Vehicle Breakdown & Recovery ?

mb0999

Thinking of starting a Vehicle Breakdown/Recovery & Transportation service
Have funds in place no need to borrow etc.Just wondering if anyone can offer any advice ? ie: is there enough work there to make it worthwhile ? truck costs €40,000 would I recover this money over 1-2 years ? any advice appreciated

Culchie

I think it's pretty good business but you really need to be on the insurance companies (especially AA Ireland) list of suppliers to be getting constant referrals.

Another company worth contacting is Mapfre Assist in Galway, they work with alot of the car dealerships and their cover is sold as part of the 'package' when buying a car ..... 3 years Nissan Assist etc....

Good Luck

ImDave

Where abouts are you based?

Macers

mb0999 wrote: »

Thinking of starting a Vehicle Breakdown/Recovery & Transportation service
Have funds in place no need to borrow etc.Just wondering if anyone can offer any advice ? ie: is there enough work there to make it worthwhile ? truck costs €40,000 would I recovery this moneyi over 1-2 years ? any advice appreciated

HI,

I'd advise getting onto insurance companies, the local garda and also (if in Dublin) get onto the airport - I know people who were in the industry and this was their best advise...

All the best with it...

mb0999

Thank you guys advice noted will make enquiries with said companies.


E1 Dav Im based on Navan Road,D15.

mb0999

Culchie wrote: »

I think it's pretty good business but you really need to be on the insurance companies (especially AA Ireland) list of suppliers to be getting constant referrals.

Another company worth contacting is Mapfre Assist in Galway, they work with alot of the car dealerships and their cover is sold as part of the 'package' when buying a car ..... 3 years Nissan Assist etc....

Good Luck

Thanks Culchie just been on Mapfre "Ireland Assist Site" and sent them an email.

RobbieMc

So, did you get up and running yet?
I'm in the market for a price on recovering a vehicle at the momnet

thanks
Robert

Darragh29

There's a lot of folks as this game. The Gardai put their recovery work out to tender, so you'd have to pitch for that through the etenders site. Also, you'd need some kind of a yard or storage space which is $$$ if your in Dublin. If you're starting up, its a 24/7 set up, if you are doing any work for a garage or dealership, you'd have to be able to able to move immediately, I know when I was at this, if you can't do the business once, you're kind of not called again.

Many garages now have their own recovery trucks as the cost of recovering a customers vehicle by a guy who just does recovery is too expensive. Say if my customer rings me and says their car is broken down and they need it brought into the garage, I could charge them 50-80 Euro to do that if I have my own recovery vehicle. If I get someone else to recover the vehicle from their home to my business, I can expect to pay a minimum of 100 Euro and I have to pay that and pass that onto my customer. At 100 Euro, I can't put anything onto it so I'm not making any money on it but the recovery guy is making around 100 Euro a go. If I did 4 recoveries a week, just breakdown work for my own regular customers from their house/work to my garage and charged 50 Euro a go, this would allow me to make 200 Euro a week and provide a good service to my customers which they would expect, and I can still be competitive. If I was taking in a clutch job for example on a truck and charging 500+ euro for it, I'd glady absorb the recovery charge because I'd genuinely be grateful for the work.

As a career move, I wouldn't really recommend it, there are too many people at it now I think. Garages are wide now to the game and are all getting their own trucks...

mb0999

Hi all got truck all up and running now thankfully going well 7 moves today alone yes Robbie if your still needing job done pm me with details and contact number and I,ll get it done for you

Darragh29

mb0999 wrote: »

Hi all got truck all up and running now thankfully going well 7 moves today alone yes Robbie if your still needing job done pm me with details and contact number and I,ll get it done for you

Best of luck with it, let us know how you get on...

Dirk Gently

mb0999 wrote: »

Hi all got truck all up and running now thankfully going well 7 moves today alone yes Robbie if your still needing job done pm me with details and contact number and I,ll get it done for you

congrats, 7 lifts is fairly decent on your own. About the insurance companies, it's best to get as many as you can and not throw your lot in with any one in particular. Some of them (one mentioned a couple of times in the thread) have very bad rates. A follow on tow from storage is as little as €17. Doesn't even pay you an hourly rate and diesel. If you have anyone working for you well it doesn't even cover their wages. Also, they don't pay for any special equipment you might need or basic stuff like a bag of oil soak to throw on the road or the bed of your truck after you attend and oil spill. A lot of their call outs you will actually make a loss on. Stuff like jump starts and wheel changes have the same rate as a recovery across the city in rush hour traffic that could take a few hours. Generally they keep the handy stuff for their own patrols and give you the unprofitable stuff.

Get as many contracts as you can, Mondial / AA / AXA / ireland assist / europe assist / MIS etc but also build up contacts with local companies / garages. R.I.E.S pas 43 is the standard that alot of them will look for these days. More opportunities if you have it but I can't stress enough how important it is not to rely on any one or two companies alone. They will use you to do jobs they don't want their own patrols to do (long runs / heavy traffic areas / off peak hours / recoveries that take 2 hours as opposed to 20 minutes) A lot of it is not profitable and in a lot of cases you'll even make a loss on jobs. Always speak to the person broke down before you attend, the information given by the breakdown assistant companies will nearly always be wrong. flat battery generally means car on fire in underground car park and dublin city centre generally means somewhere up the mountains. Confirm everything with the customer himself before attending the job.

There is a lot of people doing it (one man bands). Get yourself certified and build as many contacts as you can to separate yourself from the others, maybe even work as a contractor for the established operators for a while.

Best of luck with it and remember to always take care and be a good ambassador for the industry. Too many people like to put recovery operators down without knowing the conditions, rates and pressures put on them by the breakdown call centres. It really is a thankless job. Do it right, don't be a cowboy.

edit: To recover the price of your truck I recommend doing as much private work as you can. If you tie yourself to breakdown assistant companies you'll be a long time making up that 40k, especially if you're storing cars and doing follow on tows for them. I've heard of a few people who make a few quid by towing vehicles out of garda pounds. They generally just park nearby, customer calls them and they charge 100 - 150 or what ever to tow them home. one of these jobs pays as much as 6 or 7 follow on tows from storage. It's hit and miss though as to whether you'll get jobs from it every day.