Hey guys I was wondering for advise and your opinions. I've been a mechanic for 3 years at a garage/dealership and in a few years I would like to start my own performance shop. I know how to weld and I plan on learning to tune in the near future. My question is me and my experiences being a mechanic and with the projects ive done in the past will it be enough to start a performance shop or is it not enough meaning the fact i've never worked in a performance shop hinder my business. Opinions and advise welcomed.

 

Im in the exact same boat, but been doing dismantling / re-builders for 6 years and even tho im good at modding cars, theirs no serious money in it unless your really good at working on a lot of different kinda cars, there isn't a lot of money in honda's because so many people just do it them selfs.

I modd Hondas, Celicas, and Datsuns for fun / some profit.

Then anything that is worth money in parts or worth money rebuilt I sell for profit.

 

Well how many shops are in your area?
How much will it cost you to start?
Where will you get the funds?
Who is going to work for you?
How are you going to prove that you are a better shop than the other established ones?

There are a lot of factors that have nothing to do with just your experience. The economy is **** and obviously less money is going around.......but also some shops may be closing down, it might be cheaper to buy equipment....idk.

Im not telling you either way, its your life, your career. If you have the money and really think you can pull it off I'd say go for. but just try to think of every aspect. I was just trying to bring up a few questions maybe you didn't think of.
I don't that really helped. lol

 

you could call it a performance shop but i wouldn't invest all the money or efforts into only the performance part of it . i would invest into the regular stuff like regular maintenance"oil changes,filters, tires, diagnosics, ac, elec," so that there is revolving income" every1 needs tires lol" then in the mean time u can do the odd performance stuff when they come in

also if u have the money buy wholesale or better yet try to get a rep that u can buy from at wholesale prices

 

Your gonna need alot of money or a few investors. I don't own my own shop but I have thought about it. The only problem is costs. I do small jobs in my garage like swaps, installs and rebuilds. I will do body work only on special request as that kind of work requires another garage with different tools. This is only a weekend deal so think of it as a side job. Some weekends will go good and I make up to $800. Some weekends are slow and I don't see a single dime. One thing I do as advertisement is free swaps or installs. The free promotions I do are usually workshops to teach and also hook some new customers. Been working pretty well.

 

I dont mind making it a full service / performance shop to make sure i have some income untill you get better known. There arent a lot of shops around here performance i mean. Also in your opinion how much money do you think you need to start ? As far as experience that i have meaning never working in a performance shop can start one or is there a big difference from a performance shop to garage/dealership

 

Or is automotive...automotive reguardless of the kind oif shop

 

How much mone do you think you need to start.. even starting small

 

i would have atleast 10000 in an account. but actually get the licenses and permits are cheap, the place you will be doing the work al depends on you and location"so u have to research that" tools well if you have em already good if not start buying and saving b4 you start spending money on a garage. it all depends on how much you want to put into it cause i've seen ppl start with less and rent or borrow tools and equipment till they got the money and clients to warrant buying tools and shops or getting into other areas of automotive intrest like paint body ect

 

i have a friend that just got a contract from a company to maintain and fix all there vehicles for a year

you could try something like that to get the revenue flowing or do what chewwy does and do all this on the side at night or the weekends or both in your garage or rent a very cheap one lol to get started