Business Ideas for automotive

[Gentleman]

My question to my entrepreneur community would be if selling automotive products would be a great cash cow for beginners as myself? If so does anyone have any tips or affiliate programs that would be a great asset for my start up business, and any tips on the best way to construct my web page for the sales and advertising of my products? Write me back and let me know

[jmeijers]

If you want to do something like selling automotive parts, you would have to have some very good understanding of that specific market. I know a little bit about it, but not being a car-addict myself kind of puts me out of the market. You really need to be part of the market you are going to sell in, otherwise you'll either get bored or make stupid mistakes regarding market demand.

If you are however, I think there is some good market available. Look into specialized parts for cars, i.e. the pimping market. If you ask me, that is where most items are sold these days. At least at the client I work for now (happens to be a big company in the automotive sector) I see many of the youngsters who spend too much money on things like spoilers, bumper kits, etc.

[DerekS]

If you want to do something like selling automotive parts, you would have to have some very good understanding of that specific market. I know a little bit about it, but not being a car-addict myself kind of puts me out of the market. You really need to be part of the market you are going to sell in, otherwise you'll either get bored or make stupid mistakes regarding market demand.

This is good advice. I started an online used OEM and aftermarket Toyota MR2 parts sales business back in '04 with a friend. I had fairly extensive automotive knowledge prior to starting the business, but no in depth knowledge of the MR2 market. My buddy basically had to carry the sales operation until I could familiarize myself with the going rates for most parts. Because we dealt in used parts, there was a lot of negotiation involved, and a lot of price fluctuations, especially when selling in bulk or lots. Had he not known the market, we easily could have lost potential profits by being snookered by shrewd buyers.

If you plan on parting the cars out yourself, you should also have a working knowledge of how cars work, how they're put together, and how they come apart. You can hold onto your profit margins by doing your own labor. We had great success buying wrecked cars as a whole and then stripping them down. Had we bought the parts already broken down, we definitely would have had thinner profit margins.

I know of no affiliate programs or anything like that. Most people I know who have broken into this market have done so in a completely DIY method. We had best success advertising with specialty forums and on Craigslist. Most of our business came from the forums and word of mouth.

Good luck.