I make money on the price I bought the car, when I come to sell it

[Station]

I think ever since I bought my first car, I have always somehow made money on them when it comes to selling.

There was only one - a green Toyota Corolla, which was bought on RR for £250 and then sold a week later to Billy on here. For £250. I wouldn't make money on mates/family, and would even take a drop in price. There is no difference between me and a full time trader.

 

If I can take an extra 50 or 100 quid from a sale I will - even if that includes spending the whole night polishing it, cleaning up the underside, spraying it just to make it look a bit better. Is this bad?

I bought a Subaru Impreza for £950 and then sold it for £1200, and the buyer haggled me down to £1150, claiming I got it cheap anyway (which I don't think I did tbh). On top of that the cost to replace the horrific alloys with standard ones (the 19" chav ones were completely buckled and kerbed and too big anyway), give the car a long overdue service, etc. I don't factor these costs in when I then come to sell, so actually I lost about 200 quid on the Impreza.

 

After being queried recently about a car I bought cheap (because the advert stated it was 'f*cked' and I took the chance on it), then spent a bit getting working again, included many nights cleaning it up and then putting it in for an MOT, and then a retest, that I should also factor in the selling (auction) price. Did I say I also only have one day off during the week, and this is sandwiched between doing 140 miles each journey, and my time is more valuable than any money I make (so an MOT and a retest = two weeks of my life gone).

 

Does anyone else try to make a bit of money from selling cars, or is this absolutely frowned upon? Is it OK if I feel a bit sick of people being so accusing over doing this?

I feel like I have to announce that I generally buy cars as I like the car, and also because I'm probably going to make a bit of money when I come to sell.

[EssDeeWon]

I normally lose abit, but not loads. I also factor in the 'whole' expense of owning that car and in the end I always lose some money. If I am lucky I get my money back on the screen price but overall costs mean I am down.

[cms206]

The only car I ever lost money on was fifty quid on an E-reg Maestro. Made profit or broke even on the other 20-odd.

[Spiny Norman]

Recently, since I stopped buying new-ish cars and escaping the depreciation bombshell I've had a 'some you win, some you lose' return rate.

The Volvo I had recently yielded a nice profit, as have a few others, but cubing one and taking a big hit on another I where I trusted the seller ( a family member) far more than I should and didn't check the car over as thoroughly as I normally would, has probably caused an overall deficit, but not by much.

 

Meh, motoring's expensive, it says so on the tin. At least I'm not spaffing out £199 a month for some hateful piece of modern diseasel toss.

[scruff]

There's absolutely bugger all wrong with what you are doing Station, if people don't like it, they need to get out more/grow a pair and get the gump to do it themselves. 

[Negative Creep]

I think I've only made a profit once selling a car. Generally seems to be less hassle to pitch it slightly below market value and accept the loss as part of the running costs

[Honey Badger]

People won't pay more than it's worth, if that means you make a profit then good on you I say.

 

Obviously not if you sell it with a fucked alternator though.

[Station]

Yeah! I don't think it's fair to be made to feel bad about doing this?

Am I just putting it on ebay to share with others without any concern for money?

[holbeck]

Having bought my BMW e30 on here, I felt morally that I could not ask more when re-selling via the forum.

 

As some pointed out at the time, I could have made a couple of hundred quid more by advertising it widely. However I thought the ease of a sale to a fellow shitter outweighed that.

[Rocket88]

Won some.....lost more........best deal I ever did was a straight swap.......my Skoda Estelle for his Caddy Fleetwood....he had to get from Jersey to Manchester by road [and sea obv!] and couldn't afford the fuel the Caddy would have used.

[Cavcraft]

Why are people querying the price based on what you paid for it?

 

I usually ask these people if they'd sell me their six numbers all up lottery ticket for £3 as they'd only paid a quid for it. You can guess their response.

[CortinaDave]

I dont really understand why folk have an issue with anyone making a profit.

 

If you can get something at a price that allows you to sell it on to someone else at a higher price that they are happy to pay, then its happy days.

[EssDeeWon]

Getting a free car from a fellow shiter then wacking it on here for £300 might take da piss but otherwise anyone can sell their cars for what they want.

 

99.9% of cars on here are cheap anyway with £500 buying you almost anything regardless of age, condition, location and number of horses.

[cort16]

This issue doesn't affect me as I make a loss on pretty much everything I buy. The latest BMW escapade with the oil puking 520i, self destructing 320d and started motor eating SD1 has made me realise I can't be arsed with it and I'm sick of losing money on these shit heaps.

Brand new car leased (I know it's not the autoshite way but meh), spare car moneys being directed to Cortina. I'm not saying I'll not buy anything again but it'll be something I want rather than something I think I can make a few ££ on.

[derskine]

I like the idea of making money on cars but in reality it doesn't really happen unless I break them.

I just don't have the patience to sell cars, so end up selling them cheap or breaking them.

[Bucketeer]

Fair play to you.

Out of over forty cars I have owned, I've never paid more than £600 and never received more than £150.

Never once made a profit, but never lost too much either.

[Cavcraft]

I've decided I need at least one banger to kick about in picking up bikes, so after (during) the ongoing 306 MOT debacle, I'm going to have one motor to just run into the ground then bin when the test is looming or it breaks. I won't deliberately knacker anything up but I won't spend big money on it will either. The Kangoo is a classic case in point and to be honest used as I intend to it'll sort of earn its keep as the 306 did, so whatever it weighs in for won't matter too much as it'll have paid for itself.

[cort1977]

Why would it be frowned upon to buy a car, put some work and money in to it with servicing and new parts and then sell it at a profit?   That's business, even if it is also a hobby for some doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong.

 

I wish I got criticised for making money on cars, I have the exact opposite issue.

[eddyramrod]

In 30-odd years of messing with cars, I think I've made a paper profit (ie just on the buying/selling prices) less than a dozen times.  Possibly even single figures.  I more often make a loss, especially if I don't keep the thing very long (which is normal!), even when I make a paper profit.  Servicing etc takes care of that, but I can usually offset that with running the thing and getting daily use out of it.  I have no problem with the idea of making a profit on a car, and good luck to anyone who can; it just seems to be beyond my skills.

[Sigmund Fraud]

I don't think I've ever made money on a car. I've broken even a couple of times, and I was particularly proud of myself !

 

In all honesty, making £100 on a car after spending 4-5 evenings sorting it out is not profit. You would have made more if you had stayed at work doing overtime, and you would have avoided all the hassle that comes with selling a car !

[dugong]

More or less broken even on everything but the GS, which was sold at a hefty loss. I was stupid to buy it and foolish to think I could get it back on the road with the skills and resources I had. 

If another old Citroen comes my way I will be not be sharing it with the CCC. It can thank a couple of its more vocal GS patrons for that. 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Its a faintly ridiculous question if you ask me. You're suggesting there is a problem if you ask more £££ for a car than you paid, if it is in better nick when you are selling it than when you bought it. How can that be a problem.

[sporty-shite]

As said, it's not really a profit if you spend a full weekend tarting up some old shitter before selling for a £100 "profit". You wouldn't work all weekend for a ton, you do the shitter just for the love of it.

 

The way I see my old chod is as, at best, a self financing hobby. I might sell a car for more than I paid, but I'll sure as hell have spent both time and money on it whilst I've owned it. However, a lot of the time, I'll spend money and still lose out. But not by much, and certainly not new car depreciation levels of loss.

 

You win some, you lose some and some are a draw. But I certainly would be pissed at someone questioning my asking price based on my purchase price.

 

You don't want to pay the price, you don't have to. Fuck off.

[wuvvum]

I occasionally manage to make a profit.  Although on the rare occasions when I do, I usually get some other kind of hassle (buyer getting in touch to say they're not happy with something, change of keeper not going through properly at DVLA, etc).  Over the 17 years and 400-odd vehicles that I've been doing this shit for, though, I haven't calculated how much I've lost overall, but it's definitely into 5 figures.

 

So no, I don't feel guilty about the rare vehicles I make a drink on, as I'm still a fucking long way from breaking even on this whole car malarkey. 

[Cavcraft]

Sometimes, buying cheap examples of cars you already have means you raid one for the better parts then sell the other on and still make a little or break even.

Said the man who's latest Corsa B has near new tyres and quite a few other 'better' bits which may accidentally* find there way on to the one we're keeping.

 

 

This whole ethos also applies to my cycle collection: I've got some absolute belters here that arsing about trading some others off has paid for. They're pretty much like my car collection (i.e mostly crap but stuff I really like) and it's great being able to piddle about with some old relic that you remember from your youth.

[Mr Livered]

I tend to lose money on cars because selling them cheaply or giving them away seems like a nice way of doing someone a favour whilst saving myself a load of hassle.

 

That said, if someone has the opportunity to make a bit of profit from selling their car on, good for them. I don't see how that can possibly be immoral, given that it can only happen if there's a willing buyer.

[Micrashed]

I dont think Ive ever made a profit on a car.

 

But I have on a motorbike.

 

Im very meh! about it. You get what you can and so long as both parties are happy who cares?

 

Im holding out to do a deal with Billy on a (working) pedal and pop and some red coloured bank notes......

[forddeliveryboy]

If another old Citroen comes my way I will be not be sharing it with the CCC. It can thank a couple of its more vocal GS patrons for that. 

 

Do enlighten us all!

[Station]

 

Here's the ad:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171381230131?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

I bought the car for £175. It had a knocking engine, presumably knackered. I got the car home with the intention of either rebuilding it or putting a spare one in.

A couple of weeks later I found the knocking was the exhaust (broken) banging against the sump. The oil warning light was a faulty switch. The lady was on the cusp of scrapping it, and was really pleased I was going to save it. About 200 quid spent, 60 quid on an MOT and it's following retest. Tax was up at the end of last month. It has just under 12 months MOT. The car is pretty much as it left the factory, the interior is spotless. It was dirty and a few things needed tightening up and replacing, but I did it, including undersealing it, servicing it, and properly setting the valve clearances, etc.

 

I don't need to explain myself, but this has really got to me.

 

 

 

"Hi,

I don't mean to come across as being funny or awkward but nowhere in the add states that you'll put tax on at buyers expense, so I presumed it would be being taxed before collection

once contacted and buyer (me) stating it's needed, which I've wrote to you explaining I'd need it taxed for the return journey.

Majority of cars are generally sold with MOT and tax (at the very least a little of both) these days as it's a good selling point to attract buyers and they can drive the car away hassle free.

Unless it's otherwise stated and explained fully in the add that the car will be sold with no MOT or Tax.

and as your add stated and I've quoted below that you've said you can tax for the winning bidder.

nothing about the bidder will have to pay the cost of tax on top of the winning bid price.

"The tax ran out at the end of June and I haven't renewed because I'm no longer driving it - I can however tax it for the winning bidder (it will remain insured until I sell it)."

"The car comes with the original Nissan mats, folder and owner's manual. Please contact me about buying tax if needed."

I am fully able to collect as the add stated (although working out to be way more expensive than when I last flew to Manchester)

and I am fully able to pay the full amount that the auction went for.

However as I pointed out in the last message, it is advertised for £500 on classic cars site correct? so in theory you are making more on top of what it's advertised at. Again which I am obliged to pay and happy to, but genuinely thought from reading your ad that it would be being taxed once contacted so it was able to be driven away.

As for making money from buying the car on Retro rides, that's the car game and you found it cheap, put money into it and making money, and good for you mate to be fair."

[Mr_Bo11ox]

He wants a free tax disc out of you, thats all there is to it. You decide if you want to buy him one (I probably wouldnt TBH) He sounds like a cheeky twat but at least he's coherent unlike most nob head chancers.