Thinking Porsche shop Northeast

[ken_xman]

I am thinking of opening a Porsche resto/ service shop, 1 hour north of NYC.
Top quality facility- staff- and product.
Do you think I will be able to get the volume needed to support the business?
Anyone in the northeast have similar ideas?
I would like a Porsche ONLY shop. ...rather than a convenience store.
Ken

[kqw]

What are your credentials?

[RickM]

and where one hour north?

[ken_xman]

I have owned and sold businesses in the past. None of which having anything to do with autos. I am currently a Business Financial Advisor at Merrill Lynch. I primarily structure debt for public and private companies.
....no I am not a certified mechanic. ...driveway credentials.
But I have always thought of the Porsche shop.

[ken_xman]

Possible location?
Brewster NY
or Fishkill NY
close to I-84

[TerryBPP]

My advice would be look at the number of porsches registered in the surrounding area. Pay close attention to the age of the cars. This will give you a good idea of you possible customer volume. THis info can be found on the internet or at the DMV. Good luck.

[RickM]

I think it may be hard to be successful with a one Marque shop. Perhaps Porsche is your specialty but you service one or two other brands.

I have no data to back up my statement. Mr. Jhn Walker would be an excellent person to talk to.

Will you be repair only or add performance, body work and/or restoration services to the offering? Usually the guys that know these cars inside out and want to break away from a dealer or other shop open there own business. Finding a Porsche expert to put on your payroll could be tough.

[304065]

Ken, since you are in the financial services business you probably have experience with developing models. If I were going to do one I would look at the following information:

Number of shops in the NY area- check on the Metro NY PCA web site for the list of approved tech inspectors. Ditto for NNJR.

Number of Porsches in the area. A good proxy for this is the number of PCA members-- you might check with the regions to find out what the member count is. Certainly not every Porsche owner is a PCA member but it would give you at least some idea.

Number of members doing DIY, frequency and cost of major repairs. You would have to make some assumptions about the average revenue per year per owner.

Capital required to establish the shop. In addition to the building you would need a lift or two, a complete set of shop equipment, all the special tools, workshop manuals, etc. All adds up pretty quickly.

Variable costs of operation. Insurance, labor, utilities, interest on capital, etc.

Regulatory. Auto repair places are required to be licensed in NYS. Also find out whether there are any environmental regs that apply to an auto repair place, there probably are. In any case, there will be haz-mat charges for things like used oil & junk parts, etc. that will hit the variable cost line.

With the number of Porsche enthusiasts here there's probably room for another market entrant, particularly in your location. The closest guy is Rick Deman in Nyack who runs an outstanding operation, and actually hired away some of Rennwerke's (Cheech Fernandez, Elmsford NY) mechanics. Having said that, the distribution of owners is probably more toward the City (which is why there are so many shops down here)

Good luck! You would certainly be closer to where I keep my car.

[ken_xman]

Not having done my due diligence as of late. You are correct and I need to.
I was thinking of a shop that not only cover maintenance, but also full restoration. 2-3 mechanic bays + a full paint shop.
Not having looked into a profitability anyalsis or demographic survey....I am blindly thinking.
I know Cheech has a very busy shop, not in the best surroundings.
I lived in SoCal for a couple of years, and have the memory of some real clean operations I could possibly duplicate here.

John.. you are also correct with the impact of DIY's in the area.
As for high end cars in the area....I feel like the mafioso when I drive the S600 sedan or the 911 around these parts. I am not sure the # of 911's within 30 miles either.

Thanks for the feedback.

[john walker's workshop]

the hardest part will be finding one or more mechanics with a wealth of porsche knowledge who are not already working for someone and getting well paid. they're just not out there. you will have to steal them away with a better offer, and keep them busy enough so they don't get pissed off from lack of work, and go back to where they came from. the techs will have be the ones running the shop, because you personally have no porsche, or automobile knowledge to speak of. you won't inspire confidence in customers if you can't answer their questions and explain what was done to their car.

[ken_xman]

Even though no formal training. I can hold my own for fixing anything and explaining in detail.
Not being a certified mechanic is not the same as not having the capacity to explain the problem and solution in detail.

Not too many investment bankers can get their hands dirty and hang with the good 'ol boys also.

The Labor issue is a bugger, I will agree. Might be a deal killer.

[stomachmonkey]

I know of a few respected reputable "Porsche" only shops down here on the Island that take in other Marquee's.

Don't know if it's due to lack of Porsche's to keep the business alive or what.

If you've got a customer that is not a DYI'r on their 911 chances are they don't do their own maintenance on their other cars. And a large percentage of them will have other cars especially if their 911 is not a daily driver.

Most likely that other car will not be a Porsche.

Very few people want more than one mechanic. They want one guy that they can trust. If they can't bring their other stuff to you then it'll be harder to get them to bring just the Porsche if they already have a shop for it.

When the wife's Tahoe is out of warranty it's going to the guys that take care of whatever I can't do on my 911. And they will work on the car because they want my business and want to keep me happy.

And I want them to work on it cause I trust them. I won't trust the safety of my wife and kids to just anyone.

Scott

[vash]

i know of a guy in the bay area that turned his love of early camaros into a really good living. he gets "commissioned" to do frame up restos. strange, i think he bills hourly like an attorney.