Tom
Forum Replies Created
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David:
An “Every car inspection” is mandatory at our shop. Must be done – every car, every time – period.
Techs get paid .2
For scheduling…
On one hand – Allow whatever your average hours per RO is for each car coming in – that will get you close. Book about 75% of the time during the day to allow for drop ins.
On the other hand, if it smells like a job you want to do, take it in regardless of how much work you have already booked. That’s why God made loaner cars 🙂 Build a small fleet until you find there is always one or more not in use. Depending on the situation, shops charge anywhere from $0 to the normal car rental fee in the area.
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Auto Value / Bumper to Bumper Tech Expo
Annually in Grand Rapids and Schaumburg -
Have the unquestionably best looking shop, both in and out, in your town/area.
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We put this together for ourselves for Honda / Acura
Brake fluid 36 mo.
Brake inspect 12,000
Coolant 100,000
Oil change 4,000/6,000
Spark plugs 100,000Trans fluid 30,000
Wheel alignment 12 mo.
Cabin filter 24 mo
Timing belt 90,000
Diff 30,000
Transfer case 30,000 -
When they first launched a number of years ago we tried them for several months. We decided to try them again about a year or so ago.
Today we get a lot of new customers through them. We usually agree with their estimate ranges. Bottom line is that they have been a pleasant surprise, and they are now one of the cornerstones of our new customer marketing.Nice to see a product significantly improved and become a solid asset. -
You are NOT alone! ALL shops have this problem to some extent.
We don’t have a sure fire answer. We start by asking nicely and slowly work our way up to talking to them like a stern parent.Also check out the bog post we created here: https://www.automotivemanagementnetwork.com/shop-management-articles/how-to-sell-abandoned-car-at-your-repair-shop/ and here: https://www.automotivemanagementnetwork.com/tips/16-theres-money-in-those-abandoned-cars/
I’d love to hear a better plan 😉
How To Sell a Car That a Customer Abandoned at Your Repair Shop
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Lowell, we have done this for quite some time. We enter the info from the sticker into our software similar to the way it records when when we do an oil change. The customer gets a reminder which is the same as all of our other oil change reminders telling them that their oil change is due at a certain date and time. Today a lot of this info is available to anyone on the internet so I would think that it is just a matter of time before this becomes more common.
For what its worth, we save all old lube stickers from other shops when we do an oil change, then enter them into a spread sheet to track where these cars were for their last oil change – in other words, who are our competitors?I do recall going to a class one time where the instructor suggested removing all existing oil change stickers from other shops – whether you were doing and oil change or not – then installing your sticker with the info copied from the sticker from the other shop! We’ve never done that. 🙂 -
Here is how it would be handled here. Labor – no charge, customer marked no follow-up, move on to making money.
Too much potential stress in this business to spend much mental effort on something like this. As for the cost, Dave Ramsey refers to stuff like this as “stupid tax” – I’ve paid plenty over the years.Then review your policies on customer supplied parts. We used to go back and forth on it, but several years ago we said “no more customer supplied parts” and are quite happy with our decision.“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.” -
Daniel, while there are certain products, tools, equipment where you can often spend much less money and get close to the same thing, I have not found that yet with aligners. We have had a number of systems over the years and what you get, at least to me, seems to be pretty much proportional to what you spend.
Three things you can do here is look at the alignment demos pageLook at the wheel and tire equipment directoryAnd search the word alignment in the forumsIf you are considering brands on the high end, there are several to consider – make sure you demo them all. We turned the evaluation over to our techs and let them chose the one they wanted. I figure if they like it, they are far more inclined to use it. -
Idea # 1: If you do tires, oil changes, and some brake work, then more brake work along with steering / suspension is not that big of a jump. Not terribly difficult and room to be quite profitable.Idea # 2: Spend some time researching what vehicle services, of any kind, people in your area go a long way to get done. Do that and charge accordingly for the convenience.Nothing wrong with batteries and bumpers, but not much profit there.Good luck!
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One option would be to find the closest 2 or 3 shop owners who own multiple shops. (Closest could mean a state or two away.) The shop owner who is successful owning several shops is often looking for more. If you show good numbers and are reasonable with your price and terms, odds are someone would do the deal.
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I’ve tried scripts in the past with limited success. A couple of other ideas…
1: Some basic training – I did a quick net search to find this:2: Some kind of incentive system for advisors to get appointments when people call with questions. -
During the normal course of running around to restaurants, C-stores, big box stores, etc. sometimes certain people stand out from the crowd – some might become good advisors.
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No.
We itemize what we use, and sell as parts within the appropriate job on the invoice.So, there are no “added charges” at the bottom of the invoice. (No hazmat, either.)“Remove every negative you can think of and compensate for it some other way.” -
90%
A few customers still want printed receipts, advisors will print “menus” to review recommendations with customers, we will occassionally print a diagram or parts picture, a few office documents get printed – but the printer will often sleep for hours and we can go weeks without refilling the printer paper. Accomplished by using tablets, email, signature pads, scanners, and approaching things with the intent of using no paper. All file cabinets empty, save one 2 drawer. -
A few thoughts…
A shop should almost never be booked 6 days out (exception – maybe some big weather event that occurs in a great while).It really sounds like you need a third full blown tech and figure out how to have each tech produce above 100%. A solid and fair incentive system is critical.Find one ASAP, but until you do I would be inclined to take the small jobs over the big ones – making 3 or 4 customers happy vs. one will be best in the long run once you get all the other ducks in a row.In the interim, can you find a sharp individual who can quickly be trained to perform oil changes and tires?Sounds like you have a great shop that has a lot of potential. -
As with anything, it depends who you ask and how you pose the question. There are likely more people out there today who have the ability to be (or learn to be) good or great techs. Unfortunately, very few of them are interested in doing so – for a lot of different reasons.For most shops, I believe that finding techs has become somewhere between difficult and next to impossible – and it is likely to get worse. On the other hand some shops will always be able to find techs without too much trouble.The difference is typically a combination of pay, benefits, the facility (I would not work in most shops because of this one alone), work schedule, resources, management, and people. Create a list of things you would want as an employee (for what it’s worth, there is one here in the Premium Members area). Be fussy, be demanding. Then score your shop. Then work on improving your score.Most of us can become the shop that all the techs want to work at, the one that has techs on a waiting list. But, it is going to take some money and some very different thinking for most of us.
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Agree with David per advice from our website professional.
We recently cancelled all AdWords. -
There continue to be new and varied versions of mobile vehicle service. None (maybe with the exception of windshield service) has been a raging success. Most vanish or end up being small niche markets. It has to be certain type of customer. Location of where work can be performed is limited. Weather is a huge factor. They will be just one more player in the tire business. Most people will still get their tires at some type of service facility – and lately more and more customers are buying tires at a full service facility of some kind instead of a tire specialty store. The more places the customer has to to to get their car serviced, the more hassle. The more different peope the customer has to deal with, the more hassle. Don’t sell your tire changer just yet. 🙂
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I have used several management systems, although I am not familiar with Baymaster so I don’t know if this will help.
In general with software I have found that it is much cleaner and more accurate in the long run to make every part that is ever purchased an “inventory part” and add it to “inventory” when it arrives. That does not mean I stock it – stocking levels are zero on anything that I do not want to stock so it does not get reordered, but there is a good record of the purchase, sale, details, etc.I know this approach has improved things at a number of shops. -
Randy, well stated. This subject is big and only going to get bigger.
Some thoughts that immediately come to mind.Employees on some kind of incentive pay, especially 100%, hurt themselves along with the business. The sharper ones get that.How the cell phones are used categorizes employees to some degree when it comes to professionalism, career seriousness, commitment and other things.There will be technology approaches/advances designed to address the issue in ways we have not yet considered.Good video to play at a staff meeting once a year 😉 -
This is very cool – thanks!
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Interesting question. Here in Michigan we had random safety inspections a very long time ago (60’s – 70’s). Shops did not do them – instead the State Police set up road blocks and inspected them right there.
Part of the state had emissions testing (80’s – 90’s).Today we have nothing. I am skeptical of government doing things like this. We do have shop and tech licensing (I’ve spent well over $20K in fees so far – I think ASA would have made better use of that money).I’d be interested to hear pro and con from shop owners in states that have safety inspections. -
Invite him here.
Everything you mention is covered here somewhere more than once.One can easily spend hours reading and learning. -
Here’s a few ideas…
Make the shop so organized that you can find anything blindfolded.
Review where everything is in the shop – tools, equipment, parts, computers, and so on. Rearrange their locations so you take as few steps as possible.
Do not use the phone for parts look up or info or ordering unless there is absolutely no alternative. Even most dealer/OE parts can be looked up and ordered on line now.
Schedule drop off and pick up times as specifically as you can so you can plan accordingly.
Upgrade all of your computers so they are blazing fast.
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Bought a Ranger with assist arm several years ago. Have had a few very minor repairs. I would buy it again.
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Lowell:
If owner’s personal pay/compensation is included – yes.Although a lot of shops are hitting those numbers apart from owner’s pay and they say that is how it should be viewed. -
To me this would not be much different than selling tires at the shop.
Tire margins – just for the tire, the labor is separate – typically need to be 20% to 35% to be reasonably profitable. That means the markup would be 1.25 – 1.54. Some shops run lower but if you look closely you will usually see that they are just trading dollars around leaving no profit or leaving a loss when all is said and done.In your case the cost of shipping, PayPal and Ebay would have to first be added to the tire, then apply the same formula.To be fair, the online margins probably should be higher since you don’t have the possible related service sales that you do at the shop. I’d be cautious about “competing with the other guys”. Some are very heavy hitters and others are on their way to going broke. -
Lowell, I have usually gone with 3 or more ROs since a lot of one time customers had 2 RO’s – added A/C dye and came in for a recheck a bit later, etc. We start an RO for almost everything.
I also use the one year time period, but with the longer service intervals 18 months might make more sense. -
Without great SEO (search engine optimization) shop websites are pretty much useless. But, if done correctly it can quickly become your number one source of new customers.
Here is a list of companies who do websites specifically (and sometimes exclusively) for auto shops:
