Car service is an enterprise that specializes in services related to the repair and maintenance of vehicles. As practice shows, this type of entrepreneurial activity is quite profitable. Indeed, most motorists after completing the warranty on the car cease to contact the official dealer service stations, preferring private ones.
The reason for this is the high cost of the services provided. In most cases, such organizations have several branches, each of which specializes in a certain type of work. This article will discuss how to open your car service in the garage.
Seat selection
Having your own garage or box for organizing such a business is an ideal option. However, if there is no such premises, it can be rented or acquired. As practice shows, it is desirable that the garage for a car service is located on the territory of a cooperative or not far from the highway. These features will attract the maximum number of customers.
In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the presence of a viewing hole, because otherwise you will have to spend money on the purchase of lifts, which are not cheap. Keep in mind the fact that each workplace requires about five square meters of space (excluding the area occupied by special equipment).
Paperwork
Now a few words about what you need to open a car service. It should immediately be warned that in order to organize such a business it will be far from one day to run around to various authorities. First you need to register as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity, as well as register with the tax office.
Next, design documentation should be developed, which is provided to a body such as a transport inspection. In addition, permits of the fire service and SES are mandatory. They cannot be obtained if an enterprise of this type is located closer than 50 meters from residential buildings or near a reservoir.
Before you open your car service in the garage, you must obtain a certificate for each type of service. The right to issue it has Gosstandart, as well as some other organizations. To obtain such a document, it is required to provide confirmation of the qualifications of employees, as well as installed equipment for verification.
The certificate is valid for three years. After the end of this period, the verification will have to go through again. Among other things, the equipment involved in the diagnosis should undergo a metrological examination at Rostest.
Garage Equipment
There are no special requirements for the internal equipment of the garage, where car service will be performed. The main thing to take care of is the centralized water supply, sewerage and car service heating. In addition, natural light should be provided.
Need for tools
There are no special requirements regarding the arrangement of the garage. Specialized equipment and tools will be needed for all activities. In the absence of a pit, as already noted above, you will have to purchase an electro-hydraulic lift (at the initial stage it can be used).What other equipment is needed depends solely on the specialization of a car service.
Along with this, most likely, you will need to buy a compressor for tires, a balancing stand, a wheel alignment stand, as well as a transmission rack. Among other things, each of the masters should have a separate set of tools.
Staff recruitment
Competent recruitment is a very important factor in order to create a fast-growing car service. You can do some work with your own hands, but this is not enough. It is necessary to hire specialists.
When choosing, it is better to give preference to professional masters, because the appearance of regular customers directly depends on the quality of the services provided. It should be noted that qualified personnel can only be involved if they are provided with decent wages and appropriate working conditions.
Before you open your car service in the garage, you need to decide what kind of work will be done here. As practice shows, among motorists the most popular are balancing, tire fitting, maintenance of electrical equipment, repair of the motor and chassis, painting and diagnostics. Based on this, we can draw conclusions about the interest in certain specialists.
Required Investments and Payback
Based on the experience of opening such enterprises, it can be said that for the organization of such a business, provided that the maximum list of services is provided, it is necessary to invest about 120 thousand US dollars at the initial stage. Most of this money is needed to purchase specialized equipment. Costs will amount to about 40 thousand if the list of works is reduced to several types. In the event that the workshop will be engaged only in tire fitting, you will have to spend about 10 thousand dollars.
As practice shows, given the high quality and speed of work, you can return the money invested in the purchase of a ready-made car service in about ten months. As for starting such a case from scratch, in this case it will take a little longer.
Increase income
Before you open your car service in the garage, you must immediately provide for the possibility of expanding the business in the future, because the more types of services are provided, the higher the incomes. For example, opening a car wash will be a very good solution, because not every client has time to look for it after repair.
In addition, scratch and chip removal services, as well as dry cleaning and anti-allergenic treatment of the cabin, are considered quite profitable. A great way to earn extra money is to install all kinds of equipment (lights, alarms, and so on).
Advertising
What is needed for a car service and its rapid development in addition to all of the above? This is an advertisement. In this case, recommendations to your friends and acquaintances from regular customers can play a very important role. This is possible only if timely provision of high-quality services.
In addition, it is recommended from time to time to give information about your car service on local television and in newspapers. Advertising on billboards, as well as distribution of leaflets and business cards in those places where there are many motorists, such as automobile bazaars, gas stations, and so on, are considered quite effective. It is advisable to mention discounts for regular customers.
Name selection
Not the least role in attracting a large number of customers is played by a catchy sign on which the original name for a car service is applied. In each city (especially in a large one) several dozens, or even hundreds, of organizations specializing in work related to car maintenance are functioning. As a rule, in the names there is the word "auto".However, you can take into account other parameters, including the size of the workshop, its specialization, location (roadside or luxury) and so on.
As a market analysis shows, the owners of such companies most often also choose a name for a car service using the names associated with the movement (“Forward”, “Phaeton”, “Crew”), the names and nicknames of people (“Hermes”, “Magellan”), automotive terms ("Lever", "Steering"), as well as the names of animals and birds ("Zebra", "Pegasus"). In this case, it is impossible not to mention creative and original names (“Do not rust”, “Japan mother”).
