When there's nowhere else to go...

[Darkwriter77]

Okay, so being that I now live in a place where the NEW manager of the Homeowner's Association is a total Nazi and completely forbids any residents from working on their vehicles in their own driveway at ANY time, I'm searching desperately for options of how to go about doing little things like oil changes and a not-so-little thing like swapping out my exhaust (yes, AGAIN).

So far, the only hair-brained solution that I've come up with is that I should somehow pack all of my necessary tools and stuff into my car and head down to a place like Autozone or Checker Auto and just go to it right there in the parking lot. I figure, being that I used to work there and I'm still "in" with the employees, they shouldn't have a fit about it. The only downsides to it are that if I wind up needing a tool that I've forgotten, I'm either stuck or I gotta run in the store and shell out bucks to buy a tool for a one-time use. That, or maybe city cops might drive by and give me crap about servicing a car in a public place or some nonsense (I'm sure there's some goofy laws like that on the books).

So ... anyone got any other ideas? Or anyone in the area got a flat paved driveway and an electrical outlet that I could borrow for a few hours one of these days? It sucks because ALL of my friends live in places with similar restrictions against working on cars - what, does EVERYONE down here expect people to take their car to a shop every single time they need something fixed or tweaked?

 

[Aryan15]

My dad had a similar problem. He found a dirt lot right down the street and would uncork all of the oil right into the dirt. It came out of the earth, its going back in. Get a blanket and have at it. Or if you wanted, you could try a public storage unit, but they are expensive.

 

[Darkwriter77]

I think I'll skip on the oil-dumping thing. The storage unit idea is something I hadn't thought of, but that's kind of like paying additional rent for the priviledge of having a mini-garage ... one which I'm sure a lot of places would throw a hissy fit if they knew you were using it for a workspace. (I know a lot of them out here don't even want you to store cars in there - they have RV storage lots and such for the snowbirds' stuff out here.) Not sure I could really afford shelling out more money for that, unfortunately.

I dunno, maybe if anyone's willing to work out a little quid-pro-quo kinda deal ... someone lets me have the use of their driveway (and an electrical outlet, for the chance I might need to drill/saw something on the car) for a day, and I can repay with either helping them on their own 'Stang project (oil change or whatever), or maybe buy 'em a few beers at the pub or something...?

 

[BlownFiveLiter]

Did you sign any covenants that state working on your vehicle in the driveway is forbidden by the homeowner's association? If not, tell the guy to f-off and continue working on the car.

 

[poneypower89]

dunno know about your area.. but every autozone around here is litered with signs that say "No Repair Work on Property"

I would..

A) Tell the dude to f-off. If its anything like my home addition then every residence takes a vote on the *rules*. One guy doesn't RUN the show.. yano?

B) Buy one of those cheap pole garages/carports. For 500 bucks you can have a completely built metal pole garage to store/work on your car. Hey, its not in your driveway anymore right?

 

[poneypower89]

View attachment 418567

View attachment 418569

basically.. just go to this website..

http://www.elitedeals.com/canopyshelters.html

 

[RsStanG1987]

Home owners associations are teh gay.

 

[payupsucka]

move

 

[DmnStr8]

Meh, I'd check to see of he has the authority to do that. I wouldn't be surprised if the reg only covered long time repairs. Hence no cars on blocks for seasons at a time. Hell even my apartments have let me work on cars as long as the visiable work was done in a day.

Anyway if he gives you the business I would start being a prick in return. He's got a friend parked on the street. Call the cops. Report any minor association violation he and his children make. Start attending meetinsg and discuss this rule? If he's as bad as you claim others will have had it with him as well. Start making allies.

Do you have a garage? I'd work in the garage but with the door to open for all to see.

This is why I will always live in a rural area. F homeownership Associations. They only give power to those who wish to be invoolved with everyone else's personal lives anyway. My changing my oil in on my property does not affect your homes' sale value.

 

[Darkwriter77]

Unfortunately, it's always been in the rules, apparently. I don't remember the exact word-for-word of it, but it was pretty close to "ANY car repair is prohibited, including oil changes, exhaust repair, engine or transmission work, body repair, painting, etc." I guess I was only lucky for the past three and a half years in that the manager of the place at the time was a reasonable individual and understood that people can't afford to pay some monkey to do everything for them.

There's already a carport on the side of the house, with a nice perfectly flat paved two-car driveway - perfect for car work, you'd figure. If I'd known that they could swap out managers like this and that car repair was going to be a major issue of any sort, I would've never moved here to begin with. Now the manager is this old-fart ma n' pa team of Nazis, and every one of my neighbors hate them with a passion, but the place is part of some kinda national franchise and thus far, everyone that's gone to every effort to try to "vote them off the island" has been either told to shut up, or they've been threatened with eviction. (Stupid extra rule: If you piss off the HOA management enough for any reason, they apparently have the legal right to give you the boot and put your place up for sale for you.)

What's worse, they're clearly selective about whom they pick on. What it was that I did, specifically, to give them cause to start being bungholes towards me I'll never know, as I've always paid my bills on time, waved to everyone, never had a complaint filed against me for anything, etc. But they've got the gall to yell at me for stupid things like car work, whereas they don't say jack to the retard down the street who parks in the street all the time, runs a friggin' stereo shop out of his home (against the rules), cranks his stupid car stereos up 24/7, advertises said business on his property (also against the rules), parks more cars on and off his driveway than allowable (more rules), and he tears through this neighborhood chock full of little kids at about 30+ when the posted limit is 10 mph.

As far as moving, well, this is one of the very reasons why I'm wanting to head back to the Midwest. EVERYWHERE out here is an HOA-owned property, whether you're renting or owning. (I own the house outright, but I have to pay rent for the lot that it sits upon.) And what really bites is that the area's so saturated with brand new homes on the market, the used ones are taking forever to sell. So, I'm kinda screwed in the meantime until I can find some way around this mess. I am soooooo not paying some pimple-faced 16-year-old to change my oil for me, just so he can do burnouts in the parking lot with my car, forget to reinstall the oil drain plug, and/or screw me over in some other retarded manner.

If I can't do my work in an Autozone parking lot or something, then I'm utterly and completely FUBAR. I've gotta come up with some means of getting by for the next six months to a year while I'm trying to get the hell outta this hole in the desert.

 

[FrankenStang]

My homeowner's association has the same rule. (altho the guy living next to me has worked on his truck for two days now. LOL) I can kind of deal with it tho cause if my car needs work, I take it to my friend who is a mechanic's house. Sucks tho if my car breaks down in the garage/driveway, I'm ****ed. I don't like that rule. I think if you're moderately clean and not too noisy about it, you should be able to work on your vehicles IN THE GARAGE/DRIVEWAY YOU OWN.

 

[ryan218]

Okay, so being that I now live in a place where the NEW manager of the Homeowner's Association is a total Nazi and completely forbids any residents from working on their vehicles in their own driveway at ANY time, I'm searching desperately for options of how to go about doing little things like oil changes and a not-so-little thing like swapping out my exhaust (yes, AGAIN).

So far, the only hair-brained solution that I've come up with is that I should somehow pack all of my necessary tools and stuff into my car and head down to a place like Autozone or Checker Auto and just go to it right there in the parking lot. I figure, being that I used to work there and I'm still "in" with the employees, they shouldn't have a fit about it. The only downsides to it are that if I wind up needing a tool that I've forgotten, I'm either stuck or I gotta run in the store and shell out bucks to buy a tool for a one-time use. That, or maybe city cops might drive by and give me crap about servicing a car in a public place or some nonsense (I'm sure there's some goofy laws like that on the books).

So ... anyone got any other ideas? Or anyone in the area got a flat paved driveway and an electrical outlet that I could borrow for a few hours one of these days? It sucks because ALL of my friends live in places with similar restrictions against working on cars - what, does EVERYONE down here expect people to take their car to a shop every single time they need something fixed or tweaked?

you do it when he is sleeping. just be quiet about it. i go out and tinker with my car if i can sleep for a bit.

 

[Strype]

You guys, you guys

Having a father-in-law who is a homebuilder I understand where you are coming from. But what you have to understand isn't much they can do unless they call the city and the city drives by there while you're doing it. And what are they gonna do... a suit? Doubtful, unless your out there at all hours and at night making noise. I'll be damned if someone tells me what to do with my property no matter what I sign. The city guy can make you appear in court though if he sees you. I don't remember if they enforce specific neighborhood rules though... So if they don't I'd beat the guy up.

I think I'm right but I'd like to hear Tuned-in's advice if he's around.

 

[FrankenStang]

you do it when he is sleeping. just be quiet about it. i go out and tinker with my car if i can sleep for a bit.

That doesn't always work. There tends to be snitches everywhere. People who will sell you out in a heartbeat to get in good with the ones the be snitchin' to.

 

[FrankenStang]

You guys, you guys

Having a father-in-law who is a homebuilder I understand where you are coming from. But what you have to understand isn't much they can do unless they call the city and the city drives by there while you're doing it. And what are they gonna do... a suit? Doubtful, unless your out there at all hours and at night making noise. I'll be damned if someone tells me what to do with my property no matter what I sign.

I think I'm right but I'd like to hear Tuned-in's advice if he's around.

I would be interested in his words of wisdom also.

I just left a real small HOA (where everyone knows and watches everyone) and moved to a huge one (where hopefully I'll never be noticed. LOL)

 

[ryan218]

Unfortunately, it's always been in the rules, apparently. I don't remember the exact word-for-word of it, but it was pretty close to "ANY car repair is prohibited, including oil changes, exhaust repair, engine or transmission work, body repair, painting, etc." I guess I was only lucky for the past three and a half years in that the manager of the place at the time was a reasonable individual and understood that people can't afford to pay some monkey to do everything for them.

There's already a carport on the side of the house, with a nice perfectly flat paved two-car driveway - perfect for car work, you'd figure. If I'd known that they could swap out managers like this and that car repair was going to be a major issue of any sort, I would've never moved here to begin with. Now the manager is this old-fart ma n' pa team of Nazis, and every one of my neighbors hate them with a passion, but the place is part of some kinda national franchise and thus far, everyone that's gone to every effort to try to "vote them off the island" has been either told to shut up, or they've been threatened with eviction. (Stupid extra rule: If you piss off the HOA management enough for any reason, they apparently have the legal right to give you the boot and put your place up for sale for you.)

What's worse, they're clearly selective about whom they pick on. What it was that I did, specifically, to give them cause to start being bungholes towards me I'll never know, as I've always paid my bills on time, waved to everyone, never had a complaint filed against me for anything, etc. But they've got the gall to yell at me for stupid things like car work, whereas they don't say jack to the retard down the street who parks in the street all the time, runs a friggin' stereo shop out of his home (against the rules), cranks his stupid car stereos up 24/7, advertises said business on his property (also against the rules), parks more cars on and off his driveway than allowable (more rules), and he tears through this neighborhood chock full of little kids at about 30+ when the posted limit is 10 mph.

As far as moving, well, this is one of the very reasons why I'm wanting to head back to the Midwest. EVERYWHERE out here is an HOA-owned property, whether you're renting or owning. (I own the house outright, but I have to pay rent for the lot that it sits upon.) And what really bites is that the area's so saturated with brand new homes on the market, the used ones are taking forever to sell. So, I'm kinda screwed in the meantime until I can find some way around this mess. I am soooooo not paying some pimple-faced 16-year-old to change my oil for me, just so he can do burnouts in the parking lot with my car, forget to reinstall the oil drain plug, and/or screw me over in some other retarded manner.

If I can't do my work in an Autozone parking lot or something, then I'm utterly and completely FUBAR. I've gotta come up with some means of getting by for the next six months to a year while I'm trying to get the hell outta this hole in the desert.

"ANY car repair is prohibited, including oil changes, exhaust repair, engine or transmission work, body repair, painting, etc."

do they even let you wash your car? what about something like putting new wheels on your car? will they bitch about that.

id go over and change all of his plug wires on the distributor to mess up his firing order

then be an ass to him about not being able to move his pos.

 

[FrankenStang]

"ANY car repair is prohibited, including oil changes, exhaust repair, engine or transmission work, body repair, painting, etc."

do they even let you wash your car? what about something like putting new wheels on your car? will they bitch about that.

id go over and change all of his plug wires on the distributor to mess up his firing order

then be an ass to him about not being able to move his pos.

LMAO

 

[89white50]

are there any US car care centers around you? i know the one near me rents out a bay of thier garage for like 30 bucks a day, and you get to use the lift and all air tools you need. its like 65 or so for the whole weekend i think.

 

[Woodrow]

The storage unit idea is something I hadn't thought of, but that's kind of like paying additional rent for the priviledge of having a mini-garage ... one which I'm sure a lot of places would throw a hissy fit if they knew you were using it for a workspace. (I know a lot of them out here don't even want you to store cars in there - they have RV storage lots and such for the snowbirds' stuff out here.) Not sure I could really afford shelling out more money for that, unfortunately.

Uhhh people rent them all the time for that specific reason.

Edit: I am actully with ryan on that one I would give him a flat and make him have the bitch towed!

 

[Daggar]

+1 for telling the dude to piss up a rope.