To Sell or Not to Sell?

[Joe Marconi]

The other day one of my techs was replacing front brake pads and rotors on an older Subaru. The caliper bracket bolts were seized and one of them snapped off. This is a common problem and we are well aware of it. We try our best with rust busters and heat, but sometimes nothing works. The tech drilled out the broken bolt and finished the brake job. No problem, right?

 

Here’s the problem, who pays for it? Me,or the customer? I asked the tech if he informed the service writer. He said he did. I asked the service writer if he told the customer and up-sold the repair. The writer told me it was a hard sell just to sell the brakes and felt he could not approach the customer. I informed my service writer that I did not buy the car, build the car or break the car.

 

I did something that maybe I should not have done; I went into the customer waiting room myself and explained the situation and sold the caliper bracket repair.

 

My issue is this. Are they times when we can't charge and we just have to eat it? I say yes and no. That depends on the situation. I also think that this particular writer needs more training in customer relations.

 

What do you think? Charge or not charge? What policy do you have?

[xrac]

.....What do you think? Charge or not charge? What policy do you have?

 

Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we sell the parts at our cost, some times we sell the part only with no extra labor, etc. I think my service writer and I need to discuss this because sometimes we are too generous. If we want our business to be profitable we need to at least try to sell these things. On Thursday we had a nice repair approved through my service manager of about $630.00 but when I looked at it I saw that we had omitted any pricing of a serpentine belt that the customer had been told was need and would be replaced. The service writer was going to just eat the belt since it was a profitable ticket but I called the owner and easily sold the belt which effectively added over $100 of profit to the ticket verus giving the belt away. What we must realize is that unsold parts installed cost us in two ways. First the cost of the part (in this case about $22) and the lost amount on the total ticket ( in this case about $80.00).

 

If we want our business to be profitable we need to at least try to sell these things. If we meet too much resistance we may then choose to make off. It doesn't have to be a hard sell.

[Joe Marconi]

I can totally relate to your story too. It happens in my shop. I have expression I use often with my service writers: Be competitive when you need to be, be profitable when you have to be.

 

Too many times, the service writers are thinking with their own wallets. Too many services are discounted because they want to make the sales. I understand this. It's a tough economy today and people constantly complain. The service writers get bombarded all day long from the public and can get gun shy.

 

But, I am with you...in order to remain profitable we need to keep track of every job

[CARMandP]

Having had this same thing happen to me as the tech/shop owner, I have just eaten the repair cost. If I had done a close enough inspection to realize that the pins were stuck, I would have charged a little more. Of course, the last one I broke was the pastor of our church so those are a little easier to eat If I know it will need them, I price them as part of the repair. If I break them myself, I eat them.

[Joe Marconi]

First, making points with God is a good thing.

 

You bring out a good point: if the inspection was done a little bit better, it would have been easier to charge a little more at that point. I think I will take this approach and also inform the customer beforehand that we may encounter additional problems. In this way the customer is somewhat prepared.