London Car Club

Quickstop [UK]

Quickstop [UK]

Combating adversyty.
If this is the wrong place then please move it - it's not a car project per se but here goes:

I hate driving/getting the train for 6 hours to see my parents and work on my car. It's expensive, time consuming and difficult to arrange. I am sure you guys can relate.

I have wondered for ages about getting together with like minded people in London or wherever to club together and rent a big place so lots of people that can't afford a decent garage/tools could come together and work on their stuff.

I decided that if I can't work on my truck then I can work on working on my truck :D

I started a blog on wordpress.com, a page in Facebook Pages and I now have a Twitter feed. I've advertised on Gumtree.com (UK.Australian equivalent of Craigslist) and I now need to publicise my idea/group.

The plan is to get enough interest and people together that I can take out a lease on a warehouse near London and pay less than what a garage in the city costs.

Worst case scenario is it goes nowhere, best case is I get overwhelmed and have a nice little business. I think I'll be somewhere in the middle. If I can get my truck into a facility that is secure and closeby and cheap for me then I'll consider it a success.

So.. here is where I need your help.

Can you please go to the Facebook page (London Car Cluband "like" it to get the traffic numbers up. Questions on the feed wold be great as well as any suggestions so it looks like it's legitimate. It will be once I have the nubmers!

I am now at wordpress blog as well and for anyone on Twitter, the hashtag is @LondonCarClub.

I'd love to hear your suggestions on how to get this up and running, even as a concept.

Please help me out with this guys...

Thanks!
 
M

MikeRenz

not stock
Re: London Car Club

i'd start with drafting disclaimers / waivers / insurance forms to cover your own ass. i've talked with people about starting similar businesses where you have say a 5 bay shop that you rent out the stall by the hour. Have tools accessible per bay that you can rent (sorta like minibar style in a hotel). pay to be a member / pay by the hour.

the problem comes in the logistics of renting the stalls out to people, losing tools, actually timing usage, etc. Also you'd have to figure out the make money line of customers vs hours vs rentals vs lease/insurance payments.

it's a good idea, and has potential to work in city type environments where space is limited. Insurance is the scary part...i.e. people stealing stuff, people ruining stuff, people hurting themselves, people damaging OTHER PEOPLES stuff. you just gotta make sure you cover your own ass before worrying about your customer/clients' asses.

If i lived in a big city i'd more seriously look into starting a similar business since there is seemingly no lack of closed down tire/car shops to get into a couple bay shop for semi cheap $ (figure about $5,000/month for a small couple bay shop just for lease not including insurance...) so you wouldn't need too much traffic to recoop that $. Prob is you couldn't charge more than about $30/hr if you expect to get a lot of customers. Thats over 5hrs/day of customer usage. Obviously you'd charge more for use of a lift, use of tools, etc. And you'd have to man it with someone to sign out tools / monitor usage. You could even have a certified mechanic on duty to help / answer questions / etc...and charge for his services too.

So there you have it...business plan in a nutshell. Whoever reads this, if you become rich off my blabber, you owe me dinner.
 
ziembic

ziembic

Donating Member
Re: London Car Club

These already exist in a couple of cities. I can't remember where, but I have read a couple of websites about this idea. If I figure it out, then I will edit this post.
 
13Pelle

13Pelle

Active member
Re: London Car Club

Fairly recently I had a few very similar conversations with another local SyTy guy and another friend of mine, along the lines of a "Car Club" and a business. I want to say I have heard of this in other cities elsewhere but I can not recall specifics at the moment either. I just went and hit the "Like" button on Facebook....hope it helps and good luck.
 
Quickstop [UK]

Quickstop [UK]

Combating adversyty.
Re: London Car Club

Thanks for the link - interesting reading.

If I can create awareness and get the demand ,I've done the maths and it's possible!

Did you guys click "like" on the Facebook link? Pretty please? :D
 
ziembic

ziembic

Donating Member
Re: London Car Club

happy to be one of 3. From what I have heard about facebook from my wife, too many people whine too much. Have enough whining without adding more from people who know people who know me.
 
ty166

ty166

Donating Member
Re: London Car Club

and im #3 , it nice to know unlike syty's we are all accounted for.
 
bezerk

bezerk

New member
Re: London Car Club

if been thinking about making an auto skill center as well a few years back, back in the day when turbomaniacal aka sigo was living in germany, we used to work on his Syclone at the autoskill center on a USA Army base.
it was really fun, and ofcourse for the people in the amry it was dirt cheap to rent a bay for a weekend.
and the guys running it had alot of knowledge.

even if you charge $150 a day for a ift + free use of special tools it could be worth while.
about covering yourselve. i would just make a big sign '' at your own risk".

the costumer should bring there own basic tools, as you can note down the ''special'' tools and who you leant them too.
 
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