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Wanting to start a new HMMWV business. Need your help.

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Creed

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If I want to start a new company to provide the average guy to be able to afford a HMMWV. Our tax dollars paid for these vehicles already, so why can't we have people enjoy these vehicles if they want at a good price. I would like to keep these vehicles between $20,000-$30,000. They must run good and be enjoyed all year round. Do you think its possible? I would look to invest about $500,000. I'm sure I wouldn't make a lot of money, but I would create a few jobs and the pleasure of having blue collar ppl like me have the ability to enjoy something they thought they couldn't afford. Let me know what you think, and if you know how it could be done. Thanks guys.
 

TOBASH

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I don’t understood your business model. I think you will lose your shirt.

Unless you crowdfund this, I think it’s a bad idea. And once you get sued for providing a vehicle beneath the purchaser’s expectations and once you get sued for selling a vehicle that is involved in occupant’s bodily injury, you will be screwed.

Better to donate your moneys to “wounded warrior project”, IMHO.
 

Mogman

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Good way to keep the average Joe from being able to buy one at auction, we are already competing with several businesses for the best ones.:eek:
Just kidding, knock yourself out!
But never take business advice from me, I take something that costs 10K put 20K in it and then it's worth about 15K
 
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Mainsail

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My opinion is there are too many uncontrolled variables. The only way you can safely overcome the variability is to plan very well. Some risks to consider:

Vehicle's actual condition. Those Ritchie brothers have a different motivation than yours; so the condition they report the vehicle to be in is already slanted. Add that there is only so much they can do to sniff out latent discrepancies even if they were motivated to report accurately. So how do you set your bid limit if you have, at best, a poor idea of what it needs to become a $20K truck? The risk to us regular folk is up to us, we accept the risk because it's one vehicle and it won't ruin us if we bid $XX and the delivered cost is $15K, and oops it needs another $15K to be roadworthy; press on or cut your losses.

Vehicle availability. The trucks you'll want/need to bid on, (good running condition, most of the parts still there) often exceed your low-limit selling price after you factor in fees, tax, and delivery. You'll be competing against the regular folks who are willing to drop $15K for a truck they estimate they can get roadworthy using their own free labor.

Parts availability. Some parts are easy to find at some times, some are hard to find some times, and others are hard to find at all times, but there's no way to plan this aspect. For example, if you buy a truck that needs a radiator, and as circumstance would happen, no radiators are available, then what? How long can your business and workers sit idle?

Customers. Are there enough actual committed customers to justify the expenses? There are several companies already in business doing more or less the same thing, and they've already worked out the details. What would you be bringing to the table that's different? WE buy them because we like them, all the idiosyncrasies of military vehicles notwithstanding. For example, I don't care that the ride is rough, it's satanically noisy, there's a milsurp smell about, or that it's drafty. I wouldn't pay $30K for it though. So your only option would be to convert them to Hummers, which would blow your budget. The mil-vehicle market is already schizophrenic; some people turn H1s into military looking, others turn HMMWVs into H1s, and still others take either one and customize it to some specific need.

Johnny Law. There's 50 states and 50 different sets of law on the books, ranging from fuggetaboutit to sure-whatevah. Within those sets of laws are interpretation variables; it's supposed to be legal but Sally Licenseplates doesn't let it through. Beyond that are many many other legal implications- like liability (thing's a deathtrap) and training (nobody told me I couldn't jump it).

These are just some factors off the top of my head that would be very hard to plan for. You'll also need personnel that know these trucks to be efficient.

If you want to do this, I suggest you get in slowly. Start with one truck, go through the (sometimes miserable) process of bidding, getting it to the shop, and then see what it takes to turn it.
 

porkysplace

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Also keep in mind the time frame for the EUC to clear , any where from a few weeks to a year or more in the past .
They have your money and the truck until that clears . Unless you have a lot of disposable cash you can tie up for long periods of time.
Or have private investors will to tie their money up in a high risk long term investment , it's going to be hard to do .
 

mccullek

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If you want to do one truck at a time, I think it's a way to make some pocket change and have fun and keep the trucks alive as well. You need to enjoy tinkering with them and fixing them up though in my opinion, because even simple fixes are often hard due to the fact that they are all usually very old and in not-so-great condition. But sure, working on them one at a time, then buying and fixing up another one, I think it's viable, but the other guys already stated all of the negatives of a business.
 

Mogman

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Definitely not the only one with that idea, I past a little shop in Rockport, TX yesterday that had 8-10 lined up outside the shop.
 

Mogman

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I hate dealing with the public, I work on a few that belong to some ranchers around here only because they tracked me down and offered enough to make it worth my time.
Other than that everyone that lives on this planet's mind ain't right but for mineo_O
 

TNDRIVER

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If I want to start a new company to provide the average guy to be able to afford a HMMWV. Our tax dollars paid for these vehicles already, so why can't we have people enjoy these vehicles if they want at a good price. I would like to keep these vehicles between $20,000-$30,000. They must run good and be enjoyed all year round. Do you think its possible? I would look to invest about $500,000. I'm sure I wouldn't make a lot of money, but I would create a few jobs and the pleasure of having blue collar ppl like me have the ability to enjoy something they thought they couldn't afford. Let me know what you think, and if you know how it could be done. Thanks guys.
Google "Plan B Supply"
 

Vapor Trail

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This is going to end at some point. There are already many businesses buying and restoring these vehicles and every day there's an auction we're one day closer to when they won't sell them anymore. Personally I wouldn't start a business that had such a limited future. Besides, a lot of them already cost almost that much at the auction before they're touched and add delivery fees and auction fees to that. Not doable.
 

montaillou

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They have your money and the truck
Currently, GovPlanet is releasing the vehicles. I bought a M1097 2 months ago in WA and was able to pick it up 5 days later, and I just recently won a M1114 (for parts) from Yermo and the auction clearly states I have 8 business days to pick up or incur storage fees.

But, the SF97's will still be in the wind for months. So, you could prepare the vehicles, but I don't believe you could legally sell any of them.

Considering how many HMMWV's are being sold each week, I'm thinking there must be some businesses already at work. The best deals are on the ones that have something wrong with them which lessens, considerably, the number of bidders and the final cost. In my experience, GovPlanet does a good job pointing to where the problem is which tends to narrow down the likely issues. Sometimes the fix is quite simple.
 

Retiredwarhorses

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If I want to start a new company to provide the average guy to be able to afford a HMMWV. Our tax dollars paid for these vehicles already, so why can't we have people enjoy these vehicles if they want at a good price. I would like to keep these vehicles between $20,000-$30,000. They must run good and be enjoyed all year round. Do you think its possible? I would look to invest about $500,000. I'm sure I wouldn't make a lot of money, but I would create a few jobs and the pleasure of having blue collar ppl like me have the ability to enjoy something they thought they couldn't afford. Let me know what you think, and if you know how it could be done. Thanks guys.
Anyone with money can start a business , the question is, do you have the technical resources to work on these vehicles?
There are plenty of defunct hmmwv companies and still plenty of companies turning out crap trucks.
You need to understand your target audience as well, these trucks are purchased with expendable income, it’s like a boat purchase, only a fool IMO would try and make these trucks into the equivalent of a 2500 Dmax truck and drive it every day, they have limitations.
 

Mullaney

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Anyone with money can start a business , the question is, do you have the technical resources to work on these vehicles?
There are plenty of defunct hmmwv companies and still plenty of companies turning out crap trucks.
You need to understand your target audience as well, these trucks are purchased with expendable income, it’s like a boat purchase, only a fool IMO would try and make these trucks into the equivalent of a 2500 Dmax truck and drive it every day, they have limitations.
.
I was really hoping you would have an opinion. Definitely two different things: Running a Business and Fixing Trucks. The two aren't the same for sure!
 

chucky

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You might go visit a man named Brandon in murry ky he usally keeps a couple hundred Vs sitting out back and probly sold a couple hundred in the last 4 or 5 years !
 

chucky

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If I want to start a new company to provide the average guy to be able to afford a HMMWV. Our tax dollars paid for these vehicles already, so why can't we have people enjoy these vehicles if they want at a good price. I would like to keep these vehicles between $20,000-$30,000. They must run good and be enjoyed all year round. Do you think its possible? I would look to invest about $500,000. I'm sure I wouldn't make a lot of money, but I would create a few jobs and the pleasure of having blue collar ppl like me have the ability to enjoy something they thought they couldn't afford. Let me know what you think, and if you know how it could be done. Thanks guys.
Is that big army surplus /hardware store on the west side of I-15 north of Salt Lake still open ?
 

MattNC

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I would think the first thing is to know what customers you want and which ones you don't and then deliver 100% for those customers you want. Just from observing here for a while and having my HMMWV and other military items I've seen the businesses that pan out, such as RWH who gave great advice above, and those who have not.

If I were you I would avoid the "walmart" shoppers who are going to try to beat you down, i.e. " heard they go in auction for 4K so can you give me a running driving road legal one for 8-10K". I would also avoid the ones that want you to put a 1000hp cummins in it or who say they want it for hauling their 15,000lb gooseneck to work every day. They will be back within a day with it broken and blaming you. To me the sweet spot are customers who know a good amount on what they are getting into and understand quality has to be paid for.
 

sue

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Do your homework and proceed slow and besides how many small and large businesses started with a lot of negative feedback from the start? How many business and Wall Street “experts “ said amazon would fail? That there business plan was severely flawed.
 
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RJTM998

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Your biggest issue will be finding parts like doors, 2man to 4 man conversion kits, etc. Prices are crazy when they are wanting $3k+ for a soft top conversion kit with 4 doors and they don't even come up that often for sale. $4k for X doors, etc. A local car dealer just bought 5 pretty rough ones and he had an average of $11k each in them at auction. He said he is selling them once complete starting at $22k and up. His idea of complete was running and titled with a few basic cosmetic fixes like a seat, windshield, etc if it needed it. He told me he was not even going to paint them. I told him good luck with that. I think where you could possibly make some money is doing extra nice OEM style builds and asking a premium for a turn-key, titled, and ready-to-go type truck. You will have a smaller customer base but a customer base that would pay a premium for a truck like that. I have a 1988 M998 I got for $12k from a guy that originally paid $8k at auction with fees, etc. It was a solid truck but need a lot of TLC. It took me the better part of a year to source a new top, doors, cargo cover, etc and I had good connections. Now I am north of $22k in it. I figure on a good day it might bring $25k and only because it is a REALLY nice truck with working radios, and looks as good or better than a fresh motor pool reset from the military.

Another option is doing crazy high-end custom style builds more towards the "overlanding" and prepping crowd. Some of these people are willing to spend BIG money on those types of trucks.

It could be a fun hobby for you doing a few trucks a year but I don't see it as a full-time gig making tons of profit.
 

HoveringHMMWV

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For me, it’s just a hobby. I could never make a profit, let alone a viable income, selling one at a time. I have way too much invested in labor to create a margin.
 
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