Self Service Auto Repair Shop: thoughts?
 

I've been growingly more and more interested in this business model.

Have you visited one? Would you?

example: http://stewsgarage.com/

A lot of folks talk about how they "like to do their own repairs" so it stands to reason that cheap time in a bay with a lift with provided tools would be palpable for many especially those living in an apartment or those who just don't own a bunch tools.

What I'm seeing is the trend toward a hybrid offering:
-Self service
-Assisted service for a few bucks more (basically a mechanic advises)
-Full Service

Your thoughts?

We had several of those here back in the 70s. They all went out of business between 3 and 5 years after opening. Was handy as hell since you could rent hoist time, oddball tools and for just a few dollars could get a hand when you needed one. Was also a fun place to hang out of course.

Interesting concept. $40 an hour for lift rental. As fast as I move, it would probably be just as cheap to pay a mechanic. I guess if you had a couple of buddies with you it may be worth it. I'd be more interested if the price was cheaper.

Ya for that price you could buy some pretty sweet jack stands and use them whenever you wanted.

Jeebus, they had better be gold plated at that price.

Used to use the auto club at CFB Trenton once in a while. There was a very small fee to use it; the rest was covered by Her Majesty.

These are common on Military bases for sure. Just as PNWBRZ said it may be cheaper just to have a mechanic do it for you, which may explain why these shops have incorporated having a full-service mechanic as an option. A lot of the push back is "I'd just do it at home!" But this isn't for those folks. It really more of an appeal to folks without the means at home to do this.

The key target are DIY'er, enthusiasts w/o tools and folks who live in apts/condos/housing developments with tiny garages.

There's also the convenience of fluid disposal and time especially with the 30-minute oil change special. People could change their own oil quicker and cheaper than using a quick-lube place and there's nobody to lie to them about how their blinker fluid is low, or how a minimum wage monkey over-torqued their drain plug bolt and stripped the threads.

It seems to be a tough enterprise for sure which is why it needs to hyper-focus on certain demographics and expand the offerings (self/assisted/full service).

It would definitely need to operate with very low overhead in order to sustain and it would be difficult to be decently profitable without a consistent volume of traffic. It would have to geared toward being a place that people wanted to be, wanted to visit, felt welcomed and where others are willing to educate and help out.

Another business aspect is appealing to the racing/drifting/track day crowd by making it easy/quick/affordable to change out brake pads/fluid/rotors and to change tires. Train/certify people on the tire equipment (and sign release waivers) and they can mount/balance their own tires for cheaper/quicker than going to Discount Tire and the shop would be open on Sunday. Even have their Tire-Rack order shipped to the shop. I think it would also be wise to have an alignment setup and corner-balancing scale setup as well.

Once, all that sounds great but keeping up a consistent volume is the key. Empty bays are like empty hotel rooms.

I think that this was what killed the ones we had around here for a brief period. On a weekend or between 6 and 9 o'clock at night they would be turning people away but through the week days you could shoot a cannon through the place. The busy times were just not enough to make up for the slow periods.

There must be a solution to that. Perhaps it could be a daycare or a nail salon during the day.

Or just your standard auto care/repair service during weekdays and Saturday mornings, with DIY time booked in evenings and on weekends. That would cut down on some overhead since the regular employees could take time with their families while the owner still made some money to pay his other overhead.

The ones here were old grocery stores with about 20 sections. Some places can't make a go of full service with 2 bays so I don't know how they could drum up enough business to do that many.

The full-service and assisted-service side of the operations would cover the expenses and the self-service revenue would be all profit. That would be my target financially at least in the first year or so.

I think the niche market is a market that's very willing (great demand) but the problem is targeting that niche market and appealing to it in more catered ways.

example: using SEO tactics, social media groups, hosting events at the shop for enthusiast groups etc. Also partnering with local enthusiast events such as track days, racing orgs, and car shows.

The other thing I haven't seen on any of the existing entities is to do week-day specials like "half price tuesday" or work-truck-wednesday special. A lot of private business owners are motoring around town in their own "work vehicles" and this could be a faster and less expensive way for small business owners to do maintenance on their work vehicles during the week. The other thing is retired guys, hobbyists etc, folks who don't work during the week.

The other thought I've seen when while riding the google machine is combining it with a high cash flow business that requires almost no labor such as a self-serve car wash (coin operated). The downside there is that the startup capital required changes the whole equation.

I went to one once, to put in ss brake lines, as I don't have the space/facilities to lift my car (even on jacks) at home. Financially, it would have made a lot more sense for me to have someone do it for me, but I was willing to pay to to do it myself. That's the obvious market - DIY'ers without the space.

I'll go back if I have any similar projects. What I learned from the owner was that its not always about the space, but also about the tools. They have everything, and good quality stuff, so I don't have to buy specialty tools.

On the other hand, he also said keeping all the tools from accidentally disappearing is a challenge, since he had stocked tool boxes at each station. So, something to watch out for.

Likewise, I'd suggest talking to some owners in different markets, as my guess is you have to draw customers from pretty far and wide to support it.

cool idea,

but the term LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION, is something i think will really help with growth for this business plan

area's around me, a business like this would not survive for long, alot of people have money and are lazy, they will just pay someone else to do it

places like this may be better near cities and area with lower income, hard working people trying to save a few bucks but dont have the tools to do the things they want to do

The 'can barely keep an old car on the road' crowd is probably not the best target customer pool if you're going to start a business.

It's ok to focus on that group if you're able to sell them more expensive services as they move up. If you open this in a low-income area, those people are going to move away the first chance they get.

-Justin

With your tools and supplies.

I didn't want to be the one to say it, but that is true. This is also the crowd most likely to shrink your inventory. Also, the most likely demographic to stage a slip and fall or other injury to bring a lawsuit. After a couple of those, the income from letting customers on the shop floor won't even offset the liability insurance.

-Justin

"If it was easy, everyone would be doing it."

But I found the solution.. No seriously, I really did!

The answer is... LIVE THERE, because it's your house! Just change the business model.. Don't open it to strangers, instead rent the bays out to friends and fellow enthusiasts. Make it a "club". OMG I want this house!

26 Garage bay house: https://olympic.craigslist.org/reb/5255042312.html


http://images.craigslist.org/01717_5...Qm_600x450.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/00F0F_i...n4_600x450.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/01515_j...VJ_600x450.jpg

I'd had a similar idea a while back. My thought was to have a full service shop with about 8 bays and to have 1 always available for DIY, use the rest for regular service stuff. Then later in the day (noon-ish to around 10) on weekends have a couple more reserved for DIY (and I'm thinking labor scheduling here). Add a service that allows customers to order parts and ship to us instead of having $1000 worth of parts waiting on their porch where anyone can take them. Also have a couple meets a week, maybe the occasional model-specific one. I have an advertising idea as well that would be incredibly helpful where I am (Auto-X is 30 mins north, and some of the biggest car shows in the country are 30 mins south (Carlisle). Put the business right in the middle, and you'd have immense market exposure through simple, cheap advertising instead of having commercials.

The insurance would cost a fortune to run a place like this. The risk of all the unlicensed people working on cars and trucks hoisted over their head. Who knows if they smoked or drank before they showed up. Sounds like a liability nightmare.

The best way to do this is to really be a shop and offer this on the side with proper liability insurance because I don't think you'd make enough without it being a shop most of the time.


Having said that, I've helped a buddy with his car at a fab shop that does do this on the side. It's good, although I have better tools so having to bring my tools to work on his car at some random shop kinda blows. Normally I use a buddy's lift (free in exchange for all the car work I've helped him with over the past 15 years) but that's gone currently (selling the house it was at and building a new garage on his new property) so I'm back to jackstands and crap. For any work that would require a lift I would do the lift rental thing but only if I knew I could be done with it quickly so I wouldn't do a full car rebuild, engine rebuild, etc in a situation where I have to rent a lift. Minor work it's not worth my time vs jackstands, etc. So for me, if it's free rock on, but for a fee it has to be just the right job that's far easier with a lift but won't take more than a night.

OK some rough numbers (very rough I didn't get quotes):

A 10 bay facility fully equipped, with ample parking in a neighbourhood that people will come to = $10K a month lease/payment ($120K year)


Liability insurance of $20 million a year (may not be enough in the sue happy U.S.) = $10K a month ($120K a year)


Building maintenance, tool replacement and equipment repair $20K a year


Four staff (may need more) wages, benefits, comp insurance costs, employment costs = $200K a year (If using skilled techs this could double)


Utilities, grounds upkeep = $10k a year


Business fees and taxes = $20 a year


Total expenses $490K a year (This is conservative with rough numbers provided by my plant Comptroller)


Rental at $20 an hour if all booths filled for 8 hours a day for 300 days = $480K


Soooo, unless you can cut some costs you are going to lose your shirt.

Damn I wish they had one of these near me. I work at a dealership but it's annoyingly hard to find time to work on my car while the shop is open and I live in a 26 story building with a shared garage (so no work allowed). :iono:

I will match your rough style with a very rough style of my own!

Well I think $10k/mo is a non-starter for this type of enterprise period. I'm looking at a facility where I could get 5 bays for ~2k/mo. Liability and other various business insurances for adequate coverage would probably be the same amount/mo as per commented on by the owner of a shop like this "Insurance is almost as much as the rent, if not the same" and his shop isn't exactly on Rodeo Drive.

Rent + insurances = $4k/mo 48k/year

Tool replacement and repair most likely $10k, maybe even less depending on what get's stolen.

Rental @ 20/hr is way to low.

For market rates in this area it's be $40/hr.. maybe $35 but since this would not be a "bring your own tool" type of shop it starts at $40. Special tools, welder, tire machine, assistance form a Pro... all extra. Estimated Average Revenue per billable hour would be ~$50. You take all profits and divide by hours billed. That way your ARPU incorporates upsell items like assisted service, special tool rental, vending machine sales, product sales, etc etc. ARPU may actually be higher than $50.

Assume 5 bays at 25% occupancy with 10hrs open per day @ 7 days a week.
350 hrs/week -75% = 87.5hr * $50 = $4375/week = 227,500/year.

227,500 -
rent/ins 48,000-
loss/repair 10,000-
2 employees 90,000-
Misc and Tax 15,000

Initial tax burden will be low due to initial capex and using a 10 year linear depreciation of the expensive bits.

$64,500. Not rad, but that's at 25% operational efficiency and it doesn't take into account the money from the full-service bay at all which could be another $50k/year all on it's own.

I can not for one second imagine enough people willing to pay $50 an hour to work on their own car to even run at 25%. Also not sure where you are going to buy or lease a large enough property for $2000 a month but that could be totally a regional thing. A full service shop can get away with tight bays since there are usually only so many techs but something like this is going to require extra space so everybody isn't tripping over each other.
Also the costs I stated are Canadian so they tend to run higher anyway (and no you can not use the exchange rate to convert to U.S. prices since it would all be in CDN $s).
I just don't see it as being a feasible business model even with some full service and sales involved as both of these also raise your overhead.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...78395465740603


http://www.loyalaustin.com/home.html

I think these guys run the shop just as a sort of hobby. Lift charge is $25/hr, which is not unreasonable.

The FR-S is mine. :D

Yes $25 or at a max $30 would be reasonable but let's face it if you need to work on your car at a place that rents space you likely don't have a lot of cash to throw around.

They aren't paying $50/hr. They are paying $40/hr with a lift or $30 with no lift. The $50/hr is ARPU (average revenue per unit). But the median income in this area is quite high so those prices are perfectly reasonable for this area. The parking garages that charge $60-100 per car to park at the Seahawks games are some of the first ones to fill up. People who work downtown commonly pay $300-400/month for parking memberships just so they can park downtown to work. Spending $50 to do something your dealership is going charge $300 for seems pretty reasonable. The standard shop rate for labor is $100/hr in many shops and dealerships it's 110-140/hr. Shit just costs more in the PacNW, almost on par with SanFran.

If I was in Texas or Utah then yes, $20-25/hr makes sense. Also if this was a "bring your own tools" type of shop then I would charge less (less overhead) and more $$ opportunity for tool rental. But one of the target demographics are folks that don't own a bunch of tools (apt dwellers) so I think it's better to be fully outfitted and build that into the cost.


Compare these 2. One's in Kirkland (expensive city) and the other is in Kent (less expensive city). Both seems to be making it work. The one in Kent I believe is planning to open a second location too.

http://stewsgarage.com/ (Kirkland)
http://selfservegarage.com/ (kent)

Basically what I rather do is run a profitable business in the front end and the hobby shop/self serve garage on the side for funzies.

The reduced rates for the longer periods make more sense and I never factored in that consideration. Pretty hard to tell they are "making it work" from a website though. Those could look so purdy because nobody ever goes there and the guy is loosing his shirt. I don't see his financials posted.
A quick search of them in Canada comes up with nothing. They seem to have completely died out and the little info I could find (forums mostly) all cite the cost of insurance as the reason.
I guess this is a business that is going to work or not based almost entirely upon location.

I like the idea, especially with qualified mechanics ready and willing to walk you through and double check your work so you don't absolutely screw something important up.

But those prices seem high. I laugh at the $15 oil change special. Most dealers around here and normal mechanics charge $15 to change your oil just to get you used to coming to there shop, so to pay that and have to pay for the oil/filter/ etc is just funny.

But as you mentioned every area is different, and if it is in a high priced location it might work.

But to make it profitable I think you would need to be talking to every single club in the area, and if you could try to find enough property so you could at least host some type of event as well, like autocross or something. Or maybe a small kart/single car time attack style track. And host meets at all hours. I think it would be a very intensive business to get off the ground, and then if you had cars guys hanging out for meets all the time you could have it be successful as a business. And then you would add side businesses, like car wash, parts shop, fast food restaurant, etc. Basically if you could create a great hangout place for car guys you could make it work.

But if you are affiliated with race clubs and the like it could help jump it off.

Oil change at home:
- $4 for a filter, $25 for 5 qts of synthetic
- Jack, Jack stands and a trip to the dump or "other" to dispose of used oil.

Oil change at rent-a-bay:
- $4 for a filter, $25 for 5 qts of synthetic
- $20 not to have to crawl on back and then take 2nd trip to dispose of oil with a dirty oil jug in my trunk.

Let's see here.. I got an extra $20 sittin' around for the luxury of not crawling on my back and having to take my used oil somewhere... I still know it got done right.

Oil change at a full service shop. $40. Sit and read a magazine and drink coffee for 15 minutes.

Sure, where you are.

And is that with Synthetic?

Yep. I like it because I am lazy.

You literally can't buy 5.5qts of a decent synthetic + decent filter here for under $40.

You can probably get a fram orange can and 6 qts of Walmart brand synthetic for just under $40 after tax.

You goddamn Canadians! :)

Well they are getting it in bulk so they can charge less. Would cost way more to go out and buy the oil here as well. I did visually confirm it is the right stuff before my first change. I put so many miles on that I have to get the oil changed every 8 weeks so I shopped for the least expensive that still met the requirements.