I have watched the odd one in the past when interesting cars have been on but over christmas Quest was showing loads back to back.
I put it on in the background for a few hours why I was working through the paperwork of our new house move (would of been about an hour but kept on
getting distracted!). Anyways, they never factor in labour but quite often earned good money off of the work the did.
If you brought and sold around three cars a month you could probably earn enough to get by, work nice hours and get to drive some really interesting
cars.
Does anyone actually do this? Not your average mechanic kind of work. Choose interesting cars that are unattractive due to difficult, labour intensive
or off putting symptoms fix them and sell them on for intended profit?
Or have I fallen into the trap of "reality" TV like storage hunters!!!
[Edited on 5/1/15 by bi22le]
You could but it's a lot tougher than it looks and yes it's very staged on wheel dealers and they don't always sell the cars at all!
Edd looks real talented but i reckon theres hours an hours of extra labour and more helping hands to get the cars done.
They never put the hours spent on the car on the bill at the end
and i don't believe only Ed dose all the work i bet there is a big team of workers with him
Jacko
Jeez, next you'll be telling me the one on channel 5 isn't real either.
quote:
Originally posted by jacko
They never put the hours spent on the car on the bill at the end
quote:
Originally posted by scimjim
quote:
Originally posted by jacko
They never put the hours spent on the car on the bill at the end
Nor the other overheads - premises, equipment & insurances. 36 cars a year and HMRC are going to get interested at some point too.
[Edited on 5/1/15 by scimjim]
I was present for the auction of the black wrapped mini. It was completely made up, Mike and Ed were pulling people out the crowd saying 'right let us film you bidding £2000' then 'now you bid £2100'
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
quote:
Originally posted by scimjim
quote:
Originally posted by jacko
They never put the hours spent on the car on the bill at the end
Nor the other overheads - premises, equipment & insurances. 36 cars a year and HMRC are going to get interested at some point too.
[Edited on 5/1/15 by scimjim]
Overheads and insurances may not be required if done at home in your garage.
[Edited on 5/1/15 by bi22le]
I watched one the other day (think it was the ford pop) and they put new brake disks on the front which you can clearly see part way through the
program, and they didn't mention this in their end breakdown of parts.
I wonder if they only factor a few spares in to flatter the numbers at the end.
We know how much they pay for the car, and we know how much they sell it for... along the way, it's pretty easy to just loose a few parts to make
the program sound like their actually making money.
That said, I do really like the program and it's really interesting how he fixes some of the problems they encounter.
Sadly, I know not of a real wheeler dealer.
Our family cars are serviced by a bloke who is time served but he restores escorts and mantas during the quiet periods to help pay the overheads on
his unit and keep up his average weekly income
Atb
Mike
quote:
Originally posted by scimjim
quote:
Originally posted by bi22le
quote:
Originally posted by scimjim
quote:
Originally posted by jacko
They never put the hours spent on the car on the bill at the end
Nor the other overheads - premises, equipment & insurances. 36 cars a year and HMRC are going to get interested at some point too.
[Edited on 5/1/15 by scimjim]
Overheads and insurances may not be required if done at home in your garage.
[Edited on 5/1/15 by bi22le]
You sell your 20th vehicle and it goes out of control taking out a bus stop full of nuns holding kittens (whether or not it was a fault you missed or added) - the coroner may question your need for indemnity insurance (as could the civil law suits) particularly in our increasingly litigious society with trial by media before the courtroom.
The first question on my indemnity insurance application (that directly relates to the premium) was along the lines of "could an error on your part directly cause loss of life".
I know of a guy who sources, buys, drives and sells classic cars as a hobby. He started out years ago with cheap cars and now he is up to the stage
that he can buy, for example, 2 real Porche 356"s at once.
Cheers
Fred W B
Not my viewpoint (currently building a car for someone else in my spare time) - but you can't find the middle ground unless you understand both
extremes
quote:
Originally posted by Barkalarr
I watched one the other day (think it was the ford pop) and they put new brake disks on the front which you can clearly see part way through the program, and they didn't mention this in their end breakdown of parts.
I wonder if they only factor a few spares in to flatter the numbers at the end.
We know how much they pay for the car, and we know how much they sell it for... along the way, it's pretty easy to just loose a few parts to make the program sound like their actually making money.
That said, I do really like the program and it's really interesting how he fixes some of the problems they encounter.
Sadly, I know not of a real wheeler dealer.
About 10 years ago I lost a day job so decided id try trading, at the time I was young enough to be debt free so my outgoings were minimal, I tried it for 6 months and was going well, moving up from 3 figure cars to 4, but then got lumbered with one dodgy car that cost me most of its value to get running well enough to sell, it took such a chunk out my pocket I had to find normal work to pay the limited outgoings I had. I was obviously younger and stupider but still brought home its not as easy as it might first seem. I now buy and sell about 3-4 cars a year whilst working full time, I just keep ear to ground for local bargains and just treat it like a bonus, a couple of good uns takes us in holiday or buys us a new sofa etcetc, but keeps it under radar.
Also adding to what has already been said it never takes into account traveling / fuel costs etc. Mike goes to see the car and more often than not he
buys it, how does he get it home?, if he drives it home as seen on the program who picks the car he drove there up and gets it home.
I dabbled in secondhand car sales a few years back, all above board and registered etc. the biggest problem i had was getting good stock, auctions are
to expensive now they have almost become a retailer. i used to spend alot of time looking for bargains on Auto trader / Ebay etc but it takes alot of
time and effort plus cars not been as described or clocked when you check them out.
Once upon a time the larger dealers only sold new or a couple of year old cars, all the trade ins used to get given out to the ordinary secondhand car
dearer, now if you look franchised dealers are now selling 10 year old tradings them selves and any dross they send to auction.
Look around at the amount of garages that have closed or gone bust, i used to go to the auctions 4 times a week and recognised all the faces, i went
Two weeks ago just for a bit of fun during my day off and most of them had disapeared.
I think if you had the time the idea of buying wheeler dealer type cars and doing them up would be good fun but i wouldnt use it as my main income.
I used to know a pair of brothers who did this sort of thing evenings and weekends alongside a 'proper job' they did maybe 3 or 4 a year. It was a bit of fun, they got to drive some interesting cars. They didn't have to worry about making a living, or even a profit on every car. Sometimes making a hobby into a job loses you a hobby.
What the guy above said, anything you do as a job (Especially one that could be a struggle) will stop being fun.
I used to know people who did that kind of thing, but as other have said the market has changed. Not that long ago you could buy running cars for a
couple hundred with mot, clean them up and flog them for a lot more but you just can't because starting price for used cars has shot up.
We know it's fake, most TV is, but it is entertaining (To me) though it was better when it was just a grand.