Hello everyone.

Here’s my situation. I have a car that qualifies for govt scrappage & have hatched an idea which may be crazy, so I thought I’d ask for some advice.

The idea is:

I buy a brand new car under the scrappage scheme & get £2000 or more discount then sell it straight away. The aim is that I make a profit of about £1000 ideally.

I have to balance the potential profit against the risks of dabbling in something I don’t know anything about (particulary as I can only do this using a bank loan).

What I know so far:

A brand new car depreciates the minute it leaves the showroom (that’s half my £2000 discount gone).

People will be reluctant to buy a ‘brand’ new car with almost nil mileage because of the previous owner on the V5.

My thinking is I should opt for a city car that is in the cheap price range and appeals to a wide range of people. I’m in Cornwall so that would suit potential buyers in Plymouth, Exeter or Devon, which shouldn’t be too far to travel. (There’s not really enough money down here).

I’ve only just started reading reviews. If my idea seems viable, I have a couple of questions – some advice might help me to know what to focus on when making my choice.

I’m not really sure what motivates people when choosing a car. Running costs obviously, reliability – and their specific needs. But I’ve begun to think after a lot of reading it’s not just a hard pro & con decision – it seems people can’t help but use other factors (the appearance of the car, the whole image of the brand name ) even though they may start out intending not to. If I’m right, that’s something I have to think about in my choice – maybe a Peugeot will ultimately be easier to shift than a Hyundai? I certainly found myself being influenced by all the descriptions of the Peugeot driving experience for instance!!

Grateful for any preliminary advice…