A few to add to the list.
1. people who know what they are doing and dress for the job. (shirtless and flip flops don't inspire alot of confidence)
2. get jobs done on time. (don't tell me 2 days and take 2 weeks!)
3. be professional but helpful.

Tools and service
1. manderal bender would be awesome
2. flowbench
3. tire mount and balancer

Something I think would be awesome but doubt you or most any other shop would be willing to do is a live camera feed. Just a free webcams would do the trick. I like the idea of being able to check on my car if I ever had to leave it somewhere. That would also eliminate the I worked on it all day bs alot of shops give. Also make you guys be more fair about pricing. Speed shops shouldn't go off mitchel style job pricing.

 

Now the ideas are flowing

Mandrel bender would not be a bad idea, but would have to wait for shop profits to sustain one. To be honest, with the ebay bends out there, it would be hard for a shop to sustain a $75,000 machine that gets used once a week, when little jimmy can get a bend off ebay for $20

Flowbench, another expensive unit, but not only do you need the bench, but the machinest/port worker to sit there for hours upon end working the ports.

Customer service is always the top priority. The last thing I am gonna do is try to sell someone a $1000 job with no shirt on. I plan on an office/showroom/waiting area with A/C.

 

Last shop i went too (S&R) has a waiting room that was freezing cold, a leather couch and a couple comfy chairs, a flat screen mounted on the wall with satelite/dvd player/ps2. That made the 2 hour wait much more comfortable!

 

I have to agree with Kirk on this one.

 

Genius Idea, Id take my car to a place that had this. Otherwise I always feel the need to sit in the bay and watch the mechanics do everything.

 

USF SAE shop has webcams lol...where you can watch people...its pretty cool.

 

Ditto

 

to the op-

where are you gonna get this kind of money to open a shop and keep it open?

failing economy=less cars doing work.

and when more and more people are seeing shady behaivor from shops(driven concepts ect) what is gonna make them come to you?

 

My dad has a shop in marion county doing all sorts of car work and let me give you a hint about the economy lately and im gona back it up with numbers...

2 years ago my dad worked full time and had a full time employee that loved working over time for the pay and im talkin about 1-2 hours each day, the parking lot was full each week probably about 15 cars (not sayin he did 15 cars in a week)

The shop has everything you need except tube bender and flowbench (for you guys out there) the building itself is prob worth $650,000 and i have no clue about the tool price especially for a frame machine, spray booth, paint mixing stand from dupont, 2 lifts, 2 large snap-on tool carts and 1 medium, plasma cutter, welder, dent puller, sand blaster stand, and alot more u guys get my drift

But basically he made $3,000 profit in his pocket each week and thats after paying employee about $1,000 each week

These days he makes at the most $1,000 a week had to let go of the employee and has about 3-5 cars a week

Now thats a hell of a difference, so please tell me why your gona open a shop???

 

So true