[JeffreyD]

Wow I’m surprised by the numbers. Here in PA lockdowns were a hinderance. We were down about 19%. We are happy with that all things considered. This is going to be a good year. Have some new marketing ideas started.

[JeffreyD]

We like the Autel Maxisys MS906 BT. Link to the car and hit the scan button, It reads all codes in all modules, Then click report to put everything on one page and print And/or Save. Its about $1200. update on your schedule, skip updates if you want. We usually skip a year and then replace it. Its the same cost as 2 updates and we get a new scanner tablet every 2 years. I ca send you a copy of a report if you would like to see one.

[JeffreyD]

Matthew

I agree with Tom in making a list of what you want, in additional to that put them in order of importance.
It may not be possible to get everything at your price point. You may have to let some things go.
But also realize once you pick a system it can be difficult to change to another system without losing some information, re entry of some info, not to mention the time and even downtime of the system.

With that in mind one thing I would recommend is take full advantage of the trial period. Use the system exactly the way you would in the shop. Try every aspect of the software.
If you have anyone else that will use the software have them try it as well.

I am a one man shop also and I researched all the software out there when I started but ended up with software that’s just OK. I wish I had spent more time in the trial period.
Sorry I don’t have a software recommendation.

Jeff

 

[JeffreyD]

Randy I feel your pain. We take care of our customers as well often going beyond the warranty period. That is customer service the big box stores cannot and will not offer. Like you I treat customers the way I want to be treated and my busy shop shows it works. I agree with using quality parts its the first step in preventing comebacks. I always use parts I feel comfortable giving a warranty.  We have had problems with certain brands of parts and will not use them for any reason. We also do not install any customer supplied parts. I do turn down work even with an empty bay. I am not affiliated with any parts store as none of them stock all the brands I want so they will only support me with a 90 day warranty on parts. I believe they need to go back to a 1 year warranty but they are trying to stop warranty payouts unless you are using them as your number 1. So that leaves us paying for parts and labor for any warranty over 90 days! I can pay one of the parts houses to have 24/24 warranty but they only cover their parts and labor paperwork is burdensome and only pays a small percentage.

Is their any warranty that will cover all parts and labor?

Nope so we will continue to be our own insurance policy.

What works for us is we charge enough to put money away each month and use that to draw on when we do a warranty job so your shop doesn’t feel the hit.

I like the new terms but OE’s don’t provide parts or labor warranties.
We sometimes even have a hard time returning dealer parts.
My main supplier called me the other day and said any part that has to be ordered is non returnable. Better get paid upfront for those parts.
The dealer parts are not always better.

Jeffrey L. Doughman

 

[JeffreyD]

We use miles or days and find so many customers ignore the days. To figure how many hours they idle and try to explain that to the customer sounds like a hard sell. I would say the best way is to use oil testing to see if a customer needs to do more frequent oil changes. Again through my experience that is a hard sell. They run into a fast lube get an oil change with a donut and coffee and can’t be bothered with the idea that they are damaging their vehicle. Through extensive research we recommend synthetic oil with a synthetic filter and feel confident they are protected. We have taken oil samples for testing and we can see through longevity that synthetics are superior. Not all oils are equal. We have many customers with over 200,000 miles and the engines are running strong.

[JeffreyD]

There is another problem with buying low. Counterfeit parts. I educate my customers about the dangers of counterfeit parts. Its estimated to be a 12 billion dollar industry. The Chinese copy the box and part so it can be very difficult to distinguish. That’s why it is so important for the shop to have a reliable seller. Do you know where that Moog ball joint from Amazon is actually coming from? I have read reports of brake pads being made in Mexico using sawdust and compressed under high pressure. Ebay, Amazon and other sites do not really care if the parts are authentic as long as they can’t be held liable. But its not their responsibility to inspect and verify all the parts on their site are authentic. Its easy for a seller to set up an account and then buy product from overseas that they may not even realize is counterfeit.

[JeffreyD]

Customer supplied parts? NO. I spent an extra afternoon trying to make a customer supplied clutch fit. It had a burr in the spline and we pulled the clutch an extra 2 times before we found the burr. When I questioned the customer of the parts origin he laughed and said it was the cheapest part he could find online. Not cheap for my shop! With the abundance of counterfeit parts and cheap junk that just doesn’t fit we refuse customer parts. We patiently explain to the customer why that’s our decision and they usually understand. On top of that the parts supplier won’t pay labor charges if we don’t buy the part from them so even if the customer buys the part from our supplier it won’t come with a labor guarantee. Counterfeit parts are a note worth considering. Counterfeiters are copying not only the part but also the box. You might think you found a brand name on line for half BUT. We only order online from suppliers we trust. I agree with Toms comment “We only install parts that we supply due to issues related to warranty,
liability and insurance. I really wish I could help you, but that’s
just how it is for businesses in 2016.”

[JeffreyD]

I have been operating as one man since 2007.Great to see all the others still able to operate as one man.If you bill a steady 5 hours a day you are doing well.I like the idea of bluetooth but I think its to distracting while I have my hands in someones car.As a one man show what upsets me is I pay the same monthly fee for Alldata as the 3 bay shop down the road and I pay more for parts because of a lower volume, So everything is stacked against us. With that in mind I agree with keeping costs down but its a fine line. Sometimes cutting costs ends up costing more time than its worth.Be sure to invest in a good information packet.I use Alldata. I recommend online ordering and if you buy online from someone other than a local parts house be very careful use a reputable reseller. Counterfeit parts are all over the web. Do it right the first time, Comebacks are a money and time killer. IATN is a must, Working by ourselves we sometimes need someone to bounce things off, get our heads going back in the right direction. I agree with Jimbo about pricing, Do the job right the first time and price is not the deciding factor. I have 3 large corporate tire shops by me, at first I was afraid they would cut into my business with cheap tires and drive in PA inspections. I need to schedule my work sometimes up to 2 weeks ahead and you know how people HATE to wait, But I find people appreciate honesty, explanation of whats going on, quality repairs (parts) and a fair price. After 8 years I still fumble with scheduling, but try to finish all work scheduled for the day. Customers like to be a priority. I order parts ahead of time so they are at the shop before the car, not always possible I know.  If you have a good parts supplier they don’t mind returns and the time saved waiting for parts is greatly reduced, I only have one bay so having a car sit on the lift waiting for parts is a bummer.

[JeffreyD]

I agree customer service has in the past years all but disappeared. Many different retailers treat you like you can’t get service any where else so they are doing you a favor.
I had a customer last week with a squeak, Yes not vital or life threatening but important to my customer as her commuters wouldn’t ride with her until it was fixed.
She explained that the rear struts had been replaced 3 times and the noise was still there. She hadn’t come to me earlier because its over an hour drive. I assured her I would take care of it.
I removed the noisy strut and found a bit of hardware was rubbing, after removing the edges of the noisy washer I returned the vehicle squeak free. The next day she came driving in with the squeak. I was able to drop what I was doing and remove her rear strut again to see why my fix hadn’t taken care of the squeak.
Another adjustment and this time I guaranteed the squeak to be gone.
Her husband called me that afternoon and thanked me for not only fixing the squeak but taking it seriously when she came in unannounced. I did not charge for the second repair, I felt I should have been able to fix it the first time and she had to make another trip.
If just one of the other shops had customer service they would have found and fixed the squeak. They advised her to replace her rear struts and when it didn’t fix the problem they sent her on her way. Sorry !
The squeak was in the strut. The reason the squeak didn’t disappear with the strut replacement is the washer got removed from the old strut and reused on the new.

I felt good about fixing her vehicle to their satisfaction,But I was also upset at the other shops. If I had recommended a strut change and it didn’t fix the original reason the struts were replaced I would feel obligated to find and fix the original problem.

To many of those shops make all of our industry look bad.

[JeffreyD]

I use autoenginuity for Domestic and Asian only. It handles many tasks better than my Solus Ultra. I haven’t bought into Autoenginuity for European yet because they don’t handle Volvo. We do 0 reprogramming so I can’t help you with that either. Sorry.

[JeffreyD]

Yes I have used the Every door direct mail program. Twice actually because it worked so well the first time. Their website allows you to pick your area for delivery. I used a 2 mile circle around my shop. We have been in business for about 7 years but moved our business a couple blocks away. We sent a full page informational ad with a map to show our new location. The second full page ad went to the same addresses and was a discount on Amsoil full synthetic oil change. We sent to about 1800 addresses and I believe it was about $260 bucks ($0.14 per piece) excluding printing cost. The printing we did in house on 8.5 x 11 card stock, but it would be easier to go online to one of the print shops.We made our investment back with the first few new customers. We will be using it again in the early spring.

[JeffreyD]

Hi Aaron

I used quickbooks for about 6 years. It was nice because all the accounting, inventory and customer records were there. Its a little hard to use because its not set up for auto repair and each vehicle needs to be entered with owner info. So if a customer has 3 vehicles there will be 3 separate records for him. I was very happy with it But along came more work and money and I decided I needed to upgrade to save time. I still use quickbooks for my accounting, taxes, etc. My new software is strictly used for invoicing and customer records organization, It transfers accounting info to quickbooks.

quickbooks is nice because you won’t need to pay a monthly fee or update annually.

Jeff

[JeffreyD]

Hi Joe

I rent my bays from an auto body shop. It works quite nice I think.

He used to have to pack up his vehicle to take it to a maintenance shop for any repairs he needed. Now I do the repairs while its still in his shop, or if I need the lift I can drive it into my shop it doesn’t matter if the doors are off its not going on the road. Do you know how easy it is to put on a water pump when the radiator and grill are out for body repair? We send work to each other and the customers seem to like it also. I would say there are very few jobs we compete for.

[JeffreyD]

I agree with David. Don’t buy 2 of the same scanner. No scanner is good for everything and they all have pros and cons. I have a genisys, not crazy about it but keep it around because its fast to grab and hookup. For the tougher problems I use an Autoenginuity which is a laptop based scanner, I find it gives me information I can’t get with other generic scanners. It is great for CAN. Don’t be fooled by its price it is a powerful tool. To go with a scanner you need a good scope also. Someone mentioned the Pico from Autonerdz. That for me has been my go to scope, updates are free and Tom at autonerdz is dedicated to helping his customers get the most from their tools. That is also a laptop tool. I use ross-tech for Audi/VW that is laptop based also. I’ve been told that ross-tech is as good as factory? Laptop scanners are the way of the future.

[JeffreyD]

I use a Canon inkjet printer with generic ink. I pay about $24 for 3 cartridges of each color (15 Cartridges). Thats less than $2.00 per cartridge. I have been using them for about 5 years and have had no issues. I print out tech worksheets, authorization sheets, service reminders, envelopes, and invoices. Contact me for more info

[JeffreyD]

Hi Gary

I also use quickbooks for my repair business. I am not real happy with my setup maybe its the way I set it up. I would appreciate any information you can supply to help me set quickbooks up better than what I have. I use the pro version. Is there an advantage to the upgraded quickbooks?

Thank You

Jeffrey

[JeffreyD]

David

I was stationed at Shaw AFB in 1983. Loved the area.

Jeff

[JeffreyD]

I am interested in sharing ideas and experiences. However since I am involved in all aspects of the business it is very hard for me to set aside any amount of time at a specific time so websites and email are best for me.