Hi Guys,

Ive never broken a car before, and i realise it depends completely on the car but how much can be made and whats the best way to go about it?

Basicaly im not working next week, i have full access to a garage but no air tools, and im thinking of getting this,

ebay

how much do you guys reckon i could make?

How long is a piece of string?

It all depends on the car - its popularity, its component fail rate, etc.

It also depends on how long you are prepared to sit with a car in various stages of dismantling.

The price that you charge for components will also determine the time it takes to get rid of all the components.

I tried it for a while but soon got fed up with clampets asking for bolts and for different coloured light rings around the cigarette lighter, etc. I wasn't prepared to wait that long and took it to the scappers. I got £100 + for the car and was happy enough.

Tom

[Edited on 31/8/10 by se7en]

Depends how you intend to sell the parts too - big heavy things will not sell on Ebay as well as something small and postable.

I have a mk1 midget in the garage that I only want the chassis from - sold the seats, screen and steering wheel for £375 so far. I paid £500 for the entire car - I reckon I can get to £1000 or more before I'm done.

you should make a profit if you can buy it for 99p

Something tells me that one might not be a good choice unless it is very cheap.

Best to look for something low mileage and unmolested to start with

I bought an MPI mini cooper for £500, I've sold in excess of £2000 worth and there is quite a bit of still left

Cheers
David

Bought a Sierra Sapphire Ghia with a blown engine for a donor.

Cost me £65, made about £150 before I needed it out the way and got the local scrappy to pick it up.

If I had the time I would have taken all the bits off and listed them on ebay, as it was a ghia it had electric everything, all I did though was put an ad on and let people tell me what they needed.

Had one bloke come round and spent a day taking what he needed, he left with half the dash, bonnet and slam panel, exhaust and few more bits, all in a mk1 fiesta. He wanted more but couldnt fit it in, he said he was willing to strap the bonnet to the fiestas bonnet if he had to!

Weirdly he was converting a Mk1 sierra to a Mk2!

As for the MX5, if you had a 2 weeks to strip it and sell the bits on ebay you could probably sell £500 worth easily, with more time you would sell all the little bits like window motors, lights etc.

Depends what the reserve is and what it goes for. If its more than £500 i think you will struggle to make a profit in less than 2 weeks.

[Edited on 31/8/2010 by greggors84]

[Edited on 31/8/2010 by greggors84]

If you do buy it, do you fancy returning the favour with those wheels?

You can make a fair bit, but you have to be VERY patient as it'll take some time to clear.

It's also a PITA for taking up room!

I've found that panels went well from my MX5 - sounds like quite a few are damaged on that one.

Did you just post over on nutz ? I reckon you either need to leave engine in so someone can hear it (and then have hassle of getting it out quick) or film it so can let them hear it.

I'm upto nearly a grand on mine after postage but it's taken two months so far and I had some trick mazdaspeed bits which made quite a bit straight off the bat.

Patience is what you need - eventually someone will want the bits you have.

I've got a mk3 Astra here I'm using as a skip to fill with scrap, I tried it on ebay as breaking for spares to have a try at the job.
I got 2 things sold, an ignition module to a someone in Wales & the bonnet to a bloke who came from Halifax for it, both very happy with the part (Halifax man had a very tidy cabrio in the same colour with a rusty bonnet).
I also got loads of equiries from all over the country, could you take some better photos of this, how good is what ever, so you'd go & get the photos & info they wanted & never heard anything again, or they strung the job out over several phone calls & emails & it still come to nowt.

I think the job could work well for things like Minis, older VWs, most classics etc where folk are enthusiasts & have a passion & interest in the vehicle. For run of the mill stuff like I had it was mostly time wasters.

Cheers for the response guys, ive just een a few mx5 going quite cheap, think ill give this one a miss as spoke to the chap and he wont budge on £600.

Yep thats me over on nutz to,

cheers for the tips guys,

Ant.

If you are thinking of selling on ebay, have a look at the 'completed items' to see what is selling and for how much.

You might have to relist things several times until you catch someone who happens to need a paricular bit at that moment