Renting premises to trade from

[snowcat]

From my limited searching so far I can full agree with the statement of 'anyone doing anything with cars is universally avoided, messy, noisy unreliable, is the perception I'm afraid..'
The dodgey dealers and Arthur Dailys of the world have made an impression that I'm constantly trying to prove otherwise.

What's a DOC ticket by the way?

typically it takes one rotten egg to dive the dozen good ones a bad name but, unfortunately cars and scafolders are always the ones that folk avoid.

DOC= duty of care, always issued by a licensed transfer site, not to mixed with a waste carriers licensee which is not worth a rub, just a legal requirement by the L/A and VOSA to carry goods to a recognized site...

 

[michael1703]

Anyway, lets encourage the guy to take the plunge, if we took too much notice of everything we read on forums, we'd be scared to walk out the house

work out what the other companies charge per hour and then work for £x per hour less until youve got a good turnover of regular customers/work, they will be vat registered and the vat rate is 20% after christmas, you wont need to be vat registered yet so thats in your favour

say your unit is £150 per week, your rates about £40, electric £40 etc etc, work out what it cost to break even

then once youve set your hourly wage, work out how much you would take for a 40 hour week if you could bill 40 hours @ £x per hour

dont get grand ideas, in the average 8 hour day you will likely get 5 billable hours, the rest of the time is spent moving stuff around,talking to customers,making contacts in other units,answering phone,ordering parts etc

after youve been in for a while and youve got a steady stream of work, creep your hourly rate up slightly, then you could look to employing someone, two of you will get more billable hours in and you will pay your employee about a third of your hourly rate

get a good insurance policy which covers premises/tools/liability/roadrisks and more importantly employee liability, i skimped on that and when work went manic i found to add employer liability to the policy was huge and wasnt worth doing until the policy was up for renewal

i'd wait until spring, you wont get anything done in this weather and lose momentum at christmas/new year

 

[Sphinx]

Thanks guys, the part about waiting until spring is exactly what I'm planning on doing. I can use this 'down time' to get my head around all the things I need to and start figuring out who to approach.
As I say, the plan isn't to be a garage, it's to trade in cars I'd be proud to put my name on and in most cases they will probably need a little bit of work to get them up to my standards.
It does all sound like there's a lot more paperwork involved than I thought; If I was to set up a Ltd company instead of a sole trade, I'd need employee liability as well even if I don't hire anyone. Add that to all these extra bits I hadn't thought of and it's a daunting task. I've dealt with a couple of dealers and though 'christ! if they can do it, surely I can?!'

 

[rtbcomp]

If I was to set up a Ltd company instead of a sole trade, I'd need employee liability as well even if I don't hire anyone.

This is true because directors are employees of the company. There was a move during the last government to exempt companies which only employed directors from this rule, but I don't think anything became of it.

In practice the powers that be seem to turn a blind eye to this.........until something goes wrong!

 

[keith19]

Just a note of caution about the 'Sole Trader' thing, Sphinx.

Even if you employ someone on a very casual basis, like cleaning or valeting a few hours a week, or even a month, remember you are legally obliged to carry a certificate of employers liability insurance, to a minimum cover of around GBP 5 Million. This certificate has to be displayed on your premises.

Some trades can get away with employing casual labour 'on the side', but the motor trade is liable to inspection by any number of public officials and busybodies.
Best of Luck with it, anyway.
Keith.