another source of income... car breaking?

[Tidy Max]

Okay, so heres my situation:
Im an apprentice, on apprentice wage and im 20 years old.
Therefore it goes without saying i am in need of another source of income, other than my pimping and drug lord job etc.

I have access to storage unit, 20quid a week, v.secure, access at all times.

i work from 8 till 6 pretty much mon - fri and im also preoccupied with a lady friend,

to anyone who breaks and sells bits, would it be worth my while? and if so any pointers! thanks chaps

[burgo]

depends how big this unit is?

[Tidy Max]

its like a metal container that you see on ships or lorries etc, where the whole end opens up, probably fit 2 novas length ways (bumpers off lol) and that would allow for about 3 feet clearance down one side, the unit is in a lock up with my uncles garage and a spray room so working outside it is fine

[Tidy Max]

anyone :)

[burgo]

dont be so impatient

[Pistol Pete]

What do you want to know? Yeah could be worth your while, if you can sell the bits. That is the only problem with breaking cars, you could find yourself with s hed full of parts! You may also run into problems with the authories though, with regards to disposing of engine oil, coolant, petrol etc.

You say you work mon-fri 8-6 and have a misses, so when do you intend to do this?!

[Tidy Max]

sorry :( at work, very bored lack of money getting me down, even the refresh buttons having a go lol, sorry mate

[Tidy Max]

well.... sundays?
obviously im not with her every night! im also free... mondays? lol i dont know thats the thing, me and the other apprentice were having a lengthy conversation about solving our money woes, and that was one of the ideas i had (the only half legal fairly sensible idea anyway)

also we are moving house and i am going to be able to have a bit of a workshop where i intend on buying a new engine and attempting to rebuild it, i have no mechanical experience but have been making more of an effort recently and thought that breaking a car would tie into that abit

i understand what your saying about the shed full of parts, probably not a fantastic idea really, maybe if i didnt have to rent storage it would be better, thanks for your reply though mate its much appreciate, not really sure what answer i was looking for.. maybe a:
"yes buy this car, break it sell all the bits to me and make a couple of 100" lol

[brainsnova]

its not worth the hassle unless storage is free. mk1 golf parts go for silly money.

[burgo]

i think it is alot more work than people think

[Tidy Max]

haha one of my best friends who coincidently has a mk 1 golf, were talking about that, which is kind of what set me off abit!

[meritlover]

listen to your heart and you will find the answer.

[Tidy Max]

lol lol lol lol

in that case im packing in my job and moving to the west end to become a drag queen that goes by the name of l0la.. awesome

[Jack]

ISO container.

It depends what you're breaking tbh. I've always maintained car parts are the best stuff to sell on ebay, but then if you're breaking a whole car you may find the charges on the parts that don't sell offset the profits from the parts that do sell. If you're selling on here, you're limiting yourself to one type of car (i.e. Novas) to be of any use.

Even then, you'll still probably have a load of parts that you need to get rid of that won't sell, most likely shells. If you have the time, go for it, although working 8-6 with a woman too won't give you much spare time I'd have thought...

Give it a shot, buy a car and strip it, see how it goes. If its a success, buy another and go from there.

[Tidy Max]

thanks RJ (do u mind the abbrieviation?) that seems like some good advice, would it be best to buy a car from the scrappers do you think? Or just to shop around and find a bargain, i am really thinking of giving it a go now, will probably wait till settled in the other house though.

It will probably help me to get to know you lot abit better too haha

[Rich]

Would probably be better off with a saturday/sunday job. Breaking cars will be a nightmare, bad enough trying to shift a few little bits. You gotta think about all the messing around with people saying they want stuff in 2 weeks on payday, i havent received this item i want my money back blablabla

[Tidy Max]

also a v.good point Rich thanks, do alot of people who are on here break cars anyway? just out of curiosity!

[meritlover]

the problem is that you may have to hold the parts for a long time before some one wants them all, parts like AFMs, headlights, bumpers etc will go quick, but parts like handbrake levers, hubs, rear seats and fuse bases etc.. may take years to go. youl soon find yourself accumulating piles of perfectly useable junk that you cant afford to give valuable space or scrap it because it owes you money.

as mentioned, disposal of oils/fluids batteries and tyres will cost you money.

far better to buy broken gearboxes and scrap heads, remove all the steel and sell the castings and parts as clean steel or clean aluminium for top price and less waste. your guaranteed a return and waste is kept to a minimum.

[Tidy Max]

thats an interesting idea! thanks for that! i really hadnt given any thought to the its people wouldnt want, the latter option seems more suitable to my situation! much appriecated mate :)

[Jack]

thanks RJ (do u mind the abbrieviation?)
lmfao, everyone tends to abbreviate my name to that now. Even off-forum as well. I have posts on my facebook referring to me as "RJ" lol

If I wanted to go for it, I'd pick something like a Cav V6 CDX - pick one up, preferably an MOT fail, for £300-450. Engine & stuff, £100; box, £50; interior £100; wheels £100. Thats most your money back straight out. Bits that people don't want you may as well just chuck out, or sell at rock bottom prices just to shift (things like headlights could net you a fiver apiece, but rear lights will struggle to sell).

Thinking about getting MOT fails, do you or your mate have trailer licenses? If you do pick up cheapy fail cars to break, you'll need to find a way of bringing them back to your storage.

[Tidy Max]

hahaha thats alrite then!!

We just went to get a drink from the shop and i said "if i do get one, ill get a higher end cavalier i think..." lol

My uncles garage is less than a mile from our nearest group of scrappers so its all good, no we dont have trailer licences but i know/have plenty of people who would be able to help out in that area

thanks for your help mate

[Ben]

Right here you go...

Breaking cars i illegal without a Enviroment Agency liscense which trust me you dont have enough money to apply for otherwise you wouldnt be considering doing it.

Yes lots of people do it without the liscence and get away with it but be aware that it is illegal.

You will need a large storage space and need to be VERY selective on what you buy to break and what parts to take off the cars. It is an awful lot more work than you are thinking, it is very time consuming, you have to consider actually going to collect/buying the cars, stripping them, disposing of the shells, cleaning the parts, listing the adverts, wrapping the parts, posting the parts which will include weekly or daily trips to the post office or waiting in for a parcel collection, And then making yourself avalible for people to collect parts from you.

You can answer, i have a mate that will help collect/wrap/send etc but when this is day in day out its a lot of favours your asking for.

Yes you can earn some good money but you must be willing to sacrifice late nights, weekends and friends/girlfriends.

I ran a business for 3 years doing it and dabbled in it for a few years before that and tbh the best part of my life now is not having to deal with Ebay and selling parts etc on forums.

[Jack]

Thats it decided then. Time to get pimping the girlfriend lol

[hendrix]

tbh its a ball ache.
I did it for a while, buying the odd shi**er here and there and flogging parts but you get too many people promising to buy stuff then never coming for it.
Infact I still have parts from 2 years ago that I haven't gotten rid of yet after people promising to buy them.
What I used to do was just trailer what was left (shells and steel wheels mostly) to the local scrap metal place and weigh them in, often for what I had paid for the whole car and just leave the stuff I couldn't shift in the car.
Tbh now though its getting hard to find stuff to break as most people tend to be wiser as to what parts are worth.
all imho though lol
Ask Colin Smith, surely he's the best guy to talk to??

[NASTYNOVA]

delivery driver, deliver kebabs, pizzas or chinese or something?? cash in hand nites only, piss easy way to make money for 5-6 hours!!

[hendrix]

yep, I done that for like 9 months. Good earner. 40 per night + tips...

[Ben]

paperounds are good for tips too.

[meritlover]

i sell peace of mind for only £10 a time. ive made a lot of extra money.

[Ben]

In all honesty you would be better off going to a £1 shop and buying stuff and selling it on ebay for £2.95, i know lots of people making a living out of this.

[meritlover]

with the values of metals being so high, why not change some notes into copper coins then sell the copper at scrap value?

[draper]

i think breaking cars to make money is one of those things everyone thinks will be easy and good little earner, a bit like dealing in 2nd hand cars but few actually get anywhere with it when you realise how much work is actually involved

[draper]

In all honesty you would be better off going to a £1 shop and buying stuff and selling it on ebay for £2.95, i know lots of people making a living out of this.

really ? im of to invest a tenner !!

[Ben]

be selective but yeah loads to be earner, also earn a £1 on p+p per item,

[L33 LEG]

you want to start stripping cars in a container? ud be sick of that after the first day, no room, no light and well...itl be plain depressing working in one of them wouldnt it?

if you already had a unit of somesort and enjoy buying cars to mess with and sell bits on then it could be worth your while. if you are only buying these cars to make a bit of money on it a few nights a week and on a sunday day, i wouldnt bother imho.

and also, metal used to be around £150 a tonne, isnt it around £80 now?

[Ben]

i was chatting to a mate today who said about £20 a tonne round are way.

[Tidy Max]

okay all in all

BJs ... 10pound
Handjobs....

lol thanks for all the advice, very useful and informative, i thinik ill just end up buying a 1.6gsi engine and rebuilding it and selling off the parts i take off, i realise i wont make money doing this, so im not sure why ive just told you all that??

anyway, yeah pound shop, might go for the big doggs and go on a TK maxx run.. anyone wanna buy any gangster jeans haha!

10pound for piece of mind?? your on merit lover!

[mikey14sr]

Sister in laws company were getting £450 per empty old container only a month or so ago at weigh-in!

As far as I'm aware the current price round here is still close to £250/tonne for steel too.

Personaly I wouldnt count on breaking cars for a regular income, I've still got bits of my SR lying around a year after I started stripping it! It has managed to pay for the new computer though, think I got about £800 out of it so far.

[Mike]

You can answer, i have a mate that will help collect/wrap/send etc but when this is day in day out its a lot of favours your asking for.

Yes you can earn some good money but you must be willing to sacrifice late nights, weekends and friends/girlfriends.

I ran a business for 3 years doing it and dabbled in it for a few years before that and tbh the best part of my life now is not having to deal with Ebay and selling parts etc on forums.

Exactly why ive drastically reduced the amount of competition parts i sell via eBay. I simply dont have the time anymore!!

Yes, i consistently made a lot of money, but, that just relates to cunning advertising, knowing where to get competition parts from, have friends in the rally world etc.

Its a lot more hassle then you would ever imagine chap.

[Ernie]

I broke a few since having my lockup but i havnt done it as a second income more as finding nova's that are for sale and to far gone and saving any bits i need for myself.
Any other bits get bunged on here or ebay for some cider tokens.

[Ben]

My Girlfriend works for legal dept of the EA and they are in the process of prosecuting two ebay breakers. Basically they are watching ebay for people blatently breaking cars and buying something from them when they get the invoice address etc they run a check to see wether they are liscenced etc and if not pay them a visit. So be careful people.

[Pistol Pete]

^ nice heads up warning. I think this is why alot of people have stopped doing it. A combination of timewasters/idiots on eBay and the authorities!

[Rexy]

drugs is the way to go... You can make **** loads of money.

[Pistol Pete]

drugs is the way to go... You can make **** loads of money.

Not always, if the market is saturated, which it is, you can struggle to shift big amounts which is where the ££ is. Apparently... ;)

[Tidy Max]

i do believe that there is lots of everything flying around at the moment, maybe the recessioin will drop the prices as no one can afford anything haha

[Ben]

Not so much money in drugs really, used to have a cocaine dealer whos cars we worked on, hes doing 6 yrs at the moment and im earning more than he was and i pay tax and national insurance,

[burgo]

i know a few people who deal weed and they make **** all. basically just means they get there own for free

[Pistol Pete]

^ exaclty! Not worth the greif either, every tom dcik and harry phoning you all hours of the day... And remember..

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/HPM/HM36~Drugs-Are-Bad-Posters.jpg

[Lee H]

I considered breaking a few cars but there are so many other people who can snap up the cars that break for good money before you even know about them. Calibra turbos are good breakers if you get them cheap but there are about 3 guys on mig who seem to find them all in the north west so no joy there.

As everyone says its a major hassle posting stuff out. I sold a few bits on ebay recently and arranged a courier to collect and they just let you down and then you get the buyers having a go at you etc etc.

[L14MNP]

I've broke a few cars mate but only on the side, as said you end up with loads of parts to good to throw away that take up space until people want them.
IMO unless you break performance Fords say or VX's you can't shift 50% of what you are left with.
I have enough left to build a mk1 xr2 atm, not cool lol The council garage I share with my mate (had lockup but owner sold up) is full to bursting, to the point where his mk1 xr2 is being used as rolling storage and a shelf!

A lot of hassle if you don't have free storage as said.

[Dod]

Ok, CBA to read the whole thread but first off,

Drugs are for idiots, although its said they dont kill people. See Family Guy, "The man with the World Record for most drugs taken died today. He was killed by a Pack of Wolves he throught he saw".

Secondly Breaking cars is always a good idea, I've been doing it for a few years and since I supply parts all over Ireland, people call me with cheaop cars for breaking etc. THe only thing is that a storage container is no good for breaking a car in. Its too small and you wont have sufficant room to remove doors etc. You need a Garage or similar to do it properly.

[hendrix]

A friend of mine at uni was a weed dealer and made a shedload but only cos he was doing it 24/7 and managed to get well known with all the freshers who tended to stick with him and introduce to new people etc etc. He reconned he had 80 regular customers a week.
He bought a 4 bed terraced house with the cash, got out the business and now rents the house to students....
He says its too hard now though as too many people are doing it.

[brainsnova]

You could always invent something and go on dragons den and get owned unless you know all your figuires. lol