P2P specialty tool rental/lending is happening thanks to u!

[TurboLS]

How's it goin, everyone?

At the request of Greg, who has been more than generous for allowing me to post a survey located here: survey-for-automotive-enthusiasts-t498190.html, I am writing to you today to talk about the web based service we are burning the candle at both ends to launch by the beginning of November...

To really do that, I think you have to know me. My name is Ramzi. While I don't own any Nissans, I have two Integras with the dream of one day owning an R34 (who doesn't, right?). I would consider myself offspring of the forums themselves. I've had my '94 since '99 and have rebuilt motors, transmissions, overhauled the whole car, participated in HPDEs and autocrosses, and also helped maintain another web board via writing articles and assisting those willing to learn.

Everything was going well until December of 2006 when my timing belt snapped (damn you unknown mileage JDM swaps!!!) Needless to say, bent valves, etc. ensued. Being just out of college (literally only a year out), I was faced with two options:

1.) Pay the dealer (sounds like a cheap atlantic city card game)
OR
2.) Learn everything and do essentially everything myself

Since I had already been exposed to the forums before this and was also mechanically inclined, I chose option 2... Now, option 2 came at a cost, which, to me, was going 6 months without a car and spending roughly $3k on engine building tools, hoists, Snap On stuff, etc.

While it kinda sucked not having a car, I really did learn a lot since I practically had no social life other than posting stuff online to the forums. Looking back on that experience, I was wondering how I could allow others to do the same without such a large financial commitment. This is when (fall 2008) I came up with the idea for AutomotiveSpecialtyTool.net . This also happened to be during a period of layoffs and I was one of those lucky/unlucky ones depending on how you look at it. In any case, I got a job 3 months after the layoff and proceeded to build the company, start collecting surveys, and conducting marketing & PR campaigns and haven't looked back since.

What's more is that not only will the site allow you to lend out / borrow those high dollar, hard to find, or otherwise inaccessible specialty tools for a small fee, but you will also be able to use the site (and it's iPhone/Android apps) to locate those needed tools locally when you need them most (such as at track events and other club meets when bad things decide to happen inside the combustion chamber).

The site will be put together similar to some other online marketplaces, however we will be interfacing heavily with the forums. (and not just any forums... we've hand picked the good ones and filtered them for solid, helpful information, a good, supportive member base, as well as a feeling of community at actual events which are organized on said sites.)

You will be allowed to set your own rental rates, security deposits, take pictures and post them, measure and weigh the items boxed up and store that, calculate the cost to a prospective renter, etc...

We believe that to help the most people, we have to price the service as cheaply as possible while answering everyone's concerns and allowing them to build lasting friendships and camaraderie such that the site can morph into something even more useful down the road as time goes on.

I will be checking this page daily for questions, concerns, etc., but I encourage anyone interested to check out our temporary page and company facebook page. Please see the links below.
http://www.automotivespecialtytool.net/why.php
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Automo ... 56?ref=sgm

Again, this site will not work without the input from the people its trying to serve, so please do not hesitate to contact me with questions, comments, or suggestions. Thanks!

- Ramzi

[AZhitman]

Bump for suggestions / criticism / support / ideas.

[Otto.]

Excellent idea for a website. I hope that it grows into something big.

[TurboLS]

Thanks guys!!

And in case any of you are track guys, myself and a few other folks will be at NCCAR for the race car's final HPDE event of the season on September 25th and 26th.

I hope to see you guys there!

[dre1507]

seriously an excellent idea. seriously.

[Dattebayo]

Many forums are full of scammers. This being said, how is the site going to protect you from them?

[krash]

I was just going to mention this. Whats stopping someone from renting my engine hoist for 50 bucks and then running away with it? If this thing works out it would be a great way to make an extra buck, and use those tool that cost 100 bucks but only have one use.

[93coupe]

I hope that it grows into something big.

That's what she said.

Really, I am with everyone else as far as you plan on keeping my tools safe.

[TurboLS]

Lenders can specify a deposit for the tool that the borrower must pay in addition to the actual rental fee. We did have a tool insurance company, but they backed out at the last minute.

[Dattebayo]

What good is a deposit when you can go buy it with that money then?

What you're saying is you have no protection then. I'll pass, thanks!

[TurboLS]

Not necessarily. The deposit is refundable. It really depends on who is borrowing. Some guys can afford to spend that outright to buy. Others can only afford to put hat deposit on credit and get a full refund upon return of the tool. I know its much easier for me to spend a few hundred bucks to get access to a tool knowing ill get that cash back if i take care of the tool while i use it. Does that make sense??

[Dattebayo]

No, because I don't have a credit machine. I don't want to pay fees for paypal, and how does it help when you have no insurance? Hell, the tool guy could just as easily rip off a borrower telling him to "keep the tool" when he bought a cheap Harbor Freight POS.

I'm sorry if it upsets you, but it seems like no different from any other forum.

[TurboLS]

Ah... i think i see the confusion. The deposit is paid by the borrower but does not go directly to the lender. It goes into an account managed by us until either both parties agree to a successful transaction OR one side files a dispute and it goes to dispute resolution... the deposit stays in the interim account until a decision is reached by the 3rd party dispute resolution (currently workin on a contract with the BBB since they have way more experience with disputes). The idea here is to prevent abuse on both sides while leaving dispute resolution to those that have the man power and experience to reach a good decision based on the evidece and circumstances.

[TurboLS]

I also just noticed that you mentioned no credit machine... do you mean you can't swipe cards yourself?? Or do u mean u have an opposition to using credit in general?? Also, paypal and cc will be the only ways to pay at the moment. If you don't want to pay the paypal fees for the actual rental fee, regardless of the deposit, then that'd probably be an issue. Currently, paypal and cc are the only ways to pay and the cc payments are directed through paypal.

[TurboLS]

Am I clearing up any concerns with either of those responses? If not, I suppose I'll have to deal with it, but I really am trying to address everyone's issues with the idea.

And another point is that while you can potentially organize something to the same effect on a web board such as nico club or even craigslist, it won't come anywhere close to the efficiency with time and unless you have impeccable record keeping skills, you'll be trying to remember who you loaned your different tools to, how long they've had them, etc...

[Dattebayo]

It's no different then the local pep boys, unfortunately.

With respect, it's a great idea, but it's not really going to work unless you happen to live in the area where the tool is or if the tool is very small.
Now if this was based on a chain of garages with lifts you can rent all over the US, then you'd have something. This idea is just too local and too commercial sounding.

[AZhitman]

The stuff I've borrowed in the past year:

A GOOD torque wrench (Snap-On)
Hoist
Exhaust pipe spreader
Disc brake tool kit (I kept the tool, they can keep my deposit)

If it's too heavy to ship (hoist), I foresee problems. If it's too expensive to loan (torque wrench), I foresee problems. If it's small, light, and not-too-pricey (pipe spreader and brake tools), then it'd be great - but those are things you can rent locally.

I owned a fender roller for a couple years and loaned it out. I should have charged deposits, because it got DESTROYED. And yeah, I know who did it, and yeah, I'll see you at an event some day...

[Dattebayo]

I assume you're in California. That's fine and all, but it doesn't help to have a lending site that's based all the way on the other end of the country for practically anyone who doesn't live there. If not, then please explain how it's supposed to work for anywhere outside a local range?

[TurboLS]

You bring up valid points. I will simply let the market determine what succeeds and what doesn't. Some things will only work locally while others are so expensive or hard to find that people will pay to ship. It all depends on need. Plus, you dictate the rental price so i could theoretically charge a penny to rent my snap on stuff and i know guys that would pay the deposit to rent but not pay that same amount to buy, because they'll get that credit back before finance charges are even accrued (30 days). I think the android/iphone apps will be invaluable especially at track events or on the road...

[TurboLS]

Also, a lot of these small, lightweight tools cannot be found at the local autozone... the reason i went ahead with the idea was because i ran into serious issues when i was in a tough car situation. I went ink considerable debt when i could have saved tons if this site existed. It would have allowed me to plan much better being able to predict exactly when i would have needed all the tools. And per your suggestion about the shops and renting space, we've been working on that for quite some time :-)

[TurboLS]

Updates! Tool insurance is coming closer and closer! Beta test is well underway and we will have an announcement regarding features that will be available on launch day as well as a new user's FAQ for perusal. We're getting so close!

[TurboLS]

It's official. Check out the press release here: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id ... Bwge6aK6QU

[TurboLS]

So we did have our soft launch at SEMA and, of course, encountered hiccups... But, to our surprise, it wasn't our math with the checkout that was wrong... It was Paypal's newly implemented fee structure (as of August 10th, 2010). They no longer allow merchants to refund customers for free... This annoyed us a great deal and as such, we're working on alternative payment processing vendors that will keep the site as cheap as possible AND bring value to the service at that cost.

I should note that the site remains ABSOLUTELY FREE for lenders. You will never get charged a dime by us. We designed it this way to encourage folks to post tools up and build the P2P database.

We have a short tutorial video on how to post tools up located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49GS25EIRmw

We learned a lot at SEMA and also discovered there was even more interest than we thought. With that said, we do have a lot of work to do to incorporate requested changes, address concerns, etc.

We hope we can still depend on your input as potential users of the site as it develops.

Thanks a ton, guys and girls!

- Ramzi