I've received a few pm's and emails about my missing thread. I upgradred my my membership to the regular paid membership, and started a thread regarding my business in cars. Well, turns out to promote a business I need to be a full Rennlist sponsor, so Bob deleted the thread, as it was in violation of the rules. In actuality the thread was hidden, in case I further upgraded my membership.

Well, after some emails back and forth with Internet Brands, it turns out a sponsorship is $650/month, which is way more than I want to spend just to offer my services to the 50 or so local folks here in rennlist canada.

So that thread shall be purged to the nether regions of cyberspace, and I won't be discussing work in any promotional way on rennlist.

 

Glad to see oyur a member though .. welcome aboard..

 

That's too bad Chris, with your connections and knowledge of the market, and your business model, you could really add a lot of value to other forum members and to the Porsche community.

It's a shame that you are restricted from bridging your passion for these cars to your livelihood.

Better continue to use facebook to notify us of upcoming gigs with the band too, eh?

 

By the way, if anyone needs the SAP Business Objects platform to bridge disparate data systems across your organization and bring your data reporting and analysis processes into the 21st century, send me a PM! LOL

 

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe that there is an option for $200/month you just don't get the banner. I've looked into this as well and if there is a $200 option I was expecting to start advertising in the early spring. @650 that's just too insane for our tiny market here in Canada. I'd even be willing to limit my promotion to the Canada forum if they wanted.

 

James, I have quite a few disparate data systems that need bridging, actually. Wait a sec, no I don't...

Even at $200/month, it's really more than I can justify, considering the average sale in the end nets less than $1000 profit, and I'd only expect to make one or two a year through rennlist.

 

Ahhh come on .......... you expect me to beleive that?

 

It all depends on the car, but that's usually what ends up in my pocket. Average margin tends to be around $2500, then safety comes out of that, which can be anywhere from $100-1000, then often small things come up, which I'm obliged to fix. So on a good deal, I might net $2000, but on a bad one maybe $500. On some cars, there's wider margin, definitely - those are the hard to find ones that require significantly more time. But then the price premium is justified because of the work involved. But there's just not a lot of room in a boxster, if I'm to be competitive.

 

Christien, I would believe your profit from each car varies as much as you say it does... when somebody really understands the other side of the equation in business they are usually happy to pay for the service.

I don't hide the fact that most of the time I provide my clients a more expensive alternative to the competition. However, I have never lost a deal on price when I get the chance to sit down with the prospect and go through all the items that makes my service more expensive. Our rates are low, but we take longer to do the work... and the customer always appreciates the result.

When I look at the service you provide Christien, combined with the knoweldge and experience you bring with that service, I believe your prices and profit margin are very well justified. You save people time, and they end up with a better car as a result.

 

Thanks! (blushing)