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Post your shop's website!
We've created this section here for you to post your shop website. This is a great way to get some feedback and suggestions from your peers.
Please post relevant automotive shop websites only. Any posts including non automotive shop websites will be moderated and removed.
Thank you.
By Alex, in Management Software, Web Sites & Internet
- 211 replies
- 23,496 views
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Do you guarantee results from your diagnostic time?
I think we all know that diagnostics is the most costly service we provide in the automotive repair business today. In today's automotive repair environment, you need to be selling diagnostics, and getting paid for it. I'm looking for feedback on when things don't go exactly as planned. Let's say a car comes in and you sell some diagnostics, by the hour, or from a menu. After you complete that work, and you still don't have an answer, do you go back to the customer and sell some more? Do you continue at your expense? If you do go back to the customer, and you have nothing conclusive after that, then what? Do you keep going back and selling more diagnostic work until you solve the problem? If you continue to go back and sell more, how many times can you do that? We've all had that car that we've worked on for weeks to find some strange problem. I doubt many customers are willing to pay for the 40 hours you spent on the car. Now lets say after 5 hours of work that the customer agreed to, you are no closer to finding the issue than when the car came in. Do you charge them for the 5 hours and send them down the road even though you have not provided them with a diagnoses? Do you start spending your time trying to solve the issue because you have a hard time charging for 5 hours and are unable to provide any answers? I'm asking these questions as I am rethinking my business strategy on diagnostics a little. Our shop is known for its abilities to diagnose problems. We have other shops bringing cars to us on a regular basis because of these abilities. I actually get several calls and emails weekly from across the county for help diagnosing problems. There are times, a lot of times, when I think this is more of a curse, than a blessing. I know we are in the business of fixing cars, and we need to be able to find problems if customers are going to keep coming back. But after my lead tech and I spent a considerable amount of time over the last 15 days diagnosing the strangest intermittent no start issue on an Audi, and watching his frustration grow everyday, not because of the difficulty of the issue as we both love the challenge, but because it held him back from addressing the other work that was coming in the shop. So, as rewarding as it was to solve that mystery, I can't help but look back at what it cost me financially, and the frustration to the technician, and realize we have to come up with a way to try to avoid going down those rabbit holes. Right now my idea is to give it 1 hour. If after an hour, we are not relatively certain that we will find the issue, with another hour or two, then let the car go. Let the customer know that it's not that we can't fix the car, but that we cannot fix it efficiently. If I lose that customer, it would probably still be cheaper that working on his car for 2 weeks. Love to hear your thoughts. ScottBy ScottSpec, in Auto Repair Shop Management Help? Post Here!
- 9 replies
- 490 views
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Chatbots — website, social media
Does your shop use a chatbot on your website, or do you have a chatbot on your Facebook page?
If so, what has your experience been like?By ratchetandwrench, in General Automotive Discussion
- 0 replies
- 135 views
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What Does Your Website Cost You?
There are many different website services, packages, and programs available when choosing the right company/webmaster for your auto repair business. You can sign up to a service that provides a robust website, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), analytics, marketing services, social network management, integrations, etc. You can also sign up for much simpler solutions which usually only include a website and some SEO. You can also try to use an online website builder to get yourself online with something very basic, which is better than nothing. So many different option and they all have their associated costs. In some cases there are initial startup costs as well. In most cases however, there are monthly costs associated with operating a business website. Please take a moment and share, if you would like, about your website costs and associated services. Please also take a moment to answer a few quick question in the attached poll. Thank you.By Alex, in Management Software, Web Sites & Internet
- 10 replies
- 1,028 views
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Shop Owners; Take time to recharge this weekend
There's a time to work, and there's a time to relax a bit. We are in the middle of a three- day weekend; Labor Day. The very name Labor Day should make us all think about how hard we work all year long. We need balance in our lives. We need time with friends and family. So, take a break and recharge your batteries this holiday weekend. It will do you a world of good. Trust me, the business will be there after the weekend is over. Happy Labor Day Weekend!By Joe Marconi, in Joe’s Business Tips For Shop Owners
- 0 replies
- 151 views
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