I've done some internet research and didn't find much.

Would anyone who has their license be willing to offer any suggestions? My goal is just to make a little money on the side.

 

it is different for every state. PA rules makes you have a site that can accomidate 5 cars with the doors open and a seperate office with a telephone and filing cabinet.

That would cost me a minimum of about $500 per month even in the slums of the city. There has to be a sign, posted hours, etc.....

It is pretty well regulated here in PA. I was going to do exactly what you want to do. I was going to buy a car a month at the auction and basically sell it from my house. No can do in my state.

Goodluck.



edit - by the way....aren't you the guy who used to work for BAY STATE? how did you make it to Dallas? You should offer to open another branch for them in Dallas.

 

Not me - I'm a Dallas native.

So no one else has any experience with getting a dealer's license? I found a website, but the guy sells his knowledge for $60.

 

Hey what's up man-

In TX, you'll need at least 8 cars at any given time, a commercial property, be bonded, be open 8 hours during the day, and a few other misc. requirements (phone line, desk, computer, etc.).

I looked into it...I think you can also request a packet from either the dept of transportation or your titling office....they should be able to lead you in the right direction.

Hopefully we won't be in direct competition I'm looking at doing this as well...but the costs are rather substantial (unless you know someone that can help you out). But let's see what the govt says about it. Good luck to you!

Lance

 

Wow, that's a pretty substantial list of requirements. I know a few people who appear to do this on the side, and as far as I know, they don't have lots. I wonder how they get away with this.

I might drop the $60 on the book and see what it has to say.

 

You've got to buy the car as if it was your second "weekend" car. Then, when you decide to sell the car (two days after you buy it), just sell it. Think Short-Term Capital Gain though; ifyou gain on something owned less than one year, the IRS taxes the shit out of it.

 

I was thinking the same thing, the problem is without the dealer license you can't get into the good auctions to get the nice cars cheaply.

I hear in NJ you can sell 6 cars a year without any problems, but again you can't buy them inexpensively so its not really worth it.

 

Plus without a dealers license you have to pay sales tax (at least in my state) on used cars. So there goes your profit.

If you could actually make $ buying and selling without a license you could easily just tell the buyer to say they bought the car at a reduced price so they don't have to pay as much sales tax...... that would then eliminate any papertrail of "profit" that you may have made.

When I sell cars I always let the buyer say a lower price to save themselves some sales tax..... and I do it when i buy cars.... but you still have to say a "reasonable" amount because they check book value here in PA.

 

I know in SC you have to have a certain size building, so that makes it a little hard to do it just on the side because you would need to make enough to at least pay for the building and land.