at saturn, we have two lube techs fresh out of high school. they basically change oil and tire rotations. but when we get non oem parts for the used cars we charge them double our cost. so if pads are 20 we charge 40. our labor rate is like 75 an hour. the techs use part labor guides to figure out how long it takes and thats what they get paid.

 

so youre flat rate..?

 

well at my school district, theres a program called the EFE. it stands for Education for Employment. theyre a specially organization that supplies money for education that gets you certified for employment at the end of the course. well...because we're poor...not every school can have every class. so usually one class is usually only at one or two fo the schools, so people take busses to other schools to take these EFE classes. well...theres an EFE auto tech class, and its here at Portage Northern and in nearby Kalamazoo Central. well...since i go to portage northern, when all of my teachers have something wrong with their car, instead of taking it to the shop they just take it to the auto tech garage. well...a couple of the guys got quite a rep for being quick and efficient when working on cars. theyre graduated now, but theyre running an out of the house auto repair place at a fraction of hte cost of most shops. a lot of the professional shops have been complaining about it to the city council, but nothings been done about it. so these freshmen (maybe sophomores) at WMU are making tons of money under the table from these car repairs. itd be sweet if you could do something like that.

 

Not that I am advocating or anything...but...If there is no paperwork, there is no proof. If you were to say offer to lend a helping hand and say accept tips for your services, you would not be promoting yourself as an expert or a "garage". No formal structure without a dba and a certification will give you a buddy type status for donations. I've never heard of a buddy suing for car help from someone he knows. Remember contracts and paper trails are what leaves you open. I would still use a waiver of warranty and liability though. Just a note...if you ever did get sued, you would probably win...however the IRS would want to talk to you, and having waivers is intent to defraud if you don't pay takes.

Do small stuff like brakes, tune-ups, that sort of thing & stay away from the big stuff if you're going to charge any decent amounts of money.

Good luck!

 

DD has a fine point..several, actually.

 

I like your idea DD. My school as an auto shop program as well, it just happens im at the top (prolly #1 in the class). We also work on teachers' cars and any staff member really. Our shop class isn't connected with any sort of work program. We do have a work program, but i can't take it since i don't have the time in my schedule (full load as a SR. sucks). I was thinking i would charge somewhere like $40/hr since thats cheaper than most shops. I can do breaks pretty well. I wanna learn how to do more advance stuff like alternators, belts, water pumps and stuff. I have a general idea of how to do it, but i have never tried. I think ill get to learn on the GSR build but that will require me to get money to buy it. And wats a DBA?

 

"Doing Business As"- a generic term for a business name that you could liscence for an LLC or other partnership or corporation. The first step to becomming a legit business.

The other stuff you mentioned is all the kind of stuff that would limit your potential for being liable for anything major, I doubt many accidents would be caused by a bad alternator install. As far as by the hour rates, that may be a bit ambitious. You are not a professional and are relatively inexperienced. Charge by the job, you'll probably get more work. Once you get some experience under your belt, by the hour becomes more lucrative. In other words, no one will want to pay 4hrs labor for 1hr job, ya know?

 

Good point about the hourly rates. What kind of paper trail are you talking about?

 

By paper trail I mean:

Anything relating to an entity (business) that would prove services provided for a fee, level of training, insurance, etc. Something that proves you exist as a money making enterprise, or could hold you liable for anything.

 

What about he said, she said. Like he changed my pads and charged me $20.00, no my brakes don't work. Could i just say i don't know what your talking about if everything was done in cash?