The presented photo is one example of organizing a business at a truck parking lot! There are more opportunities in this activity than you can imagine! This article will show the way from a theoretical idea to its practical implementation, because This article will provide detailed instructions for everyone interested: what and how to do and how to make profitable money.
The peculiarity of this type of entrepreneurship is that it is a multi-format business. What does it mean? And the fact that an oasis of physical and psychological relaxation should be created in the parking lot for truck drivers (more than half of whom are truckers). These people have been on the road in a state of extreme stress behind the wheel for quite a long time, and for many the road ahead remains long. This means that every effort should be made to turn a truck parking lot into a favorite place of real relaxation, where you can sleep well, eat deliciously and have a good rest.
There should be a cafe-dining room with delicious hot food, aromatic pastries, a rich assortment of drinks, cozy rooms for rest and sleep, a network of retail outlets for purchasing necessary things, a bathhouse, bathrooms, a car wash, as well as a gas station, a car service station, a pharmacy and doctor on duty, fire service, security - and many other social and welfare service centers.
How to create all this out of the blue, i.e. to open such a super-profitable business from scratch? Expert advice and recommendations from entrepreneurs from their own experience.
Where to begin
The first thing that is necessary is to choose an ideal location for organizing a parking lot for trucks.
Please pay attention to the fact that parking for trucks is often located outside the city limits near interregional and interstate highways.
Things to consider:
- It is advisable for such a parking lot to be located on a major interregional or international highway, but if only intracity areas are available, such places will also allow you to profitably experiment with the parking lot improvement strategies presented below;
- The parking area must be sufficient for the construction of all necessary social centers, gas stations and other facilities.
There is an option to rent an already prepared place. To do this, you must conclude a lease agreement with the owner. In this case, the cost part is reduced significantly, since the rent is paid monthly (yearly) over a long period.
The second way to acquire a parking space is to privatize (buy ownership) a plot of land from the state. The alternative is VERY expensive, but it lasts forever.
If, suddenly, the business idea does not justify itself (something has changed, interfered, etc.), then you, as the owner of this piece of land, can put it up for sale and recoup the money spent on the purchase.
Documenting
This business requires a fairly large staff of employees (at least 50 people), which means it will be necessary to register the station with the tax service as a Limited Liability Company (LLC). Those. you will need to collect a large package of necessary documents for registration, pay a state fee and wait the necessary time for data processing in the government service in order to obtain state permission (license) for such activities.
A truck parking station is a serious object, which is officially recorded on all road maps of the area and general guidebooks of the Russian Federation. The station location plan (project) should be agreed upon with local authorities, special federal services and other structures.
A detailed plan for the location of trucks on the territory of the parking complex must be developed:
What is included in such a project diagram:
- Indicate all parking spaces for trucks;
- The exact number of parking spaces and their location;
- Parking hours;
- Location of all other service areas.
- Only after receiving a warrant can work continue. And the second stage will be construction.
Features of construction of a parking lot for trucks
Conventionally, design engineers divide the entire territory for parking for trucks into the following parts:
- Truck parking area;
- Car refueling place;
- Car parking area + parking lot owner's office;
- Place of social services for drivers;
- Security service + fire department.
All service areas in this photo example have clear signs: a car wash, a service station, a gas station and other services.
The largest part of the parking lot (more than 50% of the total area) is the parking area for trucks.
Parking plan
Taking into account the fact that trucks are in most cases large-sized vehicles (and in some cases also carrying large-sized cargo), according to traffic regulations, the area for one parking space must be at least 7 meters. Such parallel parking spaces are located in one row along the border of the parking area. On the opposite edge you can also place parking spaces. Between these two rows there should be enough free space for transport to leave and enter.
Parking lot surface
The parking area is covered with a thick layer of asphalt and must be treated with an additional agent to prevent the absorption of petroleum products. The presence of a surface layer of such an oil-repellent mixture is checked by special government fire safety agencies and, if not treated, they issue a fine or may even close the parking lot.
For a cheaper way to treat asphalt, some entrepreneurs use a layer of gravel. Gravel does not absorb oil products, which does not create an additional fire hazard.
The asphalt must be laid out according to the dimensions of the trucks for convenient maneuvering of vehicles when arriving or leaving, as in the example:
Issues with lighting and shelter
Careful consideration should be given to effectively lighting the parking lot 24 hours a day. The operating light points are indicated in the plan diagram, as well as the power of the lamps used and the radius of the luminous flux.
If finances allow, then it will be quite effective to make a special shelter for the entire truck parking area. For these purposes, it is not necessary to use brick buildings with slate roofing. By the way, this approach does not justify itself either in financial costs or in practical factors.
It is more rational to use a tent covering - this inexpensive option will be an excellent escape from the sun, rain, snow, but under which a ventilated space is created (which is especially important for cars heated by many kilometers of road).
As mentioned above, the territory for this zone must occupy more than 50% of the total parking area. Since the second no less significant object in our specific business plan will be a gas station, we will allocate another 30% of the area to this area. The remaining 20% are areas for technical service, social services and recreation.
What is needed to build a gas station
The following photo example provides a rationalization idea for placing an additional car wash box at a gas station with a built-in terminal for paying for this service:
Refueling in the parking lot is necessary and worth it. This part of the business plan will have to be drawn up separately from the general legalization of the parking lot company. The corresponding package of documents should be submitted to the Ministry of Fuel and Energy and request permission to open a gas station and store fuel and lubricants.
When all the permitting papers have been received, you need to spend money on the following important details:
- Purchase of gas filling machines (at least 5 pcs.);
- Purchase of a central computer that controls the refueling process.
- All that remains is to conclude agreements with suppliers of fuel and lubricants, hire workers - and start providing car refueling services.
Organization of service for drivers and vehicles
The photo shows a list of parking services.
What is included in the recreation area is not difficult to understand. The larger this area is, the higher the daily profit and overall profitability of the enterprise will be. The construction of a mini-hotel, cafe, store is not just a whim of an entrepreneur, which he carries out, driven by an indomitable desire to become a millionaire. These are natural necessities in this type of activity!
A truck driver will stop at a parking lot only in those places where he can have a tasty snack, relax, check the technical serviceability of the car, and refuel. If all these services are not available, then your potential client will simply pass by.
Each of the above-mentioned social service facilities requires careful calculation of costs and payback. Let's try to briefly characterize the main aspects of their activities.
Cafe
The area of this object can be small - only about 50 m2, where you can place up to 10 tables. It’s good to take into account the summer option: another + 10m2 (that’s 3 more tables). Must have its own kitchen, mini-bakery, vegetable warehouse and refrigeration units.
The working staff of a small cafe consists of a cook and two sales assistants and waiters.
The external design of a cafe is the business card of a catering outlet. If it’s homely, warm, beautiful, and especially delicious, then potential clients will be in a great mood and will be happy to try many of the cuisine’s dishes. And this will greatly replenish your finances!
Mini Hotel
If, according to preliminary forecasts, the number of clients will be insignificant and only from time to time, it is quite possible to get by with a small house with 4-5 rooms as a mini-hotel, i.e. places where tired drivers can rest before the road.
When the parking lot is located on an international highway, and the number of parking spaces reaches 50. - it is advisable to build a hotel with several floors and at least 30 beds.
There should be an administrator who will register visitors and check them in, as well as a technical worker (the number of this service staff is determined depending on the size of the hotel), whose responsibilities include putting things in order, replacing and washing bed linen and other tasks.
The initial costs of opening a hotel will be as follows:
- Purchasing furniture;
- Purchase of bed linen, towels and other accessories;
- Purchase of necessary hygiene, detergents and other disinfectants;
- Interior design of the hotel, lobby, rooms.
It will be very convenient both from the point of view of clients and for an entrepreneur to build a hotel near a cafe (you can even combine these two objects under one roof). Construction costs will be less, and the effect will be greater, since the unwritten axiom always applies to the human body: “I ate tasty and satisfying - now I want to sleep!”
Shop
The presence of a manufactured goods shopping center in the parking lot will be very useful. The range of products here is designed to suit various consumer needs: from clothing, household goods to small souvenirs and gifts. The advantage of such a retail outlet is that it is still a long way to travel to a city with multi-storey supermarkets.
2 sellers can do the job quite well here. Their tasks may include the formation of a product range, i.e. order for planned purchases and settlements with suppliers. At the end of the reporting period, they are required to prepare a financial report to the parking lot accountant. Although, if desired, an accountant can independently control trade turnover and work with suppliers.
Car wash + car maintenance
For example, as in the photo - a garage-type room with a sufficient set of repair and adjustment equipment used.
To implement this task, a garage-type structure consisting of two blocks is quite suitable: a car service station with an inspection pit and the necessary special equipment + car washes.
The following people work here: auto technician - 2 people, car wash - 1 person.
An excellent solution to combine a service station with a car shop: on the road quite often situations arise when you need to buy something for your car - and this can easily be done at a car service station in your parking lot + get a comprehensive consultation from a car mechanic.
Additional parking staff
Among those workers, without whom normal, high-quality work at your parking lot simply will not take place, it is worth mentioning:
- Security service - 2 people;
- Medical worker on duty - 1 person;
- Parking lot accountant - 1 person.
Security work should be supplemented with video surveillance equipment and a personal computer - such a move will strengthen customer confidence.
A medical worker can additionally open a small point of sale in his office for the most necessary medications: for headaches, stomach disorders, heart pain, etc.
The accountant’s responsibilities include drawing up and submitting tax reports within the specified time frame for all types of business activities carried out in the parking lot. The accountant calculates the final profit of the enterprise, calculates the wages of employees and other debt obligations.
Actually, the position of an accountant and a parking lot director can be combined (provided, of course, that the director has a special economic education and the desire + time to run around government agencies in order to submit reports). If not, then you need to remember that the financial success of the entire enterprise depends on the quality of the accountant’s work by more than 50%.
Since the importance of professionalism and responsibility, as well as the integrity of this employee is so great, it is worth thinking carefully about the question of who to entrust with the accounting of the parking lot. It is advisable to entrust the finances of your business to a person whom you completely trust.
Tax reporting of car parking
So, what taxes and how much will your parking lot company pay to the state?
The simplest and most accessible thing at first is to apply for a simplified taxation system, which means paying the state only 6% of average monthly revenue. There is another tax tariff - pay 15% of the difference between gross income and the cost part for the reporting period (month). Practice will show which method is more beneficial for you.
Over time, when the parking lot company gets stronger and income grows to more than 60 million rubles per year, while the staff of more than 100 people increases, as well as the cost of fixed assets to 100 million rubles - by law this enterprise is obliged to switch to the basic tax system obligations (OSNO).
In addition to more serious tax payments, this system also has beneficial advantages:
- There are no restrictions on the types of activities that an entrepreneur conducts in parallel with parking services;
- There is no limit to the amount of revenue;
- You can expand the working area, the value of fixed assets (property), the number of employees ad infinitum;
- In the case when a company results in a negative reporting period (i.e., receives a loss), it is possible not to pay income tax and reduce the tax in the future by the amount of the loss.
If compared with less expensive taxation systems, then with UTII the total amount of tax does not depend on the size of the actual profit, and with the simplified tax system the tax is paid on revenue.
All tax accounts are closed indicating the enterprise code OKVED. If you plan to open only a parking lot (service station + car wash included by default), then your OKVED will look like: 52.21.24.
If any of the above additional types of services do exist, then you should find out about your exact OKVED code from the tax authority.
Parking profitability for the reporting period
The demand for a special parking lot for heavy trucks is obvious.
According to statistics, as well as from the practical experience of car park owners, the amount of profit per month can reach up to 340,000 rubles. This is the revenue from 50 daily serviced trucks that stop at your parking lot.
The gross cost of maintaining a parking lot (excluding additional services) will be about 170,000 rubles.
Net profit per month is equal to: Gross income - Gross expense - 6% simplified taxation system of the income received for payment to the tax office.
Total we get: 340,000 - 170,000 - 10,200 = 159,800 rubles per month.
Parting words for aspiring businessmen
Building a business plan for a truck parking lot is an important and responsible procedure.
You need to strive to ensure that your parking lot becomes a favorite resting place for truck drivers and has at least the same occupancy of trucks every day! Photo12St
Here you should definitely take into account:
- Experience and useful advice from other entrepreneurs involved in this field;
- It is necessary to consult with legal experts (laws change, and what was correct ten years ago may today be a serious violation and have punitive consequences);
- Receive comprehensive answers to all questions that arise from state control services.
Even in the theoretical elaboration of this business idea, not the slightest aspect should be missed so that the plan of the prescribed work turns out to be accurate.
What your parking lot for heavy trucks could look like in its simplest design - watch this video. Please note that even in such a small area, they still found a place for a tire service + car wash pavilion; there are small buildings for a mini-hotel, a cafe, and an office. Of course, this example is not a luxury service, but all the basic services for truck drivers and trucks can be provided here:
Needless to say, real actions during the actual opening of a truck parking lot! When the plans outlined on paper are brought to life, the most unforeseen difficulties arise. If in a few years you analyze your entire business path at the beginning of entrepreneurship and compare the documentary and practical stages, then the difficulties in drawing up a plan on paper will seem like “just flowers” in comparison with the subsequent steps of implementing this business plan.
You should be prepared for such situations from the very beginning and not take a single step away from achieving your dreams. Only the one who walks will master the road and achieve his goals!