Careers options...

[InkedMuttley]

Bit of a strange one I know after all I'm nearly 27 right?

Most of the day I've been sat pondering life if you will I've been unemployed for 4 years, have little or no money and pretty much no friends or family now and I'm sat here thinking about what the f*ck I'm going to do to change my life. Bit of a background on me:

I left school when I was 14 due to bullying I suffered my first nervous breakdown when I was 11 due to bullying, I had a subsequent breakdown when I was 13 again because of bullying and finally decided enough was enough when I was stabbed by one of the school bullies and they refused to do anything (He was black and his parents screamed racism!) so I gave up on school and went to a local training provider called Wheelbase in Nottingham, they taught me how to build grasstrack Mini's, how to fix and maintain cars and bikes etc. From there I went to college when I was 16 to do motor vehicle maintenance. I did this for 3 years before I decided to do something fresh I then did Photography and Multimedia at college when I was 19 loved the photography but that was it. Then I decided to help out a friend with his business and so I spent the next year as a vehicle dismantler mainly dismantling Land Rover and other 4x4's. Then when I was 21 I also did another year with another friend fixing up cars that would otherwise be scrapped, sticking them through an MOT and selling them on for a profit.

No matter what I do I always seem to go back to cars, I live for cars, I breathe cars I am a petrolhead through and through. But I am jobless and would like to work and seeing as I don't actually have many qualifications (or at least they aren't generally recognised now) I'm thinking of starting dismantling cars and selling the parts off as profit.

What does everyone reckon, is it viable? Initially if I do start I shall be doing it from my back garden for a bit (strip the shell down, scrap the shell/sell it off if straight) and probably storing the parts in a shed until sold. Once I have stripped a few cars and gotten myself a bit of profit I will then look into renting a bit of wasteland or possibly a workshop (somewhere dry to strip bits and then to store them).

Anybody any other ideas on what can be done in the motor trade without actually needing to completely re-train?

Bit long winded I know but I am determined to actually start doing something with my life!

[cpikey316_]

If you get a bit of land, what about buying cars with MOT fails and fixing them? Not major major stuff, but those labour heavy jobs that put people off, worst comes to the worst, you could add them to your breaking pile if you cant sell them.

[Poodle]

There can be some pretty high set-up costs involved in vehicle breaking, looked into it myself last year. There's also a lot of govt bs to deal with to get your licenses - waste disposal, etc. Should be fine if you've got the capital behind you and don't mind attending some daft seminars where they tell you not to sell antifreeze to children, burn left-over batteries or use the bare backs of immigrants to move scrap vehicles around.

I actually found the govt site quite helpful: https://www.gov.uk/browse/business. At the very least it gives you an idea of what's needed to be legal.

[karl1989]

A friend of mine got a recovery truck and started recovering cars. Now he has started putting ads in the local paper for scrap cars and he doing doing well now. You wouldnt believe half of the cars he gets. Have a look in your local paper and see the prices people are paying for cars. Normally tops are 200 but you could put 220. Be worth it to strip of fix them up

[Danny2009]

I have a decent size unit I've been un employed for a while always been messing around with cars and used to fix mates cars for peanuts just for a bit more cash for me

Now I've got this unit I have odd mechanics jobs in but mainly I buy broken cars need clutch ect and sell on or just strip them to a bare shell and I make a decent profit from it, I have someone to collect my shells that gives good money save all the battery's cats and wiring loom and weigh them in separate for myself.

If you have a few quid to buy a car I would say give it a go

[306carter]

I have bought and broke 6 cars over last couple of year and never made a loss made £250-£600 on them and only have them for a weekend cos are lass don't like the mess.

GTi's VTS's ect have the best return.

[swampy]

As said the problem you have is that to run it as a business you need all sorts of licenses to not only dispose of certain items like old oil and radiator water but also special equipment to store it in.

[Eeyore]

Yeh setup would be quite high I imagine if you dont have a friend who can do you a good deal on a unit. Also youd have to post the majority of the stuff as Skegness is pretty out the way for most of the country :/

[InkedMuttley]

Yeh setup would be quite high I imagine if you dont have a friend who can do you a good deal on a unit. Also youd have to post the majority of the stuff as Skegness is pretty out the way for most of the country :/

This is the beauty...around this neck of the woods there is only 2 scrap yards around here, one is 23 miles away and the other is 35+ miles (Horncastle and North Somercotes) so say Joe Bloggs needs an engine for his car he's got 2 options, he can reduce it to scrap or he can try and get to one of those. If there's one in the immediate vicinity then I'm going to be at the top of the list.

Failing that I do know start up costs are going to be fairly high, but I've actually found an industrial unit 20 miles down the road (Boston) that is already well enough equipped to start it there's racking in one part of the building and a 2 post ramp already in place as well as a little office and toilet but that's only £77 per week. So if I can start now and start making it pay I'll be well away and at prices like that then if it doesn't pay I can just walk away having had the experience.

But for now I need to find me a permanent home with a driveway and look about getting some cash behind me!

[Eeyore]

Yeh setup would be quite high I imagine if you dont have a friend who can do you a good deal on a unit. Also youd have to post the majority of the stuff as Skegness is pretty out the way for most of the country :/

This is the beauty...around this neck of the woods there is only 2 scrap yards around here, one is 23 miles away and the other is 35+ miles (Horncastle and North Somercotes) so say Joe Bloggs needs an engine for his car he's got 2 options, he can reduce it to scrap or he can try and get to one of those. If there's one in the immediate vicinity then I'm going to be at the top of the list.

Failing that I do know start up costs are going to be fairly high, but I've actually found an industrial unit 20 miles down the road (Boston) that is already well enough equipped to start it there's racking in one part of the building and a 2 post ramp already in place as well as a little office and toilet but that's only £77 per week. So if I can start now and start making it pay I'll be well away and at prices like that then if it doesn't pay I can just walk away having had the experience.

But for now I need to find me a permanent home with a driveway and look about getting some cash behind me!

just move into the office! Sounds good for £77 a week! My student house which only includes a water bill is £65 each a week and theres four of us D:

[cpikey316_]

Yeh setup would be quite high I imagine if you dont have a friend who can do you a good deal on a unit. Also youd have to post the majority of the stuff as Skegness is pretty out the way for most of the country :/

This is the beauty...around this neck of the woods there is only 2 scrap yards around here, one is 23 miles away and the other is 35+ miles (Horncastle and North Somercotes) so say Joe Bloggs needs an engine for his car he's got 2 options, he can reduce it to scrap or he can try and get to one of those. If there's one in the immediate vicinity then I'm going to be at the top of the list.

Failing that I do know start up costs are going to be fairly high, but I've actually found an industrial unit 20 miles down the road (Boston) that is already well enough equipped to start it there's racking in one part of the building and a 2 post ramp already in place as well as a little office and toilet but that's only £77 per week. So if I can start now and start making it pay I'll be well away and at prices like that then if it doesn't pay I can just walk away having had the experience.

But for now I need to find me a permanent home with a driveway and look about getting some cash behind me!

A car lifting ramp? I am so jealous!!

[InkedMuttley]

A car lifting ramp? I am so jealous!!

Yeh there is the lift, worth the £77 per week just for that save buckets on servicing. Admitted I don't know what the capacity of the lift or what sort of condition it's in but it'd be bloody handy!

[cpikey316_]

A car lifting ramp? I am so jealous!!

Yeh there is the lift, worth the £77 per week just for that save buckets on servicing. Admitted I don't know what the capacity of the lift or what sort of condition it's in but it'd be bloody handy!

Could let mates 'use' it on weekends for the odd tenner too!

As long as they promise not to sue you if their car falls on them!

[ozonehostile]

theres always going to be money involved with car parts/maintenance. if you have the skills id say go for it, if you can do decent welding you should start seeing regular work coming in once word gets out.

the start up costs of a car dismantler are indeed high, but since your not going full scale and just doing a couple of cars here and there to start with you should save some cash up from that then in a few months if its making the turnover you hoped for you could then go about obtaining the proper licences etc.

aslong as you dispose of used oil and coolants responsibly people wont have a problem