Trailer Test - Anyone done it?

Joshy

Joshy

Joshy

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Just playing around with some ideas in my head at the moment, but quite a few of them involve towing stuff, so I thought I'd act about the "trailer test".

From what I remember, due to me passing my driving test after a certain date means that I have to do another driving test in order to qualify to tow a semi decent amount of weight (I plan on towing cars).

How much does this usually cost all in? I take it you need to provide your own tow car and trailer?

How difficult is the process? Are there long waiting lists?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Josh
 
I dont know anything about the test im afraid, but whats the idea you have got?
 
DiamondMark said:
I dont know anything about the test im afraid, but whats the idea you have got?
Click to expand...

Still not entirely sure myself!

It started when I visited one of those light industrial units complexes last weekend and fell in love with the idea of owning a unit. Don't get me wrong, it was a horrible, filthy place, but the thought of having my own little place, somewhere to go to and work on cars because I "want to" rather than being I "Have to" is something that excites me immensely. I have a bit of cash that I was planning on blowing on the Soarer, or maybe getting myself another car all together, but today I woke up and thought "I could make this work", so I'm holding fire to see if that money could not be better spent.

To afford it long term I'd have to find a way of generating money from it, be it through Buying sheds at auction to repair and sell on, straight repairs (dependant on my company's attitude towards this as of course I've still got to work full time) or parting out old cars and flogging bits on eBay. The trailer comes into play as I cannot get trade insurance at my age. The idea was to use the trailer to transport whatever I was selling/fixing/breaking to the unit. It also has the handy bonus of being able to carry a track toy when things pick up :).

I know it's a bit premature considering that I've been in the trade for all of 2 years, but it's something that I've dreamed of since a little kid. It's something to do in my spare time and it's a bit of fun.

Obviously it is something that I need to think through lots and lots, but I'm just making baby steps right now to see if it is viable. Who knows, with a bit of luck I could have my own Bentley by 25 :D .
 
2 things.

You need a plan, plans and ideas are good.

Second and most important you will never earn to you're full potential working for someone else, you need to get that apprenticeship finished (Jack Barclay trained looks excellent in you're advert once you're working for yourself) then get something part time going for yourself, anything, breaking repairing, buying and selling anything just to get the ball rolling.

Dont duff the paying job till the part time overtakes it for money.

Then crack on, and dont be put off if a few things go to ****, press on.

Dont let anyone put you off dreaming up these ideas, one of them will be a good one one day.

Iv had a drink now and going to bed, sorry for waffling on :)
 
Cheers for that Mark, much appreciated :).

I see the end of my apprenticeship as an absoultely massive milestone in my life (one that I imagine will be right up there with getting married, having a child, etc). By the time the papers land on the door step I'd just have turned 20 years old, my teenage years will be officially behind me and I can begin properly craving out a life for myself. Pretty scary actually! :eek:

I'd absoultely love to own my own place and make a profitable business out of it. That's the dream, but the apprenticeship is the reality that could potential to make that dream happen, and I'm not going to jeopardise either for anything. If I can do stuff on the side while doing the apprenticeship than brilliant, if not then I'll have to take a look at things later down, but if I can make it work, I will.
 
do it :)

had my own unit for the last year and its great :)

just brlliant to have a place to mess around with motors work on the taxis and generally hide from the missus :) bit of advice though, get the biggest place you can afford i've got 1000sq ft sounds a lot but believe me once you start filling the place up it fills up pretty quickly :)


couple of pics of my place to give you some food for thought


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That is pretty awesome!

If you don't mind me asking, how much does that set you back? A 1150SQer Arch is about £9000 per annum + VAT, and that's still in an armpit area of South London (Camberwell). Not bad I suppose if you were looking at doing it as a full time business and was already partly established, but for a newbie it's a little too much.

Willing to travel a bit further south into Croydon and Surrey to avoid high London prices, but obviously I can't go too far. Has anyone got any bright ideas for a website that deals with light industrial units? I've tried the National Rail's website for arch units, but nothing local seems affordable initially (although I do really need to do some proper sums to see what I can and can't afford, but I could properly sacrifice around £300-£350 per month/£4200ish per annum out of my salary). I've got my dad asking his council contacts, but they say 99% of the type of units I'm looking for are privately owned :(.

Truth be told, I don't think I need massive amounts of space. Enough for storage of two cars, space to work on them, tools and a few spaces out front for parking would do me just fine.
 
National Rail when it was British Rail used to be cheap, i bought loads of arches to flip from them.

They aint cheap any more though. I would start by doing what you can from home, buy and sell a few, repair what you can outside.

Then commit to premises. Get some income coming in first.
 
That's interesting. My dad was harping on about just buying a unit outright and him renting it to me at whatever I could afford, but I keep on telling him that they aren't cheap!

For now it looks like for now I'm going to have to work out of my diddy Council lock up. I may be getting ahead of myself anyway as I've got my old 205 GTI to be getting on with for now.
 
Well if you can get you're dad to do that, take the help.

That will be a big leg up.
 
Do you have any idea how much we'd be looking nowdays?

Would one be as a solid investment as he thinks?
 
Location is everything, you will get a short lease from about 10k upwards.

Freehold, how long is a bit of string, they are like houses.

Say he got something with a 15 year lease, what you pay him in rent will probably pay what he loses when he resells.

If things are on the up and up, he might turn a profit.

Remember cheap to buy is cheap/hard to sell. Pick a popular industrial estate.

Bottom line though, if i was in his shoes i would be looking at this as giving my son a leg up, not as an investment.
 
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