Car ramp / lift hire per hour
 

I am looking for a place / garage in the Leicester area that rents out their car lifts / ramps on an hourly bases and possibly at reasonable rates.

If you google for this some places in Germany come up with decent rates (€12/hour), but not much close by.

Am I googling with the wrong question?

There was a place in the east end of Glasgow renting by the hour , its probably two years since I used it but I got the impression from the state of it that it may have been illegal . I think its probably too expensive to get business insurance to cover the risks of allowing me ( or any walk in customer ) to work underneath a two post lift but if you find a place let us know .

Quite a few around it would seem.

I used the search field terms "DIY Garage Ramp Hire".

http://www.selfservicecentre.com/index.html

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums...owtopic=115177

http://www.diygarages.co.uk/

http://www.pitstartgarage.com/

http://glasgow.gumtree.com/glasgow/49/73317449.html

There are very few places that do this sort of thing above board, mostly due to the liability problems, quite a few garages will loan you a lift for a few hours if they're not using it and they trust you. When I was a trainee mechanic I quite often had to sit in on somebody borrowing a lift to make sure they didn't do anything daft and that they weren't trying to pilfer our kit. It was all cash in hand though, and wouldn't have been covered by our insurance had there been an accident! It may be worth befriending your local indy garage owner and offering him reimbursement for lending you a ramp for a few hours on a sunday afternoon, anyway.

I like the idea of these sort of places, mind I get free access to a 2-poster at college.
Not very often though :(

What a great idea, if I had of known about places like this I might not have spent the money putting one in at home. £20 an hour with tools is cheep I think. So handy for people that don't have a drive.

For those in the South East, there is this one called U-Spanner in Essex.
My apologies for the shameless plug as this is my first post on this forum, but it seemed like something people might find useful and therefore hoped it might be ok ;-) I won't go on anymore than that due to cheeky advertising etc. etc. but if anybody wants more info, please contact me to discuss discounts for forum members etc. Many Thanks and happy spannering, wherever that may be..

http://www.U-Spanner.co.uk -- DIY Car Workshop Hire.

This is an old old post, but for the benefit of anyone who wants any up-to-date information. This is the only place I've managed to find nearish Glasgow: https://www.gumtree.com/p/garage-mec...ace/1262502945

Might try them out, beats trying to do work outside my flat on the side of the road and still would work out much cheaper than going to a garage.

I solved this problem by fitting my own ramp, had it 10 years now and wouldn't be without it

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528620492

Are you near Glasgow and willing to share? ;)

Sorry but it's not a business, it's not insured for commercial purposes, nor does it have public liability insurance, therefore I'm not willing to risk earning a few pounds then if/when something goes wrong be sued for helping someone out.

There are a few companies in the Glasgow area offering this service (according to Google)

Haha I was only joking!

Yes according to Google there did seem to be, but it turns out the only one still in operation remotely nearby is in Motherwell. I've made contact and if I get this Saab 2nd car later this month there's a few things I'd like to do on it and might need some garage time so I'll try it out.

Morning 4x4, Beautiful workshop,and sooo clean and tidy,a credit to you. Sorry about drooling over your (interlocking rubber?) floor,did you have to remove and modify roof above ramp?

The Bible says that you should not covet thy neighbors workshop,but hey ho...

Regards,Keith.

Halford used to have self service service centers with a ''" mechanic " on site to help out when you got stuck. Wether or not they still do I do not know.

Paul.

Sounds good but I just Googled it and can't seem any evidence of it still existing sadly. Thanks though!

Hi Keith, thanks for your kind words, possibly OCD is the reason for the workshop being clean and tidy... I really hate working in clutter.

When I submitted plans to the council for the garage I had a pit included and they were passed, sadly when I dug the hole for the pit it filled with water so rather than have a wet pit I decided to fill it in again. I spoke to my architect and he suggested extra roof trusses for strengthening above where a ramp would be and I ordered a couple of extra trusses and fitted them when I was working in that area. Once the ramp was fitted I used 8x2 timbers to strengthen the roof before cutting. Once everything was in place the trusses were cut (a tense moment) and it allowed me almost 4 feet extra height so I can now raise the ramp to full height.


A couple of pics before the trusses were cut, this was my maximum lift height

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528749898

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528749950


The red lines are the area I cut away and some of the many 8x2 timbers in place

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528750038

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528750038

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528750038


This is the XC90 at the highest point of the ramp (too high for me to reach)

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528750790

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528750790

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528750790

https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528750790

Maybe in 20 years time I can afford that :P

Awesome project and leaves you pretty well sorted!

Just make sure you don't spend your hard earned cash on a worn out ramp from eBay, the used ones are there for sale after years of hard garage service, they're often not serviced according to manufacturers guide and by the time you get them working properly and safely you could have bought a new one. I was lucky when I bought mine from a garage that went into liquidation after less than a year, mummy and daddy set up their son but he couldn't make ends meet and the company folded after 8 months. The ramp was like new and I called in the professionals to fit it to ensure everything was done properly.

Nice workshop..How do you get on with the 4 poster?
Been weighing up a 2 versus 4 poster and both have pro's and cons.
Think the 2 is more versatile.
is it 3 phase?
Cheers

I too have a four post lift and find it is the best piece of garage equipment I have ever purchased. Mine is a Bradbury with wheel free facility, so is nearly as versatile as a two poster. Without the wheel free facility I would go for a two poster if I was in the market again .

Mine is a three phase motor run off a phase converter on normal single phase. Had the phase converter for close on 25 years and not had any issues.

I was lucky enough to have 3 phase coming into my house, so it was just a case of connecting it up to the garage. Bradbury lifts are one of the best, last for years and spare parts are plentiful.

I have an air jacking beam on my lift, I went for the 4 poster as I had a 70 year old car at the time and I didn't fancy lifting it up on a 2 post lift. No regrets, 4 posts suit me fine

Cheers Guys...Fair enough on lifting the old girl on a 2 post.:regular_smile:

Lifting my 70 year old car on the two post lift wouldn't have been a worry as it was stronger than lots of modern cars, the problem was there are no jacking points to place the jack pads and therefore it would have meant a lot of faffing around every time there was work to be done underneath

This was her ready to have a clean up for a weekend show
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528833041


https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/attac...1&d=1528833041

Ramp.hire available in the Falkirk area for anyone looking to do some spannering. Sorry but a Facebook link. https://www.facebook.com/Ramp-It-226...?fref=mentions

I was just thinking of these guys when I noted this post.

Seems like a good idea... I suppose the only downside is if you break something and make the car immobile then I can see it being a hassle but I assume have some sort of plan in place for that. Certainly something I'd use in the crappy weather for routine / basic work but I'd draw the line at dropping subframes and such like!

Roll it out of the workshop and just get it towed to another garage?

It's the obvious answer granted... unless of course, it won't roll or steer.

Damn then you're in trouble! :P

Call in the forklift truck!

Know a store man who tried to move a rwd transit with a forklift, new propshaft was only the start of it.

Paul.