Bargain X5!

[TW]Fox;22542009 said:
So where is your margin when the new owner rings up a week later saying you are a trader and the box is in limp-home mode?

You are bonkers to the extreme trying to trade in cars like this with a margin that slim and the fact you keep rushing to start new threads telling us what 'bargains' these cars are is confusing.
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Is he a trader though??

Is a guy selling the odd car here and there presumably from outside his house? classified as a trader?

I've not followed prev threads so am not quite sure of the back history.

But say if i bought 10 cars this year and sold them all on, and did not advertise myself as a trader and did it outside my house, would i be classified as a trader?
 
Peter450 said:
But say if i bought 10 cars this year and sold them all on, and did not advertise myself as a trader and did it outside my house, would i be classified as a trader?
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I might be totally wrong but I thought the DVLA had a figure of about 7 car sales in 12 months and they would no longer consider it a private sale.
 
I think autotrader forces you to be a trader if you sell more than 3 a year.

hmrc view is that if you buy one car with a vies to selling it on for a profit then you are a trader.

you do declare your profits and pay tax on them don't you?
 
Berger said:
But they can fix it for free in their spare time when they are not working on customers cars for the cost of parts only.

You are tied into taking it to the dealer or a garage to hopefully fix it for you.
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Yes that is true, I really can't see labour being an absolute fortune on a sensor though.

I should also mention car prices are inflated around my area. Take the KA's for example, I've picked up a few 2006 models with around 40k for 1400-1500 from the Essex/Manchester/London areas and they fetch 2000 around here all day long. Don't get me wrong it's completely different with a car like this but cars do fetch more around here in general.
 
Greebo said:
I think autotrader forces you to be a trader if you sell more than 3 a year.

hmrc view is that if you buy one car with a vies to selling it on for a profit then you are a trader.

you do declare your profits and pay tax on them don't you?
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Yes everything is declared, only doing a it part time on the side, it's surprising how quickly you can run into VAT otherwise.
 
VTR said:
Yes that is true, I really can't see labour being an absolute fortune on a sensor though.
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But the point is you've no idea - you didn't even bother to check. You've taken on a faulty X5 with no real understanding of what the fault is, if there even is a fault or what may be involved in recitifying it because 'its a bargain innit, im part time trading innit!'.

If you want to make a bit of money on the side selling cars from your driveway the best thing to do is protect yourself and your customers by selling cheap and simple stuff that is either not going to go wrong or will never be a problem to fix. Not potentially complex nightmares like X5's and performance cars. Boring stuff like Fiestas.

Dabbling in the bottom of the old premium market is just nuts. It's a big enough minefield buying one to keep let alone one to make sod all margin on where YOU have the liability for the faults the buyer finds!
 
[TW]Fox;22543720 said:
But the point is you've no idea - you didn't even bother to check. You've taken on a faulty X5 with no real understanding of what the fault is, if there even is a fault or what may be involved in recitifying it because 'its a bargain innit, im part time trading innit!'.

If you want to make a bit of money on the side selling cars from your driveway the best thing to do is protect yourself and your customers by selling cheap and simple stuff that is either not going to go wrong or will never be a problem to fix. Not potentially complex nightmares like X5's and performance cars. Boring stuff like Fiestas.

Dabbling in the bottom of the old premium market is just nuts. It's a big enough minefield buying one to keep let alone one to make sod all margin on where YOU have the liability for the faults the buyer finds!
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If it turns out to be a lot more expensive and going to run into silly money then I'll cut my losses and put it through auction, I'm pretty confident I'll at least get my money back on it. I've budgeted £500 for work on it anyway, the small cosmetic bits will just cost me my time which I think leaves enough budget to fix the ABS fault.

As I said I have previously stuck to the cheapys (apart from a 2006 CRV) but IMO this and the 182 seemed a good buy. If they turn out to be a disaster I will be sticking to the KAs! Nothing ventured nothing gained :p
 
First thing you do if you're looking at a car that might be cheap due to a fault is see how much the fault costs to fix.

If it's simple and you know people/DIY = quids in, cheap fix, big profit.

If it's complicated and needs dealer coding and dealer labour etc. = probably a waste of time if you're only in the car for profits
 
The sensor is £80 and it's a 2-3hr job to replace so even though I haven't got an exact price, even at BMW garage labour rates, it's not going to cost a fortune. I'll get the error codes reset first anyway, that may even clear it.
 
VTR said:
The sensor is £80 and it's a 2-3hr job to replace so even though I haven't got an exact price, even at BMW garage labour rates, it's not going to cost a fortune. I'll get the error codes reset first anyway, that may even clear it.
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You're banking on being able to sell it.

Do you have trade insurance, or do you now have to declare the car SORN and off the road? That will make it a PITA if anyone wants to buy the car and drive it away.

If it sits around for a few months and the MOT lapses, then you need to re MOT the car and reduce the price to sell it.

Big can of worms selling used cars that personally I couldn't be bothered with.
 
VTR said:
The sensor is £80 and it's a 2-3hr job to replace so even though I haven't got an exact price, even at BMW garage labour rates, it's not going to cost a fortune. I'll get the error codes reset first anyway, that may even clear it.
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Given that you are operating as a trader, what would you do if someone bought the X5, and something expensive went wrong in 2 months?
 
Berger said:
You're banking on being able to sell it.

Do you have trade insurance, or do you now have to declare the car SORN and off the road? That will make it a PITA if anyone wants to buy the car and drive it away.

If it sits around for a few months and the MOT lapses, then you need to re MOT the car and reduce the price to sell it.

Big can of worms selling used cars that personally I couldn't be bothered with.
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There's 9 months left on the MOT, it should sell before then. Yeh got traders insurance so it can stay taxed. Won't be hanging onto it for months and months on end, I'll drop the price until it sells. Probably put it up for £6500 and go from there.
 
Its only cheap if you wanted to buy it anyway and it runs ok in the end. Sounds like it was bought for a fair price and you hope to sell at a small premium with some luck.

This sort of thing is ideal if you like to change cars often and/or know how to get fixes done cheap. Most people generally would get slaughtered on garage costs
 
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