Starting your own automotive repair shop or automotive workshop is the dream of good mechanics everywhere. I have lived that dream.If you are a highly skilled and versatile mechanic, you may find it to be very restricting working for someone else when you could be running your own business and making real money at the same time.The right equipment is essential to opening an auto shop. It takes a good knowledge of workshop equipment to make all the right decisions and you also need to learn using and maintaining different equipment correctly.A good automotive shop equipment company will ensure you have all owners and parts manuals as well as service directives for all the heavy equipment you purchase or lease.The company should also be capable of providing any training necessary to operate each machine safely. Most will do so for free and on site.People skills are paramount in this business and a caring helpful personality as well as a love for your job are prerequisites when starting an auto repair shop the right way.If you care about your work, customers will care about using your workshop to do all their mechanical repairs and servicing, so you need the right tools and equipment to do a broad range of work.If you love what you do and want to do it for yourself, I say go for it! You will need some cash for setting up the building lease, and painting your floor, signwriting etc and buying or leasing equipment, ( In western countries between $20,00 and $100,00 is the usual cost range for setting up a small shop to a larger operation with 4 lifts.You will already have heaps of enthusiasm talent and skills to do the work, and have the patience to learn about setting up with the right premises machinery and equipment.Having said that, I started my first workshop out of a leaning ricketty old shed at home that would hardly hold one car. I know of others that have done the same. The building needs to have the following features.Wide access.

• Auto Parts Equipment Plants

Customer's cars need room to drive in straight then go out straight to get on and off hoists unless the building is very deep, there will be no room to align the vehicle with the hoist if access is too narrow. If space is very limited, you can use rolling jacks that sit under the tire to maneuver the vehicle by hand. These are quick and easy to use. In most countries, states and territories there are regulations and zones where you can put a workshop.

Auto Parts Equipment Plants

Make sure of the zoning first on any property you consider leasing or buying. Ensure you have correct drainage installed in case of large oil spills. Ensure that you can store volatile chemicals associated with your trade. Ensure you are able to operate all your machinery legally. The electricity supply for much workshop equipment is 400 volt 3 phase, ensure it is connected and working properly. Often you will find 3 phase wiring with the polarity changed from plug to plug.

This is a darn nuisance and confuses a lot of workshop equipment!. Install air hoses overhead. You don't want air hoses running across the floor, in the old days grease was run this way to. If you are working on older cars with grease points install grease overhead too. Run an overhead waterline as well if you feel you need it for some special jobs you may do. Power points should be well above bench level so they do not get knocked, and you need plenty of them even for a basic workshop. Buy and maintain an emergency spill kit.

Fit fire extinguishers to a well constructed plan, ensuring locations will be quick and easy to reach. The workshop floor is very very important. More so than in most businesses as it must withstand stains from dirty thin and hot oil.

It happens that spills do occur when doing oil changes, but more about how to stop that happening later.BEFORE you move your hoists in, you need to know that the floor is level, thick and strong and most important, treated or painted so that the oil does not soak into the concrete and weaken it, especially around the hoist uprights.Ensure the painted floor surface is skid-proof and smooth to roll equipment on.Use a non skid paint. You can get one that can be rolled on or sprayed. Never even consider buying a cheap hoist!I spent two years rebuilding, installing and servicing hoists. The average life of a cheap hoist is around two years before downtime and major repairs. Profit centres. GENERAL WORKSHOPMACHINERY. TyrechangerTirechanger accessoriesTire pressure gaugeAir Pressure RegulatorTire leverTire lever protector WheelbalancerWheelbalancer accessoriesWheel weight pliers Brakelathe off car Brakelathe on carBrakelathe accessories WheelalignersWheelramps Engineanalyser.5 gas suitcase type if I had to choose.

To work on modern cars, you need a good scanner and a 5 gas analyser, along with many wiring harnesses interface cables for the different makes and models connections to the scanner.None of this equipment is cheap, because quality is paramount. I have sold, repaired and serviced both cheap and well designed and built ones. The cheapies will save you a grand or so, but you will regret buying either a scanner or 5 gas analyser cheap!There is an equipment list added to this if you are doing petroleum/gas conversions, but it is not usually extensive or expensive. A workshop that can do everything in-house will attract more customers, and if you cannot do a job because you do not have the necessary equipment or machinery, you need to outsource it.Never send your customer away, ALWAYS have a solution by using other specialists to do the work for you, then check it thoroughly when it is finished and then add value.Here are some ways to make your workshop more profitable.

Planit Salvage WASTE, RECYCLING, SALVAGE Planit opened its doors in May 2015 at 274 Greenfield Avenue, Ballston Spa, NY. Conveniently located only 4 miles off Exit 13N of I-87, this facitliy was formerly known as Ed Loya's Used Auto Parts for over 60 years.

Buy a high quality brake lathe and learn how to use it. Your equipment supplier should be able to train you or your mechanic in using the equipment they sell.Good disc machining is a matter of tooling up carefully and finishing the surfacing with a fine skim after the cut if needed. Air-conditioning repairs.Buy a multi unit that does the whole job. Tyre changing, wheel balancing.Combine with tire sales, or outsource tires.

Buy a machine that will do new cars with large wheels. Wheel alignment.Equipment is expensive to buy, you need an alignment machine and an alignment hoist like the 4 post listed above. The profit on wheel alignment is not great generally, but it does attract other sales very well. LPG conversions.If you have all the equipment needed such as a 5 gas analyser and a gas fitters licence there is good money in conversions. Take your time with the re-tuning and calibration.To learn how I ran my workshops profitably read the next hub How to start an auto repair shop-workshop business 2. I enjoyed the article, and thought it was very helpful and informative.

It should be very helpful for someone starting, or even running a business. My job is safety coordinator, in a concrete batching plant.it doesn't really matter what type of work you do, the same basic rules apply.

There is an organization of retireed business executives that will offer free advice on everything to do with the business you wish to start. They met with me face to face, one on one for free. They were very helpful. Second, in the U.S. Go to the OSHA web site and do some reseach on the safety side of it. It could save you hassles later or even fines for violations.

The biggest violations i see are machine guarding.electrical cords without proper grounding, or frayed ends.a bench grinder is one of the first things they look for. They should have a safety shield, and the stop no more than 1/4inch from the wheel. Transfering chemical from one container to another requires you post the safety data on the new container.

ALL of it.do yourself a favor, make up or copy a safety check list, and take a few minutes once a week to go thru it.the accident you save could be your own. Last, it only takes one accident to involve OSHA.

When they come they can go anywhere and look at anything.check your fire ext /exit signs monthly. You may get a break on your insurance by putting a safety program in place. Your insurance compamy may also offer tranning courses for you and your employees for free. Take the time and do your research. It will only benefit you and help you make a more informed decision. Good luck with what you decide to do, and may you have a lomg productive run.

Young boy you are only 23 you need more experience by my thinking to open a new garage. But running show is easy to carry on,if you buy out your boss. But still it depend upon how much money he is asking & how much stock he has & how old is your equipment,is it worth to buy or buy new equipment. First find in your area if any other garage for sale. How much money the want & compare both side by side.

If you can do 80% jobs without your boss,s help i think you can run the show.Best of luck make up your mind. Great article.

I plan on reading the rest of yours. I am an ASE certified master tech and am planning on starting my own shop soon but don't have a huge budget to work with initially. I am planning on buying tools and special equipment as I go because I can't afford it all at once I have invested in a good scan tool already because now days with all the computers there isn't much you can do without one do you have any other advice for me. I am young only 23 but have a lot of ambition and really want to make this shop work.

Hi, I'm intersted in starting an auto repair shop business, I was graduated as a mechanical engineer outside the US and couldn't get a job here in the US so I went to school and get an AS degree in heavy equipment diesel mechanic I have been working for years for a company with a fleet of hundreds of trucks doing the maintenance and repair, although I don't work on cars but I know every bit about them as I service my cars by myself, I'm in my early 40's and I don't have any experience in dealing with business, should I take some classes for that?. Hello, i work for my brother in his auto repair shop.it only has 3 hoists so its not very big. He has a hard time bringing in money, i was wondering if you could give me some advice. He is a very caring and honest person, he has alot of costomers that count on him and trust him that has known him for years. He doesn't over charge anybody and he doesn't try scamming people, his labor rates is 65 an hour. He sometimes quotes out a job and in the end it turns out to be more than what he quotes it to be but he still charges them the amount he quoted it for, so he then looses out on money.

He has alot of jobs most of the time but has trouble making good money on it and mostly every good job takes longer or something else goes wrong so he looses out on it. He works 6 days a week between 10-15 hours a day, dealing with the costomers taking calls and working on the cars, he works his butt off, has nothing to show for it and makes nothing in the end, barly enough to pay his bills. Thanks for your time, hope you can help. I just found your site and must say, great job. I have been a tech for 40 years and fix what most dont take the effort too. I opened my own shop in glendale a year ago and it took off good, with customers that know me and people who heard about us. We have really low prices and i find runnings adds do not help with bringing in new customers and costs are to high for big adds to compete with the multi chain stores.

Now with the holidays here it has been really up and down, what would you suggest for bringing in new clients and how would you get the word out. I am a master certified tech, ase and asa and federal emissions, along with michigan certs in 16 areas, i take great pride in my work and not a big comeback rate, your information is great and all the equipment list you had we had when i opened, we do it all in house including valve grinding, tires, wheels, engine rebuilds and transmissions. Any input on how to make better would be thankfull. Hello Pancho, I wish you and your brother well in your new business.A couple of things comes to mind.

Your PS4 needs enough free HDD equal to the size of the game plus 50GB. Ps4 download stuck at copying. You can and, if you subscribe to PlayStation Plus, you can too. For example, you need 70GB to download a 20GB game. Delete content to create enough space to allow download.You can re-download content later, but we advise you to back up your game saves and trophies before deleting a game, so you don’t lose your progress. Go to Settings System Storage Management to check your HDD space.

Conserve capital for quiet times, and manage the business financially so that it can reinvest in stock and allow for growth.Be clever with advertising, ensuring that you have a unique angle that makes your business stand out.Choose a top location with high visibility if you can. If you are hidden away you will have to promote more and be more innovative, but it can be done successfully if you get strong referrals.I hope this helps, but do feel free to ask any questions you may have. Great post Earnestshub,I'm also from Melbourne, currently in the process of putting together a business plan to establish a new workshop in the west suburbs.The plan is to establish the new shop in partnership with my Brother who is a motor mechanic with approx 7 years’ experience (really knows his stuff and has managed the last two garages his worked at) has also worked in both dealerships and private garages. I'm a computer engineer with a business degree, so I’m hoping these skills will work well together to ensure our success.We are both pretty young (I think) I’m 31 and my brother is 26, so we are both pretty driven and enthusiastic.We already own a fair amount of equipment that will hopefully help keep our start-up costs down.I plan to continue working in my field and have more of a background involvement with the garage.Apart from the excellent advice you have already given any further tips?. Sorry to here how tough it was in Pakistan, it's not easy anywhere.When I started there were many people going broke on the usual 3-4% net margin most workshops make.I was profitable from day one, as I had very little in the way of outgoings.My first well built workshop was comfortably in good profit within a year from scratch. I have always been service driven and a lot of the mechanics here were average in my opinion.My engineering background was a huge asset, as I could not only make new parts, but modify and correct design faults. I was also young energetic and hard working.

It is not only experience that is needed Angel, it is the willingness to learn every day that is important.If you are a good automotive engineer, working with an experienced mechanic for a couple of years will bring you up to speed with knowledge of idiosycracies in the different models and enhance your speed and efficiency when using tools.The business model is the interesting bit. You can choose what you love to do and specialise.I hope this helps, feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to help. For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: Show Details NecessaryHubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site.

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