Hello from sunny Southern California!

[Travis Alsgard]

Hello all!

I've worked as a tech and, more recently, tech / part time manager at a very busy shop for close to 7 years now. The owner approached me a few weeks back with talks of retiring next January and selling the business to me.

I'm in my mid-30s and have been working towards a similar opportunity since I started down this path almost 20 years ago. Spent my younger years bouncing from place to place, city to city, and state to state. Finally landed in CA by way of MI and am thoroughly enjoying the lack of rusty bolts.

Looking forward to using the search function (unheard of no doubt!) first and foremost, but also gathering as much wisdom as I can with questions of my own. Maybe I can even lend a hand somewhere myself, who knows?

Here's a preliminary thank you to the staff and members. Seems to be just the place I was looking for.

Any quick tips are much appreciated as I begin this adventure.

 

-Travis

[Marksas]

That's a pretty short time frame to approach someone to sell the business to. Lot's of items to sort out. Is he selling the real estate also? What are the terms? What is the shop revenue, net, equipment value? owner financed? Is it an asset sale? How is he going to value the business? Are you in a position to acquire financing? Do you have funds for a down payment? I'm sure there are a bunch more questions to ask but those come to mind off the top of my head. 

 

 

[Travis Alsgard]

You are absolutely correct in that it's a short time frame and those are all questions which need to be sorted or thought through rather quickly.

As it stands now, the terms are an owner financed sale of $2k/mo for 40 months with zero down. This includes all shop tools / inventory / equipment, shop truck, and $15k in working capitol. The facility is approximately 3700sqft with 3 lifts and a small office space.

No property is involved, just a renegotiation on the lease. The owner will be taking over the front half of the building to expand on our classic car / hot rod customer base when the current lease-holder leaves in January. He will be severing all ties to the general repair facility once the front is set up.

I do have concerns such as how the business has been handled for the past 10 years as well as customer retention but those are things I'll have to make a personal decision on.

[xrac]

If you can swing 2K per month and cover all the bills that it would seem you have almost no risk.  If you have no capital this is a great opportunity.  However, if the owner is in the building many customers may put pressure on him to work on their stuff. At least that would seem to be a possibility to me.  If he gives you 15K in working capital are you also assuming the outstanding bills for the facility? 

[Andy Price]

One thing you have that i didnt is this forum i was flying blind. Their is a great group of people here with a lot of knowledge and from what i see they are all here to help. Best of luck to you.