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Hello everyone!

My Name is Cat and I am a certified car wife. My husbend has been around in the car world for some time now and were are looking to open a shop in the Mason OH area.
It will be nothing but High Performance tuning, custom made parts, low labor cost, and all in all good time. We hope to start out with imports and expand to domestics.
But the reason that i am posting is that I am trying to do some market research. And if you would be able to tell me what you look for in a great performance shop, that would be greatly appreciated. Some ideas would be:
*Price
*Product
*The idea of roadside service for our customers
*Types of work most are looking for.
I think you get my jist. Any input would be greatly appreciated! And after I compile, You'll see me post an opening date. Thanks Guys!

Cat a.k.a the car wife

 
Rep Power: 283

Location usually isn't a big deal, but people skills/customer service and quality of work go a long way in establishing a customer base. word of mouth on a forum such as this can cause business to
implode or explode.

Price is always a concern, both for parts and for labor/work to be done. most of us are pretty understanding of rising costs, but nothing outrageous. a lot of guys on here are usually rubbing nickels to get parts.

type of work can range from simple suspension and exhaust installs/fab work to full blown engine builds, just depends on the person. there's a little of it all here.

good luck in your endeavor. i hope i wasn't too vague.

 
Rep Power: 278

literature with proper spelling is a start. You have to realize you're supposed to be representing yourself professionally.

 
Rep Power: 315

reliability is what i look for.

 
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i personally look for shops that work on internals/builds (things with more downtime) and of course low prices

 
Rep Power: 390

First, know what your talking about. If your going to work on imports, you better have owned an import and been in the import world, or your shop is just going to come across as a stupid aftermarket shop that has a bunch of crap that real import world people just dont want. Alteza lights for one thing, lights for under the car... I dont buy that ****, and the shops that I'm at I wouldnt want selling that stuff.

Know your customers personally- ask what they want, ask about them... know how you can tune their car to get the most out of it for their style of driving.

An owner of a shop here tracks his car... so when someone comes in and says I need an alignment... he doesnt just do it to dealer specs, he asks how you drive, and adjusts camber accordingly after a discussion.

Never assume something on a persons car by how they look... if they come in and say they want an alignment, dont assumed they want it aligned to spec.

Figure out what line of business your in... do you want to sell parts, or do you want to do repairs and installs? Shops tend to devote more time to parts, or more time to wrench work, you really cant have a perfect mix of both. If you sell parts, make sure they arent high priced- I check the local shops out, and if the prices are too high, I buy online. I usually do most of my own installs, so thinking you can get away with a profit from doing exhaust and taillight installs isnt going to happen- you need to provide services that other people dont have... like counter balancing the entire car so the weight ratio can be closer to 50/50, assuming there isnt one in the area... a dyno is a huge plus as well- have a dyno day every month in the summer- 3 pulls for 25 bucks- when a shop does there here, they get swamped.

One of the worse experiences I had in a shop was this... I went in and asked what camber kits they had for my 01 civic... he brings out the spc kit, and wants 190 bucks or something... I'm like, hmm, can you go any lower... kuz I was looking at another kit that was half that... the sales guy is like, you'r going to have to ask Bob that... and i'm like... okay, who the **** is bob... and he points to some dude over in the corner... so I leave the person I had been working with for 15 minutes to this new guy who has no idea who I am... and I ask him if he can do any better- he says no right away, not even looking up from his magazine. I peaced out and havent been there since, and will never go back. You gotta be careful how you treat your customers.

You also need to think of how are you going to warranty your installs.

 
Rep Power: 813

well it would be nice if you actually stock parts for a civic, and dont mark up the price to 200%. everywhere i went there was nothing in stock when i needed it. and most of these performance shops seem to charge too much for installs, like $50 to put a muffler on, and $80 for an intake which is silly. to win in this market, youre gonna have to stock common parts like boltons, guages, fuel meters, lights, etc and maybe some other stuff like oil caps, neons, etc. and be fair with your labor. make sure the mechanics know the cars. dont hire someone who worked on domestics if you plan to only work on imports. the thing that will keep people coming back is the quality of the install and the parts you carry. dont use junk parts, go with major brand companies.