dggp
Part of things
Posts: 135
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Hi all,
the projects have slown a bit lately as i've started a newer and bigger one lol. i've been painting out the workshop getting ready to open it up as a garage and was just hoping to get a bit of advice/input if any one has the time.
I'm really just wondering what sort of services you look for in a garage, I'm doing the obvious servicing, diagnostics and such and we are putting in plans for an mot station but i want it to be a bit more exciting than a boring old garage. i've always found pretty much every garage i take older/ weirder cars to always pull the frowny face so i want to sort that out first of all but i like the idea of it being a bit more than just work and having a bit of a social / fun side to it
if any one has any idea's slash suggstions or just friendly advice id love to hear from you.
cheers, dave
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andyborris
Posted a lot
Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.
Posts: 2,214
Member is Online
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A bar, strippers, pole dancers?
I'd travel up from Kent to have my car serviced, but only once, till the girlfiend found out!
Andy
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Cleanliness, a smile and excellent service. That might sound a bit odd, but most garages I've visited are far muckier than they ought to be even in the customer area - and I know mechanicing is not a clean job - and the staff quite often surly and impatient.
Enthusiasm for cars is important too. If it's just a job to the person fixing my car I don't feel as though it would be done as well as if the person was just enthused about cars in general. I want to feel comfortable taking whatever car I have be it a modern or a quirky or even hated classic.
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open out of normal trading hours used to use a garage in the 70s open 24 hours a day handy to get repairs done without waiting maybe not viable now but open when customer isnt working ie evening etc throw in free tea or coffee and yer half way there
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dggp
Part of things
Posts: 135
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hadnt thought of strippers... ;D
i was going with free tea for all and the clenliness is something I'm taking to the extreme lol. have spent the last month just painting and sweeping and painting some more. the friendly service is something i think is really important as well. nothing worse than miserable staff or people talking to you like your stupid.
ill be working more on the reception and business side anyway so will always have the kettle on! ill try and get some before and after shots up soon. just trying to keep the mojo up as its cold and i've been working alone since october and I'm boring myself now
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Lots of good suggestions so far A bar, strippers, pole dancers? THIS ^ ;D ;D Add a car wash'n'wax (same staff ) and you're onto a winner ;D Handy if you can open at odd hours (mate opens at 8am so customers can drop cars off and often stays till after 6pm so they can collect after work) Free tea (or coffee in my case - hint !) is always welcome. Background music I like some kind of background noise while I'm working or waiting around - BUT - a lot of the rap / house / chart stuff blaring out in some places makes me want to smash the hifi and walk out of the shop Think about volume and what type you have on the radio
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hadnt thought of strippers... ;D I was going with free tea for all and the clenliness is something I'm taking to the extreme lol. have spent the last month just painting and sweeping and painting some more. the friendly service is something I think is really important as well. nothing worse than miserable staff or people talking to you like your stupid. ill be working more on the reception and business side anyway so will always have the kettle on! ill try and get some before and after shots up soon. just trying to keep the mojo up as its cold and i've been working alone since october and I'm boring myself now Hmm,let's see how your feeling after 6 months of dealing with idiots that think THEY know how much you should be pricing jobs at,not you. I was one of the happiest most outgoing people around until I opened my old paintshop and then and only then did I realise what w 4 nkers the public are,so called "friends" too,it's amazing when it comes to money the true colours people show. I tried to do a bit of retro style work for people but you soon find it all comes down to one thing,price,all people really care about is how much it costs to get done. Charge for EVERYTHING,a clip,nut,bolt,screw,etc,believe me you'll regret it seriously if you don't cos your local authority will try every way they can to extract the maximum amount of money from you,what exactly those business rates go on I'll never know cos they never even collected a bin or ran a street cleaner across the yard,oh and they put them up 60% in the middle of a recession,great news that was. Of course the retro crowd generally appreciate that things cost to get done and won't necessarily baulk at the prices but there was a lad on here two weeks ago furious that he'd been charged £150 for an Mot,spring and fitting,that included parts and VAT!!! Often as well it takes a certain type of person to own a retro motor as it's often a labour of love and although a lot of people out there do know little about their cars,if you've gone to the effort of driving a certain type of "retro" then more likely than not you'll enjoy doing the work yourself on it,not good news for you in your business sadly. My approach would be to perhaps learn a bit about the Bosch k-jet,ke-jet systems as their pretty common on most cars that are still working from the era and aren't something any mechanic under the age of 30 would have likely ever seen,even just basic test procedures to determine what's wrong with what. I found really good money makers were Mot work/prep,particularly with some of the new rules coming in regarding airbags etc. As said above for some unknown reason cleanliness is above godliness when it comes to people getting their cars worked on,odd as more often than not those cars turn up knee deep in sweetwrappers but it looks like you've got that side covered. Ironically the best work I ever had done on any of my cars was done in a really dirty backstreet garage but that's another story!!! I found autodata a very useful resource for pricing as well,it only takes 10 minutes to type up a quote and you can bet they've been to 2/3 other garages first who use the same software so hopefully your people skills can convince them your the best place to go. Often as well you soon find quicker ways of repairing things which can work in your favour,I could do Ka lower arms so quickly in the end that the longest part was getting the wheel off,I then offered people when they came in to do a pair for say £50 instead of a book time/rate of about £80,thing was I still made easy money as I could do the pair in under 25mins on the ramp. Good luck with it all fella,it didnt work for me but it has done for countless others so who knows!!!
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EmDee
Club Retro Rides Member
Committer of Autrocities.
Posts: 5,932
Club RR Member Number: 108
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transparent pricing and a pick up/delivery service
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I've been looking into going self-employed (not car related) and one of the first big mental steps is the jump from charging "mates rates" to "commercial rates" Sounds harsh but after you've worked out what you're paying in rent, rates, insurance, water .... and trying to make a profit at the end of the week On a lighter note, maybe try something to make your place different to the workshop next door retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=118726
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Thd garage I use has several good points which is why I keep going back...
I trust them to do a decent job.
They cut me the odd favour.
If they don't do it they know someone who does.
They're not the very cheapest I guess, but they arnt bad on price
They swear like troopers and call me every name under the sun for bringing in an unending parade of dodgy old tat
They offer advice on how to fix stuff and what is/isn't acceptible MOT repair etc
They have been known to lend me tools.
I sometimes get a coffee
We talk curse word about the various mechanics cars (several of them have something interesting and are usually buying and selling tat too)
It's a nice place to hang out
They occasionally try sell me some shitter they have about
I may not be the entirely typical customer
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Thd garage I use has several good points which is why I keep going back... I trust them to do a decent job. They cut me the odd favour. If they don't do it they know someone who does. They're not the very cheapest I guess, but they arnt bad on price They swear like troopers and call me every name under the sun for bringing in an unending parade of dodgy old tat They offer advice on how to fix stuff and what is/isn't acceptible MOT repair etc They have been known to lend me tools. I sometimes get a coffee We talk curse word about the various mechanics cars (several of them have something interesting and are usually buying and selling tat too) It's a nice place to hang out They occasionally try sell me some shitter they have about I may not be the entirely typical customer Sounds about right,favour for a favour and generally good service,fair prices and good contacts.
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Lots of good suggestions so far A bar, strippers, pole dancers? THIS ^ ;D ;D Add a car wash'n'wax (same staff ) and you're onto a winner ;D Handy if you can open at odd hours (mate opens at 8am so customers can drop cars off and often stays till after 6pm so they can collect after work) Free tea (or coffee in my case - hint !) is always welcome. Background music I like some kind of background noise while I'm working or waiting around - BUT - a lot of the rap / house / chart stuff blaring out in some places makes me want to smash the hifi and walk out of the shop Think about volume and what type you have on the radio Agreed here... mostly. I run a BMW dismantling business - music is usually on, not the radio, as it also drives me insane. Loud when no customers, quiet when there is. There's always a bit of banter and the customers keep coming back as they do not get cursed at, get treated with respect and get good prices. Importantly, most of the good business is done on Saturdays, and much of it after hours on weeknights. That's when people are free to travel serious distance. Recently I did a week of late nights - we're talking about quitting at 2am - but it meant a couple of guys could drive from 3 or 4 hours away to remove a petrol tank, also sold an interior at 10pm that week, and a young fella drove the length of ireland - some 6 or 700 miles, to get an engine very late in the evening. They appreciate the effort, and I appreciated the margins that week. From my perspective and experience, I would like to see written quotes offered by default, old school equipment (to convince me you are engineers and not IT technicians!) and some equipment and standards that say "we care about your car" (such as protection mats for putting on wings, seat covers etc). Improve your waiting area by not only having it painted etc which you're doing - but well lit. Dingy waiting rooms are fail. The best waiting room ever is 20 minutes from me at a tyre place - glass walls, fancy alloys mounted behind nice firm leather seats, and a PS3 with Colin McRae rally or something, and some kids toys. Oh and a vending machine (see below). Lastly, two points to consider. 1) The reason that most places don't offer tea or coffee is due to Health regulations. If you offer, you must have a Basic Hygiene Cert, and be subject to inspection of your facilities. Possibly some other regulations regarding preparation, and liability insurance to cover. Get round this with a free vending machine (on contract) or run the risk of being sued by the first person to take a disliking to you. 2) No customers in the work area, unless your insurance covers them, which it wont.
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To echo what's above.
For me I'd like to be able to take my car to a garage who knows i care about it, and it's not just some old s**tbox that needs throwing back together to eek a few more miles out of it.
The garage i use now know I'm like this, that's why i keep using them, they look after my cars.
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There's an old business adage that its easier to keen 10 customers than to find 1 new one.
You need to find the sweet spot for the customers in your area, work out who they are and tweak to suit them.
Because I am "known" at the garage I use I can drop cars at odd times to suit work. Even drop it round the guys' house on occasion and he drives it in... You can't do this for everyone... But flexible drop off, pick up times will probably help in this busy day and age.
Seriously though, general public, crazy people, I hear some of the people who come in the garage and I'd kick em up the ass. Like some woman bitching because her old Escort had failed the MOT because a headlight was actually smashed. K was explaining that he can't pass it like that, she shouldn't even have been driving it like that, and she's getting more and more irate. You don't need it over a £45 MOT test.
Not to put you off...
Good luck with it.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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IDY
Part of things
Posts: 893
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[Lastly, two points to consider. 1) The reason that most places don't offer tea or coffee is due to Health regulations. If you offer, you must have a Basic Hygiene Cert, and be subject to inspection of your facilities. Possibly some other regulations regarding preparation, and liability insurance to cover. Get round this with a free vending machine (on contract) or run the risk of being sued by the first person to take a disliking to you. That bit is not exactly right, best thing to do is talk to your council's food hygiene department and take their advice. We are running a 50 cover tearoom bistro and our council told us that there was no requirement to have a Basic Hygiene Cert, all they required was us to attend a 1 day course run by the council which was free.
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I will get round to finishing it at some point
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dggp
Part of things
Posts: 135
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Really appreciate people taking the time to share their wisdom, a few things i hadnt thought of. I was thinking of the playstation in the reception lol. Ill have to research the tea situation as well, there is a garage i used to use that offered me tea but thinking about it it was probably because they knew me quite well. I was thinking of working 8 until 6 ish to be there before and after work for people.
I can imagine a few customers being a pain in the a@se but suppose its all part of the fun... I'm not sure what opening hours we're allowed yet until we get our planning permission sorted as someone is building houses next door. When i get some money in there is a battered old flat above the garage so i may never have to leave!
The only thing I'm a little worried about is the fact there are 3 other garages within literally 200 yards which is why I'm going all out on making it a nicer place to be. I should hopefully have it open in a month or so and any one passing will always be welcome to drop in. Hopefully my mechanic will get some spanner time on my projects as well! Ill get some pictures up later hopefully of the state of things
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Rather than a PS3 (which will more than likely get bits pinched by the wrong type of customer!) how about something retro, dirt cheap, and easily accepts "backup" (copied) discs? The old Sega Dreamcast! I went to sell mine, and was offered a maximum of about £4 for the console, and 25p per game..... Or an old N64, with Mariokart, and goldeneye Just to make sure it's difficult to pinch them, you can drill through the outer edges of the carts, and attatch them to the table with a bit of steel cable. Mariokart carts NEVER hang around long if not tied down! lol As for the "free" coffee, I'm not sure about anyone else, but I always feel rude if I take one. Maybe charge something minimal like 20p per cup? Weirdly enough, I'd sit there all day gulping 20p coffee, but I'd only have ONE if they were free....
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You're like a crazy backyard genius!
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just read this through this thread, so i ll add my twopenneth worth...
what i want from a garage is experienced & accessable staff, regular hours, (out of hours if the business dictates), prompt and reliable service. Accurate estimates and itemised paperwork.
i don't care about clean waiting areas, or if there is a waiting area, i don't care about tea and coffee, or something to amuse children.
if there is a clean and welcoming waiting area with free refreshments and the latest car mags and newspapers to read then my bill will rise to pay for them.
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Someone just shot the elephant in the room.
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i use a place in leicester (lion garage vw etc specialist)
i'm sure they aren't the cheapest but they don't feel too pricey, but most importantly IMO:
A nice warm waiting area, with free tea/coffee from a machine and comfy sofa, some mags to read (games console NO, you'll get knob heads hanging around and you'll have the awkward job getting rid)
they open at 8 for easy pre work drop offs, but they close at 5.30 which makes collection a close run thing, so slightly later opening would be a bonus
they call to discuss the work required and are pretty accurate when they give you an estimate, and it's ready when they say it will be
when you go and part with your cash, they take the time to talk you through the bill, from top to bottom, and give the opportunity to ask questions before you pay/leave. i was waiting for mine to be done and watched the guys there do this for about 4 customers, and everyone left happy.
goodluck with it dude
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Free tea,coffee biscuits etc is nice but for me i'm looking out for three things in a garage;
Knowledge-know what you are doing,if not do some research etc be ready for next time,its no use saying you can and then letting the customer down
Honesty -some garages that I used to deal with have been caught out recently and their lies cost them dearly.
quality control-don't let a car go until YOU are happy its fixed,garages these days seem to assume that because they have a computer that says X part is at fault that when its replaced thats it sorted,its not always the case
get those three sorted and the rest will seem easy,its all to often a sad fact of life that customers get lied ,fobbed off and generally messed around.
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Last Edit: Feb 9, 2012 13:31:10 GMT by Imperial
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