Car lovers everywhere love the idea of being able to make their career out of classic cars. This sort of vehicle offers more than just a way to get from A to B, being as important as a piece of artwork to some. If you find yourself in this position, it can be hard to see a way to achieve your dreams. Of course, you can’t make classic cars, as anything new wouldn’t be a classic. But, you could buy, restore, and sell old ones, as an alternative.
This sort of career can be incredibly satisfying, as you will be working with cars which you love on a daily basis. Along with this, you’ll also get the chance to work for yourself, achieving a dream a lot of people share. To help you out with this, this post will be going through some of the steps you’ll have to take, from starting your new company to selling your very first motor. With this in mind, you should have all the inspiration to start working on this for yourself. This can make the perfect career, or you could use it to supplement your other work and car hobby.
- Learning The Market
This entire process starts with a little bit of learning. Before you can start to buy and sell cars, you’ll first need to understand which cars sell for the most, along with the value of the cars on the market. These trends will be ever changing, making it hard to keep up. But, by using online resources at regular intervals, you should be able to keep yourself up to date. There are loads of websites out there which monitor the prices of cars. This gives you a great platform to start your searching, while also helping to make sure that you have accurate and up to date information from the beginning.
Once you have an idea of the cars you’d like to be buying and the prices you’ll be able to sell them for, you can start to think about the place you will be selling them. Starting your own website probably won’t be necessary when you first start out, as websites like eBay will be able to help you. But, along with this, you could also consider finding some ways to sell your cars to people on a physical level, as well as relying on the web to help. It will be easier to sell your cars in some places than it is in others. Figuring out the best place in your area will be critical to the success of your venture.
A lot of people think that they cannot sell products or convince people that something is worth their money. In reality, though, this sort of skill can be learned very quickly if you adopt the right methods and practices. Using online guides and tools, you can quickly start to pick up the skills you’ll need to sell goods to your customers. But, if you use the right sales platform, you may not have to worry about this sort of issue at all.
- Finding Some Stock
With a good plan in place for making your sale, you can start to look into the stock you’ll be starting with. Finding classic cars at low prices will take some work, as a lot of these cars are very popular, even when they’re in bad condition. By attending auctions, using websites like eBay and Craigslist, and keeping your eyes open while out and about, you’ll start to find more and more deals which make sense. You will have to do plenty of work to get to this stage. But, once it’s been done, you will develop a good idea of the best places to find the cars you want to buy. Of course, though, you might have to make some compromises along the way, as choice will be limited in most places.
To make money out of your classic cars, one of the best methods to adopt is the fix and flip. Buying a car which is worse for wear, you can often find very good deals. This will give you the chance to spend much less on your initial stock, but, of course, will come with some added work. It’s best to choose cars which you feel confident in fixing yourself. To make money back, you’ll have to spend as little as possible on the repair of your car, ensuring that your return is a large one. Along with this, though, you should also choose a car which is well-known for being reliable.
- Repair And Restoration
Repairing and restoring a car will take a lot of learning. But, if someone else is able to do it, so are you; it will just require a little bit of work. You can start learning about mechanical engineering before you ever buy a car, using video guides and information pages about cars. Along with this, you could also take a short online course to help you, with the price of which being considered an investment into your business. Once you have your first car, you will have the chance to test your skills. Of course, though, you may also have to learn about upholstery and electronics before you can work on the whole car.
One of the most costly parts of this work will be the tools and parts you use to fix the cars you’re selling, so it’s worth finding ways to make them cheaper. eBay, like in the other areas, is a great way to achieve this. You can find aftermarket and official parts at a fraction of their normal price through a site like this. But, for tools, you may have to look further. Most people will want the very best tools for their garage. Buying them new, though, will cost a small fortune, cutting into the money you make back. Instead, you should look for them second hand, as the best tools will last plenty long enough to secure their use for your entire career.
- Making The Sales
With your car ready for sale, you’re almost done with the job of selling it. But, you’ll have to actually sell it before you can consider everything done and dusted. Using a site like eBay, you can have your car setup as a classified advert for people to get in contact with you. This sort of service is free, enabling you to post as much as you need to for each car. Writing your advert will be the hardest part of this. You have to be detailed, without bogging the description down with too many words. To help you with this, you can find loads of examples of templates which have been proven to be successful by other sellers.
Classic car restoration is a very popular business, in a lot of places. Thankfully, though, the turnover and value of the goods you’re dealing with will make competition easy to combat, and may even be able to be turned to your advantage. Trade Shows have become increasingly popular over recent years, with loads of new ones popping up every year. For classic car companies, there aren’t many better places for you to get exposure, especially if you want people to know that you’re better than other options. In most cases, you will have to pay for your place at an event like this. Plus, you will have to book long in advance. Of course, though, with the money this can make for you, it will be well worth it.
- Sealing The Deal
Selling your car will be hard, but, with the learning you’ve done, you should already know what you have to do to be successful. This won’t make it easier to get your payment from the customers you find, though. In a lot of cases, this sort of transaction will be handled with cash, as this is a secure method which can be returned to the customer without your express consent. Along with this, you could also ask for payment via bank transfer, as this is also very secure. Cheques should never be accepted, though, and you shouldn’t hand over the keys until you have full payment for the motor.
As you’ll be selling rare and classic cars, it could be hard to find customers for your company without branching out. Of course, if you sell a car to someone on the other side of the country, though, it could be hard to get it to them. In some cases, the customer will come to you. But, it’s best to avoid relying on this sort of method. Instead, having a car transport company on hand to help you will be the best way to move your product around the world. In most cases, this sort of company will be able to handle the whole shipping job, and will even be able to collect payment for you at the other end.
Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start making your hobby into your dream job, while also teaching you a thing or two about the classic car market. A project like this will always take a lot of effort. But, thankfully, most people will find it manageable to do this work around their normal job. This enables you to create a career you love without having to spend years struggling to get by or finding it hard to sleep at night.
