car Service

Newbie Joined: Oct 03, 2011 Posts: 10 Location: Lithuaniai

Hello I have a question, or difficulty opening the service? I am Lithuanian and I have a friend like to open a workshop in England, ranging from oil change to the body work. How should I start? think about work in the south, somewhere in Weymouth and Portsmouth. Or start-up would be enough to rent a garage or two and work there? or any company to be registered? Thank you very much

Posted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:50 pm

you'll need a company you'll need a bookkeeper or accountant, you'll need insurance for liability and buildings etc. You'll need to know all about health and safety

Huge potential for issues - disposal of old fluids and parts is not straightforward.

Are you or your friend time served mechanics

Newbie Joined: Oct 03, 2011 Posts: 10 Location: Lithuaniai

here is the same. And if I buy Damaged cars repair and sell them as an individual? or what kind of documentation do I need?

We together have a small service in Lithuania.

a few pics

Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:01 pm

depends on the category of damage - it may need an engineer's report before it can go back on the road.

How many do you plan to do. You'll be considered a trader if you buy and sell more than 3-4 cars a year. Then they'll start hounding you for tax.

The UK is not the best country for any plans you have to get rich

Newbie Joined: Oct 03, 2011 Posts: 10 Location: Lithuaniai

Well, I do not have such plans, just want to work for themselves because only the best work is done. Now I work in television cameraman in Lithuania, but I do not like. Less money, subsistence expensive. I am interested in cars, business, job in England costs five times more than in Lithuania.

I am interested in business and in England. My plans for the provision of services at lower cost

Newbie Joined: Oct 06, 2011 Posts: 2

Thanks for posting mate, here is my suggestions, you will actually need to get insurance for liability when you decide to open an audi performance parts store and of course other essential stuff that a company normally needs.

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:27 pm

If you want to do this properly you'll need (minimum)

1) Public Liability insurance to £1million
2) An accountant
3) Insurance so you can drive any car (traders insurance) up to a value of something like £80,000 - £100,000 unless you're thinking of dealing exclusively with the likes of Lamborghini, Ferrari etc, in which case it will be more - think about what type of cars you're likely to be dealing with - a brand new S6 for example is around the £60k mark and budget accordingly.
4) Buildings insurance
5) VAT registered
6) You'll need permanent premises with the minimum of a car lift (or a trench if you can't get a lift). And you'll need to be registered with the local council as a business and pay business rates on your property.
7) Environment registration to dispose of harmful waste (used oil, tyres etc) and the facilities to do this (they will check, and the fines are horrendous).
8 ) probably a low loader type truck to move broken down/damaged cars which means you'll probably need an HGV (LGV) Class2 licence.
9) An accountant - speaking as a bloke who's been self employed, I really can't advise this enough. A good accountant will save you money and stress, so yeah, get one of these as soon as you can.

I'm not self employed anymore though, and went back to working for 'the man'.

Starting any sort of business in the UK is not easy, and you'll need plenty of money up front to be able to do this properly.

Banks do start up loans to help new businesses, but given the way the banks are going at the moment here in the UK I wouldn't count on this. Also, you'll still be liable for the loan if the business fails.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2011 7:08 pm

You shouldn't have to worry about registering for VAT straight away unless you expect to turn over more than £73,000. Although you won't be able to reclaim input VAT, you'll be able to charge a bit less than competitors.

Newbie Joined: Oct 03, 2011 Posts: 10 Location: Lithuaniai

It is too expensive for me. I thought it easier Sad