What are some good vehicles to flip?

[Kyan]

Hello, I'm looking for cars to buy and flip for now to make some money along the side, to be honest I'm new into engines I've educated myself through forums and hours of research but still I'm a newbie when it comes to these, so I have a budget under 1.5M and to buy first car to flip and I need some insights on what you all think are good, I've been leaning onto buying a Maruti 800 cause of the resell market, can I know some more vehicles under that price range that has a similar resell market.

Thank you so much, any sort of response is greatly appreciated

[iRage]

I am sorry but this is very confusing. You want to buy a car with a 1.5mil LKR market value and sell it for a higher price? How does that work ?

If you are looking for a car that has a market value of 1.5mil (i..e you plan to sell at about 1.5mil), then some of your options are DX wagon (i.e. KE 72 or KE74 Corolla van), Lancer Box and "L-light" models, B2xx and B3xx series Sunnies. Good ones will be at your budget point or higher. Cheaper ones have some sort of issues that need to be sorted out. So your aim should be to buy these cars and fix them up (properly) and then sell them at a profit. 

Remember, if you are going to "flip" something, you need to add some value. One reason brokers are vile in this country is because they take good cars from their owners at dirt cheap prices by lying to them and then sell it off without doing anything at exorbitant prices.

So...try to put some honest work in to the car. Be honest to people when you buy it from them.

[Kyan]

Hey, truly appreciate your response - I'm sorry I could've worded my question better. What I meant to say was that I'm looking for some cars to flip but my capital is 1.5mil as of now - so I was looking for vehicles that's in my budget to buy and and then flip for some profit.

Thank you so much for the recommendations, I'll keep them listed. Can I know how's the demand for the Lancer Box cars when it comes to reselling?

Appreciate your advice man, thank you!

[matroska]

4 hours ago, Kyan said:

'm sorry I could've worded my question better. What I meant to say was that I'm looking for some cars to flip but my capital is 1.5mil as of now - so I was looking for vehicles that's in my budget to buy and and then flip for some profit.

Vehicles that are easy to resell in your Budget 

1. Maruti 800 

2. Toyota Corolla KE72/73/74 Wagons 

3. Datsun/Nissan B210,B211,B310 

4. Lancer Box Model

5. Nissan Sunny B12 (Trad) Sunny 

6. Toyota Corolla EE96 Wagon

Corolla AE91/Sunny B13's are a little above your budget. 

 

Now here are some things to consider

1. Flipping at this budget you will get very small margins.  Consider if the effort is worth it. 

2. Most of these vehicles are extremely old - so you have a little risk. If something goes wrong while you have the car you might not be able to recover the budget you spend on it. 

3. You're looking at old cars. If you are a city dweller you are at a bit of a disadvantage. Most of your target cars are now in rural areas (Ratnapura, Anuradhapura, Horana, deepest corners of the gampaha district etc.) 

4. You'll need a regular mechanic who can sort these out. Remember most of these are carbureted. So the dude at a fancy garage with an OBD whose modus operandi is simply replacing everything  with recon japanese parts will not be able to sort these. A grumpy  uncle with an attitude running his business under a kottan tree smelling of grease and gal-arakku will do a better job. But you will have to humor his tall tales, boasting and talk of the good old days to get even simple jobs done.

Aim for a smaller budget that 1.5M initially. Don't be just a regular buyya (Buy-and-sell dude) do some value addition. Get solid cars, attend to the cosmetic to-do's, add some alloys you will get some rep as a good seller as well.

A good starting point will be Nissan B210/11/310's or Lancer Box's they have ample spares. But of course these are saturated markets. For instance if you take a stroll on Facebook market place you will notice that most of the B211's for sale are sold by the same guy, the Lancers are the same. 

 

[Kyan]

5 hours ago, matroska said:

Vehicles that are easy to resell in your Budget 

1. Maruti 800 

2. Toyota Corolla KE72/73/74 Wagons 

3. Datsun/Nissan B210,B211,B310 

4. Lancer Box Model

5. Nissan Sunny B12 (Trad) Sunny 

6. Toyota Corolla EE96 Wagon

Corolla AE91/Sunny B13's are a little above your budget. 

 

Now here are some things to consider

1. Flipping at this budget you will get very small margins.  Consider if the effort is worth it. 

2. Most of these vehicles are extremely old - so you have a little risk. If something goes wrong while you have the car you might not be able to recover the budget you spend on it. 

3. You're looking at old cars. If you are a city dweller you are at a bit of a disadvantage. Most of your target cars are now in rural areas (Ratnapura, Anuradhapura, Horana, deepest corners of the gampaha district etc.) 

4. You'll need a regular mechanic who can sort these out. Remember most of these are carbureted. So the dude at a fancy garage with an OBD whose modus operandi is simply replacing everything  with recon japanese parts will not be able to sort these. A grumpy  uncle with an attitude running his business under a kottan tree smelling of grease and gal-arakku will do a better job. But you will have to humor his tall tales, boasting and talk of the good old days to get even simple jobs done.

Aim for a smaller budget that 1.5M initially. Don't be just a regular buyya (Buy-and-sell dude) do some value addition. Get solid cars, attend to the cosmetic to-do's, add some alloys you will get some rep as a good seller as well.

A good starting point will be Nissan B210/11/310's or Lancer Box's they have ample spares. But of course these are saturated markets. For instance if you take a stroll on Facebook market place you will notice that most of the B211's for sale are sold by the same guy, the Lancers are the same. 

 

You're the man! Thank you so much for all the insights and advice, I really need more wisdom from dudes like you out there, I don't know man something about you is so cool - they way you word everything is just pure bliss - have you thought of story writing or something cause I've never read a forum reply without taking my eyes off it ahaha, thanks again my guy - I know a grumpy uncle who does his work under a kos gaha - I'll put my faith in him haha.

Thanks again man, truly I mean truuuuuly appreciate this - I'll keep everything in my mind.
Hope you have a good one man!

Edited June 14 by Kyan

[iRage]

9 hours ago, Kyan said:

Hey, truly appreciate your response - I'm sorry I could've worded my question better. What I meant to say was that I'm looking for some cars to flip but my capital is 1.5mil as of now - so I was looking for vehicles that's in my budget to buy and and then flip for some profit.

Thank you so much for the recommendations. I'll keep them listed. Can you tell me the demand for the Lancer Box cars when it comes to reselling?

Appreciate your advice man, thank you!

Well.., you are looking at new entrants to the car market with small budgets and low running and maintenance costs. Like matty mentioned (i.e. @matroska) said...most of these individuals are beyond the boundaries of the larger cities. Also, cars like the KE72/74 and Lancer Box model have a bit of a cult following with enthusiasts and would be open to purchasing a good example at a premium price.

I see the E90 Corolla van being mentioned. Unfortunately, for your price point, you will find the not-so-good examples, and I fear you will simply not be able to do a good job restoring them.

You really need to reassess your business model here. The sad truth is that, considering the country's economy, good parts are quite costly. Also, you need to find a car at the right price—not too below market value, as the condition of the car you will be buying might not be that great, but not too close to market value, because then you won't have enough money to restore it.

Secondly, you need to find good labor—someone skilled who is actually going to put in the time and effort to fix an issue and not just cover up the symptoms. Finding someone to do such work is easier said than done.

Put all these together, and you are not going to have any profit margins here (don't forget you need to pay taxes, take into account your lost opportunity costs as you will have to run back and forth, etc.). This means you are going to resort to what every other buyya does. Get a cheap car, make it look shiny, and run for as little cost as possible. 

Have you looked into other possible business opportunities? Maybe you can offer services to actually find a car for potential buyers. If someone wants a car, they contact you with a budget...you find the best alternatives, present it to them, go get inspections done, etc... that way, your investment is low, and you are not stuck trying to juggle money. Secondly, you can be someone who manages car restoration projects. Right now a major issue with restoring cars is we have to go running around and sometimes sitting next to the mechanics to make sure they keep doing the work. So...if you think about it...there are other ways to make money. I am sorry. I am not trying to put down your idea, but trying to make you see that it is not that simple. 

[tiv]

IMHO as car enthusiasts we should not promote flipping cars.

My points being;

1. There is very little margin of profit if you actually restore/ fix up the car and sell it therefore you end up doing a botched up job and sell the car to a poor noob. Like mentioned above - proper parts - expensive, proper labor - expensive, proper paint - expensive.

2. There is a very low likelihood that the flipper can buy a good car "cheap" in the first place, therefore ends up buying a lemon, and makes it a little better and sells a less sour lemon; the jolly circle continues.

3. Current trend of flipping is, buy a registered owner car that had been taken care of, after badgering the owner for a number of weeks, damaging his morale.

Storm facebook and instagram with videos saying original blah blah sira and all those preset tiktok voiceovers. Then sell for a few 100k more. 100% profit, zero effort. Maybe just wash the car. Lately the perks of social media have also led to its downfall as adverts remain over the pages, I've seen Monteros that have seen 17 owners over the past 2 years and have still done only "89000km". The magic number.

4. It is this mindset that has contributed to the highly corrupt used car market that has formed over the past decade.

Thank you