The "Flipping Cars" Thread

[420sx]

I PM'd you about it and wanted it a lot. Seriously considered trading you my complete '98 240sx. Didnt make a cash offer because I didnt want to offend you with some bs $2000 offer.

God damnit. lol

[EklipzGSXkid]

Ken, That guy keeps saying you are telling him you have no idea what he's talking about. He keeps telling me he is talking to a ''ken''. I figured maybe you just forgot !


Here is a car that was listed online with no pics or info. I paid $3,000 for it and had to get it roll-backed to my garage with no front subframe or anything on it and the entire car in complete pieces. The car itself was in pieces and didn't have a complete motor or anything. It came with a bunch of new parts that he didn't list in the ad for some reason, So every single person that looked at the car passed it off as being too much work, and way to hard to transport.

I paid $3,000 for the car a few months back and made $11,071 off it to date, And still have the actual body of the car which now but just gave the doors and fenders and rear bumper/spoiler away for free yesterday to a friend who replaced the doors with same color but dented, doors. Now i'll just junk the shell being I have no use for it any longer!

All I did was get a 4-wheeled dolly and put it under the front of the car to make it roll onto and off of the rollback. He said every person that came told him he was crazy asking what he was. I guess they didn't give him the chance to tell them the parts it came with ;) (Which is what I sold and made all the profit from). I was going to assemble the car, But even assembled, I would have been lucky to get $6k for it complete being no one wants to spend alot on a car anymore.

[420sx]

I think we're going to pick up an 02 2.5TS with a full WRX swap w/ spun bearing for $3000 for my roommate. Its the EXACT car he just totalled, so we'll have a full parts car to use. We're gonna pull the WRX swap, throw his 2.5 in it for the time being, and rebuild the wrx. Seems like a decent deal.. were gonna be going to VT to pick it up and tow it home.

Still havent received any calls about the Eclipse though.. thats really weird. Im 100% sure I havent told anyone I dont know what theyre talking about. And Im 100% sure i gave you the right number. Tell him to email me if hes still interested in selling or trading it. kenneth.aiani@gmail.com

How do you effectively part cars? Do you have people come to you and pull stuff off? Or do you do it yourself, package stuff, and ship it? I was doing that with the civic for a bit, and it just got to be too much, and I stopped shipping. If it werent dark at 5pm and cold as a witches teat I might do better, but its damn hard to part a car in the winter. Ive got most of the civic left and Id sell it with title for $350, even though theres a ton more to be made off it. Parting a car quickly is a pain in the bum. I may just break down everything thats still on it, box all the parts up, and scrap the body. But with my dead neon, dead 240, and volvo that still needs tweaking, I dont know if ill ever find the time.

When I started this thread I had my Neon up and running, and was looking for another project. Now Im buried in projects. lol.

[tcturbo91]

you are so right with the drift tax portion of your post. when i have some money i try to buy a nice DD i can turn for some profit. My last was an all original E30 325 i bought for 1300 off the second owner who just "wanted to get rid of it" only had 113k on it. after a few small quirks fixed, and a pressure plate replacement, i sold it with 120k a few months later for $3200. I love flipping cars, and when i have some more time on it i'm definitely doing to get into it more. craigslist is definitely the place to go, i find deals all of the time. as others have said, if you have the cash in hand and know-how, you can really make out.

[FazdaGt]

I find that it takes a ton of patience dealing with craigslist people. If you can handle it without freaking out its easy to make money. I've come to almost a breaking point the past two months and I've decided to take a break from selling cars for a few months so I don't start to hate it. I do it mainly for fun, I get a thrill out of making something out of nothing. Lately these people are taking my fun away with insulting offers, lack of reading comprehension, and blowing my phone up at 3 am.

I have one more car to get rid of before I calm it for awhile. Posted for $3k firm. Above book value, but its not in typical condition for the car that it is, and it comes with extras that generally make a similar car sell for more than others, as well as 90% of the common problems with this particular car already fixed. I just got a text offering me (seriously) $2k, a bicycle, and ps3 with black ops. When I declined I was told that the car isn't worth what I'm asking and informed that this guy "knows bmws"....he obviously doesn't know that I've owned more of them than he has fingers...and that there are five or six of them in my driveway regularly


At any rate, dealing with lowballs, crazy white trash, and rude texts/phone calls are all part of it. Once you adjust to it and learn how to pick a serious buyer from a loser making money comes easy....If you have a lot of knowledge about cars.

[Willdue]

And a side note, dont ever mention you own a business haha. I found out the hard way with selling my blue jetta. Second it left my hands, kid blew it up, said it was my fault? yeah cause i can see into the future of a wrist pin breaking, he sold it to another kid, smashed it, fixed it, blew it up. Sigh. Only issue i ever had with selling any of my cars. rest are all still driving.

[420sx]

Originally Posted by 420sx

More importantly, how do you keep yourself from getting in over your head?

^^That right there is what you call "irony."

[FazdaGt]

I have a subaru svx here that I got in over my head with.... as it sits now i've broken even, and I still have all of the heavy stuff left to scrap. And its got good tires that I can use on another project. When you get in deep, just breathe. Think out your options and do whatever you need to to get back to even. Throw the cars on craigslist all over, broken, blown up, whatever. People will buy them, or offer you something for them. Something that you can probably sell and get some cash out of.

what's the story on your neon? it just needs a motor? those cars are a dime a dozen in the you pull it yard i go to that charges like $75 for an engine if you pull it.

[420sx]

Yeah thats the route I will most likely go. Problem is that type of thing never goes as quickly as planned. Neon was supposed to hold me over while I swapped the 240. Neon popped, so the volvo was supposed to hold me over til I swapped the neon. Now the volvo popped, and I dont know wtf to do. Im either driving the volvo to work tomorrow, on the turnpike, with a blown hg... or im taking a cab. I know that ultimately fixing the neon is the right option, it does still hold some value.. but Ive gotta find a way to get to work the rest of this week, and unfortunately I cant put a motor in it in that timeframe. The only thing I have right now thats road worthy is an SV650.. are you kidding me.. haha

[420sx]

I may even break down and fix the KA and put it back in my S14. Wouldnt that be a slap in the junk... mid SR swap.

Although itd take me just as long to swap the neon as it would to put the ka back in the 240..

[FazdaGt]

Its awful timing, but from the sounds of your situation right now you should try to sell the sv and get something decent to drive. Even when your 240 is done you're gonna want something to drive regularly so you don't begin to hate it for not being perfect after the swap.

[420sx]

Originally Posted by FazdaGt

Its awful timing, but from the sounds of your situation right now you should try to sell the sv and get something decent to drive. Even when your 240 is done you're gonna want something to drive regularly so you don't begin to hate it for not being perfect after the swap.

Yeah, that sounds like the best option, as much as it kills me.

The first car I flipped for profit paid for that bike.

[FazdaGt]

Don't feel bad, 90% of the money I make flipping cars goes into fixing up the disaster house I bought. I'm putting it on the market this spring and I'll be luck to break even, all of the fixing I've done on the house has been to get it up to par so I can sell it and not completely lose my ass.

I sold my 600rr a few years back when I hit a tight spot financially...saved a little of it and came across a deal on an r6, that I bought, fixed, and sold because I decided I wanted to live a while yet. I loved riding, but I love life more. And I love cars more haha

[420sx]

Thats why I love my SV so much. I mean yes, you can get yourself into trouble on any bike.. but my SV is tame enough to keep me alive (thus far, knock on wood), but still exciting enough that Im rarely bored with it. Ive got it geared +3 rear -1 front, so it tops out at like 110 but gets there in a hurry. Im gonna miss it.

Ive also got two dirtbikes I might try selling first. Theyre only worth about $700 and $900, but either one of them could be my beater..

[FazdaGt]

yep... and be that guy that offers everyone and their brother his dirt bike for a car. you may annoy some people but it could pay off.

selling the sv could get you into something nice and reliable...

I wasn't as worried about myself on a bike as other traffic. I could handle it and I knew my limits, other people were just idiots. The truck that ran me off the road intentionally convinced me, I sold the bike a few days later to the first offer. I ride my brothers harley on occasion, but people tend to leave you alone on something like that, and it barely goes the speed limit on the highway haha.

[420sx]

"who wants my blownthefckup neon and this dirtbike? I got a ps3 and a wawa giftcard too. And an Ipod touch!"

Yeaaah I get to be that kid.

[FazdaGt]

We laugh at those people, but I bet some of them have success. Ever hear the story of the kid that started with a paper clip and turned it into a house via craigslist trading?

Tis' your time to shine!

haha, go for it, have fun, offer your junk for anything. Anything can happen

[Sublime1304]

i know a guy over on the chargerforumz who is pretty well known and has a lot of connections. Well he just bought a sublime daytona like mine, front end mashed up, no motor (did come with a 6.1 on the side though), trans still intact, and the interior gutted. Idk what happened to the car but it was pretty bad. He paid $2K with the 6.1L Hemi motor. Word is that he is either going to rebuild the whole car and sell it and make a profit (he has connections and can do his own work) or track the car since its already stripped of mostly everything. Im curious to see what happens. I should find those pics of how it looked.

[tcturbo91]

Originally Posted by FazdaGt

We laugh at those people, but I bet some of them have success. Ever hear the story of the kid that started with a paper clip and turned it into a house via craigslist trading?

Tis' your time to shine!

haha, go for it, have fun, offer your junk for anything. Anything can happen

as crazy as it seems, i feel like when i look around on craigs you see people getting rid of an extra car taking up space and are willing to trade for the latest electronics and stuff. thats the beauty of craigslist, though it sucks when you are trying to sell things as a sane, normal person

[dudewheresmycar]

Bump. Any of you guys still into flipping cars?