Could I earn a living?

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I've been thinking about this, there is the added expense of getting rid of the old tyres. But I could certainly do it.

I'm not entirely sure I could compete on price with the local guy though when factoring in a gallon or 2 of diesel to get there...

Dont rule out doing tyres, but dont make it a main part of the business then.

PM Spannerman btw - hes far enough away to not be competition, so I dare say he will give you the low-down on running a bike garage type business.

[fizzwheel]

Its something I'd consider using if it was priced appropriately.

If I take my GSXR to the dealer I have to get a loaner to get back to work or take a day off.

If I take it the local bike shop I can walk back to work, but on a hot day its not nice walking a mile or so in leathers.

For exampe, If I rode to work on my GSXR and then you came to my workplace and did the service in the work carpark you'd be onto a winner and its definately a service I'd use.

But It'd be a bit of a trek for you to do that but you get the idea

I think this would work. If a technician is very competant and charges fairly, then word of mouth will get that eprson lots of work.

From what everyone says on here, and from what I know about you, your knowledge is not easily rivalled - therefore, I think that you can make a good business out of it. For your present "customers", the peace of mind knowing that not only will you be able to fix their bikes, but also either repair at the roadside OR recover the bike, means they are more likley to keep coming back.

Try it, see how it goes. I think you stand a good chance of being sucessfull.

[Spiderman]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I'm not entirely sure I could compete on price with the local guy though when factoring in a gallon or 2 of diesel to get there...

The Cavalry guy, Jim his name is, told me he gets his tyres from FWR and will just add £20 to the price of the tyre and that will cover him coming out to me and fitting it too.
I;m sure he has a deal with FWR where he pays trade prices for his tyres and hence the £20 is not all he earns.

Also dont forget you litterlay have a captive market there. If i'm stranded at home with a flat what options do i have? Pump it up and hope it holds till i get to a tyre shop. Recovery wont come out to get me as its at home. So do i take the wheel off and take a cab or public transport to the tyre shop and back, costing way more than the extra £20 Jim is quoting?
Simple economics and laziness say stay at home and ring the bloke who comes to me. I dont mind gettin my hands dirty and understand most thing on my bike but i'd never be able to do what Jim could do for me as efficiently as he does.

[yorkie_chris]

Does he use a tyre changing machine, or manual levers?

[Spiderman]

Jim? levers and little bottles of diluted washing up liquid...which he asked me to top up cos he'd run out.
And he does all this on a bike mate!!! i'll dig out the pic i have of it and post it up later. He even manages to get a ful sized bottle of compressed air on their too

Chris - your overheads would be fairly low but with one or two high items - being insurance. You don't need public liability insurance but you would be well advised to have it - for example, if you did something wrong and a wheel fell off. Typically you'd need around £2m - £5m per claim. Sounds a lot but if someone is seriously injured you would need it. And get the excess as low as possible! And put aside some £££ to cover the excess just in case you have a claim. I don't think that this would be tax deductible as there would be no actual liability, it's just a contingent liability, but do it for peace of mind.

You would also be well advised to have product liability cover - maybe insurers do a joint cover, I don't know - which would cover you against claims of defective workmanship. Get a digi camera and take pics of peoples bikes before you start work so if they say you scratched it you can prove that you didn't. You could do with some T&Cs also - you could probably find some on the net - just make sure they're B2C ones, as if you're dealing with a consumer you can't exclude certain things.

Obviously you would need van insurance for class A business use. That won't be cheap and will likely be one of the biggest overheads. Much as my professional indemnity is one of my largest overheads.

You won't need employer liability cover unless you have employees. Gentle hint - don't have any...

You must register with HMRC as self employed within 3 months of setting up else you get whacked with penalties. They will bombard you with meaningless forms - P35s mainly - which is a return of employees - don't ignore them, do a nil return if nec as else there is a £100 fine. HMRC are very good at dishing out totally unjustified fines.

Don't think you'd need to register with anyone else. If you are carrying waste oil or tyres etc you might need a waste carrier licence and a waste disposal licence - it's an offence to use the local tip for commercial purposes. Yes someone would have to find out but if the staff see you there regular as clockwork then they will report you, and besides there are so many people out there who would delight in seeing you prosecuted - eg your copmpetitors. You wouldn't ideally want to leave waste oil with a customer for them to get rid of. Worth investigating whether trade bodies can give you any help. Ask your accountant about whether you can claim capital allowances against the cost of your van, tools etc.

Do a business plan. Think about how much money you will need to earn. Think too about how people usually want to pay - card - which means having a card reader. Barclays will try to fob you off with paying you 3 weeks after you take the money, apparently this is 'security', you obviously need to tell them to go forth.

And then think about where the work - and the money - is coming from. Doing this sort of work means living in or near a large centre of population with a lot of bikes.

It sounds exciting to set up but do remember that being self employed is damn hard work. In the winter time there might be little work around, so can you subbie for someone else? How can you keep the ship afloat? And above all, have a contingency plan.

Ed

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by Spiderman

Liability insurance is only a couple of hundred quid a year i think. Wll that what out fitters (bathroom/kitchens) used to pay for their public liability and it covered them up to £5m which if you're working outdoors might even be too much.

Costs me a tad under £250 for liability insurance.

If there was a service like that around here for bikes I would probably use it for the bigger jobs.
Have done the same sort of thing on my car before, called out a mobile mechanic to do all the brakes on my car, I could've done done it myself but cost wise it was cheaper than the garage and I stayed at home sorting out paperwork etc

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Does he use a tyre changing machine, or manual levers?

Something that I saw that was pretty cool was the van the revocery guy came to pick my SV up with after its off.

I was all ready to offer him a hand to get the bike up into it, but no-need, it had been modified so that the whole of the rear bed/floor of the van could be lowered to the ground, it didnt have a rear axle.

He just pressed the button, let it down, wheeled the bike on the level, then raised it again.

now if you could combine that with straps to the roof of the van you could wheel bikes in, raise the floor, sling the bike on straps then drop the floor again - no need for paddock stands

[punyXpress]

Originally Posted by Spiderman

The Cavalry are a mobile tyre fitting service which i have had to use more than once sadly. But the fact he came to me, brough all his own tools and did the work outside where i could ply him with cups of tea and also learn a bit about what he was doing was well worth paying for in my mind.
So i guess if you could add mobile tyre fitting to the service too then you'd be covering all the bases.

A lot to consider tbh.

With the number of peeps buying tyres on the net, this could be a big earner. According to MCN ( so it must be true ) a dealer quoted £70 EACH to fit a pair of tyres!
Best of luck with the venture, Chris.