@All_Kindz_Of_Gainz
I have a wealth of experience in this field. My family owned a auto parts store, I worked at a 5 product line dealership in the shop for several years, my exwife's family owned their own repair shop. I've been in a ton of automotive repair shops. I have several friends that own them, as well as have a tenant that operates a shop out of a building I lease to him. I have a big shop for my personal stuff, can fix anything that breaks on them. I own every tool they ever made. I prefer to fix all my schitt myself. I've also built high performance cars from the ground up.
That being said, I highly recommend going to work under someone at a large facility. You can learn a ton that will benefit you and make yourself more profitable.
$20K to get started.....lmfao. for a basic tool box and some tools, but that is it. You'll need a lift, parts washer, a/c evac-recharge machine, air compressor, diagnostic/scan tool with updates, subscription to repair solutions forum-data base, battery charger, evap emission machine, jump box, brake lathe, something to push cars in and out with. You better hire some cheap labor to assist.
The easy money in automotive repair is made replacing timing belts, starters, hoses, 75-100K maintenance, brakes, alternators, a/c repair.
If you are really good at electrical trouble shooting you can make serious cash, especially if you can pinpoint a problem and have some grunts do the manual labor to fix it. I used to be one of those grunts growing up. Me and two other guys had this guy banking $180k in the late 90s.
If you rent a place you will need at the bare bones minimum a spot to stick two cars in. You will also need space to park about 10 cars outside that are waiting on parts, etc. My tenant struggles to pay me $1000/month rent at times. Best thing this joker ever did was hook up with a used car dealer to do their used car inspections before they put them on the lot. It gives him enough cash to pay the rent during the slow times.
All of the established shops struggle to find guys that want to work on cars these days.
Go to work at a dealership, they will send you to GM, Ford, Honda, whatever school for free. They will also send you to ASE school to get certified in certain areas. At a dealership There will be guys with years of knowledge that will help you out if you are willing to learn. Their health insurance and paid time off plan will be a helluvalot better than getting health insurance on your own.
You have an uphill battle. One, you dont know as much about cars as you think you do. You don't make money working on cars unless you are flagging more hours than you spend doing the actual work. If the book says the job pays 2.2hrs, you better be able to do it in 1.4hrs. You also have no idea about running a business.
No matter how good you are, there will also be comebacks. Meaning cars you thought you had fixed that you didn't. You get to do all of that again for free the second time. And those parts you billed for $400 that didn't fix it, well now you need to sell the customer another $400 part to really fix it because you misdiagnosed it the first time. But you can bet you will eat the labor. Yep, kind of like doctors. They don't always get it right the first time either.
And you will want some insurance to fix that windshield you crack when you drop a car off the lift or its outside with the hood up when the wind gets crazy and peels the hood back into the windshield. Or the time you spray carb spray on the valve cover and its gets to the spark plug/plug wires and lights the engine on fire. Or the time you are test driving listening for a brake squeal and drive a car into some random post in a parking lot you didn't see. Or the time you put new brakes on a car and the customer takes the car and rear ends somebody then tries to sue you. All true stories I have been a part of.