Self Service Garage
12-15-2011, 04:26 PM
#1
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Self Service Garage
Autos.MSN.com link
Seems like an interesting concept.
Those lucky enough to live in Kent, Wash., can sidestep the backyard MacGyver session altogether and simply pull into a bay at the Self-Service Garage. The facility not only rents service bays -- with or without posture-saving lifts -- but also maintains a full complement of tools and diagnostic hardware on site to assist do-it-yourselfers in their quest for savings and automotive self-sufficiency. You can bet that if I resided in Kent I'd be all over this place in the colder months -- not to mention anytime I need the aid of a lift.
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12-15-2011, 04:45 PM
#4
mkturbo.com
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We have a local place that will allow you to rent a bay. I think it is like $45 for the day or something.
From what I have heard there are liability issues with renting out space.
From what I have heard there are liability issues with renting out space.
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12-15-2011, 04:56 PM
#6
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Do-It...794294?sk=info
This is a local place that does the same thing. I've never been there, and it may or may have not closed down.
This is a local place that does the same thing. I've never been there, and it may or may have not closed down.
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12-15-2011, 05:06 PM
#7
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-cars disabled on racks
-untold liability for improperly applied expert advice
-paying someone to rack the car, or dealing with idiots dropping cars off the racks
-paying someone to clean up the inevitable massive oil/coolant spills
-paying someone to watch the sinks like a hawk, lest some idiot customer tries to pour 6 quarts of 10w30 down one
The article says the place still has experts on call, so from what I can gather you have all of the overhead of a normal repair shop with half the income. Brilliant.
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12-15-2011, 05:09 PM
#8
Seems feasible with 2 caveats. The shop would need:
1. A stone cold waiver of liability policy for death, personal injury, and property damage.
2. A hard and fast non-payment tow policy. IE, all days are paid in advance, car and all personal items are removed and towed at owner's expense within 12 hours.
1. A stone cold waiver of liability policy for death, personal injury, and property damage.
2. A hard and fast non-payment tow policy. IE, all days are paid in advance, car and all personal items are removed and towed at owner's expense within 12 hours.
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12-15-2011, 05:13 PM
#9
-lost tools
-cars disabled on racks
-untold liability for improperly applied expert advice
-paying someone to rack the car, or dealing with idiots dropping cars off the racks
-paying someone to clean up the inevitable massive oil/coolant spills
-paying someone to watch the sinks like a hawk, lest some idiot customer tries to pour 6 quarts of 10w30 down one
The article says the place still has experts on call, so from what I can gather you have all of the overhead of a normal repair shop with half the income. Brilliant.
-cars disabled on racks
-untold liability for improperly applied expert advice
-paying someone to rack the car, or dealing with idiots dropping cars off the racks
-paying someone to clean up the inevitable massive oil/coolant spills
-paying someone to watch the sinks like a hawk, lest some idiot customer tries to pour 6 quarts of 10w30 down one
The article says the place still has experts on call, so from what I can gather you have all of the overhead of a normal repair shop with half the income. Brilliant.
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12-15-2011, 05:14 PM
#10
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Tom & Ray, of Car Talk fame, operated a self-service garage in the late 1970s, when "empowerment" was in vogue. It was called the Hacker's Haven.
In Ray's biography, he notes:
In Ray's biography, he notes:
So there we were, Monique and I, in Bennington, Vermont, freezing all of our appendages off. At about the same time, Tom became self-unemployed. He was basically a bum, and he spent his days hanging out in Harvard Square drinking coffee. I knew the best way to keep him out of trouble was to get him working, and Mom called me every day, begging me to rescue him. We decided to open Hacker's Haven to save Tommy from a life of vagrancy. This was the time when everyone was working on his own car, so we thought, and our idea was to open a garage where people could do their own work and we'd rent space and tools to them.
We knew our idea was brilliant and thought we'd have wheelbarrows full of money to show for it. Of course, the do-it-yourselfers who came in were such klutzes that we felt sorry for them, and we'd end up working on their cars for $2.50 an hour, which is what they were paying to supposedly do their own work. So we ended up fixing all the cars that came in. I mean, if some poor chump is spending all day trying tochange his spark plugs, you can't help but give him a hand. Consequently, we ended up helping everyone all the time, and we made no money at all.
We knew our idea was brilliant and thought we'd have wheelbarrows full of money to show for it. Of course, the do-it-yourselfers who came in were such klutzes that we felt sorry for them, and we'd end up working on their cars for $2.50 an hour, which is what they were paying to supposedly do their own work. So we ended up fixing all the cars that came in. I mean, if some poor chump is spending all day trying tochange his spark plugs, you can't help but give him a hand. Consequently, we ended up helping everyone all the time, and we made no money at all.
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12-15-2011, 05:21 PM
#13
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One of my buddies wants to open up something like this, but I'm the wet blanket that's trying to talk him out of it, citing all the reasons above - liability being the chief one. It's a nice concept in theory, but if it's open to any dipshit off the street, I can see massive problems developing.
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12-15-2011, 05:47 PM
#14
Proof: http://www.fiygarage.com/home/fiy_garage-home.php
Local fiy to me, I dont know exactly when it closed, but It was open maybe a year? if that. I know it opened around February last year, so somewhere between 4 months and 8 months? I dunno, Point is it failed.
Local fiy to me, I dont know exactly when it closed, but It was open maybe a year? if that. I know it opened around February last year, so somewhere between 4 months and 8 months? I dunno, Point is it failed.
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12-15-2011, 05:47 PM
#15
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https://www.facebook.com/pages/Do-It...794294?sk=info
This is a local place that does the same thing. I've never been there, and it may or may have not closed down.
This is a local place that does the same thing. I've never been there, and it may or may have not closed down.
A new one opened up not far away from there, SportsCar Shop Inc.
http://sportscarshopinc.com/garageclub.html
I understand they have one or two employees from the one that closed down. Sounds like a nice place and I hope they can stay in business. It's nice to have access to a lift sometimes.
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12-15-2011, 08:07 PM
#20
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That one went out of business. And it's worth pointing out that the City of Falls Church, Loudoun County and Fairfax County are ranked #1, #2, and #3 in the nation in median income. There are a bunch of car clubs in the area, and people have the money to spend on shops like this if they want. They can be a great resource for the DIY'er, but the fact that one failed in this relatively affluent area suggests that there are flaws with the business model.
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