Selling cars.

[wobbly]

Ok, so not necessarily Toyota based.

My lad is starting year 2 of a motorsports mechanics course at college, and needs a job to supplement his money from me - he works 2 days a week at a garage for no wage, and I give him £30.00 (working for free not ideal I know, but its bloody tough for 18 year olds round here getting a start).

He has suggested that we look at buying a car at auction, he services and valets it, and he then sells it at a small profit.

We went down to BCA today, just to watch and get a feel of prices, but when I came back and compared the prices to autotrader - it looks cheaper to buy privately!

It seems a hard way to earn money, but it provides more mechaniccing (?) experience and maybe more importantly a lesson in planning and hard work, so I'm not anti., was just a bit surprised by the cost of buying at auction.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Pete

 

[Cptsideways]

Gumtree private sales, beware of the dodgy traders though. Auctions are the worst places to buy cars that are not cheap!

 

[wobbly]

I had a look at Gumtree but the somerset listings are sparse.

I did wonder if going to the Bridgwater BCA was a mistake, its quite small, maybe 500 cars in total, maybe going to a bigger auction with more cars would mean keener prices?

Problem with travelling is it increases costs etc.

Are cars cheaper by region?

Pete

 

[Yorkshire Devil]

Ebay??? THeres always a bargain to be had on ebay.

 

[MuckyPup]

That has to be one of the hardest ways to actually MAKE money as opposed to surviving.
Without contacts to move vehicles on he's on a hiding to nothing.
Every car that went under that hammer was going to a buyer within a week, no-one WANTS cars that take root on the forecourt..........
And this is all before we get into the legalities and insurances etc
But then he's never going to get rich in the Auto industry anyway unless he's the lucky one in a thousand.
Mate of mine has got every mechanics ticket Ford ever issued and he gets paid more walking across fields checking pylons these days. Crazy

Spend £400 on a Karcher Puzzi 100 a cheap gazebo and do INTERIOR valeting for people ???
(plus lots of house carpets in run up to Chrimbo, but don't use hot water, it shrinks the carpet)

 

[wobbly]

I have suggested to him that rather than buying a car to service, clean and resell, he prints off some flyers and offers a low-priced car service in the village, if he can get £25 plus parts then he is in profit from day one (bear in mind he is getting £2 an hour in a garage at the moment!).

I have suggested he finds rough costs for plugs, air and oil filter, and oil, and see if he can offer a service for £49.00, thats about £30 cheaper than local garages.

If he gets nowhere the most it will cost is the flyers, he needs about 1000 so he needs to find out costs for that as well.

I'm keen for him to start working out the financial side for himself, thats the real lesson for him, I agree that the motor trade looks to be a hard way indeed to earn a crust.

He got a call last night for an interview at Halfords, but it is part time and working on the bike counter, so he has a difficult choice, try and generate his own work, or earn actual money but not doing what he wants.

I dont remember things being so tough when I was 18, got kicked out of college so got a job instead, tough times for youngsters at the moment - fortunately (?) he is at home for another 3 years then hopefully at Oxford Brookes for the degree element, which means I can support him, I guess thats just the way things are now (well, he tells me thats how things are now )

Cheers

Pete

 

[Crispin]

I would say to try that option. Flyers do not cost that much to print. If it's more than £50-60 then go buy yourself a cheap laser printer and a ream of paper and DIY them. Throw the printer when you done. £49 gets you a laser printer from PC world with starter cartridges.

Also the free options of classifieds in the local rag (older folk still look at those?) and also local community website classifieds. Speak to the boss-man at the local church. Stick a flyer in there saying "service while you pray" kinda thing?

How about adding a "tuning" option for the younger groups? He could use nosier air filters, fit noisier exhausts etc at their home.

Commendable that he works for free and is playing the long game. Halfords would certainly give him some pocket money but if it is not absolutely necessary, the fact that he did his own thing for money in his his trade instead of taking the easy option would be more appealing to future employers.