Alan Ollie
Forum Replies Created
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We use ***** in order of importance 5 stars. if a customer has 6 mm left on brake pads its 3 stars
if they are worn to 4 mm its 4 stars.Seeping Valve cover gasket is 3 stars but a hi pressure seep like a oil stand ie oil filter adapter seal it going to be 5 starsI hope this helps .We use Bolt tabilets on for all our techs but we still use stars for importance -
We track it as parts/tires and labor separately.
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Are your techs on commission? I do not have a problem with cell phone use. I have 5 techs.
Respect is the name of the game to me.If your techs don’t listen to what you ask then you possibly have other underlying issues.We are located in hottest place around south Fl. I use Cintas and they have a lightweight breathable shirt some of my tech wear supplied shorts.NO UNIFORM NO JOB.Give your tech some kind of incentive to keep his area and himself clean.I wish i could A/C my shop our offices have central and the bill is $800My friends shop is smaller than mine and he pays $4000 for his electric bill. -
What makes besides MB has this?
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I experienced running a shop and managing my Google Adwords – when the word BMW could be bought for pennies. I watched the rise of Companies that manage Google Adwords and even hired one once. I quickly fired them and have been managing my families Adwords account (and dozens of other auto shops accounts) since.
Agreed, you can write many books on the subject.Agreed, you can spend thousands a month on Google Adwords (a third party lead provider) or you can invest in your own website and content marketing to rank organically.Google Adwords is a system. Once you determine what keywords, ads and landing pages drive conversions you have a system that you can throttle to create results.BUT – as Larry and Patrick mention, there must be a sales process that provides feedback to the system on the quality of the leads and the revenue they create. Without the complete ecosystem, which includes the person managing the adwords campaign, call tracking, lead conversion mechanisms(call to actions, downloadable content, coupons, VIP Clubs)reporting on the results and implementing the feedback, Google Adwords can cost a lot, with no connection to results.How can you live without adwords. It is the best way to find content to write about. Is a great tool .Cost per customer does run high about $65 each.But if your avg ticket is $550 its all good .
the 75% of the clicks are the make of car and the word repair and the word service. So if you don’t want to spend as much just do nich words exact match . lIke “BMW OIL LEAK” cost per click 2 bucks but bmw repair in my market could cost $17 a click.I have Adam manage mine. but i check it out a lot. businessactualization.com/Firestone and all the bug guys except the dealers suck their seo is the worst (might be because of trademark issues) -
Yelp is tough .we get about 25 new customers a month at a cost of $800 $32 per new customer i will take every day. The customers seem to really take care of there cars and will spend the money in our area South. Fl. I recommend giving something small away when they arrive for checkin in.,
This way you make sure you know they are a yelper and check out if they give mostly bad reviews then then talk to them about why they have so many problems bring out your charm and best techs, Or fire the nicely and let them bash other business.I always ask what a person does for work and say how would you like it if someone gave you a bad review??Yelpers have to get the white glove treatment . We never let a customer go without making sure they feel satisfied with the value received.
Don’t sell cheap deals on yelp that for sure will attract the wrong customers. We found out the hard way.By far the toughest customers to please. It’s like having a new york times food critic checking you out.Think of it as a positive it keeps your team on top of there game. Ollie -
I am headed to the Ratchet and Wrench Conference in Sept.
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Looking for 55 new customers per month. that would make us at about 24% new customers per month.
we are at 22% avg.we are 65 % VW 25% audi and looking to up my MB BMW Mini and Porsche in the future.South Fl Internet and referrals. -
I love it. We have gotten $35k in cars this year from liens. Lucky for me we can park a 100 cars in our lot.
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We use common sense. if the manufacturer says lifetime fill that means if everything works perfect in a perfect world you can chance it and never change the fluid.We never used to change many German engines but in the last few years it we do about 6-8 a month.I can easily say it is because of oil issues we send oil samples to http://www.blackstone-labs.com/and they confirm my suspicion almost every timeCoolant can be tested but can you see if the parts per million of foreign material is correct?.Did a part waterpump or other part start wearing out and the debris get in the system?Or did some monkeyhead tech use too much rvt and parts are starting to clog up the tiny orifices.A coolant flush will insure your customer a safe car with a lower chance parts failure.Don’t get me started with transmission fluid flushes. The proof is in sending sample out to http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ . Fine do not change a DSG transmission lube often ans see if the clutch pack assy is worn premature or not.With many BMW’s with lifetime fills as stated on a big sticker on the pan its fine as long as we live in a perfect world.Brake flushes you can buy a low cost meter and measure the moisture content . Not doing a brake flush in Florida, its not if you will have problems it when .Every car is different on direct injection engines fuel injector cleaning seems like a wast on most models but on a few its super important.Not all flushes are upsells. We get paid to take care of fleet with 4500 vehicles IE: our customer base.We recommend fluid changes by our own experience with the make and model.Ollie G
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we use bold on it works nice.
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UPDATE 116-15 From yelp we get 15 new customers per month avg south Fl cost about 450 a month. Good buy. VIP make sure customers checkin before work starts to get $15 off .Some extortions on Yelp we just make sure we exceed expectations . Angie’s list $300 per month then it stunk 1-2 customers a month ,Then they cut the price in 1/2 i am going to give it a try again.
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We have 4 .And just bought 2 more so that will be 6 on the road. We have been running 4 2003- V6 Passat’s never a tow in for 4 years. Switching all of our cars to 08-09 2.5 VW Jetta’s they run forever and have smooth eng . I don’t know how we would get by without them. We are using Uber daily to pickup customer cars and transport customers.
South Fl very Very hard to get insurance. Tickets and tolls seem to be the only big problem we have cost us about 2 k last year.We now put stop holds on peoples licenses if they say they do not want to pay a red-light ticket $253.Seems like when faced with sa stop hold they pay pretty quick. -
Tom when you have shops out there who think $12hr (flat rate to boot) is “top dollar” its no wonder talented people are flocking to trades other than auto repair. Just sayin…
What city is $12 paid to a tech in Fl we have to pay 18-35 per hr
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I am the worst manager owner. I really need to find two supertechs and get rid of the c level techs .Maybe a new service writer, My shop has changed a ton we only see cars on avg every 7500 to 10,000 miles. Trying to train customers on the problems with long intervals. Also many new car dealers are giving away 5qt syn oil for $49,00 on VW 59 Audi and Bmw 69 .
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This is the hardest line to walk. We try to call it check out time and ask for more time to track down not only the problem but the cause of the problem. Its not working so well. Electrical problems are getting so complex that we need to make sure we are selling the correct module or we get killed. Check out this video its the best description on how modern fuel systems work. https://youtu.be/2DW4xReqKsE
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Thinking about putting some cards and posters near the dealers .This was just a quickie mock up.So hard to find a super Tech. Yes i know we would put website on poster.
When i look in Import Service mag and Motor mag i see lots of advertisements from the aftermarket parts distributers are building ,starting more schools and training trucks etc.I think the hugh parts companies have a big interest on pushing more and more training it is in there own interest .They need to sell parts to us shop owners. I think we are going to see a lot more training very soon .We hardly have any classes in south Fl..
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We have 2 for over 5 years now .Very popular with our customers. I had to do a little mod to fit larger keys.
If anyone knows of a company who has a larger one post away. -
The hardest part of our business. Every shop owner i talk to talks about the same thing.
We are training young guys but it’s a long term investment. -
Call Mudlic or DMVLists.com and say you want a count .They will give you a count and then try to sell you a mailing. But you will be able to answer your own question.
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The worst part of this business .How do you guys find enough qualified help .
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Every dealer in Sf fl is at least 130 porsche is 250 bmw 175 chevy 130 ford 129 .
I dont understand . Rent in Mi is most likely lower than many places . Doesn’t it matter where you are located.If you have a avg ticket with 2 hr then hardly any customers will complain about $5-$10 per invoice when the bill is $500 ? Am i missing something ?If the price is 500 or 510 either way people will say it’s to high quite often .What do you think ? -
Identifix is pretty good. Much better than IATN for German Cars we find.
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We make sure our service adviser and techs don’t surpass 35% of our effective labor rate .
It also makes a little competition between techs to turn houres.Our tech are on base plus a sliding scale every 5 hours they make more $ per hours turned.Our shop rates are from 105 to 140 depending on what kind of vehicle. .our effective rate is about 114 per hr We have lots of coupons for a discount on labor so that lowers our gross by about $1000 a week.If you raise your labor rate a little to compensate for rising costs every 6-12 months the customer does not feel it because most invoices are 2.4 hrs. that is 2-5 bucks a invoice. It hurts no one.Fix it right the first time and everyone comes back.Hope that helps.PS: The cheapest shops have the worst customers i have found. -
Zurich
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I have a one year old $7500 snap on A/C recycler machine. When i first bought it i was told to buy a stone filter that goes between the R134 canister and the input line .The welds on the inside of the 134 canister’s have very small particles of slag . Well over time some one did not install the filter when they changed the freon and our recycler machine would not take in new freon.
Our local tool repair shop told me a trick . Remove the cover on the recycler machine and find the inlet solenoid from the new freon to the valve body unplug the voltage.Rapidly energize the solenoid with 12 volts a bunch of times bam it worked.Moral of story buy a stone filter so you never have this problem. Ollie -
Funny just watched a ted show on youtube .A hacker put on the brakes of a car from way far away and turned on some lights . I am sure they will put better encryption built into the cars so independent shops will have even a harder time working on newer cars they will force us to have a locksmith license like Mercedes-Benz does.
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Any updates on this topic . Any online training ?
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Major lack of young people wanting to get into fixing cars . If youngsters understood that a great tech makes 20-33 per hr i think some might change their mind.
And a great teck never is without a job .He is cherished and can move to a shop who treats him well anytime.What ever happened to racing cars, building cars working after school on cars and opening a shop. Make a 6 figure salary get high blood pressure and live happily ever after .
