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Shop Labor Rate - Pre-1975 Cars


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@JerryK  Hi Jerry, in the Shop Labor Rate thread, you posted 3 labor rates, regular, euro and Pre-1975 cars.    I find it interesting that you've set your labor rate very high for these cars.   It either means that you don't want those, or it's more expensive to work on them, so you charge more, or it is a specialty skill set that you possess and thus it's a more valuable service, or you are building in an inherent storage fee due to the extended time it takes to get parts, etc or ?   I'm interested to understand your thinking regarding this particular rate.   Also, why is 1975 the cutoff date?

We've been working on a number of older cars, and I've taken the approach that it's a time and materials job.   If it takes me 3 hours to remove the stuck drums off of your old car, then your brake job will cost more.  If I above-normal spend time looking for parts, then this is billable time too.    We shouldn't absorb the added difficulty of rust, age, etc.   Maybe I'm approaching this incorrectly.   I took in a 1984 project car on Friday... non-standard engine, but newer, bubba's electrical wiring mess, etc, but overall in good shape.    We started with 5 hours of labor to assess and possibly fix.   It's partly a test to see if he's serious on fixing the car.  

 

P.S.  I live in Plano, but my shop is in McKinney.    In my previous life, I worked not far from your shop. 

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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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