Shop Management Articles
Dive a bit deeper into topics that impact your day-to-day operations and your bottom line.
Does Your Auto Shop Offer Loaner Cars to Customers?
Does offering loaner cars to customers add value to an auto shop? This is a question that shop owners must decide for themselves, but we would love to have your input on our most recent poll: How many loaner (rental, courtesy) cars do you have per $100,000 in annual sales? Loaner Cars Relative to Sales…
Why Should Your Shop Allow Customer Supplied Auto Parts?
In our last blog, we discussed the problems shops that allow customers to supply their own parts have. There are always two sides to every story, however. Here we will talk about why some shops choose to do repairs using customer supplied auto parts and one possibility for making this practice work financially for the…
Does Your Auto Shop Allow Customer Supplied Parts?
Does your auto shop use customer supplied parts to complete their repairs? This topic can raise some eyebrows and tempers between customers and shop owners or techs, but there are good reasons for shops refusing to use aftermarket parts customers purchase elsewhere. Here we will go through those reasons and how to explain your shop’s…
Transition Planning in Family Owned Auto Repair Shops
In our last blog, we talked about the importance of exit planning and making sure that owners give themselves enough time to fix any problems with their auto shops before they put them up for sale. For some owners, there may be an additional complexities to a transition, though. Many auto repair businesses are family…
Exit Planning Is Crucial for Selling Your Auto Shop
Are you planning on selling your auto shop at any time in the future? Not all auto repair shop owners plan on selling. Some of them intend to work in their shops until they can no longer work and then close the doors. Most owners would like to recover a large portion of the time,…
Should Techs Bear the Costs to Be ASE Certified?
How useful do you think ASE certification is? We’ve asked the question before, but it’s always good to review. For shop owners who do believe ASE certification is important for their techs, the other related question must be: How much do you invest in getting your techs ASE certified? Certification involves both time and money,…
The Need for Lift Inspections
In our last blog we discussed the need for lift safety training in all auto repair shops. It’s vitally important that all employees are familiar with automotive lifts, know how to use them correctly, and know how to safely work around them. It’s also critical for shop safety that the lifts work correctly and are…
Auto Techs Need Lift Safety Training
Vehicle lifts are an important piece of equipment in auto repair shops. They’re used throughout the country and the world to raise and lower vehicles very effectively. Unfortunately, sometimes they are not well maintained, and not all employees are thoroughly trained in lift safety. These failures can and have led to thousands of accidents and…
Does Your Auto Shop Offer Repair Financing?
Some kinds of repairs always come as a shock to car owners, no matter how long they’ve been driving, owning, or maintaining cars. While not all repairs are expensive, some are pricey enough that even people with good incomes and savings will blink. What does your auto shop do for customers who cannot afford the…
How Much Do Online Reviews Matter?
In our previous blog pieces, we’ve talked about handling bad reviews and how to negotiate with customers when they leave bad reviews of your business. No one likes bad reviews. Criticism always stings, and sometimes people take out their frustration on a business for a simple mistake. That’s frustrating for any owner or manager. It…