If You Want to Start Flipping Cars, Here’s How to Do It

So I moved overseas in 2014.

I came back to visit once. Before I went overseas, used cars and 90s cars were everywhere. When I came home in 2018 for a visit, hardly anyone had a used car. Maybe it was just my city, the standard of living went up, but I hardly saw any hoopties. In fact when I moved home permanently a year ago I bought a $600 dollar Pontiac from like 96 and it became more clear to me how much things had changed. People get a newer car and financed it, but I wanted to pay cash outright.

I love 90s Buicks and Cadillacs and broncos. But now I hardly see them. This could be for a few reasons. People want a newer vehicle, people want bigger vehicles like SUV’s or, nobody is as interested as me at 90s cars.

Another change that surprised me was seeing cars from the 90s begin to have collectors plates, which if they are collectible now could be a major factor as to why they seem more rare, people are holding on to them.

I said all of that to say that if you are looking to get into the used cars industry and you’re not interesting in merely just flipping cars because a lot of people do the fix and flip, why not choose a particular type of car or decade of cars and find your audience of lovers willing to pay the price for them.

I’ll give you the breakdown of the idea particularly with 90s Cadillacs and Buicks.

1. Where to find the cars

2. How to execute this idea

So say you wanted to offer an online car lot or physical car lot in your city that sold a particular type of car. Where do you get cheap used cars from?

Start with criteria; knowing your particular cars you want to sell and how much of a car you want to deal with. Should they need major repairs or minor fixes, will you do the work or hire someone. Which make, model and specific years are you looking to be known for?

Every car I’ve ever had I’m pretty sure came from Craigslist. You can start there, but I think for a more broad search, I’d do your particular car for sale via google search.

1990 Buick Riviera for sale. You will get lots of results from Smartmotor guide, cars for sale etc. The biggest thing is how far away do you want to go to get it or if you want to deal with selling the cars online. 

So, those are the basics and there are many factors but if I were to execute this idea I’d say:

I’d be someone who knew a little about cars and could even do some repairs. I would prefer to be in or near a major city, which is where you are more likely to find older cars. I’d cap the type of cars I want to buy at a price maximum like 8,000 all in.

I’d create a website which listed the cars, have a small lot somewhere or building to house and fix the cars and I’d also create a YT channel that showed cars in this area or of similar types, whether you buy them or not. Every time you go to see a car, make a video.

I’d also decide if it would be worth it to ship cars for people who buy online. Maybe you have hands-free inventory. A lot of people drop-ship, why not a car?

Remember with used cars or any reselling, it’s not about getting one for 2,000 and selling it for 5. You aren’t going to get rich from one item sold once. It’s more about getting 1 for 3,000, selling it and making money in smaller increments 500-1,000, maybe slightly more.

There are a lot of factors to consider but I want to get the basic idea across. Start small, find a niche in the used auto industry, buy a car, sell it for a little more, find your audience of people who like these kinds of cars thru social media, get a small inventory of vehicles, sell to them.

So if you’re interested in this idea, and want the full plan including logo and branding, resources, audience targets as always download the plan and connect with me on Instagram to see how others have carved out for themselves an opportunity to make money.