I would like to open a shop... the difference is... I rent you the space for about $20 a hour or so... you can use my lifts and or tools to do repairs like an oil change, brake work, tune ups, fix a leak...so on... so many people can't work on there car at home or just don't wont to buy tools for one job...

What do you think??? Would you like a shop like this??? Could you use a shop like this???

Thank you... all feedback (good or bad) is welcome...

 

AMS already does that. same rate to. a few shops do. its a good idea but uhh.... just that alone i dont think will be enough.

 

I've thought about doing a shop like that, but cost, liability, and time just don't add up to enough to make it worth while (for me anyway).


Cost... gotta find a location, and remember that shops use a lot of electricity and gas.

Liability... you'll have a lot of idiots in your shop. Be prepared for accidents.

Time... you or someone you trust will need to be there while the shop is open.

 

Liability is one of the things I was thinking of as well... I found a shop with the things I would need to open my shop...


AMS??? Do you have web address???

I was thinking of a combo shop/ we or you could do the needed work... also having tow service to get the cars to the shop or long haul...

Thanks for the feedback...

 

yeah i do, dont know if youll find much infor but here you go

http://www.amsperformance.com/store/...hp?cPath=21_35

 

I didn't see that you or anyone could work on there cars...

 

welll.... u can. lol. i do believe its 20-30 an hour to for the shop time. ive been there in person so i know you can. as far as advertising it on their site... i dont know.

 

That's cool... Here in Sac. CA, no one has that kind of shop... do you know how well (busy) that part of the shop is? I seen you fixed up your z rear end, would this kind of shop been nice to use? Thank you Snw for your feedback!!!

Thanks to all for the feedback... but If you read this... you can leave a short feedback if you would like... (yes/ no... good/ bad idea) I'm just needing feedback to see if I should go on with this idea...

 

My biggest fear of running a shop like that, would be having somebody come in claiming they know what they are doing, then dropping a car on top of themselves off of a lift. I would love to have access to a lift to work on my projects though, and like most other people, I can't afford to buy one just to use for my occasional projects. Good idea, as long as you can find a way (insurance/waivers of liability etc) to mitigate your personal liability issues.

 

need some of those places here in sunny and very warm (LIE) nsan diego.......

 

as has been said already, liability would be a big issue. the other big issue i would anticipate would be environmental. proper disposal of fluids and chemicals can be costly, and i would imagine that to get a permit for such a business, you would be required to have proper disposal facilities. i would suggest doing a lot of research, and maybe a few business classes before jumping in to this.

 

In Colorado Springs at a military base they have a shop set up like that with everything from paint booths to lifts. I think it was around $20/hr as well but it was military run for military people so.... probably cheaper than it would be for the public. They had lots of stuff for clean up (huge barrels of simple green, paper towels, drains that went to a fluids disposal collection, etc) and lots of rules. I don't know how easy it would be to pull off for the public but if it can be done, that'd be sweet.

 

Liability would be a big issue... look at Pick-N-Pull... in need something like that... and for fluids disposal collection, I should have no problem with that, there is AES here in town that pick up all of that... I got to look more into more on the liadility...

Oh yeah... and for the lifts... I would put a key switch so only we (the shop) could lift or lower the lifts...

 

As far as fluid containment and disposal goes, since he's in Sac, he could most likely make arrangements to have a fluid recycling company come in for stuff like anti-freeze, used oil and solvents. As long as the fluids were kept seperated in 55 gallon drums meant to store those types of fluids, the recycler could just pick up the full drums and drop off some empties as needed. I worked in a machine shop in LA for several years that recycled machine oil, water soluable cooling oil, parts cleaning solvents etc. but we used underground storage tanks for much of those liquids. Good idea on the shop personnel beoing the only ones able to operate the lifts. At least hat way you can make sure they are supported properly before allowing anybody to work around them. Another idea I just thought about would be possibly having most of the lifts be the type that oil changing places use sometimes, where the car is driven onto the tracks, so the tires are always supported by the lift all the way around. Then just have 1 or 2 frame type lifts for jobs requiring wheel and tire removal.

 

fluid disposal isnt that big of a deal, thats why you have someone supervising ESPECIALLY the lift operations. and yeah my rear end is purty now. if i had a lift that woulda ROCKED for teh pressure washing portion and spray. as for putting the rear end back up... i think closer to the floor was better. tahts about it.

and as for how good they are doing, id imagine really well because tehy are very popular shop over here. but i think this is something new they are doing since tehy also supply professional shop services.

 

Tinker(Air Base) has exactly what you're talking about. flat bays for $2.00/hr, lifts for $4.00/hr, and brake lifts for $5.00/hr. But its for mil by not mil. and you fill out a form that says if you break it you buy it and if you hurt/kill yourself using their equipment, its your own dumbass fault. and they've got two or three supervisors walkin around the shop at any given time helping out those who don't know what they're doing. And most of the folks who go there, go there often and are very mechanically inclined and double as supervisors between oil changes and tire rotations, etc...

Its actually a really sweet setup. All the tools are Craftsman, so if some dumby actually manages to break it, its replaced for free (via craftsman's lifetime guarantee). and with three flat bays (6/hr), three lifts(12/hr), and two brake lifts(15/hr), plus table usage(1.50/table/hr) for those using only the enging stands and tables to rebuild their engines, plus thier alignment machine (60/alignment), turning rotor/drums (12/per rotor/drum), mounting and balancing tire machines($??/tire if the supervisor has to help you, free if you can do it yourself), plus the purchase of oil, oil filters, brake cleaner, etc, etc, etc... they bring in enough to keep that shop running, with enough left over to keep all the bills paid and still have a nice cushion for the slow holiday season. From thanksgiving to new years is when its slowest. all other times, the place is packed.

But the manning there is almost exclusively volunteer. You'd have to bump up your prices to be able to run emplyment there.

oh yeah, almost forgot, they've got a fenced lot out back for storing your car if you have to leave it there over night. $4.00/day

These are all pretty rock bottom prices for stuff, so you could easily bump em up to cover yourself and employees. and i would still use your shop. (if it were in oklahoma city or i was in Cali.)

 

That's what I'm looking to do... $20 hour for lift, and $10 hour for floor space... to hold 4-6 lifts, 2 floor space, and a yard to hold 10-20 cars...

 

putting in lifts its one hell of an investemnt at about 5k a lift. o_0

 

I found a full shop up for sale with 2 lifts for 20k... I'm going to look at some more today... a friend said he knows of one that will be ready for rent/ buy with 4 lifts 1 or 2 floor spaces and a U-hual rentals all in one...

 

Dayamn! $20k?!?! I would buy myself a shop if I could get one for $20k around here!

 

you should also put a dyno in it

 

if you bought a shop for $20k then I would taser you!

 

A DYNO!!!!! lol, slow your boat there mister hoov, have you ever seen the cost of a dyno? a good one, and youd want an AWD one so you can cover all cars.

 

$20k is for a small so small shop...LOL only 2 lifts