Would you pay for.....

[Jimmyarm]

An experienced mechanic to 'help' you when you are working on your car ?

There are a few threads that pop up with people asking about doing 'xyx' on their cars and mostly these people seem to have an idea of which end of the spanner you should be using but lack a little bit of the confidence to undertake the task in question.

So would you slip a mechanic a few beer tokens on a Saturday for them to come round and provide 'technical' assistance ?

Potentially a sideline business ? £10 an hour instead of £45 + for your local indy ?

[Benmac]

In a word, Yes.

[BarnatosGhost]

Thats quite a good idea, especially if you come with a boot full of tools that the average Bob doesn't have.

£10 an hour is too cheap, though, because you'll need to insure yourself. 'Informal' is great until something expensive goes wrong and the finger-pointing begins.

[Jimmyarm]

[quote=BarnatosGhost 'Informal' is great until something expensive goes wrong and the finger-pointing begins.
[/quote]

Fixing cars is easy, its fixing the bits that break when you are fixing them that's hard

Do understand about the Insurance side though, I was an Underwriter for a while before I got into this. Pretty sure I could pick up a PL/PI policy for less than £200 a year for this sort of thing if I made a business from it.

Tools is a good point, I own or have access to pretty much most things (including a ramp in the workshop which makes things 100x easier!)

[EDLT]

You could charge £25 p/h and still undercut everyone doing it as a profession. Many mechanics do foreigners at the weekend for around that price (I don't because I'm lazy).

[ColinM50]

Done it a few times with a chappie who works at my local garage. He comes round on a Saturday and helps me service and repair my Jag and kit car. I pay him £15 an hour, he gets any bits I need "trade", i.e. I get the stuff cheaper than Halfords and he makes a bit too, though I've had to insist he doesn't liberate stuff like oils and filters from his work place - I'd hate him to lose his job over a five pounbd oil filter or something.

he's got access to any special tools we might need as long as they're back at work on Monday his boss is fine with the deal.

Works fine for all concerned. I get my servicing done a bit cheaper, get my hands dirty and feel very righteous and he makes a few tax free quid instead of sitting on his arris. Everyone's happy.

[Jimmyarm]

So who is good at making websites and needs to do some work on their car that lives around me then ?

[Carfeed]

Yeah definitly depending on the car. If it was something that needed a specialist (say a TVR) or if the car was quite new then I wouldn't but otherwise yes.

Trev

[eltax91]

Jimmyarm said:

So who is good at making websites and needs to do some work on their car that lives around me then ?

If you were anywhere near me I would have been well up for that!!

[al1991]

Yes.

I'd like to think I'd learn something about my car as well as fixing the problem.

[Carfeed]

I am good at making websites and have GT40 in the garage that needs some work doing on it. If I could find someone local to me at £15 to help work on the GT then the car would certainly get done allot quicker.

I am about to put the radiator pipes in, something I haven't done before. Having a good mechanic on hand would be a great help

Trev

[Jimmyarm]

As the beer is flowing, I am having more wild ideas.

What about opening up a 'workshop' and letting you come in and use the ramps to do this on a Saturday/Sunday (having a ramp is what makes everything easier) ?

I may be deleting all my entries and appearing on Dragons Den soon

[Westy Pre-Lit]

I don't get it am I missing something here.

I understand it as friends helping friends etc or doing people a favour now and again. But why would a mechanic spend out for training, tools and special equipment, vans, phones, insurances, fuel, accountants fee's, affiliations, etc etc etc to turn up and be paid less for a job so somebody can help them.

Basically the business model is a bit like Hometune or a mobile indy but charging less so the client can help.

The Hometune rates are there for a reason.

Have considered it a bit more and in the words of Duncan Bannatyne...I'm Owt

Edited to say :-

Actually thinking about it although not entirely the same thing, I know somebody who likes to think he's a mechanic and does everything on the cheap. He borrows tools from a friend of mine who has his own business, so he can go and work on customers cars. In fact he borrowed my engine lift which would have cost him about £50 a day hire and conveniently forgot to give it back until I reminded him politely he still had it.

When it all goes pear-shaped, which his jobs inevitably do, my mate then has to sort it all out and actually ends up costing him money.

Unfortunately I think he and my mate are related and has become difficult situation although now the strain is starting to show.

Edited by Westy Pre-Lit on Saturday 19th February 19:01

[boredofmyoldname]

Jimmyarm said:

What about opening up a 'workshop' and letting you come in and use the ramps to do this on a Saturday/Sunday (having a ramp is what makes everything easier) ?

http://www.autopiaservicecentres.co.uk/index.php

Like that place? Great idea if you can make money on the days people don't want to use it IMO.

[pinchmeimdreamin]

Jimmyarm said:

As the beer is flowing, I am having more wild ideas.

What about opening up a 'workshop' and letting you come in and use the ramps to do this on a Saturday/Sunday (having a ramp is what makes everything easier) ?

I may be deleting all my entries and appearing on Dragons Den soon

Think you will find someone already had that idea

[BarnatosGhost]

Jimmyarm said:

As the beer is flowing, I am having more wild ideas.

What about opening up a 'workshop' and letting you come in and use the ramps to do this on a Saturday/Sunday (having a ramp is what makes everything easier) ?

I may be deleting all my entries and appearing on Dragons Den soon

Stick with the first idea!

The above has been done before. TwitStop, or something. Nightmare. What do you do when a car gets trapped on the ramps, Keep charging the owner an hourly fee whilst he gets a part sent from Germany?

[Dan_1981]

First idea is great.

I don't think it'd make a business per se, but i'd love to have a friendly mechanic who would come round on a saturday and help me do jobs on my car.

I'd actually be learngin stuff, he'd be making a bit of cash and my car woudl be getting worked on.

I'd love to give some jobs a try but the fear is always there that i'm goign to break something expensive or do somethign that I can't undo myself and end up paying someone to do the job for me anyway.

Shame your not ooop north.

[MercuryRises]

I used to live next door to a mobile mechanic, he was always happy to answer questions along the lines of "How do I get xyz off?" or "Where is abc located?" and he never charged a penny for the answers.


Not so with questions that started with "Can you take a look at.....?" or "Can you give me a hand with.....?" But that's fair enough, can't expect the guy to work for free.

The idea of a work bay (like the one in the link above) for hire is excellent, I can think of a few times where being able to get the car up on ramps would have helped a heck of a lot

[Bricol]

Take another look at it . . . think of your 9-5 job, Monday to Friday . . . now go do it with an amateur, who probably won't listen to you, in an environment where you don't have all the tools/info you would normally . . . on a weekend . . . for a fraction of your weekday rate . . . probably with the knowledge if you were at work, you'd be on weekend overtime rate . . .

And as for doing it in work premises out of hours . . . some interesting liabilities to be sorted out there when the untrained, uninsured amateur drops the lift onto the professional or similar.

The way to do those jobs on a car is to start small. Gain mechanical experience and a tool collection and work up. Don't jump in on a full engine rebuild with a claw hammer, a blunt wood chisel and a free leatherman imitation you got in a christmas cracker - until you gain the confidence, you'll have to pay the professional to do it.

Bri

[944fan]

Carfeed said:

I am good at making websites and have GT40 in the garage that needs some work doing on it. If I could find someone local to me at £15 to help work on the GT then the car would certainly get done allot quicker.

I am about to put the radiator pipes in, something I haven't done before. Having a good mechanic on hand would be a great help

Trev

I'm good at making websites, in fact I do it for a living but I don't have GT40. I can only surmise that you are better at making them than me!!

Out of interest is a one of the new ones or an original?