Hi all,
I’m Miles,
you may have seen me on “TheLateBrakeShow” on YouTube (“The ManDeLorean”)
I know I’m not really active on here much, but thought I should share my plan anyway as it may be of interest to owners in the South Gloucestershire(ish) area.
It’s quite a risk for me to take, but I plan to get a unit where I can specialise doing restorations/maintenance on DeLorean’s (and hopefully MX5’s too!)
I have owned two Mk1’s in the past and am Currently on my 3rd, all of these were non-runners when purchased and I had to get them going, so I’m quite confident doing mechanical and electrical work on them.
I’d like to gauge interest from people before I commit to getting a Unit.
Feel free to ask any questions regarding work etc.
I won’t be doing rust repairs(at least to begin with)
Tia,
Miles
I hope you can justify proceeding with this idea and it works out for you.
In terms of the MX5 I would advise you rethink not doing rust repair which is essentially restoration? I would liaise with Chris/Garath at MX5Restorer who have been doing this sort of work for some years now to see what their main work requirement is and I would hazard a guess that it is rust repairs.
Interesting re DeLorean. I watched a program on this a while back and seem to remember there is a big specialist somewhere in the UK with a huge spares resource. Do you have a spares resource for these cars?
Are you that young bloke who did up that DeLorean’s in your garage I remember that dude.
Note sure how many DeLorean’s there are in the UK mate so I cant advice on that.
However with mx5’s I think you will struggle a bit if you just rent a unit in order to just focus on that. You have the guys who its their pride and joy and spend money on their cars it but I’d hazard a guess they would go to a well known garage to do a particular job (if its performance work). Then you have the DYI’er who will do everything on their own.
If you want to open a garage I’d say get everything in to work on and if you want to focus on mx5’s you can do it later. People will come if they see cars coming in and out of the unit.
Currently I don’t want to be doing rust repairs as I have self-taught myself to weld, and would like to go on a welding course before doing that kind of work on someone else’s car. I would rather avoid doing it until I’m confident at it than ■■■■■■ it up.
Regarding the DeLorean stuff, Parts are really quite easy to get, The main supplier in the UK is a friend of mine so I’m sure I can strike deals with him.
Yep, that’s me!
There’s a little over 200 DeLorean’s currently registered in the UK so obviously that one is a niche market, but I know them inside out.
With the MX5’s I agree, but I am hoping there are a few members out there that would be willing to take a risk (at a good price) while I build a reputation. Otherwise I completely understand going for a reputable garage instead if it’s the same cost!
I could expand to all cars, but it would be fairly easy to keep parts on hand for quick servicing/repairs if I stick to these two.
My advice do not turn work away if its not an mx5/delorian
Make your self future proof, what will you do when an electric vehicle needs fixing?
If you don’t have the knowledge you need to learn it, either courses or working for someone else. Have you ever repaired an engine or gearbox? It ain’t that easy.
Customers are demanding, just because you successfully made a wreck drivable if i remember correctly the seats needed work and it wasn’t perfect. Be prepared for the odd customers, its not easy to keep everyone happy.
Personally if you considered all the above and are confident you have all it takes, you have all the necessary knowledge and experience I’d say go for it.
Make sure its your decision, if it works then great, if not then ten - twenty years down the road you will look back and say i tried and have no regrets.
Just make sure you have a proper business plan, find an accountant, and work out how much you have to make a day to break even, after rent, rates, electricity, heating etc.
Find your local business growth hub, there is usually free advice on setup and advice on applying for start up grants.
there is a delorean in grantham.
a nice example.
i pulled alongside it recently and loudly exclaimed “thats even lower than my lowered mx5”
seriously do you lie down to drive those things?
I live in Somerset and there are no MX5 specialists nearby, so I take my car to a local garage who are happy to help. Have you considered how you would prove that you are indeed a specialist and that you could offer more than the garages that members currently use? I’ve always felt that a true specialist could improve my car by getting the most out of what’s there, but I wouldn’t drive very far for a service just on the off chance that the “self appointed” specialist might do a better job than my local garage.
Having said that, good luck if you do go for it and if you can make a good name for yourself, I think there may be plenty of potential customers who would make good use of your skills.
The garage I use has just made a massive investment so that they are now able to deal with my EV as well as my MX5, so I agree with the point made in an earlier post.
I live near the countryside at the outskirts of South Birmingham. I have traveled and had performance work done by BBR in Oxfordshire and will be traveling again to the MX5 restorer in Surrey to get my car undersealed. If I’d want to have suspension work done or setup the car for the track I’d probably give Paul Roddison a call.
So there are people who would make the journey to a certain garage given the right incentives. You just need to build up the reputation in order to get up there with the good garages.
yes there are definatly people who will drive a few extra miles to go to a specalist!
i myself drive 30miles to take my 5 to an mx5 specalist for certain work.
such as the proper mx5 fast road wheel alignment.
having lowering brackets fitted to lower my seats.
engine tuning. (after the obligatory MOT emissions detune).
so i guess one of the biggest thing you can do to draw people in would be the hunter mx5 fastroad wheel alignment.
another thing that might draw people to you is roof servicing.
i know that i wil be looking to have my power hard top serviced within the next year or so. and by serviced i mean, all rubber seals replaced, motor inspected and serviced, roof alignment inspected and probably rejiged and roof n boot open/close sensors replaced.
I am a mk1 owner and live in South Gloucestershire so would certainly use a MX5 specialist. The nearest one is in Barry I believe and he seems to be booked out so potentially there is demand, but as previous comments have said, it may take a while to build up a reputation and you would need to do things that an ordinary garage can’t do or are unwilling to do.
I am an accountant and can give you some pointers for a business plan if it helps. PM me if interested.