Do it yourself garage?

Dont know about motorcycles, but there were a few around before. I know one for sure in Brampton off Rutherford road.

I think the biggest thing that kills this idea off is insurance.
 
cbranje said:
Do it yourself garage?

Anyone ever though about starting one? Would it be economically feasible?
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Challenges, off the top of my head:
-Stolen tools.
-Insurance.
-Environmental issues (fluid disposal)


I'm sure you could come up with a business model, but the question is: would people be willing to pay what you would have to charge to make it profitable.

I would love to see a business where you could take your bike (or car or whatever), and work WITH the mechanic, and basically get a how-to tutorial while your vehicle is repaired. Several years ago, I actually hired a guy to help me work on my old VW bus - he was doing what he called an 'itenerant' tour, helping VW enthusiasts to do it themselves. I think he charged me about $300 for the day (almost 12 hrs) - but I'm sure he was not making any more money than it would have cost him to tour the continent doing this... a labour of love, to be sure.
 
Another problem with the DIY garage is that you'd have all those newbs buggin' you for advice and/or doing obviously stupid stuff, so you'd end up wrenching anyway. You're better off charging for it in the first place.
 
Stolen tools: bring yourself, or some kind of equipment cage where things are checked out
Insurance: could be the deal breaker.
fluid disposal: you could provide for that, i'm sure people would do something more responsible at a garage then they would in their own home where they might not have the facilities

I figure you'd have to charge at least $20 an hour? Which doesn't make it really worth it given a mechanic is charging $60-80

This isn't something I'm considering seriously, more just mussing. It did some of my own repairs, and was frustrate by my lack of ability to hoist it up off the ground to a level that was comfortable.
 
Think the best way to do this would be as a school/class. Get all the waivers signed, experienced mechanic teaches and coaches, work is checked over. Bring your own tools of course. I know there are similar set ups for bicycles.
 
FiReSTaRT said:
Another problem with the DIY garage is that you'd have all those newbs buggin' you for advice and/or doing obviously stupid stuff, so you'd end up wrenching anyway. You're better off charging for it in the first place.
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I can't comment on the insurance aspect, but if you have everybody sign a waiver, then the problems will be kept at a minimum. You'd just need a trained mechanic keeping an eye out so people don't do really stupid things. No different really from operating a ski resort, sky diving school or any other activity that has inherent dangers.

My dad did a lot of business with cars in Germany about 20 years ago, and told me there used to be a lot of these DYI garages. They probably still exist, because they were very profitable. But here's how the system really works. Renting a lift and all the tools was really cheap on an hourly rate, so a lot of clueless customers would come in to fix their own cars. Invariably they would fubar something (and I do mean fubar, look it up :P ), and would HAVE to have the garage mechanic fix the problems they would create.

So the mechanic would diagnose the problem, order all the parts, wait for them to come in, and fix the problem at regular garage rates. But through the entire time the car sat disabled in the shop, the clock would still be ticking on the rental fees. In other words the newbs were the bread and butter of these shops, and at the end of the day they WERE being charged. :D
 
dizzy929 said:
They had a Mr. Bay in Windsor. Think it lasted about 4 months, good idea but there's just not that big of a demand for it. The prices were also ridiculous.
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That's because they wanted to make their money off the rental. Read my post above for the real business model.
 
Somebody offered this in here. Two rates. One rate for place+tools, 2nd rate for place + tools + advice. That's all I remember though and I'm too lazy too search.
 
cbranje said:
What does that place charge? What equipment do they have there?
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They don't charge anything. They don't have anything.

Lol, sorry guys but they demo'd that whole area earlier and are building something on it. In my ten years living here I had never seen anyone there and I always wondered if it was in business.
 
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