Start up, motorcycle transport & recovery business

Aim

To start my own Motorcycle Transport and Recovery business, to provide a friendly, reliable, fully insured and trusted business.

I have spent the last 26 years in the hospitality industry, last year (March 2020) I was due to start a new General Manager Position in hospitality but four days before I was due to start COVID lockdown happened and the position was rescinded. I have applied for over 600 jobs since then and been turned down for everything which has been very hard to deal with. Since February 2021 I have been lucky enough to be a front line working managing a COVID 19 testing site.

During this time I have had some dark moments as I'm sure many people have. But I have spent some amazing time with my 6 year old daughter and this has given me allot to reflect on. Within my career as a Hotel Manager I spent around 70-80 hours at work a week, over weekends bank holidays, Christmases birthdays etc, so not spent the time with my children they deserved. This along with my long term desire to run my own business has motivated me to start up the business I have long planned for. I did have nearly £20k but due to unemployment and unable to pay my debts (circa £45k) I opted to use my capitol to enter a full and final IVA. Which has left me with no capitol.

I have been a keen motorcyclist and motorcycle racing fan for over 30 years, I am a admin and Marshall for a large motorcycle group in East Sussex, where we have over 800 members and we organise regular weekly readouts of over 30 bikes and arrange many charitable rides through out the year including Easter Egg runs where we deliver Easter eggs to the local child wards in hospitals, also Christmas toy runs to the same wards in hospitals.

So with this large network I have done allot of research and found that there is a massive gap in the market for a trustworthy and reliable motorcycle transport and recovery business on the South Coast, so my plan is to open this business offering transportation services to individuals whom may have bought a bike from ebay or other means but are unable to pick it up, also local garages, and showrooms often would like to offer a pick up and delivery service but dont have either the means or time to do this which is where I can step in. There is also a huge gap in motorcycle recovery as you need very specific equipment to transport a bike which most recovery firms dont have. 

I would have full Public liability insurance and also goods in transit insurance up to £40k per item, this is very rare as most transportation services dont have this much cover but I know this is a deciding factor when looking for someone to transport your pride and joy. I would also have a van kitted out with all the best cradles lashing and fixings to keep the bikes upright and safe. I would pick up and deliver on the same day to prevent storing bikes and risking the possibility of  damage or theft.

What will I do with the £15,00

I will purchase the van, get the van professionally sign written, equip the van with heavy duty fixed ramps and cradles, harnesses and fixing down points. Get a website designed and created, create the email domain for the company, purchase branded uniform, purchase full Public Liability and goods in transit insurance. Create a strong online social media marketing presents 

This project closed unsuccessfully on 6th May 2021