davesgarage
Forum Replies Created
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Please rate any of the on line ordering – catalog sites below that you currently are using on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst, 10 being the best).
_____ ACL
___9__ Activant
_____ Autol
_____ Car Quest
_____ eStore
_____ First Call
___7__ MORE
_____ NAPA
__8___ Nexpart
_____ WISE
__9___ WorldPac
Comments welcome.I only rated the ones I use. -
I formerly did in-house financing this way; 1/2 of final invoice paid when car picked up, check
written and dated for balance no later than 30 days out, credit card swipe on file if checks NSF. It started out as a “one time” thing for customers, but they [that used it] always wanted to do it again. I no longer offer the plan.
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My shop is 2 blocks from the VW, Audi, Volvo, Nissan, and Toyota dealer. We offer to take their car in for them, but we do direct them that the dealer has to do the work. My customers come to our shop for a reason, they do not like the dealer
. I’m not threatened at all, if the dealer finds needed work, my customers bring it back for me to do the work. -
Administrator wrote:
> At your shop, 2012 was:
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> _____ Much better than 2011
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> _____ Better than 2011
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> _____ About the same as 2011
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> __X___ Worse than 2011
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> _____ Much worse than 2011
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> Had 54 more cars, but ave ticked was down $29.00
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> At your shop, December was:
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> _____ Much better than last year
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> _____ Better than last year
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> _____ About the same as last year
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> ___X__ Worse than last year
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> _____ Much worse than last year
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> Had the the cars, but ave. ticket was WAY down, folks did not want to spend! January is starting of well though.font>
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The “canned” jobs in our shop are for diagnosis only, all actual work is by flat rate. How can you replace front discs on a Chevy 4WD Colorado for the same labor time/dollars as a Toyota Tacoma? How would your tech feel about that? We compete on quality, not price at our shop, and our customer base comes to us for that reason. We re-do a couple of brake jobs a month for customers that were done at a “menu based” shop due to compromises in the work/parts to keep the profit at quoted prices.
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Tom, in your area that may be the case. In my area, the only shops open on the weekends are the ones that my customer avoid, and they [my customers] understand that weekends are for family and friends. I have learned that a lot of customer “float” from shop to shop due to poor time management on their part. Saturdays were usually emergency repairs before a trip or such. Even during the week some will not schedule if it can’t be done on the day they call. If Saturdays are profitable for you, go for it.
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I go fishing on Saturdy. My crew does their thing. My feeling; if you can’t be profitable on Monday through Friday hours, give it up. Customers comming in to “shoot the breeze” is feeding stray cats, all for them. zip for you. Is yor shop a business, or a hobby. Working employees 6 days a week will bring bad attitudes, even on a rotation basis. Employees will never share your ethusiasm to “serve the customer” and make the extra $$s. Sorry, but after 33 years in auto service, Saturday hours have never been profitable.
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That’s not new, I’ve been getting those for aboout 5 years. Do not reply and add them to your blocked sender list. Another technique that scammers like is the “relay call”. I refuse them.
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Can we say “franchise”?
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Cheryl Lindbeck wrote:
> Do your customers appreciate you telling them that you have time set aside for their job? Some of our customers would be offended if I told them that.
???????
On a 90 or 105k scheduled service with timing belt replacement they do! It’s called “scheduling”, and the same goes on a repair job that we ordered parts in for. My clients like to know that they will be getting their car back when promised.
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10 minutes late gets a phone call to see how late the customer is running. Large jobs get confirmed by phone the day before and after all parts confirmed as received and correct. Always push for a firm appointment with the first contact after the no-show. We always let the customer know that on big jobs we have commited a tech for a full day just for their vehicle, and we have declined other appointments to be sure theirs get done on time for them.
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Administrator wrote:
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> _____ We wash all customer cars
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> __X___ We wash some customer cars. Please explain which ones and why those particular cars:
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> _________________________________________________________________________
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> ______ We do not wash customer cars
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> If you do wash any customer cars:
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> ___X___ We wash them on site
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> ___X___ We take them to a car wash off site
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> Feel free to add any other information about the process at your shop.
I would like to say “all” but often time does not allow it. We do a hand wash in-house weather/time permitting. If not then we give a coupon for a Superwash site down the road. [ 7$ wash we get for 1/2 price ] We also have pass cards to the same wash and we will do a drive through on test drives.
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Let 2 inept techs go and hired one intellegent one to replace them. Saved over 5k in comebacks from the previous year.
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In the Mitchell Manager system, which I use, there is room for 10 different labor rates. I uses 6, and one is for “customer supplied parts” which is $42.85 higher than my “regular” rate of $87.18. When questioned why the labor is higher for supplied parts, I tell the customer that’s what I need to make to stay in business. If I don’t have parts to mark up, I can’t pay the bills. 17 years and I’m still providing excellent service. I plan to be here for as many more. This topic can go a lot deeper but what is comes down to is giving your customers value by doing superior work compared to what they can get elsewhere.
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Our goal is 50+, but we usually manage 46-50.
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I’ve been in a similar situation, but not as bad as what you are describing. The way I got things turned arround was to get management training, just like others are saying.
First, techs need to be paid only for work completed. This uaually means flat rate. What’s the motovation to get a job done, or correctly if the pay is the same for slow and shoddy work? At my shop we complete an average of 50 cars a week with 3 techs, 4 lifts, 2 flats. We bill between 100 – 150 hours working a 40 hour week. [absolutly no weekends, that’s family time!] Tech efficiency runs from 150% down to 80%. Pay is based on a variable flat rate, with increases for heavy, exotic, and others. We also have a bonus program based on completed BILLABLE hours.
I feel bad bringing this up, but it sounds like your techs may not have the talent to do the work. It is a good Idea to always be looking for someone new that could bring your shop up to speed. I did a google search and found that you a near Minneapolis, seems like you could draw some talent from there.
A last suggestion, charge enough so that you can afford exceptional talent, pay them well, and keep them trained..
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When I started in this biz 22 years ago, the policy was to get the customer to initial on the RO what type of payment was to be expected at time of vehicle delevery after service, cash, check or credit card.
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I’m a Bosch Service Center so I got a very generous rebate that influenced my decesion to purchase one. That being said after 1 year of use I would not go that route again. It does not do all the functions and/or vehicles that it claims to as listed in this application guide; http://www.boschdiagnostics.com/dsoftware/ESItronic_SAG_2010_2.pdf It has been a disappointment from the begininng. It listed being able to access a full range of controllers on a Ford Escape, it only read generaric OBD. I recently welcomed a new tech in my shop that had his own Snap-On Verus that is 4 times the tool of the KTS. The only car that the KTS does that the Verus won’t is Saabs. [which aren’t even listed as doable in the application guide.]
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Administrator wrote:
> What is your goal for average hours produced per tech per week at your shop?
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> _____ Less than 30
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> _____ 30
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> _____ 35
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> _____ 40
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> __X___ 45
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> _____ 50
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> _____ More than 50
As was stated earlier, each tech has different skills and ability. so the “average” for my shop is 45.
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50%
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Isn’t that what the gas taxes do now? Drive more, burn more, pay more.
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I have seen SAs get paid very well on a percentage of gross when the shop actually found no profit and lost money on jobs. I pay salary plus bonus based on the following formula. Gross sales, minus sales tax, minus cost of sublet, minus cost of parts, times .75 = 7.5% of gross profit on controlable profit margins. Cost of labor is not really controllable by the SA, but they of course can sell more.
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My policy at first was that I would get it authorized, the customer paid for the repairs, the “warranty” company pays the customer back. I now have a very talented service writer that explains it this way to the customer; The “warranty” company will only pay X amount an any given reppair, you will be responsable for the duductable [if any] any the difference of what the company will pay and what we charge. It is then explained that what they really have in an insurance policy, and the company will do their best to keep their payments out for repairs as low as possible. We do our best to keep the difference as low as possible, but the mark-up that the companys allow makes it very hard. Be sure that the only form of payment allowed from the companys is a credit card, never wait for a check.
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Yes, my Mitchell Manager will print the final reciept and exclude the part #s and labor hours, showing only descriptions with amounts and totals. Not a brief as your example but no part #s or labor hours. But I do have a beef in respect to estimates. The Mitchell program print part #s on estimates and there is no way to circumvent that. I’ve had quite a few examples of customers going to the internet and get prices from else where. Makes selling the job a lot harder.
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Go get them yourself if they’re that close. Another solution is to let your store rep, [they have one, right?]about the problem. I’ve settled on a limited amount of suppliers and let themknow what I expect of them. Remember, you’re the customer.
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17 Years 2 SA’s. First was from the business, sent for a week of training 2 years into the job. #1 proclaimed training “a bunch or crap”. Customers complained about condesending attitude, very messy front counter. He hoarded old Sweedish cars. #2 from a sales/manufacturing background. Great attitude, every day is a beautyful day. Sent him out for the same training, he came back and stated “What a great program! I can see how this is going to help me help the custiomers”. Positive, helpful attitude raised average ticket $75.00. My opinion is that SAs’ that come from another shop/dealership will bring bad habbits and a set attitude about customers. Spend the time and train a positive person, you’ll do much better.
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Frank Scandura wrote:
> labor gross profit should be around 70%
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> If you pay tech $25.00 per hour, divide by .30
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> or $83.35
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> It wont be enough if techs are not efficient (billing 8-10 hours a day)
Shouldn’t we figure in healthg insurence, unemployment ins. etc. into the cost of labor/tech pay?
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It is easily done by proper scheduling. We have 3 techs, four lifts. We schedule the waiting services for first thing after opening, 8:00 am. we will then fill up additional appointments on the hour. If really needed we can also schedule for first thing after lunch, 1;00PM. We make it very clear to the techs that we need to keep the clients comming to or shop for everything, including services that we sub out. Each tech has a computer work station and the techs can check the schedule for the day, no surprises.
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You need to define a “comeback” to your techs. Work not completed properly, missed diagnosis, or a general lack of responsability on the part of the tech is considered a comeback in my shop. The tech will be expected to correct their mistakes at no cost to the shop or customer. As for the parts warranty, we give the customer the choice of warranty on parts. If they want 12/12 then we only use suppliers that offer labor for that amount of time. If suppliers only pay for the part, then make your warranty 12 months part, 90 days labor. I explain that if failure was due to faulty installation, then it will be covered for the 12 months. [comeback and done by the tech at no charge] Selling a quality repair is done by the service advisor. If the customer desires a low priced/quality part, then they should be expected to take on the responsability of possible early failure and it needs to be explained that way. If the desire is for a part to last another 100k, then they should understand that those parts are more expensive and may need to be sourced from a dealer.
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Administrator wrote:
> How many websites (other than your own) do you post some type of updated shop information or offer at least once per month?
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> _____ None
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> _____ 1 to 5
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> __XX___ 5 to 10
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> _____ 10 to 25
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> _____ 25 to 50
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> _____ More than 50
This question made me do some thinking, I’m on a lot more than I realize!
