I am considering buying Fiat/Alfa diagnostic equipment for my garage that I am starting up. I would like some input as to whether you would consider it a wise investment. I would initially charge £20 to diagnose problems and would be prepared to travel within a 30 mile radius of Spalding Lincolnshire. Does this sound like a good idea and would any members use a service like this?
Diagnostic equipment
- Thread starter Ridgway
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Diagnostic equipment
I'm told the "going rate" is @£40 for a code-reading session at a FIAT dealers premises,
would yours be £20 + time / call-out / whatever?,
you're not in my catchment area anyway , but pretty sure you would do O.K. at £20 a time,
are there any FIAT / ALFA specialists near you ?, I know there's a main dealer in Peterborough - "St.1acre",
if you get LOTS of new car sales and little indy support you could do VERY well !!,
Charlie
would yours be £20 + time / call-out / whatever?,
you're not in my catchment area anyway , but pretty sure you would do O.K. at £20 a time,
are there any FIAT / ALFA specialists near you ?, I know there's a main dealer in Peterborough - "St.1acre",
if you get LOTS of new car sales and little indy support you could do VERY well !!,
Charlie
so...
you don't know what equipment to buy/how much it will cost but you've already decided how much to charge and how far you're willing to travel ?
even in my car which is currently doing 64mpg, traveling 30miles out and 30 miles back will cost you a gallon of fuel travel time at 30 miles in that area is likely to be 45 mins each way and when you get their you will need to take time to do the job say an hour for arguments sake
so you will need 1 gallon of fuel @ ~£6-7
2.5 hours travel time (worst case) what do you value your time at?
1 hour labour
£20 take out fuel = £13 - £14 left divide that by 3.5 hours and without any other costs taken into account you're earning less than £4 an hour
even on your door step you could argue that half that money will go in running costs and equipment costs, who will look after your garage and other customers while you're gone?
I think you may need to seek some startup advice and formulate a proper business plan otherwise you won't say in business long
you don't know what equipment to buy/how much it will cost but you've already decided how much to charge and how far you're willing to travel ?
even in my car which is currently doing 64mpg, traveling 30miles out and 30 miles back will cost you a gallon of fuel travel time at 30 miles in that area is likely to be 45 mins each way and when you get their you will need to take time to do the job say an hour for arguments sake
so you will need 1 gallon of fuel @ ~£6-7
2.5 hours travel time (worst case) what do you value your time at?
1 hour labour
£20 take out fuel = £13 - £14 left divide that by 3.5 hours and without any other costs taken into account you're earning less than £4 an hour
even on your door step you could argue that half that money will go in running costs and equipment costs, who will look after your garage and other customers while you're gone?
I think you may need to seek some startup advice and formulate a proper business plan otherwise you won't say in business long
You need to becareful using the phrase diagnose.. my EVO 2 fire engine spits out a P0 115 error at you.. what part do I need to replace?
And when I replace the part any online diagnostics translator will point you at and the light stays on are you going to charge me another 20 notes to give me the same code again?
Plug in diagnostics can lead you in the right direction but not always
most dealerships charge about £60 to £80. But that gains you upto an hour of fiat techs time
And when I replace the part any online diagnostics translator will point you at and the light stays on are you going to charge me another 20 notes to give me the same code again?
Plug in diagnostics can lead you in the right direction but not always
most dealerships charge about £60 to £80. But that gains you upto an hour of fiat techs timeI think you miss-understand we are buying this equipment because a good client has a number of Fiat Alfa vehicles. we are proposing to "test" the market to see if it is worth the full investment of the other special tools required it is therefore (in the initial stage) going to be a lost leader.
Also we would be quoting to carry out the work required - as for the fact of not staying in business for very long if this was our ONLY source of income I would agree however it is not.
You need to becareful using the phrase diagnose.. my EVO 2 fire engine spits out a P0 115 error at you.. what part do I need to replace?
And when I replace the part any online diagnostics translator will point you at and the light stays on are you going to charge me another 20 notes to give me the same code again?
Plug in diagnostics can lead you in the right direction but not always
I agree that there may be problems identifying the part that requires replacement, there are set test procedures that are in the workshop manuals regrettably the tech people in garages do not always use the manuals and the set down procedures are overlooked in fact from a Fiat Dealer when a car was taken in with a dash fault the tech said "I can not get the equipment to work you will need to bring it in for a day for us to look at it" and still charged £70
if the fault does need further investigation why should you pay another £20 on top of the initial cost.
(and yes we do have the Fiat/Alfa manuals)
Well I'm confused are you starting a garage or have you started it?
I still wonder where you proper business plan is?
To be competitive with dealerships and mobile techs you're going to need to put down a heavy investment, at the least you'll need a fiat examiner just to to fiat and alfa models but anything else you'll need to spend more
