Overnight Auto Repair Garage

[LINGsCARS]

I agree that for trucks (and less for vans), this market exists and is catered for.

But the OP is not onto a winner as 1) it could be easily copied by exisiting businesses with an established customer base, 2) It needs to sit on the back of a successful existing business - anyone who suggests a night-time start-up is in gaga land, and 3) There is no proven market that retail customers want the service.

So, you would have to create the company and business, create the market (this is both from scratch by the sound of it), and accept that more successful competitors could grab it at any time.

If you can get funding for any of this (and the equipment/premises are not cheap) I will eat one of my cars. Staff costs and retention (for night time ops) will be horrendous. You will need 2 shifts of people, as customers will need to bring cars after (say) 5pm, and collect them up to (say) 10am. That's 2 solid shifts of night-time work. The employees (without a day shift) will be on solid 100% night-time working.

As well as parts and logistic and communication problems already raised.

Lunacy. Can no one else look at this from a common sense point of view?

 

[JoyDivision]

Lockie has thought of what I have the second I have seen this. Noise. For this reason it would have to be an industrial estate which may or may not cause problems.

I think this could work but only for certain jobs, MOTs, servicing etc, and getting access to parts will be a major problem.

It is a good idea you just need to get your welder out and repair all the holes for this to work .

 

[biz123]

yeh that is well put and we are in the process of doing it already!

 

[biz123]

just to let you guys know I have thought about to start with doing mainly full car valeting overnight. I thought of this mainly because the start up cost's are a lot lower and would help us to raise the money. Any thoughts?

 

[LINGsCARS]

Why not just do it? The most you can lose doing valeting are a few nights of sleep. And a big pot of cash...

Seems a big thing to leave a car with someone overnight (all the palaver of taking it/getting home etc), just for a valet. A daytime mobile service would seem more sensible.

Why are you obsessed with the night? Do you have a bit of vampire in you? Same goes for valeting as anything - you need to make it work in the day first, before moving to night. You are convinced to completely write the rule book, and doing this, you will fail. Almost guaranteed.

You need a customer base and a good, profitable daytime business. Then, you would slowly extend the hours to operate a half-night shift, returning for collection at 7am you would re-open. However, you want to leapfrog the daytime business bit. Why? Because you think the night-idea's uniqueness is an easy and fast route to success. It isn't.

To carry the overheads of night wages, extra overheads (heat and light as it's colder and darker at night - you will need good lighting to do a good job), plus all the other difficulties of staff deciding they prefer a pint and a curry to turning in for work... and you can't just get dentmaster to nip in for 5 minutes at 3am... plus the before-mentioned noise problem... this is a no brainer of a bad idea.

How to lose money: Spend twice as much doing at night what you can easily do in the day.

There are some good night-time careers: shift work like policemen or poledancing and prostitution, taxi work, plus kebab shops.

 

[dave_n]

just to let you guys know I have thought about to start with doing mainly full car valeting overnight. I thought of this mainly because the start up cost's are a lot lower and would help us to raise the money. Any thoughts?

save up more money and go with the original idea as it appears to have more potential.

 

[LINGsCARS]

Do not go with the original idea.

Garages (as well as car sales) are suffering like mad.

Save up your money and do not risk it on this bonkers idea.

The moon can APPEAR quite close to the Earth some nights... maybe that's the problem? Too much moon?

 

[dave_n]

Do not go with the original idea.

Garages (as well as car sales) are suffering like mad.

Save up your money and do not risk it on this bonkers idea.

The moon can APPEAR quite close to the Earth some nights... maybe that's the problem? Too much moon?

lol...i like it

the stars can APPEAR quite close to the Earth on some nights....sometimes you should reach for them

 

[Grassman]

Just one question
Does the central MOT computer system work through the night?

 

[biz123]

haha lol. The main reason I want to do it overnight is for the convenience of the customer. Most people spend all day at work so would either have to get up really early and wait for the valet on the way to work or go after and be late for dinner! A proper car valet inside and out can take a long time.

Obviously mobile valeting is the main competition..

 

[willitbe]

Ling. you are nutter...

But, on this occasion you are offering sound advice....

 

[willitbe]

haha lol. The main reason I want to do it overnight is for the convenience of the customer. Most people spend all day at work so would either have to get up really early and wait for the valet on the way to work or go after and be late for dinner! A proper car valet inside and out can take a long time.

Obviously mobile valeting is the main competition..

I don't know anyone who would be that desperate for a clean car that they would risk a job for.

A person comes to do mine for 30 quid at anytime to suit.

You are wasting your time with valeting

 

[stugster]

What we've seen recently up here is a massive rise in the drive-through car washes. I don't mean the cheap crap ones you get in the Sainsbury's petrol station, but a reasonable sized area of land where three or four guys are standing with high powered pressure washers ready to give your car a blast

Get that kind of set up on a busy street and you're laughing

£6 a go, have em in and out in 4 minutes.

 

[willitbe]

What we've seen recently up here is a massive rise in the drive-through car washes. I don't mean the cheap crap ones you get in the Sainsbury's petrol station, but a reasonable sized area of land where three or four guys are standing with high powered pressure washers ready to give your car a blast

Get that kind of set up on a busy street and you're laughing

£6 a go, have em in and out in 4 minutes.

The one nearest us has 14 blokes of european persuasion working for them, they charge a fiver, saturdays you have to wait an hour to get through, it's an old petrol station, with 3 lanes.

A guarenteed earner without a doubt, as long as it is an A road

 

[Jezclayton]

The one nearest us has 14 blokes of european persuasion working for them, they charge a fiver, saturdays you have to wait an hour to get through, it's an old petrol station, with 3 lanes.

A guarenteed earner without a doubt, as long as it is an A road

....and they're not open overnight which tends to suggest there's no market.

 

[sm1]

I genuinely can't see getting a car cleaned that much of a necessity and would be more willing to get it done when needed, rather than booking it in overnight

 

[shinzo159]

hi, are the 3 of you the ones who will be doing the services?

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Hi biz123,

I have jumped on this post a bit late and apologise if someone else has already commented similar, but I think it is a great idea, especially as you have a facility and all of it's cost that just sits there for 12 hours+ a day, unused. Utlising this asset, assuming the business is there, will increase your profit marging dramatically!

Bolting on additional services is a good idea, however, the car cleaning business, as a feature, may not be the best, due to reasons already mentioned.

As for charging a premium, I do not think you should, for a couple reasons -
- most people accept that cars get repaired over x hours or days. Doing it over night is a benefit and a potential USP and should be a 'standard' servcie.
- in the current financial climate, people may just use their existing garage, under timescales they already accept, if they think their is a premium for night work.

You have hit on something that many businesses need to look at and take a lesson. If you have invested in an asset, be it a vehicle, building, machinery etc, you must maximise it's use to get a better ROI. Public services like hospitals should be working longer hours, for things like operations, outpatients etc. Employent would reduce (longer working hours ideally need more staff). waiting lists reduce and more people are happy!

Anyway, good luick with this idea!

 

[LINGsCARS]

Hi biz123,

I have jumped on this post a bit late and apologise if someone else has already commented similar, but I think it is a great idea, especially as you have a facility and all of it's cost that just sits there for 12 hours+ a day, unused. Utlising this asset, assuming the business is there, will increase your profit margin dramatically!

Complete rubbish.

You can apply that train of thought to anything: your office, your telephone (unused at night?), your kitchen (unused between meals?), your car (unused when you are not driving it?).

Clearly, this night valet (or repair) business is nonsense. If the business does not exist/is not a success during the day, saying operating at night will increase a profit margin is just wrong.

How many times must common sense be pointed out: to operate at night, you need 2 additional shifts, you will have a far greater absentee rate, you have to pay a premium for wages, heat and light, there is a noise issue, there is the fact that you cannot contact people, you cannot work with suppliers and you (as a business owner) will have to sleep during the most productive time (daytime working hours), you may have additional costs like insurance, there will certainly be planning reg issues and perhaps the biggest reason - how many customers demand night-time services? Even Tesco is virtually empty at 3am, with just 1 till operating and opens for customers because the store is already open for re-stocking anyway.

Sorry Consultant, you are wrong, completely wrong. If you were correct, everyone on this forum would be running a night shift.

If (IF) you have a massive under capacity production problem... or a massive fixed cost operation (like a manufacturing plant) with large demand, or work in a critical industry (like power generation or police), or need to run night time ops like a taxi firm, then there is a case. But for normal businesses, there is not. Even massive operations like airports, train services, many TV stations and radio stations, All the B and Q stores and the whole of the motor industry including (even) me, close down at night. If there was a demand for night-time, I would have my sister in China running an office there (during their day), to cover my night-time requirements. Even at that very low-cost, it's not viable for me (and we are talking web-visitors, hardly early finishers themselves).

You would need to be at 100% utilisation on 7-day working, no room for further expansion, and with some overtime hours thrown in to even BEGIN to consider this lunatic cash-draining idea.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Hi Ling,

'saying operating at night will increase a profit margin is just wrong' Well, I disagree, however, my comment was made on ther assumption that day business was already in place. To simply open up a new garage for night business would be, at best, stupid.

Using Tesco to compare was not the best choice. Many (larger) Tescos operated 24 hours before they opened to sell 24 hours - they had to fill their shelves and this was done at night time. The incrimental cost to them to add a few checkout staff was minimal. This is a perfect example!

Sure, my comments do not work in all businesses and situations, but, in your world of vehicles, using one car for a 24 hour taxi service or a lorry in constant use is not uncommon, as you mention.

You must also apply this concept to the relevant markets. Sure, if you work in an office and you and your clients work 9-5, it probably will not work, but (using your sister in China analogy) if you had a sales operation in the US, having one knowledge/admin base in the UK, with staff utilising the assets 24/7 would work! Many companies already do this.

 

[LINGsCARS]

Any chance these points could be addressed?


To operate at night, you need 2 additional shifts,

you will have a far greater absentee rate,

you have to pay a premium for wages, heat and light,

there is a noise/traffic/environment issue,

there is the fact that you cannot contact people (customers) much of the time,

you cannot work with suppliers at night

you (as a business owner) will have to sleep during the most productive time (daytime working hours),

you may have additional costs like insurance,

there will certainly be planning reg issues

How about staff amenities like meal breaks - where do they buy food from? They cannot do stuff like nip to a post office.

It will be constantly dark outside (much of the year) hampering even simple things like car colour ID and writing stuff outside. Everything is harder.

Covering staff holidays etc will be much harder

and perhaps the biggest reason - how many customers demand night-time services?



Apart from all this, for someone to start this business will take massively more cashflow and payroll, will have NO cost savings, only increased costs, and will take at least twice the effort to succeed.

Even on the premise that the business was already existing and successful (- which it's not)... I would say it was complete financial/business madness. The whole point of day operations is to concentrate business into a more efficient and convenient operating period that suits everyone.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I also ask myself why the established garages have not done this sort of thing.?

Earl

A lot of the large commercial garages do. Iveco definitely do this, and have more people working overnight than they do in the day. it's very spooky being able to pick your van up in the middle of the night!

 

[LINGsCARS]

Yes, commercial vehicle services. Many transport organisations require these services. Earl is talking about normal car garages.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

To operate at night, you need 2 additional shifts,
No, you could start with just one however, if the business/potentail is there, whats the issue?

you will have a far greater absentee rate,
It could be greater, but if the shift is dedicated night shift, this would be reduced.

you have to pay a premium for wages, heat and light,
Wages - not necesarily. If the person is employed to work night, why would you pay them more?
Heat and light - not sure.

there is a noise/traffic/environment issue,
Yes, possibly, but the right location would need to be part of the business strategy! A local, high street garage would have issues. One based on an industrial estate, probably not.

there is the fact that you cannot contact people (customers) much of the time,
True, but, in many cases, the work is straightforward, so this would not always be required.

you cannot work with suppliers at night.
Very true, but again, not every job requires spares/contact

you (as a business owner) will have to sleep during the most productive time (daytime working hours),
Why? Delegation can be a great thing.

you may have additional costs like insurance,
Yes, but, with insurance, unlikely.

there will certainly be planning reg issues
Quite popssibly, but not in all cases

How about staff amenities like meal breaks - where do they buy food from?
Those 24 hour Tesco's!!

and perhaps the biggest reason - how many customers demand night-time services? This is where the marketing and concept can waver a little. As a 24hr ('ish) garage, your productivity should increase (on the assumption that there is demand). You could keep quiet and just say, we will work 24/7 (ok 24/5, maybe) to get the job done. Therefore a 4 day job could be done in 2 (or under) - thats a benefit and would be seen as a selling point. A salesman may not be able to spend time off the road waiting for his car to be serviced - overnight is ideal. Haulage companies that only work during the day may not want their vehicle off the road in the day - overnight work solves this!
This could be the first steps of creating a market.

Ling, you are right, there are a lot of things that need to be investigated and covered, however, if you have a buiding that costs, say, £50k a year and you only use it 30% of the working week, even with increased labour, insurance, utilities etc, using the facility more does not cost you, pro rata, more. It will not work in many cases, but in some it will and, I believe, with a 24 hour garage, it could!

BTW, cars do breakdown at night and a local contract with the RAC or AA as a 24 hour repair centre could be quite lucrative!

 

[LINGsCARS]

Consultant:

In the car sales thread, I am adding lists of (sales/repair) garages that are closing daily, and these have the benefit of a manufacturer franchise to enable them to charge premium prices and guarantee some work volume (warranty stuff).

For someone to contemplate this 24h operation for some MOT/Valet operation is a) on drugs, b) willing to commit financial suicide.

My opinion is the OP thinks this is a shortcut to success (to avoid the trad daytime route). It is a shortcut to failure.

All these positive and enthusiastic arguments can be made about finding skilled staff willing to work permanently (you suggest !?!?) nocturnally for no premium (and let me just point out that you spend more on heat and light at night as a result of it being cooler and darker, I'll clear up that question ), managing the night operations by delegation (right, they are not gonna have a crafty kip, then?), and starting with just "half a night", (one shift)... but basically this will not work.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am correct. Hahaha.

Don't confuse this with commercial transport operations. Of course some vans/trucks/trains/aircraft are maintained at night.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Ling,

I am no expert in the ways of cars and garages (indeed, I have a year long dispute with a warranty cover insurer about my beloved 4x4), but, just looking at the concept of utlising your assets to the maximum possible effect, it could work. Yes, when you throw in the current financial climate, it does need to be investigated quite deeply, however, there could be a business!

As for your list of repair garages closing daily, the intelligent, local, garage owners should be chasing the dearly departed companies customers, even bunging the old owner a few quid for their database! At least, they should increase their local marketing (poster on the old companies doors, take over their phone line etc!!!).

Anyway, as much as you are correct, so am I!!!!

 

[Officebird]

Forgive me as I haven't read all of this lengthly thread.

I have used an overnight garage - once and never again!

My car broke down in Bristol and the AA took me to an overnight garage which repaired my car and charged me a ridiculous amount of money for the pleasure. I know it was a stupid price because I grew up in the garage trade (parents had a garage for over 20 years) but I was in a strange town, at night and had no other choice.

I guess the garage owner didn't care that he was ripping me off as I wasn't from Bristol so bad mouthing him wouldn't have hurt his reputation.

 

[LINGsCARS]

Forgive me as I haven't read all of this lengthly thread.

I have used an overnight garage - once and never again!

My car broke down in Bristol and the AA took me to an overnight garage which repaired my car and charged me a ridiculous amount of money for the pleasure. I know it was a stupid price because I grew up in the garage trade (parents had a garage for over 20 years) but I was in a strange town, at night and had no other choice.

I guess the garage owner didn't care that he was ripping me off as I wasn't from Bristol so bad mouthing him wouldn't have hurt his reputation.

You should have used a virtual garage!

Yeah, there is usually one emergency "recovery" garage in every city that makes a living by doing the night stuff at a premium (ouch).

I think the OP was talking about standard charge-work, just doing it overnight.

 

[Officebird]

You should have used a virtual garage!

wouldn't it be great if the world worked like that?

Do you think they do remote access?

 

[lockie]

I think it could work in london with so many 24 hour operations already in existence. I can shop 24-7 get food 24-7 use public transport 24-7,drink 24-7.Why not have other services, it makes sense really.Just because nobody else has done it doesn't mean it not possible to make it work.
After all who would have thought a website like yours ling would gain you the business you get ? But it does yet on paper many would shoot it down just like this idea of an overnight garage.

 

[LINGsCARS]

My website works because I reduce costs to a minimum.

This night garage idea increases costs to a maximum.

If garages struggle to be profitable during the day when 99.9% of garage business is done, how can they hope to be profitable at night?

 

[Jezclayton]

Personally I think it IS a good idea, but for routine services only. We've already mentioned the appeal to the commercial sector and as a van driver I would welcome an overnight service.

As for cost, my van goes into a main dealer and they charge £200 for a basic oil change. I would expect an independent garage to be able to better this, even with overnight overheads.

Regarding parts, if the vehicle is pre-booked it should be quite possible to order the service parts beforehand, i.e. during normal working hours.

One way to minimise overheads would be to seek a partnership with an existing garage that operates during normal hours.

Ling. I could think of numerous reasons as to why your business wouldn't work, (market saturation etc.) but you have proven that with focus, determination and hard work it can be done. I have no doubt that the same could apply to this overnight garage idea.

 

[Esk247]

i think its a very very good idea!

i've often been out at 10pm (travelling from a customer) and been concerned that if i did break down, all i could hope for was a tow back and then i'd be out of work for the next day etc.

if you could find an company to supply parts round the clock then you'd be in business...i might be able to help you with that as some of my friends (engineers) are looking at setting up a new engineering company and we would be working during the night to have stock ready during the day.

 

[LINGsCARS]

Yeeeeesh.

Ok, off you all go. Take a big bag of cash and burn it setting up a night-time valeting/garage.

Enjoy the bonfire!

 

[Jezclayton]

Yeeeeesh.

Ok, off you all go. Take a big bag of cash and burn it setting up a night-time valeting/garage.

Enjoy the bonfire!

As is so often the case Ling, you're not listening .

I don't think anyone here has suggesting that overnight valeting is a good idea, just the servicing. Nor has anyone suggested that it's going to be easy.

How about utilising some of your infinite wisdom to put forward a few ideas as to how the idea might be given a chance of success rather than the highly negative approach you have chosen to adopt. Imagine for a moment you have been placed on this planet and your sole task is to open an overnight garage. How would you go about it?

As I said before, I could think of numerous reasons why your own business model wouldn't work, but apparently with the right work ethics and determination you have proven that it can be done.

 

[qwerty123]

I think the overnight car valeting idea is a bad one but with some proper research , marketing etc.. the overnight repair service could work.

Why don't you set up a car valeting service in motorway service center car parks? That gives you space to set it all up and lost of business driving past. I would have my car cleaned or a full valet while i go and get a cup of tea!

I seen someone doing it at a service station on the m5.

 

[Gillie]

Yeeeeesh.

Ok, off you all go. Take a big bag of cash and burn it setting up a night-time valeting/garage.

Enjoy the bonfire!

Didn't they say that about fast food and McDonalds once??

 

[Esk247]

they struggle to make money during the day when 99.9% of them are open....at night....who's open??? nobody!..perfect time for pit stop garages by the side of motorways, perfect for when your driving at 70mph and you've forgotten that you had a nail in your tyre, or didn't check the tyre pressures, or if your oil light comes on!

lots of opportunities

 

[Robert1989]

'P.S Another advantage would be that we can service cars for business such as taxi firms or couriers and so on...'' - Many taxi's operate during the evening and night so this is not much of an advantage. Also matt raised a good point about part centers are not open during the evening so when you have half an engine apart and realise you need a specific part that you cant get untill the morning when the parts center opens?? you customer will not be very happy waking up thinking there car is ready, not having time to arrange a lift to work etc. I would be very weary with this idea, i dont mean to be rude or anything just speaking the truth otherwise you could loose alot of money and time on this. Another thinkg to think about is will ou be aloud by the local council to operate during the evening? my step dad owns a garage and i know the equipement is run by air preassure and them air drills dont half make a noise, what about local residence? im sure the wont appreciate the banging and noise when their tring to sleep. Are you going to be happy working all nights? no social life then. good luck with whatever you choose to do though. I would say there is nothing wrong with buying that garage and opertaing as a normal car garage, maybe as a one stop shop - MOT, service, tyres, exhausts, body work etc all done under one roof.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Sorry, i don't want to go back through all of the posts here, but OP, do you already have your premises - is there a possibility that you can share premises with a garage that is already open during the daytime. This would also mean that deliveries of parts etc can be made during the day when you are fast asleep.