Thread: Flip a car for profit?

Originally Posted by Carl Kempe

Would flipping a car be a good idea for some spare cash?

Im 99.9% I could install a PC/Mac mini in a car with no issues. (Besides the bezel, God I hate making stuff like that.) But I could take a popular/oldish car that isn't wrecked and install a Carputer into it, work on the outer appearance of the car, and interior. Such as...

-Refurbish the dash. Paint the dash a nice black. Put some white carbon fiber down on the dash like this, http://www.mp3car.com/show-off-your-...te-beauty.html (about 100$)

-Get it a nice clean paint job. Slap some aftermarket rims, painted brake caliper. Tint the window's to a nice but legal percentage. Add a nice super charger. (About 2350$)

-Add functional hood vents (To air the engine out and not just be for looks.), After market spoiler, and lowered springs. (About 440$)

-Interior Glow, fun cupholder LED mod, USB ports in the back and fabricated into the door panel or middle console, Wire a 2010 Mac Mini to a touchscreen LCD screen. (About 855$)

But If I can get a car AROUND 5,000 and spend ABOUT 3,305 on it (Total maybe around 8k). I could sell it for 15k buy another cheep 5k car and maybe do the same? It would take some time and with school even MORE time but I could pull it off.

I was thinking about a BMW 3-Series 325i Sedan? Im not very sure. but would this be a good idea? (If not I would like to Most likely do it and use it as my own.)

In your head you probably think this could work, but in reality it most likely won't. As many others already said, it's very hard to recover modification costs when trying to sell a car.

And the market for cars like the ones you want to make are very scarce.

You're better off selling cars you know people want to buy - Good, safe, reliable, and affordable transportation that will get them from point a to point b.

- Jay

Originally Posted by Carl Kempe

Well I would never buy a used car with over 70k Miles.

I got the idea because I was on Ebay looking around and I see these 2012 Camaro's (Retail cost about 23k) sell for 30k with 18 bids because of its appearance mods. I the main idea is that people are lazy now days. People cant work on cars so they take it to the shop to get some BASIC mods done. If people were smart you could get a 23k 2012 Camaro Coupe and spend 2k for a Paint job + Rims.

The key to these Camaros and the fact that they're selling is that they are new and have these mods and they are most likely modified by serious professionals who are trusted by either the car dealer or the manufacturer. It's a lot different than what you want to do.

Just go where the money is and take your slice of the pie.

I agree with most of the above!

However, think about it this way.
You make your money when you buy!

You have a good idea, it just needs some adjustments.
Why not offer such a service first or find a "super" deal on the car that matches the "modder" market?

Do you already drive a car like what you're trying to do?
If not, you could start on your own and drive it as a "advertisment" or "for sell" type. And then do it the same for your next car.

I hang out at a Porsche site and almost every car that was a fixer/restore project has almost always ended up being better off bought "already" finished. The only benefit of spending more money on your own is that you get the benefits of it's "yours" versus some other guys "pat-on-the-back".

But still, why not just offer carpc services as a start?

You can not flip a car like this, it won't happen unless you plan on losing quite a bit of money. I flip cars all the time, maybe 2-4 a year. The only way to do it is to buy a very cheap car with mechanical issues, fix it and sell it for book value or less. You can not make money on mods unless you go directly after the target buyers. Meaning if you put a PC in a car and expect to recoup anything at all your pretty much stuck selling it on MP3car, but since the reason most of us are on here is because we already built carPCs you're not gonna have much luck here either.

To make money off of private sales you have to be very strict on what car you pickup and what you spend. I buy an $5-$800 beater with as little body/paint damage as possible, fix it, and sell it for no more than $2000. It's very hard to sell used cars for >$2000 (unless it's a really good deal) because if they have that much cash they would rather buy at a dealer. My personal vehicles are always modded VWs and when I sell one I either strip all the mods and sell the car stock and part the mods on forums or I strip some of the mods and sell the car on the forums. You never get all the money back on any mods so you have to decide what to sell the car with and what to part out.

In my opinon, I prefer to buy a new car if I have enough money rather than to decorate and recondition my car with so many things,it is time-consuming and money-consuming.

Originally Posted by blazini

You can not flip a car like this, it won't happen unless you plan on losing quite a bit of money. I flip cars all the time, maybe 2-4 a year. The only way to do it is to buy a very cheap car with mechanical issues, fix it and sell it for book value or less. You can not make money on mods unless you go directly after the target buyers. Meaning if you put a PC in a car and expect to recoup anything at all your pretty much stuck selling it on MP3car, but since the reason most of us are on here is because we already built carPCs you're not gonna have much luck here either.

To make money off of private sales you have to be very strict on what car you pickup and what you spend. I buy an $5-$800 beater with as little body/paint damage as possible, fix it, and sell it for no more than $2000. It's very hard to sell used cars for >$2000 (unless it's a really good deal) because if they have that much cash they would rather buy at a dealer. My personal vehicles are always modded VWs and when I sell one I either strip all the mods and sell the car stock and part the mods on forums or I strip some of the mods and sell the car on the forums. You never get all the money back on any mods so you have to decide what to sell the car with and what to part out.

All great points. Me personally, I buy cars that dont need much of anything other than a good bath, clay bar, compound, glaze, and wax. And some shampooing of rugs and vacuuming.

Not as much profit margin, but you can turn them around quicker. Maybe when I find a mechanic I can rely on and who won't rip me off, I'll go for the car needing some fixing that most owners don't want to bother doing so they sell.

For now, cars that run fine that owners just dont want anymore because they're getting something new and know they won't get much from the dealer if they try to trade it in.

Originally Posted by summerpink

In my opinon, I prefer to buy a new car if I have enough money rather than to decorate and recondition my car with so many things,it is time-consuming and money-consuming.

Yeah because you read this thread - not. The whole point of his original post was to buy the car, do all the mods to it, then sell it for a profit.

Not trying to be a wise ***, but you obviously haven't read any posts in this thread or you wouldn't have written what you did. lol