[Alan Ollie]

ASE is a joke .I havent worked on cars in 20 years and passed all 5 a few years ago. And i know some great techs who have tried and studied and cant pass . Not to say a l1 or l2 is not a plus but the system needs to change. 

[Alan Ollie]

Demand force is the ok but just ok. We like the fact it integrates with our appointments in mitchell.

We use it for sending out factory scheduled maintenance. and the surveys that send the right customers toa  landing page for reviews is worth the 300 by itself. 

[Alan Ollie]

Wow dead thead 

[Alan Ollie]

How much money are you missing using a old dos program? How do you market reminders in the old dos sys . Do any crm’s work with dos ? Just wondering. 

[Alan Ollie]

Same time – Noon to 1:00 PM but one helper eats at 2 so we can handle moving cars and changing light bulbs quick.

[Alan Ollie]

I need to do that. Great idea. I used to give away $10 on first oil change 2nd  $20  3rd $30  then free . Stopped doing that it did not give a big return. 

[Alan Ollie]

Best thing the oem’s ever did .That is a great reason for our customers staying away from quick lubes. They cant do it .

[Alan Ollie]

Update have 5 tablets running now and could not be happier with the Bolt on system .

The printing of the lube sticker is the smallest part of the system.

 The automatic next appointment keep them coming in. The digital reports sent By text and email automatically save and sent pictures and add reminders to your shop management system.

The best part of report pro is the custom quarries it lets you build and export in csv format. Send exact coupons with matching expiration dates to your customers by email or snail mail.

 I will disagree with anyone who says snail mail reminders don’t work as well as email .I get back the most reminders from customers with snail mail .I send send thowsands more email reminders comaired to 500 targeted snail mail reminders. 

 Keep the shop technology coming and hold back on the fiber optics  built in the cars. 🙂 Ollie 

[Alan Ollie]

Every car I stopped paying my tecs to make the list i found they would not do a complete inspection so if they want to eat they better do a proper inspection.

We are in the 3 week of doing digital inspections with bolt on software .

***Dings/Scratches/Dents/Cracks***
_________________________________________________
TAG NUMBER:___________________________________
IS UNDERCOVER DAMAGED?_______________________
Warning lights?
ABS AIRBAG EPC ENGINE BRAKE MIL OTHER
Brake Fluid- _______________________________________________
GOOD WATCH BAD
Brake pad thickness Front_____MM REAR_____MM
Brake Rotor Scored Y / N
Brake Pulsation Y / N
Check All Running Lights:
__________________________________________________________
Belt Condition:_____________________________________________
GOOD WATCH BAD
Coolant leaks:_____________________________________________
CONDITION WATCH SEEPAGE LEAK
Oil Leaks:_________________________________________________
CONDITION WATCH SEEPAGE LEAK
Power Steering leaks:_______________________________________
CONDITION WATCH SEEPAGE LEAK
Oil level:____
TIRE PRESS F:____R :_____
TIRE WEAR/CONDITION:___________________________
GOOD WORN UNEVEN WEAR DRY ROT
C V Boots:
PASS: OUTER / INNER DRIVER: OUTER / INNER
Suspension :_____________________________________
CONTROL ARM (Whole / Bushings) TIE ROD (Whole / Ends) STRUT MOUNT SHOCKS SWAY BAR BALL JOINT
WHEEL BEARINGS (F/R)
WIPERS: GOOD WATCH BAD
WIPER WASHER FLUID: TOPPED OFF/LEAKING FROM
Lube doors___Service Interval Light/Reset Clock-RESET
ROAD TEST NOTES:
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Alan Ollie]

We have 4 loaners.All have over 140k miles all drive great. People are impressed with how well they run with all the miles on them. 

I am just starting to upgrade my 2002 jetta and Passats with 2007 Jettas 

I should not say this but we have never had a problem or tow in in the 3 years we had them. 

I would have 10 if i could . The ability to upsell and  convenience to be able to pick up or drop off a car 24 / 7s great.

 Plus if you think about it its cheaper than having one extra mechanic its about 130 a month for insurance i am not aloud to charge directly for a loaner with Zurich insurance. About $100 a month in maintenance costs.  Last saturday we had 2 loaners available and 2 oil change turned into Clutch job and a Timing belt because we had a loaners available, 

We already have a $750 a month bill with enterprise so it would be way higher without loaners. 

Try to under cut my quote without giving a customer a car while they are waiting 2 weeks for a $5000 on a engine job. The loaner closes the deal.  Ollie 

    

[Alan Ollie]

Ross Tech 

AutoLogic    

[Alan Ollie]

Doug at Robert Maxim Website Solutions is a professional that knows what he is doing and how to do it.Too bad more people don’t give him bigger budgets to show how nice a job he does.Check out one of his really nice sites http://www.autocentricrepair.com

I have many people doing many different areas on my sites. 

ppc , blogs, answering questions on many forums . And data management from every inquiry we receive about 100 new email addresses a month . We email every person who did not come in and downloaded a first time coupon.  

Our sites and upkeep costs about 4% of our gross sales.

Super fast mobile site , proper grammar (as you can see from my posts i don not write on the site i just make drafts and leave it up to someone else to figure out the balance between seo and natural speaking. 

germancardepot.com   Simple site but is out paceing my ppc. Cheers ollie 

  

[Alan Ollie]

I really need to do it with shop maintance . Religious about the marketing part of it.

[Alan Ollie]

Hi Nelson , Cheap is not the same as Value.I already have way to many customers with our crews cell #s

  Bolt On reminds people of upcoming appointments, Tells people to call us for a quote ,Tells customers there car is done and so much more .

Plus the Techs and service advisers and porter can message very easily it come up on every tablet and computer in the shop.We have 900 customers opted in to text messaging. 

They have a free trial check it out . Ollie 

[Alan Ollie]

Autologic unbelievable could not work on BMW ,Mini or MB without. Phone support is off the charts. (10)

SUPER EXPENSIVE BUT WORTH EVERY DOLLAR. 

VCDS / Ross-Tech – VW – Audi VW and Audi  (10) WE BUY YEARLY PHONE SUPPORT WORTH EVERY PENNY TOO. CHEAP .OR YOU CAN PAY 35 PER CAR AND GET LOTS OF HELP.

[Alan Ollie]

In house using Quick Books. CPA checks everything

[Alan Ollie]

LabelWriter^® 450 Turbo with fade free labels.They have a extra black mylar plastic that transfers very dark and stays dark black after 24 months.

They just came out with clear and they are not static cling but come off clean.

 http://www.duraready.com/products2?acat=Service_Labels

[Alan Ollie]

World Pac and IMC are the best for us . 8 runs a day great prices high quility parts .

[Alan Ollie]

Cool my shop is not failing i am a poor leader. We have a cast of characters. Every day is not a job it’s in Adventure. Ollie

 

[Alan Ollie]

Cool i came back.

[Alan Ollie]

A few shops went put of business lately .None used there shop management systems properly.

Do you email every customer before they leave to make sure you have a correct email address.

Did you run the address in https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action

Then do you have 2-3 recommendations for that customer car including the next oil change date.

how does anyone do that in QB. I know there must me a way but you are wasting so much time inventing the wheel .

Just think you spend 150-500 a month on your CRM and get a ton of return business.

Is your shop so memorable that people just say oh my car needs work i will drive extra far to go to _______ shop

.  

Customer thank me all the time for reminding about upcoming services their car will need and they can plan for it and budget for it it’s a win win situation. Most customers love to hear you don’t need anything right now let’s check in in 3 months . 

Quick books does do mail merge but have no way of reading the database year make mile and know your can needs its 40k service in 3 months. 

[Alan Ollie]

Just got a 3 tablets going for paperless or kinda paperless .Let ya know soon .The lube sticker and text messaging is great 

[Alan Ollie]

Just starting next week with Bolt On Technology someone give me some feed back.They say they have 1100 shops using it, I like the text messagingfor upcoming appointments and lube sticker printer function that makes the next appointment. 

[Alan Ollie]

We use Mitchell Management. I would give it a 7-7.5

For the most part it seems to work ok, Parts ordering is ok. Are we the only shop using Mitchell? I do not see any other shops so far rating it.

Andy

We have been with Mitchell since 1998 too lazy to change. We also use BoltOn add on software for inspections .

[Alan Ollie]

The hardest thing about owning a shop finding great techs.Pay is not the problem in my shop just getting quality people to apply is almost impossible. . 

[Alan Ollie]

My top 6 issues.

#1 Problem for me. Attracting & Hiring enough qualified Techs   

Employee management
Employee training

Getting things done

Shop – keeping it clean and organized

Debt

[Alan Ollie]

LowellNigoff  thats a no brainer of course we do it Thanks 

[Alan Ollie]

is 63% retention per year good or just avg. Meaning  the amount of customers who came in 2 times in one year. 

[Alan Ollie]

The volume is not as high as i would like after 1 month. Making small changes will update you then. 

[Alan Ollie]

JustTheBest Thanks for the insights.

 “It seems to work”. Huh? If you can’t measure it, don’t do it. “

We track most everything we do .How do you track postcards with offers when the customer does not bring in the coupon.If they come in on there own it is kinda tough to give points to the postcard .

We have at  many different offers going at the same time fact is only 25% of the customers use the offers. 

I am a strong believer in tracking where the lead comes from web leads are the easiest i can listen to my leads phone call or look at the weeks search quarry’s. IE: “Audi A6 fuel pump repair ” The guy comes in with the fuel pump problem that week i know where the lead came from. 

Matthew,  Could you post a few sites with downloadable  automotive info?