colin c

I'm not happy with the company I work for and I'm just gauging the interest I receive at the moment for the demand for a Subaru specialist in the Southampton area.

As most of the Hants meet possy will know I'm the senior Technician at the local SEAT dealership. Last year I placed 3rd in the SEAT UK techician of the year competition only beaten by 2 former winners. I have 18 years experience in the motor trade working for main dealers and part of my present job is liaising with SEAT technical on how to solve problematic faults

The plan is for me to set up a small garage specializing in Subaru's ( UK and imports ) + SEAT Cupra's in the Southampton area. I would be carrying out servicing, general maintenance and mild tuning mods at first. I would also have an excellent wheel alignment facility to offer a similar service to Powerstation and TSL. The plan is also to supply performance parts, exhaust's, airfilters, suspension components, silicon hoses etc.

This is a huge commitment and would require an investment of approx £40k to get up and running for the equipment alone, this is without the cost of premises etc, so I'm after peoples opinions, how much would you be willing to pay for labour an hour etc ? it would be considerably cheaper than a main dealer, but dearer than a back street garage due to being a specialist

Cheers for any input and advise,

Colin.

RON

Colin,
It would be great to have a 'true' specialistin the area, someone who knows what people actaully want, rather than what they want you to have, if you do manage it, you'll needless to say keep well on top of the cash, cos you wouldn't wanna go the way of one of the other 'specailists' would you!!

Anyways, good luck mate, may get alignment and stuff done if it kicks off!!

GregK

Excellent plan Colin - I think that there is a huge gap in the market in this area. An arch roller would be a good investment too!

Cheers

Greg

colin c

Cheers Ron,

The fact that Pete at Scoobysport has closed down is very worrying as he was doing exactly what I was intending to do

It is virtually impossible to sell good qaulity performance parts in the UK at sensible prices to match what you can buy on the internet abroard due to our VAT,the strong £, middle men taking more than their fair share, buisness rates etc. This is why I am mainly going to concentrate on routine servicing and maintainance, even though this is not mentally rewarding it is where the most reliable and regular income would come from.

Obviously I would be able to provide and fit performance parts as required.

Colin.

colin c

Excellent plan Colin - I think that there is a huge gap in the market in this area. An arch roller would be a good investment too!

Greg I have kept a record of the company that sells the arch rolling tool

Colin.

symon wrx

colin ive got to say, were screaming out for somebody we know and trust in this area to look after our cars, i for 1 dont mind paying a bit more if i know that the jobs going to be done write
best of luck & hope you manage to get it of the ground.

flamingjim

Hi Colin thats great news, we all know you can do the work, hope every thing goes to plan,rolling road would be good.best of luck jim

terryb

Sounds like a great idea Colin.

There is definately a need for this type of facility around here.

I'd be very interested. Would be good to know someone you can trust to fit performance mods, etc.

Get yourself along to the Hants Scooby meet tonight and tell everyone about it.

Cheers

Terry

colin c

Jim a 4 wheel drive rolling road would be great but as they cost £60k for a cheap version and upto approx £90K for a Dynapack like Abbey motorsport use, I think it might be a year or 2 before I could even consider such a large out lay for 1 piece of equipment.

Terry I will be at the Hants pub meet tonight, but not in my Scooby again. I will tax it at the end of the month so the purple Scooby will be back for the May meet

Colin.

Chris_S199

Colin,

Sounds like a great idea, and if you fancy branching out into servicing and tuning Skodas (very similar to SEAT! ), you can count on my custom.

Chris

colin c

Chris you will have to pay me lots to work on a Sko..... Sorry I can't even bring myself to say the word

No problem really providing it's a VW based Skoda and not some old classic.

Colin.

andykidman

Colin,
Go for it! We definatley need a decent specialist in the area, and you could count on me coming along for servicing, wheel alignment etc

Chris_S199

Hehe cheeky git Yeah it's an '01 Fabia with the PD100 engine in it and I've not been too impressed with the local dealers. Will also have some new Eibach springs and Koni adjustable dampers to go on it in the next few months and you might be able to save me a trip to Powerstation

Chris

terryb

Colin

Cracking idea mate. Good to meet you tonight - it was me with the P1 that was in EVO/ Jap Performance mags.

Hope you manage to make a go of this.

Cheers

Terry

colin c

Hi Guys,

Cheers for all the encouragement Monday night

I'm still looking into this and I'm still open to any sensible suggestions that would make this buisness venture more appealing for Scooby owners to use.

Good news and bad news on my Scooby. It's nearly all back together just a few minor finishing touches but after road testing today on trade plates I noticed it is detting really bad even with my adjustable fueling wound to the max a remap is required asap.

Still bloody quick though, 0 - 70 in an unbelievable short distance without even a proper launch ( 1700 rpm ) nearly scared myself.

Colin.

Jen

Can't believe I've only just seen this

Excellent news Colin You know if I still had Scoob you could count on my trade...when I get another if it's all going then I'll be along to annoy you

Be good to have someone in the area people could trust with their Scoobs


Jen

P.S. YHM

colin c

No I haven't Jen

Colin.

marklemac

Colin,

You'd get my business.

To get the wheel alignment done properly without having to trek for miles would be great, especially if its the standard of Powerstation.

Would you consider long term becoming an Ecutek tuner ? Now that would be interesting

StevieB

Interesting adventure Colin ! Sure most of the locals would put business your way. I think you are spot on with putting servicing etc as priority as this will probably form a large amount of business..... get that right and then look into tuning etc.

As you know I am self employed and Marklemac is too, so between us we can probably give you some insight to working for yourself and where to find out info on business etc .......business link for a start which the local office is in Solent Business Centre next to the TA on Millbrook road.

Keep us all up-to-date and good luck !

Steve

marklemac

Agreed. If you need any info/advice I'm happy to help..

colin c

Cheers guy's,

I'm still looking into thing's at the moment, but I seam to have 101 things to do at the moment and it's just trying to fit it all in. Obviously it would be good to have an ECU tek dealer in Hampshire.

Colin.

scooby-tc

iTrader: (2)

and a dry ski slope for them 'while you wait ' services

MR2Mk1

iTrader: (1)

Sorry for the thread revival but did you ever get anything set up in Southampton?