Looking for Opinions & Criticism - Vehicle Sales Brokering

[Kcinegnet]

Hello fellow Mustachians! First post!

I have recently been thinking a lot about the freedom to work for myself and build on my own. If anyone has positive criticism and/or opinions I would ask to please share!

I am from the Midwest (MN), land of salt and crap on roads. Many people look for rust-free vehicles to import from the southern states to drive up here.

I want to create an online business connecting buyers from these salted road states and sellers (likely only dealerships at first) from states not using road salt. I hope to treat my clients somewhat like a travel planner would be to make their trips to pick up their vehicle as simple as possible! I will connect clients with similar vehicles of their liking within a specific mile radius (because.. you know it's good to have options) as a contingency plan in the case first vehicle they see is not as advertised.

I was recently reading about sales margins from dealerships and how they are slim and began to ask myself how I will make money. My original idea was to take a sales cut from the dealership in which my client buys. This would create more movement of vehicles from southern dealerships which is what they want while also increasing financing from customers they would not traditionally have.

Perhaps charging my client a refundable fee would be appropriate if they end up purchasing a vehicle? This way I can find clients and take a cut of profits from the dealerships?

If you are still reading thus far I thank you and ask if anyone thinks this is viable?

Stay warm!

Nick

[Kcinegnet]

Just another though, maybe partner with a local bank/ credit union to provide loans to my clients and I take a cut of the interest the bank makes? Then I can provide my searching services to clients for free if they purchase?

[skiersailor]

I would start by reading the posts by Tom McParland on Jalopnik.  He is a vehicle broker, and I believe he charges $500 to the buyer.  Be sure to read the comments to his posts, as this is where he answers questions about his business.

https://kinja.com/tommcparland

[skiersailor]

I believe there may be some value in a business like this, but you need to address the pain points in long distance vehicle purchases.  The major hurdles to buying a used car out of state are:

1. Quality - how do you assess the quality of a vehicle that you haven't seen for yourself?
2. Price - how do you negotiate the price of a vehicle that you haven't seen for yourself?

Given that nobody trusts dealers or private sellers, there is an opportunity for you to be the buyer's trusted agent for a fee.  You would probably want to arrange for pre-purchase inspections and even have someone available (you or a local partner) to inspect vehicles in person.  There are already plenty of websites that list vehicles for sale and earn fees from dealers, so I'm not sure how creating another website is valuable.