[OT] unconditional offer

Nice one fella. I've been thinking of the same kind of thing.

Fancied moving into Car Aircon servicing (except tight wads like Nom put me off).

The kit isn't overly expensive compared to some business setup costs. It's possible to work mobile if you don't have premises, and while the regulations might be very tight, the actual physics of it is fairly simple.

1) It dries and holds pressure. fill it. 2) It leaks, i)don't go any further ii)quote silly money to fix. 3) Collect at least the callout and test part of the fee whatever happens. 4) Anything else is a bonus.

Nice one - I'm thinking of doing something similar . Is everyone in IT bored with it ? Considering retraining to work with explosives in a demolition/mining/civil engineering way. All the good courses seem to be in Denmark though. Already been offered a job via the construction company I used to work for out in Greece which I used to work for years ago if I get the quals..

Good Luck!

Mike

Yeah the kit's about =A34k new but decent used units go on ebay around =A32k.

I've seen the kit in action. Basically hook it up, tell it how many grams of gas are supposed to be in there and it does the rest for you. Whole process takes 45 minutes. No real labour involved other than finding the connectors under the bonnet of the car and pressing two or three buttons.

Most garages don't have the kit so if you build up a repetoire with a few local places, you can get custom via them. I don't know how much of an income you get from aircon alone but the materials cost less than a fiver per job on average! The guy I know does it along with mobile tyre fitting as well. With more and more new cars now fitted with AC it's got to be an alrightish earner with a growing customer base.

Bravo chap!

:)

Not me :-)

cheers, clive

That's what I'm considering. It's a growing market. And more cars are coming to the 3-5 year old sector with aircon that has never been serviced. So when their 2nd/3rd owners get them, and decide "This summer is too fooking hot, what was that guys number in the paper?" I think I might want to be there.

i gave up with IT ages ago, wanted to work with cars but never found the right car related job for myself till recently! been there just over 2 months now and love my job. i get to sit in a nice air con office most of the day and get to pop outside to move the odd jag, BMW, Merc or *cough* Fiesta around. it's quite varied hehe plus seeing some of the part exchanges is pure comedy! especially the mestro that sold for £5! haha :)

Yep, that's exactly it. I only paid £30 to get the TI sorted out, and after seeing what went on, I certainly wouldn't have wanted to pay more.

Sleeker, there's nothing tightwad about it. As fishman says, it really is a few quid for the gas, and the press of a few buttons. £30 is more than enough !

How many do you reckon you could do in a day at that price to make a=20 living as a mobile fitter/repairer/service agent though?

--=20 Carl Robson Car PC Build starts again.

Homepage:

Well at an hour a pop, you'd be on £30 an hour !

Even if you allow an hour's travelling time, you'd be on £15 an hour.

Then you pay for your van, and it's running costs, and the aircon machine, and the raw materials, and all your taxes, and, er, you'd be making nothing :D

Taxes can quite easily be blagged. If you're organised about things, you'll be able to fit in much more than one every couple of hours, though it would depend on the work coming in in similar areas. Most people would probably happily pay £50-55 for an aircon service, especially if it comes to them, maybe at their place of work. Quite possibly £60. If you could even do 2-3 at the same workplace, and cover 3-4 different office blocks, and do it regularly, you'd be laughing.

Peter

I'm with AstraVanMan on this. Nom's in the know and has watched what goes on when you're gassing aircon. Plus he's a yorkie tightwad ;)

However, the going rate is in the region of =A350-=A360 - the guy I know charges =A360-=A370 and basically plays it by ear depending on the perceived wealth of the customer!

Most people don't know what's involved, aircon is a bigger mystery to them than engines so to get the aircon serviced cheaper than their engine appears a bargain to them.

Plus the mobile thing means you can charge a convenience tax I guess. And of course the materials used are minimal so you could potentially only tell the taxman about every second or third aircon service provided you're paid in cash!

Good way to do it if you ask me - for someone to whom the difference between paying £50 and paying £80 is peanuts, charge £80. They won't give a flying oojimaflip as long as the job's done properly and the service is polite and friendly.

Oh, I'm not disputing that it could be profitable. It clearly is, because people do it :)

I was just attempting to illustrate that there's a bit more to it than the first-look shows. You're a courier man aren't you ? So you know how it works. It's just the same again again, with (much) longer drops and a machine in the back :)

Well, you were proving that by doing things at rock-bottom prices, one would struggle to make a living :-)

And a whole lot less drops required to make a decent living.....

Peter