U
Urban Publications
- Original Poster
- #5
Either that or an oil refinery in your back garden, and an oil dealer in kuwait would be a good option.
I would do a little research and find out how much you make off 1 litre of fuel after the government has took their massive amount, your profits off fuel will be almost zero.
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Funny how OP says Garage and everyone thinks fuel station. just because of the 24 hr thing.
I've been trying to talk a mate into 24hr servicing. I believe there is a need for it in todays busy society. Pick a car up after customer gets home from work and deliver it back ready for action for the next morning. I'd pay a premium for that.
Admittedly getting spares at 3am may be an issue.
I've been trying to talk a mate into 24hr servicing. I believe there is a need for it in todays busy society. Pick a car up after customer gets home from work and deliver it back ready for action for the next morning. I'd pay a premium for that.
Admittedly getting spares at 3am may be an issue.
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T
Tom1uk
- Original Poster
- #10
I own a garage in a busy area, off 2 major motorways, and the 24 hour thing comes with some very large risks. You will have to stock alot of parts, as there are next to non 24 hour parts suppliers, also having staff on site 24 hours leads to problems, as you have to give them time off in the week. Also getting the work to ensure you can open 24 hours is difficult, with nearly 52% of recovery work being done by the AA or RAC, and they will have a nominated garage. I found a better option was to open a couple of nights till late, say 9PM, by bookings so you can get the parts in before hand. Or do the same thing with Sundays.....
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E
Esk247
- Original Poster
- #11
As mentioned above, theres a supply chain issue. Parts are not available for ordering after 5.30pm in most cases. It needs a whole new 24 hour supply chain to go with the garage.
Late night garages would be handy. Exhaust goes or tyre goes on your way back from work at 6pm..no where else is open.
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I was the workshop manager for a large HGV dealership maintenance department, i was employed specifically on permanent nights to build a nightshift arm of the business, which is still running, even many years after i left.
It did very well, trucks at the time cost about £220 per day to just stand still in fixed costs, so if you maintained/repaired a truck during the day, you would pay £220 for the truck, then the labour and then the parts... then it would stand still all night with the driver sleeping, which is crazy.
We asked the sales staff to target commercial companies, as we needed a steady income, of course we made all the recovery companies aware of our presence, but you could never run a company on the hope and pray that some numpty will put petrol in a diesel car or they needed a tyre changing for £20 profit.
Target people who will need you, to service and maintain the vehicle whilst it is standing still, but will cost them dearly if it is stood still during the day, fleet hire, rental, sales reps, company cars, van hire, and taxi companies.
If you can do light/heavy commercial/plant, you can add plant hire, bus companies and removals companies etc to that list.
The great thing about servicing, is that you book it in, its great steady income, easy work as we all know, and you know what parts you need. Any repair you find, you will need to get permission for anyway, which won't happen until the customer is back in the office at 9am. If the work is not of a safety nature, it can be rebooked in for another time, which then any parts supply problems are not an issue. We used to ask for a permission amount, so any repairs that cost less than £100 for example to just do... depending on parts and repair time of course.
Then you can make an affiliate/referral deal with a local car hire company, to help customers out if they vehicle is not safe or able to be used the next morning.
If you have a good relationship with your parts supplier, they will be happy to leave you some stock, to pay on use.
It is really good to hear somebody is actually thinking about this, it annoys the hell out of me when i see companies not making the most out of their premises and opportunities.
City centre cafes closing at 4pm, which could open for nightclub/bar customers is a particular one!
It did very well, trucks at the time cost about £220 per day to just stand still in fixed costs, so if you maintained/repaired a truck during the day, you would pay £220 for the truck, then the labour and then the parts... then it would stand still all night with the driver sleeping, which is crazy.
We asked the sales staff to target commercial companies, as we needed a steady income, of course we made all the recovery companies aware of our presence, but you could never run a company on the hope and pray that some numpty will put petrol in a diesel car or they needed a tyre changing for £20 profit.
Target people who will need you, to service and maintain the vehicle whilst it is standing still, but will cost them dearly if it is stood still during the day, fleet hire, rental, sales reps, company cars, van hire, and taxi companies.
If you can do light/heavy commercial/plant, you can add plant hire, bus companies and removals companies etc to that list.
The great thing about servicing, is that you book it in, its great steady income, easy work as we all know, and you know what parts you need. Any repair you find, you will need to get permission for anyway, which won't happen until the customer is back in the office at 9am. If the work is not of a safety nature, it can be rebooked in for another time, which then any parts supply problems are not an issue. We used to ask for a permission amount, so any repairs that cost less than £100 for example to just do... depending on parts and repair time of course.
Then you can make an affiliate/referral deal with a local car hire company, to help customers out if they vehicle is not safe or able to be used the next morning.
If you have a good relationship with your parts supplier, they will be happy to leave you some stock, to pay on use.
It is really good to hear somebody is actually thinking about this, it annoys the hell out of me when i see companies not making the most out of their premises and opportunities.
City centre cafes closing at 4pm, which could open for nightclub/bar customers is a particular one!
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No problem at all.
At the risk of teaching my granny to suck eggs.
Remember you MUST make regular income, don't rely on the odd person who may need an emergency job doing over night, this will make you bankrupt very quickly. You need to get regular bread and butter work in, which will involve you knocking on many company doors, and letting them know you exist and you have a niche service.
The best way to look at it for me, is if i was a bank manager, and you came in to ask for a loan based on the business, what turnover type of work on the books would you need to have, to give me the confidence that in 5yrs time, you will still be there paying the payments.
Something i didn't add to the last post, as it was getting to long, is become preferred suppliers to large organisations. One of my closest friends has started up a specialist crane hire company, he has spent the past 18 months traveling up and down the country, introducing himself to local councils and transport organisations, letting them know that he exists and jumping through any hoops needed to become preferred suppliers... he is now making great money and the company is booming.
What a lot of small businesses don't realise is how to get the good contracts, from large organisations and public companies, you MUST be a preferred supplier. So the only way to do that, is literally call the company and ask them "How do i become one of your preferred suppliers". They will tell you how to do it, send out any info packs and application forms, and then add you to their list once you have filled in all the paper work.
The paper work can be very lengthy, it will ask for your health and safety, sickness, disability, maternity, risk assessment, etc policies. Even if your a sole trader, with only you working there, they ask for these, it feels like a waste of time, and you almost want to write jokes in them about how you will contact yourself to notify of your sickness, but they are just hoops to jump through. Most organisations only ask you once to fill it in, and once you have done it 2 or 3 times, they get much easier as you can start copying and pasting from other forms. Your weekends will be full of these forms... they are great fun lol.
What this means is when a council worker is gritting the road, and his brakes freeze up due to the cold on a dark, horrible night at 11pm, or a traffic management company van won't start at 4am in the yard, they can only call preferred suppliers for help without the permission of the finance management, as you have already been screened, checked and accepted. Most contract hire companies will not opt for the maintenance of the vehicle in the contract to save money, and many vans and light commercial are not under manufacturers warranty, so need your help.
You will almost always need to be VAT registered, and need to give 3 references etc. My wife is the head of the finance dept for one of the the local uni's where we live, which means i get to know in detail how this process works. For example in the northeast, all the north east unis are linked together, and use NEUPG (North East UNiversity Purchasing Group), so once you are part of one uni, you're part of them all. You will also be expected to give a good rate and service above and beyond your usual.
If your not on their list, you cannot apply for tenders/jobs, no member of staff in any university can contact you or ask you to do any work, because no purchase order can be drawn up by the finance teams. It would be unfair for the people on their list, if you have spent all that time becoming a preferred supplier and then they just call anybody from the Yellow Pages (does anybody still use them?).
These are the types of people you need to get in with for your type of company that has a niche, as servicing a Vauxhall Corsa for Joe Blogs in the street, will never sustain the company for long and you will struggle like many other small companies with cash flow... and then blame a media manufactured non existed recession
.
Sorry if any of that is patronising, as it was not meant to be.
At the risk of teaching my granny to suck eggs.
Remember you MUST make regular income, don't rely on the odd person who may need an emergency job doing over night, this will make you bankrupt very quickly. You need to get regular bread and butter work in, which will involve you knocking on many company doors, and letting them know you exist and you have a niche service.
The best way to look at it for me, is if i was a bank manager, and you came in to ask for a loan based on the business, what turnover type of work on the books would you need to have, to give me the confidence that in 5yrs time, you will still be there paying the payments.
Something i didn't add to the last post, as it was getting to long, is become preferred suppliers to large organisations. One of my closest friends has started up a specialist crane hire company, he has spent the past 18 months traveling up and down the country, introducing himself to local councils and transport organisations, letting them know that he exists and jumping through any hoops needed to become preferred suppliers... he is now making great money and the company is booming.
What a lot of small businesses don't realise is how to get the good contracts, from large organisations and public companies, you MUST be a preferred supplier. So the only way to do that, is literally call the company and ask them "How do i become one of your preferred suppliers". They will tell you how to do it, send out any info packs and application forms, and then add you to their list once you have filled in all the paper work.
The paper work can be very lengthy, it will ask for your health and safety, sickness, disability, maternity, risk assessment, etc policies. Even if your a sole trader, with only you working there, they ask for these, it feels like a waste of time, and you almost want to write jokes in them about how you will contact yourself to notify of your sickness, but they are just hoops to jump through. Most organisations only ask you once to fill it in, and once you have done it 2 or 3 times, they get much easier as you can start copying and pasting from other forms. Your weekends will be full of these forms... they are great fun lol.
What this means is when a council worker is gritting the road, and his brakes freeze up due to the cold on a dark, horrible night at 11pm, or a traffic management company van won't start at 4am in the yard, they can only call preferred suppliers for help without the permission of the finance management, as you have already been screened, checked and accepted. Most contract hire companies will not opt for the maintenance of the vehicle in the contract to save money, and many vans and light commercial are not under manufacturers warranty, so need your help.
You will almost always need to be VAT registered, and need to give 3 references etc. My wife is the head of the finance dept for one of the the local uni's where we live, which means i get to know in detail how this process works. For example in the northeast, all the north east unis are linked together, and use NEUPG (North East UNiversity Purchasing Group), so once you are part of one uni, you're part of them all. You will also be expected to give a good rate and service above and beyond your usual.
If your not on their list, you cannot apply for tenders/jobs, no member of staff in any university can contact you or ask you to do any work, because no purchase order can be drawn up by the finance teams. It would be unfair for the people on their list, if you have spent all that time becoming a preferred supplier and then they just call anybody from the Yellow Pages (does anybody still use them?).
These are the types of people you need to get in with for your type of company that has a niche, as servicing a Vauxhall Corsa for Joe Blogs in the street, will never sustain the company for long and you will struggle like many other small companies with cash flow... and then blame a media manufactured non existed recession
.Sorry if any of that is patronising, as it was not meant to be.
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Leeds had for years a really good 24 hour garage that did everything. In fact it had two, both closed. After midnight there was no profitable demand and the few clients who showed wanted one gallon cans of petrol filled. I know the owner of the 2nd garage closed because he was well and truly hammered by petrol clients who drove off without paying. When he brought in PAY FIRST, they spent £2.00 with him to get home. At 5.00 am derv was a good seller from drivers wanting to get on the M1 early. But at 8.00am they went elsewhere to save on he's prices. As for repairs very few, most breakdows phoned someone for a lift or a tow, and got there cars fixed by the kid in every street whose a genius with cars. The oil companies favour petrol sales only sites, not mixed use.
* Your best plan is to be an Agent for the AA or RAC, and just do recovery work. We did have a situation on A1 Wetherby, were the Police were bunged for steering A1 breakdowns there way, the fees were 'criminal', coming out with a jeep and a can of petrol was £105.00, argue the toss, and the Police saw to it you were towed you away as a road danger, and you had wished you had paid the £105.00 with good heart. This stopped over ten years ago and no longer happens.
* Your best plan is to be an Agent for the AA or RAC, and just do recovery work. We did have a situation on A1 Wetherby, were the Police were bunged for steering A1 breakdowns there way, the fees were 'criminal', coming out with a jeep and a can of petrol was £105.00, argue the toss, and the Police saw to it you were towed you away as a road danger, and you had wished you had paid the £105.00 with good heart. This stopped over ten years ago and no longer happens.
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I think there would be demand for such a service, but I think its one of those services that you dont realise you need until you either see someone using it or you use it yourself.
I read somewhere on the post about the availability of parts being a problem, but if there is demand for a 24hour garage then surely the supply of parts will follow on from there.
I think its a good idea because there are plenty of times when my car has gone in to the garage for servicing or repair and it sits there doing nothing whilst I sleep and the garage is closed.
Nick
I read somewhere on the post about the availability of parts being a problem, but if there is demand for a 24hour garage then surely the supply of parts will follow on from there.
I think its a good idea because there are plenty of times when my car has gone in to the garage for servicing or repair and it sits there doing nothing whilst I sleep and the garage is closed.
Nick
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I have a friend who owns and operates a number of garages overseas. Whilst he does do fuel, as mentioned, the margins are thin and yet better than I assume they are here as the supermarkets offer convenient and subsidised fuel at their premises. However, his real trick is to utilise the land more efficiently.
makes a very good point which backs up the this plan. He leverages the land through creation of a convenience store come mini mart, which he then leases to a chain to guarantee an income stream. He also develops a few other units, akin in some respects to a mini parade, offering laundry, dry cleaning, coffee, vehicle cleaning and a general mechanics come breakdown in at least one location.
His has multiple income streams and as such is not solely dependent on any one of them. I know this is a divergence from the idea of solely fuel or only vehicle maintenance but the key distinction is not the type of use but the way that the asset is viewed.
His view is to monetise the land, thinking what he can do with the land, rather than only thinking about a garage and then thinking about how to operate it.
Running 24/7 is a challenge from a number of standpoints but off the top of my head I could perhaps add other potential 24 hour businesses such as take away food, a taxi office, dry cleaner come laundrette etc. Providing security for all would be little more expensive than providing security for one.
Best of luck to the OP.
makes a very good point which backs up the this plan. He leverages the land through creation of a convenience store come mini mart, which he then leases to a chain to guarantee an income stream. He also develops a few other units, akin in some respects to a mini parade, offering laundry, dry cleaning, coffee, vehicle cleaning and a general mechanics come breakdown in at least one location.
His has multiple income streams and as such is not solely dependent on any one of them. I know this is a divergence from the idea of solely fuel or only vehicle maintenance but the key distinction is not the type of use but the way that the asset is viewed.
His view is to monetise the land, thinking what he can do with the land, rather than only thinking about a garage and then thinking about how to operate it.
Running 24/7 is a challenge from a number of standpoints but off the top of my head I could perhaps add other potential 24 hour businesses such as take away food, a taxi office, dry cleaner come laundrette etc. Providing security for all would be little more expensive than providing security for one.
Best of luck to the OP.
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All very true, but the prices of fuel in Europe especially is actually higher than here, and almost 0% profit.
A very good friend of ours owns this garage just outside of Amsterdam
http://www.tesselaarbv.nl/
He makes less than 1% on the fuel and needs to shift HUGE amounts of fuel to make it worth while. But he uses the footfall to sell other products and services, such as food, drink and of course maintenance.
My mother lives in France and my wife is Greek so we spend a lot of time there (30 miles outside of Athens), and to be honest it bugs the sh*t out of me when i read the media here saying how the government are raping us with tax blah blah blah... when actually its the same price as everywhere else, if not much cheaper!
(Not that i don't think cameron should be nailed to a cross mind!)
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I would suggest that your best route to owning a 24 hour mechanical repair garage is to already have one that has too much work to cope with during the day.
I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but if you start out by wanting to open as a 24 hour garage then it might be at the expense of your daytime trade, ie; all your work will be taking place during the night.
Also, who will manage the operation for you during the shift that you're not there?.
You will also need to charge a premium for night work as you'll need to pay your fitters extra.
The 24 hour workshop is a common practice for HGV workshops these days, especially as many trucks are on "fixed price" maintenance contracts, or even leased from the manufacturers.
Might be better to offer 7 day working to start with then see what your customers think?.
Also depends where your garage is / will be situated. You may find there are planning restrictions to the hours you could operate.
Hope that helps.
I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm, but if you start out by wanting to open as a 24 hour garage then it might be at the expense of your daytime trade, ie; all your work will be taking place during the night.
Also, who will manage the operation for you during the shift that you're not there?.
You will also need to charge a premium for night work as you'll need to pay your fitters extra.
The 24 hour workshop is a common practice for HGV workshops these days, especially as many trucks are on "fixed price" maintenance contracts, or even leased from the manufacturers.
Might be better to offer 7 day working to start with then see what your customers think?.
Also depends where your garage is / will be situated. You may find there are planning restrictions to the hours you could operate.
Hope that helps.
Upvote
0
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