Alan Ollie
Forum Replies Created
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Most ASE techs I have found to understand how things work instead of being parts changers. I haven’t been hands-on in the shop in 20 years. I just took 4 tests and passed all. Coming from a racing background I understand how things kinda work. But the Euro cars we work on are so very different from 20 years ago. Can you say, Geek?
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I would love to hear about this tech Ollie
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“nessautosales” Mabey in North Dakota the dealers pay less. Mabey they have better heaters. In Florida, the Dealers don’t pay more but they all have air-conditioned shops.
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“wswtech” Scott You said a magic word “gearhead” Now if it were cool to be a gearhead then younger potential techs would be more plentiful.
Start off in middle school advertising making it look cool to be on a race team or whatever.
Back in the 90’s I could round up 20 guys to go to a 24-hour race all I had to do was pay there way. Now its hard to get one or two guys to help out. Same here let’s find and make more “gearheads”.
The big companies have their hands in the tech schools pocketbook. Good luck finding a teacher refer a “gearhead” to an independent at least at my Alma mater Sheridan Vocational school.
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I don’t know if anyone saw the program “The story of Cool” on CNN Sunday night it could teach all of us some lessons about advertising. Young people in middle school need to think it’s cool to be a tech. The perception now is more like being a grease monkey. Not a automotive tech . Mabey we need glitzy ads early on. Show people building race cars, and using computers to figure out problems. Clean shops and clean cut techs. You catch more fish by chumming the waters than just casting a hook. Just a thaught. Ollie G
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***When cooling components go bad, it/they can damage other cooling components that may be ok at time of repair but fail in the near or longterm future. German Car Depot pressure tests cooling components after a repair, but we have no way to foresee the failure of future components.
CV boot is torn or cracked grease is escaping the C/V joint. When joint becomes dry, it can be damaged and need the whole joint replaced. Save $ and have the boot replaced BEFORE the joint goes bad!
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Do you pay your techs more per hr. If they have more certifications ?
Do you pay your techs for training?
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Why would anyone these days go into auto repair!
I don’t know what your shop pays your techs. A entry level b tech in Florida makes 55k plus benefits.
After 4-5 years a top tech should be making 80-100k
I just had a new a/c unit installed and I spoke to the owner of the company. They have 50 employees. The starting pay for a HVAC tech is 15-17 per hour. A top tech makes 25-30 a hr. Salary no incentive pay.
So, if an Automotive tech has the talent they can make s nice living.
Don’t even talk to me about plumbers they work in sh@t every day. Yuk
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Ollie’s 8 rules to having a 95% rate of success with warranty claims.
I have no idea why everyone has such problems with the warranty companies. We do 5-8 a week with an average ticket of $1,675 @ 65% GP.
Always call before and verify the total diagnosis time they will allow and the max labor rate. It’s BS that they pay a factory dealer more than an independent shop. DO NOT TELL THEM ANY FACTS ABOUT YOUR CLAIM. Just say you a checking coverage to see if the customer will pay the difference in rates. Tell them you do not accept parts. You might have to take a lower price and then charge the customer the difference. Make sure your highest labor rate is posted some place in your shop.
Exclusionary policies are the ones we go after. That means everything is covered but what one page says is excluded. These are the policies that mostly new car dealers sell when the car is still under factory warranty. Most aftermarket policies that used car dealers sell with cars over 50,000 miles are not too good.
Rule #1 If the car is to be inspected then ask the claims adjuster to send a note to the inspector to call 1 hour before so the car will be ready, and he will not have to wait for a lift or move 3 cars. A happy inspector is a good inspector. Most of the time you will have 4-5 guys you will get to know. They know if you are trying to scam them. All they care about is proving the issue as fast as possible to get to the next $50-$100 inspection.
Rule #2 Never call a claim in unless the customer gives you the full policy. We scan and OCR all 12-14 pages. Then use control F to find word. Saves a ton of time.
Rule# 3 A super unbelievable inspection must be done by your best tech. Find every issue. I don’t care how small. Use oil dye for any oil leaks.
Rule #4 Have exact very detailed diagnostic tests performed. Talk super techy. Say factory specs should be X to say what you found. Tell all values to the person on the phone. Just tell them P codes. Let them figure out what they mean. Talk super techy stuff like wave forms, timing #s, factory-scale. Say stuff like component X has power ground and signal. Don’t come off like you know everything, most likely they were a tech at one time. Use logic charts whenever possible.
Rule#5 Never ask for something that is not covered by the policy. If needed call a drier an accumulator. IE: Read.
Rule#6 Make sure the part is called the same thing when you look up the part #. IE: ooling fan motor. Lots of policies will say A/C condenser fans are not covered. Most German cars don’t have both.
Rule#7 Remember you are on a recorded line. The company will keep notes on your shop. Stay on their good side and they might pull cars from other shops and send them to you.
Rule # 8 Have every part # and labor time ready as per Mitchell or All Data ready before you call them. Do not argue with the claims adjuster until you finish. Say let’s work together, you know it takes 45 minutes to adapt a DSG transmission and it pays .2
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rinfantino wrote:vdepot – would you clarify your comment in parenthesis (21% new customers)? Are you generating 54 “new” customers a month or 11 new customers a month (21% of 54). $33 to acquire a “new” customer via a web channel is reasonable if your average ticket is $423.”
We get apx 54 new customers a month that is about 21% of our 253 unique invoices a month. The avg ticket is $525 overall. The new customers are about $423 avg ticket.
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[attachment file=”36725″]
“Never trade reputation for money” IE: Warren Buffet
We spend Apx $2200 a month on web advertising, and we get apx 54 new customers (21%new customers ) a month with an avg ticket of 423, so the cost per customer is about $33 that is way down from a high of $75 per customer two years ago. Once we earned an excellent reputation on Yelp, Repairpal, and Google, we cut way back on PPC. We found no significant difference. We continuously build our local online presence. And Google rewards us for it. The analytics prove it. Now, all we need to do is find two more A Techs to get the work done or get five more loaner cars. -
You have to love Blackwell labs. I have proven many customers wrong. I bought the simple hand pump that you put down the dipstick and pull a bottle full of oil and ship it. $35 bucks later and a few days you have a great report about your oil and the condition of the engine.
I use the test on most failed engines just so I can learn.
What have I learned. The biggest thing is not the miles or time on the oil but the lack of oil in the engine during the oil cycle . How do they know …. Bearing shavings so fine you can’t see it. So in short newer engines and better synthetic oils help. But you have to have oil in the engine always not just when the light comes on.
Go around a corner with 2.5 qt – 3 qt’s of oil and I bet you will see a engine failure in that cars future.
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The great engineer in the sky thank you for letting me have a nice lifestyle.
Most German cars burn or leak oil and customers do not check oil anymore. They mostly wait till it’s to late when the oil light comes on.
Why do our 5 Jetta’s that all have over 130k never have engine issues.
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We all need to. Seems like most car are going in that direction. The largest car company in the world will soon be all Hybrid.
When Will Electric Cars Go Mainstream? It May Be Sooner Than You Think
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I have found a new in site about this subject from this post.
I need a BMW tech soooooo bad.
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This is the way I do it. They will always eat but if they do their job they eat well. If they really well. Give them a day off after a month .I have found that to be more valuable than money.
Give them base % of their avg pay as a base and then for every 5 hr give them a bonus that rises ie: o-20 hr base plus $5 per billed hr. then 26-30 hr $6.50 when they get to 50 hr they will make more than they used to. They never make more than a certain percent of your effective labor rate. You can play with the numbers to make it work best for you.
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My service advisors always give me crap about raising labor rate. But every year I do and no one even feels it.
Avg invoice has 2.4 hours. If you raise your labor rate every year $3 who would even see or feel it yet complain about $7.20 a ticket?
$7.20 an invoice x 275 invoices a month is $1980 per month or $14000+$ per year
Evey customer says everything costs too much.
We charge VW $107 Audi $127 137 Super Hi-tech cars and Porsche $150 hr.
Very close by our shops, the rates are lower and higher. I just want to be less than the dealer.
Our cost of labor Techs and service advisers never exceeds 41% of the effective labor rate.
I look for my gross profit to never go below 60%. parts and labor.
Tom has the deal figured out try his methods.
If you are the cheapest guy in town you will be out of business or never take a paycheck.
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We use mitchell because i am lazy. have been since 1998 . it kinda works. noplace to put tech observations is the sucyest part. We also have the bolt on module that you can build great custom queries.
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Has anyone tried to get a visa for a German tech? I have had 2 applicants and we do have a shortage. Amex has a dept in south Fl that all thay fo I’d get cheap labor for it work. You can’t tell me we don’t have Enid basic network Americans. It’s such a racket. So if anyone has had experience please tell us about it. Maybe I should open an immigration law firm, lol. Big demand for skilled workers, low supply.
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What world do you live in, I’ve tried to get service writers to cold call and out right want to quit. Although a great idea and I have my brother doing it, I wish I had the management skills people on this site seem to have. I am trying to fill a service advisor spot for two months now, the applicants all suck. Either they want way to much guaranteed $ or they apply with no experience. I have been in business for 26 years and don’t want to groom a inexperienced person. I am way to lazy for that. Just my thoughts.
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Most great techs at the right shop love flat rate. Times are a changing. I don’t know how shops work on every kind of car. We do german its hard enough.
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Hi Catonauto, I do not follow your math. 50 hour’s at 135 hr is $6750 You could pay tech 1687 and be under 25%.
Give me a great A+ tech i pay him whatever is needed. Great techs keeps me away from the shop with low stress.
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How do we get the aftermarket industry to put up $ for training. World Pac and Bosch charge $300 or more per tech. They rarely have classes in South Fl. Isn’t it in there best interest to subsidize training. If we don’t learn who is going to buy the aftermarket parts. Not only do i pay for the training, tecs,travel & food. The lost billed hrs from the shop is the largest cost.
How could the aftermarket shops form a army to push the distributors and manufacturers to spend a minimal amount to do it.
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I look at web results every day. I need to do the window sticker sheet.
Will do and post a followup.
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My manager just sends the person home.
They get paid on a sliding scale so if they get no hr one day they get hurt bad.
Usually they will come in part of their day off to make up for it.
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Not to change the subject but i would like to get 5 good leads for a great BMW tech . I have put ads showing our shop and not showing .We get hardly any leads. I watched the Cris Collins Videos and placed many ads with poor results . The dealers start pay for a certified dealer A tech at 29- 35 a hr in south fl. Plus 401 k and health insurance. Not to mention a Air conditioned shop.
I plan on keep sending my young guys to training and watching AVI videos.
How on earth do some of you shop owners have multiple shops.
i really suck at marketing for techs .
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Ok do all all of your techs avg 50 hr. I know your son did. at another shop.
Is my shop so messed up my techs run 35 hr ? Once a month we do get 1-2 guy turn 50 hr but its not the norm. My heavy line guy does 42 avg.
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This is a no brainer. If you know Late model BMW & MB please come to my shop.
My math look like this. APX $1450 per wk = $29 hr with taxes and workers comp health insurance etc its about $200 a week = $1650 divide x 50 hr $33 hr
Effective rate of $121 x 30% = $ 36.30 per hr so in theory i could pay up to $36 per hr. This must be paid on flat rate or it will never work .
At my shop we use a base plus a sliding scale so if a A super tech makes over 45 hr he is making $33 a hr and over 50 hr its like 35 hr.
I have the spread sheet in excel. Message me if you want to get a copy of the sheet.
He has to be one heck of a tec to turn a avg of 50 hr so some weeks its going to be more and some less.
PS: I will only send it to members who i feel are active posting on this great forum.
Ollie G
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After 26 years and 250 cars a month I’ve never had a problem. The few people who have given me hassles one guy was a paralegal and filed in small claims court but our invoices were written correctly and after that was pointed out to him he dropped it. We have had less than 8 charge backs from credit cards in 26 years.
Get some training for whoever does your service writing.
Make sure any question believer lines have good notes written clearly.
Draw a line on turned down items like car had bald tires do not drive car it is unsafe X______________Or engine was over heated we test drove and pressure checked cooling system. Vehicles that have been overheated can sometimes be internally damaged and could fail after its driven many miles check your temperature gauge and your coolant level often. X__________________
Also of those few people who hassled us we tell them to call Zürich insurance company and file a claim with them but usually shuts them up because it knows that we have representation and have to pay for representation.
We do fire customers every few months. We just tell them we are backed up and they should go to the dealer if they need there car quick. -
About 50% of the cars that come to our shop are in for a oil service .Our price ranges from $79 -149. For an oil service and inspection.
The dealers Audi – Volkswagen – Bmw used to have specials for $69 for Full synthetic I’ve noticed they stoped that. I’m guessing because lots of my customers is just go to the quick lube there at the dealership took the free coffee and food then called us about the ton of upsells they need.Our oil change stickers say $10 $20 $30 that means if they do three oil changes in a row they will save $60
Since the avg ticket is around 550 it’s a win win situation .Anytime in the past we’ve tried cheap oil changes we got customers who do not want to take care of their cars just looking for a cheap oil change.
For 2017 my goal is to set up a quick lube at our shop to try to get the customer out in 35 or 45 minutes right now it takes over an hour .We always try to schedule leased cars or almost brand-new cars with less than 20,000 miles at the end of the day.
