josephautomotive

I have been on both sides of this question for better than 35 years, for nearly a quarter century I worked for employers who insisted that I work 6 day work weeks.  That of course destroys any kind of work life balance, and in retrospect, I really resent that I missed my kids growing up.  It is hard to run this kind  of schedule in a small sh…[Read more]

You need to be aware that much of the tools, equipment, and inventory may how shall I say this?  Be dated.  Might look and sound great, but could easily be obsolete as most folks fixing to retire are not investing to update, and current  inventory can be returned for credit, thus “cashed out” .  You don’t want to go into hock buying gear that you…[Read more]

Moot point for me, because Iowa law requires an itemized invoice, to include parts, parts cost, and labor.  I do not see this changing any time soon, and trying to do so may cause more problems than it is worth, such as cries of what are you trying to hide?

after decades of turning away work I could have really used at times, I have finally given in and posted a door rate for customer supplied parts.  It is considerably higher than my door rate. and there are two stipulations. ONE is NO WARRANTY. I don’t care if you buy they exact part I would have, if I didn’t supply it, any warranty is between…[Read more]

Labor only pricing sounds great, but I feel it is unworkable for several reasons.  To start, most of us have to do business in a competitive market place.  It is bad enough having to compete with shops that undercut you both on labor rate and margins, but at least you, and the customer can make an apples to apples comparison.  If you think its ha…[Read more]

I looked into marketing my services via Amazon some time ago, and immediately dropped the idea when I learned they wanted 20% of each sale!  I have bought an occasional part from them, but if they are doing like the online tire retailers and dropshipping their parts direct to you, there is no margin.  So will they now also want 20%?  Sounds li…[Read more]

Ok I will confess, I have done this from time to time.  If I know I have a few days to complete the work and see the IDENTICAL part on Amazon for much less it is sure tempting to order it there and make a little extra margin.  Ditto if I can save a job I might otherwise lose by buying a cheaper part (headlights tailights) on Ebay.  But like th…[Read more]

I generally set this price at 1/4 my door rate, and of course do a competitive survey in my area just to see where I am at.  So to day I surveyed not only my immediate area, but the surrounding 40 miles as well, and pricing seems to be around $28 in the Des Moines metro, and close to my price near me. (with most shops asking what the diameter of…[Read more]

You will note the shops who say they pay well and have techs who love flat rate also have a common denominator, they specialize in one or two systems or vehicle lines.  I maintain my position, the reason you cannot find good all around general techs who can/will work on just about any vehicle is that such people are not valued for this broad…[Read more]

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I believe that this issue, like many, has its roots in historically low technician compensation.  I spent most of my career as a general tech working in independent shops, service stations and tire dealers.  I prided myself on being able to handle just about anything that came in.  However, there is little do…[Read more]

I generally just say “sorry, I don’t do that”. Most times, that’s all it takes. If they want an explanation, I explain it. I once worked at a shop that agreed to install a customers thermostat. It proved defective, overheating and damaging the engine. That shop ended up in a three way fight with both the customer and the parts supplier…[Read more]

The basic problem here is that even when you win, you still lose. Customers (or rather folks with broken cars) have a bad habit of trashing your reputation when they aren’t happy. Starting a relationship from a position of mistrust certainly can’t help matters. Starting out by handing them a contract to sign before you will even look at the car…[Read more]

Always hated low ball oil changes, mostly because I used to work for a shop that expected me to do the work for free, hoping to make an up sell before I made nickel one in commissions.  That being said, Id like to see a breakdown on these costs, and know what is included, overhead, tech wages, a portion of door rate or what? Because my direct…[Read more]

Same,  with the exception of trailer tires, (in which case I figure the installation in the tire price) tires are billed seperately from installation and accounted for seperately

I own mine, but to be honest they never get as clean as what the rental ones do………..something to keep in mind

The only thing about buying uniforms (I buy my own work shirts and wear them with jeans) is that they never get as clean when laundered at home as they do at the commercial laundry.  Of course I shudder to think what kind of chemicals they are using…………..but whatever it is, it gets the grease and stains out. So if you are concerned with…[Read more]

One argument I make is that ” You do want me to stand behind my work don’t you?”   Um well sure.  Well how do you expect me to do that if you are going to supply me parts of dubious quality from unknown suppliers? Parts that I didn’t sell you or make nickle one on? If a part I sell you fails, I am going to replace it, even if my supplier refuses…[Read more]

Went through this again yesterday for about the millionth time in my career.  No good answer other than do NOT install customer supplied parts.  Got called everything but a white man for having the audacity to charge a customer list price for a top quality belt.  Funny thing is, the parts houses they called actually quoted them list price too, but…[Read more]