Used car sales?

[Gus Swensen]

I am giving it a try. But you know you will be married to the car from now on. And since you own a shop the owner will expect free or cheap repairs..

Gus

[joecval]

I would give it a try if I could. We are not not zoned properly to sell cars we can only fix them. I would think selling cars would be a good match for a repair shop IMO.

[Raymond Wittneben IV]

Check with your states statutes. In some states you can only sell so many cars, then you have to get a dealers license. Pros: it keep the techs busy and brings in extra revenue. 

Cons: you have money tied up until you sell the car

If you do it right, you won’t have a problem with being married to the car

[5star712]

I own both a used car dealership and a repair shop.  I don’t repair for the public, but do repairs on my own cars and for my customers.  Acprogus is right… it can be quite a conundrum, especially in the buy here, pay here industry.  Being able to repair my own customers’ cars is sometimes a good thing, because we can keep their car running for them at a reasonable price, but often it is a thankless job where customers demand you fix everything for them, and often want it for free.  We even finance the repairs for them as a side note with their car payment and don’t charge a finance charge to do that.  It’s hard to deal when your shop is already full and the work keeps piling up.  And, with the nature of used cars and the failure of customers to properly change oil and maintain the vehicle, something is always going to go wrong at some point.  

I have about 400 accounts at any given time, sell about 30 a month, and have only two full time mechanics.