Working on your car in London with no garage ?

[wonderwebb]

How do you guys who live in london work on your cars . I would love to be able to learn about upgrading my cars or buying a project but without a garage it seems like an impossible task. Every thing would need to be done by somone with a garage which then means its cost prohibitive. Can you rent garage space to work on your own cars or what else have you done.
My hat is off to all those guys that work on them outside on there driveways
The idea of having some work space inside to actually get to know my cars seems really attractive but London prices means space is ridiculous priced.

Oh and dont mention "car ports" lol

[GoodDoc]

There are some places in London that rent out ramps/lifts in workshops by the day/hour, you provide the tools, they provide the space.

First heard of them while watching this video (starting watching videos about issues with consumer units, ending up watching a video about an electrician servicing his van).

https://youtu.be/n0TG4jgJdRc (2:30 is where he talks about the place he’s working)

Of course this does assume you can drive/wheel you car in and out in a day, and there’s one local to you (I think that one is in Park Royal), but it may be a better option than lying in the road.

[_Marvin]

You make it sound like you have a drive already? If so then you don't need a garage at all. Don't get me wrong, a garage would definitely be nicer, but remember that most garages are too small to also be workshops when the car is inside, unless you've something like a Caterham.

I've only ever worked on my driveway and the main disadvantages over a garage are that you have no control over the weather and there's the set up/tear down time at the start/end of the day, where you have to bring all your tools out and pack them away again. A car port would alleviate the first of these as it happens, which is the biggest issue.

The real difficulty in London I'd have thought, would be having to work in the road, which I'd never want to do personally but believe there are those who do work on their cars that way. If you have off street parking then you should be ok.

[jnoiles]

http://www.pitstartgarage.com/self_service.html . <-- The answer. Used them for years when I lived in London. Still pop in from time to time to use it. Mo Safi has a setup there as well, if you get stuck his rates are reasonable and he's a lovely fella.

[197.]

I don't even have a driveway but have to resort to working on the car with axle stands whilst on the road. Admittedly it's not too bad as I only do simple jobs and I live on a one-way road but it is still a pain in the arse in all honesty.

When you've got no choice to work on your car due to funds or being able to find someone else to do the job you just crack on with it I suppose.

[hyphen]

Often I go to the nearest covered car park to do any minor task, e.g. supermarkets. B&q etc. Go at a quiet time and park at end.

Otherwise just give to garage.

[mslnd]

hyphen said:

Often I go to the nearest covered car park to do any minor task, e.g. supermarkets. B&q etc. Go at a quiet time and park at end.

Otherwise just give to garage.

Just wonder: what minor task? Is supermarket security ok with that? I can not image e.g. changing shock absorbers or draining oil without security attention

Edited by mslnd on Friday 5th April 12:31