Own a share in a garage for £1,000 …opinions wanted.

[Dec]

I'm not sure why I would want to spend £1000 and then be charged £50 per hour labour + whatever the parts cost to fix my car when I could go to my local garage and pay £50 per labour + whatever the parts cost....

not sure what benefits it would bring.... i'd be £1000 worse off.

Also, what if the garage couldnt do the repair (ie many jobs are sent to specialist gearbox guys, head skims etc etc) - i'd then be spending normal labour rates (if any different)...

i cant see it working for the member, or as a business.

I still reckon a "member fee" to have cheaper labour rates from an established garage would be a better twist to the idea, but still doubt i would venture on that route personally

If you are happy with your local garage then you don’t need to join, you don’t have a problem, however some of us don’t have a descent local garage and the only alternative is the main dealer, now a lot of people aren’t too happy with them, I would be one of those and see many posts of the same opinion, hence the original post.

If the members garage couldn’t do the repair then the same would apply, if it needs the services of a specialist then that would be the case, but that’s the case in any case, if you know what I mean.


Dec

 

[BlackC55]

One of the first things you need to adress is where are you going to get the work from. It wont just fall on your lap.

Promoting the workshop is not good enough. You need to have work from the outset otherwise the overheads won't get paid for.

The first few months are very hard believe me.

In this game reputation is everything.

 

[Dec]

Ollie all of your points are covered in the first post. There seems to be a general misunderstanding of the first post.

Dec

 

[Chattonmill]

Dec,
You are on a Merc Forum for enthusiasts, surely if this idea was going to be viable then the members here would be the first to congratulate you and support you.
Instead almost every post is a No, wont work. If that is from Merc enthusiasts imagine the results from those who just have a merc because it is a car.

 

[Dryce]

I understand that you will never please all of the people, all businesses loose customers for one reason or another that’s part of the business and this will be no different.

Most businesses don't charge you £1000 up front to use their services.

That's a huge hurdle to get your prospective clients to jump. Especially as you're not any real advantage on service pricing for those staying away from main dealers.

Consider an example where there are two sports clubs, both charge £5 to use their facilities for an hour. One also demands £100 deposit up front.
All other things being equal which one ends up pulling in the punters?

There seems to be a lot of emphases on independent operators and the main dealers haven’t been mentioned at all it is this sector that is the main focus of the original post.

You're proposing a service at about the same cost as using an indy for at least some of us. With an up front £1000.

You're basically competing within the same market as an independent as you're not able to offer Mobilo cover.

 

[A210AMG]

Dec,
You are on a Merc Forum for enthusiasts, surely if this idea was going to be viable then the members here would be the first to congratulate you and support you.
Instead almost every post is a No, wont work. If that is from Merc enthusiasts imagine the results from those who just have a merc because it is a car.

Dec I think the above sums it up


If we don't think its a good idea and we love our cars then I doubt you would have a chance selling it to others.

£1000 up front in todays climate and STILL paying for a service.....


Sorry but we cannot all be wrong?

 

[hawk20]

Since lots of dealers lose money or barely scratch a profit -even with the official Mercedes dealership to bring in plenty of customers- a cooperative has little chance of making money or even covering its costs.

I don't want a share in running a business just to get my car serviced, or a vote, or have to follow all the arguments from numerous members. A camel is a horse designed by a committee said Churchill. Won't work. I just want businessmen to put up the capital and to run dealerships and offer me a choice of places, near my home, where I can get MB trained mechanics to service me at reasonable cost. I am happy for them to make a profit if they do a good job at a reasonable cost. My local dealer does just that.

 

[Spinal]

I think it's a good idea if you don't have a mecchanic you trust...

I have 3... (myself, an indy and a dealership). Given that I work for less than minimum wages, the indy works for cost (pretty much) and the dealership is rarely used, what cost benefit/advantage/motivation would there be for me to swap to a newly established mecchanic? It may replace the indy, but then, why pay the joining fee?

The joining fee seems more like an investment in a startup business - not a thing I'm too keen given the current economical situation...

Seems to me like your client base/market is wrong. This wouldn't work too well with established car enthusiasts, who will have a trusted garage. This may work with people one their first car (but then, they usually are young/students and don't have the funds) or are looking for a garage they can trust (like my mother).

What I would pay for is a garage that lets me use their grounds, tools and equipment to do my own servicing - but with a trained mecchanic on hand should I require some advice (maybe even for an extra fee...)

M.

 

[fyonn]

where I can get MB trained mechanics to service me at reasonable cost.

you know, I think you're looking for a completely different experience in a garage...

 

[hawk20]

you know, I think you're looking for a completely different experience in a garage...

Perhaps lapdancers while we wait.

 

[Spinal]

Thinking about this...

Think of it this way; what would a coop garage do differently from a normal indy?

The differences I see are:
- increased trust
- possibility for revenue
- slight chance of cost benefit

Would these appeal to a group of enthusiasts, or are you looking at targetting the wrong group?
M.

 

[fyonn]

just my two-penneth, and perhaps I'm not experienced in such things to know, but I'm always disappointed when I see dealer mechanics fixing things by numbers. there's often very little thought gone into a repair, it's just following the guides and doing, and charging exactly what it says.

perhaps that's what they have to do, but a garage where the mechanic knows the cars inside out and knows what you can do to them, rather than just what the book says would be of interest.

these guys might be the ones to fit/help you fit some of the interesting mods you might want, or help you top up on the options you missed when the car was ordered. okay, perhaps not quite going down the "west-coast customs" route, but people who are well educated, can do some more "interesting" work and who will stand by what they've done.

of course, I'm currently in a BM, so I might not be making as much use of such a merc garage, but it's a more positive reply, as opposed to the majority of negative replies

dave

PS. I'm not putting down my £1k yet, just floating an idea

 

[SilverSaloon]

a garage willing/have knowledge to try and rennovate a part instead of simply replacing with a new part would be good.

 

[coupe deville]

Perhaps lapdancers while we wait.

I've watched pole dancers being auditioned and/or practising while doing my job [well somebodies got to do it]

 

[jaymanek]

a garage willing/have knowledge to try and rennovate a part instead of simply replacing with a new part would be good.

its the cost/benefit thing again... 2 hours renovating something @ £75p/h is £150.. depends what part we are talking about, but these days there are very few parts worth repairing...

 

[Meldrew2]

Present it to Theo on Dragons Den ?

Only if you are going to service Maybach as well.....

 

[Dec]

Dec,
You are on a Merc Forum for enthusiasts, surely if this idea was going to be viable then the members here would be the first to congratulate you and support you.
Instead almost every post is a No, wont work. If that is from Merc enthusiasts imagine the results from those who just have a merc because it is a car.

That’s a very, very strong argument, I have no reply to that and will have to concede defeat, I still think it would work BUT you would just never convince the numbers required to join, true enough not all Merc owners think alike.

Thanks, by the way to all for the feed back, the ones I liked and the ones I didn’t like.

Dec

 

[SilverSaloon]

its the cost/benefit thing again... 2 hours renovating something @ £75p/h is £150.. depends what part we are talking about, but these days there are very few parts worth repairing...

good point

 

[hawk20]

Having read the history of numerous small businesses and been involved in a few myself, here is one list of needs: -

First you need a prime mover –someone who will organise and manage the business, take risks by putting in money of his own and being prepared to burn the midnight oil at least in the early years. Some re-mortgage their house to get the capital.

You may be able to convince some other people to put in money in exchange for future dividends if the project is successful. And they need to be happy not to interfere and to let the prime mover run things.

Thirdly, once you have enough capital to impress the banks, you can get loans for start-up costs, working capital etc. You need more capital than you expect to get through the first loss-making year (and sometimes into the second year).

Fourthly, rent your premises –do not buy. Because property prices are falling so buying is a bad investment, and mortgages are hard to get. Renting gets you started with much less capital. Also if you rent, everyone loses less money if you go belly up.

Forget co-operatives. You won’t get enough customers who want to put up capital. What might succeed is an independent Mercedes specialist with a strong focus on customer satisfaction at prices below the main dealers.

But there are quite a few of those already and some contribute regularly to this and other MB forums where, in many cases, you can read their histories from start-up.
Often a long hard grind.

Remember 98% of new businesses aren’t operating 10 years later.

 

[SilverSaloon]

I'd love to start up a Merc specialist in Fife - seems to be a gap in the market there.