[nitinralli]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

Take a look at 99RPM
They are an online parts store for FIAT cars and you can be guaranteed that there will be lot of business since the spares are not easily available over the counter in your neighborhood.
Similarly, you can start a parts shop for classic cars - I think there will be lot of demand if you can get spares which are not easily available in India.

A similar concept, but branded helmets and riding gear - http://www.spartanprogear.com/

You will get lot of sales if you can get International brands riding gear in India, at resonable rates.

On the same line, you can think about detailing products, Pro Audio brands etc

--Anoop

Other day even i was discussing on this topic with my friend. He deals in importing steel from Germany so thought why not import skoda parts from there too and start something like this.

[MaxTorque]

Originally Posted by theexperthand

Take a look at 99RPM
They are an online parts store for FIAT cars and you can be guaranteed that there will be lot of business since the spares are not easily available over the counter in your neighborhood.

Looks like they are testing the market by launching Fiat spares. What will be the future of such a venture? Anyways the buyer should take help of a garage person to fit them on the machine. Have some one used their service. It looks like a less capital intensive business model.

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by MaxTorque

Looks like they are testing the market by launching Fiat spares. What will be the future of such a venture? Anyways the buyer should take help of a garage person to fit them on the machine. Have some one used their service. It looks like a less capital intensive business model.

Many people who are members of TeamfiatIndia have been using 99rpm for some time now, and have been very happy with the service.

I think such ventures (for example: online sale of spares of FIAT, Skoda\VW, the German trio etc) have a very good future because many people will use them either because spares are not available locally or because of cost effectiveness.

In my personal opinion, if you can find a good friendly neighborhood mechanic, you can get most of the work done from him more satisfactorily than at the A.S.S, often at a fraction of cost.

--Anoop

[girimajiananth]

-How about a multi brand car showroom with integrated test track which can simulate various conditions on the real road ? . Would it work ? I feel your initial investments will be very high , you will need a very large piece of land .

One will get to see all cars under one roof , since you have a nice stretch of test track ,you can have a better test drive.

-If you happen to own some land in a prime area in your city , paid parking facility will always generate good revenues. You can offer services too , like detailing , wheel rotation and alignment , engine oil change etc.

The above ideas need high initial investments , I am yet to come across an idea with low capital investments and high returns .

Critics and comments on my ideas most welcome !

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

-How about a multi brand car showroom with integrated test track which can simulate various conditions on the real road ? . Would it work ? I feel your initial investments will be very high , you will need a very large piece of land .
!

For the enthusiast, this will be a heaven, but for the majority of people who are non enthusiasts, it will be just another garage/showroom.
However, this is not a bad idea provided that you start small, and slowly expand. Perhaps initially the setup can offer services like wheel alignment, balancing, detailing, and once the customers start coming in, the profile can be expanded to service, repairs, then bodywork and so on. In this way the investment will also be made gradually, and as the word of mouth spreads, more customers can come in.

But IMO, in India, most of the people look for VFM. No point in opening a highly equipped setup and charging more than what authorised guys charge. Rather a smaller garage with lesser rates will attract people. Hence, any such service based enterprise, it should offer value to the customers. If the rates are reasonable, along with a confidence gaining experience for the customer in terms of the work done, then such an enterprise will be a success. For example, if a garage fixes a problem in a car for a fraction of the cost quoted by an authorised service center, the customer will be surely happy. Moreover they will recommend it to others. Hence, customer satisfaction will also play an important role.

Equipments, facilities, etc are secondary for an average indian car owner. As long as the work they require is done, they will be happy. A good example is in the alignment centre. There are shops with decade old, badly calibrated machines whereas OTOH there are shops who have invested in the state of the art equipment. Still, not many people worry about what equipment is used to get their car aligned.

Same goes with a body shop. A professional body shop has a good setup, including a chassis aligning rig, a paint booth, spot welders etc. However there are people who get such jobs done outside in garages who have none of the above equipment for the reason that they are cheaper.

To sum it up, I was very keen on getting started with an enterprise that offers quality work in a professional manner, that can surpass even ASCs. A little thinking made me realise that my intentions would target an enthusiast, and the number of enthusiasts compared to the number of cars was very less and it would be a long time before the enterprise would make economic progress Hence I dumped that idea for an indefinite period.

[nareshov]

Make a piece of hardware that connects to OBD (or similar), pulls out all vital stats while simultaneously logging GPS data by use of an on-board GPS module and upload it all to a "cloud" service via 3G (anytime) or WiFi (when near an accessible access point after end-of-drive).

With all that collected data, perform analysis and provide suggestions on how to improve driving skills such as gear-shift timing, appropriate/economical rev-band threshold warning beeps, even suggest better routes in terms of time taken or fuel expended and so on.

Could also be a big data mine for the manufacturers themselves who - if they really care and - want to optimise their cars for the Indian road environment.

Plus points if the API et al is opened up for competition in both the actual device and online analysis markets.

(not my original idea.
edit: the Fiat ecoDrive is similar but data collection, upload and analysis are all decoupled and there's no realtime feedback. I haven't confirmed whether it collects any GPS logs (does the car even have one? hidden/undisclosed location? ;D))

[iSpoke]

Originally Posted by k_ajay

If you really have passion for detailing, get into it independently. But it's no easy job (as you already know) and competition is fierce. Good luck.

Yep, I too find the scope for detailing works more bright. Investment is quite low as compared to other "on ground" businesses. It attracts almost any aam-aadmi with little care to see their car cared in a pro way within limited budget. There is no big margin but its a mass scale business. You don't need to wait for weeks/months to complete a project at hand, you may serve several customers in a day.
Ahem, I know many from here will not consider it as a true detailing but than you could run separate pro-packages for Team-BHPians that would take weeks!

Originally Posted by yashcosmos

How about starting a business model where a customer can hire a expert automotive person on hourly basis charges who will in return guide them on buying a used car that suits their budget but most importantly can check the car in and out for the customer.

This really makes sense. I see it as a business model comprising of two elements.

1. Someone, who is preferably an auto enthusiast willing to just INVEST his MONEY in setting up a business. May be as an on-line portal with a back-office, sort of customer service center.
2. The other part and the key to business success is the individuals willing to INVEST their TIME & EXPERTISE just out of their interest and make some pocket money (or even some Gurus who don't want to serve free for the sake of respecting their art/skill) or honing their skill at much finer level.

Originally Posted by sukhoi30

How about an all-encompassing carmall? It will be an entire mall which will have all types of car accessories(interior furnishings,ICE models, GPS, carmats, perfumes etc.), hardware(tyres/tubes, batteries, exhaust, oils, additives etc.), services (car washing, decal fixing, paints, upgrades etc.).

Its a grand idea with huge investment but I think something which is needed in large cities.

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

-How about a multi brand car showroom with integrated test track which can simulate various conditions on the real road ? . Would it work ? I feel your initial investments will be very high , you will need a very large piece of land .

One will get to see all cars under one roof , since you have a nice stretch of test track ,you can have a better test drive.

The above ideas need high initial investments , I am yet to come across an idea with low capital investments and high returns .

Critics and comments on my ideas most welcome !

Honestly speaking, your idea looked too vague and impractical and thought to comment it. But hey, often those are some ideas that really dejected by most and worked well!
As you rightly said it really requires a very huge investment, I could think of only big names of the country or may be some international investors who would invest to (1) Construct such infrastructure and (2) make a sort of consortium to convince multiple Auto giants to buy a shop there.

This would serve both as an Auto Hub for new sale and sort of museum (not exactly an auto museum) to demonstrate new technologies buy OEMs and 1st, 2nd tier accessory vendors, tuners etc. Just take a test driver there and get your custom car delivered at your door step hundreds miles away. A perfect location for such concept would be somewhere nearby Race Circuits!

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by iSpoke

Honestly speaking, your idea looked too vague and impractical and thought to comment it. But hey, often those are some ideas that really dejected by most and worked well!
As you rightly said it really requires a very huge investment, I could think of only big names of the country or may be some international investors who would invest to (1) Construct such infrastructure and (2) make a sort of consortium to convince multiple Auto giants to buy a shop there.

You are right , it was just a vague idea .
Door step detailing could attract more people. It could be parking complex , office spaces , malls , apartments , homes etc. Although there are lot of people doing it, a quality service will make a difference and can help you establish a nice brand.

[iSpoke]

With due respect to the Team-BHP philosophy to remain independent of Auto industry's advertising and be committed to its sole purpose of empowering the Indian car owner & enthusiast. I'm sharing this idea, it would be applicable to both the Mods & the Members.

1. Can we have a sort of dedicated thread(s) for all wanna-be or small start-up entrepreneurs to list themselves.
2. We the Team-BHP community may sort out them based on of course votes and some other critical parameters (inputs from highly experienced people of that particular domain could be a major contributor).
3. Then make a call for all angel investors of the community who wish to invest some minimum bucks e.g. say even 50K. with corresponding ownership.

By this way the techies get the bucks to upgrade or purchase new hi-tech equipments and the investors gets partial ownership and profit returns. It all linked up with T-bhp, will add more business to the model. Think about a service station in your city where most T-bhpian will go for.

I know there will be lot to it, specially dealing with such share based ownership would be quit complicated. What do you guys think about it?

[MaxTorque]

Friends, a close friend of mine is considering to start a spare parts shop in a Tier-II city. Can someone give some inputs on typical investment requirements, sourcing and profit margins etc?

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Nice idea Karthik to discuss the matter in an open forum.I would like to say about a real life entrepreneurship story that I heard in a management class from a Professor.
It was the late 1980's and Maruti was indigenising.The person in question, a Sardar was Chief Engineer in a state electricity board. He had a tiff with the then CM of the state and was shunted out to R&D where there were similarly frustrated engineers and enough of lathe machines.One fine day, the Sardar who was the head of R&D, got a connecting rod (CR) of his Maruti 800's engine broken. He took it for repairs and was charged some Rs 360=00 for a new CR and more for related spares plus labour charges.He kept the broken CR.The intriguing question that came to his mind was that a simple spare like the CR should not cost something above Rs 50/.
At the R&D centre there was almost no work pressure, so he told his subordinates to come along and they all made one and later some more similarly fabricated CR 's on the lathe machines.
The Sardar found that it had cost him less than Rs 50 to fabricate each CR. He took the samples to Maruti and wanted to meet Mr Bhargava, the MD then. The MD met him for a minute or two after many hassles and directed him to the spares department to some Manager.The Manager after a long time agreed to get supplies from the Sardar after quality control checks at the company. A deal price was fixed (a lower price than the then present purchase price for Maruti) for purchase after many negotiations. The Manager said that even if one CR is rejected by the QC department, the supplier will be heavily fined and restrained.Maruti said that supplies will be for a minimum 1 lakh CR's.
The Sardar took VRS (voluntary retirement) from the state government job and set up his industry in tin sheds in Gurgaon. He offered his colleagues who were at the R&D there, to come along and join only if his venture succeeds.Till then they could take leave and join him on a part time basis.The supplies started, Sardar started reaping profits. His colleagues joined him soon. He built an industry, multiplying the investment here from his profits.
Soon he also started making more and more components for Maruti and other auto makers and also started exporting.The company is AMTEK AUTO and has a turnover of more than Rs 1000 crores today. Sadly, the Sardar has passed away recently.
My Professor is too involved with this company since more than a decade, as it needs Management inputs from time to time.
The point I wanted to make is that if one has entrepreneurship skills the sky is the limit!

Friends, I had made a post in 2011 upon hearing my then Professor speak in length about a self-made enterpreneur. He emerged into the business world after completing a long tenure in government service and thereafter flourished. The first generation enterpreneur about whom I spoke was an industrious Sardar had passed away about a decade ago.

But what I have been reading about Amtek Auto lately is disheartening. It has become insolvent and the insolvency proceedings are on in the NCLAT, Chandigarh. The assets last stood at Rs 15,000 crores and got reduced to Rs 4,400 crores. A lot of assets were written off and now Motherson Sumi, US-based Deccan Value Investors LP, SREI and Liberty are bidding. Last heard, its liquidation value was reduced from Rs 4,700 crores to Rs 1,500 crores.
As per a Supreme Court directive in July 2020, the bids have to be closed within three weeks.

The second generation descendants of the Late Sardar were evidently in charge at present and unless the whole saga is understood, it is difficult to comment as to what exactly went wrong. An enterprise so successfully launched during the late 1980's and nurtured well thereafter by a first generation enterpreneur is relegated to history as of now.

Link to the latest on Amtek Auto :-

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com...le31983483.ece