My fiancee and I are taking in the pro's and con's for starting up car shop for muscle cars/trucks and 4X4's. Good work for people on a budget. A parts place for new and used peices, a storage area for cars during the winter or on vacation, and a place for the Minnesota-based car clubs to have meetings and gatherings. Let us know what you think!!!


Joe and Ranay:rockon:

 

Love the Idea and when u start hiring I would like to be ur first employee...I'm in a business developement class right now that teachs ya how to start up ur own business. So if ya have any questions let me know...

BTW Excellent Idea...I'm thinking of starting one of my own...

Jason

 

I think it is a great idea, something I have often times considered as well.

 

great idea but just remeber its alot of long hours and tons of work
and i think the hardest part is no matter how much you want to help people out you still have to charge them because otherwise you will go under and with everything you want to offer thats alot of overhead
hope you get this setup

 

i think the biggest con is finding a customer base, your gonna have to find people that want what you have to offer. I think the idea is great, but i've seen about 5 shops in the last year go belly up because they were reasonable in the beginning and had people flocking for parts but then started asking outrageous prices. I also know of a local store thats sold nothign but performance parts for the past 35+ years because they have an incredibly loyal customer base.

 

I have a friend that helps run Modern Muscle of MN. His name is Kyle and IIRC he goes by BlownGT on the forums. Any one of the guys could help you get your local customer base going. Offering parts or discounts to local clubs always helps auto parts businesses get off to a good start.

Another idea is to start some online stuff on the side, selling the commercial side of things to see if you can really handle something like your own business.

Just for reference sake if you have any internet store front interests....... My site is http://www.bnmotorsports.com that's now basically shut down just because I got tired of it for a while, but I sold off certain aspects of the biz to another local guy here in Des Moines. Here's his site http://www.buckshotmotorsports.com. His site is pretty much what I had my site set up as at one time, with a few corrections for his own information/etc. This keeps him so busy on evenings and weekends that he's looking for a shop to go full time. You can set something like this up very easily and pretty cheap if you learn how to do it yourself. Give me a shout via PM or email if you'd like any more tips... I've been doing this for 3+ years online.

 

The basis of the venture is to provide a place for the average guy to be able to work on his or her car seasons out of the year, especially if they live in an apartment. the shop will provide tools that are needed and the space for a reasonable fee.


Joe

 

Ahhhhhh, that sounds pretty cool. Done some driveway/parking lot tuning myself years ago before I had a house and garage. Not much fun without a roof over your head, LOL! Good luck!

 

I like to come and check that out if it ever gets going. I have a grage and tools, but I might be looking for some winter storage if it is a resonable price.

-JAWZ