new business idea

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C

CJ2a

Well-Known Member
Posts
1,369
Location
the Bieszczady mountains of Poland
Hi guys what do you reckon to an all terrain commercial recovery service using my disco commercial as the recovery vehicle equipped with all the gear and a 3.5 ton trailer stupid question but for my front winch a goodwinch goldfish 12000 with a bow motor 2 because it will have to be strong and used a lot, either way thoughts ideas kit list possibly, the idea came about as I keep getting phone calls from my friends come and get me Im stuck in the forest or another tourist has gone off the road go and get them out so thought about turning it in to something as no one offers anything like it
cheers for any input
 
Yes there is a need. Always thought of this myself. Ratty should be able to tell you of the other big summer market is festivals. You would be surprised how many people need recovered including the odd tele-handler.
 
Aidso said:
Yes there is a need. Always thought of this myself. Ratty should be able to tell you of the other big summer market is festivals. You would be surprised how many people need recovered including the odd tele-handler.
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our area of the mountains gets swamped in tourists that cant drive our roads (discopol will be finding that out soon and how much me love people from warsaw) (small twisty no barriers no road markings) and all the gear no idea offroaders, lycra bike bandits, walkers and just plain old dick head tourists and I get at least 2 phone calls a week come and get this numpty he has had an accident or tourist fell in the ditch again, tractor rolled over so I think it would work and we get a lot of accidents in the snow because people youngsters take their test in the summer and have not driven on snow before and boom
 
Used to love winter in Germany, was only a hobby in the station motor club, but one of my best days was when the TUV tester did an insurance inspection on my repair and had to ask what I had done.
 
CJ2a said:
our area of the mountains gets swamped in tourists that cant drive our roads (discopol will be finding that out soon and how much me love people from warsaw) (small twisty no barriers no road markings) and all the gear no idea offroaders, lycra bike bandits, walkers and just plain old dick head tourists and I get at least 2 phone calls a week come and get this numpty he has had an accident or tourist fell in the ditch again, tractor rolled over so I think it would work and we get a lot of accidents in the snow because people youngsters take their test in the summer and have not driven on snow before and boom
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But I am an Angol and a Warsaw-ite:eek:, thank god i will be with a local then ;)
 
Main thing to think about, I would guess, isn't the recovery gear, it's the insurance and commercialism of it.

Now you get two phone calls a week .. how would that translate into income? Do you offer an up-front price before setting off? What if it's an 'almost impossible recovery? What if it's injuries too? What if it's an illegal car? I once helped roll a fiesta over for a chap, it had been stolen and crashed as he stole it .. we didn't know till later .. and we effectively aided and abetted him!!

Not trying to put you off, it sounds like there's a need local to you, but I would think the logistical costs will outweigh any 'real' income from it. As a sideline, no insurance, just 'helping out' might work, but then, to again comply, you can't do it for hire or reward on most policies, so it's a bit of a minefield!
 
Paul D said:
Main thing to think about, I would guess, isn't the recovery gear, it's the insurance and commercialism of it.

Now you get two phone calls a week .. how would that translate into income? Do you offer an up-front price before setting off? What if it's an 'almost impossible recovery? What if it's injuries too? What if it's an illegal car? I once helped roll a fiesta over for a chap, it had been stolen and crashed as he stole it .. we didn't know till later .. and we effectively aided and abetted him!!

Not trying to put you off, it sounds like there's a need local to you, but I would think the logistical costs will outweigh any 'real' income from it. As a sideline, no insurance, just 'helping out' might work, but then, to again comply, you can't do it for hire or reward on most policies, so it's a bit of a minefield!
Click to expand...

Probaby isn't in Poland though???
 
Paul D said:
Main thing to think about, I would guess, isn't the recovery gear, it's the insurance and commercialism of it.

Now you get two phone calls a week .. how would that translate into income? Do you offer an up-front price before setting off? What if it's an 'almost impossible recovery? What if it's injuries too? What if it's an illegal car? I once helped roll a fiesta over for a chap, it had been stolen and crashed as he stole it .. we didn't know till later .. and we effectively aided and abetted him!!

Not trying to put you off, it sounds like there's a need local to you, but I would think the logistical costs will outweigh any 'real' income from it. As a sideline, no insurance, just 'helping out' might work, but then, to again comply, you can't do it for hire or reward on most policies, so it's a bit of a minefield!
Click to expand...

I agree,pulled someone out of a garden a few months ago.Wasnt till i came to un hook that i could smell the booze on his breath.Slowed things down a tad untill the rozzers turned up!
 
If you are going to be serious about it , then get a unimog or something of similar size, you dont want to be doing it hard , so you need to have something more than a disco , with winch or otherwise. I had a recovery business for many years , we had to recover quite a lot of big american cars, they were not used to bendy roads, fog and black ice !! The usual landy with harvey frost , and front winch really struggled at times . So I bought some ex army Austin K9 , (sort of british unimog size) , made the job a piece of cake, never had to worry that you would not be able to complete the job . You also dont want to go too big , as it then starts to be counter productive, as you cant get into where the smaller stuff has got . HTSH :cool:
 
Its a good idea on first look but not sure it could be a relied upon steady income.
As a cash before I get my winch unhooked weekender earner, then maybe, but as sensibly stated in earlier posts theres still risks.
Always admire and like to offer support to anyone making a go of an idea, as have done the same myself, but will always also point out the pitfalls too :)
 
CJ2a said:
Hi guys what do you reckon to an all terrain commercial recovery service using my disco commercial as the recovery vehicle equipped with all the gear and a 3.5 ton trailer stupid question but for my front winch a goodwinch goldfish 12000 with a bow motor 2 because it will have to be strong and used a lot, either way thoughts ideas kit list possibly, the idea came about as I keep getting phone calls from my friends come and get me Im stuck in the forest or another tourist has gone off the road go and get them out so thought about turning it in to something as no one offers anything like it
cheers for any input
Click to expand...

If you're in it for long and heavy pulls you'd be better off to go with a hydraulic or shaft driven winch. Less chance of cooking the motor. You're gonna need a decent ground anchor or set of winch chocks cos prop brakes are rubbish for heavy winching. You could find yourself being winched to the casualty vehicle rather than the other way around if you don't have the weight down or good traction annorl.

Sometimes if I'm undertaking a high risk job (especially on mud, ice or snow) I take additional vehicles as anchors. Even then I will still anchor all vehicles involved in the rescue as well as having them joined together.

The idea for offroad recovery is good but when I looked into doing purely specialist recovery jobs in the UK I found that the work just wasn't there to make it pay. About 10 years ago, pretty much all I did was drive around the UK recovering vehicles that nobody else could get. now I'm lucky to get a couple of decent tricky jobs a year.:(
 
tacr2man said:
If you are going to be serious about it , then get a unimog or something of similar size, you dont want to be doing it hard , so you need to have something more than a disco , with winch or otherwise. I had a recovery business for many years , we had to recover quite a lot of big american cars, they were not used to bendy roads, fog and black ice !! The usual landy with harvey frost , and front winch really struggled at times . So I bought some ex army Austin K9 , (sort of british unimog size) , made the job a piece of cake, never had to worry that you would not be able to complete the job . You also dont want to go too big , as it then starts to be counter productive, as you cant get into where the smaller stuff has got . HTSH :cool:
Click to expand...
a unimog on the sort of side angles we are on would be on its roof in no time at all and its not a problem as its not my main source of income as far as relying on it purely is concerned and yeh I see that I could need something a bit bigger than a disco but for now this is early days I have the disco and a lot of the kit needed apart from a truly reliable front winch and a 3.5 ton trailer which I was planning to use also for transport as that's big big business out here at the minute and if you can legally tow a small sprinter van range rover your laughing all the way so I could venture in to more than just one field of recovery with it I also have the capability of having a fully equipped workshop 4 poster and im a qualified mechanic and welder at my disposal so there is another field that I can branch in to as well so its not so bad and the law on this kind of outfit what I plan on doing is really lax out here most of the guys I know from 50 km away doing just standard road side assistance cant put a 2 ton wagon on there motors and have not got any certs for health and safety none of the gear is safety rated they are monkeys its a shambles really as for insurance public liability is laughed at in this part of the world I know only a few people with it and they say we don't know why we pay it its a joke the local coppers all break there own laws (our local coppers recently got busted for brewing bimber in there own nick the silly buggars it was only a spot check from the top brass that caught them but they all drink and drive etc) the local coppers caught me driving my 2a on the road and it had no tax no mot insurance etc I was just coming out of the forest and gave them my v5 they read it upside down and said yep bye bye good to go, I was towing a 109 on an A frame they tried pulling the second 109 for following to close and could not work out it was attached to the lead vehicle and was safe the numptys so don't worry about the police in our area a bottle of vodka and you do as you please
 
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