Starting a Car Club shop co-op.

I am lovin' this idea!

Ben Wats> Anyone joined a club where you share tools and shop space? A group of

Hey Bill The Military has the DIY set up on most of thier bases. When I was stationed in Ga. you would find me most weekends at the post's self help garage working on one of 2 Fiat 124 spider convertables I had. It cost $1 an hour for bay space with lifts and $25 for the spray booth. You got tokens to trade for tools and on site mechanics to help when needed. They also had free classes on everything from oil changes to complete engine builds.

When I had the shop in Germany , my partner had it first set up as a self help shop till I came in, then weit

got to busy to have others there. The cool thing that I found out later is it was the old VW dealership.

Mario Vintage werks resto

The classes at painterslane is a really cool idea. I am thinking more of a military base thing for the members. Perhaps members could put on classes and sell seats to pay for stuff for the club.

Anyone have the rules/regs for the military shops? A freind of mine called it the "hobby shop". He was in the air-force and described a place similar to what Mario was talking about.

Trick is getting a good business structure down. Next trick is getting the rules. Please add to the article in progress. I have added some text around insurance and Texas LLC, and very light rules for forming a club or some proper legal entity to do business under.

Paul

Bill Berckman wrote:

The auto hobby shops on military bases... well first you have to have a military ID card, second it has to be your vehicle you are working on. You arent supposed to use the facilities to work on someone elses vehicle especially if you are getting paid for the work. Also they have done away with the paint booths as far as I know...(bummer) enviromental issues i suppose. And yes I remember when it was like $1 an hour to use the bays. They still "chit" out the tools. It isnt like it used to be, and some bases shops are better than others.

It all sounds like a good idea, but you have to worry most about liability, I'm sure insurance would be a real head ache. Not to mention about tools. Broken, missing tools, and people leaving their broken down cars for weeks on end. So you would have to charge them for storage. And then some people arent the cleanest workers and they dont clean up real good. Also you would have to worry about enviromental issues... gas, grease oil, etc.

Thanks Dragen..

I think the best model out there is

Theycharge for storage, they charge for supplies. Seems like staff ison-site. The nominal fees for the club membership seem reasonable.The money is in the materials and storage it looks like. This club may require full time management, but I would hope not. I like the idea of voting offensive members off the island.

I am working on a quote for insurance, and on enviro...the land owner (me and my brother) would need to make sure no pollution. I talked to a buddy who owns a junk yard and they get a $250 test done each 1/4 to ensure no pollution. Tell's me this is typical in junk yards and body shops to keep the land value high/safe.

Shop Tools, perhaps are "rented" out and user would be charged for broken returns.

Mess left is charged? That would require staff on site to enforce if club was large. Otherwise, voted off island if they do not pay for others to clean up their mess. (basic rule "do not create work for someone else".)

I think it can be figured out, and be a safe non-profit club structure that could be duped around the country.

For now, assume it is less than 10 folks/members to start. I think it could be a "break even" non-profit if it was run well.

Any help that you c> The auto hobby shops on military bases... well first you have to have a

Hi Bill,

Thanks for this tip.

Can you check these folks out? Any idea's on how this could this be merged into a "non-profit" ?

I would love to build a structure that can be used all over the country. I think this is needed.

Any contributions you can give to this idea at

isappreciated.

Paul

Bill Berckman wrote:

Check out our progress. Love feedback.

Anyone joined a club where you share tools and shop space? A group of

Thanks again Bill,

We found a few guys in town and we are starting the "sweat equity" way to go. I took this threads advice on charging for storage, and borrowed ideas from "bay area car club" that keeps costs only onto members who use the facilities. Any extra $$ earned after paying bills goes into club infrastructure "wish list". Initially, just us members will pay the bills, eventually we will rent the stalls.

I will call those folks in Cincinnati. I emailed a guy running the "bay area motor club" in San Francisco. (

He not only rents work space, he holds rock concerts and car shows at the shop. Fun.

Pass it al> I have only heard good things about what they are doing so far. Not