Starting my own business any tips?

[v8rangie]

Im looking at starting my own car collection/delivery company and also breaking land rovers for parts.

im hoping to be able to get a business loan to buy a Recovery van and put a good couple of months rent down on a unit somewhere.
if not then ill just save bit by bit out of my current wages and get vthe van and build up to the unit for breaking.

Has anyone else got there own business and do you have any tips or info on the best way to run everything?

I could prob keep myself going with a collection/delivery service just for Mud-Club :)

[xmob]

If you're looking to start your own business the number one thing you need is:

Stress management skills.

I'm just coming up on the end of my first year.  While I won't say it hasn't been fun, it has certainly been stressful.

[v8rangie]

Yeah i bet it is.

but you get the satisfaction that you have done it all yourself sorted everything out and built it up from nothing.

It seems to be the only way to make decent money nowadays you cant do it working for others.

[NiceBlueWellies]

My advice having been there, done that - don't do it!

Yes, it can be rewarding, but no hols, no sick pay, etc.  You aren't your own boss, your customers are your bosses, and they never let up!  The job can end up running your life, not the other way round like it should do.  VAT issues, tax issues.  It never ends.

Then again, it can be sooooooo different, and life can be sweet.

I prefer to let someone else have the stress and money worries though now.  I do my bit and go home without the sleepless nights.  Life is sweet.

Good luck, I hope it works out like you want it to. 

[v8rangie]

i suppose its the same with everything really you have to put a lot in which im prepared to do before it all works out and you can start taking time off and employing others etc.

i really do hope all goes well im just looking into units to rent and found a fair few this morning.

[Boggert]

If you are looking for a loan, you'll ned to put together a business plan and work out some figures.

[Nobber]

im in the process at the moment , im tyring to start an off road tour/adventure holiday business in greece.
very different thing to the kind of thing you want to do but the first step would be to assess your legal requirements. you really do need to keep your back clean.
solicitors are not cheap but some will offer a free session to advise you on what legal procedures you need to address.

[redhand]

Talk to your local carhire companies they often have cars they need collecting. from various parts of the country. They will probably already have someone who does it for them but if they hit a busy spot or the other company let them down it could be your lucky break.

[muddyweb]

Collection / Delivery service...  should work out.  There is always call for 'man-and-a-van' services, eBay has regular advertisers for moving vehicles and there are possibly some regular contracts you could pick up.   Breaking vehicles for parts on a commercial basis is a whole different hatful of spiders.   The environmental controls you need to have in place to dismantle vehicles may make it cost-prohibitive...  think very carefully before commiting to this and make sure you cost it fully before you spend any money !

Exporting vehicle parts still seems to be one of the best outlets for parts, and you can still attract good money...  you just need to find the right contacts to do it.

There are people who dismantle vehicles, flog the bits on eBay or the like and get away without the beauracrcy, but I know for a fact that planning and environmental authorites are cracking down on unlicenced breakers....  all you need is for someone to tip them the nod (be it a neighbour, competitor or just someone who likes to stir up trouble) and you might find yourself with big fines and no income.

Hope that helps and gives some food for thought !

[redhand]

However registering as a licensed breaker is relatively painless and cheap. It's meeting the environmental side of it that costs. oil collection tyre disposal etc etc.

[V8MoneyPit]

If you are looking for a loan, you'll ned to put together a business plan and work out some figures.

You should be doing this for yourself anyway. You should never enter into any business without a formal, well researched financial plan.

Look at competition in the area.
What do they do that you could improve on?
Can you market your business in a better way than them?

Look at the potential customer base.
What is the wealth demographic?
What would they really be looking for from your business?
Are there enough customers for you and your competition?
Or can you 'steal' the customers?

Ultimately, you need to be offering something that somebody wants and offering something that is better that the competition.

Working for yourself can be very rewarding. It is, as previously stated, hard work. And somethimes you will wonder why you started. But at times like that, you must take a step back and understand why you feel that way. Then do something about it!

But most of all, make sure you do it with your eyes wide open. Arm yourself with all the available facts about your proposed business before you go anywhere near investing any money. Only then will you be able to make an educated descission.

[v8rangie]

Thanks all.

im not going to breaking cars on a huge scale only a few a week sort of thing as i will be on my own so too many is only a small amount.
i think the main money earner at the moment is car collection etc..

im still keeping my job till it gets to the point where im just to busy and having to turn people away.

[Thrasher]

im still keeping my job till it gets to the point where im just to busy and having to turn people away.

Just make sure you inform the proper authorities about any extra income, or it'll come back and bite you  :shock:

[V8MoneyPit]

Thanks all.

im not going to breaking cars on a huge scale only a few a week .......

The first thing that springs to mind here is..... are there enough available to get in to break a few a week? And is there a large enough customer base to sell the parts?

Would you be on your own? Breaking several a week would be close to impossible!

And if you are doing the collection and the breaking, have you got enough time to do it all?

We started our business 15 years ago breaking Minis. We soon realised we had to do a fair bit of travelling to get the right cars and it left little time to break them up! We now only offer new parts. Far easier and we don't have to get our hands dirty  :lol:

The last thing I want to do it put you off, but do make sure you can cope with the hours.

[Range Rover Blues]

Make sure you are 100 % covered for your waste handling licence, for both the truck and the premises.  The fines are massive.

If you are just a garage then it's a little less strict but you have a grey area between working on and dismantling cars.

Make sure you have another income, I have mates who do dispose of cars for a living, I say living, it helps pay for the truck.  It will need to be a truck too, Transits won't carry LRs so you need a Cargo.  A good one will set you back a thousand or more.  If you get a Hi-Ab one you can register it as a mobile crane and avoid tax and MOT, also recovery trucks are not on the tacho which is very useful, so you need to do recovery as part of your work.

Also have a look at your prospective market, there is a small amount of money to be made breaking newer LR products, P38 and the like but the cars will cost you thousands.  The older stuff, no money in it.  Again I know people who have left this game because it doesn't pay the rent, one of my mates had a big concern and was breaking LR for years, cars came in form all over the country and so did customers.

E-Bay has put paid to all that, he packed it in.

It's a hard business to do well in, you need to find a comlimentary business to run alongside or not be as specialised.

Asd for general busness tips, start now at the beginning of the tax year and borrow everything, don't take you own money in.  That way you canmake a loss in your first year and pay no tax for nealry 2 years ;)  Your second tax year you pay tax based on the prevous years earnings, so it pays to be a bit less succesful on paper at least.

When it's due, make sure you pay it [-X

[V8MoneyPit]

Everything RRB said is so true. Even with our carefully thought through business plan, it took 3 or 4 years to get to a comfortable income. Our business plan suggested we would make a profit in the first year  :shock: :lol: It wasn't until we were turning over something like 250k before it generated enough net profit to really cover living expenses. And nearer 350k before it became what I would call 'comfortable'.

You can work out how many LR's you would need to break to generate 250k turnover..... and that assumes you can sell all the parts from them.

And we didn't have to contend with all the regulation that exists now. I believe you need a completely concreted area where the vehicle is broken so no fluids find their way into the soil. As RRB says, you need to make sure you have licenced carriers in place for your waste disposal. Oil and tyres are a right pain to deal with.

[suzota]

i been my own boss for 7 months now and while it has its benefits it also has lots of grief.
i think this month i might even make a profit, be the first one since i started.

[lee celtic]

First job is to work out how much money you need to live .then work backwards to find out how much money you have to turn over to get that money after paying everything else ..

It's shocking :shock: :shock:

My advice is don't bother , I had my own business for 14 years and sold it 7 years ago I wish I'd done it sooner as now I have more money ,holidays and time..

But the best bit is pease of mind and a good nights sleep ;)

[Lumbering Jack]

Best piece of advice I was ever told was "keep it as simple as you can for as long as you can"  problem for me was it was a year or so too late  :doh:

I was my own boss for about 4 years (forestry contracting, Firewood and building Showjumps) and whilst much of the time it was great, there were times when you'd be sat there with your head in your hands wondering why you bothered.

As mentioned in an earlier post, your customers are in charge, you can manage them to a certain extent but not one of them will appreciate you for how much work you put in - they all wan't something for nothing.

IMO you will struggle to work full time and get a viable business up and running - you'll end up burned out and sick of both jobs.

I'm in a similar but slightly different situation at the mo - Working 8 hours each day at my "normal" job and then doing 4-5 hours most nights in the workshop building jumps and then spending the weekends gathering and cutting firewood.

Whilst you might think you're making loads more money doing your own jobs, you'll probably have much more out goings - I'd never really noticed until recently - My "job" only pays me about a third of what I used to take each month when I was running my business full time but I now have money in the bank whereas before there never was any  :oops:

Sorry to sound so negative - just my thoughts on the matter - Best of luck with your new venture, I hope it goes how you hoped  :dance:

[mobi]

Im looking at starting my own car collection/delivery company and also breaking land rovers for parts.

im hoping to be able to get a business loan to buy a Recovery van and put a good couple of months rent down on a unit somewhere.
if not then ill just save bit by bit out of my current wages and get vthe van and build up to the unit for breaking.

Has anyone else got there own business and do you have any tips or info on the best way to run everything?

I could prob keep myself going with a collection/delivery service just for Mud-Club :)

what type of recovery van do you mean?
as a discovery is about 2400kg (and i would have thought a range rover or a 110 is about the same), so any "van" would have to weigh less than 1100kg on a 3500kg mgw.
if you went over 3500kg you would need a CPC and a operators license, this apply's to a van towing a trailer and would mean that the van has to be fitted with a tachograph and be limited to 56mph as well.

[redhand]

Recovery drivers aren't covered by the new tachograph rules and are exempt from the drivers hours regulations as well.

[davidlandy]

I was told a couple of things

" if it feels right , then do it "

" you'll never get rich whilst you work for somebody else "

You go for it m8!

[v8rangie]

I always thought RRC/Disco's weighed just under 2Tonne.

transported one back this weekend on the back of a sprinter with no problems didnt look over weight nor act like it either.

[SteveGoodz]

I always thought RRC/Disco's weighed just under 2Tonne.

transported one back this weekend on the back of a sprinter with no problems didnt look over weight nor act like it either.

Discovery 1 vehicle weights are:
Mpi - 1985kg (1940kg for 3 door version)
V8 - 2025kg (1980kg for 3 door version)
Tdi - 2100kg (2055kg for 3 door version)

Gross vehicle weight for all variants is 2720kg

Dunno about the RRC, but it should be similar.

Unless there's a version of the Sprinter that is more than 3500kg mgw (and I haven't bothered to look) then you were overweight, whether it looked like it (or not)  :P

Good luck with your new venture ~ I love being self employed  :dance:

[cactus]

You will need a 7.5 tonne gross lorry to move a Landrover legally!

Recovery vehicles are NOT exempt plating if fitted with a Hiab!

You have to use a Tachograph when going over 100kms from 'Base'

If carrying scrap cars, you will need an Operators Licence and hold a CPC.

I've been Self-Employed doing recovery for over 35 years and this year....

Have gone and got a job!!!

You just cannot compete with the 'Big-Boys' anymore..

Also there's always the 'chancer' with no proper insurance and badly maintained truck to undercut you...

[redhand]

You will need a 7.5 tonne gross lorry to move a Landrover legally!..

What a load of Tosh  :-. .A disco or defender has a maximum towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes. (4tonnes with close coupled brakes) That's the weight of the trailer and it's load so as long as the trailer weighs less than 1.4tonnes putting a disco on it and towing it on a public higway is perfectly legal.

[mobi]

first off a discovery on a weigh bridge weighed in at 2400kg. someone on this forum put his on a weigh bridge!!!!! :twisted:

Recovery drivers aren't covered by the new tachograph rules and are exempt from the drivers hours regulations as well.

thats recovery!!! if the vehicle can and is able to be driven on the road then you need a tachograph fitted to anything over 3500kg or if the train weight is over 3500kg.

You will need a 7.5 tonne gross lorry to move a Landrover legally!..

What a load of Tosh  :-. .A disco or defender has a maximum towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes. (4tonnes with close coupled brakes) That's the weight of the trailer and it's load so as long as the trailer weighs less than 1.4tonnes putting a disco on it and towing it on a public higway is perfectly legal.

http://www.cuddles.abelgratis.net/landrover.htm
have a look where does it say 4000kg  :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
i agree with cactus you need a 7.5 tonne to move a land rover legally (not a freelander)

the thing you have to remember this is not a one off this is going to be day to day and your licence  is more important than a quick buck.

[redhand]

http://www.cuddles.abelgratis.net/landrover.htm
have a look where does it say 4000kg  :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
i agree with cactus you need a 7.5 tonne to move a land rover legally (not a freelander)

the thing you have to remember this is not a one off this is going to be day to day and your licence  is more important than a quick buck.

I have a 90/110 owners handbook in front of me as I type this and it gives maximum towing capacities as:
Trailer with over run brakes all engines as 3500kg
Trailer with coupled brakes FULLY BRAKED (LR's capitalisation) 2.3 & 3.5 petrol 4000kg 2.5 diesel 3500kg. this book only covers the 90, 110 & 127 from 1983 to 1990inc. But I would have thought that with the production of the 200tdi that the towing capacity for coupled brakes would have increased to 4000kg as well.

[V8MoneyPit]

Having said that, have you ever towed near the limit with a LR? It's scary at the best of times! We took a load of scrap to the local yard to weigh in and the all up weight of the 110 and trailer was just under 5 tonnes. Even 40mph was frightening. I certainly wouldn't want to do it daily for a living!

[redhand]

Me and my mate collected my 90 from Dumfries in jockland and towed it backbehind his 200tdi 110 on his very very heavy 1950's flatbed trailer the trailer felt like it weighed as much as the 90. and It was fine towing that back.