Owning your own business essentially means being your boss and financial freedom for most Americans. The path to personal wealth is often realized by running your own business, and if cars are your passion, starting your own auto repair company should be your course of action.
Starting your auto repair company becomes easier if you have prior experience as an automobile or repair mechanic, but you may be able to achieve success with minimal experience by brushing up on self-help automobile books, DIY manuals and detailed repair manuals for each make such as the Ford F-350 Truck repair manual. Given below are seven steps to starting your own auto repair company and achieving success in it:
Table of Contents
1. Get legal help
The first thing you should be doing upon deciding to open a repair shop is to get legal help. Opening any business requires you to obtain a running license, and comply with existing business rules and regulations. As a first-time business owner, it may get too difficult for you to maintain all of this on your own, and hence seeking legal help should be your priority. A legal advisor would be able to help you get your repair shop registered, complete all paperwork, take care of all filing requirements, and pertain to other matters of rules and regulations.
2. Decide whether or not you want to specialize
As an automobile repair company, you may choose to either run a generic repair workshop or specialize in a particular niche. As a repair company, you could specialize in collision repair, small vehicles, medium to heavy vehicles, vehicle equipment, and whatnot. You may also choose to specialize in particular makes or models of automobiles. While specializing may cause you to gain more business from a specific niche and make your name in your locality, you may be missing out on other business opportunities. Depending upon the vicinity of where your workshop is located, you could make a conscious decision about whether or not you wish to specialize.
3. Be mindful of your shop’s location
With an automobile repair workshop, location is key and hence you should be extremely careful of the location you choose. The right location would no matter be expensive, but would also guarantee a certain amount of traffic and hence increased sales. Your chosen location should be close to the main highways and yet not be very far away from residential areas. The chosen location should ideally feature a shop that you can use to run repairs and also have a decent reception and waiting area for your customers. You should also make a conscious effort to list your business on Google Maps to help people find it easily.
4. Gain essential training
If you do not have prior mechanic experience, it is especially more important to gain essential training to operate your automobile repair shop. You may choose to act as an apprentice in another notable repair workshop for a few months or may enroll in courses for automobile repair training. This is essential to ensure that you do not compromise the quality and safety of cars that enter your workshop, and so that you do not hamper the safety of your clients in any way possible. You could speak to other St George auto body repair shop owners to ensure that you are on the right track.
5. Get ASE certification
ASE refers to Automobile Service Excellence, and while you do not essentially need it to run a repair workshop, having an ASE certification would greatly improve your chances of getting cheaper insurance for our new venture. Insurance coverage can be very expensive for automobile repair shops owing to the high risk you are involved in, and hence saving up on insurance costs would greatly help you minimize additional costs. The certification would also help you gain investment for your repair shop if you are looking for it.
6. Spread the work and invest in marketing
To promote your business, invest in marketing your repair shop in its vicinity. You could either launch it by featuring an opening night where all visitors may bring their cars and receive a free service or complimentary car cleanup, or you may offer early bird discounts for your first 100 customers. To promote your business and gain more customers, you must gain the trust of your initial customers so that you get referrals from word-of-mouth marketing. You may also choose to put an ad in the local newspaper, distribute flyers or put an ad on the local radio station.
Conclusion
While starting your own automobile repair company may seem like a daunting task at first, with the right training and support you would be able to achieve success in no time. While setting up your automobile repair shop, be sure to choose an ideal location, be mindful of whether or not you wish to specialize your services, invest in marketing and promoting your business, and get the essential training you need to ensure your customers’ safety and the fine working of their vehicles. All of these factors should be taken into account simultaneously to ensure that you run a successful repair shop while attaining financial freedom, and serving your community.
