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Real Estate Strategies [AW 170]


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Rick Levitan shares his experience and insights on real estate in the automotive industry. He discusses the importance of developing a strategy when expanding and finding new locations, as well as various methods for finding potential sites. Rick advises against falling in love with a specific location and highlights the option of leasing with an option to buy. He also discusses the role of real estate investment trusts (REITs) and the importance of demographics when considering a new location. Rick emphasizes the need for careful planning, good advisors, and transparency when acquiring a business or property.

Rick Levitan, Managing Director, Auto Stream Car Care, MD.

Show Notes:

  • Searching for the Next Location (00:06:07) Rick discusses various methods for finding new locations, including online websites, business brokers, real estate brokers, vendor connections, employee referrals, and driving around to scout potential areas.
  • Identifying Markets and Opportunities (00:07:51) The importance of identifying target markets and opportunities, but also highlight the need for flexibility and evaluating the financial feasibility of each site.
  • Buying vs Leasing Real Estate (00:08:50) The discussion explores the preference of most shop owners to buy real estate upfront, but acknowledges that market conditions and location factors may necessitate a mix of leased and fee properties.
  • The importance of demographics (00:11:18) Discussion on the significance of demographics in determining the location for a new shop and the factors to consider.
  • The evolution of competition in the automotive repair industry (00:14:10) Exploration of how competition has become less of a concern over the years and the focus on improving operations and customer service.
  • The site potential rating worksheet (00:15:51) Introduction to a tool used to evaluate potential locations based on various factors and assign a numerical rating for comparison.
  • The importance of having good advisors and attorneys in acquisitions (00:20:15) The need for good advisors, including attorneys and CPAs, to navigate the legal and financial aspects of acquiring a business.
  • Strategies for informing employees and customers during a business transition (00:21:51) Strategies for smoothly transitioning employees and customers during a business acquisition, including waiting to rebrand and being transparent with employees.
  • The importance of a pro forma (00:27:38) Discussion on the significance of using a pro forma and where to find templates online.
  • Factoring in upgrades and negotiations (00:28:22) Exploration of the costs associated with rebranding, equipment upgrades, and negotiating the price based on necessary repairs.
  • Learning curve in growing a multi-shop operation (00:30:12) Insights into the challenges and learning experiences when expanding from one shop to multiple locations.

Thanks to our Partner, Dorman Products. Dorman gives people greater freedom to fix vehicles by constantly developing new repair solutions that put owners and technicians first. Take the Dorman Virtual Tour at www.DormanProducts.com/Tour

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-Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/carm

-The Aftermarket Radio Network: https://aftermarketradionetwork.com

-Special episode collections: https://remarkableresults.biz/collections

 

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         0 comments
      Auto shop owners are always looking for ways to improve production levels. They focus their attention on their technicians and require certain expectations of performance in billable labor hours. While technicians must know what is expected of them, they have a limited amount of control over production levels. When all factors are considered, the only thing a well-trained technician has control over is his or her actual efficiency.
      As a review, technician efficiency is the amount of labor time it takes a technician to complete a job compared to the labor time being billed to the customer. Productivity is the time the technician is billing labor hours compared to the time the technician is physically at the shop. The reality is that a technician can be very efficient, but not productive if the technician has a lot of downtime waiting for parts, waiting too long between jobs, or poor workflow systems.
      But let’s go deeper into what affects production in the typical auto repair shop. As a business coach, one of the biggest reasons for low shop production is not charging the correct labor time. Labor for extensive jobs is often not being billed accurately. Rust, seized bolts, and wrong published labor times are just a few reasons for lost labor dollars.
      Another common problem is not understanding how to bill for jobs that require extensive diagnostic testing, and complicated procedures to arrive at the root cause for an onboard computer problem, electrical issue, or drivability issue. These jobs usually take time to analyze, using sophisticated tools, and by the shop’s top technician. Typically, these jobs are billed at a standard menu labor charge, instead of at a higher labor rate. This results in less billed labor hours than the actual labor time spent. The amount of lost labor hours here can cripple a shop’s overall profit.
      Many shop owners do a great job at calculating their labor rate but may not understand what their true effective labor is, which is their labor sales divided by the total labor hours sold. In many cases, I have seen a shop that has a shop labor rate of over $150.00 per hour, but the actual effective labor rate is around $100. Not good.
      Lastly, technician production can suffer when the service advisors are too busy or not motivated to build relationships with customers, which results in a low sales closing ratio. And let’s not forget that to be productive, a shop needs to have the right systems, the right tools and equipment, an extensive information system, and of course, great leadership.
      The bottom line is this; many factors need to be considered when looking to increase production levels. While it does start with the technician, it doesn’t end there. Consider all the factors above when looking for ways to improve your shop’s labor production.
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