The 21 Reasons I Lost $102,387.53 in My Small Used Car Business.
(Everything you need to know to totally ruin a used car business.)
My hope in writing this is that someone will learn from some of my pitfalls, mistakes, etc., and be able to succeed where I failed. I tried my best to remember all the things I ran into.
As in any human endeavor, your experience may be different. Good luck!
- Experience- I had none. I had only sold cars for 2 weeks in 1979 for a back-woods Ford dealership 30 m iles south of St. Louis, MO. and I failed at that, badly. I let the long-time salesmen run me out of the business. They were brutal. All they wanted was for me to be gone so the “ups” ( walk-in customers) would come to them. They did not want any competition for the walk-in trade. I also didn’t get any training, not even from my manager, etc. So I lacked any real knowledge of the car business, and I was arrogant enough to think once I started my business 35 years later, that I didn’t need it. Buy low, sell high, etc. It's gotta be that easy, right? WRONG, Dean!
2. Mechanical knowledge of cars. None. I was never a mechanic or even close. So I had to hire out all my work. My thought was that if it took 20 mins or was cosmetic, ie.l glue or screw it back on, I could do it. Almost everything was easy if you knew how to do it, but I didn’t. Then there were the things that were harder, fuel pumps, transmissions, etc. Even worse, I had to rely on mechanics close by the lot, and not the most reliable, quick, or…
