A Very Stuborn Metro

With the help of my friend Dom, I spent an hour or so trying to resurrect the Metro (his car, his petrol and so zero cost to me!). Once rolling I can scrap it, get £60 and then start making some real money!



We started by trying to gain access to the car as there are no keys. It was amazing how with a screwdriver and a hammer how easy it was to smash the lock and open the door! It had probably been 7 years since anyone has been inside that car, but it smelled more like 70 years... We did find loads and loads of service history in the boot, though!

Next came the tyres. We connected an electric pump, however it soon became clear that all the tyres are completely useless as the rubber has deteriorated to leave huge great holes.



This has left me with three options:

1) Leave this car and find another one completely
2) Try and find someone who is happy to pay for the scrap value of the car, despite it not being able to be rolled anywhere
3) Try and find someone who is happy to give me a set of wheels for free

Hhhmmm... this is getting complicated!

A Free Car Has Been Found!

Well, it has taken longer than expected, but I have finally found my first car... and it really is quite bad!


This Austin Metro has been sitting 3 minutes walk from where I live for 7 years now, and the owner of the house has agreed to let me have the car for free!

The plan is to have the car collected by a scrap merchant and try and get the usual £60. However this one may not be so simple:

1) All four tyres are flat

2) The brakes have siezed

3) There is no V5 log book

4) There are no keys

The following photo shows not only how bad the tyres are but also that the car has sat there for so long, ivy has grown around the wheels!



So, I will have to pump up the tyres (assuming they will pump up), free off the brakes and break into the car (disabling the steering lock too).

And remember, I can't spend a penny on it!

How the Hell am I Going to Find a Free Car???

This is something that is going to be really tough!

There are cars out there for just a few pounds on eBay, but not being able to spend a penny on getting there or even advertising makes the whole first stage really tough.

I have decided to try and look for an unwanted car that is far beyond repair, sitting on someone's drive.

I emailed a number of BNI (www.bni-europe.com/uk) contacts last night, and I also wrote a letter to the owner of a house that is around the corner from me, which has had the same mouldy Austin Metro sitting on the drive for 5 years now. I just offered to 'remove it for free'.

Everywhere I go now, I keep looking on people's drives for 'dead' cars...

Rules! We need Rules!

I have realised that for this to work, I need to set up some rules at the start. Rules which cannot be changed!:


RULE 1 - NOTHING, MEANS NOTHING

If I am going to start with nothing, I really must mean nothing. This means that I cannot spend a penny on my first car:

- No petrol costs are allowed
- No transport costs (that includes trains, buses and everything else)
- No advertising costs when selling it
- No using company staff (as their wages are paid on an hourly rate)

After the first one it should get much easier, but to start with this might be tricky. I have visions of finding a free car 2 miles away and needing to push it all the way back to base all by myself!


RULE 2 - EXCLUDED EXPENSES

If only for the issue that this will get very complicated otherwise, I think that it is best to allow certain expenses not to be covered by Rule 1:
- The cost of telephone calls are excluded
- Any costs that the business would have incurred anyway are not included (e.g. insurance is not included as the company Trade policy covers additional cars at no extra cost)

This, however means that petrol, advertising, transport and all other costs will be deducted from the 'pot' for each car.


RULE 3 - NO CAR MODEL MORE THAN TWICE

To stop being tempted to keep buying the same car over and over again, I will only be allowed to buy a particular Make and Model twice. So once I have done 2 Vauxhall Zafiras, I will have to find something else to buy!


RULE 4 - A PROPER FERRARI!

As Top gear have proven, you CAN buy a Ferrari for under £10,000. To make things worthwhile, I have decided that this rule will require the Ferrari to be either a current or previous model. So, a Ferrari 430 or 360 will do, but a 355 will not be allowed as it is 2 generations back.


As time goes by if I think I need any new rules, I will add them, but these ones here now cannot be changed!

The Start of a Long Journey...

Start with absolutely nothing, and end up with a Ferrari.

The concept is simple, and similar things have been done before... but do I have what is takes?

The plan is to get hold of a car for free and then sell it for a little money. Then use that money to invest in another car, and sell that one at a profit. And then keep repeating the exercise until I have grown the amount of money I have to a size where I can buy a Ferrari.

My whole business (Palmdale Motors - http://www.palmdale.co.uk/) is built on the ability to buy cars for people. We do this day in, day out. The cars we buy are always top quality and we always buy at absolutely bargain prices.

With this in mind, it should be easy... shouldn't it?