The Legal Side of Owning and Running a Gas Station Business

The legal side of taking over a gas station business is pretty daunting. The key to managing it is simply to be prepared, do your homework, had have a business lawyer working with you, preferably one who has experience with gas station busniess purchases or leases. Ideally, they should have worked with gas station owners on managing the various legal requirements for ownership and operation of the facility. Ask around, check references, see who in your community best fits the bill on this.

Once you have made the decision to go into the gas station business for yourself, though, you need to think about some of the legal implications of your decision as well as the particulars of what you are getting into industry-wise. You have to think about the type of company you are going to establish and exactly what form your business model is going to take.

Types of Companies

The first issue you need to address, from a legal standpoint, is the type of business you want to set up. Because you are going to be running a gas station business – a particular kind of business – you need to set up a separate legal entity for the business. In other words, the option for you to go into business, as a gas station business owner, in the capacity of a ‘sole proprietor’, just isn’t available to you.

What you’re left with, then, are three general types of legal entities – the corporation, the limited liability company, or the partnership.