Is there any call for...
Discussion
A garage in central(ish) Scotland that takes care of the jobs that normal garages won't do, supply of specific sports parts, catering for cars out of warranty, retro cars, custom jobs etc?
Have been talking to a friend who's currently supplying parts for a rather large company and is interested in "going it alone".
Interested to know if folk here feel they would use such services.
Do you find it hard to get hold of the right parts and get them fitted? Or is there enough garages around at the minute that do the work for you the way you want it done?
I know everyone is spread around so just looking for some insight into whether you feel properly supported in maintaining and upgrading your cars.
Cheers,
Have been talking to a friend who's currently supplying parts for a rather large company and is interested in "going it alone".
Interested to know if folk here feel they would use such services.
Do you find it hard to get hold of the right parts and get them fitted? Or is there enough garages around at the minute that do the work for you the way you want it done?
I know everyone is spread around so just looking for some insight into whether you feel properly supported in maintaining and upgrading your cars.
Cheers,
Thats a difficult one, a lot depends on what is being supplied, the quality of the hands on mechanics etc.
A friend of mine had a similar style garage dealing with tuning cars as well as out of the ordinary maintenance. His problem was getting mechanics, nearly all the guys interviewed were no more than parts fitters. He eventually sold up and emigrated.
G
A friend of mine had a similar style garage dealing with tuning cars as well as out of the ordinary maintenance. His problem was getting mechanics, nearly all the guys interviewed were no more than parts fitters. He eventually sold up and emigrated.
G
VetteG said:
Thats a difficult one, a lot depends on what is being supplied, the quality of the hands on mechanics etc.
A friend of mine had a similar style garage dealing with tuning cars as well as out of the ordinary maintenance. His problem was getting mechanics, nearly all the guys interviewed were no more than parts fitters. He eventually sold up and emigrated.
G
Cheers for that.A friend of mine had a similar style garage dealing with tuning cars as well as out of the ordinary maintenance. His problem was getting mechanics, nearly all the guys interviewed were no more than parts fitters. He eventually sold up and emigrated.
G
Seems to be a common problem, mechanics will only do jobs they have been trained to do specifically and not venture out beyond the everyday. That's half what sparked it all.
Im from stirling which you will prob know is central, central scotland. Not sure if you are aware but there is a massive boy racer scene around here, in our local retail park there is easily 50-60 + cars every night all with young owners obviously splashing cash. The same goes for Falkirk, Perth, Livingston and about every town to the west. Try strathy cruise, livi cruise etc on the web.
I may be missing the point a bit but for somebody to give a service closer to internet prices for parts, good advice and a custom service for those of deeper pockets Im sure you would do really well. Somewhere that combines skidz (falkirk based boy racer emporium)for the racers off the shelf parts and ecosse (lothian based custom shop) for the more exclusinve 1 off custom works.
If you can get to this market and get a good reputation and following aswell as a service for and acceptance by the more mature customer for the non boy racer works and restorations etc you would have central cracked.
Ps also if not given to much of a hill to climb, do you have any idea how many prokers, lambos, ferraris etc there are around here, try and offer a selection of wheels and accessories for these guys and you should do ok aswell (I ended up going to newcastle for the wheels for my old boxster, and have given up looking for my 911).
As a final note, the guys who own our local shop drive an X5, LP560, 911 and F430 so theres money to be made, good on them for making it and good luck to you, go and get some
I may be missing the point a bit but for somebody to give a service closer to internet prices for parts, good advice and a custom service for those of deeper pockets Im sure you would do really well. Somewhere that combines skidz (falkirk based boy racer emporium)for the racers off the shelf parts and ecosse (lothian based custom shop) for the more exclusinve 1 off custom works.
If you can get to this market and get a good reputation and following aswell as a service for and acceptance by the more mature customer for the non boy racer works and restorations etc you would have central cracked.
Ps also if not given to much of a hill to climb, do you have any idea how many prokers, lambos, ferraris etc there are around here, try and offer a selection of wheels and accessories for these guys and you should do ok aswell (I ended up going to newcastle for the wheels for my old boxster, and have given up looking for my 911).
As a final note, the guys who own our local shop drive an X5, LP560, 911 and F430 so theres money to be made, good on them for making it and good luck to you, go and get some
flipflop1 said:
Im from stirling which you will prob know is central, central scotland. Not sure if you are aware but there is a massive boy racer scene around here, in our local retail park there is easily 50-60 + cars every night all with young owners obviously splashing cash. The same goes for Falkirk, Perth, Livingston and about every town to the west. Try strathy cruise, livi cruise etc on the web.
I may be missing the point a bit but for somebody to give a service closer to internet prices for parts, good advice and a custom service for those of deeper pockets Im sure you would do really well. Somewhere that combines skidz (falkirk based boy racer emporium)for the racers off the shelf parts and ecosse (lothian based custom shop) for the more exclusinve 1 off custom works.
If you can get to this market and get a good reputation and following aswell as a service for and acceptance by the more mature customer for the non boy racer works and restorations etc you would have central cracked.
Ps also if not given to much of a hill to climb, do you have any idea how many prokers, lambos, ferraris etc there are around here, try and offer a selection of wheels and accessories for these guys and you should do ok aswell (I ended up going to newcastle for the wheels for my old boxster, and have given up looking for my 911).
As a final note, the guys who own our local shop drive an X5, LP560, 911 and F430 so theres money to be made, good on them for making it and good luck to you, go and get some
I'm also from Stirling - quite agree!I may be missing the point a bit but for somebody to give a service closer to internet prices for parts, good advice and a custom service for those of deeper pockets Im sure you would do really well. Somewhere that combines skidz (falkirk based boy racer emporium)for the racers off the shelf parts and ecosse (lothian based custom shop) for the more exclusinve 1 off custom works.
If you can get to this market and get a good reputation and following aswell as a service for and acceptance by the more mature customer for the non boy racer works and restorations etc you would have central cracked.
Ps also if not given to much of a hill to climb, do you have any idea how many prokers, lambos, ferraris etc there are around here, try and offer a selection of wheels and accessories for these guys and you should do ok aswell (I ended up going to newcastle for the wheels for my old boxster, and have given up looking for my 911).
As a final note, the guys who own our local shop drive an X5, LP560, 911 and F430 so theres money to be made, good on them for making it and good luck to you, go and get some
I know they moved from the main street in that wee shop to the Industrial unit further up the hill, think it's still Bo'ness though.
Infact :
Ecosse Peugeot Specialists
Bo'mains Industrial Estate
Linlithgow Road
Bo'ness
EH51 0QG
Off their website :
http://www.ecosse-peugeot.co.uk/contact.htm
Infact :
Ecosse Peugeot Specialists
Bo'mains Industrial Estate
Linlithgow Road
Bo'ness
EH51 0QG
Off their website :
http://www.ecosse-peugeot.co.uk/contact.htm
No it's perfectly alright, i know Puegeot Ecosse well from my 205 days, it was good to have a look at their website again. Hasn't changed at all in 5 years though 
Yes, i do think there's a market there and i guess it's purely down to reputation and providing a good service.
If the parts supply (The backbone of the business) was nationwide, hopefully people would be happy to travel to get work done.
Guess it's a balance as you say though, from supplying lots of hellfrauds tat to the boy racers for a big income or aiming for the slightly more upmarket sportscars, retro cars etc. The latter i feel is a much better business plan and would certainly project the image he's after.
A question though, do people with said sportscars (elises, integras, M-cars and that sort of thing) find it easy to get uprated parts or do you find yourself in places like Halfrods and Demon Tweeks, sifting through the rubbish to get a selection of suspension parts that "might" fit your car?
I know it's something that i fall victim to myself and end up looking at the same websites over and over again, hoping for some new products to pop up.
What's the hardest parts/services to come across?
Sorry for the blatant market research but it's all for good reason as i hope you'll see.
Yes, i do think there's a market there and i guess it's purely down to reputation and providing a good service.
If the parts supply (The backbone of the business) was nationwide, hopefully people would be happy to travel to get work done.
Guess it's a balance as you say though, from supplying lots of hellfrauds tat to the boy racers for a big income or aiming for the slightly more upmarket sportscars, retro cars etc. The latter i feel is a much better business plan and would certainly project the image he's after.
A question though, do people with said sportscars (elises, integras, M-cars and that sort of thing) find it easy to get uprated parts or do you find yourself in places like Halfrods and Demon Tweeks, sifting through the rubbish to get a selection of suspension parts that "might" fit your car?
I know it's something that i fall victim to myself and end up looking at the same websites over and over again, hoping for some new products to pop up.
What's the hardest parts/services to come across?
Sorry for the blatant market research but it's all for good reason as i hope you'll see.
As mentioned, try finding parts to enhance your 911 in Scotland and be able to have a chat with somebody. Our local shop does have brochures for wheels and stuff (even from west coast customs type places). For somebody like me, new wheels, lowering kits for these cars are expensive (I know people will say if i cant afford them I shouldnt have a 911).
What would be great would be to be able to drop in, have a coffee, look at some wheels etc, brochure and maybe some shots of cars with them on BUT know that if theres a dink in the rim when they come, I can look somebody in the face and know it will be sorted.
try asking the same questions in the supercar threads and see what reaction you get.
Keep us posted, always would put work to a local ph'r first.
PS likewise any ph'rs who's wives want granite worktops send them my way;)
What would be great would be to be able to drop in, have a coffee, look at some wheels etc, brochure and maybe some shots of cars with them on BUT know that if theres a dink in the rim when they come, I can look somebody in the face and know it will be sorted.
try asking the same questions in the supercar threads and see what reaction you get.
Keep us posted, always would put work to a local ph'r first.
PS likewise any ph'rs who's wives want granite worktops send them my way;)
I used to have similar discussions when I attended cruises in my modified Honda Prelude.
We always used to moan that there are no decent places for the cruise guys to meet up - retail parks can be funny, especially in and around Edinburgh and if you offered somewhere for them to meet with maybe a burger joint I think you'd make a killing.
Double it up as a truck stop during the day to try and maintain business, even install some hydraulic ramps for rent so folk could work on their cars (coupled with your idea of providing the mechanics to do the work?) - the biggest issue would be a suitable site with the costs involved.
Imagine a central (to Scotland) location where car enthusiasts could meet up - quality surface with maybe a drift circuit, sound off area, controlled parking, hot food available for decent money, range of driving based video games, parts available and fitted for reasonable costs - the place would be alive with punters IMHO.
We always used to moan that there are no decent places for the cruise guys to meet up - retail parks can be funny, especially in and around Edinburgh and if you offered somewhere for them to meet with maybe a burger joint I think you'd make a killing.
Double it up as a truck stop during the day to try and maintain business, even install some hydraulic ramps for rent so folk could work on their cars (coupled with your idea of providing the mechanics to do the work?) - the biggest issue would be a suitable site with the costs involved.
Imagine a central (to Scotland) location where car enthusiasts could meet up - quality surface with maybe a drift circuit, sound off area, controlled parking, hot food available for decent money, range of driving based video games, parts available and fitted for reasonable costs - the place would be alive with punters IMHO.
when it comes to parts I pretty much order direct from the US or Australia so if someone was running a business locally that had containers of parts coming over on a regular basis it might be a service I could use. Even carrying stock of stuff like Royal Purple diff, trans and engine oils instead of the usual tat you get in stores like Halfrauds.
Interested to see what everybody else thinks but i would have said wrong side of M74 to be Central.
On one hand I would think that the most central place would be somewhere like Newhouse Industrial Estate, (honeywell / xmet factories on side of m8, near wishaw /airdrie) east of Glasgow, west of edinburgh close for Lanarkshire, Stirling, Falkirk, livingston, EK, Reasonable easy access from everywhere. BUT (and I leave it to smarter businessmen than me to advise on this) if you are not in a specific area, do you run the risk of not having a local or core customer base?
As a specialist however, the business model of the indy porsche specialist in Shotts looks quite good. Better than official labour rates, good honest, built up trustworthy and helpfull reputation. AND gets customers from all over Scotland travelling to him because he's good at what he does.
As above, i'm by no means a clever businessman but would be interested to hear the thought of those better equiped to answer?
On one hand I would think that the most central place would be somewhere like Newhouse Industrial Estate, (honeywell / xmet factories on side of m8, near wishaw /airdrie) east of Glasgow, west of edinburgh close for Lanarkshire, Stirling, Falkirk, livingston, EK, Reasonable easy access from everywhere. BUT (and I leave it to smarter businessmen than me to advise on this) if you are not in a specific area, do you run the risk of not having a local or core customer base?
As a specialist however, the business model of the indy porsche specialist in Shotts looks quite good. Better than official labour rates, good honest, built up trustworthy and helpfull reputation. AND gets customers from all over Scotland travelling to him because he's good at what he does.
As above, i'm by no means a clever businessman but would be interested to hear the thought of those better equiped to answer?
Very interseting thread, i work in the supply of car parts for Scotlands largest supplier of parts. i can get some of the performance parts like EBC, K&N, alloy wheels. but there is no where that will fit them and will give u a warranty. but i think thats down to the boy racer factor. but a garage that cattered for the mature racer would be great, but its finding the right mechanic and trusting them with ur car. i have even thought about openning an account at work for the Pistonheads guys so we can get a good deal on our stuff. There is a gargae in ma area which look after the Zonda and konsizzzzzzzerge, Lambos and prokers, all the top end stuff and are always busy, they get cars from all over Scotland and England 2. They will service ur car and also do most work to them, Even have ur wheels powder coated. they buy K&N filters for there clients and also EBC brakes which they put on porkers and Ferrares. But i dont know how far they will go as far as Performance parts but its just a Question Away. But i think the best place to open such a place would be somewhere on the M9/M8. but getting the right mechanics is the big question?
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