Review of annual overheads of Garage service business

Rent, business rates and services such as electricity and water

In the case of a car maintenance business located on an industrial estate or other out of town location, the cost per square foot of garage space is much lower than that of office space or retail shop space. The same applies to business rates to a large extent. Still, the amount of money that needs to be allocated to rent, rates, and services such as electricity, water and telephony are far from an insignificant expense. There are also requirements for employers insurance for staff and insurance for equipment is advised.

Servicing, calibration and maintenance of equipment

There are many examples of garage equipment that may require maintenance or calibration.  Examples include wheel alignment tools, torque wrenches and air pressure gauges.  It’s important for tyre changers to have an annual inspection as they can have health and safety issues otherwise.

Training for new computerised technologies

As diagnosing issues with cars has moved away from inspection, and moved towards plugging a laptop into a vehicle to simply ask the vehicle what is wrong with it, using a complex network of sensors and flow meters, it’s necessary for any mechanic to undergo specialist training for the software tools to do such work.  As a computer just reports fault codes for different parts of the car, skill is required to interpret such results to ensure the right course of action is followed to adjust or replace the problem part.