Is it wrong to make profit from a friend??

A friend of mine just sold me a 65 newport for dirt cheap ($800 and it's og paint and 45k og miles)...an amazing deal. I am just going to lower it on some supremes and maybe flake the roof and cruise it for the summer and get rid of it. Would it be wrong of me to sell it, I could probably make 4-5k off of the sell, but would it be wrong of me to do that to a friend? He's totally not a car guy, he came across the car and couldn't pass it up, but then lost interest in it and sold it to me. I just feel kind of wrong making so much off selling the car without telling him what it is worth before I buy it.

 

Not if you're going to enjoy it for a while and fix it up in the mean time. I see no problem whatsoever. He could have done the same, but chose not to.
If you sold it the next day, that may be pretty rude instead of helping him sell it as is.

 

A friend would help his friend make money, not make money off a friend. What has happened to people? I can't believe people would even ask this question, much less post it. Greed is your problem. my 2 cs

 

Are you buying it at his asking price? If he did the homework to find out what it's worth then he'd be asking more for it. You have a better knowledge of it's value, Knowledge is worth something. Out of courtesy I wouldn't bring up what I sold it for though.

 

Not a problem....as said above as long as you are going to work on it/enjoy it first....
Now if you just bought it and resold it for that profit, that would be straining things....at least if you were my friend...
Good luck...
Cheers,

 

Treat him to a night out after you sell it and tell him that you made some money on the car and wanted to share the love.

 

If your plan is to flip it and not keep it, then fix it up and then when you sell it, deduct the money you put into it and split the profit with him.
He'd be floored to see you at his front door with a fist full of cash and the story about how you sold it for a profit.
Everyone wins.

 

isn't that kinda like buying the '5? whatever from the old lady in the newspaper add. She just wants to get rid of it, you (anybody) comes along and offers $500.00 and the move . She's happy it's gone. But then your "friends" are split 50/50, some say you burned her and you should be ashamed, the others slap you on the back and say "way to go". What does your conscience say? Me? your friend shoulda done some homework..........

and your friend might be thinking he "got you".....

 

When you sell it, tell him you made some $$ on it and give him a few buck. You will keep a friend and he will be stoked to have the extra $$.

 

You're going to put time money and energy into it and you should be rewarded for that when/if you sell it. Now if you openly and knowingly ripped your friend off on the purchase that's kinda harsh. Is the car worth more than $800 now? If so maybe you should pay him some more money upfront.

 

There is no way I would just sell it the next day and not tell him what it is worth. I'm paying asking price and cruising it for the summer, I'm just not a Mopar guy and have no interest in it as a long term project. It seems stupid to sell it to the next guy for dirt cheap if it's worth so much more. The main reason he's selling it so cheap is it needs a starter and battery, he's no mechanic so he'd rather have me buy it cheap than fix it himself if that makes any sense.

 

I agree ! Just my opinion.
firstnomad

 

Maybe he gave you the amazing deal because he thinks you're his friend.

 

and there you go, he IS the old lady in the newspaper add.............

 

65 newports are worth 6k these days? wow

 

Agreed! HRP

 

I don't see a problem with selling it after you drive it/fix it for a bit. Your friend most likely knew he could get more for it if he fixed a couple of thing, but he didn't want to. I like the idea of treating him to a night out with a couple of the extra "profit bucks" a win/win in my book. A long as you at least pass him a little something, than no harm. just my .02

 

Is your friend going to help pay for the supremes? Or help with the prep work and supplies to flake the roof?
If you are cruising it for the season and working on it at the same time, sell it later and fuh-get-a bout it.

 

I sold one of my best buds an electric grinder (that didn't work) for $ 15.00.
It's worth it just to hear him piss and moan for the rest of his life.
Got ya dude.

 

You can rid yourself of the worry by just giving the car to me when you're through with it. I'll even pay for shipping.

 

If you think it is worth more than what you paid right now, pay him that difference after you fix and sell - good karma is worth it in the end, and you can pocket what you made over that amount in good conscience.

 

Does it feel wrong..?

 

if i sold something to a friend who turned around and sold it for more, i wouldn't hold it against him, some people are just better at selling things for more then there worth, lots of times i just want things gone.

 

It's kind of funny that folks think making money is screwing people. Now I'm not talking about giving a buddy .10 on the 1.00 because he's in a bind or doesn't know what it's worth. I don't know how many times I've told folks (a lot that weren'e even friends) "It's worth more than that." and paid them more than they were asking. Guess what, word gets around and you get a LOT more opportunities to buy stuff.
And to wrap it all up, when I started my business years ago and I was kinda wrestling with this same deal an old fart I was talking to told me:

"Son, if you can't make money off your friends, you damn sure aren't gonna make any off your enemies."
Larry T

 

I have done this several times with parts and cars but I'm pretty much up front about it. Sometimes, I give a time period, say 6 months, that if I flip it within that time frame I deduct my costs and split the profit. If it's beyond the time frame, I usually get the person a nice dinner with the family or whatever - a restaurant gift card at a nice place here in town that they would like to go to but never would because it was too expensive. Then everybody wins ...

 

It's all about managing expectations and being open and honest. The way I see it, you're not profiting off a friend. You're planning on adding value by fixing it up, plus you will have marketing efforts to sell it. Unless your friend is selling it to you so that you can be caretaker of this car forever, that's a different story.

If you bought a car cheap and sold it to a friend at a profit, that would be profiting off a friend, but that's not necessarily bad either. Ripping a friend off is bad, but profits aren't a rip off if the price is at fair market value.

A friend of mine gave a Chrysler 440 engine away to a "friend" that supposedly needed it. Instead of using it, the friend sold it and kept the money. That sucked.

My friend sold me a very OT (and rare and valuable) Yamaha SnoScoot for my kids. We have a deal that if I want to get rid of it, he'll take it and give me the same money back even though I could sell it for twice what I paid.

I sold a motorcycle to a friend and bought it back for the same price 15 years later. The bike was worth more and the money was worth less. Go figure.

 

Most of the people I call my friends were met by me making profit off of sales from them or vise versa with them making the gold. It's called the life of a car guy. Do you think that all the wealthy doctors feel bad when they charge an arm or a leg to cure someone of an ailment, my bet is they sleep alright at night.

 

I'm splitting the profit...I'm really not a dirt-bag guys but profit happens when you buy and sell cars, I know you guys dont buy cars for a ridiculous price even if it's from your buddy. profit happens, regardless of who you buy it from.

 

powmia, you beat my post by 10 seconds.

I would fix it up drive it and when I sold it I would deduct what I had in it from the sale price and share the profit with the friend to the extent that I felt was fair.

Remember that your time and expertise is worth something.

I thought that you were going to ask if it was OK to buy a car cheep and sell it to a friend for a profit.

I have fallen into things a few times and told friends about how lucky I was to get them for so low a price only to have the friend want me to sell them the item.

When I ask a fair price for the item even giving them a lower price than I would a someone else they got indignant because they thought I should give it to them for the same proce that I paid.

I ask them if they won the lottery would they give me half if I paid for half of the winning ticket.

I also have a few friends who share their good luck with me and look out for parts that they know that I need.

I have a different set of rules for them.

I had a garage sale one time when a local Realtor had aranged a neighborhood sale.

My neighbor across the street had several items that were marked low.

I paid her price and took them home to add to my items that were for sale.

I sold the items and more than doubled my money. I split the profit with her and she was very suprised and happy that I did that for her.

She said that she would have sold the items for 1/2 what she had originally marked them.

If your friend sold the car to you for what he paid because you are his friend then as his friend you should share what ever you think is a fair part of the profit.

Dick

 

Sell it for as much as you can. You're not fucking you're friend over. Some people know how to work the world, some people let the world work them. I have a friend who turned a free Harbor Freight welder into a 1950 Chevy by doing deals like this. This day in age, make a profit on everything you can, UNLESS, you're helping a buddy out.