulletin board at the office (or laundromat!)
- Craigslist
- E-bay
- Even on the side of most roads you drive down!
Many sources.
The ‘where’ to buy is not as difficult to find as the ‘what’ to buy!
The best description of which vehicle to buy, whether car, truck, what have you, is two-fold;
It is the vehicle which is…
- Mechanically sound
- Needs the least attention in terms of repair and cosmetic/aesthetic refurbishing
- Needs the least replacement of attrition items such as tires, fan belts, hoses, etc (wear & tear).
- AND is priced well enough below the actual cash value that you can buy it right, shine it up, and sell it for more than your total investment!
Obviously, I just described the ideal flipper.
Risking redundancy, what I said earlier about,
“Assessing one’s own skills and capabilities, and the more of these attributes one possesses, the more latitude he or she has in choosing a vehicle to flip”;
That comes into play right about now.
(Feel free to go back and review the “Let’s really consider it!” section!)
Ever heard, “Don’t bite off more than you can chew!”?
With regards to determining (and unscrambling) the cost versus the value, we call on the good folks at… Kelly Blue Book!
Kelly Blue Book is the nation’s largest and most trusted source for researching the value of vehicles.
They are the standard by which vehicles are bought and sold, and their website is readily available to the public!
Navigating the KBB site isn’t difficult at all…it is very user friendly!
Just know your details such as year, make, and mileage…they ask for that info in that order, in fact.
Also know the model and the version of the vehicle…LE, XL, XLT, BLT with mayo, etc. And, of course, the accessories with which the vehicle is equipped. KBB is very thorough and very accurate!
Okay, so this ‘ideal as described above’, little jewel can be bought for $2000…
It Blue Book’s at…
(After having run it four times because you couldn’t believe your eyes the first three times!)
$2,957.00 …yes, that’s DOLLARS!
(“Man! Where’d you come across THAT deal?”)
BUY IT! NOW!
“They call him Flipper, Flipper…faster than lightning!”
(You had to know that was coming sooner or later!)
These kind of deals, though admittedly Ideal, are out there!
Just gotta find them!
But! In the process of finding i-deals, don’t forego another perhaps lesser deal! They’re not all going to be as ideal, or as juicy, as this one!
Again, knowing how much you can chew and common sense come into play!!
Let’s SELL it…rather, FLIP IT!
She’s all ‘gussied up’ and we spent less than $75 on various miniscule items such as new wiper blades, some cleaners, vinyl conditioner, etc.!
Now, let’s take some flattering pictures of ‘er, inside & out, in front of a nice backdrop and we’ll post them in the same places we looked when we were shopping!
…Craigslist, Auto Trader, the newspaper, any bulletin board with a spare thumb tack…anywhere it will get noticed! As long as we have it, we also ought to drive it around with a nice FOR SALE sign in the window. Might as well park it in high visibility areas too!
So…how much?
(I chuckle as I say this.)
“As much as you can possibly, and reasonably, sell it for and make a profit!”
On this particular deal, you have headroom GALOUR!
Me? I’m putting it out there as a sweet deal at $3250 for starters!
If someone doesn’t come running with a fistful of cash in a week’s time, I might get yet more generous and drop it down to $3190!
I love it, but I don’t want to own it for very long!
Having put in the legwork, research, and everything else involved to offer this cream puff at such a great price, you’ve earned all you can possibly get out of it!
Note: If this game called flipping becomes addicting, check local and state laws regarding the number of cars and the frequency at which you can buy and sell them without being required to have a dealer’s license!
They keep records of such things! Just a heads up!
Before I close this out…Congratulations, by the way, on a nice deal…
I have to take one last poke at the dealerships!
So, the next time you’ve got an hour, (or so) to kill; go tire kicking at one of these places! It can be difficult to not end up in an office, somewhere amongst the maze, bumping knee-caps with a sales person!
It’s their job to slow you down and get you thinking about a new car!
The “If I could, would you?” approach…the concept of this approach is actually very effective!
“Well, John, let me ask you this John, John, IF I could roll you out of here today, John, in that brand new Challenger, on your terms, John…would you, John?”
Tsk…John walked…no deal!
“Neckerson! Get in here NOW!” barks the perturbed sales manager.
“Red, you lost that sale because you didn’t say his name enough times!”
So much for dealerships!
Listen…the demand for old cars will NEVER go away. To the contrary, the worst the economy is, the more you can cash in by buying and selling used cars.
If you are really serious about giving this a shot and want to dig dipper (well, MUCH dipper!) then I truly recommend you take a look at Stephen Hobbs’s “The Lazy Way To Buy And Sell Cars For Profit” system.
This guy is good and his system is ASTOUNDING…trust me! Go here if you want to grab a copy of his eBook.
Don’t expect to make $10K a day…that won’t happen! But realistically, if you put his system to work and spend a bit of time every week you could be raking in $8K-$14K per month (pure profit) doing this part time.
