How To Make Money Buying And Selling Used Cars Part 2
In the first part of this mini-series on how to make money buying and selling used cars in the current economic conditions, we examined what sort of individual is suitable to set up a used car business. In this section, we will look at where to actually establish your used car business.
So, how do you go about setting up your own used car business? The first thing to realize is that no matter whether you are establishing a part-time or full-time company, your patrons and the government will expect you to conduct yourself and conduct your business in a professional way and they have every right to do so.
If you do not behave correctly, you will present a bad image to your customers and get a bad reputation with them and you will get a bad standing with the taxation authorities and maybe the health and safety people too and be hassled by them with more that the typical number of check-ups.
Come to a decision what your main market is. Do you want to concentrate on used expensive cars, middle-market or cheap vehicles? Or do you want to sell trucks, vans, buses or motorbikes? It is useful to specialize, if your catchment area is big enough. For instance, if you live in a village miles from anywhere, it might not be worth specializing in second-hand buses, but second-hand farm equipment might be a winner.
Pay a lot of attention to the site of your business. If you propose to sell one or two cars from adverts, this is not quite so important, but if you have thoughts for the future, you might want to get a small lot that you can expand on later.
This plot should be in a highly visible location, say beside the highway that leads into town. If your site is less than ideal, you will have to spend a great deal more on advertising, which is something to keep in mind, when trying to work out what you can afford to pay for the plot.
Another key issue to keep in mind before agreeing to any contracts, leases or mortgages, is to find out whether you are allowed to open a used car business in that location. Some countries have a highly complex set of rules and regulations governing which kinds of business can be located where. This is frequently called ‘zoning’. Sometimes you can get a ‘zoning variance’, but not every time.
Once you have your site and have decided what kind of used vehicles you want to specialize in, you ought to concentrate on establishing a unique corporate image – one that is instantly recognizable to local people as denoting your business. Use a motto, an emblem or a motif or a combination of these, put up a sign and sign-write your van or tow-truck with them as well.
In the following section of this mini series, we will be examining how to locate your stock in trade – your vehicles.
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with remote car alarms. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Laser Temperature Gun.
Dec022010
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