Hi I’m Steve.
My wife Vicki and I have a family run business doing mobile car body repair and have done for the past 16 years. This year we were fortunate enough to be able to have the chance to move into our own unit after toying with the idea of moving from full time mobile to setting up base and being able to have the opportunity to offer a wider range of services, take on bigger jobs and no longer have to struggle working out in the open in all weather conditions
These first 6 months have gone really well, we are relishing at the chance at being able to do more for our customers after years of being asked, but definitely are still finding our feet in terms of how different working out on the road is compared to being able to do both.
As with everything at the moment price increases are a massive stumbling block for people like us who are starting the new chapter of our business venture. We have found that our biggest expense is basic stock and paint . For years we have been using a Midlands based company to mix and deliver paint to us on a daily basis, this worked out well for us before but not so much anymore. With the cost of fuel going up this has had a big impact in us being able to get the paint from them on time and to able to get the job finished within the available time frame. This has an impact on how much work can be done in a day and causing us financial issues.
Realistically we need to be able to mix our own paint in house, so here I am cap in hand asking for your help. We need to raise money to buy our first full paint scheme, and other stock and tools that we didn't realise were so expensive to buy .
I know you are reading this wondering why you should help us, especially in a time where everyone is struggling. But to buy everything we could possibly need we would have to substantially increase our prices which is something we really don’t want to have to do.
Over the years we have amassed a group of loyal customers. Many of these customers are elderly and we pride ourselves on taking care of them and offering our services at a cost they are available to afford, and not charge them the earth for it like many other companies would do. This would no longer be something we could offer them.
I know that sound like a line to tug on your heart strings but it’s the truth. Some of these people have used us from day one and they wouldn’t hesitate to recommend us to family, friends or just general strangers passing by whilst we are working on their cars at their homes.
We have also had the opportunity to give a job to 1 person locally already . He has a young family of his own and is the sole provider to his family .
We humbly ask for whatever help you can give to help us to continue doing what we love, to be able to fix peoples cars at a reasonable competitive price and to make sure we still have enough money left over to provide for ourselves and our children.
Our main initial goal is to purchase a full paint scheme so we can mix our own paint in house . Then we can start to save to buy further equipment and hopefully create further employment opportunities by taking on another employee or apprentice
.