These days, the typical price of a new car is around the $30,000 level, so a lot of people, faced with austerity measures and an unsure future job market, are thinking about buying a used car instead.
This is nothing new on its own: there has always been a used car market, but the disparity is that even white collar workers who had a certain amount of job security are entering this market. People are even more loathe to take on a loan than ever before in living memory.
One of the results of this is state of affairs is that there is even more opportunity for a used-car dealer to make a very good living. This article and the other three in the series, which have the same title, will attempt to give some advice on how to make a living out of the present market situation.
If you only want to make an extra couple of thousand, there are several ways of doing this, but if you want to make a decent living wage, then you need to set up a company and become your own boss. This approach can deliver an income of several thousand dollars from a solitary sale. One sale a week can soon add up to quite a large annual income.
Working for yourself does bear its own risks and disadvantages of course, but the result is that you take control of your own affairs and decide your own wages within the constrictions of the income of the business. The first thing that you have to discern, as a potential business person, is whether you trust yourself to make the correct decisions more frequently than not.
There are other rewards to owning your own business than just the pecuniary ones. There is the academic challenge; the freedom to make your own decisions; independence. Basically, freedom from having a boss.
On the other hand, this can be a drawback for some people: those who cannot work unsupervised; those who like to slope off after making a few dollars and other irresponsible types of people.
So, what skills would you have to have to enter the profitable used car market? Well, the opposite of those talked about in the previous paragraph for a start. You will have to have discipline and the capacity to learn and follow the law, even, or even particularly, if you make your mind up to sail close to the wind.
You will also need a head for figures and you will also need to know the used car market and have a feeling for people, both those that work for you and those that trade with you.
This last point is very important, because if you push someone too far attempting to get the most out of the transaction, the customer might just go next door.
It is this unique blend of person, technical and managerial abilities which will earn you a living and maybe even a fortune. In the next part of this mini-series of articles, we will discuss setting up you used car business.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on a range of subjects, but is now involved with remote car alarms. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at Laser Temperature Gun.