DIY Garage opening in Tallaght

reiger

reiger wrote: »

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.

Well at least one person has experience from investigating a similar venture. Also it's a message boards, discussion forum. Folks are entitled to air their views, there doesn't seem to be any factually incorrect posts in the thread

Would be fairly boring if we all said yippee, wonderful, savage, brilliant......

bijapos

Well my experience of using them in Germany, and I used them a lot, was a bit like this:

Friday: A says to B "I'm heading to Pit Lane tomorrow to change the rad on the Kadett". B: Sound, I need the exhaust changed on my Beetle, we can do it together.

Saturday: A has taken C along for the spin, B had D and E with him as D need to get out of the house for a few hours and E claims to know his way around Kadetts.
They set to work, then F shows up tagging along with G to see what the craic is. Much hilarity ensues talking about last night and trying to remember what happened. Turns out F did end out with that whale from London who was over on a Hen Party.
D decides to get a few beers in and gets a crate from the offy. Much sitting around and looking at other people also sitting around.
E sets to work on the Kadett, turns out he doesnt know the difference between his arse and his elbow. Gives up half way through. Everyone piles out for a fag.
H shows up, mocks everyone for not buying Japanese and E and F head off with him.
Not to worry J shows up and promptly breaks something in the Beetle. J heads off to get Duct Tape, doesnt come back.
B's other half rings for the 14th time as he is away 3 hours longer than expected. B ensures other half that he will be home in 15 mins. B opens another beer and orders a kebab as A is heading to the Doner shop.
D gets another crate in.
A comes back, major argument starts as to where the best kebabs can be got. No consensus reached.
Panic as someone realises the footy is starting in an hour.
Kadett is roughly fixed up to get it home, it can be done next weekend.
7 men have a go together at the exhaust on the Beetle, after some time the consensus is that its grand and will do till next Saturday.
Pay for 4.5 hours/several people. Leave.
Kadett overheats on the way home, Beetles rear sub frame collapses on a roundabout.
Everyone agrees to meet up next Saturday at the same place.

I've some great memories from those places.:)

maidhc

Interesting concept. I hope it works.

I agree with the poster above about the amount of work that will be done there!

Having an engine crane is a a bit silly. A engine out job is something most mechanics will look at in terms of days rather than hours, for a person like myself it would be a winter project!

galwaytt

bijapos wrote: »

Well my experience of using them in Germany, and I used them a lot, was a bit like this:

Friday: A says to B "I'm heading to Pit Lane tomorrow to change the rad on the Kadett". B: Sound, I need the exhaust changed on my Beetle, we can do it together.

Saturday: A has taken C along for the spin, B had D and E with him as D need to get out of the house for a few hours and E claims to know his way around Kadetts.
They set to work, then F shows up tagging along with G to see what the craic is. Much hilarity ensues talking about last night and trying to remember what happened. Turns out F did end out with that whale from London who was over on a Hen Party.
D decides to get a few beers in and gets a crate from the offy. Much sitting around and looking at other people also sitting around.
E sets to work on the Kadett, turns out he doesnt know the difference between his arse and his elbow. Gives up half way through. Everyone piles out for a fag.
H shows up, mocks everyone for not buying Japanese and E and F head off with him.
Not to worry J shows up and promptly breaks something in the Beetle. J heads off to get Duct Tape, doesnt come back.
B's other half rings for the 14th time as he is away 3 hours longer than expected. B ensures other half that he will be home in 15 mins. B opens another beer and orders a kebab as A is heading to the Doner shop.
D gets another crate in.
A comes back, major argument starts as to where the best kebabs can be got. No consensus reached.
Panic as someone realises the footy is starting in an hour.
Kadett is roughly fixed up to get it home, it can be done next weekend.
7 men have a go together at the exhaust on the Beetle, after some time the consensus is that its grand and will do till next Saturday.
Pay for 4.5 hours/several people. Leave.
Kadett overheats on the way home, Beetles rear sub frame collapses on a roundabout.
Everyone agrees to meet up next Saturday at the same place.

I've some great memories from those places.:)

That's just brilliant !!

Feck, I'd go just for that - can I be G ??

Sound like more fun a night in the pub tbh..........

edit: Oh, as they drink beer on the production lines to make the cars: why not have it on the workshop to fix them?.........seems logical to me !

kona

I think the key for this being a success for big jobs is to Know exactley what the **** you are doing.
Engine changes dont take long if you know exactley what you are doing and have all the bits ready to go and get stuck in.
Unfortunatley, alot of people dont have a clue as it may be their first time.


Unfortunatley if your whipping an engine out, there is usually alot more wrong than you suspect, and getting a piston or crank for a odd car model at 8pm on a friday evening aint gunna happen, so your left with your pants well and truley around your ankles.

As been mentioned, its great for short jobs, even servicing, a they get rid of the oil and other ****e thats a PITA to dispose of properly.

Id happily pay e120 not to work on the car out in the pissing rain in january

Youd be suprised what you get done in a day if you cut out the farting about.

Big Nasty

I think it's a good idea - we had a thread here not so long ago about how great it would be but would never work due to insurance, yada, yada.

Fair play to someone with the balls to give it a go however I think the rates defeat the purpose. If the placed was only used to 50% capacity they would be raking in €7.5k+ per week excluding rental of tools, etc. Ok, they have to pay rent on the site, advertising, couple of staff, insurance, equipment they invested in etc. but I still think €20 an hour is too much. As stated earlier you can pay an indy €40-€50 for an hours work and the same job could take you 2-3 hours. Defeats the purpose really. Now if it was €10 / hour on the other hand.......

Best of luck to them anyhow!

listermint

RoverJames wrote: »

Well at least one person has experience from investigating a similar venture. Also it's a message boards, discussion forum. Folks are entitled to air their views, there doesn't seem to be any factually incorrect posts in the thread

Would be fairly boring if we all said yippee, wonderful, savage, brilliant......

Its equally as boring when people slate something out of hand......

listermint

listermint wrote: »

Its equally as boring when people slate something out of hand......

Good thing no one slated it so.

robtri

i agree with Rover James, no harm in questioning the system.

While I think most people here are supportive of the idea, concerns about Insureance have been raised. While it is all well and good that the owner has you sign a waiver I would still like to know that there is adequate insurance in place in the event of an accident...

listermint

RoverJames wrote: »

Good thing no one slated it so.

Maybe 'slating' was over the top, Perhaps 'overly negative' .


But this is a trait displayed right across boards, not just motors.

Mar4ix

I think that good idea... diy garage. Insurance wise - i think could be .. on your own risk.
Anyway you are not insured, when doing work on your drive way . Id imagine - agreement would state, that all works carried out on own risk, and costumer pay only equipment rental fee....
Imagine if you rent carpet cleaner, never used before, and over own stupidity cut somehow wire cord, and kill yourself or burn house , i dont think so, that rental company will pay anything over inappropriate equipment use ...

Good luck to that company. If rates will not be high, i certainly will use it.

robtri

Mar4ix wrote: »

I think that good idea... diy garage. Insurance wise - i think could be .. on your own risk.
Anyway you are not insured, when doing work on your drive way . Id imagine - agreement would state, that all works carried out on own risk, and costumer pay only equipment rental fee....
Imagine if you rent carpet cleaner, never used before, and over own stupidity cut somehow wire cord, and kill yourself or burn house , i dont think so, that rental company will pay anything over inappropriate equipment use ...

Good luck to that company. If rates will not be high, i certainly will use it.

insurance is never at own risk

think about the guy who bought a motorhome, driving down the motorway, slaps on cruise control and gets up out of drivers seat and goes into back to make a cup of tea... motorhome has an accident obviously..... court in america( iknow its america but w are very similiar here) finds that the motorhome manufacturer is at fault..

or here, burglar breaks into your house trips, falls and breaks a bone and sues home owner....

or in the case of the garage, i working on my car, car next to me falls of ramp and injures me... who do i sue??

Heathen

I don't think people are being negative towards this at all, i think people are asking completely relevant questions about the arrangement, because a few people here have explored the possibility of such an endeavor and have been knocked back by the difficulty surrounding insurance.

Therefore they are simply interested to hear how pitlane handled this area of the business setup?

nobody is disputing that its a great idea, they just want to know the particulars behind successful launch of such a business.

JimmyCrackCorn

PaintDoctor wrote: »

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.

Happy days. If its true and anyway reasonable ill be using it for those miserable wet day services.

Capt'n Midnight

Voodoomelon wrote: »

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.

For stuff like vehicle inspection / rust treatment / patch on exhaust - 5 minute jobs that end up taking bloody ages if you have to use stands it's probably worth it

maybe several people do a pre NCT together , lift , look , video or photograph

but yeah would be more fun with a group - maybe boards book a lane for charity, donations accepted for visual inspections / 5 minute (seriously 5 minute) jobs

reiger

listermint wrote: »

Maybe 'slating' was over the top, Perhaps 'overly negative' .


But this is a trait displayed right across boards, not just motors.

thats what i was getting at,free and constructive debate is what we all like to see,but this trait pops up on many threads on this forum and often i feel people are been a bit too PC.

maybe my attitude is born out of living in a comminunity where claim cluture is not in our mentality,we may not do things by the book but we get it done,and we move on

robtri

was up in dublin at weekend and as i was near by decided to drive by and take a look at the set up of this place...

now, I didnt go in, firstly the map on his website is wrong.... its not where the pointer is.. FFS

this was at around 1pm on Sunday, place was open but looked deserted, couldnt see one car at all in it...


anyone been in seen what it is like???

corglass

robtri wrote: »

was up in dublin at weekend and as i was near by decided to drive by and take a look at the set up of this place...

now, I didnt go in, firstly the map on his website is wrong.... its not where the pointer is.. FFS

this was at around 1pm on Sunday, place was open but looked deserted, couldnt see one car at all in it...


anyone been in seen what it is like???

Has anyone visited this place yet? does it exist?

Seperate

This is a good idea in theory, but I don't think it'd be busy enough to be sustainable.

I love the thought of changing my own suspension, but would I actually attempt it? Hell no. If it takes guys who do it all the time 3 hrs to do it, it's going to take me at least a day and will cause me a alot of heartache.

Handy for mechanics doing nixers outside of work hours though

cgarrad

corglass wrote: »

Has anyone visited this place yet? does it exist?

Hey just up there today, dead handy, threw it up on the ramp to check the underneath of a car I just bought.

Found a couple of broken bits, a slight buckle in one of the wheels and a couple of broken bits of plastic under the car.

I was the only one there so I think its a case of use it or loose it, its great to have, hope it goes well for them.

kkelly77

I went up there today to do an engine and gearbox oil change. It was only myself and the guy that works there, who was extremely helpful and friendly. I had brought my own tools etc. but luckily there was a monkey wrench at hand to get the oil filter off . Customers are not permitted to control the ramps. Only employees can do this, hence the company could get insurance cover I'm sure.

There are some basic tools/equipment there and they are planning to get in more. I only managed to get the engine oil done as I needed a length of hose/funnel to refill the transmission oil. I'll have to leave that til next time I'm up there.

lomb

Have they got power outlets? Say if one wanted to angle grind off the rusty bolts on an old exhaust.

kkelly77

TBH, I'm not sure. I didn't have any need to use power. I'd be surprised if they don't.

biko

That's great for you Dublin lads, hopefully one will come to Galway soon. I know I'd happily use it over having to lie on my back in the driveway.

tinyjiney

kkelly77 wrote: »

There are some basic tools/equipment there and they are planning to get in more. QUOTE]

Thats interesting..when the guy was on the tv he said they were fully equipped...bummer if you pay your money then find they dont have the proper size socket/wrench etc.....

kkelly77

tinyjiney wrote: »

Thats interesting..when the guy was on the tv he said they were fully equipped...bummer if you pay your money then find they dont have the proper size socket/wrench etc.....

They do have sockets and wrenches

unkel

kkelly77 wrote: »

I went up there today to do an engine and gearbox oil change.

How long were you there for and how much did you pay? What way do their rates work? How much for oil and filter disposal?

kkelly77

unkel wrote: »

How long were you there for and how much did you pay? What way do their rates work? How much for oil and filter disposal?

A little over the hour (too much time yappiing ) but Only charged for 1 hour. €2 for the oil disposal.

Link to their prices.

Run_to_da_hills

People will start ripping things apart discovering that the parts they ordered were wrong and may have to wait several days.

Who ever is running this garage will need a very large forklift or plenty of able bodies to remove carcases of unfinished and abandoned projects away from the ramps so others can use them.

unkel

Bay with ramp for an hour including use of tools and oil disposal - €24

From the price list