# renting a unit



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

Hi all im 22 and im self employed and iv been wanting to get into the valeting business for the past few years as cars and cleaning cars is a big passion of mine. and iv been valeting and detailing my friends and familys cars for the last few years.

now iv done alot of research over the past year regarding prices, advertising, building my customer basis ect

iv been on line looking at units to let and there is a few in the area that is local to me and they seam a reasonable price but i did plan on starting up mobile but now after seeing the prices of the units its got me thinking abit as im only 22 van insurance aunt cheep for me plus i need to get a van and the price of fuel is always at a rise.

if i can get a unit at a good price it wil mean that i can lower some of my prices which would be good.

what do you think i would be better going for unit or mobile?

if i do go for the unit is there anything that i should look out for?

any advice good or bad much appreciated thanks


----------



## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

All things being equal I can't see how a unit can be cheaper. You have the rent itself, the rates to pay like any property, you need valeting/dealing insurance still, you now need a motor trade policy for holding cars on your property, insurance to cover your gear stored. And that's only off the top of my head. Not tryingto put you off but this is where people fall into traps, just want your eyes open. If I was your age still, and I knew now what I did then I would be renting a unit, but then I plan everything meticulously to the last detail, with short and long term plans. Me personally, there is nothing better than having a humble place you can keep organised and tidy, something to be proud of, but that's me with my plans and my mind set. 



GO BIG OR GO HOME. Just be prepared for big bills and rough patches :thumb:


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thank you for your information i did not realise that i would need motor trade insurance to hold cars on the site. i will look in to that more and get in contact with a insurance company to get more information.

the units iv seen are £130 a week for rent and rates plus they been empty for a while so im suer the landlord wil be grateful to get them let out.

the one that iv got my eye on is next to the local counsel waste yard so should get a bit of business from all the people who take theyr things there and then getting their cars dirty doing so


----------



## Auto Detox (Dec 22, 2007)

one thing that might go against you with insurance is your age, you will also need public liability, defective work ins & if you are going to keep the vehicles over night you will need that cover too which isnt covered under your road risks policy before you go ahead with any unit plans talk to a specialist ins company to see if it is feasible as your ins alone could & probably will be in the £1,000's


----------



## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

5 to 6 hundred a month INCLUDING costs is great, how big is the unit and layout etc? I normally hate these threads but then it's normally nonces asking retarded questions lol you seem to be starting right. Yes you need a motor trade policy if someone is leaving a vehicle in your possession, even if they stay on site, valeting/detailing insurance covers you for working on the car and public liability, if you don't ave it contact shiny (Lloyd) on here, he works for cover sure, the only people you need. It's not expensive but the motor trade can be. And if you can be flexible in what and when you do things who knows :thumb:


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks guys i realy appreciate your information.

iv had a quote off Lloyd for public liability and valeting/detailing insurance that im happy with. 
dose he also deal with the other insurances that i need? if not is thear any companys that you can recrommend 

il be doing more research into the unit to fined out if i can afford it and if not it will be back to plan A and go mobile.

another thing i need think about is wether i put all of my own money into the business or try and get a lone to start up but i dunt rely want a loan as that is another payment to go out every month


----------



## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Sean Lloyd is your man just speak to him and let hum give you a price. As A D said it's the motor trade that costs but just get a price. And take my advice, try to do everything off your own back, cash, get a loan if you need it, but you re young and now is the time to suffer whilst all else squander, then when you are 30 and have a buffer everyone else is struggling. I am not a risk taker, but when taking them mate the younger you are the better. Don't be afraid to fail mate, just do it sensibly with your head high

Matt


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks matt i realy appreciate the support.

il give Lloyd a call tomorrow and have a chat with him and see what we can come up with.

to be honest i would rather take the chance now as im still living at home with my parents and haven't got any big bills to be worrying about.

iv got some money saved up that im happy to use to start up and when i do start up i dunt mined taking home the minimum wage or less and putting the rest into the business to make it happen and to make it work


----------



## LindenH (Oct 25, 2011)

Have you spoken to or contacted your local authority to determine whether any grants are available to support your start-up costs? Local enterprise, young enterprise, Prince's Trust, etc, etc.

www.rhondda-cynon-taff.gov.uk have a local investment fund that you may be eligible for ........ certainly worth some phone calls to your local councillor or even your MP's local office should have some info. If you haven't already done so, see if you can bend the ear of an accountant who will also have some ideas about how to get some free-funding to help you take the plunge.

Good luck with your venture :thumb:

edit... found the following link that shows a pet memorial shop got £5000 towards their start-up costs from your local council :speechles
http://www.rctcbc.gov.uk/en/related.../developmentandregeneration/lifcasestudy1.pdf


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thank you very much for that i never thought of that. it will be very helpful to have some kind of funding even if it is just to help towards advertising.

if i go for a unit and business dose go well and another pair of hands would be a grate help so there is a chance that i could me creating a job for some one aswel.

looks like iv got alot of calls to make tomorrow


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

I didnt have time to phone Lloyd today but iv sent him a pm and hes got back to me with some good information and told me that it will be expensive but im now going to get all the information that i need to get quotes together and get back to him.

as of funding iv had a word with my mam as where she workes sorts out funding for local volantry work and some one that she knows who comes into her work every week from the counsil so shes going to have a word with them to see where i stand.

if the insurance quotes that i get are very expensive would it help me out if i was to get my dad to be a business partner? just a thought

thanks


----------



## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

Have you been quoted for going mobile mate? Might be a better option imo despite the high insurance. It would cost about £60 in fuel if youre busy, if youre not busy it wont cost you anything. If youre not busy in a unit you still have to pay the rent even if youve no money coming in. How are you going to get customers home if they drop a car off? Remember if youve got to take them home youre losing earning time and if youre thinking of picking their cars up your insurance will be sky high.
Another reason for going mobile is you can be working all over the place so get noticed all over the place, whereas if youre in a unit you only get noticed by passing traffic. So then youve got to pay for more advertising to make people aware of your business.
I dont know youre area obviously but if youre mobile you can also approach local business and offer regular maintenance cleans on their company or fleet cars. 2/3 to maybe 5/6 cars in one spot and youre saving a hell of a lot of fuel. A business owner doesnt want his car away from his office for 2/3 hours if you take it to a unit to be cleaned, he,ll want it cleaned in an hour(or a bit longer) and then its available for him if he has to nip out. 
I,ve been mobile 13 years now and despite the crap weather now again its really not that expensive to run if you build up a regular customer base. I believe if you work from a unit then youre relying more on full valet work so a regular influx of phone calls which believe me doesnt happen.


----------



## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

I've just seen this thread, i've pm'd Sean but though i'd post up some info on insurance issues for anyone that is interested.

Public Liability Insurance isn't age rated, so this isn't really an issue whether mobile or in a unit. Motor Trade Insurance which allows the driving of customer's car can be expensive, especially if needed for high value cars or for drivers under 25.

Now if you are mobile, you can get away with the need to drive to customer's cars, just ask the customer to move it for you. There is still the risk of theft, but if you are working on a customers vehicle at their home, in reality this risk is negligible. So as long as you have the right van insurance for your trade, or business use under your car policy, your only extra expense insurance wise would be the need for public liability insurance.

Now unless you are driving customer's vehicles on the public highway or employing people, there is actually no "statutory" legal requirement to insurance in force if you have a unit. You do need to consider the risk exposure and these are the sort of covers you should be thinking about - 

Public Liability - our new scheme is available for mobile or unit based business, so you can get the cover you need at a very reasonable price 
Road Risks Insurance - to cover the movement, collection & delivery of customer's vehicles. Own vehicles can also be included
Customers vehicles at trade premises - to cover loss, damage or theft to customer's vehicles at your premises
Material Damage - to cover your contents, tenants improvements, stock, tools, equipment etc
Money cover
Business Interruption - to cover loss of profits after a claim under the material damage section (ie if you had a fire and couldn't trade for 6 months, the policy will pay your gross profit to cover your ongoing costs)

Whilst a customer's vehicle is in your care, under the law of bailment, you are legally responsible for the safe keeping of the vehicle and to protect it from loss or damage. There is a common misconception that the customer's own insurance will cover any loss or damage to their car whilst at your unit, and even if you tell customers that they must insure their own vehicle, it's all just words as you can't override your legal responsibility. Granted, if a vehicle is stolen, the customer's own insurance may pay for the loss, but they will come knocking on your door for their money back!

So, basically, if you have a £30k car at your unit uninsured, you have be prepared for the possibility that you may need find £30k in your pocket if something happens to it.

So, in an ideal world, as a bare minimum you would want public liability insurance and vehicles at trade premises. Now this is where the problem starts. Vehicles at trade premises is not available in isolation and is part of motor trade combined policy. So the only way you can get trade premises cover is to also take out Motor Trade Road Risks cover. If you are under 25, this will be expensive.

Couple it with the fact that you will need cover for vehicles up a tasty value, and possibly some tasty vehicle types, it starts to then get really expensive when the "sports and performance" vehicle cover is needed for drivers under 25.

Now a normal motor mechanic can pretty much set a value of £10k and normal day to vehicles as that is generally what he will see at his unit. Someone with a a 2 year old Porsche will probably go to the main dealer for any work and wouldn't go to the sole trader chap with the small unit. But a valeter/detailer is different, there is a good chance that vehicles of this nature will be there. So, a realist indemnity limit has to be set, so if you say £50k, this is 5 times the exposure of the £10k motor mechanic. So the premium reflects this.

Without checking the area, sums insured, driving history etc, lets say the premium is £5k (it certainly won't be much less this and in reality could even be twice this figure), that £500 each month (over ten months) I'd have to take out your bank account. You have to find that £500 regardless, if you have had a bad month and only managed two bookings a week at £50 each, you may not even bring in £500. But you still have to pay me, the landlord, rates, electric, water. Then you still have to live for the month, so you would have all your normal expenses.

For a new start, without a book of business or regulars, it is quite a commitment to take on.

With mobile, the only real additional expense would be either that of van insurance (or adding business use to your car policy) and public liability insurance.

Sorry if i sound like a harbinger of doom,


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks for that information guys. il still price up for a unit and for mobile and then see what the best outcome is. but by the looks of it the insurance for a unit is going to be way out of my league.

my plan could now be to start up mobile but im going to set myself a goal for every 6 months and if the business is working and im making money and got regular customers ect after 3 years il then think about a unit and expand the business


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

quick question guys 

iv just been looking through my price list trying to tweak it abit and iv priced it on using autoglym trade products but i was just woundring weather autosmart is better on value/performance?


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

hi all as iv now decided to go mobile im now in the process of looking for a van and iv finally got my price list finished and im off to see my uncles friend one nite in the week to make a start on a website but im still struggling to come up with a business name that im happy with.

iv got a few days off work in a few weeks and plan on going around some of the local car sales to see if i can secure a weekly contract with them so as i can secure some work as i work upon my private customer basis 

has anyone got any tips/advice for when i go round the local car sales?

thanks


----------



## 62mph (Jul 28, 2010)

"Pontypridd Polishing"


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

cheers mate never thought of that one.

the only name that i can think of is my initials which would be SDM valeting


----------



## LindenH (Oct 25, 2011)

As Pontypridd is in the Rhondda Valley ........... how about *Rhondda Valet *?


----------



## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

"PontyPrid*e* Valeting"...


----------



## AndyC (Oct 25, 2005)

Can I just add to Lloyds's excellent post that I've just completed a claim against one of my own clients for a £45k car being stolen. It was a longwinded claim and took over 2 years to sort and eventually the insurer settled at £23k BUT my client was fully insured in any event ojn an All Risks basis for their own and customers' cars up to a total of £7.5m (I handle some pretty heavyweight stuff!) - the customer claimed against his own policy, they paid and then invoked their right of subrogation (recovery).

I'd just add that "public highway" can now include car parks and communal areas around industrial premises so just because it's not a road doesn't mean that you don't need appropriate road risks cover. The RTA has become increasingly complex over the years!


----------



## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

I went on a course that included case studies on the RTA a few years back.

For every court case that defined something as not being part of the "Public Highway", a couple of years later there was a further court case that contradicted the previous ruling and was deemed as a "Public Highway".

It is a grey area, it is defined under the RTA as "any highway and any other road to which the public has access and includes bridges over which a road passes", whilst a unit on an estate road may be on a private road, if the public have access to it, then things get complicated.

Unless you are prepared to set a precedent in court with all the attached costs, my advice would be get insured for Road Risks and then take away any element of doubt.


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

there is already a rhonva valet but i do like pontypride valet  thanks


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

so far these is the business names that i and others have come up with but i carnt decide

SDM valeting & detailing
Spirit valeting & detailing
Ponty-pride (thanks shiny)
Auto pride 

and my friends and family's favourite 
All buffed up Valeting & Detailing

what do you guys think as im realy struggling to get the name sorted

thanks


----------



## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

sean20 said:


> so far these is the business names that i and others have come up with but i carnt decide
> 
> SDM valeting & detailing
> Spirit valeting & detailing
> ...


Ponty-pride, quick to remember and associated with the area. All Buffed Up v&d is too much of a mouthful.


----------



## Guest (Feb 12, 2012)

"Valley Valet" has a catchy ring to it, don't you think?
Ponty Pride & Auto Pride sound like bread firms
Business experts say you should avoid using initials, most start ups do that and it is proven to be wrong.

You did right going mobile. We have been mobile for 22 years and we have seen dozens and dozens of unit based firms come and go in that time. I'm damn sure part of the reason we survived was because we are mobile. Mainly it's because we are good,

As far as getting a unit goes..Next to a waste dump? With all that sh*t flying out of there?:doublesho

Good Luck


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks guys yes i think mobile is the best solution for me but do you also have traders insurance so as you can drive your customers cars if need be?

the unit wasn't next to a prober waste dump its a site where people take fridges freezers, tree cut ect 

yes i think your rite about initials and i also dunt think that it sounds professional enough 

but everyone that i talk to likes all buffed up but i dunt know if it sounds to cheesy


----------



## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

I'd imagine at your age the premium for driving customers cars would be very high. I bought my business 8years ago from the company I worked for and was quoted £4k for the full insurance of driving customer cars. I was 36 at the time with a clean license. Itd be easier and cheaper to ask the customer to move the car to where you want it. Don't risk moving it yourself uninsured as it could cost you not only your business but an expensive repair bill too.


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks mate yes the insurance will be expensive and i will not move the car inless i am insured as its to much of a risk 

do you think customers will be put off if im not insured to move their car?


----------



## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

sean20 said:


> thanks mate yes the insurance will be expensive and i will not move the car inless i am insured as its to much of a risk
> 
> do you think customers will be put off if im not insured to move their car?


Just advertise as "all work covered by insurance" as long as you'er insured for public/property insurance and damaging the car whilst in the process of cleaning.
Its not going to be until you get there that you have to tell them you're not insured to move the car under your insurance. Customers will appreciate your honesty.


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks mate i appreciate your advice.

i posted a photo of my car just after i cleand it yesterday on facebook and iv now got 6 cars to do within the next 6 weekends


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

hi all sorry havent had no updates lately but havent done much more exept a few valets for friends 

but i have got myself a weekend contract with a small local car sales and im very exited.

dose anyone know whe where i can get some tops and tshirts with my business name on?

thanks


----------



## dcj (Apr 17, 2009)

sean20 said:


> hi all sorry havent had no updates lately but havent done much more exept a few valets for friends
> 
> but i have got myself a weekend contract with a small local car sales and im very exited.
> 
> ...


Probably better off going with someone local to yourself so that you can talk one to one with them regarding your requirements.


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks mate il have a look into it


----------



## Juicy Jen (May 4, 2010)

Xamax online are quite reasonable and you can email over your logo


----------



## walker1967 (Sep 12, 2010)

sean20 said:


> Hi all im 22 and im self employed and iv been wanting to get into the valeting business for the past few years as cars and cleaning cars is a big passion of mine. and iv been valeting and detailing my friends and familys cars for the last few years.
> 
> now iv done alot of research over the past year regarding prices, advertising, building my customer basis ect
> 
> ...


Hi Sean, I'm only 22 aswell and will have been driving 2 years on April the 28th I have a vw caddy c20 which I valet/detail from and my insurance is only around 8 or 900 per year. I'm with aviva. It insured it under car & van insurance rather than just the van insurance section (stated for business use though) , they know I carry a water tank also you should give them a try.


----------



## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

thanks buddy il have a look at that


----------



## tangledmonkey (Apr 9, 2012)

How you getting on Sean?


----------

