Self Service Garage
 

Autos.MSN.com link

Seems like an interesting concept.

I can't even count the number of ways this goes horribly wrong for the owner of that place. I give it 6 months.

Interesting, why do you say this Sav?

From what I've been told, this is a common thing in Europe. It baffles me how it would work fine there, but not here.

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.

Auto hobby shop facilities like this exist on most decent sized military bases. You can check out (rent) tools from the tool room also.

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.

-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. :hustler:

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.

Sounds like when my friends come over and use my garage/lift at the house. One of them had a car on the lift for 3 months while coming to work on it only 4 hours a week and I still can't find that damn deep socket 14mm. Grrr

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:

DON'T DRIVE LIKE MY BROTHA.










i

There's a place in the Denton Barrio that rents shop space and a lift, I plan to do my next clutch job there.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I also forgot to note, The fiy near me was very in touch with the local car groups. It was wife/husband run and run by one of 3 top time setters for our local autocrosses. They were also very good with the local news to spread information about the place.

I can imagine it being pretty hard to find insurance for an opperation like that. If you could it would cost big.

Explain...

I would draw the opposite conclusion. My first thought is, any business model is only as good as its operators. I see that with restaurants all the time. After your input on the affluence of the area, I would think a "DIY" place would see less demand than a "full service" type place.

Well It seems to work out fine on base.

If your car is left on the lift, they have all your info, and it is 6 dollars an hour while it is left on the lift.

The guys all tell you that you are on your own, and you sign something saying such.

Assholes dropped their car once. Everyone pretty much laughed at them, then proceeded to jump in with jacks and angry fists. It was all signed at the beginning, saying the shop was not responsible for asshattery. Although, the guy at the tool counter will gladly show you how to rack your car.

Oil/coolant spills are dealt with by telling you that the mess has to be cleaned, and disposed of before your hourly rate is done with. Proper disposal facilities and recepticals are provided...

You would get your ass chewed for dumping oil in the sink, and perma banned.

Really, there is no expert. That is the down side. There are just 2 guys watching you, and lending out tools. The expert advise is the hole in the beautiful theory the way I see it. It works out well, but the military crowd is far different from the jackhole ricer that might roll his 500 dollar car in pissing oil everywhere and blaming the guys for not helping him fix it. I think it is only possible when someone can call someone really high up, that can make your life hell, and tell them you were a douche pickle.

The good is there is always people there, some that know more, and some that know less, always willing to lend a hand even though their timer is ticking. Esprit de Corps I guess.

Plus.... the main thing, Is that they aren't in it to make money. I suspect that something similar would cost 15-20 dollars an hour in the civilian side, if not more. Also, car storage is 4 dollars a day if it isn't in a bay, but you continue to pay the hourly rate if it is left there. You also only have like 2-3 weeks before they take your crap for not paying. They don't play.

This is a nice idea, and a good reason to join the military.

That's exactly what came to my mind, I assumed it was an American phenomenon when I read it originally.

Yes a liability nightmare, you have those who don't have any tools or facilities at home doing who knows what on their car. I spent $200 on a 20x12 tent and laid a patio stone floor in my back yard to have storage / garage facilities at my first place where I put my car together. If these people can't figure cheap garage space out how are they (general clientèle) going to competently work on their cars and not lose things or not pay for space.

I foresee a new show "Storage wars: DIY Autoshop" following the widespread rollout of these shops.

And there's the rub.

In the civilian legal system, as soon as someone (especially an individual in a position of "authority" such as a shop owner) steps in and starts telling you what to do, that person has assumed liability for your actions.

Can you tell me how far a lawsuit would get if an enlisted soldier attempted to sue the on-base, non-profit military DIY auto shop for negligence? :giggle:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_(1983_film)

The hobby shop is one of the few things I really miss about the military. I use to be there enough they knew my name and what was on my car or buddies cars half the time. I could probably buy a lift for what I spent there over the years. Wish civilian ones could be the same. They won't be. Liability and idiots never mix. Chicksdigmiatas pretty much summed up the atmosphere there. Hell, I can't even find anyone local that even wants to hang in a garage for an afternoon on the civilian side. Course I don't get out much either.

The best part about working on a car is letting it sit on the lift for days, blasting B52s or Zeppelin while I smoke a cigar waiting for the PBBlaster to work, and getting pissed off to the point I start throwing things. I don't think I could handle the community atmosphere of a shop like that.

It sure wouldn't at all. You are held responsible for your own actions here. Not once you cross out of the gate. You can play the whiny sue happy card any day of the week. I was mainly highlighting why it works on base, and why it would not work in any other situation really.

Over here it is quite common with DIY-places. You can rent a lift and some larger equipment such as the tank to drain your oil in, jacks or similar. They never provide hand tools though. It is a quite popular alternative, since hourly labor at the dealerships is very expensive and during winter, working in your driveways isn't really an option.

But as we know, ther is a major difference is legal systems.

I joined the military to work on my car!!!!

HURRRRRRRR DURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I work at a naval facility and we have one of these shops. It's really great to be able to rent a lift. I think it would be really awesome if somebody could make it work for the public. Maybe make it a club thing, so you have to be a member to use it, then you only have to insure members, you'll have all of their contact information.

I'm pretty sure the only way a LOT of things in the military work is that they don't have to worry about making a profit.

I have a coast guard friend that offered to get me into the service bays whenever I'd need to.


ScottFW, if you want a scissor lift and/or 4 post lift for your garage my parent's neighbor is selling his.