[P-51]

Anybody here ever deal with them?

http://www.Overdriveauto.com

They have stores in Barrie, Newmarket and Whitby. I'm wondering what you guys think of the store/brand.

I'm considering buying into the franchise and opening a store in Belleville.

Why Belleville?

I live in Brighton and won't go back to the GTA. Belleville is only 50k people, but there is a string of towns all along the 401. Port Hope, Cobourg, Brighton, Trenton, Belleville, Kingston, Napanee, etc...

My plan would be to open a shop that deals with generic parts, which is what Overdrive does. I would also on the side become a dealer for Focus Sport, Euro Sport, maybe some other marques like Mustang stuff, etc. And hopefully have at least 1 bay for installs/tuning.

Overdrive seems to be an aggressive upstart. I notice that they get into sponsoring people to get their name out there, etc.

[hardk0re]

I've dealt with overdrive in whitby, nice shop and he is a great guy. Very friendly unlike my experiences in performace improvements. I go to them with anything generic, they have a nice feature on their website where you can get the price of any part given the part #.

I think if your gona have a shop the most important thing is to treat the customers nice. This seems obvious I know, but majority of the shops often can't get this first thing right.

[oldeguy]

Just a thought.... you should also stock stock parts, and tractor parts...... :rolleyes:

[naz]

random thought... p51 do you think it is better to deal with 'non generic'/more expensive parts such as ECU tuning for 335i, hamann parts, etc.. which cater to enthusiasts who have more $$?

i haven't dealt with the overdrive brand personally but i find that sellers of generic parts tend to have generic knowledge so i tend to avoid them (for example i enjoy purchasing parts for my wrx from a shop in nor cal that ONLY deals with turbocharged subarus) i happily pay the premium for their stuff and their labor because i feel confident that sell quality parts and are very knowledgeable about the vehicle... if i wanted a 'generic' part i would just for example, buy an ebay downpipe and have it with in my driveway

you certainly have a very high level of expertise and i'm wondering if a generic part shop will not be the most optimal way to highlight your skills to potential customers

[D-Dub]

with your knowledge you should work for the Porsche racing team or something....


I wonder if anyone will catch it

[P-51]

naz,Feb 15 2008, 12:41 AM Wrote:random thought... p51 do you think it is better to deal with 'non generic'/more expensive parts such as ECU tuning for 335i, hamann parts, etc.. which cater to enthusiasts who have more $$? 

i haven't dealt with the overdrive brand personally but i find that sellers of generic parts tend to have generic knowledge so i tend to avoid them (for example i enjoy purchasing parts for my wrx from a shop in nor cal that ONLY deals with turbocharged subarus)  i happily pay the premium for their stuff and their labor because i feel confident that sell quality parts and are very knowledgeable about the vehicle... if i wanted a 'generic' part i would just for example, buy an ebay downpipe and have it with in my driveway

you certainly have a very high level of expertise and i'm wondering if a generic part shop will not be the most optimal way to highlight your skills to potential customers
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That's a pretty good observation. It pretty much exactly ties into how this would have to work. It would have to be more than just a parts shop. I would be able to offer experience that crosses model lines. Cars are not like different from eachother in the same way a tree is different than a dog. A vet can't work as an arborist. But a vet can work on pretty much any mammal, and that's the way it is with cars.

Sure, I may not know off the top of my head all the details on every car instantly. But, I'm able to find that out quickly, and accurately. And wouldn't BS somebody into something that won't work, just because it's all I have or all I know.

Something like a BMW specialist could work in the GTA, but not Belleville.

Quote:with your knowledge you should work for the Porsche racing team or something....

I'm assuming this is something about Shmee cause I did see that trying to figure out what happened to Focus Tuning. But I don't know anything about it other than that.

[darkpuppet]

if you hire anyone, make sure you have this essay question on your job application...

"A Mass Air Flow 'calibrated to x injectors'" is a false statement, please explain why.

that's how I judge my performance shops now (note to mustang tuners: there's more to tuning than boost pressure and timing advance)

[P-51]

darkpuppet,Feb 15 2008, 02:08 PM Wrote:if you hire anyone, make sure you have this essay question on your job application...

"A Mass Air Flow 'calibrated to x injectors'" is a false statement, please explain why.

that's how I judge my performance shops now (note to mustang tuners: there's more to tuning than boost pressure and timing advance)
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You looking for a job? :D

That is exactly the type of thing I'd be asking.

If I'd bought a house closer to the GTA, I would just be opening up a dyno shop right in the GTA and run it properly. Because so many of them are a joke.

I learned that the hard way. $500 at a dyno shop and I ended up having to go back to the tune I'd used to get there. Farking morons.

I was totally convinced by his "I'm an ex-Ford Powertrain Engineer" too. That don't mean squat. Too bad, that's the line I intend to use too. :ph34r:

Now just so you know... they used to be able to tune that way because the 5.0 had a distributor and you could just turn back the base advance to compensate and it would work. The problem is when the 4.6 came out with electronic ignition, many of them missed the turn...

[oldeguy]

Belleville has a College, so you'll get some "tuners" and also, you might benefit from having someone with Diesel knowledge. I know a few people who live there, and commute to Toronto, or Kingston.

[darkpuppet]

P-51,Feb 15 2008, 10: Wrote:You looking for a job? :D

That is exactly the type of thing I'd be asking.

If I'd bought a house closer to the GTA, I would just be opening up a dyno shop right in the GTA and run it properly.  Because so many of them are a joke.

I learned that the hard way.  $500 at a dyno shop and I ended up having to go back to the tune I'd used to get there.  Farking morons.

I was totally convinced by his "I'm an ex-Ford Powertrain Engineer" too.  That don't mean squat.  Too bad, that's the line I intend to use too.  :ph34r:

Now just so you know... they used to be able to tune that way because the 5.0 had a distributor and you could just turn back the base advance to compensate and it would work.  The problem is when the 4.6 came out with electronic ignition, many of them missed the turn...
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I learned it the hard way too -- I think you and Simon would recall the TAP guys slapping on mustang 'calibrated' MAFs and recommended setting my commanded fuel to 12 instead of .82 on my SCT software (um.. hello... LAMBDA!!!). However, I was lucky.. they didn't charge me for all the dyno time as they only charged me the time that was productive..

btw... if you had a shop in the GTA, I would come help do dyno tuning in the evenings/weekends :P

[NOS2Go4Me]

And I'd drive down to tune the RX-8 and patronize a fellow FC member for sure :)

Good luck if you go with it!

[oldeguy]

The Belleville area would be a perfect compromise spot for a meet and greet for our GTA, Eastern Ontario members!

[naz]

P-51,Feb 15 2008, 02: Wrote:It pretty much exactly ties into how this would have to work. It would have to be more than just a parts shop.
.....
But a vet can work on pretty much any mammal, and that's the way it is with cars.
....
Sure, I may not know off the top of my head all the details on every car instantly.  But, I'm able to find that out quickly, and accurately.
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i don't know the biz model of a parts/'tuner' shop in detail but i strongly suspect that revenue is mainly driven by professional service fees (labor for installs, tuning etc)

so i'll generalize that and say that you are basically going to open up an independent consulting shop.. if you don't agree with that generalization i guess the rest of my post will be garbage...

in my experience in mgmt consulting it is very difficult to convince new customers you have expertise based off generalist experience only.. for example.. if i have sized a sales force for pharma before... i *should* be able to size a sales force for biotech.. its almost the same thing (both promote drugs to MDs).... right? that's the same argument that cat=dog=horse=mammal.

the key difficulty is convincing ppl to see that *should* in the same way that i do. ie i know that i can do biotch based on my pharma experience.. and a vet knows that they can work on a cat based on working on a dog.. but will customer agree? that's the million (or in this case, tens of thousands) of dollar question.

that's why i think it could make sense to specialize the parts that you sell.. to give the perception of being a specialist and then branch out as appropriate.. ie.. maybe its better to leverage your ex ford tech and be a stang/focusghtning guy.. and once those guys see you do good work.. they will bring their buddies in who have vettes, porsches etc.. and that could be how you move from being a specialist to more of a generalist.. i think starting off generalist will not be as effective in terms of getting customers/driving revenue

$.02 hope its helpful. i do sales/mkting strat for a living i'd be happy to chat more with you (for free cuz i think auto industry is interesting) if you like

regards,
nick

[darkpuppet]

^-- naz does make some very good points...

something else to consider... the shop has a good name now -- but in my experience that could backfire if the other shops don't continue to measure up to their reputation.

but you could always build your own reputation on theirs and part ways if you need to..

just rambling....

[FocusGuy7476]

part sales has really low margins to deal with, I don't remember off the top of my head but i think its somewhere in the single digits for that. the parts that parts shops sell differ very little from each manufacturer, its the service and knowledge that makes really pays the bills in this sector.

I know its very competitive in Saskatchewan for parts shops, and the good ones keep their business by providing the best service and knowledge. I'd imagine that its even more so out in Ontario.

P-51, from what I've read when you've posted in the past, you know what your talking about. you shouldn't have a problem with the service and knowledge factor of it and if Overdrive's business model looks promising, its something that you might want to look into buying into.

[Flofocus]

I don't think any new performance shops will do very well in Ontario with all the BS laws there getting through, but thats just my opinion...