Car repairs business advice please

[W.olly]

Quick as i am off to the grind stone soon.

I am thinking of setting up working for myself and as i have for many years, in my own time now and then fixed and welded a lot of cars i was thinking about going at it part time for now then full time, I used to charge a lot less than garages do and it was dam good pay, 2-3 times what i do in my full time job at the minute. I am not after earning a million just a good wage than i am now, just above min wage.

I was going with just welding for MOT work etc, but i would also do the service parts, exhaust etc etc and anything else that came in, but as i will be on a budget at first i wouldnt be touching these new age cars which are more electrical and need all the computers to fix, not a spanner, if you know what i mean.

Just would like a bit of feed back from folk who have done this and what they found.


cheers

wolly

 

[madkayaker]

wish you lots of luck but I can see it being a very hard wad of earning a livening. Lots of people wanting g the job done for £20 and then moaning when It needs further work the next year. Also exhausts ate very cheep these days so anything but small repairs would be cheaper to change.
Accident repairs get very costly quick so often involve insurance and they use big approved repairers


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[AndyStobbs]

If you do it on the drive, you might stand a chance. Overheads are a killer.
And not too many cars left that don't have any need of a computer, you will need something computer ish.

 

[naughtyboy]

neighbour is panel beater and just started getting tatty cars from auction doing them p and selling them on.

making fair money bt putting it all back into getting gear he needs.
reckons in about another year will be able to give up working for someone else.

 

[marlinspike]

I would think mobile welding would be a possibility. I think renting garage space plus tools, plus overheads would be a very expensive outlay. Mobile welding and smart repairs?

 

[norsa]

I ran my own workshop for a few years and a majority of income came from insurance repairs to Thatcham times. Most of the insurance work has now been taken away from independents unless you are prepared to jump through many hoops. Have some consideration towards. HSE, insurance, rates, premises, accountancy, payment methods, (most people want to pay by card) phone line, advertising, handling of multiple vehicles, estimating, invoicing and then work out your hourly rate whilst considering the fact that not every day will give you 8 hours of paid rate untill you get established. I wish you the very best with your venture but be prepared to put in lots of hours, many unchargeable.
Nick

 

[bigbadbugga]

ive often thought about this myself, then i do a job for someone who reminds me why i discounted the idea last time.

you know the sort, you fit new brakes and they come back three days later saying the car is overheating, and its my fault as i was the last one to work on it.

i just do favours for mates and family now.

 

[migman2014]

We do mot welding as a side line. If you can get in with a local garage or someone that tests but don't want the hassle of welding could be good. I used to work on cars many years ago but as previous posts say that was before you could buy exhausts and cills cheap. Give it a go and get your name out there. Just don't sell yourself cheap

 

[zx9]

I ran my own workshop for a few years and a majority of income came from insurance repairs to Thatcham times. Most of the insurance work has now been taken away from independents unless you are prepared to jump through many hoops. Have some consideration towards. HSE, insurance, rates, premises, accountancy, payment methods, (most people want to pay by card) phone line, advertising, handling of multiple vehicles, estimating, invoicing and then work out your hourly rate whilst considering the fact that not every day will give you 8 hours of paid rate untill you get established. I wish you the very best with your venture but be prepared to put in lots of hours, many unchargeable.
Nick

I agree 100% with Nick, there is a world of difference between earning a few quid off the books and running a business. If you do go for it there will be lot of hard work to do before you even touch a motor.

 

[W.olly]

Mornin chaps, a good few things to think about, thanks, i never actualy thought of the rates etc etc, they can be as expencive as the rent at some places around me, i have plenty of space at home a good work area seperate from the house, BUT as always there nosey dam neighbours to spoil everything, i have had the council sying that i am running a car business from home last year, dont know why as i havnt touched anybodys car in over 2 years as i wasnt able to work after eye surgery, so god knows where they got that from. I can still do repairs as the area i work in is all enclosed so no ****** will know except for the noise.
Thanks again i will need to look into the cost of the upkeep, tools are not a problem though.

wolly

 

[J_K]

I would suggest joinng the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses).
I did this year. Cost £280 for the ywar I think but I've saved more than that already on our business insurance renewal and £10 a month on our card machine.
They can get good deals on things like that which would help keep any over heads down.
They've also got free legal advice which I've used a couple of times aswell.