27 replies to this topic

[LuckyThe1275]

Hi all,

Just a quick poll for you all.

I saw a place in London offering this for bikes, and it seemed well received, likely due to it being difficult to get a property in central london with a garage, unless you are loaded!

I did a quick google, and can't find anywhere advertising the service for cars... but my local garage offers it on the side for £30/hr, with advice, as well as a ramp/pit and tools.

My logic was, there are more car enthusiasts than bike enthusiasts I imagine, and there are fewer people who could fit a car lift/ramp in their garage than could fit a bike lift in their garage...? (even outside of london where space comes at less of a premium - I know I live way out of London, and I couldn't have got a ramp in my last 3 garages.)

I could never start this, as health and safety would be a nightmare, and I'd never get the capital at 18... but I just wondered what you thought?

I just know it's my dream to own a barn with a proper ramp - cause I much prefer using a ramp, and working on the car lifted way above me... but my garage would never be tall enough for one. (+ I will be able to dry store and restore classic cars when I retire if I ever get my barn! )

Just wondered what you all thought... am I mad, or would people use a service like this?

PS. please don't slate my poor poll... I didn't put much thought into it

Thanks all!

Matt

[Gaffer]

plymouth dockyard has a service like this for the forces, you can bring your car in and use the ramps for a small donation and the forces mechanics will even help you fix it if they are free

I keep on thinking that therecould be some sort of market for this but you couldnt charge too much as mechanics are available for £30ph+ (i think)

[LuckyThe1275]

Exactly, me too!

Many of my friends are starting businesses, and making money... Today I noticed i'm skint again, and worrying about 5 years of university costs as of September this year (motorsport engineering should be fun and make up for the worrying at the moment and the debt throughout! hopefully!) and I just had a lightbulb moment... Much more costly to set up than my friends businesses all run out of their family's offices

Thanks for the info. Very interesting. Cheers

Edited by LuckyThe1275, 22 March 2011 - 11:18 PM.

[Dan]

Sorry - too late!

It's in Park Royal, where a decent mechanic's time will cost you considerably more than £30.00/hr and this place is only £20.00/hr with a lift, or less if you just want a bay with tools. I don't know where you lot are but London region prices start at about £80.00/hr main dealer or £45.00/hr for a general garage, with a bodyshop priced somewhere in between.

[Cooperman]

Exactly, me too!

Many of my friends are starting businesses, and making money... Today I noticed i'm skint again, and worrying about 5 years of university costs as of September this year (motorsport engineering should be fun and make up for the worrying at the moment and the debt throughout! hopefully!) and I just had a lightbulb moment... Much more costly to set up than my friends businesses all run out of their family's offices

Thanks for the info. Very interesting. Cheers

Where are you studying Motorsport Engineering? If it's Hertfordshire Uni a very good friend of mine is visiting professor for that course and he is an ex-F1 Chief Designer. My son works as a design engineer in F1 - they sure earn a lot of cash!

[AndyMiniMad.]

Er... No ...I like getting dirty crawling under my mini. Its part of the fun

[yousmeg]

This would be very useful, im currently looking for somewhere local to me with a pit, need to slap some underseal on my mini

[minijawa]

My mate who owns a mini garage and is thinking of giving his business up has also considered doing this with his garage, thats in Bexley, just outside london.

[Tommyboy12]

Id rather rent it on a daily basis. You can hardly guarantee your going to finish the job on time with older cars. Then that would mess up everyone elses timetable. Plus I would just use axle stands and wheel ramps personally.

[ibrooks]

One not so far from me too.

http://www.blackburn...IY_motor_buffs/

I've never used it but I too would be a bit nervous of pulling an old car apart on one of their ramps and finding something nasty that meant I could't put it back together again immediatey. Costs could rapidly spiral. That said for a simple routine job where it's unlikely to turn into something bigger like servicing a car I can see the attraction.

I'm chairman of a club that rent a fairly large unit (11 cars with rom to work on them) locally and for our monthly subscription we have space to store and work on cars. We had to move a while back from what had been a garage as the lease wasn't renewed so we no longer have ramps and we had a devil of a job finding somewhere cheap enough to make it worthwhile. I've often tought it could be made to work on a larger scale where the economy of scale would make the per square foot building rental lower but the initial financial commitment withan uncertain market is too much for me. I think this would be better for the type of work that most on here would be doing where you rent on a monthly basis and have a permanent space (obviously security becomes an issue if you're leaving a car in bits in a place where others may have access to it).

Iain

[Beej123]

I know that this type of thing exists somewhere but it's something i might have a look at. There are loads of empty factory spaces around my area with quite reasonable rents.

Fairly confident i could create seperate work areas with lockups and have full security on the building for not too much money.

Only going to be of use to people within 10ish miles though.

So, who in the midlands area would be interested in this type of service?


I personally would have mainly monthly rent bays for long term work and storage and then have a couple of bays kitted out with pits and tools for daily rent or hourly rent depending on the job.

[Monstrous]

Exactly, me too!

Many of my friends are starting businesses, and making money... Today I noticed i'm skint again, and worrying about 5 years of university costs as of September this year (motorsport engineering should be fun and make up for the worrying at the moment and the debt throughout! hopefully!) and I just had a lightbulb moment... Much more costly to set up than my friends businesses all run out of their family's offices

Thanks for the info. Very interesting. Cheers

Sorry to go off topic, can i ask where you're studying motorsport engineering?

Gaz

[Ethel]

I like the idea of combining storage with workspace, that ought to make it more appealing & you could diversify into general storage to spread risk, costs & make better use of the available space. I'd look into the insurance first.

[Topaz]

The place where I store my caravan also has some classic cars stored there and a few people do work on their cars at weekends. We pay around £500 a year for a space undercover in a long low wooden shed with light and power but no other facilities. Was a chicken farm !!

Mike

[LuckyThe1275]

Sorry to go off topic, can i ask where you're studying motorsport engineering?

Gaz

I have Oxford Brookes as my top choice mate, picked it over Brunel. I'll be starting a foundation year in September hopefully!

I saw your project thread, and saw you are at Brookes too. I'd love to have a chat sometime, about the course, what year you are in, where you're staying etc.

I'm also only from Crowthorne, so maybe we could meet up sometime... is your mini running? mine isn't, otherwise we could go for a spin!

PM me your number, or your facebook link or something Cheers!

Hope this also answers your question Cooperman... thanks for taking interest! Maybe you could tell me about your son and his route into the industry sometime?

Also, thanks for the replies people. I hope this inspires some of you to do something with your thoughts, I seem to have made a few people think about something simillar. Thanks also for the feedback. For me personally i'd like to use a club share of a place with the gear, instead of this... but I just wondered how feasible it would be as a business idea.

Thanks everyone! Keep the chatter going, it's interesting!

Matt