Flipping cars to make extra money is simple. Buying repos or seized cars, ex government and bank owned cars and selling them at a profit is an easy way to make some extra cash from one month to the next, its not difficult and is well within the capabilities of most people even if they don’t have the money to get started there are plenty of easy ways to get car finance to help get the ball rolling.
How much extra money you make is entirely up to you, some people make a few hundred dollars each month and some people make thousands of dollars per month and flip cars as their sole means of income. There are other advantages besides making money.
- Be your own boss
- Work your own hours
- Enjoy what you do
- You can make as much or as little as you want to make
Turn cars into extra cash
The basic principal is a tried and tested business method, buy low, make your money when you buy and sell at a profit. So its clear the key to this whole thing lies in your ability to buy at the right price, its not difficult if you have the right information at your finger tips. Our preferred method is to buy cars at government auctions as you can make real savings while in most cases find cars that have been well serviced without too many miles on the clock. Ex government cars and seized bank owned cars can make you the biggest profits. Other methods involve doing up wrecked cars and cars that are in poor condition, this can be a good way to go but if your not handy or not up for working on cars then this can be a drag and costs can blow out if your not careful.
What cars to buy? This is important because if you don’t consider the selling side of the equation you might find it hard to turn your project cars over from one deal to the next. Think of cars that sell in volume, they may be boring but they make you money. Ford and Chev trucks make good projects if you can get them at the right price because they are volume sellers and popular second hand models. Car sales figures for 2009 will give you an indication of what is selling and the Kelly Blue Book will give you the latest resale values so you can work out your buy and sell prices as you go.
Easy Car Finance. Getting a car loan is an easy option if you don’t have the money to get the ball rolling, if your running this as a business then costs associated with buying and selling cars in many cases will be a tax deduction, it pays to seek advice in this matter just to be on the safe side.
Getting ready for sale. Getting a car prepared for sale is not that difficult, its a good idea to have a mechanical inspection done for peace of mind even if local laws do not require it. Once you have the mechanical side of things sorted out then its time to look at what helps a car sell. Low miles, and presentation, service history / log books / repair history. Presentation is key, there are plenty of great products on the market that will help you bring your cars up to showroom standard with a small and once again tax deductible investment your project car will be looking great in a very short time. If your not prepared to get your hands dirty then its always possible to employ a car detailer to do the job for you in much the same way that car dealers do.
Selling. Once you have your car prepared the next step is to find your target audience, the best and most cost effective place to do that is online via the classifieds and auction websites such as ebay and craigslist.
A few points to remember.
- Honesty, don’t ever set out to rip people off. The used car industry can get a little bit dirty, you don’t need to go there to make money so don’t get greedy.
- Know your market, you should be able to spot a good buy instantly.
- Avoid sports cars, exotic cars, luxury models and cars that are not volume sellers. This goes without saying but you should know what sells and stick to the common in demand cars.
- Don’t spend too much preparing for sale. Stick to your game plan and look after your profit margins.
- Keep a business brain, don’t get involved with cars you need to think of them as stock. Its easy to get attached to a nice car and that is not the plan here its business pure and simple.
- Think outside the box, do what the other guys are not doing. Building your own website and getting some position in the local search results can go a long way to helping you sell quickly and attract more buyers.
- You can take this to any level you like, plenty of people make this a full time career. Do it once, rinse and repeat, you will get better as you sell more cars.
“Last month my wife and I made an extra $1800 buying old cars and selling them, we did 3 sales in total. Two Chevy’s and one Toyota, when we worked out the time we put into each car it turned out to be only a few hours. We plan to ramp up to 5 cars this next month and try to make at least $3000 extra, considering we started with a small loan that we have already paid back this has been a good exercise for us.” Wendy and Lenny Denver Co
“I don’t mind if this secret gets out, last year I bought and sold over 25 cars and made over $35,000 profit. I consider myself a bit of a virtual car dealer as I do most of the work out of my own garage in my back yard, its a good business. I don’t try to make too much money out of each car and it keeps things turning over.” Randy – Houston TX.
