Flippin Cars

[EricTheCarGuy]

We’ve all seen the glamorous shows on TV where the buyer picks up a vehicle for cheap and turns around and sells it for a profit. How much of that is reality and how much is for TV? What are your thoughts?

Topic

[aknight_sa]

Hey Eric,

i am in the business of flippin cars.. been doing it for some time and the way i do it is i buy the cars and do the work on them as well.. as i do have good negotiation skills which is everything in this business.. i do make calls from time to time to some of my friends or relatives who are old in the business as well and they know the market prices better than i do…

for the TV shows like Wheeler dealers.. i do love that show and i saw every episode of it.. and to tell you the truth it was what got me inspired in both mechanical work and flippin cars.. i know the show isnt real.. as the people who sell the cars to mike and the people who buy them from him are all staged and the cars are owned by the tv show… but its still fun to watch.

fast n loud… love watching it as i am a big fan of classic cars..

i have been thinking of doing my youtube version of wheeler dealers where i buy a car then show the work thats done then try to sell it off.. but that wont be easy..

great subject..
thanks

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”aknight_sa” post=69124]Hey Eric,

i am in the business of flippin cars.. been doing it for some time and the way i do it is i buy the cars and do the work on them as well.. as i do have good negotiation skills which is everything in this business.. i do make calls from time to time to some of my friends or relatives who are old in the business as well and they know the market prices better than i do…

for the TV shows like Wheeler dealers.. i do love that show and i saw every episode of it.. and to tell you the truth it was what got me inspired in both mechanical work and flippin cars.. i know the show isnt real.. as the people who sell the cars to mike and the people who buy them from him are all staged and the cars are owned by the tv show… but its still fun to watch.

fast n loud… love watching it as i am a big fan of classic cars..

i have been thinking of doing my youtube version of wheeler dealers where i buy a car then show the work thats done then try to sell it off.. but that wont be easy..

great subject..
thanks[/quote]

Great to hear from someone in the business. There are people out there that are successful with flipping cars but more often than not I see people getting in over their heads. I just wanted to impart some of my experience on the topic and debunk some of the myths created by TV shows like Wheeler Dealers. The truth is, I LOVE all the shows I mentioned, including and especially Wheeler Dealers.

Thanks for your input.

[Flemming Jacobsen]

I think most of those shows aren’t actually real or true to the point. ie that they should be taken with a grain of salt like most shows.

Much the same reason shows like Operation Repo, South Beach Towing, Lizard lick etc are also rather staged and not true to the profession or job. If the shows portrayed the real deal and what actually happened most people wouldn’t give a damn and the shows would get cancelled for bad ratings.

Much the same reason I get my repofix from a regular on my youtube watchlist, much the same I get my carfixing fix from watching ETCG 😛

[island03z]

I’m pretty interested in this as a side job/hobby and I’d like to get into it slowly. Could you guys that have ventured into this field tell us about how you either go about getting a dealer license? Or maybe how someone like me could sell a few cars to start without breaking (any/many) laws? Personally I’m thinking about buying a few older cars that I wouldnt mind owning if I did in fact get over my head. If they sell, great. If not, learning experience I guess.

[EricTheCarGuy]

You might read through the comments on the YouTube video. There were a lot of people posting advice there. Don’t worry about a dealer license right away. Do a few cars first to see if it’s a viable business for you first.

[Its me]

I know in Ohio you can only sell 5 cars within a year (rotating 12 month period) without a dealers license. If you have a spouse who is willing, then than number could be 10 cars a year….

Also, not everyone can qualify for a dealers license. You must have a dedicated lot, a building and some sort of covered structure where a car “may” be worked on.

I knew a guy who ran a used car lot (one of those “we finance anyone” places) and he would buy at dealer only auctions… The business model was very simple with those types of cars…. Buy the car at auction… Say a 2000 Honda Accord…. Buy it for $700 and then you sell it to Joe Schmo for $3000… You take $1000 in cash immediately down from Joe and finance the remaining $2000… It is financed just under the State usury rate. So you finance it at 30% interest and you get $216 a month for over a 12 month period… (remember this is financed, so $2000 X .30 = $600). So Joe has to pay back $2600….

Multiply $216 a month times 48 cars a year (and this is super low… that is a 4 car a month average)and you can see you can make over $10K a month just in payments.

If Joe Schmo never pays it back and disappears, you have not “lost” anything… you got your money back at the down payment… You always keep an extra set of keys if Joe decides to stop payment and then get a repo guy (some do it themselves) and go out and get your car back in the middle of the night…….. Then repeat the process of selling it… I had one guy tell me his personal record was a car that was repossessed four different times from four different owners….

This business above is not for me, albeit lucrative it also has its share of pitfalls….(Joe Schmoe files bankruptcy, Trashes car, etc)… or the car is a lemon and they get ugly about getting their money back….

That aside, I have flipped a couple cars before and must say there are easier ways of making money…. Of course opportunity is everywhere, so maybe I am not doing it as well as I should…

Since I am not a dealer, I am not privy to the dealer auctions where good deals can be found…. I have to find them on Craigslist.

Every day on Craigslist I usually can find one or two good deals…. But those deals are gone in a heartbeat… I jumped on one last year an hour after it was listed and the guy already had 3 people visit and of course the car was sold… So being flexible and moving fast is a must…

The laws are really meant to limit curbstoners… See more here…. http://www.stopcurbstoning.com/

I was reading somewhere on the web about some guy in Wyoming who was having financial problems and the law there says you can only sell 2 cars a year. He could not legally get rid of his vintage car collection to help pay bills….. go figure…

My 2 cents….

-Karl

[Bill]

I don’t live in the USA and your 2 cents was worth 4 cents to me. 😆 In Canada we call em curbsiders.

[Author]

Replies