by lockey1963 » 18 Jun 2010 17:08
as has been said already , the auto market is an expensive investment and one that at present is difficult to return your investment .
auto entry jobs in the uk a few and far between as every lockie and his dog offers this and as the AA , RAC and greenflag offer this service free to members , it is more of an add on to existing business than a wage earning exercise.
supplying new keys and remotes is the only busy bit of this business but Unless you have the equipment and the stock to deal with most jobs in 1 visit forget it, this includes ;
laser cut to code machine ( viper or bd laser )
std key cut to code machine such as blitz or unocode
tibbe machine
about £9k there , then a leisure battery and split charger and inverter to run them on the van , but this is just the start of your investment;
now consider you will need at least 1 preferably 2 of every remote you may need , remote blade and transponder chips , again a sizeable investment, it will surprise you just how many remotes you need for vag , vauxhall etc in stock to get a job done in 1 visit.
your choice of programmer is a poor one as you are far too limited on what you can actually program, and at the very least you will need an mvp pro unit with adequate tokens to get by, the sbb is very limited on coverage.
even with all the kit it will surprise you what percentage of jobs you still cant do as the programming technology isnt available , or the option is too dear, ie bmw cas3 programmer is 9000 euros , so at the least you will need electronics training , soldering and desoldering chips from circuit boards, so will need an eeprom reader and solder/desolder station and accessories.
the size of the investment is extremely difficult to get back, with so many using chinese copy machines prices have dropped on the bread and butter jobs, lost keys on ford getting done for £60 by the part timers and beer money boys with chinese kit , this makes gaining a return on your investment hard , making a wage on top even harder.
harsh reality , but you will need a bigger return than the guy who already has all the kit paid for itself and with the main contracts in the area , he wont need as a big a return as the new set up unless the new set up is doing just bread and butter work for peanuts .
some try to order stock as they go, get keys cut to code as they go, but as the job would then take up to 3 days to complete , you will lose the job as someone else will be able to do the job on the day in 1 x 1 hour visit.
if determined then go for it , but it isnt as easy as many think or as easy to return investment as supplier suggestions suggest.
