Hey guys. I'm thinking about opening my own BMW repair shop and thought some of you may have some experienced advice to lend. Thanks for any suggestions.
Hey guys. I'm thinking about opening my own BMW repair shop and thought some of you may have some experienced advice to lend. Thanks for any suggestions.
Have more working capital than you think you need, Business will be very spotty at first (at least 6 months or so). Don't buy anything you don't need to. Chances are, you'll need the cash for things like utilities, rent, and paying yourself. Make sure you've budgetted sufficiently to pay for your personnal expenses and keep several months for of expenses in the bank in case you get sick/hurt.
Do you already have all of the tools (included shop tools like lifts, air compressor, diagnostic scan tools, parts washer) that you need? Make sure you have cash for them. No one is going to loan you any money at a reasonable rate (at least that's been my experience).
You will want a secretary/appointment taker/bill payer/customer talker person soon. Try and have enough money to pay for one when you start. It will make your life immensly easier. Oh, office supplies (computer, printer/fax/copier, pens, paper, etc) will add up to several thousand dollars. Plan accordingly.
Contract out to a uniform company for coveralls and shop rags. Figure $50 a month per mechanic.
Don't hire another mechanic until you have to. If you can find someone who is willing to come in only when you need extra help and is a half-way decent mechanic, you've struck gold.
Prepare for periods of boredom and panic over your disappearing pile of capital puncuated by periods of frantic activity while you're trying to keep ahead of the workload. Avoid the temptation to hire help until you REALLY need it.
I have looked at doing something similar. But have not pulled the trigger on it yet. There are a lot of shop owners looking to retire. You might be able to buy an existing business, or at least a facility and tools, for much less than it would cost to start of from scratch.
My general advice is find shop owners who are doing very well and are willing to teach you. Businesses are a collection of systems that have to interact smoothly to be efficient and profitable. You have to be systematic in your approach and your thinking. Small changes in the way something like pricing or parts ordering works can make a huge difference in the bottom line.
I have had some conversations with the the pricipals behind this managment system. http://www.quicktrac.biz/index.html. They seem to know the business quite well. The tools and available business coaching made a strong positive impression on me.
Hope this helps.
Once you're in, it will take large amounts of discipline to keep it going, but that's okay because it's your business. And probably just as important, work at taking care of your health, especially when working alone in the shop.
Good luck this is a big step to take.
High quality, knowledgable and honest shops are getting harder and harder to find. Develop a relationship with your customers. Treat them fairly and honestly and they'll line up at your door. Cheat them, over price them or sell them work they don't need and you'll get lonely.
Location, location, location !!!
As has been said here many times, capital, capital, capital. Undercapitalization is the number one killer of start up businesses across the board. I've watched multiple auto repair start ups go from starry eyed "I can fix cars, let's make money!" to "I can't afford to keep the lights on" in less time than you want to think about.
I've seen it happen to people in businesses for many years who get caught in an economic slowdown as well.
Capital, capital, capital. And knowing when to pull the plug.
nickel_dime wrote: High quality, knowledgable and honest shops are getting harder and harder to find. Develop a relationship with your customers. Treat them fairly and honestly and they'll line up at your door. Cheat them, over price them or sell them work they don't need and you'll get lonely.
Does this have anything to do with the continuing trend towards computing/complexity of newer models? It seems as though cars from the mid-90's on (OBD-II) are so dependent on factory diagnostics that small shops have had trouble keeping up.
I know my independent BMW mechanic had to spend a ton on the "official" BMW computer.
low overhead, low overhead, low overhead.....
If you have to make $10k a month just to keep the doors open you will be gone soon....
have you worked at a BMW shop yet ? might be an idea to get some working shop experiance before trying it yourself , its not "easy" money
Insurance will suck you dry and the cost of ownership is going up.
Personally I have been doing a plan for a mobile brake service ( I come to you tent the car do your brake service and you pay me) I figure a one truck operation with a Mighty brake products contract can do 3 "jobs" per day minimum for $159.99 with a profit of about $90.00 per job which would be about $67,500 profit over a 50 week year. Add taxes and insurance and you might make $30K take home.
The average VW brake job here costs $400.00 but the same job across the street MAY cost $129.00 I am scheduled 3 weeks out, they are dead over there. Price makes a difference but not a big difference when compared to service.
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