Our business partner opened a car service center of high-quality German repair in the Western Germany!
And it was very difficult!
It only seems that way to some know-it-alls that right now as soon as we come to Europe, open our car services, and start fixing everything there – and euros will just flow into our pockets in an endless stream. In fact, we will disappoint you – nothing will start, nothing will open and nothing will flow. Why?
Because you need a lot of different and very difficult conditions. The first and most important thing is to learn German perfectly. Without knowledge of German, you can simply not start anything, especially your own. The second and no less important thing is to obtain legal status, allowing you to live and work in Germany. This is also not for everyone and not everyone will be lucky. The third and no less important thing, after the first two, is to undergo training, confirm your qualifications, pass exams for a master. And only then will the German state allow you to officially open your own car service.
You can, of course, forget about all this and open a private garage somewhere in a quiet place. But then you won’t have any normal clients. Because it’s underground. That it’s not a business, but a private shop, is not our method. But even if you pass the exam, then the required status – it’s called “Meisterbetrieb”, no one will give you right away either. You will still need to work hard, confirm your qualifications, and only then, sometime in the future, you might get lucky.
In general, in Germany, the “Meisterbetrieb” sign (translated as a company of master craftsmen) means an enterprise whose owner or manager has successfully passed the exam for the title of master craftsman in their craft. This is a sign of approval, which serves as an indicator of high professional competence and entrepreneurial skills. And even more – in a car service, such a sign means almost a dealer level of service quality, but only without the dealer status for selling cars. That is, it even allows you to fill out electronic service books for cars during maintenance!
This is the status indicated on the sign of our partner’s new car service. And what’s interesting is that you can’t just write this without having a legal status – the first inspector will close the illegal enterprise, and the fine for the violation will not seem small in any case. How did you get the status? Very simple. There are only 2 options for this: 1) hire a German mechanic and simply pay him 7,000 Euros per month just for the fact that he will only officially be listed in the car service as its manager, 2) train yourself, then work for 5-7 years, then train again and pass exams. In fact, both options are almost unrealistic. What to do?
If nothing works, you have to search. Therefore, after six months of searching, a 3rd option was found – to take as a partner a German mechanic with the required status, who really wants to open his own service, but has never managed such an enterprise. This is the kind of car service that our partner opened. And not just anywhere, but on a “dealer” street, among dealers of different brands. And such a location is no less important than the fact of opening. Why?
Because the price level of a standard hour of repair work at official dealers in Germany is no more and no less than 150 Euro per hour. An independent service will not reach such values, but 70-80 Euro per standard hour is a completely realistic figure for the cost of quality services. And only these two conditions – the Meisterbetrieb status and location, in fact, doom the new enterprise to commercial success. Moreover, there are additional conditions for success – this is the absence of any independent services nearby (the Germans generally do not like to do such work, it is not a “royal” business), and vice versa, the TUV technical inspection station is located right across the street.
And when the car does not pass the technical inspection, where do you think it will go?
If anyone needs it, this is the town of Neuwied, 60 km from Bonn and 15 km from Koblenz:
KFZ-TECHNIK
Konigsberger str. 1,
Neuwied, Germany
+49 2631 946 3988
https://kfz-technik-de.de
In short, our people with very serious experience as highly qualified mechanics work there – they will not let you down, they will not deceive you, but will fix everything in the best possible way, including even the engine.
