RecBusiness Ready.
Exactly how I set up my mobile repair business.
I'm Mike — a mechanic, and the guy building RecWrench. This week I made my own mobile operation legit, start to finish, and wrote down every step, every dollar, and every gotcha while doing it. $227.50 in real receipts so far. Insurance quoted at $237/month — I buy it the day the app launches, not a day sooner.
My one evening, with receipts: filed the FDACS repair registration online and paid $102.50 with the card fee — about 20 minutes. Applied for the county Business Tax Receipt right after — another 20, pending review. The LLC and EIN I already had. The rest of this page is exactly what I learned doing it, in the order you should do it.
1. LLC — $125, one time
File Articles of Organization at sunbiz.org. The LLC walls your house and personal money off from the business — a lawsuit or a wrecked customer car stops at the company. Mine filed electronically and was official in three days. Then:
• Free EIN at irs.gov (5 minutes).
• Open a separate business bank account immediately. Mixing personal and business money is how LLC protection gets pierced in court.
• Florida wants a $138.75 annual report every year by May 1 — miss it and the late fee is $400. Set the reminder now.
Mistake I made so you don't have to: I got my EIN through a third-party filing site that charges for it. The number's real, but the IRS gives the exact same thing free in five minutes. Go straight to irs.gov.
2. The state license most mobile guys don't know exists — I filed mine tonight
Florida's Motor Vehicle Repair Act requires anyone doing paid car repair — mobile mechanics included — to register with the Florida Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (FDACS). For a 1–5 person operation it's $100 for a 2-year registration ($50/yr rate, billed two years at once — mine came to $102.50 with the card fee). File at the FDACS licensing portal — create an account, pick Motor Vehicle Repair, about 20 minutes. No test, no inspection.
Skip it and you're exposed two ways: fines, and customers can legally refuse to pay you. A hundred bucks for two years. Just do it.
Gotcha nobody warns you about: the application makes you UPLOAD a copy of your estimate and invoice forms, and they must carry the exact customer-rights language from s. 559.905. I had a compliant form built before filing — have yours ready or the application stalls right at the finish.
The same law protects you too: written estimates required over $150, no exceeding the estimate by more than $10 or 10% without customer sign-off. The RecWrench app does this paperwork automatically — every estimate line your customer approves is your paper trail.
3. County Business Tax Receipt — ~$30–100/yr — applied the same night
The old "occupational license," from your county tax collector (Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco…). I did mine through Pasco's online BTExpress in about 20 minutes. What it actually asked me for:
• Proof of the FDACS registration (upload the payment confirmation if your certificate hasn't arrived)
• Your filed Articles of Organization — downloadable free from your Sunbiz record ("View image in PDF format")
• EIN, business description, and a classification — NAICS 811111 (General Automotive Repair) is the code for what we do
• Your title: an LLC owner is "Managing Member" · employee count includes you, so a solo op is 1 · home-based mobile = leave the real-estate/tangible property numbers blank
If you live in one county and wrench in three, one phone call to the tax collector settles whose receipt you need.
4. Insurance — I quoted mine at $237/month
What I actually did: quoted through biBerk (Berkshire Hathaway's small-business arm) — one of the few carriers with a real "Mobile Auto Mechanic" category, so you're priced as a guy with a van, not a building full of lifts. My quote: $1M liability + $120,000 garagekeepers + tools coverage = $236.89/month. For comparison: NEXT couldn't write garagekeepers at all, and Progressive Commercial is still the place for the van's commercial auto policy when you pick your work vehicle.
The trap: a regular liability policy excludes the customer's car while you work on it — the exact thing you touch all day. That's why mechanics carry a stack:
| Coverage | What it saves you from | Runs about |
|---|---|---|
| General liability ($1M) | Everything that isn't the car — the driveway, the trip hazard | $40–60/mo |
| Garagekeepers | THE customer's car in your hands | $40–80/mo |
| Commercial auto | Personal policies deny claims when the van is working | $100–200/mo |
| Tools & equipment | Your box walks off a driveway | $15–30/mo |
Solo = no workers comp needed in Florida (starts at 4+ employees). When you call an agent, say exactly this: "garage liability with garagekeepers for a mobile repair operation" — Progressive Commercial, NEXT, biBERK, or a local independent all write it, and the quotes come back apples to apples.
Customers ask "are you insured?" before they book. Saying yes — a million dollars wins jobs. It's marketing, not just protection.
5. Touch A/C? EPA 609 — federal, ~$25
No Section 609 certification, no buying refrigerant — that one's federal. Online test, one evening, one time. While you're at it: parts stores take used oil free, and batteries/tires are handled when you buy replacements.
Taxes, the 5-minute version
• Florida sales tax: if a repair includes any parts, the entire bill — parts and labor — is taxable. Labor-only jobs are exempt. Register free at floridarevenue.com.
• Federal: you're self-employed — quarterly estimates, and track everything: mileage between jobs, tools, phone, insurance premiums. All deductible.
• A once-a-year accountant ($300–500) beats an expensive mistake.
The math
| LLC filing — paid | $125 |
| EIN + business bank account | $0 (don't pay a filing site) |
| FDACS repair registration — paid | $102.50 / 2 yrs |
| County business tax receipt — applied, fee pending | ~$50/yr |
| Insurance — quoted (biBerk), buying at launch | $237/mo |
| EPA 609 (if A/C) — later | ~$25 once |
| Spent so far | $227.50 |
The paperwork nights are shorter than a water pump job.
Not on the crew yet? Founding pros in Tampa Bay get free months to start, jobs come straight to your phone, and you keep 100% — see how it works or watch the crew grow.
This is general information, not legal, tax, or insurance advice — confirm your situation with a licensed professional. Figures are typical ranges for solo Florida mobile operators as of mid-2026 and change over time. Sources include FDACS (fdacs.gov, Motor Vehicle Repair), Florida Statutes 559.904, and published carrier pricing guides.