powerpunk5000

Was thinking about flipping cars and would like to talk to someone who's done it often. Can you make good money with it? Im scared to make the plunge

magician

I flipped a car once: it was at White Sands in New Mexico. I was driving a rental car on a gravel road, turning left, when my right front tire blew. I went off the side of the road and flipped the car a couple of times before coming to rest upright. (It's actually somewhat interesting inside the car when it happens: your orientation with the car makes everything seem upright, but your papers and soda and everything are swirling through the air around you.) I had to brace against the passenger door and push the driver's door open with my legs; it was jammed shut.

Personally, I don't recommend it.

braeden

^ lols

mongomery1234

Eh least it was only a rental. Could be worse.

powerpunk5000

LOL

but forealllz

mongomery1234

I've flipped quite a few cars. If you're mechanically inclined its quite simple. Buy low sell high. Even better if you can buy someone elses headache, fix it and sell it for even more. Or if you have the time browse copart and purchase cars to strip and part out. Endless possibilities.

bluemetals2k

Its still possible with the s2k if you find the right deal. But the last few years and fee years ahead are a wash market right now everybody is parting the fawking things out even if they are not totaled

runnyeggsham

A retired guy I met flips cars....purely diesel VWs (before the big reveal that they were cheating EPA). He flew in to buy my Miata. So a one person operation can flip cars but small profits per car. Dont be thinking Gas Money here unless you have a shop. If you know how to fix them, why not flip and repair on the side? Mobile repair service, but if you like the car enough and you got it for a steal, keep it and sell it, or offer to buy it from the owner, then fix it, and flip it. I flipped 2 cars. But only b/c the buyers didnt know anything about car buying and didn't speak English. So I check the car out, CarFax it, and buy it like it was for me, negotiate a decent price and take a $500 cut. Small profit but profit nonetheless. Not bad for looking up ads on CL, emailing, and checking out a couple of cars.

jkelley

This is an old thread and all but I'll chime in from my experience. I didn't intentionally flip cars , but I had to buy and sell quite a few of them during my college days in order to pay for college.

If you have a pretty good mechanical knowledge, it's not a bad deal. I absolutely LOATHE buying and selling cars these days because of the people interaction part of the whole thing and my time is MUCH more valuable now than it was in college. I'm just over the guy who is trying to sell his car for $4k over excellent blue book and won't budge on the price even though his car is in fair condition at best (50% of craigslist ads these days), the people who never remove their craigslist or autotrader or other ads even when the car is sold or no longer for sale, the things people trying their damnedest to hide hoping that you'll be the sucker that buys their car and gives them a sigh of relief because they already know their car is a ticking time bomb somehow, or there is a major problem symptom that happens only 10% of the time but they hope it doesn't happen on your test drive - these types of thigns are rampant now. Also everyone knows what the market rate for their car is now. Nobody is really "oblivious" to that anymore so it's hard to snag a really good deal like that these days.

Also add in the costs of adding more previous owners to a vehicle (for some weird reason this is really important for most people...?) which drops the value some, add in the risks of the above-mentioned things, and then any taxes and such you'll have to pay on the car.

Other than that, if you're mechanically proficient and know a car backwards/forwards or are good with people (I am not, in these situations) and have a very low value for your TIME, then it's not that hard to do.

The biggest PRO to doing this if you're not an idiot is that people have absolutely horrible ad-listing skills on the internet with atrocious picture-taking abilities. A lot of time the car looks a lot nicer in person or will "clean up" very well and you can add a BUNCH of value just right there. Making a GOOD ad with some CLEAN pictures. It's amazing how few people wash their cars lol.

colnagotifosi

Also known as "curbstoning"

I went to auctions in the old days (DC Auto Auction, Richmond Dealer Auction, etc.) and stood in the snow many days getting outbid on everything and not getting what I came for. Went like 10 months in a row trying to get that orange 911T and when it finally didn't get pulled, three dealers lost their minds and paid double what it was worth.
The first thing you have to figure out is how to buy and sell without registering, at least around here. In Maryland, we pay 6% sales tax on the bought price or book value if they don't believe your notarized receipt (that alone can be a problem). Like above, I made some small profits but very risky.

I now BUY cars from curbstoners for many reasons. I think buying cars just coming off lease is the perfect way to buy a 2-3 year old car, probably maintained, and probably low miles and let them take the depreciation "hit". I no longer have time to go to auctions and hope I find what I want so the last time when I was looking for a cheap hybrid I went to Ebay. In 2012 I saw a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, literally 24 months old with 120,000 miles on it. I got ALL service records. So I KNEW it had to be a sales rep, it HAD to have lived on the highway, the battery was likely in mint condition (not used over 47mph). $34K car, would have been $17K at Carmax, $15K private party even with the miles, the hybrids were very hot then with high gas prices. I bought it, sight unseen, in Tennessee, on Feb 14th, ON MY PHONE (bidding) while at Valentines night dinner out. Got a $450 deal on shipping to my door. I paid $10,700 for it. It arrived perfect, like new, waxed, vacuumed, fully detailed (so that was worth like $250, right?).

When I got it, found the business card from the TJ Max Regional Sales rep, called him, got the whole history, company bought him another one, offered him this one for $10K, decided not to buy it. I think it sold at auction for in the $9's and so I paid him a nice profit but it was easy for me.

The car now has 166,000 miles on it. I've replaced the front wheel bearings. Period! One was going bad, did both. So just recently, I did 4 wheel rotors and brakes. Didn't need them but they were decomposing. The hybrid uses "motors" on all wheels to charge the battery when light braking and if driving gently (hypermiling) you really never use the brakes. Yet another reason to buy a hybrid, 165,000 miles on ORIGINAL BRAKES. I've done my wife's Mazda 6 fronts 3x and rears 2x in 70K miles. When I change the oil on the hybrid, the engine looks spotless inside, mint. 10K changes with Mobil 1. Engine doesn't run a lot of the time, cuts off at lights, I keep it on the battery a lot in traffic.

Don't get me wrong, I hate the car as a car but it is a perfect "appliance" and has served me well, cost me near nothing, such a deal. I USED the curbstoner to FIND me the car I wanted, to stand at the auctions to find it, to detail it for me, to handle everything. Some risk, sure, but with good feedback and due diligence, I think USING these guys to locate the car you want is a great way to go.