The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

Just do your figures first, I worked in a garage in kildare and there were a good few garages like tje one in newbridge (one of the finlays?)
doing budget services etc. Even they get undercut by polish (dont wanna generalise they are actually polish) mechanics operating from their houses without overheads like insurance or tax.

My girlfriends dad has a small garage and without his repeat customers he'd find it really tough.

Just do your sums

Mechanics is a growing trade again with everyone holding on to their cars for that bit longer and looking for better deals on servicing than what the main dealers are offering so ithink with a minimal outlAy to get the business started it's worth the risk

and as for the name well I have two kids Aaron and Mia so a combination
of their names Aarmia Autos

Cheers Paul I can't believe the support and advice I am after getting from ftooc it has really filled me with confidence to push forward with this idea so again lads thanks for everything I am heading over to contact the planners this morning and get an idea of what needs doing in order to open this thing so I'll keep you all posted as to what's happening .I've decided to not advertise the position yet until I get the all clear from the planners as I don't want to get anyone else involved just yet and then let them down.I also have some work to do to get the place ready but that won't takE long but anyway I'll keep you posted

Good luck with the venture eamo, its a novel idea and one that could work out well given the right level of planning. I'm with Colm - do the sums and get your business plan together (it goes without saying really).

You don't list your location on your profile but I would suggest you advertise in your local press in terms of getting a mechanic on board.

CJ

Massive thumbs up from me - I think this kind of entrepenurial spirit is brilliant in the current climate and it's well proven that many of the best ventures start out during a recession. Good on ya and I hope it works out for you long term.

again thanks lads i live in portarlington co laois but i'm a dub from tallaght originally the folks moved down to rathangan co kildare (location of proposed business venture) in 99 when i was 21 and i never moved back to dublin.As regards the business planning well its not my first venture into the world of business and i'm not borrowing any money (thank god) so i have a good idea of how to get it started,but first is the planning approval ,was on to them just now and they gave me all the details so have to compile a letter detailing my intentions and an ordnance survey map of the location of the site to get a meeting with the planner to discuss the proposal.Hopefully this will only take a few days (or knowing irish planners a few weeks)and then i can start the business end of registering the business name and registering for vat and the like,after all this is sorted i will get down to finding the right mechanic .i was also contemplating doing a bit of selling as well buying cars in need of tlc (wheeler dealers stylee)giving them a once over and then selling them on with a new nct ,nothing to expensive ,hopefully buying at around 6-700 and selling on for around 1200 ish just to try make a few quid from a couple of angles but mainly focusing on the servicing and mechanical end of it.The only way i can do this is on the cheap but i started my last business (full bathroom renovations) with no capital and made a success of this for two years earning a healthy living but unfortunately the money is gone from this service so i lost my shop and service in a big bang but hey onwards and upwards if you dont try you cant succeed.
anyone need a bathroom fitted? lol

ok lads and lassies i just had an idea relating to my business venture.After much deliberation i have decided if i can somehow make money from my idea before i look at hiring a mechanic i would then be in a better position so heres the idea please let me know what you think.I,m looking into buying a car lift and some mechanics tools and setting up the garage as a working workshop but rather than people paying for the services of a mechanic letting them hire out the garage to carry out their own repairs with full use of my premises and equipment for an hourly or daily rate (as yet to be decided) so basically if you have the knowledge and the time but not the space or equipment you can hire my premises to carry out your repairs ,just to get me started and get a few quid coming in and get the name out there and then keep this service running as a weekend venture any ideas or input appreciated

Sounds like a good idea to me, if it doesn't work out you could use you're original plan as a contingency.

Wasn't there something like this on top gear or 5th gear possibly (it was a car show anyway) where they had a load of bays that people could hire?

You could even get the odd mechanic to use it for nixxers etc.

Would be a good place for the FTO club tech meet anyway

great idea. tech meet down in your new garage would be cool. could make it the offical opening.

glad you like the idea but not sure how the folks would feel about twenty load ass fto's on their driveway lol but there would definitely be a discount for any lads who needed the use of the place and it would give me the chance to learn more about my own fto. Anyway was on to the planners today and have all the info needed at this stage to get a meeting set up with the planning officer so watch this space.Just need to find the equipment at the right price now.

could try these
http://cars.donedeal.ie/for-sale/cars/968847

That looks like brand new stuff I need to get second hand to start with as the budget is tight and need to get as much as possible for my money but cheers anyway Paul

Some encouragement here

thanks for that uncle b seem like there would be an interest but as regards peoples concerns about the insurance im planning to ask people to sign a waiver declaring they are entering the premises and using the equipment at their own risk etc so hopefully that will help the insurance costs as claiming would be a minimal risk if they dont sign the waiver they dont get in

Definately get a waiver to sign, you'd need it for the majority of things now, at the end of the day if someone then does some damage you're in the clear. Should put down something along the lines of not taking responsibility if they're not properly trained to use the equipment as well they cant blame you.

Dragonheart wrote:Definately get a waiver to sign, you'd need it for the majority of things now, at the end of the day if someone then does some damage you're in the clear. Should put down something along the lines of not taking responsibility if they're not properly trained to use the equipment as well they cant blame you.

thats what i was planning but gonna write something and get the family solicitor to give it a once over for make sure i dont miss anything

please do your figures first. Don't wanna be the wet blanket here, but it has to be viable.

colm_mcm wrote:please do your figures first. Don't wanna be the wet blanket here, but it has to be viable.

i know and i will i'll prob keep fitting bathrooms and tiling until its up and running and even if i only make back what i spend at least i'll have my own play room sorry i mean workshop

Any more updates on this?