There HAS to be a reason...

So, the "Crazy off the wall idea" thread kicked my mind into gear once again and, once again, I got to thinking:

I would give various important parts of my anatomy to open/run an "Auto Hobby Shop".

I think if you had a decent sized garage space, with about 5 lifts, maybe 10 bays total, in a semi-well-to-do area with a lot of apartments (or better yet, a college campus) I think that you'd be in a position to make a few bucks.

You could stock the shop with simple things like a hydraulic press, parts cleaner, small paint room, maybe about 5 roll around tool boxes. (People would sign tools in/sign tools out) You could charge people hourly for garage space, more hourly for lift space, and just a bit daily for storage to keep their vehicles there and work on them...

Really, it'd give people the opportunity to work on cars when they'd otherwise be "not allowed to". (you know, because of apartment/parent rules) or it'd give people who have mechanical knowledge (who, say, cant afford a lift) the chance to save a few bucks by doing it themselves. Of course, you would offer advice, but would not work on the customer's car for them...

Its all shiny and happy when I think about it, right!? (You know, I could talk shop with random people, get more folks into auto-x, work on my projects all day...) But seriously, if it was all shiny and happy someone would have done it by now.

Aside from military bases, why are there no "Auto Hobby Shops" in the "real world"?

Thoughts?

Liability?

Lawyers.

I think denver has one thats open to the public - looked interesting...think it was posted on garage journal's forum few years back

I believe that is how Click and Clack started their shop. Was a hobby shop that they would help and give advice in. Spent more time giving "advice" than anything else, so they turned it into a normal repair shop eventually.

But I am sure the first "mechanic" that works under a car only supported by a jack (or at least his next of kin) would sue the crap out of the owner.

I figured "Liability" and "Lawyers" would be an issue, but would a waiver hold water if you were brought to court?

If you can make the liability work, I think it would really work.

You could only rent lift space, under the condition that you or an employee is the only one to load and unload lifts

This would stop the jackstand issue

In reply to Hungary Bill:

We had to sign one at the auto hobby shops on base.

Another reason Wisconsin is better than the rest of the world :)

http://handsongarage.com/

The pricing structure is not geared toward long term projects, but if you can swap a motor as fast as I've heard the Hongs can, it may be feasible.

We have this place: http://techshoprdu.com/

They had a lift when I visited for a walkthrough. Memberships are pretty spendy, though.

link to the address - not their site

I did some work here before. They had a couple hoists, a bunch of bays, a paint booth and piles of tools on loan. They charged a very reasonable hourly rate considering you could drive in with your parts only and they had everything else there you would need.

Liability and theft are the two big reasons I can think of. Another is ensuring that you can properly dispose of hazardous waste and don't have the EPA come down on you because a customer was a dumbass.

Buddy of mine actually had drawn up a business plan around this very concept, with the idea of people paying monthly membership dues rather than by-the-hour.

I've wondered if a club or membership program might be a way to at least partially work through some of the liability stuff. From a business perspective, going up market tends to deliver better margins than the downmarket cheapskates like myself - maybe more like storage for people's toys - track prep, basic maintenance, delivery and pick-up of said toys... It would basically be a real estate/warehouse business with a club room and maintenance as a add-on profit maker.

Wow!

I honestly didnt think an auto hobby shop existed outside of a military base!

So many mixed feelings all at once Like cool they exist, but where the hell was one when I needed to change my clutch in my Scottsdale right before my first week of finals at UT in San Antonio?

Man, I was up till 4am rolling around in my buddies dirt driveway trying to stack cinder blocks on my motorcycle jack to get more lift, then I ended up taking off the transfer case to shed enough weight to move it around!

I would kill for a place to rent a bay with a lift for a couple hours here and there. I've been fighting with my (incredibly well-built) aftermarket exhaust for a while now, and rolling around on the gravel driveway gets old really really fast.

I would love to have a lift... I have the garage, but the ceiling is too low

Wasn't this kind of arrangement a plot element of Christine?

There's one in Minneapolis: http://www.firstgeargarage.com/ I know a few people who've used them for working on their car and they enjoyed the experience; there's a tech session for the local BMW guys scheduled there later this spring I hope to attend.

There are a few other similar places around the country, here are a few:
http://www.doityourselfgarage.net/
http://diygarageca.com/
http://www.360okc.com/Automotive/AutoRepairService/TheShadeTreeDoItYourselfGarage.html

A formal state-registered not-for-profit club would be able to get the insurance necessary to handle that, I'd think.

Here is our local in Atlanta that does the track storage/prep/ lift deal

E3 Storage

I've had the same idea for a while (I grew up helping my dad at base hobby shops), but the start-up costs and finding investors/supporters/donors is not something I've ever done. To be honest, my interest would be to run it as a non-profit, truly hobbyist/enthusiast focused. If I could get something like that going and actually have it pay me even a modest wage, I'd be totally psych'd. I have tons of ideas for the place beyond offering space, tools, classes, and lifts. For example, I'd like to get old retired machinists, mechanics, engineers, etc. from local nursing homes and assisted living homes in there to teach, guide, assist, etc. I also love the idea of doing things like a car/bike/bicycle building competition, after hours concerts, weekend shows, offer long term storage, and a bunch of other ideas. Maybe one day... one day...

Y'all need to do it.

DO IT

We had one in Cincy for a while. It was called Painters Lane. Payed a yearly membership that came with a base package of lift time. If you went over your lift time there was an hourly fee. Had a dsdd paint booth that wasn't included in the base membership. I can't remember what it was per hour but man it was worth it. I Completely remade everything from the rockers down on my old 82 320is. Painted it in the booth, they had people from ppg come give seminars. It was really great. The original owner sold it to someone else after I finished my car and I don't think they stayed open very long after that. But it was awesome when I was there.

The concept has been around a long time. First I saw was early 80's where someone bought a closed service station (remember those?) and made it a pay by the hour lift.

When I was doing an MBA a couple years ago, another student did this as a hypothetical project for one of the classes, because he was interested in doing it for real. This was after the car market collapsed, so closed dealerships (reasonably priced, properly set up buildings) were plentiful and relatively cheap. We spent a lot of time poking holes in the idea, and came away realizing that they would be darn near impossible to sustain for a long time.

It's easy to get the idealized view of a few good friends sharing good times and everyone getting along.

What would your hours be? Hard to survive on weekend only. Who (what type of people) would use it mid-day midweek? How do you balance the slow times with the busy times so that you aren't paying for too much space?

How do you deal with tool rentals? With the guy that gets in over his head mid project? With the guy that needs "just a few more minutes" at closing time?

Parking outside? Fluids containment? Making sure that your clients don't kill themselves or the neighbor in the next bay? Is music allowed?

Who is allowed to use the wheel balancer and tire machine? Are you going to pay someone to be there to be the expert and do the work or be a teacher, or does everyone get to "learn" on the equipment? Remember, go beyond the coolness of your best buds hanging out there, and think about the guys you see wrenching at the U-Pull-It.

Lots of the same problems if it's a membership only. Someone running over their time, different personal levels of cleanliness, etc.

Not to say that it can't work, but it was a lot more complex and a lot more like work once we started to really pick the idea apart.

darkbuddha wrote: To be honest, my interest would be to run it as a non-profit, truly hobbyist/enthusiast focused.

Hmmmm, "non-profit" automotive hobby shop?

I may have to win the lottery first.