How busy are you guys?

[Framingham Auto Service]

I had  very high hopes for the beginning of 2017, taking in consideration that we finished the year very strong, and had a very good January.

But it seems that the ground had open it and swallowed all the business......

How about you guys, how are you doing?

[Wheelingauto]

You should try cheap oil changes.........

[Framingham Auto Service]

2 minutes ago, Wheelingauto said:

You should try cheap oil changes.........

Thanks for your reply Wheelinguato, but I'm not that desperate yet!

It does not feel like a marketing issue, i'ts more like a big recession has hit.

I hope is temporary !

Thanks.

 

[Wheelingauto]

Sorry, I can be a smart a$$ at times. I guess I'm a little tired of hearing about cheap oil changes.

Not that is should make you feel better but I have heard from my account rep at world pac the slow start to 2017 is not regional. My trans guy says everyone in the area is slow as heck. It has felt slow around here and we have not had any winter to speak of but the numbers show differently.  Although not setting the word on fire we are up 4% Feb/march this year over last.

Having been doing this for so many years I dont really sweat the slow times anymore. Give us time to maintain the loaner fleet and spruce the shop up a bit. It'll pop....

 

 

[xrac]

Business is very soft in this part of the country. 

[CMillet86]

I'm feeling the same as xrac, I'm a state over from him. Very soft right now. Trying to ramp up affordable marketing solutions.

[Framingham Auto Service]

 

8 minutes ago, xrac said:

Business is very soft in this part of the country. 

Hopefully it will start to pick up soon, Xrac.

[Truett]

I'm in Illinois, other side of xrac, and we are down 15-20% first 3 months of the year. Route sales guys say it's the same every where they go.

Richard

[pfseeley442]

I'm in Massachusetts, same here, everyone I talk to is slow. We have had shops lay of techs, and a clue have closed.

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[pfseeley442]

I'm in Illinois, other side of xrac, and we are down 15-20% first 3 months of the year. Route sales guys say it's the same every where they go.
Richard

I'm in Massachusetts, same here, everyone I talk to is slow. We have had shops lay of techs, and a couple have closed.

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Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[xrac]

Business is soft for both Car-x (mostly midwest) and Monro (mostly eastern). 

[tyrguy]

Slow here in the Akron/ Cleveland area. Overall, 1st quarter was down 12-13 % from last year. But most of that is in tire sales. Service GP is only down about 5%. But by not hiring a tech last May when my long time [37 year] tech retired we are saving close to a grand a week in wages. That helps.

Edited April 5, 2017 by tyrguy

[HarrytheCarGeek]

Last year we had a very ebb and flow kind of business, then around September we changed marketing strategy for the coming year. We exceed our best year quarterly sales by 12% this first quarter. Pulled a lot of new customer from the dealers that are having scheduling issues.

We have been very proactive in getting this new business, if we had not actively targeted our prospects I am sure our sales would have suffered. 

It is a very much more complicated business atmosphere, but I think if things slow down for new car dealers we should fare much better soon. http://www.zerohedge.com/print/592110

Morgan Stanley: Used Car Prices May Crash 50%

[carbtech72]

Im in SC and its hit or miss. Luckily we've managed to stay busy every day, there's always something to do. Ive been busy and seen a lot of other shops slow and ive been slow when others are swamped. Its just the nature of this business sometimes

[AndersonAuto]

I had a soft January. I was 30K down from January '16, but January '16 was an exceptional January. Since then we've recovered and we're up 26K over last year, and my GP% is up 6% as well. Overall car count is up 7% YTD.

This month feels soft, but the first part of April always does. We're up 16% month to date over last year, but I need more to continue making up for January and hit my 11% increase over last year by the end of the year.

On cheap oil change marketing I might add. 😀

[xrac]

I think the effect of Obama Care is slowing business down.  Premiums are up across the board. Mine are personally up over 20% from last year. Some people are having to pay back subsidies that they claim earlier but didn't deserve. Some are paying penalties.  All of this affects discretionary income and they have to cut somewhere.  These affects along with tax time definitely drags business down. 

[Wheelingauto]

18 minutes ago, xrac said:

I think the effect of Obama Care is slowing business down.  Premiums are up across the board. Mine are personally up over 20% from last year. Some people are having to pay back subsidies that they claim earlier but didn't deserve. Some are paying penalties.  All of this affects discretionary income and they have to cut somewhere.  These affects along with tax time definitely drags business down. 

Auto repair is not discretionary income. It is necessary if we are to have our freedom to move about.

That being said I hate to create excuses when we are slow. I have been in business for 30 years and there have always been ebbs and flows in this business. That being said my business has very rarely gone backwards ( maybe 4 years out of 30) and has always grown. I no longer freak out when it is slow I usually find a project for us to do while we wait for things to pick up. When starting a project it almost always picks up before we finish.

I have also learned when we are busy to not get caught up in the moment and keep my owners duties at hand and have plans in place to keep that next slow period as brief as possible.

[xrac]

Discretionary income was not the best choice of words.  What I mean is for some people needed repairs are postponed until the vehicle won't go and then it becomes required.  I have a 2011 Buick in the shop today where the owner drove on the brakes until he now needs rotors, calipers and hoses.  He turned a $150 repair into a $700 repair but we all see it every day.  All the time we see people drive out of our shops with vehicles that are unsafe.  For some people it is all a matter of cash flow. They live pay check to pay check and a little extra expense disrupts everything.  

[AndersonAuto]

Best way I've found to jump start business?

Bring your own car into the shop, and tear it apart so it's stranded on the rack and tying up a bay. The shop will instantly fill and you'll be in desperate need of that rack. Every friggin' time.

[Wheelingauto]

One last thing. When its slow, it just means each one of us has less cars to fix. There are still cars in each shop so you just have to figure out how to get the cars from your competitors shops into yours and then you'll be busy and they'll be making excuses!

[xrac]

2 minutes ago, AndersonAuto said:

Best way I've found to jump start business?

Bring your own car into the shop, and tear it apart so it's stranded on the rack and tying up a bay. The shop will instantly fill and you'll be in desperate need of that rack. Every friggin' time.

That is very true or send someone home!

[xrac]

5 minutes ago, Wheelingauto said:

One last thing. When its slow, it just means each one of us has less cars to fix. There are still cars in each shop so you just have to figure out how to get the cars from your competitors shops into yours and then you'll be busy and they'll be making excuses!

I have no excuses. Our March beat last March and we are up on the year and all bays were full yesterday. However, I believe that certain factors affect all business.  The extra $1800 I spent for health care premiums is money that would have been spent somewhere else.  Multiple that number by millions. In our region of the country every business owner I have talked to (non automotive) says business is soft.  The only sector locally that seems to be booming is construction. 

[tyrguy]

26 minutes ago, xrac said:

That is very true or send someone home!

There are times when I would love to send someone home but I have resisted the temptation. I can honestly say that in 38 years I have never laid someone off for any amount of time. Now, have I let someone who wanted to take the rest of the day off go home....you bet.

[Maria Garcia]

Thinking is where the process of launching your next business begins and your mind is where work through different scenarios before you invest time and money.

Edited May 15, 2019 by Maria Garcia