F#cking great... Just been to work for a meeting, only to be told that I've been made redundant!

Time for a new leaf.. I'm thinking of starting my own bodyshop. Custom and restoration.

Where do I start?

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Premises, location is vital

Sorry to hear this

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Get used to seeing the yellow one !!!
Team 330™
Team "no front end or engine"
Team "LIMITED EDITION" I live for the 306 sticker
Team 0-60 in 6.44 & standing qtr in 14.808 @ 94.55mph all with std engine
203bhp Corolla T-Sport daily driver stealthier than Kwai Chang Caine

couldn't agree more... every cloud has a silver lining and all that and you obviously have an ability/ talent. Search around other body shops and ask to rent a booth for a while to get yourself off the ground. Good luck mate and believe in yourself....

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306 less for first time in nearly 7 years. Lets keep it that way... please refuse any offers i make to buy your 306 ( doctors letter supplied by request)

Marmite and cheese sandwiches anyone???

Burns and Mcrae will be forever missed.
x box "yippeekayaymofo"

Then my miami 205!!!

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306 less for first time in nearly 7 years. Lets keep it that way... please refuse any offers i make to buy your 306 ( doctors letter supplied by request)

Marmite and cheese sandwiches anyone???

Burns and Mcrae will be forever missed.
x box "yippeekayaymofo"

Thanks for the support guys. It makes a sh#tty situation seem much more promising.

If I had a booth, I would gladly repaint your cars. I couldn't think of a more satisfying job!

I do live in quite a remote part of the country though which isn't ideal. Not a lot goes on in sleepy North Devon.
There are three or four bodyshops in the area but they mainly do insurance work which is probably for good reason; cashflow.

There is a bodyshop that will do resprays but I've seen the work and frankly I could see blemishes/bad masking just walking up to the car. Bad considering it was a £2000 repaint on a premium car (850 ci).

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Sorry to hear this mate - what about valeting as well as the bodyshop stuff? Maybe do mobile valeting? You obviousley know your way around paintwork so is this a possibility?

(my Rallye needs a m/c polish!)

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No more peugeots

Snap - no more RS clio

Now Ph1 RS clio

got any dent master or similar experience.... seems a good job these days. Go mobile and find a share booth for bigger jobs??

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306 less for first time in nearly 7 years. Lets keep it that way... please refuse any offers i make to buy your 306 ( doctors letter supplied by request)

Marmite and cheese sandwiches anyone???

Burns and Mcrae will be forever missed.
x box "yippeekayaymofo"

Absolutely, totally this. I appreciate everyone's trying to help by encouraging you to dive straight in, but that's the absolute worst thing you can possibly do. I'm setting up a company at the moment, so I've just gone through this and it's really not something that should be done lightly.

In order to succeed, you need to be one of the following things:

1) Cheaper than your competition
2) Better than your competition
3) Be the only one offering similar products to your audience

Just because you *want* to do something doesn't mean it's a good idea; if there are already established body shops about who do a similar thing for a similar price, your business will fail and you'll lose the thousands of pounds it takes you to set up; most customers will go back to the same place time and time again, people won't flock to you because you're new.

Don't get me wrong I think everyone should own their own business if they really want to, but if it's to succeed you need to do a serious amount of market research first, and be prepared to just bin the idea if it's not working out.

You need to figure out what you can afford to live on, what your costs will be (not just "I'll find a garage somewhere" ) and what profits you can make.

If you have bills to pay I'd strongly suggest finding any old McJob in the meantime while you plan your company, it'll be a few months before it's all up and running properly.

If you honestly think deep down that you can do it, then do the research and prove you can do it. Best of luck matey, honestly. Working for yourself is fantastic, if a little scary. All the more reason to get it right.

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Membership expiring soon, get in contact on our new little forum project.

Really sorry to hear that mate. Judging by your work I dont think you'll have any competition in Bideford, There's only one bodyshop that is any good in my opinion, the rest are s**te!

Just thinking, you know where you picked the bits up from me, well there's a proper commercial spraybooth at the end of those units and my mate is looking at renting the majority of the yard/workshops out.......

Sorry to hear,

But as they say where one door closes another opens.

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Proud member of the Astor owners club

Team Charged

Swirl pot and silly boost kit for sale

Thanks for all your input guys. A lot of valid points and good advice as always from you lot.

On the one hand I know the sensible thing to do is to find a day job and do a bit on the side to start me off, and then on the other I feel the urge to just go for it.

The fact that I'm unsure kind of says it all. I think I will have to start stacking shelves at the local Tesco!

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Dont start modifying the shelves though ..... they wont like that... good luck mate.. A decent painter has always been sought after and am sure 1the or 2 jobs a week will pay more than shelf filling. Have a tour round the body shops and see if you can use anyone paint booths as and when you have a job. Might be a good lead to one of the shops employing you or be self employed through them.

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306 less for first time in nearly 7 years. Lets keep it that way... please refuse any offers i make to buy your 306 ( doctors letter supplied by request)

Marmite and cheese sandwiches anyone???

Burns and Mcrae will be forever missed.
x box "yippeekayaymofo"

Plus working for yourself can be a real strain on many other parts of your life. Are you married? Kids? Luckily for me i've got the most supportive and understanding missus in the world, cos i was doing stupid hours a week and weekends working just to put food on the table, she never complained at all.

Plus you can never switch off, have holidays without worrying and stuff like that, especially when you're on your own.

I have no regrets at all working for myself, but next time my eyes would be wide open to all the stuff you can gloss over in the initial excitement the first time round.

Research and patience is the key.

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1999 Astor Grey GTi-6 OEM+ (now gone...)
2004 Aegean Blue 206 GTi 180 (also gone...)
2006 Skoda Fabia vRS in Sprint Yellow