Scottish Elises

Good start to 2007!

sh!te mate - that sucks the plums

Best of luck, new year new beginings, nail them for as much as you can get.

Bad luck! Hope you get it all sorted soon!

Nae Luck.

I had the same thing just before Christmas, 'cept I walked.

At least we can go for daytime runs in the car now, unlike all those sad losers with jobs.

(If we can afford the petrol )

Jobs are overrated.

I was looking at an Alloy wheel repair franchise, but the company sounded a little dubious and they weren't advertised anywhere.... Not a good start
They reckoned on £85k revenue in the first 2 years with also sounds a bit pish given the £25k start up fee. Still a possibility if nothing else turns up.

Why buy a franchise, especially if no advertising. Better to get yourself to Machine Mart and tool up. How hard can it be?

Bad luck with the job. I am sure something will turn up soon.

Titanium S1 111S (gla) wrote:Why buy a franchise, especially if no advertising. Better to get yourself to Machine Mart and tool up. How hard can it be?

What he said. I don't want to knock franchises as there are some crackers out there. I always wondered about a Subway one a few years ago after enjoying them in the US - now they are springing up everywhere.

I remember seeing a franchise directory a few years back and people seemed to be asking for enormous sums of money and offering very little in return. Nice to flick through the directory for ideas, but be careful before parting with any readies. Have you spoken to your local Business Gateway/Enterprise? They usually have all these resources available for a look.

Stewart

I was thinking similar, there are very few outfits round here certainly who do Alloy repairs, but I don't really know where to start...

I mean if it's going to be mobile then I'll need a Van, a tyre bead machine, balancer, compressor, air tools, spray booth and a load of tools, that is one big van and a mahoosive bill. I'm pretty sure I could do the job, but not sure I have the kahoonas to take the plunge...

The franchise ppl set you up with a kitted out lease van, 4 weeks training, etc, but sounded a bit too much for little return (After overheads and paying back some of the franchise costs!)

One thing you can be sure of is that the cost of the van/tool lease will be passed on to you with a profit element for them. If they can rent a van, you can rent a van and I can’t see the tools costing more than £2 or £3K.

Knowing which tools and how to use them would be an advantage but I’m sure its not that difficult. I can’t see the training being worth more than a small fraction of the £25k.

As for advertising, back of the local rag, graphics for the Elise and flyers under the wipers of cars with tatty wheels.

Some of the local colleges may run short courses in this sort of thing. Get into a couple of local car dealers with quality stock who want them well presented and you've got a good stream of business too.

Found a complete mobile tyre fitting van for £6k in Glasgow, would make a good start.... that is the tyre on/off side sorted, now I neew a strip/paint booth and someone who can teach me how to use it...

Off to sign on to keep my NI paid, start work on the 29th in a crappy call centre but it pays the bills Still looking though....

Mobile would probably not be a requirement for a startup - the places round here all have small industrial units with the booth / dipping tanks etc. I dont know much about it, but from looking round the place that powdercoated my rims (and it was pretty busy) a drive-in drive-out sameday service was what got him most £.

I know a guy who rents a brand new, 800ish sq ft unit from the council for under £300 pcm. Must be about the same as having a van on the road, and wouldnt take many wheels to cover that cost.

shooomer wrote:There's less risk involved in buying a franchise than setting up an independent, especially in a industry you have no experience

Am I the only one who read that as "Does Preston have a coffe shop?"





Mac

Ther are loads of coffee shops round here unfortunatly....