iker42

while sitting at a major horse show today, i watched countless cummins pull in that the owner either had no gauges (moreso a trans temp gauge and fp for towing puposes), shut it down with a high boost pressure, shut it down with a high engine temp, ect. so i got to thinkin.
what if i start a buisness that i could to kdps, gauges, transcoolers(because they are towing with out care of what their doing with the truck), simple maitnience, as well as teach the owner what not to do.
so my questions are, what are the pros and cons to starting a buisness like this, as well as, what would be key things focus the buisness on, and my liability twords the owner.



any ideas, suggestions?

thinkings a bad thing,
mike

redpoint5

You have a good idea there. I can't be of much help to you, but I can tell you how most people treat the stuff they own. The vast majority of people are not interested in doing preventative maintenance or protecting the things they own. People usually want to know as little about what they own as possible. Even worse, dealerships aren't going to tell people about things they should watch out for when they buy a truck. All this boils down to the fact that people usually will not think about spending money until the things they have break down. I would also bet many people on this forum didn't join until they had a problem with something; I'm one of them.

I hope someone else on here can give you some solid business advice.

Tate

Sounds like the makings of a one time customer. Personally, if I know how to do something, I'm not gonna pay someone to do it. Not saying education is bad, just that a misinformed customer is likely to be a repeat customer once their turbo fails or they lose 5th gear. Assuming its something that can't come back at you.

Deesil

I completely agree. I also think that this viewpoint highlights the fact that many of us here on the board (myself included) tend to be on the side of the fence that maybe are a bit too fanatical about maintenance and notice every little hiccup that our vehicals might produce. I have several friends that have 4x4 diesels that don't know a thing about their trucks, nor do they want to. They do EVERYTHING wrong and their trucks run for YEARS and mile after mile.

Yes shutting it down hot can coke the turbo. Yes not changing the fuel filter enough can lead to injector problems and of course leaving oil in too long can shorten the lifespan of the motor. The way I look at it is that the type of people who do nothing or do everything wrong, tend to temper me to the point that I know that all vehicles have their issues, but for the most part, these modern day diesels are pretty friggin tough and can take quite a beating in more ways than one. I'm still horribly fanatical about maintenance on all my vehicles, but it's kinda refreshing to see those that beat the crap out of their trucks in all the wrong ways and the trucks wake up every morning to take it again.

ratsun

IMO honesty and integrity builds loyal customer support.
Unfortunately most people only fix things that break, preventive maintenance is not a justifiable expense to the majority.

BigBlue

I used to do that all the time when I had a stock truck. Heck, even to this day with my mom's dmax I still shut it off as soon as I get home. On a stock truck I don't think towing and shutting it off hot are a big issue. The manufacturer designed these trucks to last over 200k miles with no issues. If they thought it was enough of a problem they would probably state something about it in the owner's manual. Point being on a stock truck I doubt your gonna hurt anything. Just my .02.

AggieJustin

I'll cast another vote on the "it's a good idea" side, but like everyone has said before, most people aren't overly concerned on the finer points for preventative maintenance and don't care about most of the issues we look out for. I've got a bunch of friends running diesels of various makes and models, but it's almost impossible to convince any of them to run guages or throw extra money at it. Even the ones that throw the basic boxes on there won't run guages because someone at some point told them it would be OK and wouldn't cause any problems. But you can look at the turbo and see the signs of high temps right away.

Basically, most people work on the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" mentality. So while you may pick up a few people looking for gauges or basic work, the market may not be as big as you think.

Oilguy

I'm in the PM business and I can tell you for a fact that people don't care about their vehicles until the break down... I will tell clients time and time again about issues that need to be fixed and they wait till they need a tow truck until they get it fixed....
I tell them over and over that if their cars aren't running I don't make any money... so that is why I keep telling them to fix stuff before it causes more problems...
If you want to start a business here is a tip you can take to the bank


Find a product or service that people NEED or WANT and CAN AFFORD.
If it doesn't fit that criteria... keep thinking....
Then to really do it right... make sure to provide a product or service that people NEED or WANT to keep using.... NOT a one timer or you will be in the sales business (Not that there is anything wrong with that)

You figure that out and do your homework and you'll be alright....

Oilguy

Deesil

As being an owner of two different small businesses I completely agree. Neither business has a revolving account base as I do ALL one time transactions. If I were to do it all over again, I'd deffinitely start a business that people need over and over again, either service based or even retail based. Running a business when you have to depend entirely on new customers every week/month is a pain in the royall Edit !

Twelver

Shoot, I'd hire you! Overall though, the tough part is targeting the folks that you could help (and would keep you employed) then convincing them of the merits of your business proposal. Most of the people who could benefit from what you propose don't know they have a problem. Therefore they won't be looking for a solution to a problem they don't know they have.

iker42

I see what you guys are saying. As for the continuous customer, i could do fuel filter;s and ensure their FS's are in good shape, i could recomend oil and an oil system, ect. im still working alot of it out, but i think hitting the parking lots at horse events or big parking lots, and leaving a card, or talking to the owner, letting them know the few problems the truck has..

thanks for the ideas.

Mike

Joe T

It's in your owners manual. Reread it .

BigBlue

Still ain't worried about it on a stock truck. Figure that the manufacturer built in enough "stupid" room not to worry. My family has been driving diesel's since '94 (I know it's not as long as a lot of people on here) and I'm the only one that ever lets mine cool and I didn't start doing that until I put an aftermarket turbo on and started really playing heavy with the fuel. I've tried telling mom and dad but they'll go and load up 3 horses and trailer them at 70mph and then shut it down once they pull in or go and get a load of hay and do the same. Did it with the '94 7.3L (100 some odd thousand miles),98 6.5L (80 some odd thousand), and the '03 dmax (90 some odd thousand miles on it). All of their friends with diesels (variation of dodge and ford) don't bother to let them cool either and they've all got 80k plus with no issues. Think of the mass amount of engines that would be failing if shutting them down hot was a big issue. Personally, on a stock truck, I drive it just like I do a gasser and that's with not a care in the world. So go ahead and criticize me and tell me you'd never let me drive your truck or that I shouldn't own a truck if I'm not gonna take care of it but this is how I feel and there's not enough proven evidence that on a stock truck something will fail if you shut it down while hot that's gonna make me change my mind. I believe in regular maintenance but I also believe that some people are WAY to worried about it and make to big of a fuss about it. I believe in fudge factor in everything I do and I imagine that the big 3 have a HUGE fudge factor in these trucks.

XLR8R

Mike,

I believe the most important thing is to decide what you really enjoy doing and figure out a way to make a good living with it.

Penultimately, remember that success is 81% drive & ambition, 16% opportunity, and 7% logistics....





.... oh yeah - and 4% math skills!
Don't skip Trig!!!

BigBlue

Mike, last time I checked trig had nothing to do with basic math.