DIY Garage opening in Tallaght

Owen · 29-05-2011 6:11pm #1

There was someone from this company spamming in another forum, but it's probably news worth spreading. There's a DIY garage opening in Tallaght soon called Pitlane, ramps, oil disposal, all that sort of stuff.

dr.fuzzenstein · 29-05-2011 6:43pm

:eek:I am officially amazed!:eek:
The optimist in me thinks "FINALLY, ABOUT FCUKING TIME!!!"
The pessimist thinks "this will last for about five minutes, till the first scuzzer turns up, drops a hammer on his foot, sues the place for half a million, goodbye DIY".
I really hope this will work.
And that one will open in Limerick.

For Forks Sake · 29-05-2011 6:47pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

:eek:I am officially amazed!:eek:
The optimist in me thinks "FINALLY, ABOUT FCUKING TIME!!!"
The pessimist thinks "this will last for about five minutes, till the first scuzzer turns up, drops a hammer on his foot, sues the place for half a million, goodbye DIY".
I really hope this will work.
And that one will open in Limerick.

First thing popped into my head too was "how much must insurance be costing for that"?

Eric Cartman · 29-05-2011 6:51pm

Great Idea , lets just hope the boxy starlet provisional licence massive spoiler crowd dont come and wreck it for everyone

dr.fuzzenstein · 29-05-2011 7:03pm

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Great Idea , lets just hope the boxy starlet provisional licence massive spoiler crowd dont come and wreck it for everyone

They might be the bread and butter o such a place.
Sure, don't highly tuned engines like that require F1 style attention?;)
Otherwise it's just an excuse to get it on the lift and "check out those Spax's man, check 'em out!"
As long as they pay I'm sure the owner will only be too hapy.

hawkelady · 29-05-2011 7:13pm

where abouts in Tallaght will this be located???

Eric Cartman · 29-05-2011 7:14pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

They might be the bread and butter o such a place.
Sure, don't highly tuned engines like that require F1 style attention?;)
Otherwise it's just an excuse to get it on the lift and "check out those Spax's man, check 'em out!"
As long as they pay I'm sure the owner will only be too hapy.

the problem is not them showing up to do work , the problem is when they f*ck it up and youve got a bunch of sheds of cars falling apart that need to be towed away from the garage and owners not willing to pay for it.

Bodhan · 29-05-2011 7:48pm

I was, a few years ago now going to start the same thing. I even flew over to england and met the oweners of http://www.pitstartgarage.com/

The start up cost was wayyyy too much and insurance was a nightmare so I dropped it.
Best of luck with it Pitlane, it would be nice to see something get off the ground.

29-05-2011 8:04pm

Unless their rates are really cheap they won't get much enough custom I reckon. Add their charge onto the cost for parts etc and in many cases it would be as reasonable to pay a garage to do the work. For most folk who do their maintenance DIY the savings offer much of the satisfaction, their is little actual enjoyment in servicing etc, not many jobs require an actual garage environment either. In the last 5 years all I've needed a garage to do are CV joints and boots and a wishbone, for the labour saving I couldn't be arsed doing them. If I was they are well DIYable on the drive. I suppose folks without a drive will be very interested in this though.

They'll be jammed every Saturday and quite enough during the week when folks are working, out of work mechanics doing work cash in hand will be happy with it too as their nosey neighbours can't shop them for working while on the scratch either if they can't see it.

Anyone have an idea what the charges are like in these places?

stevenmu · 29-05-2011 8:09pm

Very nice, I've an oil change coming up and it'd be tricky to do in an apartment's underground car park.

Never used a lift like that before, I presume that either they'll be pretty foolproof or they'll have someone there to work it?

Atlantic Dawn · 29-05-2011 9:01pm

Good idea, hopefully it's a success.

Wonder what charges will be, I'd think a per hour payment system would be best. Probably have the option to rent tools or buy parts also.

mullingar · 29-05-2011 9:05pm

Pitlane wrote: »

Broomhill Ind Est Opening Saturday the 4th of June

Well done and the best of luck with it. (I assume its yours by your user name)

What sort of prices will you be charging?

Delancey · 30-05-2011 12:28am

I can see the lawyers licking their lips already....

Muckie · 30-05-2011 8:50am

Good idea, hope it works out. Just hope the scobie crowd don't ruin it
for everyone else.

bijapos · 30-05-2011 9:43am

Delighted to see this happening. I came back to Ireland 5 years ago and seriously looked into starting something like this up, based on one I used in Germany a lot, but I was put off by tye amount of rates, insurance and rent. Rent has come down a lot so that might help but I wish them best of luck and will definitely be using them.

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Great Idea , lets just hope the boxy starlet provisional licence massive spoiler crowd dont come and wreck it for everyone

As Dr Fuzzstein says they will be an important part of the clientelle. Some of them are tossers (as we all know), and will have the radios blaring and be a general pain in the hole, but most of them are fine and are into their cars for better or worse. No matter who it is there will always be arguments and its part of the job to keep everyone happy and a bit of diplomacy flowing. A bit of cop on on everyones part will help a lot too.

Delancey wrote: »

I can see the lawyers licking their lips already....

Hopefully its licking the blood off their lips after someone has given them a slap in the gob.

robtri · 30-05-2011 10:06am

curious about this....
where is it ??

cant't find anything on the web about it....location telephone, website... ect..

Heathen · 30-05-2011 10:12am

Great idea, as said before, something i have been looking into myself, but i cant imagine the public liability was easy enough to sort out as most insurance companies i have spoke with say that such a category for such a venture does not exist...?

id be interested to find out what the details of the insurance policy are....

BuzzFish · 30-05-2011 10:18am

I'd love to use a service like this. So sick of bashing my knuckles off the driveway trying to work under the car :-)

Voodoomelon · 30-05-2011 5:24pm

RoverJames wrote: »

Unless their rates are really cheap they won't get much enough custom I reckon. Add their charge onto the cost for parts etc and in many cases it would be as reasonable to pay a garage to do the work. For most folk who do their maintenance DIY the savings offer much of the satisfaction, their is little actual enjoyment in servicing etc, not many jobs require an actual garage environment either. In the last 5 years all I've needed a garage to do are CV joints and boots and a wishbone, for the labour saving I couldn't be arsed doing them. If I was they are well DIYable on the drive. I suppose folks without a drive will be very interested in this though.

They'll be jammed every Saturday and quite enough during the week when folks are working, out of work mechanics doing work cash in hand will be happy with it too as their nosey neighbours can't shop them for working while on the scratch either if they can't see it.

Anyone have an idea what the charges are like in these places?

I'd be inclined to agree.
There's many jobs that are a pain in the ass and i'd gladly pay someone else to do them. My general rule is if the job needs a lift, i'll take it to a garage.

Having said that, if I can slide under the car for 15-30mins to get it done, i'll do it. But if it means hours of agony lying on the driveway, i'd be happy to pass the job onto someone with the right equipment.

daRobot · 30-05-2011 6:18pm

20 euro an hour? Ouch.

Considering you can get an indy at cash in hand rate for about 40 an hour, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially when you'd consider the increased time it'd take a diy'er to complete a job.

smokie2008 · 30-05-2011 6:22pm

Source????

Big Nasty · 30-05-2011 6:49pm

smokie2008 wrote: »

Source????

http://thepitlane.ie/prices.html

-Corkie- · 30-05-2011 6:49pm

smokie2008 wrote: »

Source????

I think Pitlane quoted those prices but they are site banned now..;)

Edit Mcmlxxv posted the link..

tinyjiney · 30-05-2011 7:09pm

So if you fcuk up...they keep yer licence.......:eek:

Seriously though..sounds like a good idea..my problem is getting the car to Tallaght in the first place......and then i'd need a 6 monthly rate....:o

dr.fuzzenstein · 30-05-2011 7:38pm

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I'd be inclined to agree.
There's many jobs that are a pain in the ass and i'd gladly pay someone else to do them. My general rule is if the job needs a lift, i'll take it to a garage.

Having said that, if I can slide under the car for 15-30mins to get it done, i'll do it. But if it means hours of agony lying on the driveway, i'd be happy to pass the job onto someone with the right equipment.

For some things they will ofer an invaluable service, exhaust work springs to mind.
Two years ago I had to replace the cat in her car, had to jack car up on one side and hold it up with axle stands, slide underneath, remove exhaust, all with near zero clearance.
Had to cut cat out, take exhaust to friend, weld cat in, take exhaust back to stricken car, crawl underneath, but the exhaust was ever so slightly twisted, took half an hours wangling to get it in.
To top it all off it was just above freezing and the rubber mounts had gone rockhard.
What would have taken me an hour max in a garage with a lift, some tools and a welder took me from 10 am to 10pm, froze half to death, grazed knuckles, swearing, screaming, etc... physically and emotionally drained for two days.
And going to an exhaust place and saying "would you please replace the cat" will cost you near a bag of sand (grand).
For that E20 is the best investment in the world.

Voodoomelon · 30-05-2011 8:11pm

I don't doubt that for a second and if you're willing to do the work then great. But it also means you have to do it yourself, know how to do it, bring all the parts with you, leave and come back if you're missing something etc.

Just like RoverJames said, if its a big job that requires a lift, you'd have to question whether its worth it paying to use a lift and then doing it yourself, or just leaving the car at a garage to have it done for you.

dr.fuzzenstein · 30-05-2011 8:23pm

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I don't doubt that for a second and if you're willing to do the work then great. But it also means you have to do it yourself, know how to do it, bring all the parts with you, leave and come back if you're missing something etc.

Just like RoverJames said, if its a big job that requires a lift, you'd have to question whether its worth it paying to use a lift and then doing it yourself, or just leaving the car at a garage to have it done for you.

Absolutely, I would not tackle any major suspension/brake work without knowing what to do and maybe even bringing a friend, because it would be bad getting stuck on something and not knowing what to do.
I knew exactly what to do with the exhaust (well, had a fair idea:D) and did have all the parts ready to go.
Getting an exhaust changed with cat and using genuine parts I would have looked at the wrong end of E700.
The way I did it, I paid £100 plus a bit for the actual cat and the rest was blood sweat and tears, but well worth it in the end.
But I'm sure there will be plenty of people arriving at the garage, start work, fcuk something up, get stuck, not knowing what to do, stranding the car and won't be able to get it going again.
Then what?
Will they have help at hand?
Or will you have to get the car towed to a "proper" garage where the owner will look forward to gutting you like a kipper "because you've played with it and made it worse"
I'm sure there are pitfalls, so I'd say prepare well, bring all the parts you could possibly need and remember: A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing!;)

Voodoomelon · 30-05-2011 8:33pm

Nothing better than the feeling of doing a job yourself and saving cash at the same time, I can attest to this.

But you're not really comparing the two choices fairly. Sounds to me like you bought spurious parts and stuck them in yourself. Even if you had bought genuine parts from the dealer and then paid an indy to stick them in, would you still have been looking at €700?

In which case there wouldn't be too much of a difference in doing it yourself and having a garage do it for you, bearing in mind you also don't have to get your hands dirty.

Owen · 30-05-2011 9:04pm

The only problem I can forsee with this is the guy who books the ramp for a 2 hour job, and it ends up taking 6. He's obviously not going to be happy paying for the extra 4 hours, and the guy booked after him isn't going to be pleased either.

reiger · 30-05-2011 9:14pm

reading down the thread and i see alot of negatives many people on here seem to think they are legal and insurance experts.
give it a break will ye this is a good idea and if it works fair play.

Voodoomelon · 30-05-2011 10:41pm

I think its a good idea and hope it works out for the owners. I just feel its limited to people in the immediate area and to those who have no facilities of their own, ie, people in apartments etc.

Hope they post on here, maybe create a thread if its allowed.

DIY Garage opening in Tallaght

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