Flippers, Good, Bad or indifferent

[wlfrench]

Many people have strong opinions on car flippers and what they bring to or take away from our hobby. Are they good, bad or indifferent and why?

[wlfrench]

https://youtu.be/iDGEachjgWE

[GinettaG12P]

Right now, I'm working on a 1963 Studebaker Avanti R2/4speed that I bought in January. Here's what it looked like then.



And here's what it looks like now (although I'm not yet finished with it.)

[Chris Pile]

Have done it myself. Don't see anything wrong with it.

[Pat Dilling]

Ginetta I hardly believe that what you are doing is "flipping cars."

My vision of a flip is buying an under valued car, doing some minor repairs or improvements and then selling it at market value. Sometimes repairs are not even necessary. I am fine with people doing that. I do object to folks that buy a car and do questionable or shoddy repairs then sell them to unsuspecting buyers. Especially those who represent the cars as rare or high value when they are not. To me, that is fraud. It also bothers me when a person does find a rare car in need of repair and does lousy work to repair it for sale.

[SN-60]

Many people have strong opinions on car flippers and what they bring to or take away from our hobby. Are they good, bad or indifferent and why?

Silly me!.....When I read the heading for this thread, I thought you meant the window 'flippers' used on certain Studebaker hardtop models!

[wlfrench]

I see all these car shows where they take an old muscle car from the 60's that they just paid $3000 for work on it for two or three weeks, new paint and wheels and sell it for $30000. I just gotta wonder how good a job they did and what they do to the market for collector cars.

[studegary]

I do not consider myself to be a flipper. I have owned more than 100 cars, of which more than 50 were Studebakers (plus three Avantis). I enjoy owning and experiencing different cars. I have owned cars from a matter of days to as much as 15 years. The ones that I kept for a short period of time were usually improved by me before I sold them. Some I made money on and some I lost money on and that is without counting my labor. I never wanted to have it where it seemed like a second job.

Neighbors, friends and co-workers used to come to me first when they needed a second car or a car for a child of theirs. My previous next door neighbor bought several cars from me. These people knew that I knew cars and checked out many before buying and went over the cars after I got them. By going to me, they eliminated all of the waste (to them) of time, etc. I enjoy searching out, checking out and purchasing used cars. To most people, this is an undesirable chore.

One unusual example is a Wildcat that I took in trade on my Riviera GS. A co-worker was sponsoring a Vietnamese family. The guy needed a car to get to work. I sold the Wildcat to them for $125. I had allowed a true $100 for the Wildcat on the trade, painted a front door and fender and did a few other things. The following year, I found out that the guy had driven the car everyday with the only repair being a can of stop leak.

This is separate from the hundreds of cars that I purchased and sold for car dealerships that I worked at.

To the initial question - I have nothing against it in general. It is a free enterprise system. Most of these cars, others have had the same opportunity to purchase them. Some people do not like the "hunt", others do. Of course, like with anything, there are a few people that "abuse" the system and give others a bad name.

I have greatly slowed down on this. This is not due to age, but rather due to the increasing New York regulations, title expense ($50), sales tax (8.125%), insurance, state inspection, registration fees (including a surcharge for the MTA!), etc.

[Guido]

I am a resource re-allocator, not a flipper. I never did much with cars, but quite a bit with tractors, farm equipment and more recently, chainsaws. I have taken some hits (lost 8K on a tractor and Bushhog I auctioned), but overall I have come out ahead. I have owned over 65 cars and trucks (with about 3 dozen being Studebakers) and about 70 tractors in my lifetime. I am always looking for a way to pass something along and make a buck in the process.

What I did object to were the people I would encounter at swap meets that would tell me how much they needed a part for a car they were working on only to find out later it was purchased for resale.

[Commander Eddie]

My opinion varies depending on what they are doing too and with the cars they buy and sell. I watch the TV shows of guys buying, fixing up, and selling cars. Some of what they do I like. Most I do not. But, I don't have to like it. I figure if they could not get any money out of the cars they buy and sell they would not do it.
To be honest, I have bought a couple of cars that I turned around and sold. One I held on to for 5 years and put a lot of money into it. I sold it for less then what I had invested but I had gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the car for myself and that made up the difference in my opinion. The other one I held on to for only about 3 months. I sold it after I decided I needed a truck more. I had not put much into it. I sold it for about what I had into it. So, as a flipper, I would starve to death. I just could not do what some of these guys do. My hat is off to them if they can make a living at it.

[Hallabutt]

I have never been a flipper, because I tend to get too attached to the cars that I buy. That means that any advantage that may I have seen gained by buying an under valued car is usually lost by holding on to it too long.

All used car sales people are flippers, but just on a different platform. I find no problem with someone selling a car to someone who needs it more then he does, or the case of and old car, putting it in the hands of someone who appreciates it more then the salesman. Making money on a car purchased for resale is always a crap shoot, there is always the chance of loosing money too. I can understand the negative emotion of turning our hobby cars into a commodity, but I think much of the negativity is just jealousy.-Bill

[Hallabutt]

Pardon my sentence structure on #11, that's what you get when you proof read after you send the message.Bill

[StudeRich]

Pardon my sentence structure on #11, that's what you get when you proof read after you send the message.Bill

Just click on "Edit Post" Bill.

[t walgamuth]

Nothing wrong with buying with the idea of making a profit. I've done it a few times. I've made a little money on several cars I have owned....more than several, but also have lost on many more. Overall I am ahead because of one car which I made a lot on.

[r1lark]

The flipper's theme song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azEOeTX1LqM