Starting an auto repair shop is not an easy task, especially when you consider the initial investment. In fact, opening a repair shop can amount to more than $50,000 in start-up costs alone. These upfront costs can include your diagnostic machines, shop rent, specialty tools, insurance and auto repair shop supplies.
That said, when building your business, it’s important to understand the different auto repair shop supplies you’ll need before opening:
Hand Tools
In order to run an auto repair business, the first thing you will need on the list of your auto repair shop supplies is the hand tools. While some shops may require mechanics to come equipped with their own personal set of hand tools, it is always a good idea to provide them yourself.
Here is a checklist of some standard hand tools that you should have in your auto repair shop:
- Wrenches
- Ratchets
- Mallets and Hammers
- Screwdrivers
- Pliers
- Wire crimper
- Funnels
- Wire Connectors
- Fuses
Garage Equipment
Garage equipment is typically heavy-duty and consumes a large portion of your repair shop’s floor plan. This type of equipment is required if you want to run an auto repair business efficiently and effectively, these should be on your priority list when purchasing auto repair shop supplies.
Here is a checklist of must-have garage equipment for your auto repair shop.
- Car jacks
- Floor jacks
- Hydraulic Bottle jacks
- Farm jacks
- Scissor jacks
- High-lift jacks
- Trolley jacks
- Car Lifts
- Ramps
- Compressor
- Jumpstarter and cables
- Creepers
Safety Equipment
For a repair shop of any size, safety needs to be a top priority. To ensure the safety of your employees, customers, and their vehicles at your auto repair shop, you will need to take some precautionary measures and keep the following auto repair shop supplies.
Here are some safety items your shop should always keep on-hand:
- Gloves
- Goggles
- Coveralls
- Miscellaneous protective garb
- Cleaner – (keep the surfaces and floors clean as you will be dealing with oils, spills, and grease which can cause employees and customers to injure themselves.
Diagnostic Equipment
The car diagnostic tools in your auto repair shop supplies include a wide range from hand tools to expensive hi-tech equipment. Some of these pieces of equipment can be especially pricey which should incentivize investing in higher quality diagnostic tools.
You should include in the following diagnostic equipment when building up your auto repair shop supplies:
- Tire Gauge
- Multi-meter
- Pressure tester kit
- OBDII Scanner
Sales Tools
Though not part of a shop’s physical supply, it is important that shops have tools to manage their sales efforts. Some of the basic sales tools your auto repair shop will require are:
- POS Shop Management System
- Accounting software
- Employee management portal
- Marketing software
Let Experts Help You
For those of you looking to run your own repair shop, it is important that you understand the upfront costs and gather all the auto repair shop supplies you’ll need before launching. Additionally, you also need to make sure that you are building strong relationships with your customers as well as driving new customers through your doors.
This is where a strong partner to help automate your shop marketing activities, such as BayIQ, can help you streamline your processes and drive more business. In fact, shops that partner with BayIQ have seen more than $2,798,640 in additional revenue from BayIQ’s rewards program alone!
Want to learn more about BayIQ?
