business idea advice

looking at all the cool garage pics on this and other forums lately (especially he ones with a lift!) has me thinking that i need more work space, and the usual responses to the crazy cool $2011 ad offers on here (man i wish i had the room, tools, equipment etc to do that) made me think others out there may have the same issue.

so what if one were to try to assist those who want to do more of there own wrenching for a race car or dd but don't have the space or equipment to do it? (maybe they live in a restricted use community or condo) what if you built a heated, secure, and equipped garage space with several work bays in a reasonably sized warehouse type space and maybe charged a membership fee or something to get access to the work area and maybe a little more for full time storage space (for people who have race teams, ongoing prject cars, etc....).

would people actually go for that? if so, what would the threshold be fee wise to make something like that worth it to you? am i crazy? has this been proposed/ tried before?

I've heard of them before. My only concern would be the cost of the liability insurance. I'm thinking it would be through the roof.

Yeah, it's been done. I don't know of anyone who has made it work long-term though (I'm sure some have though). I understand insurance is a killer. There's a shop I used to work at that allows folks to come in. Nobody does though. He charges $25/hour for a lift, $15 or $20 for a flat stall.

In reply to Toyman01:

do you remember the names and locations? i'd love to look into this deeper. especially if there are working examples. but you are right. liability insurance probably would be the biggest concern.

Not off the top of my head. There was a guy on here for a while that either had one or was a member of one. I want to say it was in Indiana or maybe Michigan. I think it worked more like a private club with monthly dues.

The very first word that comes into my head when I hear this idea is "insurance." I don't want to be Dudley Downer, because on the surface it's a really great plan that a lot of people could benefit from, but DEFINITELY talk to a good lawyer (maybe one with a Miata) at a very early stage. I can't count the various ways this scenario could potentially bite you in the butt. Suppose some guy's car spontaneously catches fire in one of the bays while nobody's there, or somebody whose ambitions exceed his knowledge & skills does something stupid with a welder or a fuel tank (or, heck, maybe both): whose insurance pays for everybody's damage? Yours? Did your underwriter know everything you were going to do (or everything your tenants/partners/members/whatever were going to do) in the facility? Did he know in writing, or will he forget you told him when he sees how much it's going to cost? What if somebody gets hurt, and claims it was your fault?

This is one of those "proceed with extreme caution" deals, I think.

A quick google search came up with this place in New Jersey.

http://www.performancegarageclub.com/

As said before, insurance is killer. But if you can bulletproof yourself, the next biggest thing is the people who don't respect the service you are trying to provide. Again, if you can clear the insurance hurdle, the simpler the better! Most of the ones I have seen open up close because they offer too much. I really think if you were to offer an "enclosed" stall, with or without a lift, to work in with a single air hookup is the best. Everything else they have to supply.

Toyman01 wrote: Not off the top of my head. There was a guy on here for a while that either had one or was a member of one. I want to say it was in Indiana or maybe Michigan. I think it worked more like a private club with monthly dues.

I thought it was CO or NM...

There was one started in Cincinnati called Painter's Lane. They tried to cover it all and eventually closed in under a year.

Think big. What if your garage had not only the normal garage stuff and sheet metal fabrication equipment, but also a lathe, mill, 3-D printer.

Google "hackerspace"......do that.

Beware of one of these driving itself into the building late at night

I think a GRMer named Kendall Jones was trying something like this in Detroit(?).

A place like that existed in Sterling, VA. http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/blogs/article/do_it_yourself_auto_mechanics_in_sterling_va_-_your_new_garage/

It closed earlier this year

Here's a place in Minneapolis: http://www.firstgeargarage.com/ If you do a google search on "do it yourself garage" a number of other locations around the country pop up.

There is/was an auto storage club around Dallas that let owners do some limited repairs on site, but I think the club also offered race prep services through the company. There was also a shop in Cali for bikes where owners could work on stuff. I had been thinking of a storage club where the company may do delivery/pick-ups, tune up kind of things... Seems like there are a lot of cars just sitting in storage places that don't offer much of anything specific to wring for cars.

I only have a 2 car garage full of Corvette stuff but I still do all my work at home or at the farm shop even though there is a DIY Garage less than 10 minutes from my house. The big thing keeping me out of DIY Garages is the what-ifs? What if I snap a bolt? What if I misdiagnose my problem and I cant drive away? What if the part the parts store gave me is wrong?

I don't want to rush, and pay-by-the-hour certainly encourages that. The simple jobs I would consider going to a DIY garage for I do at home in my driveway or garage. The hard jobs that would make sense to do at a shop, I do at home, they just take longer because I don't have a lift. Plus all my tools are at home. All my specialty tools are at home. All my weird oddball parts are at home. I would not want to be half way through a job and find out that it would be a lot easier if I had brought with a special socket or ratchet that I have at home. I have my tools organized the way I want them and am comfortable with them. Working in a foreign shop is always a nightmare.

Way long time ago here in Columbia, there was a guy who had a Mom' n Pop parts place and he rented stalls so the local goobs could work on their cars. I do not kow what if any insurance he may have had, but his #1 complaint was there was always some guy in over his head and he'd wind up with a dead car blocking a bay.

This comes up every now and again.

Military bases have them.

I think Click and Clack tried it when they first started wrenching...IIRC they've referenced it before.

Unfortunately I think it's a bad idea all around (from a business perspective).

-James

I always thought about this and my boss and I at work kicked it around quite abit.

You would need an in house parts store and lease a few stalls to a competent local mechanic, (in exchange for comparable rent help him with his books etc.)

Have a few stalls to rent out and a storage area.

Maybe work in some college towns and metro areas

There is a place here in Gwinette called "Fixed by U Garage" that works that way. It shares a common building with a mobile mechanic's garage and so it is likely it is part of the same business (although it's possible they may be two separate companies renting space in the same building). I don't know how successful it is, just that it is currently staying open.

Don't forget zoning and complaint issues. People quite regularly flip out when they see a few cars, especially with their hoods up. God help you when one sits outside without a tag on it.

Yes, some areas and some people are more tolerant than others.

Many a storage locker place turns a blind eye to things that happen in that locker, when the door is closed. Many a business work out of them, as do many a car restorer.

Lawyers ruin everything, eh?

all great info. thanks for the responses.

i was thinking more about it last night. specifically insurance and you are right that this offers lots of potential hazards for an owner.

dealing with some of the other issues seems less burdensome. finding a completely enclosed warehouse space next to an parts store and a few blocks from a train station would make most of them go away. or at least mitigate most of the hurdles associated with people getting in over their heads.

i am in no way sure i want to do it as the money for startup costs isnt exactly cheap or readily available, but if it vets out........who knows!

I know that they are trying this in London, where garage space is almost non-existant. I see so many small, 2-bay gas stations sitting empty around here...seems like they could be put to some good use right?

I got banned from the local car forums for offering to pay "$1 a minute" for access to a lift.

They banned me after a E36 M3storm erupted when they found out it was to paint over a scrape that would take less than 10 minutes