Rent a lift.... rent a tool.... rent a mechanic.....
 

This is the basis in which I use in my garage...

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l3...092708024a.jpg
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But theirs is on steroids cause it's an actual shop! If I could quit my job and have the money to do this... I would do it in a heart beat...

Yup, seen that already, great concept, and there are a few if them around the country. I have one near my house that I use for jobs where tools I doing have are required, aka tire changing machine and other specialized machinery.

Well I know they have these on military bases I think. I think Ebbs uses one...

Yep, that's what I was talking about.

The one I used in NJ basically haber me free use of all their equipment, bays, and specialized employees only stuff. But I also helped them out from time to time, assisted other people in their shop, and whatever else. Their one in MD is much more strict, will let me change my own tires, but won't let me balance them myself

Yep, this is something I had considered after getting out of the military. The one on base was obviously heavily subisdized, but you could rent a lift for $3 per hour and all tools were free of charge, you just had to sign them out. However, it was completely self-service. There was a guy who ran the tool loan area that might help you if you briefly needed a second set of hands, but he didn't help much. I imagine the insurance cost of something like this would be fairly prohibitive, but it's a thought.

Those guys were charging more... but still REAL cheap considering all you get access to.

There was a guy in San Diego who did that......tried to market it to racers. But his expenses must have been high, because it closed after only 18 months. He leased the building, it wasn't his home. So that was his biggest expense right there.

This place in the post has a dealership or at least a shop first and foremost. So it already had a customer base... they just tried to expand on that. He has the perfect setup for it.

This existed more in the 60s / 70s when cars & bikes needed more attention. Remember Christine? She was garaged in one of those places (some provide storage as well).

I think its good for those who dont have space like GM or myself to do the work at home, and also for those jobs that require special tools that will cost you a fotrune and will only use once.

This.

I've thought about it as a business option, but don't think there is enough of a call for it in my area.

I am out in the burbs, so most people have a driveway at the very least. In NYC space is at a premium and many have ot keep their bikes on the street or in a storage facility so a place like that would probably do well in parts of brooklyn or manhattan.

They had shops like that on the Navy bases back in the 90s. You could rent a bay for an hourly fee, use their tools, etc. They even had a paint booth.

They don't have the same liability issues that a civilian company would have.

Unfortunately, that's the fly in the ointment.

Sue happy assholes. You need what's called a Garage Liability policy to cover your ass.

JC

They even had long-term bay fees, if you were restoring a car, for example.

It depends on the size of the base what they have. My last place had 8 bays . My current assignment has 19 bays and a paint booth, and an engine dyno