The level of competition in the automotive service market is extremely high. There are more and more cars every year, and the demand for service services is growing. To stand out in this niche, businessmen use different methods: price reductions, discounts, promotions, loyalty cards, additional services, etc.
However, there is an alternative way to start a business in this niche - a self-service car service. Most Russians have not yet used this service. In this article we will take a detailed look at the organization of this type of business and analyze its prospects.
What is self-service service
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Some doubt that a self-service car service makes sense. After all, the very idea of a car service is to use the services of a car repair professional so as not to have to do it yourself. However, some car enthusiasts prefer to repair the car themselves, but do not have the necessary equipped premises, specialized instruments and tools. It is for this category of clients that self-service car service is a real godsend.
Customers who know about cars understand that the lion's share of the fee for regular service comes from the professional work of the technician. If a person can use the service’s equipment and successfully handle it on his own, he can save a lot of money. This is the appeal of self-service services.
Business concept
Every driver periodically repairs his car. And if rare problems of a new car are solved through a warranty, then for used vehicles, breakdowns are a fairly common occurrence. Owners of used cars expect expenses not only for the purchase of spare parts, but also for the services of a mechanic. At the same time, the services of a repairman, as a rule, cost much more than the parts being replaced.
Having experience and knowledge in the field of vehicle repair, the driver is still forced to contact auto repair shops, since he does not have the necessary equipment for independent repairs. Equipment such as a lift or diagnostic devices is not available in every private garage. This problem is especially relevant for large cities. The number of potential clients here is very large.
The owner of a self-service car service will not have to hire staff, which will save him from labor costs, as well as from liability for poorly performed service.
Owners of expensive cars often turn to traditional auto repair shops without the hassle of personally carrying out repair work. Therefore, we should expect that the clients of this type of car service will be car owners with average income and experience working with vehicles. Accordingly, it is advisable to choose a residential residential area as the location of the future car service.
Ideas for a self-service car service
A self-service auto repair shop can be useful not only for car enthusiasts, but also for craftsmen who want to provide services without opening their own service. Using this idea, you can offer the use of your car service to mechanics who are looking for work, as well as to those craftsmen who are looking for additional income in their free time. In any case, it is necessary to make yourself known among the city’s professionals.
To do this, you need to find professional communities on social networks and offline, hold a promotion, distribute loyalty cards and attract craftsmen in other ways. These are customers who will visit you much more often than ordinary car enthusiasts, so finding an approach to them is in your interests.
Self-service auto repair shop operating hours.
The operating mode of a self-service auto repair shop must meet the needs of the population. For car enthusiasts, it is more convenient to be a client of a 24-hour service. We need to see how many car owners will repair them at night. When a car service center operates around the clock, the costs of its maintenance increase. It is necessary to calculate the economic feasibility of such an operating mode. Experts suggest setting a popular work schedule for the first time: from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Benefits of self-service
Let's look at the benefits that attract self-service car service customers:
- By excluding the work of the repairman from the repair payment, the client saves significantly.
- The opportunity to do car repairs at any time of the year in any weather. Self-service car service was created in order to provide all conditions for car enthusiasts with repair skills.
- Many motorists are interested in doing repairs themselves. This way they learn new things about their car and have fun. It is even possible that this will become one of the most common reasons for contacting your service.
Basic equipment
It is difficult to select equipment for a self-service service station; manufacturers today offer thousands of devices for different brands of cars and different jobs. And few car enthusiasts will straighten the body themselves or sharpen brake discs, and therefore the priority is simple universal devices, which do not require specific skills to handle. Here is a list of basic equipment for a car service station for four stations:
Self-service service station equipment
| Name | price, rub. | Quantity, pcs. | Amount, rub. |
| Lifting equipment | |||
| Two post lift | 125500 | 2 | 251000 |
| Jack | 2300 | 8 | 18400 |
| Cathead | 16300 | 2 | 32600 |
| Hydraulic press | 12000 | 1 | 12000 |
| Rack for dismantling units | 12500 | 2 | 25000 |
| Tire fittings | |||
| Air compressor | 12100 | 1 | 12100 |
| Wheel beading machine | 63000 | 1 | 63000 |
| Balancing machine | 51000 | 1 | 51000 |
| Tire changing bath | 5000 | 1 | 5000 |
| Rubber vulcanizer | 15600 | 1 | 15600 |
| Tire stud gun | 16500 | 1 | 16500 |
| Pneumatic: impact wrench | 4800 | 2 | 9600 |
| gun | 1000 | 1 | 1000 |
| Manual tire changer | 11000 | 1 | 11000 |
| Diagnostic equipment | |||
| Stand: for checking spark plugs | 24800 | 1 | 24800 |
| for checking injectors | 17000 | 1 | 17000 |
| Compression meter | 3600 | 1 | 3600 |
| Thickness gauge for paintwork | 6700 | 1 | 6700 |
| Universal scanner | 124500 | 1 | 124500 |
| Special equipment | |||
| Brake fluid replacement stand | 16500 | 1 | 16500 |
| Oil change pump | 18600 | 1 | 18600 |
| Solid oil blower | 9200 | 2 | 18400 |
| Stand: for replacing antifreeze | 18800 | 1 | 18800 |
| for adjusting headlights | 36000 | 1 | 36000 |
| Washing bath | 9000 | 2 | 18000 |
| Starter charger | 5500 | 1 | 5500 |
| Nozzle cleaning stand | 45000 | 1 | 45000 |
| Vacuum cleaner | 16900 | 2 | 33800 |
| Tools | |||
| Metal workbench | 12000 | 2 | 24000 |
| Puller: oil filters | 800 | 2 | 1600 |
| springs | 3000 | 2 | 6000 |
| bearings | 1100 | 2 | 2200 |
| Vise | 3500 | 2 | 7000 |
| Screwdriver | 3900 | 4 | 15600 |
| Angle grinder | 2200 | 2 | 4400 |
| Polishing machine | 3900 | 2 | 7800 |
| Grinder | 5500 | 2 | 11000 |
| Welding machine | 5300 | 1 | 5300 |
| Torque wrench | 2000 | 2 | 4000 |
| Set: keys and sockets | 8500 | 4 | 34000 |
| screwdrivers and bits | 2500 | 4 | 10000 |
| metalworking tools | 6000 | 4 | 24000 |
| Tool trolley | 11000 | 4 | 44000 |
| Lamp with extension | 400 | 4 | 1600 |
| Engineering systems | |||
| Fire extinguishing system | 40000 | 1 | 40000 |
| Fire extinguisher | 3000 | 4 | 12000 |
| Ventilation system | 200000 | 1 | 200000 |
| Exhaust gas extraction | 12000 | 2 | 24000 |
| Security alarm | 25000 | 1 | 25000 |
| Administrative zone | |||
| Admin desk | 4000 | 1 | 4000 |
| Computer | 26000 | 1 | 26000 |
| Cash machine | 13000 | 1 | 13000 |
| POS terminal | 12000 | 1 | 12000 |
| Wi-Fi router | 3500 | 1 | 3500 |
| Coffee machine | 55000 | 1 | 55000 |
| Cooler | 5000 | 1 | 5000 |
| Sofa for relaxation | 12000 | 1 | 12000 |
| Bathroom set | 18000 | 1 | 18000 |
| Workwear | 1000 | 6 | 6000 |
| Total: | 1569000 | ||
In addition to equipment, provide the service station with consumables. Clients will bring some of these with them, but the workshop should have:
- motor and transmission oils of two or three popular brands;
- brake fluid and antifreeze of two or three types;
- solvent, parts cleaners, rust converters;
- automotive sealant, insulating tape, glue;
- safety glasses, work gloves, jackets or overalls;
- soap, means for cleaning hands from fuel oil and dirt.
Self-service car service business plan
A business plan must include choosing the location of the service, calculating the cost of necessary equipment and repairs, recruiting and recruiting personnel.
The business plan consists of the following sections:
- Description of the project, analysis of the market, target audience, competitors. Your competitive advantages.
- Production plan.
- Financial plan.
- Marketing plan.
- Risk analysis.
Based on all these parameters and the average cost of self-service car service in your city, you can calculate the profitability and payback of the project.
If you are planning to open a car service that will attract customers, you need to take care of good equipment. According to preliminary estimates, it will cost about 500 thousand rubles.
The most expensive items on this list:
- two car lifts (about 100 thousand rubles),
- machine for turning brake discs (100 thousand rubles),
- engine disassembly stand (60000),
- vulcanizer (60000),
- oil change equipment (40,000).
The set of tools and equipment must be selected in such a way that clients can independently perform the maximum amount of work. You can limit yourself to a small list at the start and gradually equip the car service.
All expenses for the official registration of your enterprise will not exceed 20,000 rubles. For renting the premises you will need to pay about 50,000 rubles, possibly less, depending on the scale of the business and the region. Don't forget that you will also have to pay for advertising. An employee is required to maintain equipment and security if you do not plan to do this alone.
What if…
For some things you have to pay extra. A pair of grinder discs you wear out will cost 50 rubles. For very long welding, you will have to pay for gas: a maximum of 400 rubles. If the client is unable to change the clutch, even with help, then the technicians will charge 5 thousand for their work in removing and installing the box. For a broken small ratchet you will have to pay 500 rubles. Moral: be careful!
We would like to thank the Recast service for their assistance in preparing this material.
Self-service in a car service: a personal matter
Where to open a car service business
After completing the legal part of the business plan, you should move on to searching for a place where your self-service car service will be located. To understand what kind of premises you need, you need to clearly understand the scale of the business and the amount of investment you are willing to make.
On average, four service bays are needed to ensure a stable flow of customers. To understand how suitable this scale is for you, you need to know the amount of investment and the estimated number of car service clients. So, for example, a service with two boxes will cost half as much at the start. Perhaps this will be the best option for you. One box is not enough, since the payback period in this case can increase several times.
The ideal place to rent is one where you can expand your business in the future by renting additional boxes. It is better to prefer a residential area to a business center, because that is where most of your regular customers live.
Alternative formats for doing business ☝
In the future, you can organize several more self-service boxes, for example:
- open a self-service car wash nearby;
- allocate several boxes for a classic service station with the services of locksmiths and mechanics;
- open a car tuning workshop.
Establishing them does not necessarily require a large investment, but will significantly increase income. .
How to open a car service in a garage
It is necessary to equip the garage to a minimum and advertise the service. If you think that you can do without registering an individual entrepreneur, keep in mind that tax officials, as a rule, easily identify such businessmen.
It is better to arrange everything according to the law. It is more profitable to advertise at the location of the garage, because your potential clients live or work nearby.
Is staff needed?
The idea of a self-service car service assumes that the client will carry out all repair work independently. However, someone must receive motorists, provide them with space and tools, and accept payment, and therefore, at a minimum, administrators with a rotating duty schedule will be needed.
It will be useful to hire a general auto mechanic. His responsibilities:
- advising clients on repair issues;
- paid assistance to drivers when performing complex work;
- control over compliance with safety regulations.
Self-service service station staff
| Job title | Rate, rub. | Qty | Amount, rub. |
| Administrator | 18000 | 2 | 36000 |
| Master | 24000 | 1 | 24000 |
| Cleaner | 15000 | 1 | 15000 |
| Payroll tax | – | – | 35100 |
| Accounting services | 5000 | – | 5000 |
| Total: | 6 | 157100 | |
Business registration. OKVED car service
Start a business by registering an individual entrepreneur. This will help you avoid fines and other troubles. We recommend choosing a simplified form of taxation. In this case, reporting is reduced to a minimum; all details and responsibilities can be explained by a Federal Tax Service employee during registration.
Another important point when submitting documents is the choice of activity codes. If you plan to engage only in self-service service, you should open the following OKVED:
- 33.17 - repair and maintenance of vehicles.
- 68.2 - leasing of real estate.
- 77.39 - rental of equipment and materials.
Calculation of the return on costs for an apartment based on its cost and rent
I suggest conducting an experiment and calculating how long it will take for your apartment to pay off when you rent it out. It's no secret that apartment and rental prices are different in different cities. In my city, the average cost of a two-room apartment is 3 million. At the same time, you can rent them out for 13-15 thousand per month.
Let's do some calculations. Divide 3 million by 15 thousand and get the number of months after which the apartment will fully pay for itself. The answer is 200.
Now we divide 200 months into 12 months of the year. We get 16.5 years. Such an apartment brings 0.5% per month of its cost. Multiplying this number by 12, we get 6% per annum. Thus, by investing money in an apartment, we will only protect it from inflation without receiving real income.
Real estate profitability by city over time
Car service franchise
To avoid mistakes when starting a large business, you can purchase a franchise. The average payback period in this niche is 2-2.5 years. As a rule, those who have work premises from 80 to 150 sq.m. have an advantage.
The main advantage of a franchise is quick access to a stable flow of clients. This is one of the working scenarios for a startup in this area.
How to attract clients
As noted above, such car services are not competitors for ordinary service stations, so an entrepreneur is unlikely to have to compete with them for customers. Therefore, notify the maximum number of car enthusiasts about the appearance of the workshop and try to convey to them the advantages of the format, which is still a novelty in large cities. What to do:
- mount a large sign so that drivers passing by will notice from afar. When the service station is located away from the road, install an advertising board or sign at the turn towards it;
- Place business cards and flyers in the checkout area of gas stations and auto stores, hand them out at major intersections and parking lots of shopping centers;
- hang banners or stick posters near parking lots and at the entrances to garage cooperatives;
- advertising on the businessman's car. As an additional service – offer clients towing to a service station;
- in popular map services, set tags at the workshop address and provide contact information, photographs and telephone numbers;
- a one-page website with a description of the available equipment and a box booking form. The free Google Business constructor will do;
- advertising in local online groups of car enthusiasts, as an option, create your own community with useful information about car repairs;
- active participation in live forums about cars in your city;
- city car clubs will provide a flow of customers. Offer members a discount or free visit in exchange for advertising.
Passive income ideas. Buying a garage and then renting it out.
The idea of buying a garage as an investment rental passive income came to me quite a long time ago. Many initially perceived it quite skeptically, but then several people put the scheme into practice and began to receive about 20% of passive income, which proved to me that the idea worked. I will try to talk about the pros, cons, recommendations and warnings in detail in this article.
The first thing I would like to say is that the profitability of this investment depends on many factors and, first of all, territorial ones. The price of garages varies greatly depending on the city/district/location. Somewhere a garage costs 500 thousand rubles, and somewhere 80. There is the same variation in rental value - one garage can easily be rented for 5 thousand a month, but somewhere no one wants to rent for 1 ruble.
Since for any investor profitability is one of the most important criteria when making a particular investment decision, we need to very carefully and pessimistically calculate the expected profitability and payback of the asset.
For example, I calculated that a garage in Kostroma in the Sverdlovsk region can be bought for 150 thousand rubles, and rented out for 2.5 thousand per month. We get a yield of approximately 20% per annum. I would like to warn you right away that this is a very conditional calculation, just as a guide.
I’ll tell you a little about the pros and cons that I see in this idea.
First the pros:
- Quite low, for this type of asset, the amount for entry and diversification. Many investors, including me, want to see a share in real estate in their portfolio, but not everyone can afford to buy an apartment. Purchasing a garage is a much more difficult task even for a novice investor.
- The possibility of an increase in the price of the asset itself . Many experts note that real estate prices have already fallen significantly and are at conditional minimums. The likelihood of long-term growth under these circumstances is very high. In addition, you can significantly increase the value of your garage by simply removing the junk left over from the previous owner and, for example, painting the gate.
- Possession of a physical asset . For many people, owning something “that you can touch” is an additional psychological incentive to purchase. The garage will not be able to be stolen from your account or taken away in a bag.
- Prospect for increased market demand . This point is controversial and will depend on many factors. But I will share my thoughts on this matter. Currently, specifically in our region, a lot of housing is being built, and many times fewer garages are being built, and even just parking spaces are clearly not being designed. At the same time, the number of cars per capita is not decreasing at all. All this is quite capable of leading to a shortage of this asset, and therefore to an increase in demand and rental costs.
- Possibility to rent out the garage for an office or warehouse . Thus increasing the cost of rent. With the right approach, you can agree on mutually beneficial terms with some young company.
- In fact, completely passive income . Once the garage is completed, there is usually no need to spend a large amount of time on this asset.
Now the cons:
- Difficulty finding tenants. I recommend that you monitor the demand before making a decision to purchase a garage in a particular area. For example, give a trial ad before purchasing and see if there are any calls. It is also advisable to purchase a garage next to a large residential area. This is logical - the more car owners live within walking distance of your garage, the better. Another small recommendation - do not ignore offline advertisements. Post “garage for rent” advertisements on all the entrances nearby your garage - often the return is much better than on Avito and other Internet sites. Many potential renters would like to rent a garage but are not actively looking for one.
- Quality of tenants. There are citizens who want to rent a garage to conduct illegal activities in it. For example, my father's tenants at some point simply disappeared, stopping paying and answering calls. When we opened the garage, we discovered that stolen cars were being dismantled for parts. Therefore, I advise you to definitely draw up an agreement in which you specify the tenant’s passport details, his responsibility for non-payment and illegal activities, the possibility of independently opening the garage in the event of a long delay in payments without preserving the tenant’s property. And always have a spare garage key just in case.
- Frequent change of tenants. On average, garages are rented for a period of 4 to 7 months. Therefore, prepare in advance that you may have to look for new clients quite often. And having 3-4 garages, the passivity of such an investment approach is completely questioned.
- Additional payments. Expenses such as repairs, taxes, bills, security, etc. usually falls on the landlord's shoulders - you need to keep this in mind.
What else should you pay attention to when buying a garage?
The following parameters have a very positive effect on the cost and attractiveness of a garage:
- Availability of viewing/vegetable pit
- Availability of permanent security
- Availability of electricity/lighting
- High Gate
- A brick garage is valued much higher than a metal one
That's all I have. I hope you found the material useful.
Special thanks to everyone who reposts on social networks - by doing this you greatly help our project.
I also recommend reading
Calculation of return on costs for a garage
The cost of a garage also varies. In my city, you can buy a decent garage for 200,000 rubles, and rent it out for 3,000 rubles a month. Almost any garage is suitable for renting out. One option is shown below.
You can get a garage like this for 150-300 thousand
Can you tell me a little? But if we take the same 3 million that we can spend on an apartment and buy garages for the entire amount? We will be able to buy 15 garages.
By renting out each garage for 3,000 rubles, we can receive 45 thousand a month. This is already a significant amount for the regions.
The garage's payback is 1.5% per month, 18% per year. This means that after 5 and a half years the garage will fully pay for itself and will generate net profit.
Our prices
Price list
Payment is made for the time used. No prepayment or deposit. Payment after the first full hour is possible in installments of 20 minutes. Post with a lift - Without tools - 60 min - 350 rub. Post with a lift - With tools - 60 min - 400 rub. Post with a lift - according to the “ I need it quickly ” tariff with tools - up to 30 minutes - 400 rubles. Pit with traverse + tool 350 RUR/hour. Vacuum cleaner - free (when renting a lift or pit for 2 hours or more) Vacuum cleaner - without renting a lift or pit - 200 rubles 1 hour. Wheel inflation is free (when renting a lift or pit for 1 hour or more). Cleaning a rented post (at the client’s request) - 150 rubles. Mechanic consultation - Free up to 10 minutes. Mechanical assistance for more than 10 minutes - 500 rubles. in 30 minutes. Mechanical assistance (at the client’s request) - 50 minutes - 1000 rubles. Oil disposal - Free. Garbage disposal - Free. If the repair is not completed before 20:00, you can leave the car in the box for free from 20:00 to 10:00 am. After 20:00 there is an increasing tariff: coefficient = 1.5. When renting a lift for more than 10 hours, there is a 10% discount.
