Jay's Mechanics... needing some advice..

[Jay18]

okay so im going to be renting a unit to buy, repair and sell vehicles in...

i have sorted out a unit and traders insurance and the basic toolds needed...

i need to know what licences and insurance i need to do this...

do i need liability insurance and where do i get it?

do i need a waste oil disposal licence for take oil down to my local oil disposers?

anything else i might need?

any advice is much appreciated as im trying to get somewhere in the motor trade as i cant find any garage jobs anywhere! so this is the only way i can find to get into the motor trade...

please like Jay's Mechanics on facebook...

http://www.facebook.com/JaysMechanics

[Newtomud]

Good luck with the new venture
I was self employed for 20 years.. Insure everything..Public liability..Tools..Customer cars..You'll probably need traders car insurance.. Maybe trade plates if your going to test customers cars.
Keep a good set of books,keep all your receipts/if your not good at book keeping, get an accountant to do it for you.(Their not cheap but can save you a fortune on your tax bill)
One in every five jobs could be for cash (no receipts) but I never did anything like that
Might be a good idea to find out what's needed to become an MOT testing station?
As you grow a recovery pickup truck would bring in more work?(could start with a trailer)
As for the oil waste.. I would think you could get away with taking it to your local council dump as long as your not in a works vehicle. (short term at least)

[dan_2k_uk]

Cant say for sure but no business should take anything to a household recycling centre so I guess you need to get a license etc.

That said if it was me and I was only going to be doing a few bits for friends of friends etc. then I wouldnt bother to start with.

Not sure about the public liability but I would guess if you are not going to have public on site then again not a problem. Your trade insurance will cover you while driving their motors to and from your premises.

Does the owner of the lockup have building/contents insurance though. Dont want it burning down with 3 customers motors in there and having to replace them out of your own pocket.

Think you have a lot of googling to do!

[Jay18]

the plan is not to have customers vehicles in there, just car im buying then fixing and selling on, going to have my zuk stored in there and two cars to work on, the plan is to get 2 cars a month done which will pay for the rent of unit and the traders insurance which my girlfriends dad is going to be the insurance holder as i cant get traders insurance until im 25, my girlfriends mum has qualifications as an accountant so she is going to be sorting out invoices and keeping track of what money is going where...

another question is if i was to strip a car would i need a licence to take the chassis/shell to a scrap yard to dispose of it or do they do it themselves when they get the shell/chassis?

[Jordi]

Regards waste oil you'll need approved containers for storage. It may be possible to sell it / get rid of it free to an oil recycler. Don't do it half ass'd other wise it's gonna cost you lots when you get caught.

Scrap metal, depends how much your producing. I'd get a small trailer sorta 8' x 6'. Fill it up then go weigh it in for the cash. No licence required. If its just scrap it won't go to a vehicle recycler/dismantler just straight to a metal recycler. They deal with all relevant paperwork.

Public liability. It's a business, 99% sure you will need. If you're not having customer onsite how you gonna sell them a car? All bussinesses need it to the best of my knowledge. Even if some one breaks in to the workshop you may be liable. Anyone passing by near to the workshop? A roof tile falls off and hits someone? Sparks flying? Some one wanders in and asks for directions?

I am 99% sure public liability is a requirement for all bussinesses!

Jordi

[Jay18]

thanks for the help everyone, dont i need to pay to get a car deregistered or something when it gets scrapped?

and i cant find the right liability insurance the closest i can find is mobile mechanic :/

[Boyes]

You don't need a licence to scrap shells/chassis' if your business was collecting scrap waste/metal then you'd need a waste carriers licence, no paperwork on your behalf.

Scrapping a car, you just sign the logbook to the scrapyard and they do all the work inform the DVLA (authorised car dismantler/end of life).

If you get a trailer you will need a towing licence as you probably know already, police are clamping down on this so don't run the risk.

Waste oil, you would pay a company to come and collect it this wouldn't be very often and you would have to enquire for a price. They would have the appropriate licences. (Quite a few companies now buy the oil of you!)

Recovery vehicles, this is a grey area as I beleive they have to be tacho'd and calibrated and also you need a licence for this legally which isn't cheap (for public recovery that is).

[Jay18]

thanks mate thats good help, thats cleared up most of my questions haha no doubt ill have more questions soon...

[dan_2k_uk]

Now you've explained it a bit better I will give my opinion as if it was me.

If you are solely going to buy cars to tart up and sell I would go for the "Bought this car to do up for my-self, completed the work and decided I don't want it so I'm selling it." approach.

Nothing naughty there as long as you aren't churning out loads and loads of cars. There is a limit of 5 cars annually per person before it flags up on DVLA computer and they or the tax man start asking questions. However suppose your mum or dad might want to buy the occasional car also and maybe you "helped them out" to fix their cars and they also "decided they didn't want it so sold it" I wouldn't see that as a problem.

If I did this I would probably sell from my home address to avoid having a load of people at the workshop keeping that strictly out of the public realm.

If you are going to start doing services and brake changes type work in your "spare time" for friends of friends etc... also I wouldn't see that as a business.

I frequently work on my Brother, His Mrs, My Mrs, and my friends cars in my spare time to help them out and sometimes they "chuck me a few quid" to cover my time / effort / consumables / cider consumed.

Basically to sum up there is no hard and fast rule. All depends how far you want to take it and how official you make it.

One thing though.

Having a Facebook page and posting here as "Jay's Mechanics" isn't going to help your case of being "a guy who helps out his friends and family" if you do want to do it as a "quiet pass time" that the tax man does eventually become interested in.


HLA-Artwork's facebook page started as a place to talk about / appreciate my Mrs artwork but with the recent addition of http://www.HLA-Artwork.co.uk and a increase in her popularity has now got to the the point that it has become more of a sales / interest generating tool and she as at the point of having to get registered properly etc.

[Newtomud]

Yep.. What he said ^
Business or hobby - registered or no?
Another thing.. Unless rules and reg's have been changed you'd need to register as self employed so not only would the tax man be interested.. You would also get a national insurance bill sent to you?
(As for the towing licence I forgot.. I passed my test a long time ago and got that automatically)