My barber thinks I am nuts ..

[Watchcame430]

I can help you with some stock for this start up business - I rent out garage space to a guy who has two yank tanks (a Chrysler LeBaron, and something else).

He pays me to store them as he can't find anywhere else big enough.

He never goes to them, they just sit there, and have done since I bought the house in 1998, so I doubt he'd notice if they went walkies .

Bit of luck they are in a garage all this length of time or they would have devolved by now.
When I was living at home with my parents I rented a garage and a few down was a guy with 3 in a row ... Each was stuffed with issetas and meserscmidts. Including a couple of convertibles and lots of NOS parts including engines and gearboxes. May all still be there!

 

[Watchcame430]

I'll throw in something else for you to consider which is also car related.

I've sold my past 2 BMW 530iA's both 2001 sports to a guy in Lithuania. He send's over a truck loads about 10 odd car's on it and away he goes. He takes them back and strips them for parts and makes a killing from what he has told me. Also recently he's been buying new cars which might be cat B,C or D and strips them too.

Maybe you can look into exporting some of the cars from here to somewhere that they fetch alot more, either as full cars or parts or whatever.

Have look into that.

Business is business and in the end if it makes you money thats all that matters.

Ps. When you start making money don't forget to stick my cheque in the post

It's not something I dismiss for sure but perhaps a bit further down the list to look at. That sort of thing does appeal. I met a guy last week who was breaking range rovers and seemed end to be loving life! It was a right alanine cave!

 

[Watchcame430]

Invest a little of your redundancy in a holiday to China that takes in one of the huge trade fairs out there. Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzen (just north of Hong Kong) are the usual trade fairs. Specialist ones are sometimes elsewhere e.g the stone fair is on Xiamen.

Find a product that is small enough and light enough to ship using airfreight and doesn't have prohibitive minimum order quantities.

Find an agent that will handle everything for you in China.

Avoid anything that requires sea freight until your business has grown to a size where it's the only practical option due to economies of scale and volume and your cashflow can take having capital tied up for three months.

Open eBay and Amazon stores and off you go.

Rule 1. Do something you know. Product knowledge is paramount.
Rule 2. Do your homework on taxes, particularly import duties and find out the commodity codes for the items you wish to import.
Rule 3. Do your homework on CE requirements for importation of goods. Example, if you bring in electrical goods will you need to register for WEEE compliance. Will your imports require Rohs certification etc.

Rule 1 is the most important rule of all of them.

The days when "Made in China" meant cheap rubbish are gone. China is the worlds factory.

You're probably sat reading this on a Chinese produced computer/phone, relayed through a Chinese made router, sent from a Chinese produced Server.

I used to visit a factory in Shanghai every three months to see a particular product being manufactured and check it in volume before shipping. The factory next door was ZF transmissions.

In fact you'd drive down this particular road and be forgiven for thinking you're in Germany if you were just looking at the factory names alone.

I have this on my list .. It's something I have expertise in so should be a higher priority to be honest.
I suspect this might happen if the car thing doesn't get off the ground.
Glad you mentioned it as it prods me a bit to give it more consideration.

 

[Watchcame430]

Idea number two.

This is a Mercedes breaker and dealer in Belgium:-

Home - Garage Van De Velde

The place is vast and full of every Mercedes you can imagine. They also deal in brand New parts that are cleared in massive amounts when Mercedes Germany are overstocked or end of line at the factory.

The owner used to own a Mercedes dealership and has connections deep into Mercedes.

Last time I went there I filled a van with SEC parts, 20 pairs of front wings etc. All brand new.

They had just had a shipment of 300 brand new factory crate engines arrive, they have no idea what's arriving until they get there.

The site is acres in size, it's a fascinating place to go. There were two 600 Grosser shells in there and wire crates containing factory new turnkey AMG motors and Maybach motors.

Also forum relevant.

Free trade as you're in the EU and a nice easy drive through the tunnel and into Belgium.

Interesting stuff ... Pushes my buttons.
Does he sell at sensible prices and does he have lots of sexy and popular parts?

 

[Giantvanman]

Just thinking laterally about the American car importation and wondered if it was worth looking at what is selling around say Lakenheath and Mildenhall? My thinking is that there always seems to be a lot of American cars around these areas (imported by American personnel) who then look to sell them when their tour is over.
Granted it may not be 'exotica' that is being imported but is it also a potential market?

 

[Watchcame430]

Just thinking laterally about the American car importation and wondered if it was worth looking at what is selling around say Lakenheath and Mildenhall? My thinking is that there always seems to be a lot of American cars around these areas (imported by American personnel) who then look to sell them when their tour is over.
Granted it may not be 'exotica' that is being imported but is it also a potential market?

Definitely worth considering. A wanted advert each week in the local paper?

 

[Red C220]

Interesting stuff ... Pushes my buttons.
Does he sell at sensible prices and does he have lots of sexy and popular parts?

I was paying 120 Euros per wing for SEC wings, brand new, Mercedes part labelled which is cheap. It was a while back and he had hundreds of them.

It's the kind of place you need to drive over in a truck with a wad of Euros, you'll not get much joy emailing for lists of available stock, unless you want to buy 30 new engines etc.

I remember seeing a lot of Stobart trucks next door, it might well be next to their Belgium base.