I guess the real question is how far will most customers drive to have work done at any shop? Like whats their actual sphere of influence, 2hrs, 5hrs, 8hrs? It just blows my mind that there is nothing in/near Seattle that I would consider a 'local' performance shop for my Evo. No doubt ER will continue to dominate the area for the big stuff (engines, turbo upgrades, etc.) but I honestly feel you are missing out on a lot of potential $ on all the other stuff involved with maintaining/upgrading an Evo (and other performance cars for that matter).

I can only speak for myself, but for me it is hard to justify a 3+ hr drive for anything but the stuff I simply would not trust anyone local to do. And its really just a matter of time before another competent store opens in the greater Seattle area, there is a demand for it.

 

I would drive a days worth to have english work on my car

 

We'll never say never!

I just thought to bring this idea up out in the open. Evo owners who are within a couple hours radius of ER are very lucky. Dont take it for granted!

 

You have to look at it like this...

you can take it to a local shop that is unfamilar with the Evo, have the high potential of a mistake (learning curve) and then have to pay English to do the same work (TWICE).

It goes back to the age old saying. I never have time to do things right, but I always find time to do them twice.

You've got a specialized Evo/DSM shop in the same state as you... I would stop complaining.

 

Well I dont think anyone is really complaining. We are all very grateful to have ER (though it might as well be in Oregon for how far from Seattle it is - atleast then there would be no sales tax .

I can only speculate at the difficulties of running a successful shop. Clearly the internet has changed the game considerably, as we are all looking to get the most mods for our $. But it seem clear to me is there is a demand for such a shop in the greater Seattle area. Half the items I would want ER to do if/when my Evo needs them might require having the car trailered down there (just ask Yahu about that).

Anyways, it seems clear ER has no intention of expanding northward anytime soon.

/thread

 

Clearly the solution is either...

A. Clones for all locations.
B. Jetpacks.

 

C. Teleportation
D. Avatars (not the big blue ones necessarily)

I cant say what I want to and not come off cocky. Let's just say that our sphere of influence seems fine right now. When it is not fine, then we'll discuss options. We do not work on just Evos either. We have older Mitsubishis, Honda, Toyota, Subaru, and Nissan customers local to us. Comes down to the same thing though, we cant teach people to be us.

I think that unless you are a "natural" at something it doesnt matter what school you go to or who you learn from it just never comes together. Kind of the whole IQ/EQ argument, its not what you know but how you apply what you know.

For most people making a day of it seems to be fun, Portland is really close to do stuff in and hang out, the beach isnt too far, etc. See the post in the other thread about our tow rates hopefully it will make it clear that we offer that service as well.

Aaron

 

Good call on teleportation, I clearly missed that one. F' Avatars, regardless of colors.

There is also the bastard child of English - the EDR crew who specialize in parking lot installations of boost controllers, BOV's, injectors, intakes etc and the occasional reach-around

 

You guys forgot to travel back in time to Aaron, TJ, Jeff, and Luke's parents and split the embrios before they're born... Now we have twins of all of ER for both locations!

Duh, seems freaking simple, what's the problem?

....Now if I can just remember where I parked the DeLorean...

 

This is not McDonalds

I can barely handle my one business around here. I know Cars and have ,the drive to make peoples cars right. I am not the best business man.

I have now been racing, tuning, and working on 4g63s for 10years and spend most of my waking hours thinking about turbos and motors and there is something new I learn everyday.

On my list of tech that I would hire that I have met I can only think of 2. So trying to find people to man a 2nd shop would be a nightmare. I would have to find smart dedicated techs and they would have to spend a few years of messing up before they would be good and the way my shop works I would have to pay for the mistakes as they happened.

To make a good auto shop is hard because it is not like some businesses where you have 2 weeks training and you're off making money. I find most good performance shops are not started by business men but by guys who love cars and have the drive to work on them. In my 6 years of being a full time shop I have seen 4 big shops in Portland come and go and lose over a million dollars in trying to make a go of it.

Not sure if AMS or Buschur will chime in on this but I am sure they have had cars sent to them from all over the world. I have had a few cars from Las Vegas, Wyoming and California.

So starting a 2nd shop is not really an option right now.

Have thought of trying to pick up some property between Woodland and Castle Rock right off of I5. Would only add about 20 min to my Portland customers and make the Seattle guys about an hour closer.

I have spent the last 4 years getting my shop approved for auto work so I need to finish that so I have something I can sell before I make a change. I am getting very close.

 

Woodland yes, castle rock no .

I agree with Lucas and Aaron. As a business owner myself, I find it impossible to teach the things I know, to even experienced people. It's my name on the line when I put something in their hands, and so far it hasn't worked out. It's very difficult to find people trust worthy, and again it's lucas' problem if they screw up.

They are right on the money when they mention the team there. The team is what makes that shop work. Just like all the other top shops, it's the chemistry between everyone. I for one would hate to see Lucas & Co. split up to make two shops run. I think the main shop would suffer, and we would lose the true ER magic.

Please don't attempt this, I think it would be a bad business decision.

 

All the loyal English Racing customer's are already doing business with them anyways, regardless of the distance they have to drive/ship the car. Don't think opening another shop would bring in that much new business personally. I've made the drive multiple times because I don't trust anyone else.

 

Lucas please no to castle ****. Even though I have trailered a car 4hrs to you the place would make it even farther.

Move over here to the east side. That would make it even for the north end and the pdx people and about same for spokane.

 

I rather just move closer to them Focus on your current shop guys, get the dyno in there and things will be good for years!

 

There ya go

I am gonna start a petition for everyone to move to Vancouver.