Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Credit crunch, double dip, recession, whatever you want to call it, how has it effected you guys?

I have been quite lucky, I have seen things change a great deal and owe survival to adapting.

We have seen a big rise in rogue customers trying it on, to be expected in a recession I guess, but we also needed to bring in measures to protect ourselves from this and sort the rogues from the legitimate complaints. It does mean we take a tough line with false claims from rogues, which is something that before 2008 we had not seen since the start of the 90's when people felt the pinch.

We have also seen a lot of people spring up calling themselves "Porsche specialists" locally. Even though they range from a company previously in the HGV Refridgeration business, a company that was an still is a Jaguar specialist and a another which is a Bosch service centre and still is, initially I was worried about this, as well as being annoyed they not real specialists, but in reality they all cocked up more than they succeeded, so their advertising and poor work drove people in our direction.. which was nice.. I guess it is true what they say, competition is good for business.

Not sure where the economy is going, back at the beginning the experts said it could last anything from a year to two years... hmmm..

So hows things been for you guys? I am as interested in those not in business as to those in business.

Who thinks its getting better? who thinks it is getting worse?

What has changed for you and what have you had to change?

Hi Jon
An interesting topic.
I have 2 small businesses http://www.leatherupholsterycare.co.uk and a local carpet and upholstery cleaning business.
The leather restoration business is getting busier year on year,I do both commercial and domestic work on cars and furniture.
People who have money always will have and will spend but all like to negotiate !What I have noticed is that most of the commercial car businesses I do work for are still selling cars ( all top end £20k - £200k secondhand not new) but their associated workshops , which charge 50% main dealer labour costs are not as busy , they say people are just not getting cars serviced , people running cars they can't really afford.Privately the leather work is still good,I don't advertise people seem to find me.
The carpet cleaning business is not as busy with domestic work this year, could be cyclic ?The commercial work we do eg.race courses ,golf club,restuarants , appartment blocks communal areas etc etc is still there as normal.
Plus new companies starting to advertise in my area from a wide area outside suggests this type of business is struggling.I am glad I have the commercial contract work.
If I am down your way I will call in to say hello , nice to read your posts helping people with your natural enthusiasm.
Peronally I think the present economic state of the country and hence peoples spending power is not going to change for the better ,the past boom was because of false wealth ( money borrowed/lent with stupidity ) the country is reaching its sustainable economic level now.

Nick

I agree with Nick on many points.

We are a small Structural Engineering consultancy in Sussex. We saw a drop off back in 2009 at the time when a graduate moved on to a second post.
Our main clients are housing developers and private individuals.
Housing developing died for 18 months and is now only small sites with high value housing.
Private clients are willing to spend moeny but there are differences in budget of percieved value. We have a reputation for staircase design and have worked on Steel spirals and in-situ concrete for several companies. We now find clients spending £5K on in-situ concrete instead of £15 to £20K on a steel fabrication.
Since the graduate left, two of us have been very busy and would like to recruit but good staff are hard to find.

We are also quite tough on roque clients and haven't lost too much from non payers.

I'm conscious that the borrowing extent of individuals has reached too high levels and am glad to look over my shoulder and not be hounded for any debt. (had enough problems because of the previous owner of our house knowingly running up £250K before moving on)

That's a good observation Nick, it would be lovely to have a boom, if it was sustainable, but to be honest if we can keep inflation roughly where it is, and people come to terms with where we are at and find some reassurance in that position, they might spend a little more, which may increase inflation a bit, but also improve jobs, but where we are now and where we could be with a more confident population, isnt the worst place in the world to be as an economy.

Nice to hear your observations as well Richard, especially nice to hear the construction industry has not collapsed and you are still finding plenty of work.

I do think as a nation, we import too much and do not buy enough British products ourselves, as well as we do not export enough, so manufacturing is not where it needs to be at the moment, which is really not sustainable if we are ever to have stability. Not that it is manufacturing is at fault, but perhaps marketing...

One of my early childhood memories was the old "Buy British" campaigns, which to be honest, is something British manufacturers, perhaps with the help of the government should get behind.. But perhaps EU regulations forbid the government from doing this. But Marketing "Buying British" along with trying to raise the British profile abroad, as a country that can make and innovate great products, rather than just "Didn't they put on a good Olympics!" would be good.

I thought it was a great shame when the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned, on the surface that was the queens slow transport, but typically aside from the visiting politicians, behind the scenes that was used as a floating exhibition for British products with conference rooms used with overseas companies to push British products.. Shame really, back then even the queen had a job

I'm in the service industry and we have managed quite well. I work for a large national company and we have noticed a number of small businesses starting up locally with no/low overheads. They are cheaper and can tempt customers away with really low prices, but like Jon and his "specialist" garages around him, the customers come back after an "incident". I think there is room for the genuine entrepreneur and his company, but there are some shady characters out there praying on people trying to make through the recession.

One of things that I often comment on is people saying "they don't make them like they used to". You're right, and I think this is because people want things cheaper. If the materials cost a set amount to make something, only way to make it cheaper is to cut on the materials. When was the last time you shopped around for something cheaper? Do you really think you get what you pay for these days? Do you really think the low cost option is a good as the OEM part?

I'm not in business, I'm a Fireman or firefighter if your P.C! I've had my pay froze for 3 years and my pension contributions are going from 11% to 14% but I'm being told that I'll have to work longer and get less at the end. I can handle the pay freeze but messing with my pension, THE CONTRACT I SIGNED WHEN I JOINED THE JOB that really grips my shit! You shouldn't be allowed to just change a contract at will and take my daughters inheritance away. Working longer as an operational fireman is ridiculous as well, smashing doors down and running into burning buildings is not a job for 65 year olds I can tell you that from experience.
However I do love my job and am grateful that I'm not under threat of losing it. So I'd like to say I'm really sorry for anyone who has or is about to lose their job.
Andy Bruce.

Hi All

Very interesting thread....

Nice to see different views from different businesses...

For any that dont know, I own a Computer shop in Bournemouth, fairly close to Jon...

In my business a few years ago, as the recession was starting, people were moving away from computer towers into Laptops, so maybe luckily I had the foresight to buy a laptop repair company as well as my shop.

We now make a lot of money from laptop repairs, as even though laptops are really cheap to buy (mostly Chinese parts inside) they also, go wrong a LOT...so we get the repair work...

We have been in the same shop position for nearly 15 years now and have a huge amount of repeat customers and recommendations from them.

One reason I suspect we have survived the recession is that we guarantee EVERYTHING we sell and repair ourselves.... (none of this send it back to the manufacturer rubbish)

People (customers) like that...a lot...

Which means you end up after a few years wtih a good reputation...like JON has...

We have also had a few cheap computer shops open near us and generally they last a few months before they go bust....and I generally am very generous and offer to take their stock off their hands cheaply lol...

They all usually make the same mistakes.....selling TOO cheaply and undercharging for their labour.... I spoke to one once who was selling a particular printer at 50 PENCE over the trade price, he said yes I dont make much but are selling around 10 a week.... he asked me how many of that printer I sold, when I said around 4 he smirked, until i told him we made £12 per printer on top of the trade price...lol

Now my customers will pay that price as we are always honest and say we are NOT cheap, but they pay that as they like our reputation and own guarantee etc...

So to me its about having a GOOD reputation (like Jon has) , a lot more than doing things cheaply...

All the best Brett

Lost my car like so many others. Have a house I can neither sell nor live in. Having to rent elsewhere. Business crap. No sign of improvement. In fact we seem to be on the edge of the abyss. I would love the job security & pay of a fireman!!! Pension. Don't make me laugh I stopped paying into that years ago. I would love to have my old car back!!! But I'm glad I sold it when I did as it would be worthless now. Having to work 50 hours to get paid for 30 just to keep my job. In truth i would be better off on benefit. Only thing that keeps me going is I never borrowed money. Thank God or i would be stuffed. As it is we can pay the bills & eat. Had my eight year old Audi for 18 months & all it's needed is a bulb. It averages 60mpg. If only Porsche could do that! Ohh & it's as dull as dishwater to drive...........And sounds like a taxi............ Well you did ask.
On a lighter note I just heard my old '44 made it to Classic Leman even I didn't. Had to be a reason I rebuilt the thing... Guy that bought it was a 911 nut so must have done something right.

I run a racing dinghy repair business, we dont advertise either and dont intend to either.....ive always got too much work...j.j i really feel for you,i struggled before the recession,folks didnt bother to get them fixed...just traded up to a new one!!the wider use of aramid /carbon fibre masts foils etc has made the industry more specialised...the average cost of mast in carbon on a 14ft racing dinghy is £2000,when they break most ins companys will spend £1000 on a repair before they write them off...i suppose where our workshop is (coleshill,by the belfry) is in a prime location, in a 50mile radius there are 25clubs,whereas some of my friends who operate on the coast are struggling as each area has more guys vying for the same work....but ..the important denomnator is providing a quality job....weve had three comebacks in 10 years,thats why jons busy...and people dont feel like their pants are being pulleddown when they pay the bill,the car industry has always been hard..... there is always someone who can do it cheaper ...especially in the current climate...we're just lucky being in the trade we are....trouble is can anyone see the light at the end of the tunnel,it wont appear for quite a while yet either....good luck too all regards d.h

Hiya J.J, I'm genuinely sorry for your hardships although I was just answering the question Jon posted "how does it affect you" and that is that the pension that I signed up for is being ripped up and no matter what it gets replaced with I now know aint worth wiping your arse on because they will change that at will anytime they wish to. We pay alot into our pensions and it is one of the things that is attractive about the job but I will also tell you that alot of firemen die not too long after retirement of lung related or cancerous diseases (hope I'm not one of them). Also when peoples businesses are doing well I'm sure they're earning a damn sight more than me. I too can't sell my house at the moment and am known at Porshapart as "boxster on a budget". I'm just about clinging on to that car and wont be going on holiday this year for the third year running. I didn't want my reply to the original post to be a competition of "who is the worst off" I'm just stating how it affects me. I genuinely hope things pick up for you though. Anyone who works should not be punished when there is so much benefit scrounging shit out there that we're all paying for!

Oh and footballers are getting paid £250,000 a week!!! Obscene!

dont start me on that one....."but their career only has a span of ten years"....makes my blood boil!!!! :

JJ That just sucks, what is it you do?

Brucey, sounds like the fire service are getting the same sharp end of the stick as some friends in the Police are telling me.