Mobile Mechanic

A mobile mechanic is a mechanic or auto worker who isn’t based out of a shop but, instead, operates out of their car or truck. Rather than requiring customers to bring their vehicles to their workshop, a mobile mechanic drives to them.

People often hire mobile mechanics when their cars aren’t drivable or they simply don’t have the time to visit a traditional auto body shop.

What do mobile mechanics do?

As a mobile mechanic, you’ll perform essentially the same tasks as regular mechanics, although you may be limited in what services you can offer. Jobs that require large equipment, such as a mechanical lift, won’t be feasible if you aren’t operating out of a workshop.

Mobile mechanics often provide general checkups and may service or change out a vehicle’s:

• Tires
• Oil
• Headlights
• Coolant
• Air filters
• Batteries
• Brakes
• Spark plugs

Some mobile mechanics keep heavier equipment in a workshop or garage, and occasionally service cars that need more intensive work there, while still spending most of their time on the go.

What requirements do mobile mechanics have to meet?

Being a mobile mechanic is a specialized role. For this to be a realistic side hustle, there are several qualifications you’ll need to have, alongside regulatory criteria you must meet:

• Licensure: Mobile mechanics sometimes need to be licensed by the state or city they operate in. The exact license you’ll need (and the hoops you’ll have to jump through to get it) will vary from place to place, so look up the laws in your jurisdiction.
• Insurance: You need insurance to work as a mobile mechanic. In particular, you’ll need commercial auto insurance (for your own vehicle) and liability insurance (to protect you in case a customer claims you damaged their vehicle or otherwise caused them harm).
• Education: Many people go through apprenticeships or trade programs before becoming mechanics. This isn’t essential—some mechanics are also self-taught—but doing so will give you more credibility.
• Certification: Additionally, some mechanics obtain professional certificates, such as the ones offered by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). This also isn’t essential, but it can help.

Regardless of the approach you take—whether you decide to go for a lot of formal study or you try to blaze an independent trail—hands-on experience with cars is a must.

As a mobile mechanic, you’ll rely on your own expertise, and probably won’t have anyone on hand to help you (unless your business really takes off and you find yourself in a position to hire assistants, which won’t happen right away).

Mechanics generally don’t lack for work, and can earn a fair amount of money. Mobile mechanics are no exception.

Established mechanics often make upwards of $90 per hour, and very experienced ones can earn more than $150 per hour. Anecdotal reports suggest that some mobile mechanics may charge less (around $60), particularly when they’re just starting out.

If you set your rates at that level in the beginning, be sure to revisit them once you’ve acquired a few regular customers and established a solid reputation in your area.

What affects your earning potential as a mobile mechanic?

Virtually any side hustle’s earning potential is affected by multiple factors. The main ones that determine how much you can make as a mobile mechanic are:

The task at hand

How much you make will heavily depend on the tasks you perform. You won’t be able to charge as much for quick and easy tasks, such as oil changes.

If you can diagnose relatively tricky mechanical issues and repair them once you do, you’ll be able to charge much higher rates. Of course, the level of expertise you’ll need to do that kind of work is also much higher.

Your location

Where you live and work will affect how much customers are willing to pay and how much demand there’ll be for your services in general.

Urban areas generally see more demand for mobile mechanics, for the obvious reason that there are far more cars on the road. You’ll also probably be able to charge more on a per-job basis in big cities, which tend to be higher cost-of-living areas and where people are accustomed to paying more for services.

Your expenses

You’ll incur a lot of expenses, both when you first set up your mobile mechanic side hustle and on a day-to-day basis when you actually do the job. These will include:

• Fuel: Since mobile mechanics operate from their vehicles, gas will be one of the biggest expenses you’ll need to account for.
• Vehicle maintenance: Relatedly, you’ll be using your vehicle constantly, so some wear and tear is only natural. As a mechanic, you can, of course, fix up your vehicle yourself, but you may still need to buy extra parts or see a specialist for issues you’re not equipped to deal with.
• Equipment and storage: You’ll need a decent inventory of tools and equipment to get started (although you’ll need less if you’re fully mobile than if you also need to outfit a workshop). Depending on how bulky your equipment is, you might also need to rent storage space for some of it when it’s not in use.
• Licenses and insurance: As mentioned, you’ll need certain licenses and insurance for your business, both of which will set you back a ways.
• Taxes: As a self-employed mobile mechanic, you’ll be responsible for paying taxes on everything you make, just as all small businesses are. Fortunately, you’ll be able to claim your business expenses as tax deductions. This will decrease your overall tax burden (but not eliminate it).

You can expect your start-up costs, including equipment, a vehicle, and licensing, to total at least $5,000–$10,000. We’ll look at your unavoidable expenses as a mobile mechanic more closely below.

To get this side hustle rolling, you’ll need:

Essential equipment

We’ve listed the equipment you’ll need (at minimum) in the table below.

Required Equipment as a Mobile Mechanic

Again, that’s the absolute floor of what you’ll need. It’s possible to spend many thousands of dollars on equipment as a professional mechanic, but you don’t need to acquire everything on day one. It’s fine to pick up new tools as the need arises to cut down on your initial investment.

Vehicle

If you have a personal vehicle, you can use that to drive to jobs—but if at all possible, it’s better to have a dedicated van or truck for work. Your insurance (and taxes) will be simpler if you keep your personal and business assets completely separate.

This will also protect your everyday car from the wear and tear you’ll inflict on it by transporting heavy equipment all over the city on a daily basis.

You can either lease or buy a vehicle. Refer to the table below for a quick overview of both options.

Leasing vs. Buying as a Mobile Mechanic

Both options have their advantages and disadvantages. Don’t discount leasing out of hand—there’s a lot to be said for having access to a newer, more reliable van or truck.

With that said, buying can be a safer option if you’re not sure this side hustle will pan out, as you can sell your vehicle and recoup at least some of your money.

Licenses

As mentioned, mobile mechanics sometimes need to be licensed by the state or city they’re operating in. The exact license you’ll need (and how you’ll have to get it) will depend on where you live and plan on operating.

To use California (a notoriously tightly regulated state) as an example, independent mechanics must register with the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) as automotive repair dealers, which costs $200. Other states have no such requirements.

If you have trouble sussing out what licensure your state requires, get in touch with your local Chamber of Commerce or the nearest office of the Small Business Administration (SBA). They’ll point you toward the resources you need to learn more—and they’ll do it for free, which probably won’t be the case if you consult with an attorney.

Business registration

You’ll also need to decide what kind of legal entity you want to register your business as. This is technically not required, but if you don’t formally register at all, your operation will be classified by default as a sole proprietorship, which isn’t ideal.

As the owner of a sole proprietorship, you’ll be 100% responsible for your business’s legal liability, which means that if someone claims you damaged their car and takes you to court, your own assets will be on the line.

Most mobile mechanics register their businesses as limited liability companies (LLC). If you do, then as long as you keep your own assets separate from your business’s by using separate bank accounts, etc., your money and possessions will never be at risk.

Registering your business as an LLC means paying a filing fee and (potentially) an annual fee. These can range from just a few dozen dollars to hundreds of dollars; here again, this depends on your location.

Insurance

Getting appropriate insurance for your business is very important. As mentioned, you’ll need at least two types of insurance to be a mobile mechanic:

Insurance Required to Become a Mobile Mechanic

You may want to consider getting other insurance policies, too. For instance, some specialized tools that mechanics use can be fairly expensive, and it can be worth insuring them in case they get broken or go missing.

If you’re not sure what insurance to get, this is another topic you can reach out to your local Small Business Administration for advice on. This is arguably better than talking to an insurance agent, since the SBA has no incentive to sell you insurance that you don’t need.

This side hustle is a mixed bag. It can be very lucrative, but you’ll have to complete a lot of steps before you can actually start earning, and the initial investments you’ll need to make are a big barrier.

Realistically, given all the licenses and start-up costs associated with this gig, it probably isn’t worth getting into unless you’ve previously worked in an auto shop and have a lot of industry experience.

Becoming an independent mobile mechanic essentially means starting your own small business, and as you might already know, the majority of small businesses fail. Becoming a mobile mechanic can be worthwhile, but it isn’t something you should embark on without a clear plan and an appreciation for the risks involved.

If you’re still determined to start a mobile mechanic side hustle, follow these steps to launch your business and find customers:

1. Research the competition

Before you do anything else, take stock of the other automotive repair businesses in your area. It makes sense to focus on other mobile mechanics, but pay attention to regular mechanics as well. Take notes on:

• How much they charge for various services
• How they seem to set their prices (e.g., fixed rate, sliding scale based on the difficulty of the job, etc.)
• What tools and equipment they use
• How they market their services

Consider talking to your friends and family members about this; ask them what it was like the last few times they took their cars to the shop and what they’d like to see from a new mechanic business.

All of this will give you an idea of how to set your own prices and differentiate yourself from the competition, which you’ll need when you proceed to the next step.

2. Create a business plan

When you start any business, you need to create a solid business plan. This is a written document that outlines your:

• Goals: Set concrete objectives (e.g., making a certain amount of money, completing a certain number of jobs, etc.) so that you can objectively measure the success of your side hustle.
• Timeline: In addition to setting goals, come up with a timeline for how long achieving them should take (6 months, 1 year, etc.). Again, the idea is to give yourself something defined to shoot for so that you can tell if you’re on track or not.
• Strategy: Outline exactly how you plan on marketing your business—in other words, how you’ll get the word out there about your mobile auto repair services. You should also note what you’ll do to differentiate your business from your competitors, assuming, of course, that you aren’t the only mobile mechanic in your city.
• Rates: Using your research from the first step, write down exactly how much you plan on charging for any and all services you’ll provide, then write down these figures to make them official.
• Expenses: Copy down the list of expenses we included above and get specific, picking your tools, vehicle, insurance plan, etc. Come up with a hard number so that you know how much money you’ll need to spend in the beginning (which will also give you some idea of what earnings you’ll have to pull to break even).

If you decide to pursue outside investment—which you’ll need to do if your own funds aren’t sufficient to cover your initial expenses—then you’ll need to have a well-put-together business plan to convince people your fledgling operation is worth sinking money into.

Even if you’re planning on paying for everything yourself, it’s still worth creating a plan. Putting everything in writing will give you a clear road map to follow and objective metrics by which you can measure your success.

3. Secure funding and pay your initial expenses

Once you’ve got your business plan ready, it’s finally time to get started—for real.

If you’ve decided that you do, in fact, need to find investors, then visit prospective lenders with your business plan in hand. You can try securing funding from:

• Banks
• Credit unions
• The SBA’s loan programs
• Friends and family members

Use your business plan to explain what your competitive advantage is and why your operation would be a good investment.

Once you’ve obtained the funds you need, secure a suitable vehicle, insurance policy, tools, and equipment. If you’re planning on renting a workshop, garage, or storage space, do that, too.

You’ll also need to check the required licenses for your state, apply for them if necessary, and start the process of registering your business as an LLC. Once you’ve done that, contact the IRS to get a sales tax identification number.

4. Open a business bank account

You need to open a business bank account with credit card processing so you can receive payments from your customers. Talk to your bank about this; they’ll give you instructions on how to do it.

When you apply, you’ll need to provide several documents, including your:

• Social Security number
• Business’s license and registration
• Ownership agreements

Once your business has a bank account and is set up to receive payments, acquire bookkeeping software so that you can keep track of your finances. QuickBooks is arguably the most popular option in this space, and it’s available for devices running every major operating system (e.g., Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, etc.).

Alternatively, if you’re not confident you can handle this aspect of running a business yourself, or if you simply want to focus on the nuts and bolts of the job, you can look into hiring a freelance accountant or bookkeeper to take care of this for you.

5. Market your business

Now that you’ve finished setting up, you need to promote your mobile mechanic business and find customers. There are many different channels available to you, and you should take advantage of all of them:

• Social media: Post about your business on Facebook, Twitter/X, and any other social platforms you think your customers probably use. Don’t neglect slightly smaller platforms, such as Craigslist and Nextdoor.
• Paid ads: If you have the money for it, you can also consider buying ads (particularly locally targeted ads on Google, although here again, don’t neglect other popular websites).
• Your website: Your business should have a professional website that introduces your services and features a contact form so that customers can get in touch. You can hire someone to design your website or just do it yourself; platforms like WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix have affordable plans and are easy for beginners to use.
• Flyers & business cards: Physical marketing is another useful way to get your business noticed. Apps like Canva are useful for creating digital and physical promotional material.
• Promotions: Offer promotions to attract customers, get positive reviews, and spread the word. For instance, you could offer extra car-washing services or give discounts to customers who refer friends or family members.

You can also try looking for work on gig apps, such as Taskrabbit.

Mechanics tend not to use apps to find jobs as much as people in other industries (e.g., delivery drivers) because most take a cut of their workers’ earnings or slap on extra fees that customers have to pay. However, if you need money quickly, you may be able to find a few automotive jobs on them that are still worth taking.

You can always use gig apps in the beginning and then transition off of them later once you’ve established a solid reputation and feel you’ve outgrown them.