Cost of having a rep sell your car.

[mercer09]

 

I had a friend (now deceased) who married a lady with some money.  Over the years they had a few children and he parlayed her money into 30+ cars and 25-20 properties, some commercial and some residential.  I know he bought/one or two cars in person but most were through an agent as was ALL of his property dealings.  I do not think anyone in town knew he owned what they were renting.  He would drive or walk around town and talk to most of his tenants just as a neighbour.  Two of his tenants actually bought cars from his agent and then showed them off to him as they knew hi liked cars.  His philosophy was to be removed from face to face in business dealings.  He made money, his agents made money and he had no hassles or arguments with buyers, sellers or tennants.  I had several relatives who were renting from him and said what a great guy he was as a neighbour and had no idea he was their landlord.  Exactly how he wanted it.

Personally I bought one car privately and sold one car twice privately (all to friends) and would do neither ever again.  Let someone else make a living and have all the headaches.

 

As a landlord, what you say makes tons of sense, when you start out with a very good bit of money. But if you are in the real estate business working from the bottom up- you'll never make a profit in many cases, using brokers,lawyers and repairmen etc. otherwise.

 

Margins can be very thin. Try running a successful restaurant, paying everyone and walking around with just a cigar in your mouth. Belly up in no time at all......

[John_Mereness]

On 3/6/2020 at 2:55 PM, Steve_Mack_CT said:

One final thought on this from a customer perspective.  We are lucky here to know a few forum regulars who I think are very reputable dealers, brokers (same thing?).  I would be pretty comfortable dealing with these folks, certainly Tom, Matt, Brassisbest, Shawn Miller/John, Supercargirl, and Guy, Motoring Icons seem trustworthy.  If you feel the same I would suggest that is also a value add.  

I think we all try hard to make "magic" happen in matchmaking and would tell you again that it is probably a more refined skill set than high end home sales.   I see everyone around via Concours events and ... - everyone tries hard at this. Plenty of the cars too we have known for years and/or have known their owners for years.   And a particularly valuable service offering via those with health issues.  

 

Sidenote: There are a few "bad eggs" and "mills" though and unfortunately they give those trying hard a bad name. 

[60FlatTop]

It was heath issues that got me into this hobby to begin with. Physically I have always been quite well and I will stay as long as I can.