Anyone make a living flipping?

I do it. Lose a little on every one. But make it up by doing it in volumne

 

It's how I make my living. I was an Industrial Account Specialist for GE for several years and I left there to go full time with what I do with cars and bikes September 2010. I buy, sell, trade, broker, paint, fabricate, do mechanical, paint, and body work on cars and bikes. My passion is pre 63 American cars and trucks and Shovel and older Harleys as well as Triumph and BSA motorcycles, but when it comes to making money, I buy what I can make money on. I have sold cars all over America as well as to Sweden, Norway, and Australia. As with anything we do full time it has it's ups and downs, but I know cars very well so I disect everything completely so that I know it's true condition, I am honest with the buyer and I don't try to make a killing on anything. I usually try to make 25% profit on anything I do and it keeps me and my kids going and doing well. Over the last year I got pretty occupied with the other things in life and slacked off way to far and my savings shows it...lol, but over the last month I have regained my focus and I am back at it full time plus some.

 

So you lose a little bit on everyone in volume, AWESOME !

 

There are two professional "Flippers" who come almost every Saturday to Donut Derelicts in So-Cal. They both bring some real gems. One of the flippers is currently showing off a HD chopper, looks like it came straight out of a Joe Namath biker movie, or Easy Rider.

 

Good Luck its a bigger headache than you think.. Some times when I buy one and sell it I can make almost 1 dollar per hour invested. However i buy a lot of 8 to 15 year old junkers and do turn a profit. ie Cat converter, alum wheels, battery and wireing harness that are your profit items. when I buy a 80 or older car I find them a home.

 

If you are not impulsive and are aware of the market, and with a little luck, there is plenty of money to be made. Enough to make a living, well that is debatable. Enough to supplement your old car addiction, well that is unquestionable. I buy, sell, trade, alot. I generally find a good deal on something and trade up to something pretty good then cash out. With a large family, this helps fund my hobby.

 

Buy the right cars at the right price and do all the work yourself.

 

so true...
it is a great hobby though

 

I would suck at flipping cars. Every old car I ever sold for a profit I regreted selling later. I wish I had almost every car I ever sold. I'd retire

 

Flipping vintage cars is not a good way to make money, I do it and make very little for the massive amount of effort I put into it (I only do it because I save a ton of cars from the crusher by doing it)

But flipping cars built over the last 15 years is easy, fairly cheap and you rarely give a crap about the car or what happens to it.

Also it seems to help my sales by being totally honest, if the car was damaged I show photos of it, show the repairs and let the buyer make their own decision, only had one person turn me down after I told him that I had repaired collision damage, all I did was change the park light and front fender on an 88 Escort... LOL

 

Ryan that was beautiful man!!

 

well put

 

Pretty sure there is already a long thread about this, but you ask those same dealers, they're going to have something really similar to say about the buying public, it works both ways. The more the dealer makes the happier he is, and the more the buyer feels like he screwed the dealer the happier -he- is. I never knew there were so many assholes out there before I got into this game, or if I did I didn't stop to think about it. I find it fairly offensive to be lumped in with that group, especially when most of the time the cars I flip would have been scrapped otherwise.

 

I bought a 1960 Falcon for $75.00, drove it for a week and flipped it for $225.00. YAHOO. That was in 1969. Seems they have all been flops since then.

 

Maybe he, deaf and can't hear himself type.

 

Even the "pros" on those TV shows have been getting their asses kicked and their shows cancelled. It costs more to fix them up then they're worth.

This hobby is about passion, not about making money.

 

I've come across some old tin sitting in fields and bought it. All of my stuff I have resold to my friends for pretty much what I paid for it. Its not about making money to me since I have a full time job. Its about getting some of this rusting metal into the hands of some people that will get it back onto the road.

Example: A few weeks ago my wife goes into the gas station. The clerk ask her if I want to buy a "35 Chevy station wagon" thats been sitting in her driveway for many years. She shoots my wife a low price that is low enough that my wife pays for it right there and calls me. I go to the house wondering what the heck a 35 Chevy station wagon is. When I get the it is a 35 Ford Tudor. I sent a couple of pictures to my friends and sold it before it was even loaded. I made $0 and was only out an hours worth of work. The car went to someone that is going to provide the car with justice which is more important sometimes!!!! Could I have made money on the car yes, but with hauling fees, storage fees, time in advertising, I would have sat on the rusty hull for awhile and the very cheap car would all of a sudden become a several thousand dollar pile of parts. Then whoever bought it would already be upside down from the start.

 

If anyone is doing it and making it the odds are that do not want you to know. Part of making it hustleing cars or parts or bikes or what have you is that the fella who is buying from you doesn't know that you are making a living off of him.

Its a lot different buying from an individual and buying from a legitmate bussiness. When you walk in a store front you expect that the fella is buying cheap and selling high, when you buy from an individual even though you may suspect you don't want to believe.

 

I think he's getting "The Fear"...

 

I can think of a few local professional flippers and most of my friends and I have negative opinions of them. Flipper, pimp, used car seller, child molester....

 

You mean, like, a used car salesman? Gary

 

I dont have a problem with people making money. Everything gets turned into a business anymore anyways it seems. Just make sure you know the car. Im sure Im not alone. Nothing pisses me off more than asking about a car and the seller not knowing a damn thing about it.

 

You don't have to be evil to bring cars to the customer. Sellers and buyers can make their own adult decisions, and aren't forced at gunpoint.
If you have a lot, you could sell a lot of cars as project cars on a consignment basis without having any of your cash invested.

 

I plan on "flippin" after retirement. Amazing what a little paint and cleanup can do. So many cars out there that just require little tweaking and TLC to turn around for great profits. No, you're not going to spend on a flipper the same you would as a car your restoring for yourself.. totally different. Heck sometimes just a buff and detail can produce profits. I've done a few in the past, but once I retire in a few years I think if a person is smart about it that there are great $$$$ to be made. Easy enough for you to find out.. just try doing a couple and see how it goes.

Be honest about what your selling... big believer in Karma.. if you're out there scammin' to make a quick buck you'll never be successful. But if your selling clean, good running rides for a decent price you will do well. Also important not to try and get top dollar for what your selling. Good car for a good price is the way to go.

 

"hey" if you are flippin cars and really makin money, $$$ you are doin somethin wrong ?????? it just don,t work that way !

 

by no means make a living at it but I do pay for my hobby. I have a job that pays very little and I wouldnt be able to have any thing that I own if it were not for buying and selling parts. I am way to small frys to actually flip cars. I pick up the stuff most people throw away. The next time youre at the junk yard, look around you..

its going away fast better get it while you can, people aren't crushing good solid projects they are crushing the parts cars that finish those solid projects...

but yea, as every one else has stated, let your hobby pay for your hobby and if you get more busy than you know what to do with then consider it for your day job.

 

I agree with this. I've been working with a guy that has been buying musclecars for years now. They get the full boat, and that severely limits his market to the $20,000 crowd.
I told him it would be a hell of a lot less work if he'd lower his standards a little. Buy a beat up driver, clean and tune it up nice (new brakes, engine stuff, suspension), and put some nice wheels/tires on it. Leave some patina on it and you'd be able to sell it local for half that with the same profit.
He hasn't listened yet, he just bought a 65 Chevelle with new floors, rockers, and door skins. He'll have over 15k in it and be lucky to get 18k, instead of having a car with 6k invested and sell it 5 times faster for 9k (with tons less work invested to make it solid).
I'm trying to get him to work me a little less.

 

Nice job on the write up Ryan.

 

I may be wrong here but when was the last time anyone sold a car and was not beat up over the price or offerd a trade of some type. It seems to me there are very few people that actually have cash in these economic times. I have sold and traded cars for a while but not for profit or not much anyway. I always try and trade or sell up and I have even traded down a couple of times just to get what I have wanted. Has it cost me? You bet it has but I have been very lucky in not losing either. I have seen the the guys with disposable income and trying to live their dream of flipping classic & antique cars. Not one of them will ever get rich but they can afford to have money tied up until something sells. As one of them of them told me, if I can make more than 5 to 10 percent after expenses I am doing better than I could do at the banks. So in my opinion unless you have disposable cash and can sit on inventory for long periods of time it probably is not worth it for most of us. I like the kiss method of just one or two cars at a time. Now all of this being said it is a buyers market right now and there are some great deals out there.

 

I have a friend who used to flip whole cars and made some extra scratch to fund the restoration of the cream of the crop. Past few years there has been such a soft market he can't do it and make money.

Now hes into the OT Buick GN and T types, makes more taking them apart and selling the parts. He keeps the best of the best parts for his own cars and funds his obsession. Make a living? Hardly.