Used Car dealership Ideas

[sportf190]

Me and my dad are looking to start up a used car dealership together. He has been working for a dealership for 28 years and even went on his own renting a dealer license and buying cars at auctions. He never had a lot but now we plan on doing something together. I know that to be successful in this, we would have to have a few sources of getting cash if we can't now rely on retail sales. I have some ideas of how to cover expenses and try to make this business as profitable as can be.

I plan on leaseing a lot with at least 2 repair bays and renting it out to a mechanic who can run there own business.

I plan on dealing with wholesale transactions

I plan to learn on how to sell on Ebay as the used car market is huge and can hopefully benefit if my local retail sales are slow

I plan to offer warranties on vehicles by using a third party company

I plan to maybe sell tints or other options you can add to a car to generate more income

Does any one have any other advice for how to generate cash when sales are down for a couple weeks? I know to be successful in our idea we have to find ways to make money and diversify how we plan on making money

[Keith.S]

Just a thought, if your space is huge enough, may be you can sub-lease some section to other business. This would lower your risk.

[Milkerz]

eBay is a good start but you should look towards having your own website pretty soon, they are a lot more professional and you could charge higher prices on it as people go to eBay to look for bargains. You have some good ideas there, but look to spread the risk as thinly as possible.

[StephenG]

Hi Sport. My entire family except for myself has been in the car business for two generations now. All of them have been very successful in management but only one brother has gone into his own dealership. The used car business can be very profitable but can also chew you up and spit you out very quickly. Buying used cars in not like buying other product, you are buying one at a time and have to negotiate each and every deal. This is a horrible grind and has to happen several times a day, week after week year after year. When you let down you go broke. Auctions are where my brother gets about 95% of his vehicles. Auctions are likewise tough and in todays economy tougher than normal. Because the business is so tough it offers rewards to those with the right personality. Before you invest a lot of money ask yourself if you have that personality that can go out their and grind day after day. You can't succeed in the car business in the defense mode, aggressive risky action is the name of the game. Always remembering your primary purpose is to sell cars and buy cars. Saving money where you can goes without saying but not at the risk of putting your primary purpose on the back burner. A sign out front cash for used cars will get you a few cars on your lot but not nearly enough to survive on. Always remember if you buy right selling is easy. Good luck!

[sportf190]

yes, i understand that will be tough to do everyday, but I am learning for my dad who has been doing this for years and loves it. He has been fed up with the fact of working for someone when he has the knowledge to do everything they can. We are looking for other ideas to minimize the risk and the renting out bays can help lower are costs. My dad is in the process of possibly selling our house now so I told him to take the money left over invest in a 2 or 3 family house and keep our cost of living down so we can fully invest in the business

[sportf190]

Does any one have other advice as to what other services I can offer to generate some Income when times are slow? I know a true entrepreneur will find a way out of a slow time and I am trying to do my best to prepare a plan on how to take care of that if our car sales are slow.

[StephenG]

Auto detailing is a low cost start up related business. You will have to recon the vehicles you tak in anyway. Their may not be enough work to keep a detailer busy just doing your own cars so detaining for the public just might generate some extra income and also give you access to an inhouse detailer reducing your recon expenses.