If you are a dab hand at sales and you love cars, then it stands to reason that opening your own dealership would be an opportunity that you shouldn’t miss. It’s something that requires careful planning, and if you want to be a dealer, you need to know everything from the legal requirements to what the local market is like.

You need to know whether you should offer new or old cars, how much it will cost to start your business and how to make sure that your business plan is solid. Buying and selling cars may sound easy in theory, but it’s not all that simple. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five things you should consider before you run your own dealership.

Location, Location, Location

Did you know that the location of your dealership can directly impact your profits and sales? There are some locations that offer you the chance to be more profitable than others, and if you look into the average sales, the costs that build while running a dealership and the cost of running the payroll for your employees, you’ll see that it’s not cheap to run a dealership.

Dealership Type

There is more than one type of dealership. You can choose to go it alone and host a range of cars and their brands, or you can franchise a dealership. You could even choose to specialise in used cars over new ones. You can be a connoisseur of luxury vehicles, or you can choose to only lease cars. The choice is yours.

Your Business Plan

You cannot run a dealership – or any business, really – without a solid business and financial plan. You need to woo investors and ensure that you have a strategy for where you want your business to go. When you have these things, you are more likely to be successful with your business.

A Market Analysis

This isn’t limited to dealerships, but you do need to consider having an idea of how you are going to market your business and how many people you will hire. Get some advice about your market analysis and your plan if you haven’t ever written one before.  You need to make sure that you get this right.

Licensing

Depending on where you live, you may need to have a license before you own a dealership. Buying and selling cars is a big business, and you need to ensure that everything you are doing is above board and legal.

It’s exciting to be at the point in life where you want to open your own business, but you need to make sure that you are smart about it. There is no use in opening a business that will fail because you didn’t write the right business plan, or you didn’t look into it enough. If you know that you can position yourself for profits, then this is an excellent idea and could lead you to big places in the future!