Thinking of starting a mobile mechanic business

[strictly_perv]

Me and my mate where talking earlier and we where thinking of starting up our own mobile mechanic business doing mainly servicing, pre-MOT's and possibly lowering and that sort of stuff if people ask but, obviously nothing major as we don't have the space to do it.
We both have recently finished college leaving us with a Level 3 car Mechanics qualification and I'm only working part-time as well as my mate so we haven't really got much to lose. It's only just a thought ATM but we are seriously looking into it.
The plan would be to get all the legal stuff sorted and get a Berlingo, 306 estate/ other french diesel as we know them better than other cars so would be an easy and cheap fix. We have all the tools so that shouldn't be an issue for now.

We're after some thoughts or advise if anyone has any as we've never done anything like this before.

Thanks.

[darrenjlobb]

Main thing is to work out your pricing, and sort out your insurance, once you have done that , go to work

Sounds like a good idea to me provided you can do it competivitly enough for people to consider...

[Connor]

Id say try and get a job in the trade first so you can get an idea of how the trade works/pricing etc

[4WayDiablo]

make sure you have all the correct insurances and vat registration and so on.
could be a good idea but you are in the middle of nowhere though? lol

[darrenjlobb]

Pre MOT's are also a farce, as if you miss ANYTHING the customer will be back / unhappy tbh.

[Connor]

Pre MOTs are a waste of time anyway... Take it for MOT and they help you if anything is wrong what I do anyway lol

[Jenkosowls]

pre Mots are a farce the uk mot system is a farce! end of the day most things are down to the mot testers discretion. Everyone knows some whos got a dodgy mot tester.

Main thing is insurance! Check everything is covered as it gets nasty and theres always seem to be some part of it you thought youd be covered and your not!

[Ruan]

Exactly what my housemate is going to do one he's finished level 3... When you're younger tithe vest way to get the essential experience needed rather than being shat on from a great height by most garages, being paid shit all and just being the tea boy....

[strictly_perv]

I've worked at a couple garages now and really didn't like it like Ruan says, shit pay and shit jobs given to you. I'd much rather do this and keep my part time job as I'm not expecting to rely on this financially from the start as we will need to build up our reputation.
Phil you'd be surprised, there's alot of people round here who are elderly or don't want to have to drive into town and wait round all day for their car to be worked on. Hopefully people will see us as an advantage as we come to them.
I see what you mean about pre MOT's. Praps we'll just give it a once over to see if there's anything needing fixing after we do a service and advise them on it which could bring in more work.
Thanks for the advise.

[Toms306]

Its a good idea, I thought about doing this since finishing my level 3 at college recently too, I already fill the car with tools and head down to SRowells to do various car stuff so really it's not much different!! Only thing is I'd worry about f*cking up, I havent got the confidence to work on strangers cars. :/

[dturbopeck]

I think starting your own business now just out of collage is very risky, this trade is all about expirance and is not easy anymore, stick in at a garage for a few more years, then go for it, even a dealer and get as much fee training as u can, sorry it's just the way I see it, after 15yrs as a mechanic