Stewart.
I have a local friendly garage, that let me come in after the winter (on a Saturday morning) and use a 4 post lift. It enables me to give the 4/4 a thorough check over underneath.
Worth a bottle of Scotch.
Thanks Bud - that's exactly what I thought of - I know in some major metropolitan areas I have heard of car lifting bays being hired out by the hour or day for owners to service their own vehicles which is a great idea
Sadly I'm in quite ruralish west lancashire so it will be a case of me popping in to a few garages and see if they might let me 'borrow' a bay and lift for a few hours every couple of months
I'm sure this sort of thing goes on all the time with independent friendly garages
