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  1. #1
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    Creating a NICHE or not

    Market niche: created by identifying needs or wants that are not being addressed by competitors, and by offering products that satisfy them.

    I trust your judgement Autogeek family so please have patience while I explain my vision or lack thereof.

    I was a mechanic for about 10 years. I was factory trained by Nissan and then eventually started working on Honda's and Acura's. After some time, I got burned out on turning wrenches so I started looking for something more challenging but still automotive related. I always loved detailing and after watching Mike Phillips perform his magic, I have been hooked. I opened my own place and I did very well. It was part time but I was making very good money.

    I just recently bought a tire shop. One bay, nothing fancy. Business is booming and I am looking to expand but I am trying to create a niche, something special. Right now, I will put tires on any car. Yep, you call me and I will pretty much find the tires to fit your car. Now, I am looking to blaze my own trail and create something unique.

    My first thought was to change my business into an Autospa. How will I compete against the others around me? There are a lot of AutoSpa's and 5 dollar car washes, it could be a daunting task and a headache, next idea. Turning wrenches? No! So I came up with this.

    I am taking this concept from dealerships. How about I start a car club? The car club idea is based off of what dealerships have done for years, they focus on one car manufacturer and they become good at what they do. Can that work for me? Lets just say I specialize in Honda Cars, that means Honda and Acuras of course. I will provide tire service, detailing and other services. Some will say I am limiting myself and some will say dumb idea all together. What do you think? Just asking, I have not made any decisions yet





  2. #2
    Super Member FUNX650's Avatar
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    Quote Originally Posted by MJ Detailing View Post
    Market niche: created by identifying
    needs or wants that are not being
    addressed by competitors, and by
    offering products that satisfy them.


    just recently bought a tire shop.. One bay,
    nothing fancy. Business is booming and I
    am looking to expand but I am trying to
    create a niche, something special.

    Right now, I will put tires on any car.
    Yep, you call me and I will pretty much
    find the tires to fit your car.

    Now, I am looking to blaze my own
    trail and create something unique.
    Since you already have a tire shop:
    Here's a suggestion on how to put
    your name up in neon, out there in
    niche-product/(service)-land:

    •Find a way to *successfully* mount
    the following run-flat tires on all of the
    various C7 Corvettes' OEM wheels:
    -MICHELIN Pilot Super Sport
    -MICHELIN Pilot Sport Cup 2

    (especially) in sizes:
    -P285/30ZR19
    -P335/25ZR20


    Note:
    *successfully* includes, but is
    not limited to: In a timely manner,
    without any damages to wheels, etc.



    Bob
    "Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk."
    ~Joaquin de Setanti

  3. #3
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    Bob -

    Not familiar with those particular wheels but big wheels - rubber are mounted all the time.
    Granted there is a certain level of operator skill, those fancy pancy tire mount machines with the all rubber lever/press arms sure make it a helluva lot damange free

    It's expensive to own....


    I know of one shop. They have zero - mechanical skills, from a auto repair/diag standpoint. Well , maybe some weekend warrior wrenching skills learned along the way. All they do is alignments and tires/wheels. They bang it out in timely fashion and have hundreds of positive reviews on yelp, which IMO yelp is great from a marketing stainpoint.....free word of mouth.

    I doubt this alignment shop even has a ~A~ torch for those pesky nuts....and they must bang out each appt timely for their fancy alignment rack....

  4. #4
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    I work for a decent size tire chain in Michigan and one of the most important thing to us is "tire time" pretty much how long it takes to bang out a set of 4 tires our particular store does a set of 4 in roughly 27 minutes, pretty good time is it just you doing the tire work?


    Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app

  5. #5
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    AGO doesn't allow edits....to add to the my previous reply, said shop is using the highest end Hunter rack and GSP balancer/mount machines. Said machines are not cheap..

  6. #6
    Super Member dcjredline's Avatar
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    Quote Originally Posted by MJ Detailing View Post
    Market niche: created by identifying needs or wants that are not being addressed by competitors, and by offering products that satisfy them.

    I trust your judgement Autogeek family so please have patience while I explain my vision or lack thereof.

    I was a mechanic for about 10 years. I was factory trained by Nissan and then eventually started working on Honda's and Acura's. After some time, I got burned out on turning wrenches so I started looking for something more challenging but still automotive related. I always loved detailing and after watching Mike Phillips perform his magic, I have been hooked. I opened my own place and I did very well. It was part time but I was making very good money.

    I just recently bought a tire shop. One bay, nothing fancy. Business is booming and I am looking to expand but I am trying to create a niche, something special. Right now, I will put tires on any car. Yep, you call me and I will pretty much find the tires to fit your car. Now, I am looking to blaze my own trail and create something unique.

    My first thought was to change my business into an Autospa. How will I compete against the others around me? There are a lot of AutoSpa's and 5 dollar car washes, it could be a daunting task and a headache, next idea. Turning wrenches? No! So I came up with this.

    I am taking this concept from dealerships. How about I start a car club? The car club idea is based off of what dealerships have done for years, they focus on one car manufacturer and they become good at what they do. Can that work for me? Lets just say I specialize in Honda Cars, that means Honda and Acuras of course. I will provide tire service, detailing and other services. Some will say I am limiting myself and some will say dumb idea all together. What do you think? Just asking, I have not made any decisions yet




    Not sure how successful that would be but I can tell you my self employed dealer friend pretty much sells only Toyotas with other cars sprinkled in here and there, I have gotten pretty good at detailing 2003-06 Camrys and Corollas. He makes a pretty good living doing just certain types of cars and I make pretty good money detailing them for him.
    "Dirt likes detergent so much better than the surface that it's attached to, it'll leave that surface to go hang out with the soap"...aim4squirrels

  7. #7
    Super Member TTQ B4U's Avatar
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    Quote Originally Posted by FUNX650 View Post
    Since you already have a tire shop:
    Here's a suggestion on how to put
    your name up in neon, out there in
    niche-product/(service)-land:

    •Find a way to *successfully* mount
    the following run-flat tires on all of the
    various C7 Corvettes' OEM wheels:
    -MICHELIN Pilot Super Sport
    -MICHELIN Pilot Sport Cup 2

    (especially) in sizes:
    -P285/30ZR19
    -P335/25ZR20


    Note:
    *successfully* includes, but is
    not limited to: In a timely manner,
    without any damages to wheels, etc.

    Bob

    Bob, if you "need a guy" to mount the above, PM me. I have a good friend who has been doing this for decades. He's part of our local racing group and services many of us on a regular basis. C7's are very common for him. I texted him the above and he said they won't be an issue at all. They do mobile work in the Columbus area too. Their shop is over by Rickenbacker AFB if you go to them.

    Won't be cheap to do. They are a PIA since they are so wide/low profile and run Flats. He said the only thing worse would be some reverse mount wheels.
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  8. #8
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    Dec 2015
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    My opinion, since you asked:

    You obviously like cars. You're obviously doing well enough to think about expansion. Why not expand with what you already know? Maybe another bay or two? I know you said you don't want to bend wrenches, but with quite a bit of specialty experience, you already have a niche. Focus on the growth of what you already do (Tires) and add maintenance. If it goes well, you'll be able to pay someone to bend wrenches so you don't have to!

    Does your area have the demographics that could support the niche you are describing? It sounds like the bottom end of the market is pretty saturated. Are you willing to make a hobby you enjoy (detailing) become a job like being a mechanic did?

  9. #9
    Super Member Busy mind's Avatar
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    Dec 2014
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    Bay Area
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    How about starting off small with some basic up sells? Wheel and tire coatings, glass coatings during rainy season, headlight restoration...

  10. #10
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    Re: Creating a NICHE or not

    FWIW....I was quoted $254 by a large local tire retailer, to mount four 20" Goodyear run flats onto a spare set of 2017 Camaro rims....WITHOUT beating up those rims.

    Otherwise for the standard $60 per pair, the Shop wouldn't guarantee to NOT beat them up.

    I finally found a small shop that did mount them cleanly and I gladly paid the $125 they asked for.

    There's a niche for You.

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