Why Communal/DIY Auto Repair Garages Are a Great Idea and Why They Won't Catch On...

What exactly do I mean by communal/diy car garage? Well, my fellow car nerds, it’s the idea of a space where one can service their own car either for a fee or free (from tax dollars). The concept does not necessarily mean this space has to be privately or publicly owned, that’s an argument for another day. Some basic tools could and a lift also be provided, but nothing too expensive would be a good idea. Normally for an arrangement like this, you would need to have your own garage or buddy with one, but a communal garage would be an affordable option for those needing to service their car on the cheap.

Why the Need for Communal Garages?

Generally, anyone who knows how to service their car does not want to pay exorbitant fees to have their car by a mechanic (there’s no good reason to pay for a simple oil change!). Aside from the price, mechanics often use heavy-duty tools which ensure you won’t be able to get things such as your oil drain plug off ever again. Also, there is no shortage of horror stories about shop employees damaging cars and even taking them on joy rides. If you have a good shop, there’s not much to worry about, but even then, the more maintenance you can do yourself, the better. Unfortunately, if you own an apartment, usually you are not allowed to do maintenance in the parking area. The problem is worsened by the fact that in many areas, owning a house as a single income lower middle-class adult just is not viable, and rental homes aren’t cheap either. So if you can’t service your own car at your residence to save money, where can you service it? Without a friend with a garage or a shop, it’s not going to be easy. Sometimes you can get away with doing it in a Walmart or auto parts store parking lot, but they can still kick you out. So, you take the car to a Jiffy Lube or other shop, they overcharge you, overtighten the drain plug (or maybe DON’T EVEN CHANGE THE OIL AT ALL), and to add insult to injury the constant expense to service your car puts you further away from affording your own property.

Other Benefits...

A communal garage would also be a better place to service your car than a home garage in some cases. There could even be a lift (with supervised use) to see whats going on underneath the car. It could also be a place to stop in an emergency. However, the main overlooked benefit would be teaching young people to be self-sufficient. Fewer millennials know how to work on a car than the previous generation, and car maintenance knowledge has been on the decline since the 70s. Simple maintenance is an important part of understanding and appreciating your car, and it’s sad to see our culture become more willing to pay exorbitant fees and remain ignorant of the basics of how automobiles work.

Why Communal Car Repair Centers Cannot Exist

So some of you were probably convinced that communal auto repair centers would be a good idea, and even though I think it’s a good idea, I’m going to be mature and explain why it’s probably never going to catch on. The main reason is that while it would be extremely beneficially for a minority of people, most people are too lazy to fix their own car or already own a garage to service their own car due to their lack of laziness and will to have a private garage. As a result, there is not enough money to be made from such a venture in the private sector and also not enough popular support for communal garages as a public program. In society, demands are not met by how much people need them, but by how many people need them (or how many rich people want them). For rare deadly diseases, there is less money put into finding a cure as opposed to something like cancer, even though, for an unfortunate victim, the disease is just as incurable and deadly or even worse than cancer. The livelihood of a small group of people in society tends not to mean that much in the grand scheme of things, no matter how depressing that fact feels. It’s the same reason new cheap rear wheel drive enthusiast cars are going extinct, while boring front wheel drive sedans and bloated boring crossovers are a dime a dozen. The world is populated by idiots who make dumb purchases (especially automotive), and you are going to have to get used to that. Eventually, our cars will become too complicated to work on anyway, and they’ll probably make them disposable just like iPhones. If you really want to get sick to your stomach, just look up an article or video about how Apple purposely conspires to keep the schematics of Apple products a secret and works against repairmen just trying to make an honest living. We can only pray they never manage to repeal the “Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act”, which requires manufacturers to make information given to its dealers for repairs to be publicly available.

So What's the Point of Even Thinking About Such an Idea

While this idea will likely never work nationwide or spread around the globe, it does remind us how important it is to share our garages with the less fortunate. If you have friends without a garage, and you have one, I urge you to share your garage with them and maybe even show them the ropes. It’s also good motivation for working hard and getting your own personal garage, knowing how much money having your own garage will save you and how much more convenient having a garage is vs. having a garageless apartment. It’s also important to realize how good ideas do not equal viable ideas. I got hung up on this idea for a while, and I feel I came out with an increased level of maturity and grasp of how society functions despite retaining a slight aversion to the way things work. Also, it would make sense if possibly landlords and parking lot owners everywhere learn to have mercy on the unfortunate few petrolheads without a garage to call home. #blogpost #diyautorepair #

P.S. Apparently with further research a handful of groups are making this idea a reality. Good on them, though I doubt this will be an international phenomenon. Check out www.diyautorepairshops.com and http://www.jackjunkies.com for two groups who are at least on a small scale making diy car repair centers a reality. While I can not assure they will catch on, I have the utmost respect for those making this idea a reality and providing an incredibly valuable service.