OK am I crazy and completely out of my mind,,,

[MonzaRacer]

I have been working for Pep Boys for nearly 3 months, and its been an up hill battle of "are you sure you need this" and "Why are you doing this way" and never ending battle to do proper diagnostics and such.

Anyway I am now seriously thinking of starting my own garage in my local town and maybe even starting a Mobile Repair Service, at least on a limited form, kind of like go to the customer setup.
I have a pretty good assortment of diagnostic equipment and tools.
A few larger pieces would need to be sourced but for now the building I am looking at has 3 full bays, no lifts at this time but thats irrelevant for me.
One benefit I will have an Oriellys autoparts just across the road so I would be able to walk for some parts, and to use thier brake lathe at first.
Ill get some pics of building, its only $1000 a month, yes a lot to start but I really dont have to rent whole building to start.
My intention is doing standard repairs, diagnostics, brakes and such and eventually open up another bay to do front end alignments too.
And supposedly rent would be less with only office space and one or 2 bays to start.
I do have a good following in town with old school mates and friends, big issue is should I try in this economy or keep looking for ANOTHER SHOP TO SWITCH TO?
This jobs starting rate got me out of most of my personal hole and with some luck Ill be even or better in next check or two.
Yes this will require some extra investment but I am working on startup funds, especially since some are one time grants.
My short list of costs in equipment will run less than $10k total with what I already have, and some of that would be purchased as business increases.
Yes I will be doing performance work also.
PIcs of building will be added as soon as I take them.
Lee Abel

[bigvegan]

Good Luck Lee!

You may want to check out the sba.gov website, especially the business plan section, to make sure you have all your is dotted and ts crossed - http://sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html . (Might as well get some direct benefit from your tax dollars.)

They also can put you in touch with SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) to give you advice about the stuff that you may not be as good at (finance, marketing, etc.) - http://www.score.org/index.html .

I hear a lot of folks are maintaining their old cars instead of buying new ones right now, so this might be the perfect time to make the transition.

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Now would be a great time. All the shops I talk to in my area are saying business is especially good. Seems people are spending more on their cars to keep them in shape.. Most of the shops in my area are doing more engine and transmission swaps than usual.

As long as you have a decent reputation in your area, and you treat people as fairly as possible, you will be fine. I started my first shop with one bay and no lift, but it wasnt too long after that I had to go to a bigger building with several lifts.

The only bit of advise I can offer you is this, Dont hire someone to do your job for you. I got extremely busy, and felt I needed to hire a couple of mechanics to do the work while I handle the customers and parts ordering. Guess what, the quality of work fell, so I had to go back to my original operating style. Plus I found most of the mechanics that wanted a guarunteed salary didnt produce at all. They rarely brought in what they were being paid, so I went to straight commission.

Good luck, and it is very likely you will succeed. All regions are looking for decent and reputable shops. A good repair shop rarely fails because your reputation will follow and draw more business.