Wonderful, thank you for your reply.
Say, if I could trouble you further..
Can you give me a rough estimate of how many transmissions you repaired in a given year and the aproximate population of the city or town you were located in? Did you ever try to arrive at an average of when they failed exactly?
I really wanted to specialize here. Deal specifically with transmissions. It would cut down on the parts inventory and specialized equipment significantly.
I honestly don't have much interest in being a catch all mechanic.
The business was in a Chicago suburb of ~ 85,000 with several other tranny shops including at least 3 national chains.
All the shops (including the chains) did some general repair.
Failure seemed to be linked to the "towing season"; people towing boats and trailers during summer vacations or off roading in water and not changing their fluid.
You'll find you don't need much in specialized equipment and inventory costs for tranny parts are very small.
If you decide to also do general repair, most parts are ordered on an on needed basis.
Again, good luck!