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Comment by pmcollins | Hacker News Reader

Here's what I want: To take my car to a gleaming, state of the art repair facility with every tool I could ever need, staffed by auto mechanic "coaches" who will help me repair my car myself.

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These actually do exist! Do a Google search for "self service garage" or "DIY garage" to see if there's one near your location. You may have to hunt around a bit as some of these places may not have websites. The one in my town [0], for instance, only has a Facebook page.

[0] https://www.facebook.com/pg/The-Pit-Stop-DIY-Garage-45343608...

These places never do well because:

1. Tool theft. Anyone that's ever done anything Blue Collar will know that tools evaporate as soon as you turn your head.

2. Failure to fix. Cars end up taking up space due to their owners inability to fix and/or put them back together. Then it's up to the 'coaches' to become lowly paid mechanics and put the thing back together for them for next to nothing just to get the car out of the garage.

People have been trying this idea since the 80s. Never worked before and it probably never will.

These places do exist, I worked on friend's car at an awesome place called Lifted in Fremont. They had all the tools you could want and a knowledge crew to get you out of sticky situations. It looks like there are a few other places throughout the Bay Area too. I think the challenge was inexperienced people coming in and underestimating the task they were taking on or screwing things up and having to leave their cars at the shop for what was originally a day job.

Being in Fremont, I immediately searched to learn more. It's permanently closed.

There's also Pit Row in Santa Clara. Search for terms like "DIY".

This is incredible! I have just thought about doing the same thing with chefs. As in: you order a (not the Michelin-star kind) chef who'll come to your house and teach you how to cook some tasty meal, without worrying about buying ingredients, tools etc. We learn from plumbers and technicians, why not learn from chefs?

There was a few offerings around this idea in the past few years. Kithensurfing being another one of them. They've all burned out due to lack of demand.

http://www.eater.com/2015/12/7/9852106/kitchensurfing-privat...

Pretty much explains it.

Ouch. Duly noted. :)

Friend of a friend launched kitchit that did almost this. You should check them out and figure out why they shut down.

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