If you want to accelerate the flipping process, you should meet prospective buyers at their homes or workplaces for test drives. The best way to move cars is by listing them on digital exchanges like Craigslist, Autotrader and CarGurus. Use sites like SaferCar and Lemon Checks to vet potential purchases to avoid being scammed on damaged vehicles. Government auctions are another great way to find amazing deals on used cars. Use Google Alerts to notify you of cars that meet your criteria. Craigslist is the best way to get the goods since you can negotiate pretty easily if you know what you’re doing. Tracking down the actual merchandise that you’ll be selling is pretty simple. The point is that you should network with as many professionals as possible. Local business owners can be a great way to funnel customers to your venture. A competent lawyer can help you to navigate various local laws and ordinances. If you’re not great at fixing cars, find an affordable mechanic that you can trust. Most successful car flippers rely on the expertise of a few different specialists to make wise decisions.
Know that there’s a de facto “lemon law” called the warranty of merchantability that’s applicable to car sales made by dealers. Have a local attorney advise you on the best way to draft sales contracts to ensure that you don’t have problems down the line. When you buy or sell a car, you need to establish a rock-solid chain of custody via registrations and bills of sale. The key to making it in the car-flipping game without suffering show-stopping setbacks is paperwork. Look up the tax ramifications of selling cars for profit before you start. Research your local regulations and base your business in a neighboring state if need be. In other states, flipping more than one car in a calendar year is enough to qualify you as a dealer. To begin with, many states have restrictions on how many cars you can own in any given year without being considered a dealer. If you plan on tuning up cars before you re-sell them, the usual tools like floor jacks and ratchet sets are required. A few cleaning products like Armor All wipes and a shop vacuum are a must. You’ll also want a garage to store cars while they’re waiting to be sold. A decent PC, an all-in-one printer and a filing system for hard copies of paperwork will suffice. Required Resources and MaterialsĪt a minimum, you’ll need a home office to keep track of expenses and revenue. If your credit is decent, you can borrow that first car payment from your local credit union. You should have at least $2,000 on hand when you get started to ensure success. If you have to register as a dealer, start-up costs can rise significantly. Every jurisdiction has a limit on how many cars you can flip before you’re considered a dealer. Start-Up Costs to Considerĭepending on where you live, starting a car-flipping business can cost as little as $500. It’s also wise to specialize in a particular class of vehicle such as sub-compact sedans when you’re first starting out. You can move on to more expensive models later once your business is on firm ground. Cars and trucks that can be sold for between $2,000 and $4,000 are a good place to start. Most flippers buy a used car, register it and sell it to the highest bidder within a short time frame. There are a number of different ways to build a car-flipping business that consistently rakes in the dough. Once you’ve accurately gauged local demand, you can come up with an effective business plan.
Request used car sales statistics from the department of motor vehicles to get a clearer picture of industry trends in your state. Zeroing in on the best price points to pursue is a little trickier.
Getting a handle on the most popular used cars and trucks in your immediate area should be pretty easy. The easiest way to start a car-flipping business is by going after local buyers.