Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

is there a trader section hidden around here?

reason i ask is simple....

last year i broke out of a mundane 7-whatever time job to start a business...it was the dumbest plan i ever came up with purely because i wanted to specialise in a car rarer than hens teeth, so once i fixed one or 5 thats it now for another year or so. with the odd oil/filter change because every other part is usually 70,000 mile life span.

Right its time to reveal myself fully and give you all some background on me.
Some maybe aware of my real name, if not its Dave...pleased to meet you. no my name isn't 'Dave...pleased to meet you' its just 'Dave' or 'Dave Healey' or if your angry and i been naughty its David. anyway...
I'm 37 y/o and look 10 years older i think my rents have lied to me for the last 47 years. anyway... from the age of whatever age i was i have been into cars and bikes, cars mainly but my youth was bikes and cars in that order, i wasn't old enough to drive a car then and could barely touch the peddles whiles my backside barely touched the seat... ahem... sorry got carried away.
from the age of 8 i used to pop over to my dads garage in the school holidays, it was safer that way because otherwise i'd be waggin it and get told off. but i started to learn about engines and brakes, by the time i reached 12 years old i was able to carry out full services and was on the learning side of rebuilding engines, you know the old way, the best way!.

as time progressed and school finished (i didn't know it had i was busy waggin it, i figured this out when i decided to attend after the school hols to find i shouldn't be there :S) anyway there was much rejoicing and i went to work for my dad, he had a largish garage with 4x wheel free ramps and 1x4 poster down stairs with a body shop, tyre bay and MOT station topside. i served there from 1986-1996, i basically got bored of the poor wage and mundane day to day stuff, altho i took on all the more expensive and complicated cars. and went driving machines (tracked and wheeled excavators) which i enjoyed but my heart and soul lay with cars.

so last year was the final pinch! my CITB card was due to expire 3 months ago and i was in no frame of mind to renew. i was earning more by repairing GTO's on the side. so i walked out of my job around september/october to start a new life specialising in this marque, a week later 3 of my most valuable customers sold up and bought brand new cars. so i was stumped!

Now i'm working hard to fulfill my dream and trying to earn enough where possible to be able to get enough customers to warrant renting a unit.

i do all work on cars and vans and even campers lol from mechanical to bodywork, anything goes! i would apply for a job in a garage but i prefer to be my own boss and work at my own pace without being pushed or rushed, and i can shout at myself and get away with it.

my work speaks for its self, most of you will see sarahs car on the weekend, some maybe impressed but personally i think there are a few things not right. see if you spot them. but if you goto my website click on forums and click on work i do you will see a few jobs and the rebuild of my current gto.

here is the sales pitch.... do you vanna buy a second hand bubble car?

ok that one doesnt work here is the real one....
if you live in the northwest or anywhere in the country for that matter. and you pay toomuch to have your beloved car serviced/repaired, i charge £25ph and a £25 call out within 50 miles of my location (manchester) after that is 70p per mile ontop which is only fair. i endevour to keep prices down without lowering standards you have grown to expect from larger companies. i will also try to raise those standards to provide a much better service that most places provide. this is purely because i have great pride in my work and i will always try to perfect perfection in every way.

ok class dismissed.

Hi

I have owned a firm of Mobile Mechanics, and a garage so I think I am qualified to give advice on this...

1. Forget charging a call out charge...it wont work as others near you will not charge one...and no mileage charge either....

2, Charge more on your labour rate....£25 is not enough these days ...mobiles get more like £40 and thats still cheap compared to garage labour rates...

3, Work on ANY car...they all pay the same labour rate + parts...and when starting up you CANNOT afford to be fussy....

4. Build a GOOD reputation....for quality work....

5, Servicing mobile makes the biggest profit, but take EVERYTHING you MAY need (including brakes)..you do this by having an agreement with a supplier (like Partco or Brown Bros) that they will supply (in advance) and deliver to you FULL service kits and you can return for credit any unused parts....

Finally some advice I was given when I started my first business 30 years ago....

In the FIRST year YOU pay for the business and your house, mortage, food etc

In the SECOND year THE BUSINESS will pay for itself and YOU pay for house ,mortage, food etc

In the THIRD year the BUSINESS will pay for business and your house mortage, food etc....

In other words , you wont make a decent profit until year three....

If you are not prepared for this then do not start your own business......

Having said that, there is NOTHING better than being your own boss

If you need any more help with the mobile side....just ask

All the best Brett

Thanks Bret its good sound advice although i cannot justify £40 ph labour charge i could however drop the call out charge, see i prefer the idea of keeping cars on the road rather than money in my pocket, i'm not after becoming rich but to simply have a better work flow, the lower the price the more punters. well thats my theory anyway

Sounds interesting but I'm rather far away being in Devon.

Hi

The commonest mistake people make when starting their own business is UNDERCHARGING for their skills...

Ring around locally to you and see what other Mobiles are charging.....down here ,I just had one of my directors cars done ...it was 2 1/2 hours at £50 per hour + parts....

You HAVE to make enough to pay the bills...as an example you WILL need a "Motor Trade" insurance policy that specifies you can drive ANY customers car and it MUST specify you are working mobile...(although you can usually get them to also cover your mobile tools)..they are NOT cheap !!!!...you CANNOT drive a customers car on your ordinary policy....

All the best Brett

Hi mate, i'm not particularly on the mobile side, the traveling is purely to those who have other commitments and cannot bring their cars here. i already have a trade policy with MMA which covers me for cars upto the value of 25k which includes imports.
the reason my rate is low is because i operate from home so i have no particular overheads to worry about