Flipping Cars - share your secrets

My problem is I can't see past what "I" like.

The last few cars I bought for challenge money turned into DDs

AC- you should video what you do. Would make a good TV show.

All of that wheeling and dealing.....

alex wrote:

calteg wrote: Sounds like you need car detailing secrets, not car flipping secrets.

Yeah, that's what I'm focusing on for the time being, I guess. And I know the nun thing sounds like a line, but I swear its true! I should have got her picture in full penguin regalia with the thing...

Strike_Zero wrote: My problem is I can't see past what "I" like. The last few cars I bought for challenge money turned into DDs

That is usually a problem with flipping. Not so much for me because I get bored easy with cars.

But more importantly the cars we like are rarely good flip candidates. The best quick turnover is on appliance cars.

A cheap Fiat/Alfa/(insert your favorite toy here) is hard to pass up but you've limited your market and are usually dealing with a very educated crowd who will pick your car to death.

A toyota corolla or the like will be easy to be tired of quickly and its just what everyone out there wants. Quick easy sale, and the owners are usually uninformed non-car people so that (exaggerated example) minor harmonic vibration you feel at 2500 rpms but goes away at 2600 and drives you crazy will go right over their heads.

AngryCorvair wrote: In reply to dyintorace: my sales are typically challenge-ish money. my buys are typically around $500 - $800, rarely more than a grand unless there's something special about the car. like $1500 for the '86 944 with fuchs and sport seats that i drove home, or the $1200 miata with hardtop. jthw8 really nailed my philosophy. buy for $500, clean, sell for $1500.

Dittos. I'll add "Drive for a year or two" into that equation though.

I try to find interesting cars that have mechanical issues that the owner would need to pay a mechanic to fix. Non-running cars are HARD to sell, which drives the price down like crazy. For example: clean 520i (Euro) w/bad HG. $300. Cleaned it, installed a new headgasket, and the new owner is ecstatic with his $2200 car.

My friend buys every late 90s 4x4 Blazer or S10 with a blown up trans he can lay his hands on. Fixes the trans, cleans them, and sells them for about 3x what he has in it.
Thats the secret. Pick one or two common cars with cheap parts and good interchange (GM) and that you can work on. Once you do 1 or 2, you know all the tips, where to go for cheap parts, and can do the work quickly and easily. There is no end of blown up 700R4s fortunately, so business is good.

How do you guys who regularly flip vehicles deal with the registration/plates/etc? I can get temp tags, but I think any buyer who's worth their salt should be nervous about buying a car with temp tags.

Once I go through the registration and tags, $200 in profit has just evaporated. Are you guys using your own dealer tags (or borrowing them)?

I would not do very good at the flipping cars thing. I get attached to cars and I wouldn't buy appliances.

dj06482 wrote: How do you guys who regularly flip vehicles deal with the registration/plates/etc? I can get temp tags, but I think any buyer who's worth their salt should be nervous about buying a car with temp tags. Once I go through the registration and tags, $200 in profit has just evaporated. Are you guys using your own dealer tags (or borrowing them)?

Living in CT is probably part of your problem. I registering a car costs around $40 in my county, and tags are transferable. Liability insurance only on a $500 car is nothing.

My only advice is to NOT drive it anymore than you have to. If I have a car and become familiar with it, I'll become the anti-salesman by telling every little darn thing that I've noticed wrong with it.

What I forget is that as a buyer of a cheap, old, used car, folks EXPECT there to be little problems.

So...If I get a car and fix the big problem, I can sell with a more clear conscience if I don't get in and give myself the notion (probably completely fabricated in my own mind) that the transmission is going to grenade next week. Ignorance (as a seller) is the key to a good conscience.

Sounds funny, but it's true. I don't think it's unscrupulous...I've never blamed a seller when I bought something that broke a week later... Popeye had a saying for that, I think.

Clem

poopshovel wrote: If you don't mind wrenching a little, a great strategy is to buy cars that have a typical mode of failure once that part has failed. A friend of a friend buys nothing but dodge caravans with dead transmissions, replaces the transmission, then sells it for no less than $1k more than what he's got into it in parts and labor. Do that once a month and you've got an extra $12k a year free and clear in your pocket - or to max out your retirement fund with.

any idea where to start? or just start from cars you know how to work on?

madmallard wrote:

poopshovel wrote: If you don't mind wrenching a little, a great strategy is to buy cars that have a typical mode of failure once that part has failed. A friend of a friend buys nothing but dodge caravans with dead transmissions, replaces the transmission, then sells it for no less than $1k more than what he's got into it in parts and labor. Do that once a month and you've got an extra $12k a year free and clear in your pocket - or to max out your retirement fund with.

any idea where to start? or just start from cars you know how to work on?

If you have cars that you know well that is obviously the best place to start since you should know the common failures and repairs. I have ventured into cars which aren't familiar at times but only if the repairs are common and its a worthwhile flip.

nderwater wrote: Flippers - how much time & hassle is it for you to find a car to flip? How much time and hassle is usually involved in getting it sold?

Sometimes it could take a while to find a car because most cars you'll see on Craigslist are from other flippers and you never want their sloppy seconds - ever.

Usually it takes me 3 or 4 cars that I go to see before I actually grab one I see fit to flip.

It takes more emailing, texting, and calling to find cars that are even worth going to look at.

ALWAYS ask for the VIN before you waste a trip. That will tell you a lot that the owner won't.

But after doing a couple of cars, you'll get really good at finding winners and you'll find them faster.

Now to selling. On average, once listed, it takes me an average of 10-15 days. I've had cars listed for as long as 3 weeks, I just flipped a car in less than 3 days.

It's only a hassle if the car is a total beater. I like going after cars that are decent enough that I'd let my mother, wife, or daughter drive it. There are plenty out there you can get a good deal on and turn around for at least a $500 profit.

One other thing is to change your mindset of expecting it to be a hassle because you won't enjoy it, and you probably won't have as much success if you expect it to be sucky.

Good luck :)

madmallard wrote:

poopshovel wrote: If you don't mind wrenching a little, a great strategy is to buy cars that have a typical mode of failure once that part has failed. A friend of a friend buys nothing but dodge caravans with dead transmissions, replaces the transmission, then sells it for no less than $1k more than what he's got into it in parts and labor. Do that once a month and you've got an extra $12k a year free and clear in your pocket - or to max out your retirement fund with.

any idea where to start? or just start from cars you know how to work on?

I would start with cars you know people want to buy and stay under the $3K range as far as what you expect to sell for. People are hurting out there and probably only have what they would have been able to use for a down payment for a lease or finance had their credit not been shot.

There are also those who go after cars that need tranny's or motors or whatever and that is good too if you know a mechanic who is good and will work with you and not screw you. But that is for advanced flippers. However your profit will be a lot higher.

When going the first route, your profit will be around $500 - $1500 a car.

I haven't read all the posts cuz I gotta make the kids lunches for school tomorrow. Here's my tips though.
Buy low - you did that already!
Sell high - there's tricks to that.
I clean the car myself. I don't have it detailed for two reasons. I can, in an hour, do 90% of what they do for $100. I also don't want the car slathered in that greasy crap they use nor do I want that stuff that smells like cherry juice filtered through an old jim sock sprayed on the carpet. That screams "I'VE JUST BEEN DETAILED. BEFORE THAT THERE WAS FECEES ON THE HEADREST!"
If the tires are crap I'll put on some good used tires. Basically, I make sure it's in good shape mechanically. But the ad is where I make the money. I go to realtor.com and search for houses in a particular price range, depending on the car. I just sold a buddies Trail Blazer. It's an $8K truck so I searched for homes for sale for about $300K. Look at the interior pics to find an empty house. Drive on over and take pics of the car in front of this nice house.
Trust me, all things being equal, a car sitting in front of a nice house will get called on quicker and more often. If I don't do that, I'll park the on the grass with woods behind me (There's a place by me I use all the time, it has a nice rock wall as well).
So, the ad has to have great presentation. The ad has to be honest to a fault. I'll pick the 3 worst things about the vehicle and mention two of them in the ad, that way they don't show up and see 3 negative things and think I'm hiding anything. Finding one thing is expected.
I could go on but I'll just say. The ad is where you sell the car. If you do it right, the buyer is showing up just to make sure you didn't B.S. them, and give you the money.
Now with that car, in that price range you'll have NO problem selling it. A cheap minivan is about the easiest thing to sell.

Oh, I forgot this because it doesn't really apply to this thread but here's a little thing I did a few times and man it works. In late October, early November buy a miata. Swap the timing belt and associated stuff (so you can put it in the ad. It's cheap, quick and easy but scares the bejesus out of most folks), drive it through the winter (that's the most fun time!) and list it the day after the first perfect spring day. Do it right and dang near double your money. Then, but a Subaru (I liked the Forester) in late June, early July. Fix the oil leaks and sell it early October just before the snow starts flying. Again, double your money.
When I was out of work, that strategy made my house payments and kept a roof over my family's heads.

My advice, stay the berkeley away from C4 corvettes when flipping......I've been helping a friend of mine do one, and that piece of E36 M3 has been fighting us the whole way. It's a glass top away from done though.

That was a $1500 car that turned into a $4500 really fast.....

I'm going to bump this thread. I want to do this as a part-time summer gig to help my through my college years. I've got a few questions that may or may not have been answered, but there is a lot of information to learn.

Should I have the title in my name if I'm expecting to flip a car quick?

Do I even need insurance for the car? I don't know how it works but I'm still under my parent's insurance and they tell me they pay for 6 months at a time. What would happen to the payment if I get rid of a car in 2 weeks?

Should I stick to cars I'm familiar with working on? I am a BMW guy...but these things depreciate like mad and $500 BMW's are hard to come by to flip for $1500.

I've got the detailing part down. I've got a good array of cleaners and tools, including a buffer and steam cleaner, so I can make a car nice 'n pretty. I've done my fair share of mechanical work, but I don't know how to weld and don't have any specialty tools for timing belts and such. Is this even a smart side business to get into as a college student?

Once you fix it, sell it before some jagoff steals it from in front of your house.

MINIzguy wrote: I'm going to bump this thread. I want to do this as a part-time summer gig to help my through my college years. I've got a few questions that may or may not have been answered, but there is a lot of information to learn. Should I have the title in my name if I'm expecting to flip a car quick? Do I even need insurance for the car? I don't know how it works but I'm still under my parent's insurance and they tell me they pay for 6 months at a time. What would happen to the payment if I get rid of a car in 2 weeks? Should I stick to cars I'm familiar with working on? I am a BMW guy...but these things depreciate like mad and $500 BMW's are hard to come by to flip for $1500. I've got the detailing part down. I've got a good array of cleaners and tools, including a buffer and steam cleaner, so I can make a car nice 'n pretty. I've done my fair share of mechanical work, but I don't know how to weld and don't have any specialty tools for timing belts and such. Is this even a smart side business to get into as a college student?

Legally yes, the title should be transferred in your name before you can sell it. Can you get away without doing it? Sure, your call.

Insurance, are you going to drive it? Allow test drives? It should be registered and insured. If you aren't driving it then you don't need to insure it. However if it's stolen, burns to the ground, etc, you are out the money. If you pay for a policy then sell the car and cancel the policy you should get a refund for the unused portion, check with your agent.

Cars you are familiar with is good obviously because you will know what to look for and what expensive sounding repairs can be done cheap to get a deal. However, if you want to flip cars fast flip appliances not "specialty" cars. Buy every cheap Camcord automatic you can get your hands on and make pretty. The cars none of us around here really want are exactly what you want for flipping. Small to mid size, 4 cylinder, 4 door automatic mommymobiles.

Specialty cars can get you better profit margins but you have to be willing and able to sit on a car waiting for the right buyer. 4cy/4dr/autos you could flip one a week at $500-$1000 profit and never run out of buyers.

Some flipping tips below. I detailed cars in college for what was most likely a fly by night business. I learned a lot. Cleaning cars is very, very easy once you have a system down.

• Carpets soak up all sorts of crap. If you don't want to remove one just use a carpet cleaning vacuum or steam cleaner. If you don't have that get a bucket, a somewhat stiff brush, and some soap. You're going to cringe next. Take the soapy water you've just put in the bucket and dip your brush in it. Then scrub the carpets. This works on seats too. The next thing you'll need is a wet/dry shop vac. Use the vac to suck the water and soap out of the carpets. You can also presoak the carpet by spraying a fine mist on them with a hose and then spraying your preferred cleaner over that. Let sit. Then go at it with the soapy brush and shop vac. After all this you'll want to park the car in the sun with the windows down. The carpets will remain in place AND be clean AND the car's interior will smell great once you're done.

• Don't use armor all on the interior. That shiny crap. It's gaudy. A dead give away that you cleaned the hell out of the car. Also, it's bad for the interior. If you're going to try to preserve an interior use Meguiar's or Lexol.

• To clean an interior I like to use a heavy degreaser (diluted Simple Green) and then just wipe it down with a damp cloth. It removes 90% of what you want and doesn't leave an offensive smell or shiny coating behind.

• Clean the windows.

• If you have an air compressor...blow the crud out of the joints in the interior. The plastic around the shifter? Use the air compressor to blow the accumulated junk out of there. The HVAC controls? Blow out the bits of biscuit and boogers those controls collect. Best to do after you clean the interior with the Simple Green. The cleaner loosens the crud.

• Buffing paint with a power buffer isn't hard but it takes awhile and you need a gently touch on all the corners. Be extra gentle on cars with paint thin from age. You'll burn through the top coat and expose the primer coat really fast. Colors that buff out well are white, silver, blue, and red as long as it'd not oxidized. If it's oxidized it will look chalky and dull. Like a matte finish. If red paint has gone that far you'll never revive it. Black paint will buff out well too but darker colors tend to have swirl marks after. You can remove those with swirl mark remover but it's an extra step.

• Just about any wax put on with an orbital buffer will look great. You can hand wax a car but an orbital will lay on a great coat and lightly buff the paint at the same time.