MJ_RST

Looking for peoples views and opinions on whether there is potential to make big money within the motor industry??

Whether it be through being mechanic/technician/car sales/tuning/recovery

Looking at private / self employed areas here.

Been told on countless occasions to get out of the trade (mechanic) as the pay is crap etc...

Any views and experiences very much appreciated

Cheers Mike

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

recovery = ££££

mechanic28

iTrader: (5)

mechanic = being treated like shit and getting shit pay!

sebspring

iTrader: (3)

you wanna make money... make a name for yourself... and in an 'area'


thats the way i see it.

because there is MILLIONS of average joe's.

be different or the BEST

MJ_RST

Whats the outlay on setting up a recovery business tho??

Yeh im with you there, was just wondering (hoping) it would be better working privately ie own business.

MJ_RST

Thats a very good point, but could also be a very difficult thing to acheive with the amount of competition around, no matter how good you are.

NEEDFORSPEED

no real money in it at all in my eyes but depends what you think of real money. if i work hard i can make 500 a wk but im an electrician and we get paid a little more. i dont think theres much money in car sales unless your already a big established business, but scraps where its at now for real! 120 quid a car 5 a battery and up to 50 for a cat! cant go wrong at that!

taycoss

Im a mechanic and seriously thinking of getting out of the everyday stuff like servicing and mot,make not too bad money plus get a free house with job but fancy a job doing something in motorsport or may move into the oil industry.Best part of job is recovery work which i will miss if i change job.

as355f1

If you want to make a small fortune you have to start off with a huge fortune, believe me been there done it got the teeshirt. find something else mate everyone and there granny thinks they are a car salesman/mechanic, every fooker just undercuts you and works for Penny's

OLDSKOOLRYAN

i love my job, wouldnt do anything else now.
started work for dent master five years ago, set up business two & half years ago.
never looked back.

MJ_RST

[QUOTE=NEEDFORSPEED;3260870]no real money in it at all in my eyes but depends what you think of real money.[QUOTE]

Well i suppose 'enough' money not to have to worry about bills etc... £30k-£40k a year?? (guestimate)

fordrs2005

iTrader: (4)

theres no money in being a spray painter either specially the damage it does to ure health when u could get more answering phones in sky or that

DazC

iTrader: (1)

There is no money in the bread and butter work. Servicing 1, 2, 3 and 4 year old cars won't make you any money as there isn't any work on them. You might find a bit on a 3 or 4 year old car but they are more reliable than they used to be and generally are disposed of quicker than they used to be.

Diagnostics, electrics, bodywork and recovery is where any money is made in the trade at the minute. Lease work is garbage as all they try to do is screw you down on times and weasel out of paying for what every they can.

MJ_RST

Hmmmmm, see this is the sort of thing i get told regularly, by people already in the job for decades, my dilema is whether to take the advice and move onto another area......but then that leaves a void of what to do next lol

as355f1

i owned a car sales for years, made good money from it but the last 2 years were disastrous, so much so i chucked it all in, i now have a service centre doing tyres air con stuff like that it pays the bills and you have an OK life but you work like fook all the time and the money you have to shell out on equipment is beyond belief to give you an idea in the last 2 month i have spent £2800 on a air con machine £7000 on a balancer and tyre machine £4500 on a diagnostics (and £80 per month upkeep) and prob about £300 on additional tools like cam belt looking tools etc it never stops. i will prob spend another 5-10k on diagnostics equipment in the next year to keep up with the latest cars

zetec s 130

I'm a panel beater, just got out of the trade, I really enjoyed the job, but I wasn't making enough money to be comfortable. I've gone on the taxi's while I sort out what I want to do, Theres a lot less money to be made in the motor trade than there used to be.

MJ_RST

Aye the equipment certainly aint cheap.

Out of interest, what sort of money do you expect to make a month?? having bought all that equipment??
Im assuming it will be to boost your income obv

black scoob

good money to be made in sales if you are willing to put the hours in, basic wages are crap with most companies, best way to look at it is that your basic pays your tax, then what you sell is what you earn.... the hours are a pain though, long days, hardly any weekends off or that, although that more down to choice, busiest time is weekend so i used to work every weekend :-(

as355f1

well from the diagnostic equipment i wont make anymore money as i have to have it to keep up with the latest cars, i had to buy the tyre machine to do run flats so no more money from that and the air con maybe 1 a day at £49.99 a go but its weather dependent, first sunny day we had last week i had 2 in then its rained ever since so its stood idol and for six months of the year its put away in the store room

MJ_RST

Ahhh thats pretty crap like. Doesnt seem worth the outlay.

i had budgeted for new tools etc...but that is very costly with not much return.

as355f1

used to be good, when i was a salesman for a large garage about 7 years ago i was pulling in over 50k a year as a salesman, a Friend that works for the same company doing my old job will be Lucky to hit 25k this year and thats working 8.30-7 6 on 2 off not just him either many i have spoken to are complaining the money is shite now

TrevCos

iTrader: (1)

I used to buy and sell a few RS Turbos and stuff as a hobby but it was never regular enough money to make a living from, and there's literally no profit in selling second hand cars like that any more. Once this one I've got at the moment is sold I'm not buying any more projects. Too much hassle for nothing.

If you look round our local dealers no-one's really buying with the downturn in the economy so you've got your pick if you do want to buy something.

I work in IT and fun it aint but it pays the bills and it's as secure as anything these days. I certainly wouldn't recommend it if you want an exciting or fun job though.

as355f1

But if you have not got the equipment to work on 99% of all cars then your going to loose loads of work, any garage can stick an oil and filter on but have they got the diagnostics to reset the service light ?
take the new Audi A6 for example to change the rear brake pads you have to plug the diagnostics in switch the electric rear parking brake off then fit the pads and switch the brakes back on, so £15 for pads £20 labour and a 3k diagnostic tool to do the job

MJ_RST

Yeh i see where your coming from. And yeh just been updated (technically) with the new electric parking brake protocol for the newer cars, makes a privately owned garage owners job even more dif! obv its things like that that are designed to get people going back to their dealerships tho i know.

Turbo Zetec

iTrader: (1)

everyone in the motor trade seems to be struggling at the moment... except us

to be honest, my job is more 'engineering' than it is 'motor trade', but we're flat out at the minute! i work for a company in the engine remanufacturing business, which is great fun, but the initial outlay is horrendous! we've got several thousand pounds worth of machinery and there's still some jobs we can't do! it must be paying the bills though, as my boss keeps buying new tools whenever he can

as355f1

i will give it 5-10 years before the main steelers will have the whole job tied up, labour rates are going down and tools etc prices are going up only a matter of time before your working for nowt

MJ_RST

aye, a very realistic prediction unfort.

as355f1

we are flat out to and as your boss is i am buying loads of new gear but i ain't making anymore money, just have to have the gear to keep up with the times

black scoob

was still good when i left just over a year ago, but not sure how it is now, wanted a job where i got more time off..

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Own an MOT station, license to print money.

MJ_RST

But surely there will come a time when you will start making up for the money spent on the equipment?? all be it you may/will be required to buy more equip

Ginge !

well i sell pattern parts, our boss is complaining about not making much profit this year,,,,, though hes just bought a brand new diesel lexus to replace hes jag for the new car tax rules,,,, so cant be doing that bad and we are opening up a new depot every 18 months too which again tells me we are doing ok

the problem my friend is people dont want competion so will always try to scare others off by pretending there no money in it

i earn wekk in my job but my profit target each month is almost DOUBLE my yearly salary and there 10 of us who have the same target

theres DEFO money in the car game, just the days of doing 20 mins jobs for 1 hours labour are over due to the nature of cars these days

my company is a relativly small company compared to euros and partco and we turn over a few million a year

MJ_RST

Cheers, never really thought of it like that!

Turbo Zetec

iTrader: (1)

luckily enough, we don't 'need' to buy much, basic engine design has stayed the same for over 100 years, so our tools are much the same as they've always been... but now they're newer!

its great, i work on anything, from 1000bhp bug block chevy's to lawn mower engines, aeroplane engines to tractor engines and everything inbetween!

as355f1

no sorry mate but A, he is in Scotland and i am in Newcastle upon tyne so he ain't going to affect me and B, he asked a question and i gave an honest answer, i did say i am making a living but the out lay to start up would be 20k plus in my opinion and it takes years to build the business up just saying if i personally would not start up now the economic outlook is shite and i personally think the UK is heading for a depression
IMHO
but fill ya boots mate if you think you can make it

Ginge !

mate i deal with garages all day long,,, i had a bloke a few days ago ask fr a price for a cat

the price was 31 quid for a fiesta, he said to the customer " cats 100 quid plus vat and 40 quid to fit it ",,,, bloke didnt bother,,,,,,THE DUMB CUNT THEN TOLD ME " sorry mate,, customer dont wanna pay it, your too expensive " !!!!

the average garage spends a min of a grand a month, some spend MORE, the tyre and brake places are earning big style,,, how do i know this,, well if there spending 8k to 15k a month with me on parts and im giving good rates of discount and considering we dont supply them tyres tells me that they must have some takings !

the days of garages having cars parked up for days before they bother looking at them are over,,,,, round here due to the parking situation they have to book work in and have it finished as the next ones due to arrive and theres no where to park them and a dead ramp means no income

carry overs in back street garages are what you need to get rid of,,, get the jobs looked at and diagnosed PROPER before the car comes in and not guess the problems then find out the parts aint available

theres a garage with a old boy who was spending around 80 to 200 quid a month as he ordered parts as the cars arrived and so had to find places with the parts in stock,, ive taken him on as a sort of friendly challenge for him,,, told him i would increase hes business and get him out the door early and not at 8pm finishing of work from the day and all hes gotta do is asnwer the phone at 5pm with the registrations and the work expected for the cars for the following 2 days and i would then get the parts delivered BEFORE the cars arrive so if there a issue the problem would be sorted when the cars THERE and in the afternoon when hes just about to start on it to find there all wrong

hes now a good customer of mine, we get along well and hes spend is about to hit 1500 quid this month,,,,, its a simple thing the big garages do but the smaller places seem to neglect

as said theres money in the game but we all have to look after each other, the suppliers, garages and the customers !!!

xr_craig

iTrader: (2)

Theres definately money in it, it's just being able to do the right things. For example, if your good at resto work then you'll always get work, and people will always pay good money for the jobs. Thats just my opinion of course.

as355f1

OK

MJ RST best of luck what ever you do,
cant be bothered discussing it anymore people have there own opinions Ive said mine

RickyLee53

Why are cat's so good to weigh in? And where do you take them?

MOT stations are very good money earners IMO.

If you only did 5 a day 6 days a week thats still well over 1k per week.

You could do 5 a day on your own with a min wage helper. You don't need a huge unit and you don't need many tools, other than the machines to setup originally.

PAUL V

There is money in it, but you need to be good at what you do, understand your customers needs and supply them what they want.

Doing every day service work aint going to give you a good living, but specialze in something that not many pepole do is the Key.