Fun occasional side business idea

I've done a few fly and drives. Might be doing another one in a week and a half.

I enjoy doing this, and every time it's ended up being cheaper than shipping the car or buying an equivalent car locally if it's even available.

This current one is for a close friend. On the subject of compensation, i got the idea of doing this more often for other people.

I understand there might be some liability that would have to be hashed out each time, whether that be a contract that simply says "Buyer is responsible for insuring the vehicle and providing me with proof of insurance, Swank will not be held liable for any damages blah blah blah." Or myself providing insurance. (Could this get complicated?)

But basically, i'm thinking i charge gas, hotel if necessary, flight(s), and maybe $10/hr for each hour that i'm actively on the road.

Decent idea? Am i way undercharging? Is this a terrible idea due to the liability thing and i should stick to just doing this for friends?

Is the juice worth the squeeze? I kinda doubt it.

Not looking to get rich. Just drive around the country in cool cars on someone else's dime.

This one i'm planning on doing next weekend i'll knock out in a single day, and would net me around $150. That's about what i make at my day job, and is infinitely more fun.

Unfortunately, most of the people long distance purchasing really "cool" cars will pony up to transport them. You're much more likely to be playing Jason Statham in a bunch of fleet cars and tired junkers than Transporter-ing BMWs and Audis.

"Why no, that's not actually my 6000LE on fire in the parking lot, but I am supposed to be driving it from Fargo to Butte for the actual owner..."

That's fine by me. I have a very low bar for defining "cool."

Cool means "Not a Taurus."

Swank Force One wrote: That's fine by me. I have a very low bar for defining "cool." Cool means "Not a Taurus."

Yeah, because a Pontiac 6000LE is somehow better?

I know that BGKast was looking for a way to get his $50 SAAB Turbo from Portland to Florida and back for the Challenge. Might be worth a message at least and see if it would pass the sniff test.

In reply to turboswede:

Between gas, flights and time I have a feeling shipping it would be less expensive unfortunately.

I am not going to be a Debbie Downer like everyone else. It sounds like a prospective part time ordeal.

I think that you would have to figure out to the logistics, but other than that, if someone trusts you more than a transporter, than it definitely could work out.

Isn't this how Vanishing Point got started?

Exactly my thoughts.

But berkeleying cool nonetheless.

In reply to bgkast:

Yeah, this doesn't really work out for much other than fly 'n' drives, unless we're talking a round trip from my own city.

I'd have to fly out to you, get the car, drive it completely across the country, fly home, get my own car, drive it down there, drive my car back. Fly to gainesville, drive your car completely across the country again, then fly home.

Every fall transport trucks are full of cars from the midwest heading to Florida. In the spring, the trucks are full going back. Might be something to that - potentially you could do it faster than waiting for a full truck or transport personal items. The negative is adding an extra 750-1500 miles' of wear and tear on someone's car for close to the cost of shipping.

I think dealers often assign employees to shuffle cars around between dealerships if they are semi-close in location. In my mind, you will need to do two things to be competitive with shipping. 1. Be able to handle your own travel to and from jobs (you mentioned starting or ending in Indy, and that is what I mean). 2. You have to be significantly cheaper since you add miles to a car. You do this by not charging hook up fees.

Maybe find a small exotic car dealer who needs to pick up trade-ins on the cheap? Paying you is probably cheaper than shipping if your trip is less than about 200 miles.