Self-Serve Garage in Kent offers space, tools, info for doing your own repairs

For George Patterson, it was the sticker shock.

The former Army medic needed a tune-up for his Jeep Grand Cherokee, and learned it would cost the hefty sum of $600 at a repair shop. But if he did it himself, it would be only $200-$300.

For Patterson, who now holds three college degrees and is something of an quick learner, the choice was clear.

With assistance from a car-repair Web site, Patterson bought his own parts and did the tune up himself, saving nearly $400 in the process.

“I looked it up online and found this great Web site that showed step-by-step how to do it,” Patterson said.

Today, this non-mechanic is aiming to help other vehicle owners in the same predicament.

He opened Self-Serve Garage in Kent this month, offering customers the space and equipment to do their own car-repair work.

Just like a professional garage, Patterson’s business has a hydraulic lift for under-body repairs, a wheel lift, diagnostic equipment, and a full compliment of tools. He’s also operating “green,” meaning that nearly everything that counts as waste will be recycled, from cardboard to metal. He’s also set up to take waste transmission fluid and oil from his customers’ repairs.

The garage is more than just space and tools, though.

Even if you’ve never changed your oil before, you can do it here, thanks to the Web site Patterson used for his Jeep repairs, Automd.com, which takes non-mechanics step-by-step through repairs. You also can order the parts for your repairs through Patterson, to avoid the major markups that can occur in a repair shop.

Patterson has a computer set up for customers to log on and learn about their cars.

“I’ll have the printer set up so they can actually print it out here and do it,” Patterson said of step-by-step repairs.

The bays, of which there are six, can be rented by the hour, the half day, the week or the month. There’s also a special oil-change bay, where customers can do their own oil change for just $10, if within the allotted time frame of 30 minutes.

Patterson is hoping to cater both to the folks who like to do their own repair work, but don’t have a place to do it, and mobile mechanics, who can rent the bays to work on their customers’ cars.

He’s also lined up several mobile mechanics whom customers can contact for repairs – or to help if a car owner gets in over their head trying to fix their own car at the shop.

Although he’s now in the auto business, it’s a far cry from where the Federal Way resident got his start. He served in the Army as a medic, and thanks to the G.I. Bill, went on to become a licensed practical nurse. From there, he opted to become a registered nurse.

But his interest in business management was piqued as an R.N., watching how staff was managed.

“I saw a lot of things that could change in management,” he said.

So he went back to school and got a Master’s degree in business administration, and was subsequently hired as a manager for an oncology practice. But thanks to the hard times of the recession, the business downsized, leaving Patterson without a job.

So he went back to square one, literally: He revisited a business plan he had written while in business school, which outlined his brainchild of a self-serve garage. And while it took considerable finesse to line up the necessary liability insurance (all his customers sign a waiver releasing his shop from liability for their self-made repairs) Patterson made it happen, thanks to his persistence.

Now he’s just waiting to see if his hopes will be realized.

“I’m the only one in the Pacific Northwest,” he said.

SELF-SERVE GARAGE

The do-it-yourself repair facility is located at 221 Washington Ave. in Kent. It features bay and tool rentals, as well as free monthly repair seminars. Hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Learn more by going to www.selfservegarage.com, or by calling 253-981-3946.