# mobile tyre fitting service



## chris tunstall (Jul 22, 2012)

Hi guys I've been thinking about starting a mobile tyre fitting service but I'm not sure if its just something I can go out and do I heard that working on cars at the road side is not allowed could anyone shed some light on this.
Thanks guys


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

chris tunstall said:


> Hi guys I've been thinking about starting a mobile tyre fitting service but I'm not sure if its just something I can go out and do I heard that working on cars at the road side is not allowed could anyone shed some light on this.
> Thanks guys


The best way to answering this (or anything else) is to ask yourself if you could make a living doing this in the UK!

General repairs arent allowed, only emergency stuff. However, car insurance in Spain has to include "grua" cover - a tow truck/AA type service. It doesnt help that even blondes  can do their own tyres and then drive to a "neumatica" and get a replacement lol!!!

Back to the drawing board???

Jo xxx


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## chris tunstall (Jul 22, 2012)

I wasn't thinking a recovery service more like people needing new tyres on there vehicles to keep them legal on the roads, this business does work very well in the UK and let's face it the way the economy is no one will be buying new cars they will be keeping there old one which means maintenance and everyone needs tyres and if I can offer them at the right prices they're bound to snap them up, I just need to figure out the laws, I no it can be done there's plenty of advertisements for British mobile mechanics are there services illegal?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

chris tunstall said:


> I wasn't thinking a recovery service more like people needing new tyres on there vehicles to keep them legal on the roads, this business does work very well in the UK and let's face it the way the economy is no one will be buying new cars they will be keeping there old one which means maintenance and everyone needs tyres and if I can offer them at the right prices they're bound to snap them up, I just need to figure out the laws, I no it can be done there's plenty of advertisements for British mobile mechanics are there services illegal?



These adverts suggest there are alot of them and yes, they may well be illegal. But what you have to remember is that many of them arrived in spain a good few years ago, before the recession and built up businesses and reputations. I'm sure they are all struggling now. 

If you were to do this (in the UK or Spain), you'd first need premises, equipment and a good supplier and stock of tyres - retreads??? You'd need to work out your costs, overheads and a business plan. You would also need to check out the competition. 

Now in the area I lived in Spain there were many "neumaticas", but I dont know about the Torrevieja area. In Spain you would also need to satisfy the authorities of your income and healthcare provision, which would be an added cost and stress.

anyway, do some figures, work out the costings and how you'd go about it. Get over there and take a look at what competition is there

Jo xxx


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

See what t'others think???

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

chris tunstall said:


> I wasn't thinking a recovery service more like people needing new tyres on there vehicles to keep them legal on the roads, this business does work very well in the UK and let's face it the way the economy is no one will be buying new cars they will be keeping there old one which means maintenance and everyone needs tyres and if I can offer them at the right prices they're bound to snap them up, I just need to figure out the laws, I no it can be done there's plenty of advertisements for British mobile mechanics are there services illegal?


We owned a couple of repairing garages and workshops in the UK and had a tyre-fitting service. I have never heard of anyone using a mobile tyre fitting service - if our clients needed a replacement tyre on the road, they rang us and we went out with the tyre.

I honestly don't think you would be allowed to do this kind of thing in Spain. Plus there are the practical considerations: would your suppliers give you a favourable trade price compared to long-standing garage businesses, where would you keep your stock, things like that. The costs of set-up would be quite heavy. 

I'm not in the Torrevieja area and this isn't a Brit immigrant neck of the woods but there are plenty of garages and breakdown services of all kinds here. Competition is keen and prices are low.

Most importantly though as *JOJO* said your insurance covers that kind of thing here so there would be little call for mobile services as all you have to do is give your insurer a call and wait.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I've been thinking about this one and how its done in the UK. Do people decide that all of their tyres need replacing at the same time and then want to take their cars to a tyre place and get them all done?? Would people prefer to call someone out to replace them all??? 

Personally, what we do is, if we have a puncture, we put the spare on and then go to a tyre place. In a replacing due to age scenario, its usually only one or two that go at a time, certainly thats the case with our cars, in which case we pop along to the tyre place and they replace the one/ones that need doing. Its not a long job, but it does require the car to go on a ramp and then they do something to the "balancing"????????

I dont know the costs, but I do know the bulk is the price of the tyre. Would I use someone who would come out and do it in my drive????? Probably not, in my mind it would be too costly and I wouldnt want the hassle - its easier to drive somewhere where they have all of the necessary equipment.

Thats just my view from the UK perspective. In spain when I had a bald tyre I drove to the spanish "neumatica" and he simply replaced it, I cant remember what it cost - in fact if memory serves, he put the wrong tyre on and OH took it back and complained??!!

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> I've been thinking about this one and how its done in the UK. Do people decide that all of their tyres need replacing at the same time and then want to take their cars to a tyre place and get them all done?? Would people prefer to call someone out to replace them all???
> 
> Personally, what we do is, if we have a puncture, we put the spare on and then go to a tyre place. In a replacing due to age scenario, its usually only one or two that go at a time, certainly thats the case with our cars, in which case we pop along to the tyre place and they replace the one/ones that need doing. Its not a long job, but it does require the car to go on a ramp and then they do something to the "balancing"????????
> 
> ...


It's not just the fitting....the new tyre needs balancing, tracking. How could you do that at the roadside? The equipment isn't portable - unless something new has been invented. 

We have had four new tyres on the LR in the past two years, they get worn quickly as we drive up mountain tracks quite often on our way to thye kennels but we used our little local garage where Jesus makes sure we're alright...


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> It's not just the fitting....the new tyre needs balancing, tracking. How could you do that at the roadside? The equipment isn't portable - unless something new has been invented.
> 
> ...


Yes , most mobile vans in the uk have bead breakers/removers/balancers all on board.


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2012)

Hi Chris,

I don't know about the demographic of area you are talking about (although there seems to be a lot of expats there) but there is a British guy here that's been doing it for ages and he does OK. He started around 5 years ago and with a good bit of initial marketing by himself he found himself with a nice client base of mainly sportscars. No one in their right mind with a decent car would take it to the Spanish equivalent of QuickFit and so they would take it to him so he would actually care about their alloys.

He offers supply, fit and balance at your house/workplace or you can get your own tyres from Blackcircles or similar and get them fitted/balanced.

I know there was a plethora of people doing this in the UK but I think people in the UK tend to covet their cars more and are more likely to source their own tyres and so need fitting. I doubt you'd make enough money to live on but if you can find the right client base and have the money to afford to build it up slowly then who knows.

The other thing you could probably make a few euros at is getting a tie-in with a race circuit/trackdays, although most have tyre changing facilities often they are un-manned. In the UK we used a few companies to attend our trackdays and they got a lot of use from people wanting tyres changed during the event/balancing/etc - it would probably only give you pocket money but every little helps!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

ShinyAndy said:


> Hi Chris,
> 
> I don't know about the demographic of area you are talking about (although there seems to be a lot of expats there) but there is a British guy here that's been doing it for ages and he does OK. He started around 5 years ago and with a good bit of initial marketing by himself he found himself with a nice client base of mainly sportscars. No one in their right mind with a decent car would take it to the Spanish equivalent of QuickFit and so they would take it to him so he would actually care about their alloys.
> 
> ...



well maybe then there is a market. I dont know the cost of one of these vehicles (it would have to be a Spanish registered vehicle), but it maybe worth the capital investment - but do your figures and projected business plan before you spend any money, make sure that you can buy this vehicle without having to take out a loan or worse, sell your property and of course, make sure you can get some of the people who "shiny andy" is talking about on contract. Remember that you will also need to be an autonomo to cover your healthcare costs.

I personally would always recommend that you try something like this in the UK first where its going to be cheaper, easier and you know the rules and the language. If you can make it work there, then you'll have half a chance in Spain
jo xxx


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## sadlybroke (Jun 19, 2012)

I always have my tyres changed by mobile tyre fitters in the UK. I am a fan of the service and so I investigated this business opportunity a few months ago... not in Spain but in Slovakia. 

You can buy tyre fitting vans or equipment for vans easily (take a look at Ebay) and it is not expensive at all. However, I ditched the idea of starting a mobile tyre fitting service in Slovakia because:


people are used to taking their cars to garages and it would be difficult and expensive to promote the idea of mobile tyre fitting service

prices in garages are low and would make the mobile tyre fitting too expensive

there already are such services in all parts of the country and they do not seem to prosper

Conditions in Spain might be different from those in Slovakia though.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

I've used these people before, over several years: Neumáticos Online en i-Neumaticos | Comprar ruedas online con montaje a domicilio who come to the house and do a fantastic job, at prices that were lower than local tyre fitters - so this type of thing does exist here already.

Do you speak Spanish, or would you rely on only British customers? In my opinion, even a fluent Spanish speaker would struggle on his own with established companies as competition.

If you don't speak Spanish, how would you communicate with suppliers, handle all the horrendous paperwork, etc...


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## donz (May 5, 2010)

I would certainly use a mobile service were it available to me a) due to my limited time available and that I then have to sit and wait for min 45mins while it's done (I am ridiculously busy and so it would benefit me greatly to have it done at home/wherever I am) and b) because I am in the campo - there is a 'local' garage that is 15mins away who have to order tyres in, my preferred neumatico place is 40mins away.

Also, yes even 'blondes' can change a basic tyre BUT on my 3yr old 4x4 getting the spare off is ridiculously fiddly even when you know what you're doing, getting the nuts off the wheel is hard on it's own but actually finding the right spot for the jack on my car is no easy task - I have to check the manual each time to remind myself because for the front and back they are in very different places (which are not obvious) so a mobile guy would really work for me!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Madliz said:


> I've used these people before, over several years: Neumáticos Online en i-Neumaticos | Comprar ruedas online con montaje a domicilio who come to the house and do a fantastic job, at prices that were lower than local tyre fitters - so this type of thing does exist here already.
> 
> Do you speak Spanish, or would you rely on only British customers? In my opinion, even a fluent Spanish speaker would struggle on his own with established companies as competition.
> 
> If you don't speak Spanish, how would you communicate with suppliers, handle all the horrendous paperwork, etc...


 Agree totally. Starting a business of any kind from scratch is difficult these days. 
Around here competition is keen and prices low. The fact that there is already in Marbella at least one established business of this kind might suggest that there isn't much room for newcomers. But who knows?

The only way to find out is to come and see for yourself. Andy is very optinistic about Marbella which is not typical of most Spanish towns but then he is professionally involved in business start-ups and optimism is an essential attribute in that field.


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2012)

He's not talking about doing it in Marbella


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

ShinyAndy said:


> He's not talking about doing it in Marbella


I know...but you were. You brought up an example of a similar successful business in Marbella.

I think that Marbella is not typical of most of Spain. As you said, Estepona a few km along the A7 is rotally different. So Torrevieja and other areas may well be different too.

Frankly, anyone who moves to Spain solely on the advice and recommendation of me, you or anyone on this forum is not operating with 'due diligence'.

You need to do on the ground research.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

He needs to research it, but an easy way of making money it aint! For the life of me I cant understand if this is going to work, why not start it up in the UK first - cheaper, easier, more safety nets and grants.... and gain the knowledge at least. remember gone are the days when you can pitch up in Spain and do a bit of work to pay for the relaxing lifestyle

Jo xxx


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## chris tunstall (Jul 22, 2012)

I've done it for 5 years in the UK not self employed though it was for a company but I no how it works and what I'd need to do the job and could offer good prices its just whether the custom would be there


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

chris tunstall said:


> I've done it for 5 years in the UK not self employed though it was for a company but I no how it works and what I'd need to do the job and could offer good prices its just whether the custom would be there


 The prices you could offer would be dictated by your capital outlay, overheads, cost of products, insurances, taxes etc. Your customer base would have to be researched by going over there, looking at the competition, deciding if you can offer a better service than they can, if you have any better advantages or gimmicks that would enable you to really compete with what will without doubt be struggling market!!

So get yourself over there for a bit of serious research, a bit of sun and see what you find

Jo xxx


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