Hi all, been mulling this over for a while, trying to work out if it would be something achievable. Would be good to see if others think it's a good idea/would be interested in it.
Basically it's a car club that would use the dues to rent out a large warehouse on an industrial estate somewhere around Canterbury in Kent.
Roughly working it out, a reasonable sized warehouse costs about £8,000 a year, depending on location (This is before negotiations, but we'll take this number and go with it for estimates).
To cover this with 40 members would cost £200 per person. On top of that we'd have to pay insurance and heating/lighting. So we'd need nearer 60 members for this to work.
The membership would get you;
Access to the space to work on any vehicle you own
Access to specialist tools to work on said vehicle whilst you're there
Discounts with local/national retailers
Discounts with insurers
It would cost extra to store your car there, and there's be a nominal fee to borrow tools to take away with you. The club would be exclusive with all members having to pass a probation period, so you're not going to get any old dickhead rocking up and nosing around your cars. I'd expect to be able to negotiate a much higher rate of discount because of this.
The benefits of this over a lockup/council garage is;
More space to work on vehicles
Access to the tools
More people to lend experience/a hand
A larger community of people
Lighting/heating
Probably a fridge to enjoy a nice cold beer in the summer.
I'd expect to be able to negotiate a reasonable discount on the rental, as we'd be there more evenings and weekends, so wouldn't add to traffic on the estate too much, and would provide an extra layer of security by being there out of hours. I'm also looking around to find a large enough space from someone who is car-friendly, but I'm not holding out much hope on that and I don't want to base it on some pipe dream, this has to be able to support itself financially.
A problem I foresee is cost of insurance. Having power tools, welding gear, classic cars and people using them who might not know what they're doing in one place could be a recipe for disaster, which is why safety training would need to be given (and acknowledgement of training signed by all parties etc.) and why members would need to pass a probation period.
The club would be set up as a limited company, with members signing a membership contract detailing their responsibilities to the club and other members.
I've got a few interested people, at a guess I'd say I've got five solid members lined up just from my sounding people out, but it'd be interesting to see what people from the wider community think about the plan.
I'd definitely be interested to see what ideas people have or problems they can forsee.
Thanks for reading the essay!
Guy.
Basically it's a car club that would use the dues to rent out a large warehouse on an industrial estate somewhere around Canterbury in Kent.
Roughly working it out, a reasonable sized warehouse costs about £8,000 a year, depending on location (This is before negotiations, but we'll take this number and go with it for estimates).
To cover this with 40 members would cost £200 per person. On top of that we'd have to pay insurance and heating/lighting. So we'd need nearer 60 members for this to work.
The membership would get you;
Access to the space to work on any vehicle you own
Access to specialist tools to work on said vehicle whilst you're there
Discounts with local/national retailers
Discounts with insurers
It would cost extra to store your car there, and there's be a nominal fee to borrow tools to take away with you. The club would be exclusive with all members having to pass a probation period, so you're not going to get any old dickhead rocking up and nosing around your cars. I'd expect to be able to negotiate a much higher rate of discount because of this.
The benefits of this over a lockup/council garage is;
More space to work on vehicles
Access to the tools
More people to lend experience/a hand
A larger community of people
Lighting/heating
Probably a fridge to enjoy a nice cold beer in the summer.
I'd expect to be able to negotiate a reasonable discount on the rental, as we'd be there more evenings and weekends, so wouldn't add to traffic on the estate too much, and would provide an extra layer of security by being there out of hours. I'm also looking around to find a large enough space from someone who is car-friendly, but I'm not holding out much hope on that and I don't want to base it on some pipe dream, this has to be able to support itself financially.
A problem I foresee is cost of insurance. Having power tools, welding gear, classic cars and people using them who might not know what they're doing in one place could be a recipe for disaster, which is why safety training would need to be given (and acknowledgement of training signed by all parties etc.) and why members would need to pass a probation period.
The club would be set up as a limited company, with members signing a membership contract detailing their responsibilities to the club and other members.
I've got a few interested people, at a guess I'd say I've got five solid members lined up just from my sounding people out, but it'd be interesting to see what people from the wider community think about the plan.
I'd definitely be interested to see what ideas people have or problems they can forsee.
Thanks for reading the essay!
Guy.
