How And Where To Find Cars To Flip
Finding a cheap car is basically knowing the right places to look. A good fisherman would always fish in the right spot for a good catch. There are two ways to find cheap cars.
A. Active search, which involves actively going to look for cars in places like Car Auctions, Supermarket community boards, Facebook Marketplace, EBay Car Auction, Google, Newspaper classified ads, Craigslist ( only for those who can access it), Private Car sales with a “For Sale” sign on it in your neighbourhoods, Online car websites, Retirement Homes and Businesses.
B. Passive Search where you rightly position yourself to attract people to sell cars to you. We advise people to pay closer attention to this kind of car buying process because it pays good. It involves building a “cash for cars” website, carefully putting out targeted “cash for cars” ads, telling people you are looking for a car to buy for cash any condition. Put this paid ad on Facebook, Instagram, Google and any other platform that would showcase your ads to the right people. You will be amazed at how many people looking for an easy way to get rid of their unwanted vehicles. We have bought and flipped many cars through passive search.
Example of a “cash for cars” website (https://www.watotoridescarbuyer.com.au).
Also develop special relationships with your local mechanics, drop your cards with them, keep nurturing the relationships and you will start to receive cars from them. Most car flippers would not do this because it takes time to build the network. However, once built it pays huge. Remember is not everyone that wants to sell car privately, some people just want to get rid of the car any amount. Take advantage of this and make yourself some bucks.
At The Car Auctions: What To Know
Car auctions are usually the best place to find good deals for cars as they basically get cheap cars from big dealers trade-in, repossessed cars, used company cars and government cars. Auctions could be very fast and overwhelming in the beginning for first time flippers. It takes time to master what is happening at the auctions. Better to first be the fly on the wall, watch and learn what is happening before bidding to avoid over bidding or winning the wrong car.
Focus more on dirty cars that most buyers would avoid, it could be an abandoned car owned by the elderly or deceased estate cars. This can be a hidden gold very cheap as well so you can make good money from it.
I once bought a 2009 Toyota Corolla faded paint, tyres flat, very dirty but starts and runs. The seats were not washed probably since it was bought. It was towed to our garage, all the tyres changed, fix the paint, no mechanical problems. We made about $3500 from this car. Focus on low mileage under 150,000 KM. Be cautious not to engage in a bidding war with over excited flippers. Do your research before and in the auction.
Warning: Focus on cheap cars as a beginner so you keep your risk low. Possibly avoid European cars until you get better. European cars are very expensive to fix due to the stress of finding the right parts and the mechanics willing to work on them.
We purchased a 2013 Renault Clio at the Auction. It was in a very good condition until we sold it to a young bloke. He rang after a day the car started overheating on his way to another state. He had to tow the car back to our shop. We investigated, the car has a blown head gasket. This was a massive loss. Lesson learnt was to offer half or less half the value of any car at the auction. Sometimes these cars are not even checked or driven before going under the hammer at the auction houses.
If you are not a licensed dealer, public auctions would probably be the best for you. Some auctions would require you possess dealership license. A way around this to ask a licensed dealer to bid on your behalf. You might have to pay $200-$1000 per car to the licensed dealer.
Car Buying From The Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace has been great for finding great deals for car flipping. Often deals pop up on Facebook depending on your KM radius.
Few things to consider while searching for car deals on Facebook Marketplace.
Do you have time to find a great used car? New car flippers are highly motivated to search for cars, Facebook is very popular with used cars hence too much competition. Great deals attract heaps of interest and scammers. Ensure you sign a bill of sale after carefully, doing a car background checks. Usually done by entering the VIN of the car and performing an online search if possible. Ensure the vehicle is being sold by the true owner or someone who is legally authorised to sell the vehicle on behalf of the owner.
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