Mobile Service, going to the customer by request.

[Hands On]

I keep getting a request now and then to go to someones house. I am starting to wonder, is it because they think it would be cheaper, or is it like in that show billions, where the guy has so much money, he can afford to pay chef ryan to come to his house to cook dinner.

 

How much would it take to get each of you to come to my house to work on my car? Honest answers, and you have to give an amount.

[bantar]

$300 service call to show up plus 1 hour labor.    And I'd tell them that once we figure out what it wrong or find it needs tools still at the shop (e.g. a lift) to continue, it'll likely need to be towed to the shop for the repair.   This should net you $500 for a simple diag call.   Or you talk sense into them to tow it to you.   Or, they looked on Craigslist and saw great rates, but would rather have you work for such "great" rates because you have a shop and would be a better value.

Now, I've done this for free as well.   We recently put a new ACDelco fuel pump in good customers work truck and it wouldn't start.   We drove to his house, got it to start and brought it back to the shop and installed a 2nd new fuel pump.   And we drove it back to his house when done.    I do have a $85 very-local emergency assist fee.  This is a try to jump-start fee.   If it won't jump, it's a tow.    I do give them $25 credit towards a new battery if purchased same day.  I use GS techs for this.

However, I get frustrated when my guys do repairs in the parking lot.   There's no need for them to work outside in the weather.   They will eventually need multiple trips back inside for random tools, thus wasting time.  Mobile techs have a leg up on you doing this as they already have all of the tools in the truck. 

And the best mobile techs tow this gem to the job site.

[Hands On]

Nice. I was thinking of it like this, sitting in my office, with three techs working, I am generating $569.85 per hour. If I have to give up after hours family time, travel to your location, then I would like to make more then that.

I have gone out of my way to help clients that we did work for like you mentioned, but I usually just eat the tow cost, unless it just needs a jump or something, and they are close by. If we are doing it for free as a courtesy, It does not make sense to me to lose an hour of labor to save half that much on a tow.

[Transmission Repair]

I would offer a pickup & delivery service instead of working in the customer's driveway.  An hour's shop time would be an appropriate fee for both if they are within a 5-mile radius of your shop.  More time for further out.

[Hands On]

9 minutes ago, Transmission Repair said:

I would offer a pickup & delivery service instead of working in the customer's driveway.  An hour's shop time would be an appropriate fee for both if they are within a 5-mile radius of your shop.  More time for further out.

We do offer pickup and drop off, and we offer it for free. Most of the people requesting I come to them are trying to save the cost of a tow, and think , for some reason, that it would be cheaper to have someone come to them.  I have seen some horrific stories form Mobile Mechanics first hand. There was or is an app that was released, where you could hire a mechanic like you would call for an uber. One woman had her van left on blocks and lost cash she gave out for parts. You can not save people from themselves unfortunately.

[Transmission Repair]

3 minutes ago, Hands On said:

We do offer pickup and drop off, and we offer it for free. Most of the people requesting I come to them are trying to save the cost of a tow, and think , for some reason, that it would be cheaper to have someone come to them.  I have seen some horrific stories from Mobile Mechanics first hand. There was or is an app that was released, where you could hire a mechanic like you would call for an uber. One woman had her van left on blocks and lost cash she gave out for parts. You cannot save people from themselves unfortunately.

Free?  You've got to be kidding.  You're offering a convenience service and that has value.  What value should be determined by you, even if it is only a token fee.

[Hands On]

6 minutes ago, Transmission Repair said:

Free?  You've got to be kidding.  You're offering a convenience service and that has value.  What value should be determined by you, even if it is only a token fee.

I give out free loaners also. I also bill $20 more per hour then the shop literally right across the street. It is pretty rare we have to do pickup drop off, the loaners are used way more often, and I use the loaners because it takes the pressure off of me.

[Transmission Repair]

I didn't use the phrase "loaner car".  I had the customer sign a car rental agreement.  It worked well for me.  If the job turned out to be something major, I had the option to waive the car rental charge.  We were a transmission shop, with no general repair.  Just transmissions, clutches, transfer cases, and differential work.  I sold our shop to a nearby competitor in 2015 and sold the real estate to a plumber in 2020.  I often miss the good old days. 🙂

[Hands On]

15 hours ago, Transmission Repair said:

I didn't use the phrase "loaner car".  I had the customer sign a car rental agreement.  It worked well for me.  If the job turned out to be something major, I had the option to waive the car rental charge.  We were a transmission shop, with no general repair.  Just transmissions, clutches, transfer cases, and differential work.  I sold our shop to a nearby competitor in 2015 and sold the real estate to a plumber in 2020.  I often miss the good old days. 🙂

I envision my self standing at my front counter until I can not stand any more. I hope one of my kids wants to take over, or expand...

I thought of doing them as rentals, but honestly, it is more for my convenience then the customers. I just do not like the pressure of when is my car going to be ready, and the amount of good reviews and word of mouth the free loaners have generated is way better then any of my advertising dollars. I do carry a commercial insurance policy on them. In the end it is an expensive program, but has paid me back many times over. I also have them constantly listed for sale, so they make nice little cash bonuses from time to time.

[Transmission Repair]

59 minutes ago, Hands On said:

the amount of good reviews and word of mouth the free loaners have generated is way better then any of my advertising dollars.

Speaking of advertising dollars, are you using tracking numbers for different marketing/advertising efforts?

[Hands On]

27 minutes ago, Transmission Repair said:

Speaking of advertising dollars, are you using tracking numbers for different marketing/advertising efforts?

I do all of my own advertising. I raise and lower my budgets on both Ad words and Yelp as I need to control my car count. It works amazingly well. With a few clicks I can fill my bays in a couple of hours. I do not use tracking numbers. I do not want someone to put a number in their phone book that might not be valid a year form now. Yelp is way better then Adwords these days. Google is being super sneaky, they put you at the top when someone searches for a specific shop. I get too many calls form people asking if there car is ready,and the car is at another shop across town.

[Transmission Repair]

Call tracking can be had for as little as $2 per line, per month.  You use different numbers for Yelp, AdWords, Google search, etc.  All the numbers are forwarded to your main line.  You get a report on demand whenever you need to see which marketing/advertising works, and most importantly, which ones don't work.  If you don't have a way to know where the phone calls are coming from, you will have no idea.

I used Convirza.com  and had 50 numbers to get popular search term data.  Take a look at Convirza Video.  Here's a sample of the data I got for just one day of calls.  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/0B6naMtwBgwRKUlhUbnRJQzlTUzA/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=116584774469407774432&resourcekey=0-ZaeM6Cd4yWsV_dtIRyZUEw&rtpof=true&sd=true 

Be sure to check out https://www.convirza.com/price/ for a form to fill out to get the latest pricing information.

[Hands On]

I am well aware of how it works, I did not want 500 people who had 50 different phone numbers for my shop stored in their cell phone. What happens when you cease using that call tracking number?

[Joe Marconi]

51 minutes ago, Hands On said:

I am well aware of how it works, I did not want 500 people who had 50 different phone numbers for my shop stored in their cell phone. What happens when you cease using that call tracking number?

You  make a great point!

 

[Transmission Repair]

49 minutes ago, Hands On said:

I am well aware of how it works, I did not want 500 people who had 50 different phone numbers for my shop stored in their cell phone. What happens when you cease using that call tracking number?

Some business models work well with call tracking while other business models don't.  The transmission repair and collision business are two business models that work particularly well with call tracking.  Using call tracking, I was able to whittle down my keyword list from 1,400 keywords to only 35 keywords.  It worked particularly well for my transmission repair shop.

[DUFRESNES]

We haven't given rides home since the pandemic.  We have loaner cars.  It is the best advertising. It hasn't hurt our bottom line.  We don't pickup or deliver as that takes man power.  We try to give the best service without doing things that cost us dearly.  There are exceptions to all.  We have a customer that we do pickup and deliver due to his health, but he is the exception, not the norm.  What ever works for you is the right thing to do.

  Have a great Thanksgiving.

[Obsidian Motors]

On 11/7/2023 at 3:18 PM, Hands On said:

I give out free loaners also. I also bill $20 more per hour then the shop literally right across the street. It is pretty rare we have to do pickup drop off, the loaners are used way more often, and I use the loaners because it takes the pressure off of me.

I no longer offer loaner cars. Customer flipped the loaner on the freeway then she balked at accepting responsibility and having her insurance cover damage even though she signed the waiver for the loaner. I had to threaten to enforce what she signed in court before she bought her insurance company in to reimburse our shop for the total loss. I didn't receive tangible benefit for offering loaners when all was said and done. I do still offer local rideshare for regulars though.

[Joe Marconi]

15 hours ago, Obsidian Motors said:

I no longer offer loaner cars. Customer flipped the loaner on the freeway then she balked at accepting responsibility and having her insurance cover damage even though she signed the waiver for the loaner. I had to threaten to enforce what she signed in court before she bought her insurance company in to reimburse our shop for the total loss. I didn't receive tangible benefit for offering loaners when all was said and done. I do still offer local rideshare for regulars though.

I was never a fan of loaner cars. With car counts 100 plus each week, we would need a fleet of cars. However, many shop owners rave how great their loaner car program is.  I guess it is an individual choice.

For me, I set up deals with the local Enterprise and Hertz for discounted rates, and that worked great for me. In my area, Uber and Lyft are not that easy to get at times, not yet anyway.  I also used local taxi service. And, we also had a shuttle van for local rides. 

[Transmission Repair]

4 hours ago, Joe Marconi said:

I was never a fan of loaner cars.

The term "Loaner Car" implies the word "free".  Here's a link to a used car rental company's rental agreement that you could modify and make it your own.

https://www.rentawreck.com/rental-requirements.htm

[DUFRESNES]

Thank you for the rental agreement.  Our Loaners are free, except they have to replace the gas.  It comes to them full and they just replace what they use.  Our agreement is just 1 page.