Wheeler Dealer - make money?

dejongj

dejongj

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So I'm cooking myself a fantastic meal and have this Wheeler Dealer programme on. I've seen them sell on two cars, one for £600 more than their direct costs and one for £800 more than their direct costs.

What doesn't seem to be included is the time they spent on it, the premises, taxes, rates, etc. two cars many days work and I can't see how these guys can even break even. What a strange show. Guess they make their money from television?
 
dejongj said:
So I'm cooking myself a fantastic meal and have this Wheeler Dealer programme on. I've seen them sell on two cars, one for £600 more than their direct costs and one for £800 more than their direct costs.

What doesn't seem to be included is the time they spent on it, the premises, taxes, rates, etc. two cars many days work and I can't see how these guys can even break even. What a strange show. Guess they make their money from television?
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Probably not bothered about making money, just making a tv show. Probably costs less than having loads of actors etc. The tall fella, can't remember his name, makes everything look easy. Change the oil, sort the brakes, sort this that and the other. Bang sell it on sorted. They make it all look so simple and easy.

I often wonder, the people who come to buy the cars are probably stooges.
 
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It was the same with "For the love of cars" with Philip Glenister as the money they were spending would be far more than they got back if you factored in the hourly rate for all the mechanics time. It was reasonable entertaianment though, so it was probably cheap to make as well.
 
Peter B said:
It was the same with "For the love of cars" with Philip Glenister as the money they were spending would be far more than they got back if you factored in the hourly rate for all the mechanics time. It was reasonable entertaianment though, so it was probably cheap to make as well.
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Exactly, I used to watch it. The main fella did my head in, did not trust him. Second hand car salesman :rolleyes:
 
Peter B said:
It was the same with "For the love of cars" with Philip Glenister as the money they were spending would be far more than they got back if you factored in the hourly rate for all the mechanics time. It was reasonable entertaianment though, so it was probably cheap to make as well.
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The fella off mad dogs? I liked him, I should have watched it..
 
I find the tall fella very odd. He just upgraded a car, LS400, with HIDs as they look sporty. Really, is that what goes on in people's mind when they see an old car with square headlamps that are blue white and blinding you; Oooh sir that is one sporty car. Seriously?

I am not loosing any sleep over it, the whole concept seems so weird. At least fast and loud has some entertainment factor and they actually fabricate stuff.

But hey, they've done lots of shows of wheeler dealer so there must be an audience for it.
 
dejongj said:
I find the tall fella very odd. He just upgraded a car, LS400, with HIDs as they look sporty. Really, is that what goes on in people's mind when they see an old car with square headlamps that are blue white and blinding you; Oooh sir that is one sporty car. Seriously?

I am not loosing any sleep over it, the whole concept seems so weird. At least fast and loud has some entertainment factor and they actually fabricate stuff.

But hey, they've done lots of shows of wheeler dealer so there must be an audience for it.
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Don't have to be square, they can be round like the old Austins :)
 
Ah the lovely Keeley Hawes. Yes great voice.
 
I can only watch it if I ignore Mr Brewer. I find his style quite grating. Edd China clearly knows what he's doing but there are times I cringe at what they do when "restoring" a classic
 
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Edd China is a clever guy, he's built lots of custom stuff and is obviously a decent mechanic. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edd_China

I suspect the TV company is given a lot of those so called upgrade parts in exchange for a bit of free publicity.

And yes, Mike Brewer is an irritating idiot.
 
I used to watch it quite a bit, but I was a bit bothered by the 'free labour' too. Although tbf that's the same 'profit' model they use on the property programs too. But at least they usually make enough to justify the hours worked (maybe not grand designs)
 
Phil V said:
I used to watch it quite a bit, but I was a bit bothered by the 'free labour' too. Although tbf that's the same 'profit' model they use on the property programs too. But at least they usually make enough to justify the hours worked (maybe not grand designs)
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Exactly my point. I always wonder how they add that kitchen or extension for just £2K ;)
 
dejongj said:
So I'm cooking myself a fantastic meal and have this Wheeler Dealer programme on. I've seen them sell on two cars, one for £600 more than their direct costs and one for £800 more than their direct costs.

What doesn't seem to be included is the time they spent on it, the premises, taxes, rates, etc. two cars many days work and I can't see how these guys can even break even. What a strange show. Guess they make their money from television?
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The idea of the show is to show how easy it is to do basic restorations, that wouldn't be beyond most people who can wield a spanner or screw driver. This means you could do similar and your not going to factor any of those extras into your costs neither.
 
It's rubbish ;) IMO of course. Some of the things they 'do' are stupid & then there's all the other bits they do which aren't included or accounted for & then there's Mike Brewer.......

If you've done some bigger upgrades or done restoration work you'll know it's never ever as easy or as straight forward as they make it out to be ;)
 
jonbeeza said:
Probably not bothered about making money, just making a tv show. Probably costs less than having loads of actors etc. The tall fella, can't remember his name, makes everything look easy. Change the oil, sort the breaks, sort this that and the other. Bang sell it on sorted. They make it all look so simple and easy.

I often wonder, the people who come to buy the cars are probably stooges.
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This is probably as much as they do. If suspension is shagged they almost certainly leave it like that. DMF? Who cares anyway? Etc. And labour really does not cost £120/h hour unless they are the stealership or employ surgeons to do the work. 2nd (well 3rd and 4th) hand car from reseller has a huge pontential to be rip off and lemon at the same time. It is only sad some folk are even happy with watch that stuff on telly.
 
Funny how on some of the old rusted heaps that have been lying around for rusting for decades that each nut and bolt comes off without any hassle ...yeah right!. Never seemed to work for me, usually a job for the grinder
 
frank said:
Funny how on some of the old rusted heaps that have been lying around for rusting for decades that each nut and bolt comes off without any hassle ...yeah right!. Never seemed to work for me, usually a job for the grinder
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I used to love working on my old cars, loved that most of the panels were bolted on and not welded. No idea why I loved it, cut fingers bashed knuckles o_O
 
The TVR Cerbera they worked on was a decent restoration, still running with the owner that bought it and cheap for what was done to it (new chassis).
 
Oh yes fair enough some of the stuff is good. I thought what they did to the CJ4 was great, and leaving aside a full repaint the corvette was done beautifully. A bargain at £3800.
 
The thing is, you couldn't do a lot of this stuff at home. Well, ok you could IF you had a huge heated workshop, a powered vehicle hoist, compressor and air tools, a vast selection of specialist tools and access to lots of professional advice. Oh and Paul, or whatever his name is, to help with the heavy lifting jobs. It would almost be worth the outlay to not have that t*** Mike Brewer popping in every day though.
 
Phil V said:
I used to watch it quite a bit, but I was a bit bothered by the 'free labour' too. Although tbf that's the same 'profit' model they use on the property programs too. But at least they usually make enough to justify the hours worked (maybe not grand designs)
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And lets not forget the 'buy at a boot sale and sell at auction' programs that don't factor in the auction house cut. On second thoughts, lets forget all about them.
 
Yes forgot about those auction programmes. What profit after fees ;)
 
daugirdas said:
This is probably as much as they do. If suspension is shagged they almost certainly leave it like that. DMF? Who cares anyway? Etc. And labour really does not cost £120/h hour unless they are the stealership or employ surgeons to do the work. 2nd (well 3rd and 4th) hand car from reseller has a huge pontential to be rip off and lemon at the same time. It is only sad some folk are even happy with watch that stuff on telly.
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I've seen them replace the suspension on plenty of the cars, a damn sight easier task than some of the other jobs Ed does on the cars. As for DMF's, yet to see them work on a car modern enough to have one, and they only need replacing when necessary, apart from which, I've known people to replace DMF's with the car on axle stands on their drive, so it will be a pop for Ed on his 4 poster lift.

What I do know is the Mk1 Fiesta XR2 episode, the front bumper damage and broken fog light was all down to Mike Brewer who crashed it. ;)

A workmate also upset the filming director in the Delorean episode. They were filming Deloreans following each other, the camera had to be repositioned for several shots and the director noticed something missing from one set up to the next then reappearing in another. Here is why.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY4MUjSlbYY
 
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That is cool :)
 
dejongj said:
That is cool :)
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All my mates own work, although knowing my mate all materials and the time to make the mechanism was paid for by another car manufacturer who shall remain nameless. ;)
 
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