Looking at getting into the milage correction / diagnostics business

[Ronni]

First of all Hi to everyone,

I am looking at setting up a business in this field but I need a bit of advice before giving up the day job and investing the cash required.

I do not need advice regarding the best kit to use / purchase as i will make my own mind up once I have spoken to the various manufactures. However I am interested in finding out about the market and its potential.

First of all I am based in greater manchester and already have some contacts in the motor trade who have expressed an interest in this service. What I am trying to figure out is how much business their is to be had and what type of turnovers are possible?

1. What is the general price I can charge for a simple plug and fix / more complex jobs ?

2. Are most of your customers retail or trade?

3. How many jobs would you expect to get per week from advertising in the trader or similar?

4. Are most exisiting dash repairers busy or is everyone scrapping for work?

5. What type of earning potential is their for a self employed dash repairer with 1 van?

I have about £20 - 25k to invest including working capital.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards

Ronni

[DIAGTECH]

LOOK IN THE AUTOTRADER MATE PLENTY OF LADS COVERING MANCHESTER AND A LOT OF THEM HAVE BEEN DOING IT YEARS WITH A GOOD CUSTOMER BASE I TRIED AND FAILED IN MANCHESTER LOT OF MONEY TO SPEND AND BE SAT TWIDDLING YOUR THUMBS.

[WideOn]

get in to keys reprogramming and stuff

thats the baby

[MIKE M]

save your cash for something else, the train has left the station a long time ago too many well established peeps already covering the whole of the north west at most you will get the scaps that the regulars cant cover, and if you have not had any real experience with this field, the plug and goes are getting few and far between as technology advances

[carbandit]

a saturated marketplace now....

[wiggi28]

buy up some land plots on the moon incase we all go and live there in the future it will no doubt be a better investment

[wayupnorth]

Some very good advice up there in previous posts if you choose to sift through it.

The truth is, most big cities, but especially areas like England's north-west with it's huge population, have been saturated with very experienced people , the trailblazers and pioneers of this dash programming lark, some of whom have as many as 15 years experience in what really is a very specialised field. A lot of the people you would be going up against will be able to competently work on every type of car out there, not just the supposedly "easy" ones. Customers are unlikely to shift allegiance to some new kid on the block just 'cos he's maybe a tenner cheaper, for fear of losing the services their regular vastly experienced (but maybe a bit more expensive) guy. These guys can do a complete BMW E46 i n 20-30 mins max, whereas you will need maybe two hours or more to do it, and run up a phone bill to some help line whilst you are at it. Customers will see through that straight away. Any remaining punters you will get will be cheap-skates who will break you heart for sure, and most experienced guys will have dumped them before anyway whether for bitching about prices or 'trying it on' with faulty dashes etc. That will leave you with mainly friends, neighbours and family to do work for, and between me and you, nobody ever got rich working for any of them!

I wouldn't say not to get involved in this business, but do try to start somewhere where you are not surrounded by lots of much better experienced competitors.

[keyscoob]

£20-£25k then use it as a deposit on a house and get a buy to let mortgage. You will get a better return.

There is loads of cheap kit coming on the market now (not just the ebay crap) so prices for non-specialist jobs will continue to fall as more folks jump on the bandwagon.

[tew6110]

My friend a very wise,and wealthy, friend of mine once installed a valueable ideal into me...

If you are intending to jump onto a band wagon,then you are too late..

This business, which I have been in for nearly 12 years, would be extremely tough to start up in now.

10 years ago I was getting £30 for a stereo decode...now you can buy calculators on ebay for £4, and dashes are going the same way, mate as previously stated, if you ain't looking for a quick return put your 25k into bricks and mortar....mid to long term you cant loose,

If you do find something ..HOT let us know...lol

good luck

[decode1]

yes please.......

[Dashfixer]

The advise I would give you would be place an add in auto trader or similar yourself and see what kind of response you get. Lots of guys on this forum are already in the market and don't want any more competition, and you cant really blame them for that. There are a lot of people in the manchester area and every other city in the UK doing mileage corrections but there are also a lot of cars on the road each 1 a potential customer. You do however need to be prepared to spend money to make money with things like advertising and so on as your coming into this game at a late stage but you would be amazed at the amount of new customers we get everyday who never knew this service exists.

Like you said make your own mind up

Louise
www.dashfixer.com

[Over Carl]

I was thinking the same kind of thing near the beginning of this year, didn't really seem worthwhile to me.

[neemo]

it is a tough one
on something completly different
i set up my own smart repair company in may 2006
everyone said the same you wont make it the market is saturated in nottingham
but with persistance and alot of advertising i average 150-250 quid a day
doing mainly residential work, but i spent over 6k in advertising and leaflet drops
sometimes it pays not to take no for an answer

[jonno]

After a long lifetime of self employment and having lots of different types of business, I think anyone can make a go of anything.
The problem is, most people look at the potential earnings of a new venture without checking the suitability for them as a person.
We are all capable of becoming a ladies hairdresser with enough training, and are all capable of digging trenches, learning to be a plumber or with time, a doctor!
But do you want to spend the rest of your life looking at the top of someones head?
Or standing in a puddle of mud, with a backache?
Or with your hand down a w.c?
Or whatever doctors have to do?
Of course you do [or dont]
Same with mileage correction, you only hear the good bits!
Do more research first!

[screaminskull200]

mike is giving the best sound advice ,he is a vetran in the game& its a really dry wellbut however keyscoob is rite ,bricks& mortar is the 1

[welovegypos]

After a long lifetime of self employment and having lots of different types of business, I think anyone can make a go of anything.
The problem is, most people look at the potential earnings of a new venture without checking the suitability for them as a person.
We are all capable of becoming a ladies hairdresser with enough training, and are all capable of digging trenches, learning to be a plumber or with time, a doctor!
But do you want to spend the rest of your life looking at the top of someones head?
Or standing in a puddle of mud, with a backache?
Or with your hand down a w.c?
Or whatever doctors have to do?
Of course you do [or dont]
Same with mileage correction, you only hear the good bits!
Do more research first!

some damn good advice right there i think! I've never heard anyone say, "being a plumber sounds like an awesome way to earn a living" but i've heard the stories about "70k a year" if you're in the right area....

[milesback]

Its all down to your hardware, ive been doing this for 3 years now with some very nasty laptop system.
Six months ago i made a investment at dashfixer , and have never looked back.
I have made far more cash in the last 6 months than ever before.
But you must expect to lose cash as we all have busted the odd dash/bsi at some point.
Keep your punters happy, they will always return.
goto www.dashfixer.com for your hardware. ( i know)

[keyscoob]

Is it bollox all down to your hardware! I agree DashFixer is a great kit (I have one) but I know guys both here and in Europe who do fine with just a collection of device programmers and software like NYO4 and Windows Scientific Calc.

[milesback]

i hade a crap laptop system from dianostix which was shit. sorry just my own expererince.
But i do like the 9-9 help line that dashfixer offer.

[WideOn]

i have a cdh and the kit works but i have to say the support is good but anit worth 80 quid a month.............. but dash fixer is very over priced the same there is cheaper ways just get a labprog+ about 600 quid will do 99% of chips on the market ........... just rip the dash out then read the chip get that crap 100 quid tachosoft thingy that will show u how to edit the chip then all good ............... as 80% of all car are all epprom based so if ya stick to them ya larfing ................... there million of strip down diagrams on the net of dashboards easy .............................

i have a cdh kit works well but it in my eyes is over priced .............. in the last 5 car radios i decode that my kit dose i never used it found out what chip it is wipe it out the radio then grab a dump off the net then dump it job done ........... never used the kit so it really over price colin at cdh is a nice lad but as he said to me the times i seen him he just dont do the cars any more so hes not bang uptodate on doing them so most the time he just reads the forums he has thats members only to answer all the questions ............ 80 a month is a bit steap for a forum ......... + updates anit really thAT FAST and when it fucks up and im telling ya u will fuck one with cdh / dashfixer kit the support is a bit cack......... good mate of mine has dashfixer i have cdh both good but i would just get a good chip programmer then rip them out and edit

simple


right i had my say