BLACKCOS

everyone i know is getting out the car trade no money in second hand cars these days and basic wages are crap even one of the motor factors i know is about to shut up shop no money in it these days

as355f1

A grand a week !

so you rent a garage approx 15k a year, spend £30k setting a test station up, employ a lackey for £250 (min wage) a week pay ya rates rent electric gas water approx £400 a week advertise approx £100 per week, buy your mot's from DVLA £100 per week thats approx £850 per week so you work mon-sat 8-5 for £150, with about 35k of your own money invested, somehow i cant understand how you get thats a good little money earner !

puddy

I work for a jag main dealer,who are owned by one of the biggest motor groups in the

world,profits up 26% and turnover up by about 40% from last year .

But guess what ,they can't even give us a inflation rise this year (3%) because they can't

afford it !

I have been in the trade for nealy 30 years ,and have never been so poor !

motor trade is shite,puddy

Turbocabbie

find a job you love never work another day in your life.

its not all about money, its about quality of life, if you love what you do the money is secondary... I will always spend what I earn, learn to live with what you have and you will be happier

as355f1

best quote of the year

foreverwhite

foreigners are the way to go. my mate earns double his weekly wage doing jobs for mates/family.

good thing about being a mechanic is is the fact that nobody trusts them, so if you are recommended by a mate you will be rammed with work from mates of mates etc.

i only ever take my car to someone who i know...

MJ_RST

Id like to share the same view......but without a certain level of money in this day and age, there is no quality of life imo

I do enjoy what i do, but i dont wish to 'just cope' every month.

Cheers to everyone thats left comments, very much appreciated

foreverwhite

EXACTLY. people love to throw figures around for turnover...but when you sit down and analyse costs your earnign fuck all.

do jobs from a little garage lock up for mates of mates and let your reputation spread and you'll be rammed with work. like i said above, i only go to lads i know. i wouldnt go to a random garage because i dont trust the fuckers!

foreverwhite

its a nice thought, but 99% of the time, the job you'd love pays fuck all.

and the only people who say "money doesnt matter" are people who are loaded LOL!

money lets you go on holiday, have nice cars, *helps* get your cock wet, no stress from unpaid bills or mortgages, now if that wouldnt bring you happiness, what the FUCK would?!!!!

TrevCos

iTrader: (1)

Basically the government are screwing us all into the ground with tax, if it's taxable they'll tax it hard. They're not interested in helping anyone out, just coining money in. I cannot believe I'm now seeing diesel at 123.9 a litre, when's it going to end? When we're all bankrupt? Let's be honest, they could reduce the duty on fuel if they wanted to, or scrap the road tax, but it's just too good an earner for them. Want a bit more money, screw the motorist!

mercury grey minter

Become a gypsy/pikey/traveller.Theres some near me.Tarmac/blockpave drives all day,deal in cash,move to the next town and don,t pay rates/taxes.
You should see the f*cking motors they have got.

Brandnew transits,warriors and rangerovers.
Just a thought.

andy888

seen diesel at £1.32 per litre in kilmarnock today at a texaco garage. thats takin the piss........

BIG WULL

iTrader: (5)

Heavy goods, thats where the money is! Usually due to the amount of hours you can work. Has to be a main dealer garage.
Harsh environment tho

DazC

iTrader: (1)

MOT stations good earners?!!

WTF!? If we didn't get any repairs from the test we do as a long time established MOT test station doing class 4, 7, and 5 tests, it'd not be worth us bothering.

We can fit any size motor home in our workshop so we get virtually them all in the area. We can also test minibusses up to 5 ton (most test stations can only test up to 3.5 tonne busses). We also do taxi testing.

We have no outlay on our equipment as it is all paid for.

My mate is in the same boat with his business. The only good bit of MOT's is the repairs that they generate.

If you was to set up a new test centre you'd have to comply with all the new regulations including the new smoke meters which have to be in place by the end of the year, the test lane itself (anyone setting up a new centre would be stupid not to install an automated test lane). You're looking at a bare minimum of around 30-40k on equipment before you've even got a building to throw it in.

Then you've got the bloke round the corner doing them for £25 because he's got minimal over heads as he's been doing it for years and has paid for his equipment so you have to keep your prices on the same level.

MOT's are meant to take on average 45 minutes to an hour so unless you have multiple test lanes and employees/partners, you,re restricted to how many you can do in a day. You're also monitored by VOSA by the PC system so they know exactly how long you're taking on them.

Big Wull is right on the commercial/heavy fleet business. If you're employed, dealers is where the money is. If you're setting up, expect to merely make a living. DAF technicians near me are on roughly 33k a year on night shift.

It's a tough trade at the moment.

Ian M500COS

Only way to make money out of the Motoring Industry is to set up a bumbling corrupt Government and suck the life, heart soul and money out of everyone you "service". Or start your own oil production company!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

the cost of the truck would be a start

there is money out there but you need to work for leasing companies to make money rather than anything else

guy round the corner was raking it in with his garage, but i think he couldn't work the books so went bankrupt

either that or someone was spending more than he was earning.........

Stu @ M Developments

iTrader: (12)

Not a part of the motor trade most of you are thiking of im sure, but there is still a good living to be made in Tuning if you ahve your head on your shoulders.

MJ_RST

Interesting, worth looking into in more detail, PM coming at you also.

Is the tuning side of things not quite difficult to get into??

i realise it will be down to competence and knowledge etc...

DazC

iTrader: (1)

If you take up mobile ECU reflashing, you can plaster a van with a big advert up the side of it and you'll do as well as you push your business.

If you go into it with an MSD Genius, you just have to advertise it and push it locally and just build up from what interest you get. You'd also get refered from MSD's website if someone was looking at their site from your area.