Answers, including the awkward ones

No, and there isn’t one to make. You pick a duration, a day and a time, and only then do we ask for a name, a phone number and a card. Nothing about the calendar is hidden behind a sign-up.

After the bay is held, never before. The order is duration → day → time → vehicle → you. If you abandon it halfway we have no idea who you were, which is exactly how we want it.

21 days, for everyone. Book Saturdays early — they go first.

Yes, as long as the start time is at least 4 hours away. That gap is not bureaucracy — it is the window in which the bay actually gets prepped for the vehicle you told us about.

You don’t pick, and that is on purpose. All 4 lifts are identical, so we allocate on the day. It means a job that runs long in bay two never costs you your slot, and it is why we can still fit you in when a single-lift shop is full.

Book the honest guess plus an hour. You pay for time used, so an over-booked hour is cheap insurance, and the minimum is 2 hours anyway.

If you truly have no idea: brakes on one axle is about two hours, a suspension corner four, an exhaust section three, a clutch is a full day.

We text you 45 minutes before your time ends. If the bay is free after you and it does not run past closing, adding an hour is one tap at the published rate.

It cannot be guaranteed in advance — someone else may already have that hour. On a weekday afternoon it almost always works; on a Saturday, book long from the start.

From the link in your confirmation email, with your confirmation code. No phone call, no waiting for someone to check a paper diary. Cancel free up to 24 hours ahead.

Your clock started at your start time — the bay was set and standing empty. Call us. If nobody is booked behind you we will usually just slide your window along; if someone is, we cannot take their hours to cover yours.

If you are going to miss the visit entirely, cancel rather than no-show. A no-show is charged in full.

Try a shorter duration first — the calendar only shows start times that fit the length you asked for, so a three-hour booking sees openings a six-hour one cannot.

Cancellations go straight back on the calendar the moment they happen, so a day that is full on Wednesday often is not by Friday. Evenings after 5pm mid-week are the quietest slots we have.

$45 weekday daytime, $55 weekday evenings from 5pm, and $65 on Saturday and Sunday. Per hour, per bay. Every rate is published on the pricing page; nothing is quoted at the counter.

No card needed to book. You pay at the shop when you are done, for the time you actually used.

Nothing is taken when you book, so there is no hold to show up in your banking app and nothing to drop off. You settle at the counter.

No deposit, and no card at all when you book. You only ever gets charged for time used, add-ons you took, or a late cancellation under the terms below.

One hour, and the longest single booking is 10. An hour is enough for a quick look underneath or an oil change; most real jobs want two or more once you count getting the car up and the bay cleared behind you.

No — it is $50 an hour whether you book one hour or ten, and the same rate at the weekend and in the evening.

If a job is going to run past a day, the weekly rate is the cheaper way to do it: the bay is yours for the whole week and your car can stay on the lift overnight.

You pay for the hours you used, rounded to the whole hour, with the 2-hour minimum still applying. Leaving at noon on a booking that ran to four does not cost you the afternoon.

Cancel free up to 24 hours ahead. Inside 24 hours we charge half the reserved time. No-shows are charged in full.

Two things sit outside that: if we decide your vehicle cannot be raised safely, you are refunded for the time you did not use; and if a lift is out of service and we cannot rehouse you, you are not charged at all.

Extra, and all published. Specialty tool library $25, tyre machine and balancer $40, fluid disposal $15, repair manual access $10, 20-ton press $20, overnight storage $55 a night.

The standard tool set — sockets, wrenches, breaker bars, jack stands — is in the bay rate. You only pay for the specialty wall.

Every booking is secured with a card, and we settle to that card when you hand the bay back. [Owner to confirm whether cash is accepted at the counter.]

A weekday morning at $45 an hour is the cheapest bay time we sell. If you are here more than about six hours a month, a membership beats it — the break-even calculator will tell you honestly, including when the answer is “stay pay-as-you-go”.

Four questions, asked at booking and answerable in ten seconds on the how it works page: is it lowered, is it an EV or hybrid, is it heavier than a three-quarter-ton truck, and are the pinch welds solid.

None of them block a booking on their own. They tell us what to have ready before you arrive.

Not if you tell us. Lowered cars can foul the lift arms, so we keep low-profile pads and drive-on ramps on hand — but they need to be at the bay before you pull in, not fetched while your clock runs.

Yes, and we need to know in advance. A battery pack changes where the arms can safely go and where they absolutely cannot — putting a pad through a pack is not a recoverable mistake, so we look the lift points up for your exact model before it moves.

High-voltage work itself is your business and your qualification, not ours.

Every lift here is rated to 10,000 lbs. Over about 9,000 we want to talk before you book — call (555) 014-2200. Over the rating we move you to the drive-on bay if the job allows it, or we turn it away. We do not guess at a rating plate.

This is the one that actually drops cars, so it gets looked at with you before anything leaves the ground. Surface rust is normal in Michigan and usually fine. Rot through the pinch weld, or a rocker that crumples when pressed, is not.

If you are not sure, book anyway and say “not sure”. We would far rather check it together than have you talk yourself out of a visit.

The visit ends there and you are refunded for the time you did not use. You are not charged for our judgement call, and we would rather lose the booking than drop a car.

It is rare, and it is almost always rust or a previous repair that moved a jacking point.

Yes. The person who books is responsible for the visit and signs the waiver, and the vehicle’s details go on the booking whoever owns it. If the owner is coming too, they sign their own waiver like any other helper.

What you cannot do is charge the public for repairs performed here as though we were the shop — see the question about selling and side work.

No. A two-post lift picks a vehicle up by four points beneath the body; motorcycles and trailers have nowhere to put the arms, and an RV is over the rating before you start. Cars, vans and light trucks only.

If it rolls and steers, yes — tell us when you book so we can put you in an end bay with room to push it in. If it needs to arrive on a flatbed, call first: the drop-off has to land inside your booked window, not whenever the tow company gets there.

No. A two-post lift is the wrong tool for it — alignment needs a level drive-on rack and machine heads. You can absolutely do the suspension work here and take it somewhere with a rack afterwards, which is what most people do.

Us. Every raise, every lower, every time, including your tenth visit. We set the arms and pads for your vehicle, take it up a few inches, shake it, and only then go to working height with the locks in.

One trained person owning that control is what makes four bays of strangers workable at all.

Yes, before you arrive rather than at the door. It is a short safety briefing and an e-signature on your phone, and it is good for twelve months — come back inside a year and the step disappears. [Waiver text to be reviewed by a Michigan attorney before launch.]

Anyone who will be in the bay signs their own. You get a link you can text them while you are still at home, so nobody is standing at the counter filling in a form on your clock.

You plus one helper at the bay. Beyond that nobody can actually work and the bay stops being safe to move around in. Your helper signs the waiver too, membership or not.

No welding, no torch, no open flame, no paint or spray finishing, no fuel-tank work, and no A/C refrigerant service. Shared air and a shared building; several of those also need containment and certification we do not have.

Practically, it means bring penetrant and an impact instead of planning to heat a seized bolt.

No, and that is not us being unhelpful. We rent space and equipment; we do not diagnose, advise or supervise a repair. The moment we start telling you which ball joint is bad we are an unlicensed repair shop, and then none of this is available to anybody.

Equipment questions are completely fair game — where a tool lives, how the tyre machine works, whether the press is free. Add the repair manual add-on and you get factory procedures and torque specs on the bay terminal.

Tell us immediately — that is the whole ask. Snapped sockets and worn tools are normal wear and we absorb them. Genuine damage through misuse is billed at replacement cost when you settle up, and the waiver says so in plain words.

A tool that has quietly been broken and put back on the board is how the next person gets hurt, which is why we would rather hear it than not.

There is a first-aid kit at the counter and staff on site the whole time you are here. For anything past a cut we call for help immediately and we do not debate it with you.

You are working on your own vehicle at your own risk — that is what the waiver covers, and it is the honest description of what renting a bay is.

They are welcome in the building with you, and they are welcome to watch a car go up from outside the bay lines. Under-18s do not go under a raised vehicle and do not work at the tool wall.

Realistically: a two-hour brake job with a bored seven-year-old in a working shop is not a good afternoon for either of you.

Briefly, on the ground, with the bay door open, and tell staff before you turn the key. Never with the car in the air, and never for a long warm-up — it is a shared building and everyone breathes the same air.

Completely. We will turn you away at the door over it, and we will not feel bad. A dropped caliper finds a sandal every time.

No. A full standard set is in the bay rate — sockets, wrenches, breaker bars, jack stands, creeper, drain pan, bench. Bring anything unusual your job needs, or rent the specialty library for $25.

Every visit ends with a tool count. It takes two minutes and it is the only reason the wall is still complete for the person after you.

No. Everything on this site works without one, at the published hourly rate, with no account and no minimum term. A membership buys bay hours up front — it is not a gate, and it is not required for anything.

Signing up online is not live yet. Ask at the counter and we will set one up by hand.

Rather than guess, put your real hours into the break-even calculator. It will tell you when paying as you go wins.

They expire at the end of the month. Included hours belong to the month you paid for and do not stack up into a bank, so pick the tier that matches a normal month rather than your busiest one.

We do not refund unused hours in cash either. If a tier is regularly leaving hours on the table, drop to a smaller one.

Any time. No contract, no minimum term, no phone call where somebody tries to talk you out of it. Tell us at the counter and it stops at the end of the month you have already paid for.

A membership is one person. The waiver, the payment and the responsibility for the visit all have to point at the same human, so a second driver needs their own booking and their own waiver.

Yes. An included hour is an included hour whatever day you spend it, and the rate past them is the same one everybody pays — we do not run a weekend or evening surcharge.

Some are. What each tier throws in is listed on the membership page — the rest stay à la carte and are added when you book.

Waterford, MI. Roll-up doors on the north side of the building. Parking is free and it is ours, so leave the car in the lot while you sort your parts out.

The last start time each day is whatever still finishes before the door closes — the calendar simply will not offer you anything later.

Yes, and we keep it clean — which in a working shop is a deliberate decision, not an accident. Coffee and wifi that actually works are up front too.

Yes to both. Wifi is free and fast enough to watch the one video where somebody does your exact job on your exact car. There is a stool at the bay that actually rolls, and seating up front out of the way.

Yes — overnight storage is $55 a night. The car stays on the lift, the building is locked and insured, and you come back the next day and carry on.

Add it when you book, or tell us on the day when the job clearly is not finishing.

Take the fluid disposal add-on for $15 and it stops being your problem — oil, coolant, brake fluid and ATF, disposed of legally and documented. Otherwise it goes home with you in your own container.

Old parts and packaging: small stuff in our bins, a scrap exhaust or a set of rotors goes with you.

No — there is no parts counter here and we do not stock anything. Bring your parts and any fluids you plan to put in the car. If you have to leave mid-job for a part, your clock keeps running, so buy the extra gasket before you come.

Yes. Flippers and side-hustle techs are a good chunk of who the bays exist for, and we are not going to police what you do with your own vehicle.

Two limits. We are not a licensed repair facility, so nothing done here can be represented as work performed or certified by a shop. And how many vehicles you can sell in a year before Michigan considers you a dealer is between you and the state — worth checking before you make it a business.

You can rent bay time like anyone else, and the weekly and monthly rates are priced for people doing exactly that. What you cannot do is bring a paying customer’s car in and have them believe they are dealing with a repair shop — we are not one, and we will not stand behind work we did not do.

Service animals aside, please leave pets at home. A shop floor has glass, sharp offcuts and spilled fluid on it, and a dog under a raised car is nobody’s idea of a good outcome.

Your own bay, your own car, absolutely — plenty of people document a build. Keep other customers and their plates out of frame, and do not set up lights or a tripod where people are walking.

[Gift certificates — owner to confirm before launch.] In the meantime you can book a bay in the other person’s name; they sign their own waiver and you settle the bill.