rent out garege for $?

[buck440]

my parents own a old small town gas station and it has 2 bays fully equiped to do anything you want to a car...except for body work. they were thinking about renting out a bay to people that need tools and have the experieance (sp?) to do the work themselves. there would be an hourly rate. they have insurance so accidents is not a problem. do you think it's a good idear?

[audioworks04]

Sounds like a huge mess to me, in my experience only a hand full of people actually treat other peoples places and things with respect. Personally I would find a mechanic that want to rent the bay or both to work out of. Just my .02, always end up loosing money and time fixing what other people are too lazy to pick up or fix what they broke.

[CJM]

^ Totally agreed, not a good idea.

[250x_kyle]

plus they will have to buy a new tool chest full of tools each month. tools seem to grow legs

[audioworks04]

I must of missed the part about tools included. I don't even let my best friends borrow my tools.

[Aarons 01 400EX]

The military does this for the soldiers on base. It is called the hobby shop. You rent out the bay for a nominal fee and you have to give a deposit on any tools you use. I usually brought my own tools for the job, but sometimes you need something special.

[buck440]

obviously there will be a decent deposit and camara inside too.
only 2 sets of the same tools will be able to use and they are organized and we would look over them before they rented the room out so we know their all there and look over them all before they left. pretty fool proof.

[derekhonda]

I think it sounds like a terrible idea. And I know you say they are covered because of the insurance, but about the time of the first incident your insurance is going to cancel you when they figure out you are a public repair shop. WAAAAY too much liability with a bunch of people not trained to operate lifts, air tools, etc.

And on top of that, what do you need to charge to even make money? $20 bucks an hour? Well that just eliminated all the people who were looking to change their oil and rotate their tires, they can do that in the driveway.

[buck440]

Originally posted by derekhonda
I think it sounds like a terrible idea. And I know you say they are covered because of the insurance, but about the time of the first incident your insurance is going to cancel you when they figure out you are a public repair shop. WAAAAY too much liability with a bunch of people not trained to operate lifts, air tools, etc.

And on top of that, what do you need to charge to even make money? $20 bucks an hour? Well that just eliminated all the people who were looking to change their oil and rotate their tires, they can do that in the driveway.

it'd be like 5-$10 an hour. it's not really suppose to be a big money maker. it's just to help people out that don't have the space or tools. it's a pretty small town with like 400 people and the nearest town is like 15 miles away. everybody knows everybody so it's not like a stranger would be in there and they would be supervised. stuff like the lift, brake lathe, ect would be off limits.

as for changing oil we charge the cost of the oil and filter plus like $5 so that is pretty dange cheap. were quad friendly too. were by a pretty big trail system and they ride up to fill up on gas and we do bushing changes, brake changes, chains, cables, oil changes, free chain changes and filter cleaning and oiling.

[derekhonda]

$5-$10 an hour probably doesn't even pay the electric bill for that hour the lights are on. Not allowing them to use the lift or any of the big machinery....what exactly is the service you are offering them then? Couldn't they do the same thing in a walmart parking lot? Its fine, seems like a noble idea and you are just trying to help people, but it's sounds like a losing idea.

[buck440]

Originally posted by derekhonda
$5-$10 an hour probably doesn't even pay the electric bill for that hour the lights are on. Not allowing them to use the lift or any of the big machinery....what exactly is the service you are offering them then? Couldn't they do the same thing in a walmart parking lot? Its fine, seems like a noble idea and you are just trying to help people, but it's sounds like a losing idea.

the service is a warm or cool dry clean safe place to do work on their vehicle. if it's raining and they can't do it in their garage they can work in this one. if it's around winter and cold they can do it in there. the bigger equipment can be used but with supervision any tool they need would be there and speacilty tools are there too so it can save them money by having it there instead of driving back and fourth to autozone to borrow a tool. plus if they do need to do some work more than likely they will have to order some parts which ='s $

[fastredrider44]

Are you going to charge them the 5-10 an hour while they're waiting on parts over a weekend? If not, then you're losing on anyone that wanted to rent out the bay over the weekend. Seems like a big liabilty and i would steer clear. Something like that would almost require a babysitter to make work.

[flint250trx]

same as renting apartments. If you end up getting someone that trashes the place or breaks somthing, you can not force them to pay for it. You will end up having to take them to small claims court and in my experience you cant get water from a rock, and you cant get money from some people that have no respect for others property.

All in all i would stay away from it and fine a mechanic to run the place on his own!

[CJM]

Your very naive buck..very, very naive..

[HondaPohl]

Who the heck is gonna rent a garage in Antartica? lol

[slightlybent47]

I live just outside one of the largest cities in America. And I still find some integrity among some folks even here. But as a general rule most will take advantage of you if you give them the chance. It’s sad when the few who do take advantage runes it for everyone else. I would hope that in such a small community that there is enough respect and integrity among the citizens that you could do that and not be ripped off at some point.

Could be a good way to get advertizing for the other services you offer. But I think you should charge more for renting the spot out.
You have to at least cover your cost even if you make no direct profit from it.

Having said all that I would think it would be more trouble then it’s worth.

On the other hand giving to your community and helping others is what made us so strong as a country. It would be sad if that doesn’t exist anymore.