Starting my own business... What do you need?

I like both of those ideas..

Parts finder could be interesting

I've got degrees and all that sh*t (nothing to do with cars though) but I didn't start making serious money or getting real satisfaction until I started working for myself and deciding who I wanted to work with and for, in terms of customers or business partners. I'm not sure I would say forget about doing a degree but I'm not exactly convinced that mine make all that much difference in what I do now.

You've been given a couple of interesting and totally achievable ideas up there, achievable being the important thing.
I know a few people who have been like "I'm going to start importing cars/doing up cars/building racing cars" which all require loads of investment and a brilliant reputaion. The reality is that if you're just starting out you probably have neither.

Regardles of what business you go into, get onto the Tax Man, tell them you're working as a self employed whatever and get paying your NI contribution, then you're free to work and earn.
I think the VAT threshold is £70k at the moment, don't worry about being VAT registered until you breach that.
Have a chat with an accountant but you probably don't need one all the time so don't get one on retention, get someone you can go to and pay an hourly rate as an when you need them.

Documentation and records seems to be where small business owners lose the plot. Keep it simple but keep it complete.
You need to keep receipts for absolutely everything and then work out later whether or not it is, or can be made to appear, to be a business expense. Stick them in a folder or whatever.

Err... I had typed a load of stuff here that could be dodgy. PM me if you want to discuss any theories for tax avoidance on a purely educational and anecdotal basis but for the record I definitely do not ever do anything like that.

If I was starting out now, I would probably look at doing stuff to do with cars but I'd try and be into a couple of related things. Parts finder is a good gig if you have storage. If you have storage, you can get into the "buy summer stuff cheap in winter and sell on next summer" market and vice versa. Having two income streams (or opportunities for income) gives you some wiggle room if one starts to dry up.
What you do doesn't need to be glamorous. A pal of mine recently had to switch from self employed to limited company because his "buy winter stuff cheap in summer and sell on next winter" business (mainly grit and other dull stuff) was earning too much money.

Go for it!
A young pup like you might get some Government grant money if you start up yourself, too.

To be perfectly blunt, the first thing you need is some real world working experience. You need to know how to work before starting to work for yourself.
You also need to have zero social life. for the first year at least of setting up your own thing you will not have an evening to spare.
A business course at the local tech will be very beneficial if you didn't do it at A level.
You can get a loan/grant from a couple of different trusts between 18 and 25 years old for business start-ups.
You also need to have your own idea. If you try someone elses suggestion, you can think about giving it up. If your business is your own idea, something YOU want, then you will do anything to make it work, and drag it through the dark days, force it to happen.

I was homeless and penniless for three months when I set up my business, I didn't have the money to pay myself wages and I lived of the charity of a very select group of people that housed and fed me. If I didn't believe 100% in the viability of my business (which I started with less than a grand of my own hard earned) then I would have given up, gone back to a my cosy 9-4 shop manager job, and been a quitter for the rest of my life. Two years on, my business is employing staff, selling internationally, expanding every month and I'm still doing 100 hours a week plus.

I'm sure I sound negative. I'm not - go for it - IF you have a solid plan and some backing. But you need to be warned about just how much work is involved.

You need a business plan and a lot of money, a premises to work from, more money for supplies and equipment , finance or backing to help you through the first few years, a family who will understand that you will have no money for a few years, customers who will leave their own supplier/ service provider to use an unknown person and finally a lot of money to live on for a few years whilst you get established.

But most importantly you need to know what you want to do and have the enthusiasm to see it though as for at least five years you will have no social life, no money, no time to have a curse word, suppliers chasing you for money owed, customers who can't afford to pay, bills to pay etc. whilst your mates are earning minimum wage and going out and having fun every Friday and Saturday night.

Conlad said he doesn't want to 'spanner' isn't breaking cars spannering?
But if you decided to break cars for cash
you need money to buy the car, transport it home ~(any car you buy is classed as owned by you so you need insurance for the car to drive it), money for the tools, somewhere to do the work (can you break cars at you home address, do you own your home, live with parents, friends or rent privately) after doing 12 hour days and working part time you need time to list the parts, go to the post office or wait for people to collect or not even turn up. but most Importantly don't buy a car just because it is cheap do some research as to what cars/ parts will sell quickly and for good money, these car will not be the cheaper ones.

What you are suggesting he do is illegal. Breaking a car as part of a business is a whole world of laws away from rebuilding a mini in the garage.

taking bits off a car you own then selling them is illegal?

Dave, if you have some knowledge about what permissions and licences are required then it would be very useful (to the op but also to other people who will come across this thread) to give some details about that.

I take your point that these things might be difficult to obtain, but whether it's worth trying is a decision for each individual. After all, it's clearly not impossible, so a prospective vehicle dismantler would find specific information (as opposed to posts that just effectively say "don't bother because it's too hard") very useful.