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Lift Maintenance/inspection


GeeZ

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How often does your shop do this? Also, two of my lifts have leaking pumps does $250 each sound right for repair of each pump (4 pumps each). The repair guy says that it needs a new seal.

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I'm sorry, I'm not sure what pumps you're referring to on your lifts. We've had safety cables, pistons, & even a lift cylinder replaced before. Are you referring to the hydraulic pump itself?

 

Although it's not a requiredment in our state, we have all of our lifts checked/serviced once per year by the same, certified service company that installed them. Our take on it was that if we hope to be able to encourage our customers to appreciate the value in preventative, or regular maintenance on their vehicles, we sure as heck should be taking our own advice on our shop equipment!

 

I've found that we get really fair treatment from the service company that comes out. Because they know we're interested in taking care of our lifts, and further understand that as our needs grow that it's THEIR company we'll be counting on - it was easy to get the multiple lift "discount", on this annual checkup. Furthermore, they appreciate that we're flexible in letting them service one or ALL of them in the same day, giving them the ability to fill holes in their service schedule, and get my inspections, adjutments, lubrication, etc. all done in a week or so. (or all in the same day)

 

If they indicate the're coming in to make a day of it, we try to schedule one of our regular "Boss is buying lunch" days to correspond, and we include their service staff. Just taking care of the people that take care of us!

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I have it marked on my calendar to check them every month. Our alignment lift gets heavy use and a cable last about 2 or 3 years. Our service company was charging us $500 for the cable and they had to order them. I have found a company local that will make them for us for $150. What held them up was the ends had to be ordered, so I bought some extra ends to keep on hand. They can get a cable made in one day now and we put it on our self. That lead to us doing most of the lift service in house.

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Doing lift service and having inspections done are two different things OOooo.

 

I service my lifts as well. I have a background in hydraulics so it's pretty easy stuff. I don't do my own inspections though. I want that piece of paper from a certified company should there be an accident. Lot easier for my insurance company to cover an accident if I go " yep, I've got it inspected per the law".

 

 

Granted in Comifornia, I mean California, it's the law we have to have lifts inspected annually. However, there aren't any " agents" out to inforce it. If the state has a hard on, they usually go after bigger companies that have deeper wallets anyway.

 

 

The on,y reason I do it is to keep my guys safe and insurance happy.

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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