auto74

Seems attractively priced. Please provide an update when you make your final selection. Our shop has an old coats 2020. It serves its purpose, but more and more we're having to take tires/wheels across the street where a buddy works to get them mounted. He rolls his eyes when he sees me wheeling a tire across the street towards his shop.... The options on the market are a bit bewildering...

maybe its just me... but your location tab shows you're in TX, but the map that comes up shows NY,NY

Yes, family owned. And a family member is there keeping an eye on things during normal business hours. I know the guy pretty well. I'm not too concerned with getting ripped off by him. Also, I have a 10 camera security system that I'll be installing very soon. I'll know what's coming in and what's going out at all times of the day.

For about the last year or two... since partial control of the business was offered to me. There are 5 bays. 1 on one side of an office w/lift. 4 on the other side or the office. 2 w/pit 1 w/lift 1 w/o lift. I've been offered the 1600 sq ft side with 4 bays. I've been spending my free time doing repairs/improvements to the building. Last year I spent most of my time doing various exterior repairs, mostly to the roof. If I choose to rent/lease that section of the building out once my other building repairs are done I'll still need to address the pit issues.

How many of you folks actually find a pit useful nowadays? Do you wish you just had another lift or two in it's place? We have a pit that can comfortably fit 2 cars with room to spare in between. The issue is that it was built/spec'd out in the 40's by a family member who was 5'2" (on a good day), so it was decided to not make the pit very deep. It's sort of handy/nice for exhaust work and oil changes, but even I (5'8") need to tilt my head and really watch what I'm doing to not catch myself. We had a guy years ago that was 6'3" who absolutely hated it. In the course of making some repairs to the pit .. it looks like the concrete is deteriorating in one section to the point that I may need to weld up a frame and plate to support the concrete or build a concrete block wall. I'm contemplating filling the pit in if it turns out to be a safety issue... but if I ever get a quick lube going in the future I don't want to kick myself for filling it in.

Yeah, I hear you. Remote management probably isn't the best option. Either way, no one will lease the place in it's current condition. I'd like to improve the place enough so someone can haul their equipment in and be up and running in 0 time.

Hi, looking for a different perspective on a possible business opportunity... sorry ahead of time for the long winded post The business: 70 year old family owned service station that's gone downhill in the 15-20 years. Virtually idle, as old established client base literally dies off from old age. The good: 1) 100% mortgage free. Taxes+insurance are the big bills. 2) 5 service bays. 2 bays with lifts (1 newish lift, 1 ancient lift), 2 bays with a 2 car long pit. 3) 50' street frontage 1 lot up from a busy intersection. ~15-20k cars per day on each cross street. 4) large enough lot for a small used car lot ~15 car space, still with room to access 2 large bay doors in front 5) large enough back lot for 30 cars... a 40x40 building would fit with some room to spare. 6) Reputation for honesty The bad: 1) leaky office in disrepair, flat rubber roof over entire building. Would take me a couple of months to gut the office and fix the leaks., "elbow grease" work in my spare time 2) exterior of building needs some TLC, more "elbow grease" kind of work. 3) front lot needs to be repaved at some point, not too attractive 4) not much of an existing client base 5) old equip... almost 0 diag equipment. 6) old junk everywhere, nothing has been tossed in seemingly forever. I'm in high tech and don't plan on quiting the day job as it probably pays more than I could make at this place anytime soon, since there is zero existing business. And I can use some of the cash I make now to try and invest in the business. It absolutely PAINS me to see the place completely under/misutilized like this and I've wanted the chance to do something, anything there even it ends in failure. At least I gave it a shot. Possible ideas: 1) Lube shop that utilizes the pit. minimal investment in equip. Get people in and provide greate service that may lead to other repairs in the future. I've gotten mixed reports on lube shops... Seems like it an endangered business since oil changes are freebies with a new car and the 12,000 and 15,000 mile oil change recommendations. But, the few times I've staked out the other lube place a few miles down the road all three bays are packed. 2) Tire business. Maybe 10-15k in investment up front for a modest used tire changer and balancer. There are two existing old workhorse coats machines that aren't really good for doing newer alloy rims. Maybe pair up with Tire Rack for promotions. 3) Both lube and tire... The idea is to start doing the gruntwork building improvement myself and with a helper until it gets to a point where I wouldn't be embarrased to have a client/customer walk into the office. There is a pretty trustworthy guy who rents one of the bays now who would love to get in on something like this. He'd do the most of the auto work till it ramps up and I would spend most of my time doing marketing to get people in the door. I'm really not sure if an arrangement like this can even work. I want it to be a win-win for whoever is willing to take a chance and get involved. I believe the place could be a great business. There is also the possibility of renting one or more bays to folks like car detailers. I've been at the office two times in the last month when someone came in and was looking for a bay to rent. A single rented bay can pay for around half the yearly taxes. Any thoughts? Advice on how to set up a business partnership? Any other caveats?

Hello, Nice forum you folks have here... just signed up to hopefully get some insight from the shop owners here. Im contemplating partially assuming control of a service station.