Florida man is starting car dealership on a tight budget of under $10,000 and shows how difficult the process is

This Florida man wanted to set up his own car dealership, but very quickly realized how difficult it would be, particularly with a budget under $10,000.

Craig, the host of YouTube channel Flying Wheels, had already obtained a dealer’s license in multiple states, and he wanted to continue that pattern in the Sunshine State.

But getting this done on a budget wasn’t going to be easy.

What needed to be done to open up a dealership? It shocked him just how much there was to do.

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What it took to open up a car dealership in Florida with a budget under $10,000

A dealer license would allow Craig to access dealer-only auctions nationwide and to use dealer plates/insurance to legally move cars around.

With his New Hampshire license due to expire, the pressure was on to get his Florida license.

In order to obtain the license, he knew he would need to jump through a couple of hoops.

He just didn’t realize how many.

Whether it was changing business addresses, providing his fingerprints for a background check, and completing 16 hours of training, there were a lot of requirements.

There was no quick turnaround on this, as it could take weeks at a time for each step to go through.

That’s not forgetting the surprise costs, like a $100 fee for a zoning approval process.

And that wasn’t all – an in-person inspection by a state official led to a $300 fee.

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He wanted to do it all on a $10,000 budget

There were a lot of hurdles that came with the process, not least of all getting the shop ready for customers.

With patched walls, a dusty ceiling, and a filthy floor, there was a lot of work to do.

He spent around $500 at Home Depot and $500 at Harbor Freight before doing a big cleanup.

There was also the matter of acquiring cars to sell, including a 2004 Corvette convertible and a 2012 Nissan Altima.

While this was all going on, he was still figuratively spinning his wheels with the license process.

At first, he submitted everything in PDF form before being told he had to drive to West Palm Beach to hand documents over in person.

But then, he received a call telling him that there was still more to do.

It was a frustrating process, and one that seemed never-ending.

“There are so many moving parts and everyone needs something from me,” he lamented.

“It’s a lot of Lego pieces, and if you get too far into the Lego and you’re missing a piece, you have to undo the Lego.”

That may be the first time we’ve seen someone employ a Lego analogy when talking about business.

It’s not the first time we’ve gotten an inside look at how dealerships operate – remember this 1990s sales tactic?

And then there’s the fate of cars that go unbought for hundreds of days.

To keep up with Craig and his journey of opening a car dealership, you can visit his YouTube channel.

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