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General => General discussion => Topic started by: Seanl on 25 May 2011, 20:11
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Brace yourself, this is a long one!
I will be looking for a new career in the coming months, as I will be medically discharged from the Navy in the not too distant future. Whist having a flick through a resetlement mag in work, I came across an ad for chips away franchises. There were a couple of case studies and messages from ex forces chaps who have taken the plunge with them, and they are singing their praises.
I will have a bit of a pay out from work that I could put towards setting myself up for this. For a basic 'man in van' type operation, including training, set up, advertising etc it is going to cost in the region of 38-40k. There are different plans available, but this seems to be the ball park figure. As a full member of the British Franchise Association, they are thought of quite highly by lenders, therefore High Street Banks are willing to fund up to 70% of the initial cost by means of an unsecured Business Loan. I will therefore need 12-15k of my own money. I have set up a meeting for a preliminary chat with the Business advisor at my bank, to see if this is viable as my current finances are not in the best of shape. (Hugely expensive wedding and honeymoon!), so will see what I can do once I know the outcome. The figures quoted by them for earnings though, based on 3 jobs per day, is on average 80k. I know this is probably extreme cases and wishfull thinking on my part as well though!
I am actually quite excited and enthusiatic about the prospect of setting this up. I only saw it last week, but I think I may need to strike whilst the Iron is still hot - so to speak.
They deal mostly with scratches and scuffs, minor dents, windscreen chips, and interior trims etc. so mothing major really.
Having looked at their website, and scoped out any franchises local to me, it seems the closest one is about 40 miles away. The franchisees are assigned "Territories", therefore the city and surrounding areas are currently not being served. With Cornwall literally 5 minutes away, there is a whole county also without an active franchise, thus creating massive scope for expansion into added territories.
Note I said none active, as I am not sure if there has been in the past, and they have failed. This is something else I will research also. There are a lot of franchisees who seem to make a very good living with this company, and have 5 or more territories that they serve with x number of employees, and care care centres also. This is obviously encouraging. I have found one website though (canyoutrustthem.com) that have a lot of members who have failed in this franchise, and have particular beef with chips away for not providing the support they promised before they signed the dotted line. There are a few replies from current franchisees though, that are basically calling them lazy, and expecting jobs to fall into their laps. Still, I am keen to find out more.
Another thing is that I have absolutely no experience in the work that I will be expected to carry out. Now they do provide training, but it is only a week long! Surely people could only be expected to carry out a repair to a pretty novice standard. I am therefore thinking of offering my services for free to a local body shop as a tea b!tch/ tool passer type person, to gain some insight and possibly a little experience on old panels etc, as most days I finish work by 12. Along with the start up package, they will kit out your van, but I have read that the equipment is very very basic, and sub-standard for a lot of jobs. Again with a little knowledge, I will know what is best to purchase as an addition to ensure decent repairs, and happy clients!
Alot of jobs are for company vehicles, and a number of big clients already use them. (BT, More Than etc etc) but still most jobs are retail based, and these are the ones that really need to be impressed by a repair, as word of mouth counts alot in this line of work.
So here are my questions if you could be bothered to read that lot!
1. Do you think this is a viable option for me with regard to my circumstances as mentioned above, and do you think there is actually a decent market for this type of work, or do you think most people just dont do anything about a scratch, they just get a bit pissed off about it!?
2. Would you, or have you ever considered using the company?
3. Would you be tempted to use them, knowing their price are actually far cheeper than a body shop would be due to the smal repair, rather than total panel re-spray. Bearing in mind some have not alot of experience. - however with it being a franchise, if you are not happy, you do have alot of comeback for it to be redone, or if still not happy, the franchisee will be forced to pay for a bodyshop repair out of their own pocket!
Obviously without advertising, (as I'm am not sure on forum/franchisers rules regarding this) I could be tempted to offer fantastic 'Mates Rates' for forum members in my area should this get off the ground!
All replies very welcome, no matter how brutally honest they may be. :wink: :smiley:
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What your job you do now in the Navy? Can you use those skills out side ?
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I'm a Leading Weapons Engineering Technician. My specific expertise lie in Communications systems.
I could go down this route but to be honest, I am pretty burn't out by it. I would like to try my hand at something different tbh. I do have a 17th Edition course booked for next month, and could lead to becoming a domestic electrician with a fair bit more training I suppose. I don't have the passion for it any more though, so I would prefer that to be my back up plan.
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Dont know owt about franchise stuff.. . . .
But I wish you well.
And ignore them when they say AIM high etc etc
I aimed low and if this job comes off I will soon be working my way up high :wink:
you done your CTP workshop yet ?
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Dont know owt about franchise stuff.. . . .
But I wish you well.
And ignore them when they say AIM high etc etc
I aimed low and if this job comes off I will soon be working my way up high :wink:
you done your CTP workshop yet ?
:laugh: :laugh:
Not done workshop yet mate, still awaiting my operation and the last one was cancelled in January, but shouldnt be long now. After that I will be off the the Medical Board for the boot pretty sharpish I think so resetlement package soon. If I decide to do this, gonna need some sort of accounting course, and a Business Start-up course as well. If not then Domestic sparky, it is, and the misery at work will continue!
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What your job you do now in the Navy? Can you use those skills out side ?
Only on Mk3s
Thom
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What your job you do now in the Navy? Can you use those skills out side ?
Only on Mk3s
Thom
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
So would anyone actually consider using chips away for a repair on their car?
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I have considered it and probably will when i have a few more chips :angry: I'd definately use Dents away though, couple of people i know including my dad has used them and it's amazing what can be done with metal rod and a lamp! Could you train to do both chips and dents? I'd have thought that would be quite lucrative? :huh:
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Yeah you can expand with the addition of a sort of car car centre. Obviously with a mobile unit, only limited work can be carried out, and only in relatively easily accessed areas. ie double skinned areas would need more work to pull out as you cannot get in behind them - I think they drill a small hole then pull it out, before filling, painting and buffing the hole over. Not entirely sure if thats correct as I have not researched that yet, but deffinately a possiblility. Next step after a chat with the bank is an open day and demo on work that is carried out and a Q + A session with the company, and franchisees. As a franchisee, you are required to occasionally attend the open days for an informal chat with prospective newbees.
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I used Chips Away near Worthing on the south coast. It wasn't a man in a van, they have a big workshop.
Anyway, they painted a new door mirror for my golf when the old one got smashed off. And my brother had his Porsche wheels re-furbed and bonnet chips resprayed on his Audi (all decent jobs) so would definately use them again.
Good luck - whatever you decide to do OP :smiley:
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Where do I start..... Chips away=nightmare in my personal experience, I spend a lot of time putting right., quite frankly very shoddy repairs, that only look half good from a distance. Unless you can pick this up straight away, and it really is all about skill and technique, you will not make money. Unless you can pick up some contracts very quickly, you will be doing lots of waiting round for the phone to ring You would have to do some serious networking around garages to make contacts to get work, turn out a couple of bad jobs, and your name will be mud! To make a living, I would say that you need to do 3 to 4 cars a day. every day...
I know of 3 different people that do Chips away, and 2 independents, the ones that work for themselves make more money, and do work exclusively for the "Trade" but crucially, all of them are ex motor trade painters, and can work at speed, under pressure, and getting it right first time...
Have you considered Paint less dent removal? far more lucrative, and if you're any good at it, I guarantee you will be in demand!
Avoid the franchise part, get some kit together, and practice on old panels, theirs even courses to go on...
Thom
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i don't know about chips away but what i would say of any 'on site' chip and scratch repair services and results that I have seen is that they don't, in my experience, achieve a perfect result... i see cars every day that have had 'touch ups' on bumpers, wings etc... if they are not using a low bake oven then the longevity of repairs are also questionable..
however.. there are ways to go into the SMART repair industry
http://www.smartexpress.co.uk/ (http://www.smartexpress.co.uk/) specifically http://www.smartexpress.co.uk/default.aspx?upid=69&msid=5 (http://www.smartexpress.co.uk/default.aspx?upid=69&msid=5)
you might also like to consider an autosmart franchise... http://www.startautosmart.co.uk/ (http://www.startautosmart.co.uk/) in my experience Autosmart franchisees make money and act more in the way of a reseller who is knowledgable and friendly and helpful. its worth exploring.
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Cheers Guy, just had a look and I will definately consider the smartexpress stuff. Just have to add it all up and see what I will need, and what sort of prices I am looking at with the funds that will be available.
Had a look at the startautosmart one as well, but there are no franchise opportunities in the SW unfortunately. Thanks again mate. :smiley:
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Cheers Guy, just had a look and I will definately consider the smartexpress stuff. Just have to add it all up and see what I will need, and what sort of prices I am looking at with the funds that will be available.
Had a look at the startautosmart one as well, but there are no franchise opportunities in the SW unfortunately. Thanks again mate. :smiley:
no probs... otherwise have you thought about going into the trade using fixed premises? Your quality of work would be much higher.
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Thats an option further down the line, and depending how it all pans out. As said in the original post, I have absolutely no experience when it comes to body repairs, so a mobile unit with smaller repairs would probably be best suited to start out with. If all was to go well, I could then expand into other territories, and get a fixed premesise but atm thats just a pipe dream!
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There's a guy who left my work a few years ago doing this sort of stuff, possibly the same company (Chipsaway). I know one of the guys I see most days plays golf (yawn) with him so I'll ask him to have a word with him at the weekend.
From what I've heard in the past he's doing okay, he subcontracts the dent stuff out.
Would I use one of these companies? Yes. I don't like the car going in for proper paint repairs as the low bake oven dulls all the exterior plastics and windscreen wipers and they lose their sheen, ending up an oxidised greyish colour. Plus an Ibiza TDI I bought from a main dealer some years ago had a smart repair done on the rear bumper to remove a few light scratches and he did an amazing job of hiding the marks.
Personally I'd agree with going into the dent removal side either instead of or as well as. Car park dings are a nightmare and if you could get your name around locally there's a big area in Devon and Cornwall that needs decent cover for this sort of thing. I've even thought about doing it myself a few years ago when redundancy was mentioned but nothing came of it. There are plenty of smallish car shows where you could get through a good few cars in the course of a weekend, hundreds of dealerships in the South West that need quality repairs on retail cars plus the hundreds of Arfur Daleys about. Then there's the local forums, do some good quality work for reasonable money and people will seek you out - car forums are full of people with car OCD and want their car perfect! Get your name around the local Polish car washes too, maybe offer referral £££ for recommendations.
As with any small business, if you're prepared to be on duty for more than the 9-5 typical working day there can be money to be made, especially weekends. As you're ex-forces you should have no problems there!
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Cheers Ex, yeah looking at the PDR that Guy suggested, I could deffinately incorporate this into the business. It just expands the skill set I would have, and would bring in more income for moi! No need to refer then! Like you said, I am deffinately willing to put in the hours to get it off the ground. I suppose that may well be the reason others have failed. Still in early stages, but just scoping out peoples oppinions. Like you said as well, offer out good discounts for forum members on here and other forums, and as long as the job is to a good standard, word should get around. :wink: :smiley:
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Well just had a preliminary meeting with the business advisor at the bank, and he see's no reason why it couldnt happen with regards to my personal finances! Next step is to attend an open day, and get some sort of business plan. I think its then a comparison of the business plan with regards to financing the whole thing against predicted income, and how much it would be to set it up myself. Again though experience deffinately counts, and as I have nil, and no network of contacts in the trade, I'm not sure that I could make an indipendant operation work. Will go down to a few of the body shops on valley road next week though and see if they would like a tea b!tch without pay! :grin: Am I likely to get told to do one though, as I could turn out to be another potential competitor?
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Am I likely to get told to do one though, as I could turn out to be another potential competitor?
You can only try :wink: Just be ready to leg it in case they say no and want to show you some rope and an anvil on the pier :evil: