Becoming a motor trader?

I can't offer much advice, but the guy I bought my celica from was making a decent living, he had a handfull of cars at a time selling from home. Wheeling and dealing in cars. He had a BMW M3 and a Honda S2000 as his own toys so he must have been doing very well. Its got to be worth a go, plus you could always do some retail work and sell cars on evenings/weekends etc.

I wish you all the best and hope you give it a go.

I have bought and sold many a car in my time! Only ever lost money on one and that was only £100 or so on a car in the last 8 years which isn't bad going! I usually make a few hundred on each.

I've made the most money doing swaps really, ended up with a Mk1 caddy essentially free!

I would agree with starting to do it in your spare time, I know for a fact you have the room to store cars haha

A mate of mine back in the UK used to buy old rep's cars, mint them to hell and throw them straight into the auctions. No warranty, no comback and made a fair living. Don't know if something like this is still possible? He'd do one two a week, so no hassles having a load of motors around the house, just in, mint, out.

I started up on my own doing sales/repairs/modifications 2 months ago. So far the money is mega, BUT I've been working 90-odd hours a week to meet demand. Once the new year has begun I'm gonna get the place sorted properly and roll it back to more reasonable opening hours, probably 7am-7pm, rather than 6am till sometime in the early hours like I'm doing now. I'd rather take a reasonable wage home (£5-700 a week before tax) and have time than keep going on the hours I am doing and get nearly triple that, as its pointless as I'm gonna end up dead.

And don't forget there are start up costs, you need to buy your first car and the kit to clean it and repair it and advertise it then you will need traders insurance.
Do you have money or someone else to life of for the first few months if not ten do it part time to start with to get yourself into the grove then after a few months if it is still going okay and you are making money then go full time?

Best of luck with whatever you choose to do.

This. I know someone who got done for buying and breaking 106 / saxos. He put each one in his name, and sold spares on ebay. Not quite the same i know but they are catching people.

The OP states that he can weld and is certified, i don't know where abouts you are but i am registered with a few employment agencies (I'm a fitter) and in the list of jobs they keep sending me there are always a few for platers and welders.

Being self employed isn't that difficult, going by your job description you might be better off doing that and at least you'll have the working tax credit coming in every week as long as you do full time hours - doesn't matter if its just polishing cars, visiting auctions or whatever.
Paperwork is relatively simple as long as you can keep records and if you can use a spreadsheet on a computer its pretty much a doodle to do your tax return at the end of the year.

Ive been a trader for ten years, and gone through many different types of cars. Feel free to PM me if you need any info.

I'd certainly not do it "on the side". Not only is is so so simple to set up as a sole trader to start with, and very cheap, you can still have a part or full time job at the sane time. Not only this, potential buyers might be put off if they get the feeling you're doing it on the dodge. Don't hide the fact you're a trader either. That's a big put off if a buyer spots that you are. Be up front and honest, and most people appreciate this. You'll still get the odd narrow minded fool who will refuse to buy a car off you, as no matter how you look at it, a lot of used car salesmen still have a bad reputation.

The best bit of advise i can think,of when starting out is buy with your head, not your heart. Its very easy to buy cars that you'd like to own, without thinking of the profits. As someone suggested above, a great starting point would be cheapies. People are always looking for sub £500 cars with a good MOT, especially diesels and small engines cars. You can pick cars up off gumtree, preloved etc for next to nothing. If you're handy enough to do a few MOT repairs, and get a ticket on a car, you can easily make a few hundred quid per car, with an outlay of less than £300.

Don't be scared of doing it at home, but just watch out for nosey neighbours, and maybe don't talk too much about it. People quite easily get jealous, and can be quite spiteful about your success if you start doing well. It'd just be one call to the council to put a stop to your hard work. Units are generally plentiful, and not too expensive if you ask the right people, so id certainly look at one of these if you start earning a bit out of it.

Anyway, ive hone on long enough. Let me know if I can help with anything else.

Trade policies are expensive, thats just the way it is. If you aren't using customers cars you could go 3rd party only with a huge excess to bring the costs down, also restricting what you want cover for will bring down the costs, max value no exotics etc. You need to speak to a specialist broker rather than trying to get quotes on the net as there are so many variables. They are likely to ask for proof of trading in the event of a claim or query (ie if you are employed working full time and not also declaring the income from trading as well they may void the policy...) so thats another reason you need to keep your paperwork up to date. Basically they want to cut down on people just using a traders policy and not trading if you get my drift.