I'm willing to bet nearly everyone with a decent size home garage has been in this situation. "My (insert car name here) has a bad (insert part name here) and I was wondering if I could use one of the spaces in your garage to replace the bad part."

Wanting to be helpful I agree as long as they have everything organized and ready to go when they show up to do their work. Most of my friends are in and out, and they make sure the place is cleaner than when they started, and everything of mine is back where it should be. Then there's that one friend. Seems like the storm cloud follows him everywhere. Oddball stuff on his cars breaking for no apparent reason to me at the most inconvenient times, life doesn't treat him fair, can't catch a break, etc and so on.

Knowing it's probably going to bite me in the butt regardless, I ask if he has the replacement parts needed, did he troubleshoot the problem or is he just guessing what is wrong, and if it's something major, does he have the help lined up to do the heavy lifting? Yes to having the parts, he is positive on what the problem is, and he has help lined up if he needs it.

Of course once the actual work starts, then the drama really goes in to high gear. Tools everywhere on the floor, assorted greasy parts scattered in a circle, unlabeled bundles of wires having a bad hair day under the hood. Then I find out he has the wrong part, the correct part is only available from Timbuktoo via special order from a secret order of Gregorian monks that craft the part by hand, and he should have it in a couple weeks.

I guess what my question is, how do you tell a friend no, keep that craptacular trouble magnet away from my garage, you keep delaying everything I need to do to my cars, without coming across as a total turd?

 

Sounds familiar. How about parking a car(s) in the garage that "won't run". ?

 

yup, that is what i do. tell them i have a big job coming in any minute that will take a week or so to finish.

 

I have one rule on that. Anything that goes in, leaves in one week max. I don't care if it's dragged, hauled whatever. Come prepared or don't come at all.

 

Yeah there's one I had to slam the door on and tell him never again.
I come home from work, see a late model Cherokee in my driveway with the front end jacked up and the front tires removed. When I get out of my car, that's when I notice a young woman sitting at my patio table reading a book. Don't know her, don't recognize the car. Calming my inner tasmanian devil, I introduce myself and ask who she is, and what exactly is going on. She's a co-worker of a friend's wife, and that friend is replacing the ball joints on her Cherokee.
(I had already told him no working on other people's cars without letting me know first)
She says he ran to Autozone to rent/borrow some specific puller tool and he should be right back. Okay, I'm thinking he should be done soon so I get up to go inside, I can scream at him later once the woman is gone, and that's when she says, "And he is only charging me half what the garage wanted to do the job".
Turns out he was doing jobs for pay on cars in my garage while I was at work. I kept my cool talking with her, but once she left I unloaded on him with a string of profanity that would have made a drunken sailor blush.

Yeah, he doesn't get to go anywhere near my garage any more.

 

Just say no thus eliminate the possibility of losing a friend, or neighbor. Had experience where supplier lied and I spend 2-3 weeks waiting for parts to arrive and although irritating, it is when someone uses my tools, and/or garage, in the condition described that I go ballistic, some are meticulous and other's not, rather than pick and choose, found it best just to say I rather not!!

 

nope, no way, no how. my rule is today. if it cant be done today, it don't get done at my place.
example: a guy asked if he could "fix" his girlfriends clutch in her POS vw rabbit. i said no, i looked at it two months ago it needs a clutch and there is nothing you can do for it.
i can home from work 2 days later to see the pos in my driveway blocking everything.
i got in it, put it in neutral and pushed it down the road in front of an abandoned house and left it there.
3 days later i got a call biatching about moving the car out on the street, it was towed by the cops because it was not registered and had fictitious plates on it.


i told him i told you you could not work on it there, then you broke it and left it in my driveway, and now 3 days later you find out it is no longer in my yard and are complaining because i moved it? don't ever call me or come to my house again. and he has not. i still have 2 more to get rid of.

 

I have two tactics- The most common one is to not have a garage. People don't ask to come work in the dirt in front of my house. The second is to always have my garage so packed full of oddball projects that their stuff won't fit. Works every time.

 

Heheh Ford Six, I've actually gotten the same garage complaint from the "do paid jobs at my house" guy. Four car garage and I have the 66 Mustang, 64 Tbird, a 74 Jensen, and a pile of old motorcycles packed in there while managing to keep one space available. I tinker on what I want to when I want to. When he complained, I just told him it's my garage, I can put whatever I want in there.

 

^^^This guy wasn't a friend, simply someone taking advantage and thinking he was smarter than the average bear. It almost amazes me the BS people try pulling on us, thinking if we have "too much" they're free to re-distribute it, mainly to benefit themselves.

On another something I've learned over time when it comes to "helping" people who absolutely positively can NOT do something without my help. Whether I want to do it or not I'll fabricate a list of things they need to do first, then call me. That might include having them run get whatever's needed; parts, supplies etc etc. Typically and almost 100% of the time they NEVER follow through----that's one sneaky *** way to be passive-aggressive and still be able to blame them.

Sounds a bit mean I'm sure but its interesting how urgency fades away when part of the work falls on others.

 

that is pretty much my rule...and if for some reason it "can't" leave (as in they decide to leave it more then a week...I have a simple fix for that too...


well you know what they say...pics are worth 10 thousand words...'nuff said here...




Yes I did have one friend learn the hard way I don't tolerate cars left in my garage space for longer then agreed on...running or not...there car left like the Porsche that had a bad day...(I think it also helps having access to a flatbed at work too...)

 

We all need to own at least one flat bed tow truck!

 

I have a small two car garage at our house and last year we bought a piece of property with a 40x80 pole barn on it.. so I get this all the time, along with the 'can you store my car over the winter' crap. Then they findout we have a car trailer and are always asking to borrow it.

I usually park the trailer in the garage and pull one of the wheels off, just incase someone asks..