A reader of The Lazy Way To Buy And Sell Cars For Profit sent me an email yesterday to share one of his latest successful used car deals.
His name is Ryan and he very generously revealed tons of excellent “here is how I do it” information on buying and selling used cars.
In fact, what he wrote is so good that I just had to write him back and ask if it would be okay if I shared his story with everyone…and yay…he enthusiastically agreed!
Ryan is a good guy and I’m really thankful he was cool enough to take the time to write and share this with all of us.
So here is Ryan, in his own words, detailing his latest used car deal – and there is a lot more cool stuff he shares that you can use today and go to the races with there buddy…
Well Steve it’s time for another positive update, and soooo soon?!?!?!? I KNOW!!!!
UPDATE:
So I just told you about the $2400 profit I made on my Honda I sold on the 3rd of this month, I also sold my ford Taurus for a $1200 profit on the 5th of January which is a great $3600 profit in 1 month on 2 cars….but Wait!!! There’s more! Thanks to you Steve, your book, buying tactics, advice, and experiences!
THE SEARCH:
Since I sold my Honda I’ve been searching Craigslist and the Paper non-stop looking for the next great deal. I only have $2600 available for car money right now as I have the rest of my dough wrapped up in other MONEY MAKERS! So I looked for cars priced at $4000 and under. And then I found it….a Hyundai Tiburon, 2000 model for $1500 cash!!! The KBB Value on it in good condition was $2700 easy. So last night (2/4/2011) right after I found the post, literally in the middle of a snow and ice storm, I grabbed my car selling buddy Justin and hauled him with me 20 miles south to the small town of Lavaca, AR where the guy had the car. It had a Clean Title, 145,000 miles, a 7 Inch Touch Screen DVD/CD/MP3 Stereo System, Great Tires and tons of options! Only issue was a horseshoe gasket for the exhaust to connect to the manifold, and it needed a front end alignment. Since I’ve found a mechanic that does work for cheap for me on the side, I was going to get an oil change, front end alignment and tire rotation for $50, plus probably another $50 for Parts and Labor on the exhaust fix. Seemed like a GREAT deal.
THE TEST DRIVE:
A drive that usually takes about 20 minutes took us an hour, literally SNOW and ICE all over the road, could not see the road….just WHITE! But it was worth it, I was going to buy my money maker!!!!! We finally found our way to the car, looked pretty good for being covered in Snow. Started it up first time no problems at all, heat worked good, and didn’t look like it was leaking or anything. Body was straight with no real cosmetic blemishes. Took it for a test drive, drove about 2 miles at 20 miles an hour due to ICY road conditions. I have never bought a car without taking it out on the Interstate for 15 minutes or so at 70 mph, so this was a pretty worthless test drive…but at least it ran ok. I was still a bit nervous about how it would drive….but I figured IF the price was right it was worth it!
NEGOTIATING THE PRICE:
He was asking $1500, I got him down to 1050 over the phone, and then right before we left my house, I realized I had no 50 dollar bills, so I told him that fact and asked if he could do $1000. He agreed. Then when I decided I was going to buy it, I asked if he could come down anymore. I used the line any married man can understand, “I hate to ask, but my wife would kill me if I didn’t. Is there any way you can come down any more on the price?” He said, “$950…?” I reminded him of my $50 bill predicament, and asked if he would then do $900. He agreed, and I bought me a slick looking sporty little car with a DVD system. WOOT! Apparently he took the car on trade from someone when he sold them his 99 Blazer, and didn’t want it just wanted to get the cash out of it he needed. That purchase was made at 11:30 P.M. On Friday Night.
THE LISTING:
Fortunately the sun came out for a bit today (Saturday 2/5/2011)and made the roads drivable, still plenty of snow around here, but no real ice on the roads problem. I had totally planned on taking the car to my mechanic buddy and getting the few small things fixed on it. I was really looking forward to driving this car to work for a couple of weeks; it was really a SEXY little car. I got to thinking, that if I liked it so much somebody else probably would, so I thought what the heck how about I list it today. So I took a few pictures of the Tiburon didn’t wash it or anything since all cars right now are covered in Snow, I just made sure you could see that it was in good condition. I posted it on Craigslist for $3000. Bragging that there was no better car at that price in the area, which there wasn’t. It booked for $2700 on KBB in Good Condition, and that DVD/Stereo was worth $550 Retail…so I figured that $3000 was an ok starting point.
THE PHONE CALLS:
I had about 9 calls in the first hour I had it posted not to mention the number of text messages I received. I am not kidding or exaggerating, here’s what happened in one series of calls; I had a call on the car the guy sounded pretty interested, while I was talking to him somebody else called, I asked him to hold, clicked over and told the guy I’d call him back, switched back finished my call with first guy, he was going to get money and call me the next day. So I called 2nd guy back, while I was on the phone with him 3rd guy calls, I let it go to voicemail, finish call with guy 2 who says he’s very interested needs to get his money and will call me back. I hang up, call 3rd guy back, I miss him, so I start to leave him a voicemail, and while I’m doing so, he calls me. I answer that call and he wants to see it TONIGHT!!!! We had plans to go eat dinner with our car selling friends so I told him I could me him in 3 hours or so. He agreed and was really adamant about making sure I knew he wanted the car and wanted to see it that night. I needed the 3 hours to make sure we had time to get to dinner, enjoy dinner and then drop my wife off with my friend Justin’s wife and then for us to go clean the CAR!!!!
THE DETAIL:
After dinner my friend Justin and I swung back by my house and went to cleaning this thing out, it was on the nicer side of trashed if you can imagine that….Grass all over floor boards, trash, animal fur, glass, changes, dust, etc. I have a great vacuum that plugs into the wall and you can use it with one hand. I went to a vacuuming while Justin picked up the bigger trash in the car. Vacuum each floorboard (front and back/Driver and Passenger Side), Vacuum each seat front and back, vacuum the trunk. Once I had vacuumed it to my satisfaction, it was time to Armor-All this beaut! I have some great little Armor-All wipes that smell nice and look nicer. I did the driver side, Justin did the Passenger side, I have an interior buffing bad that makes it look nice and smooth and not GREASY, that GREASY look is terrible. After we were done cleaning the outside, I sprayed “Febreeze Auto” throughout the car and trunk, and then I popped the hood and closed the doors. Time to clean under the hood; this is really A LOT EASIER THAN YOU THINK, I take a dirty old rag and just get to rubbing around on the engine anywhere that looks dirty at all, getting rid of grease or anything that would cause someone to think there might be something wrong with the car, when all it is, is 12 years of engine grime. Once done with the wipe down…2 minutes worth, I take my HANDY DANDY CAN OF TIRE FOAM and spray my engine down, completely covering it with foam. THIS IS THE BEST DETAILING SECRET AROUND. Let it sit for 5 minutes. While the foam on the engine is sitting, I go around and spray down all 4 tires and rims with tire foam. The tire foam has some cleaning agents in it that essentially just break GUNK down and then it dissolves on its own. Right now we are at about the 25 minute mark on our detailing job, not really rushing through it either, the more you do it the better you get at it. Its cold outside and we are in my garage with the door open, so we step inside to warm up for a second giving the tire foam another 3-4 minutes to do its thing. We come back outside and take a nasty old dirty rag and wipe down the engine removing any of the “non-dissolved” tire foam, no joke the Engine now looks BRAND NEW AND VERY CLEAN!!!! Follow that up by wiping the rims down, no worries the tires are fine. Now, the only flaw is that the outside of the car is dirty…so I grabbed a $1 in quarters and we ran down to the spray car wash down the street…yes it was 35 degrees….I put my money in and sprayed the car down good top to bottom, bottom to top, top to bottom, making sure to get all the way around on the fenders, hood and bumper. When I was done…HOLY COW I CAN’T BELIEVE A GOOD A LOOKING CAR THIS IS!!!!! Total Detail time about 35 minutes.
THE SHOWING:
I lived in a town about 15 minutes away from the guy, but my buddy Justin lived there so I agreed to meet the guy there, make it easy on him as the buyer. The buyer showed up with Wife and Daughter, wanting to buy the car for Daughter as a first car. I love it when dads bring the entire family…especially the teenager when they are buying the car for the teenager. I’ve found that in most cases, if the teen is spoiled enough for dad to buy them a car…if the teen likes the car they generally will convince dad to buy the car…and most of the time it is in front of me, which then gives the car buying DAD- ZERO-negotiation leveraged J In this instance I heard the daughter say how “sweet looking” the car was when she got out. This is where it almost got a little funny, the dad asked me if it was ok for him to drive it around the Wal-Mart parking lot, I show all my vehicles at Wal-Mart, very public, lots of security cameras, I told him no it wasn’t ok, I told him I wanted him to take it out on the interstate, get it up to 70 mph and actually drive it. We went back and forth about how he didn’t want to waste my time and what not, I made it clear to him that I was there to sell him my car, and that I wanted him to want it! So they went to test drive it, I don’t go on test drives, I like to let them talk freely about the car on their own. He left his car there and I had his DL number so I wasn’t worried. He came back and first thing out of his mouth was, “well it drives good” BLAMO, we’ve got a sale, people almost never say anything positive about a car if they either want to really cut you down on your price, or aren’t interested. He then asked if he could look under the hood. I told him of course! So he grabbed his flashlight to “inspect” the engine carefully….and that’s all he did…kind of….He looked at the engine, I would say completely, but he didn’t check the Engine Oil, didn’t check the Transmission Fluid, didn’t look at the radiator cap, or anything like that. He was not a knowledgeable person about cars…pretty much like I was 18 months ago. Honestly most people ask me if they can look under the hood and it’s just a formality, I think they want to see how I react…so I’m always very agreeable, I think I’ve had maybe one person check fluid since I’ve been showing. So after closing the hood, he looks at me and says, “So…you wanna do this thing?”
THE TRANSACTION
I responded with a “Heck Yeah”, and he brought out his check book…..dum dum dum dum……my ad said cash only and now I’m nervous. I give him “the look” and say I’m a cash only kind of a seller…he says… “Oh, I’m sorry, let me go into the ATM. ” I was polite about it and just explained to him my fear and the risk of just taking someone’s check, he was very understanding, and honestly I wouldn’t have felt bad taking a check from this family, they earned my trust, and I consider myself a good judge of character, but I always try to be as safe as possible. This is an important rule in buying and selling, it’s not only about the car but the people. Don’t buy from liars or cheats, and never take a check from someone you don’t trust. So he went into the Wal-Mart and hit the ATM up for $1200 in $20 bills…that’s a ton of $20s. I felt he was good for the rest and took a check for $1800. I then made sure to get his DL#, License Plate, Place of Employment, and their phone number, he knew right then and there if he screwed me on the check I would hunt him down and break his knee caps….or something malicious. We finalized our transaction and were on our separate ways. I heard them talking about how this car was such a great deal and it was, they would’ve paid $4500 or more at a dealership for this car!!! That car was sold at 9:00 p.m. Saturday night for a profit of $2100. So I sold the car for a profit of $2100 after owning it for just over 21 hours and putting roughly 30 minutes of time and $1 in quarters that by the way I had found in one of my other cars when I cleaned it.
AFTERTHOUGHTS:
In the last month of car sales, from Jan 5, 2011, to Feb 5, 2011 I’ve sold 3 cars totaling a profit of $5700, that is 2.5 times my take home on my monthly salary. I’m doing this on a very Part Time basis, with next to no knowledge about cars. A negotiation secret, this one works both ways: Anytime someone test drives the car and they immediately hand you the key, the majority of the time, they don’t want to buy it. If they hold onto the key, 99.9% of the time it means they want the car, so if someone test drives your car and holds onto the key, it lets you know you have some negotiation leverage…they want the car, so don’t come off your price. On the flip side of that, when you test drive a car, immediately hand them the key, it puts them in the back seat. It makes the seller think that you are not that interested and makes them a bit more desperate to let you know their bottom dollar when you get to negotiating.
I use Craigslist.com and the local newspaper classified ads to look for cars, and then the same 2 to advertise my cars.
I use http://www.KBB.com to price my vehicles and always go by the “good” condition value unless it is worse, no car you are going to find will be excellent, and even if it is, whoever buys it from you won’t admit that it is, go by the good value.
The supplies I used to clean the car are supplies I have gathered over the last 18 months or so from doing this part time, some have been gifts at Christmas time, my family loves that I do this, my parents and in-laws, and even my wife! And generally any time I buy something from the parts store, oil, socket, battery, headlight, etc, I will make a point to find what is on sale, air freshener, wax, TIRE FOAM!!!!, or something else.
I really wasn’t concerned about taking the check from this family, my wife and I have online banking and can deposit checks through our scanner, so I went straight home and deposited the check and it CLEARED! Score $3000 for the home team.
On Engine cleaning, during the Spring, Summer, and Fall, when it isn’t FREEZING, I spray an engine cleaner on first, and let it sit for 15 minutes then hose it down with a soft stream from the water hose, pat it dry, then do the steps mentioned with the Tire Foam, which gives it an even better look, you always want to make sure the engine is not hot when you put water or any other kind of cleaner on it.
This was the cheapest car I’ve bought and turned it around the fastest for the 2nd highest profit I’ve ever made.
I bought this car from the guy with an open title, meaning all that was filled in was the owners name, signature, and address…meaning no sale price, sale date, or buyer’s information, meaning I could flip it instantly with no hang-ups…it was truly the perfect storm, but I only found it because I constant was searching the classifieds and was dedicated enough to go out into the middle of a Blizzard and go buy the car.
So there you go boys and girls. Be smart enough to do what Ryan did but dumb enough to not over-analyze how he did it. :-)
Steve
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Great article! I learned a lot from this and will apply it – I promise! Thanks Ryan and Steve.
just a quick update.
I bought an 01 Eclipse this past Sunday night for $2000, I picked the title up Tuesday, he had it in a Safety Deposit Box and the banks were closed Monday for President’s Day. I got home and listed it on Craigslist at 8:30 p.m.
I cleaned the car up using the same methods as listed above, got a call 20 minutes after listing it, met the guy at 8 this morning sold it for $3000.
I had 4 other offers in waiting, one for $3500, but the $3000 was guaranteed and in my hands, plus the guy drove 90 min to come see the car at 8 a.m., so I took it.
Car sold 12 hours after posting it, I had it for 57 hours total, made an easy $1000. I put no money in it.
I’m looking forward to trying your method for cleaning the engine. Thank you.
Nicely written!
Ryan is a detailed and very observant person. We can all learn something here, from negotiating to buying items on sale to how to clean an engine. Great job. Continued success to both.
Great story. One question…
If he had so many inquiries for that car from his craigslist ad, why didn’t the first lister of the VERY SAME car have as many inquiries? The pictures? The town it was listed in? One would think that people seeing the 2nd listing, at least a few would have seen the first.
Also, it seems unlikely that someone would list a car so far below KBB, but then again, he said he looked a really long time for a deal like that, so it’s possible they’re out there.
Thanks.
Hopefully Ryan will check in again and answer this for you Roger but here are some very real scenarios I have personally dealt with…
-Maybe the seller did have as many inquiries but for whatever reason didn’t get off his fat ass and call people back…or his ad sucked (no photos, poor copy, etc.)…or he listed it on a bad day…or he was giving the wrong directions to the house…or the weather was awful (and it was) which is a big ad killer…or his wife/girlfriend left him…or his dog died…etc., etc., etc.
-No doubt there were humans that did see the previous ad but Ryan would have used a different subject line, different text for the ad and totally different photos.
-As far as listing a car for sale below KBB… That doesn’t happen all the time but it happens often enough to be the magic of this business. However, like Ryan, you must learn how to recognize what is a good potential deal or not.
Hey Roger, thanks for your question, and man let me tell you, its the same questions I asked when I read Steve’s book….I was like…buying a car that runs for under a $1000…? no way!!!! But now I have done it and my friends who got into this biz have done it 3 times, in fact they just bought a 98 Saturn SL1 for $750 and it books for $2300, gonna post it tomorrow.
So back to my car,
First of all, this guys add did suck, it was worthless, he also had no pictures. A lot of people have never heard of a Tiburon, let alone know what one looks like, and as you can see from the photo, it is a very good looking car.
Let me show you his add:
Subject Line – 2000 Tiburon
2000 Tiburon no tears in the int-5 spoke aluim. wheels -new brakes -fresh antifreeze. exhuast tip needs donut gasket on exhaust easy fix. ac/heater works good call ##########
Let me show you my add:
Subject Line –
**AWESOME DEAL ALERT** =======>2000 Hyundai Tiburon Coupe
BEST PRICED CAR ON CRAIGSLIST, DARE YOU TO FIND A BETTER DEAL?!?!?
Up for Sale is a SWEEEET Looking “Cobalt Blue” 2000 HYUNDAI TIBURON 2 dr Coupe Avg 33 Hwy MPG
It has the Peppy 2.0 L V-4 16-Valve Dual Over Head Cam (DOHC) ENGINE w/ OverDrive
Automatic Transmission all original with 146,000 miles on it w/ Sport Suspension System w/ 4-wheel ABS
AWESOME aftermarket DVD/CD/MP3/AUX system Installed w/ 7 inch fold out Touch Screen Jensen DVD Player -MSRP -$550.00
SHE’S LOADED W/ FEATURES – Power Windows/ Locks/ Steering/ Mirrors w/ CRUISE CONTROL & Tilt Wheel
REAR SPOILER / 15 inch 5 Spoke PREMIUM Wheels, Nice Looking Dark TINT on Windows, BUCKET Seats
If you have any questions or want to set up a time to test drive, just give me a call at XXX-XXX-XXXX
SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY, I’M NOT INTERESTED IN TRADING FOR YOUR GRANDPAS LAWNMOWER
The day he listed it, we literally had a blizzard and the roads were froze. The day I listed it, the sun came out, it got over freezing, and wasn’t snowing. He also advertised the problems with it and not the strengths. I left out the problems and told them over the phone after they already found the car attractive. I SOLD THE SIZZLE!
I listed the car in the same city as he did, just a much better ad.
Also take this into account, there are some people that don’t even look at an ad for a car priced so cheap as $1500, they assume its junk, salvage title, wrecked, doesn’t run, major problems, etc. You price a car at $3000 they find it a bit more dignified or of “Their Status” or whatever. You may say that this concept sounds stupid…well it may be stupid but it’s true. Until I read Steve’s Book, I never looked at cars priced under $5000, boy was I missing out.
The more you do this the better you get at it. And the better you get at finding those kinds of deals.
Also as I mentioned the guy took this car in as partial trade on a car he sold, after I bought the vehicle from him, I asked him what he actually needed out of it to make even on the sale, he really only needed about $400…so he just wanted the cash and didn’t want to deal with it. He is what Steve’s book calls a “Don’t Wanter”.
He posted the car in the evening in the middle of a snow storm, I was the first to call, the first to get there, the first to show him cash, and of course the one who bought it.
This is a true story my friend, it is clearly not the norm, as this has never happened to me before, and I don’t expect it to happen any time soon again, however my friends just bought a car for$750, and they will most likely clear $2000 in the next couple of days on it.
Thanks Steve.
Well thanks guys, I hope that something in the article can be useful to you in your car sale endeavors.
I know I’ve had a blast with it, and honestly the one secret I left out was how helpful its been to have friends and family involved. I have 2 close friends who also are into buying and selling, one has been doing it longer, the other I got into it. We share car stories, go with each other to look at cars, the mechanic, whatever.
My dad is a HUGE resource too. He is semi-retired and when I am in car buy mode, he is constantly online looking for the right deals for me.
Like I already said on Facebook… You da man…man. :-)
It really is amazing, the deals you can find on Craigslist and in classified ads. People will sell their cars because of seemingly trivial things, or not realising that the “huge problems” the cars have are very, very easily fixed.
All it takes is knowledge, the ability to write a good advertisement, and good salesmanship. No funny business has the be involved or any sort of trickery, and Ryan has shown this to be fact. I plan on doing the exact same thing once I get the initial investment to get the ball rolling, and Ryan’s example sets an excellent business model we all can learn from.
It would seem that Port Aransas does indeed breed excellence.
Very encouraging! Very detailed! Thanks for the sharing, especially on the trick of key and engine cleaning.
I’m wondering what you did to get “open title” from seller, so you can put your buyer info directly without transfer the title or the explaination to your buyer on how come you just bought it yesterday and want to sell it today.
I’ve been doing this business for a couple times, and I found the most trouble in the business is title issue. Most of time, my seller would insist on complete the tile, meaning I have to put down my info. This way, it’s not an open title. When I sell, I have to made up a story to explain why I just bought from someone and want to sell it immidiately. If I go ahead transfer the title, then I have to pay tax. So this title issue have been bothering me for a long time without any solution.
Hey Brother,
Honestly, this is the first time I’ve done an open title flip.
The majority of the time, I register it and pay sales tax, or use a bill of sale for a sales tax exemption, ask your local DMV office if they offer a tax credit from a vehicle you’ve sold within the last 45 days. I’ve only had to pay sales tax twice, and it was only partial, both times I had most of the sales tax covered by a credit from my previously sold vehicle.
The way it works here is like this: If I sell a vehicle for $5000, and I bring my bill of sale into the DMV when I’ve purchased another vehicle, I don’t have to pay sales tax if I bought a vehicle for $5000 or less, anything over $5000 I pay sales tax on.
Anytime I buy a vehicle I take charge when it comes to the paper work, most people don’t know what they are doing, and generally I just tell them to fill in their name info and sign it. Then I fill in the correct information later, I never lie or cheat on the paper work. In my state we have a sales tax exemption on vehicles bought for $2499 or less, so since this vehicle was purchased under that price, I had no moral or ethical conflict to just flip it.
Anytime someone has asked me why I’m selling the vehicle, I tell them the honest truth. And here is my logic, what’s it matter? If they think they are getting a good deal…then they are, who care’s if I’m making money, any car I sell they can’t find cheaper on a dealer lot, and they aren’t going to find a cleaner better running one on Craigslist. It honestly is a WIN-WIN.
My line when someone asks why I’m selling the car, or how long I’ve had it, is usually something like, “Oh, sure, good question, well I want to be completely upfront and honest with you from the get go, my wife and I buy and sell cars to make some extra money on the side, we buy a car ever so often when we can get a good enough deal on it. We clean it up, and fix whatever needs to be repaired, replace tires, change fluids, spark plugs, etc. and then we sell it and make a little bit for ourselves. Plus its fun for us to be driving a different vehicle every couple of months.
I’ve only had one negative response from that, they said something to the effect of then I don’t know how the car runs because I haven’t owned it very long. I try and take any car I own for a 100 mile trip as soon as I can to know if there is anything wrong with it. As Steve says be as open and honest with people and it will keep you successful in business.
Sometimes people don’t ask why I’m selling, or how long I’ve had the vehicle, in that case I don’t tell.
The guy who bought the Tiburon didn’t ask, however he did ask about the name on the title, and I simply said, that’s the name that was on the title when I bought it. I said I hadn’t registered it and hadn’t been driving it regularly. I said my wife and I decided we wanted to get out of it what we could and move on. He smiled and said, “Ok, makes sense.”
I didn’t lie, and I told the truth, if he had pressed more, I would have told him more.
K.I.S.S.
Keep It Simple Stupid, very good rule to live by.
Well, sounds like you had 3 almost near perfect storms.
Even if you worked at it full time, you likely wont find many of them.
Believe me, I did it for about 15 years. Full time curbing. I was licensed much of the time.
Chances of finding cars you can QUICKLY flip for even $1000 profit are not that common. And I have my share that I couldnt sell after 4 months and end up selling for only $300-400 profit.
Finally, you have some liability issues. You could get in trouble for curbing cars & so forth.
So, its not quite as easy as you & the guy selling books make it out to be.
But, there is money to be made for the go-getter.
Hey RJM,
I hope you don’t mind me commenting on your comments.
I absolutely agree that it isn’t always this easy to flip a car in 21 hours and make over $2000, like I said before, it had never happened to me before.
However, I’ve been selling for profit since April of 2010, and have never made less than $700. Some cars I’ve hung onto for 2-3 and one time 4 months, but on that particular car that I had for 4 months, I still made $1200 and drove a car for free.
If you do it right and buy the right kind of cars at the right price, it is pretty easy.
Regarding the frequency of awesomely profitable used car deals like Ryan featured in his article…
These kind of used car deals do NOT happen all the time and I have made that very clear all over my site and in my materials. In fact, on my Disclaimer page I state clearly that you might not make any money at all. However, these kind of deals do happen often enough to be the magic of this business. On the other hand, I’m not one to pass up a deal that might make me *just* a few hundred dollars for an hour of “work.”
Regarding the cars that took you 4 months to sell…
If I recall correctly, I’ve only had three cars that took about a month to sell. Car #1 was because my new mechanic lagged on getting it repaired. The truth is that he was windsurfing too much that month! Car #2 was because it was my first couple months and I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and bought a car I never should have bought. Car #3 was because I did far too much to the car when preparing it for selling (I’m aware of the reason why I made that mistake too.). So two of the deals were because I was a beginner and didn’t have any “How To” information on how to do this stuff properly and one of the deals, believe it or not, was because I actually allowed myself to be swayed by someone else’s opinion. Seriously, my former father in-law thought that I was making too much money from not doing enough to these cars before I sold them. Swear to gawd! He was entitled to his opinion, but I was stupid to have changed my m.o. based on his opinion.
BOTTOM LINE: I learned from my experiences (i.e. mistakes) and moved on. I’m reminded of a quote I just heard from Vince Lombardi during the last Super Bowl that went something like this: “It doesn’t matter how often you fall, but what matters is how quickly you get back up.”
Regarding the second comment I got from you about how I moderate comments…
Of course your comments were “awaiting moderation”…including the one you left wondering if a “comment that doesn’t sell books doesn’t get posted.” Look, I get thousands of bogus spammy comments per month (because they want the backlinks) and anyone with a blog and a brain has to set up their blog so comments can be approved or disapproved manually. In fact, I just checked my Akisment stats and if I didn’t moderate the comments for this blog there would be almost 30,000 spam comments on here now.
Here is something I forgot to mention at the end of Ryans article, so I will mention it now…
The fact that Ryan made a good profit selling a car he inspected and test drove…at night…in a blizzard…means that there was a certain amount of *luck* from this deal. Why do I say that? Because Ryan clearly stated that he broke some of the rules: a) It was dark. b) The car was covered with snow. c) He wasn’t able to get the vehicle up to normal operating temperature and beyond.
NOTE: I’m not a big believer in “luck” and instead prefer to think that whatever “luck” we experience in life is probably due to preparation and planning. Case in point: Ryan already knew based on his research that the price was right and I’m assuming he has learned how to listen to…and act on…that “still small voice within” (i.e. he got a hunch) that was telling him that this was a decent car.
Steve
That is very true Steve, I was talking with my dad last night and I was talking about this specific car and how the purchase was a gamble, which I’m not really in a habit of making, and it paid off.
I believe any car that runs and has functioning heat and air can be sold in my area for $1500, so I knew getting this at $900 I really wasn’t running a risk of losing.
I don’t believe in Luck either, Luck is where preparation meets opportunity, and you can take that to the bank.
All comments on this site are moderated. That means that I have the power to post someones comments or not. I have to operate this way because if I didn’t this blog would have thousands and thousands of spammy B.S. comments on it for the sole purpose of getting a backlink to someone else’s crappy website.
Anyway, are reader named “Will” left the comments below (in lower case). I’m going to address his comments BELOW with my own comments in CAPS…and even though my comments are in CAPS – I swear I’m not yelling! =;^P
Again, you can read what ‘Will’ said in lower case letters starting here…and then my comments follow in all CAPITAL LETTERS…
WILL: What bugs me is the focus on how little time it actually takes and there is never ANY mention of the downsides.
ME: IN ‘CAR DEALS’ AND ‘THE LAZY WAY’ I CLEARLY STATE HOW LONG EACH DEAL TOOK, AND ESPECIALLY IN ‘CAR DEALS.’ SOME DEALS TAKE A WHILE AND SOME WERE GONE THE SAME DAY I BOUGHT THEM. THAT IS THE REALITY OF THIS BUSINESS. IF AN INDIVIDUAL LEARNS HOW TO “BUY RIGHT” THEN THAT MEANS THEY SHOULD BE BUYING CHEAP. IF YOU BUY CHEAP THEN YOU CAN SELL CHEAPER THAN OTHERS AND STILL MAKE A DECENT PROFIT REGARDLESS OF THE ECONOMY. LOOK AT MY DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM OF MY HOME PAGE, ON MY DISCLAIMER PAGE, AND AT THE TOP OF MY TESTIMONIALS PAGE – I CLEARLY STATE THAT “YOU MIGHT NOT MAKE ANY MONEY AT ALL” THAT IS THE ONLY HONEST AND SANE ANSWER I CAN OR WILL GIVE ANYONE BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW YOU, YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, YOUR ABILITY TO FOLLOW DIRECTIONS, YOUR DESIRE TO MAKE MONEY, OR YOUR WORK ETHIC.
No liability insurance ? One wreck could put you $50k in debt and you lose your license until you pay !
I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT NOT HAVING INSURANCE.
Vandalism happens. Your cars get towed. Legally or not, if you want the car back, you have to pay the storage & ever increasing storage fees in cash or they will keep it.
YES, STUFF HAPPENS IN EVERYONE’S LIFE SOMETIMES AND YOU (OR ANYONE) CAN FIND A MILLION NEGATIVE REASONS TO *NOT* DO SOMETHING. WE ALL CONTINUALLY MAKE CHOICES IN OUR LIVES AND WHETHER TO DO SOMETHING OR NOT IS A CHOICE.
I was in it knee deep for about 15 years. To say it was hardly any work is simply very, very wrong.
WHO SAID IT WASN’T ANY WORK? CERTAINLY NOT ME. I SAID RYANS DEAL WAS VERY LITTLE WORK. HOWEVER, IT STILL REQUIRED HIM TO LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS FIRST, LIKE: HOW TO PRICE VEHICLES, TAKE THE TIME TO LOOK FOR THEM, CALL THE DEALS THAT SEEM GOOD, QUESTION THE PEOPLE OVER THE PHONE, TAKE THE TIME TO DRIVE TO LOOK AT THE VEHICLE (IN A BLIZZARD IN RYANS CASE), INSPECT THE VEHICLE, TEST DRIVE THE VEHICLE, NEGOTIATE WITH THE SELLER, BUY THE VEHICLE AND DEAL WITH PAPERWORK (BILL OF SALE, ETC.), DRIVE HOME, TAKE THE TIME TO PREPARE THE VEHICLE FOR SELLING, TAKE THE TIME TO PLACE ADS, FIELD PHONE CALLS FROM POTENTIAL BUYERS, TAKE THE TIME TO SHOW THE VEHICLE, NEGOTIATE WITH BUYERS, ETC. ALL OF THAT IS “WORK.” HOWEVER, ANYONE LIKE ME COMING FROM A BACKGROUND IN CONSTRUCTION WHERE I HAD TO WORK MY FRIGGIN ASS OFF BOTH PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY WILL GLADLY TRADE THEIR WORK FOR THIS KIND OF WORK…AND I’M SURE THAT GOES FOR ANYONE ELSE WORKING THEIR ASS OFF AT A JOB THEY DISLIKE. AND FOR PEOPLE THAT HAVE JOBS THEY DO LIKE, THEN THIS CAN BE A NICE PART-TIME HOBBY THAT CAN MAKE THEM SOME GOOD EXTRA MONEY.
Sure, the actual selling of a car takes 5 minutes. But for every car I sold, I spent HOURS & HOURS at auctions searching for bargains. I had LOTS of cars out for sale and it was a full time job just keeping them somewhat presentable.
I ALREADY COMMENTED ABOVE ON THIS. BY THE WAY; I DON’T RECOMMEND BEGINNERS GO TO AUCTIONS. WELL, YOU CAN GO TO THEM AND LURK FOR A WHILE, BUT DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT BUYING ANYTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE THE FUNDAMENTALS DOWN – WHICH I TEACH OF COURSE. ;-)
Title Jumping is illegal in ALL states. Sure, chances of getting caught are slim but its possible. And in my state, they will suspend your license for like 6 months or a year on the first offense. (Thats for dealers)
IF YOU GET A DEALERS LICENSE THEN YOU ALREADY KNOW YOU SHOULD NOT BE DEALING WITH OPEN TITLES.
I did it for many years and then I got into the stock market and did well.
Well, when the recession/bear market came, I quickly realized that I simply couldnt do what I did in the past for so many years anymore.
Most of the previously unincorportated areas are now small cities and all have rules & regulations about parking cars out for sale.
IF THATS THE CASE, THEN THERE ARE ALWAYS MANY OTHER WAYS TO SELL YOUR CARS.
Finally, the car market got so bad that I would say 60-70% of car dealers closed down.
NEW CAR DEALERS HAVE FALLEN LIKE FLIES BEING SPRAYED WITH RAID THE LAST 4 YEARS OR SO AND I DID A BLOG POST ABOUT THAT VERY ISSUE SEVERAL YEARS AGO. THOSE THAT SURVIVED AND PROSPERED COMPLETELY STOPPED DEALING IN NEW CARS TO CONCENTRATE ON SELLING *USED CARS* ONLY BECAUSE THE GREATEST PROFITS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN IN USED CARS.
And, the longer you do it, the sooner you will run into the large number of things that just happen and greatly reduce your profits.
WELL, EXCEPT FOR CASES OF BURNOUT, I DON’T AGREE WITH THAT BECAUSE MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IS THAT THE LONGER YOU DO SOMETHING THE BETTER YOU GET AT IT BECAUSE YOU LEARN HOW TO STREAMLINE YOUR PROCESS. ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO “STREAMLINE” THINGS IS TO CREATE SYSTEMS SO YOUR PROCESS OF “BUYING AND SELLING” CARS CAN GO FASTER AND SMOOTHER — WHICH OF COURSE MEANS LESS EFFORT ON YOUR PART. OF COURSE, “STREAMLINING YOUR PROCESS” CAN BE APPLIED EFFECTIVELY TO ANY BUSINESS OR JOB.
Ive had engines blow & transmissions go out even when I checked them prior to buying. Ive flat out MISSED a number of significant items.
WELL, STUFF HAPPENS TO ALL OF US SOMETIMES, REGARDLESS OF WHAT JOB WE HAVE OR WHAT BUSINESS WE ARE IN. I CLEARLY OUTLINE SEVERAL OF MY WORST CAR DEALS IN MY BOOK SO OTHERS CAN HOPEFULLY LEARN BY MY MISTAKES AND THEN AVOID MAKING THEM. I HAVE NEVER LOST MONEY ON A CAR DEAL THOUGH…AND THAT INCLUDES A FEW DEALS WHEN I WAS A BEGINNER. WHEN YOU LEARN HOW TO INSPECT A CAR, AND YOU LEARN HOW TO BUY AT THE RIGHT PRICE, THEN ITS PRETTY DIFFICULT TO LOSE MONEY. YOU MIGHT HAVE A DEAL HERE AND THERE THAT YOU LET GO FOR LESS JUST TO REPLENISH YOUR CASH SO YOU CAN MOVE ON TO BETTER DEALS, BUT IF YOU DO IT “RIGHT” THEN THE RISK OF LOSING MONEY ON A CAR SHOULD, FROM *MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE* SHOULD BE VERY DIFFICULT.
The bottom line is being an underground car dealer or curbstoner has some advantages but there are also disadvantages.
OF COURSE THERE ARE. FOR PERSONAL LIABILITY REASONS I CAN NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE CURBSTONE CARS FOR A LIVING. I RECOMMEND BEGINNERS SELL AS MANY CARS AS THEY ARE LEGALLY ALLOWED TO SELL SO THEY WILL GAIN SOME EXPERIENCE BECAUSE WITH EXPERIENCE WILL COME CONFIDENCE. IN FACT, ONE OF THE *UNMENTIONED* BONUSES INCLUDED WITH ‘THE LAZY WAY TO BUY AND SELL CARS FOR PROFIT’ IS AN EXCELLENT FREE REPORT ON HOW TO *LEGALLY* SELL AS MANY CARS AS YOU WANT PER YEAR WITHOUT HAVING YOUR OWN LICENSE. OF COURSE I ALSO GO INTO GETTING YOUR OWN CAR DEALERS LICENSE TOO.
And the reality is, there are very,very few cars sold for $2000 below fair market value. when it comes to $1000 cars.
TRUE, BUT AS I SAID BEFORE, IT HAPPENS OFTEN ENOUGH TO BE THE MAGIC OF THIS BUSINESS. AND AGAIN; I PERSONALLY WOULD NOT TURN DOWN A CAR DEAL THAT MADE ME A LOT LESS THAN THAT TOO.
In 15 years…and probably 1000 cars bought & sold, I think I had a grand total of THREE deals where I made $1500 or more.
YES, AGAIN. DEALS LIKE THAT DON’T HAPPEN EVERYDAY ALTHOUGH IT LOOKS LIKE MY RATIO MIGHT HAVE BEEN HIGHER THAN YOURS WAS.
Never made $2000. I think the most was about $1750.
I’M SURE I CAN SAFELY ASSUME THAT YOU HAD COUNTLESS USED CAR DEALS THAT WHEN AVERAGED OUT PROBABLY MADE YOU WELL OVER 1, 2, OR EVEN 3 HUNDRED DOLLARS PER HOUR THOUGH, RIGHT?
The bottom line is I was very lucky going 15 years without liability insurance. And, In the later years I had a few incidents where I totalled a couple of $2000 cars and took down a telephone pole which cost me about $1600.
YES, AND THAT IS WHY ALL OF US HAVE INSURANCE.
If any of those happened when I first got started, it would have been devistating.
OF COURSE. THERE ARE RISKS TO EVERYTHING YOU DO IN LIFE, BUT JUST DON’T BECOME *STUCK* WITH “THE SKY IS FALLING” ATTITUDE BECAUSE THEN LIFE CAN REEEEEEALLY SUCK AND IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO PUT ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER IF/WHEN WE GET STUCK IN THAT STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
One thing I thought was interesting. In all my years, I never even thought about or paid hardly any attention to the test driver handing me the keys back right away or not. I did find that roughly 50% of the time I met a person to show them a car that they saw in person prior to calling, I would sell them a car. Often that day. Sometimes later on. But that was a pretty movitaving statistic.
YES, I UNDERSTAND WHY THAT WOULD MOTIVATE YOU TO KEEP GOING.
I sold virtually all my cars from the curb. I advertised but 95% of the time, the buyer drove by, saw my car with show polish on the window and called me.
Craigslist, autotrader & newspaper & thrify nickle type papers all were just not worth it for me.
I DISAGREE, BUT AGAIN, THATS MY OPINION BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WHICH COULD BE DUE TO MY GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION.
AGAIN, WILL, AND ANYONE ELSE READING THIS… LIFE HAS RISKS. YOU COULD BE TAKEN OUT ON YOUR WAY TO WORK BY A SEMI OR SOME DRUNKEN A-HOLE, BUT IN THE GRAND SCALE OF LIFE AND ITS CIRCUMSTANCES, WHERE PEOPLE SPEND $200,000.00 AND MORE ON A COLLEGE DEGREE, OR MANY MANY HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS BUYING AN EXISTING BUSINESS, OR STARTING A NEW BUSINESS, SELLING USED CARS FOR PROFIT IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE STARTED FOR A RELATIVELY LOW SUM OF MONEY AND INVOLVES DEALING WITH A PRODUCT THAT WILL NEVER STOP BEING IN DEMAND. WE CAN ALL THINK OF A MILLION REASONS TO *NOT* DO SOME THING BUT I CHOOSE TO THINK OF REASONS TO *DO* SOME THINGS.
WILL, I GET THE IMPRESSION THAT THINGS HAVE BEEN ROUGH FOR YOU LATELY AND I KNOW THATS THE CASE WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE RIGHT NOW. SERIOUSLY, IN ALL MY LIFE I’VE NEVER SEEN THE ECONOMY SO BAD, HENCE THE REASON WHY SO MANY ARE LOOKING FOR OTHER WAYS TO MAKE MONEY. SO COMING FROM SOMEONE (ME) THAT HAS HAD LOTS AND LOTS OF UPS AND DOWNS IN MY LIFE, AND HAS HAD TO WORK VERY HARD FOR EVERY PENNY I’VE EVER MADE, I HOPE YOU WILL ACCEPT THAT I SINCERELY WISH YOU THE BEST IN ALL YOUR ENDEAVORS AND I THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION HERE. :-)
WELL, LIKE PORKY PIG SAYS AT THE END OF THOSE AWESOME OLD LOONY TUNES CARTOONS: THATS IT FOR NOW FOLKS! ITS ALOHA FRIDAY AND I’M OUTTA HERE BECAUSE I’M GOING SURFING NOW. :-)
STEVE
Thanks for all your input Steve,
I would also like to ad for the other readers out there that I’ve been doing this for about 18 months now, and actually selling for profit for about 10 months, and I have sold 5 different vehicles that netted me a profit of $1,500 or more, 3 exceeding $2,000.
Its not rocket science but it does take practice and effort.
I have a question to Ryan. Can you share some examples of how you negotiate with people over the phone? How do you drop the price so dramatically just over the phone. Do you pretty much follow Steve’s example or have some technique on your own?
Thanks
Hey Alex,
I use a hodge podge of tactics, 99% of the time I attempt to start out with a text to an individual. I really prefer to talk over the phone, but it seems like I can get some good info through texting which sets me up to be better prepared when we talk in person or over the phone.
The first things I always do:
If mileage isn’t listed I ask for the mileage
If their add isn’t specific, I get the specifics to properly evaluate the car through KBB. For instance, if they say “06 Ford Taurus” I ask if it is the SE or SES Taurus, Power windows, locks, seat, leather, sunroof, auto trans, etc.
Then most of the time I will ask one of two questions: Whats your best price or how low can you go on your price – or I outright just ask them if they can come down to a certain price, generally $1000 off their asking price.
One of my favorite negotiation tactics creates a “rushed” scenario for the seller, I will let them know my offer, generally not my best offer, but an offer of cash in their hand today, if the car runs right and looks good, but I make them aware that I’m BUYING A CAR TODAY and that if they want to think on my offer, that’s fine, but my offer won’t last because I’m buying a car with my money today. Most of the times that gets their attention. Sometimes they take my price or come down $500-$700 which makes me happy because I would have bought the car at what they were asking.
I pretty much always try and squeeze every dime out of the sale price, every penny helps if I can get them down another $100 I will, never know when you will need money to replace a fuel pump or whatever.
Alex, one of the biggest things I do is in Steve’s book, and that’s to grill the seller to death almost on the condition of the vehicle, inside, outside, under the hood, etc.
I drove an hour to go look at a Durango a couple of weeks back, I grilled the seller, and they just flat out lied to me, it was a piecer and not near worth what they were asking, it frustrates the heck out of me, but when someone lies to you, there isn’t a lot you can do. It worked out in my favor, later that night a much better deal opened up and I bought a car.
One other thing I have done quite a bit of is buying a car at night, which is the Gold rule of what not to do. But I’ve found sellers to be quite excited to show a car at night, most likely because they think I’m desperate if I’m looking at their car at night.
I always meet at Wal-marts under bright lights with lots of people and security cameras.
I’ve found it amazing how much people will come off their asking price if you just give them the opportunity to do it. I like to ask more often, what is the best price they can offer me if I can put cash in their hand today. It lets them set the number and more often than not, I like the number…but guess what….most people in negotiating price on anything never list their Bottom $ (as a seller) or top $ (as a buyer) in the first stages of negotiation, so by making the seller mention price first….you know even though they’ve come down $500 they are still willing to come down off of that.
In salary negotiations for a job, the caveat is that whoever throws out a number 1st loses that negotiation, I feel the same way about price negotiation for a car.
Let me know how it works out for you.
If you have any more questions or just want to chat cars, its one of my favorite hobbies.
Again, really good stuff Ryan and I thank you for your contribution.
I’d like to add something to what Ryan said above…
True, texting can be a good way to start the ball rolling and I have personally made some good deals that started with a text. However, there are a couple things to keep in mind:
Not everyone is into texting and some people even have their phone set up to NOT receive texts. If you text a seller and they don’t reply back quickly, then by all means followup with a phone call. And if it seems like what I call a Killer Deal Of The Universe, then I call first and only do a text if they don’t answer the phone. I might say in my text something like this: “I’d like to talk to you about your car for sale and just left you a voice message” (it helps if you have a smart phone with voice recognition).
So true Steve, I probably lean on texting too much probably from getting used to all the texts I get on my cars for sale.
I much prefer to talk to someone, but Steve is the master of “Call em first, see it first, buy it first, sell it first”
MY NAME IS DANIEL HEMEDINGER. I HAVE BEEN BUYING
PARTS CARS FOR 1 YEAR I HAVE FOUND A GOOD SOURCE
WHERE I CAN BUY THEM FOR 300-400. I HAVE THE CHANCE
TO BUY 10 CARS BUT I AM IN NEED OF FUNDING.
PLEASE SEND ME A EMAIL AT: danielhemedinger AT live.com
THANK YOU
Is there good profit in buying parts cars! Would be interested n doing some with another person if right deal! Thanks.
I want to thank you for your post. Wonderful site. Will be back soon.
I want to say this is some awsome material i read online in awhile. I like the way you broke everything down, its real easy.
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Thanks for the good article, I was searching for details like this, going to check out the other posts.