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Have Some People Kept Their Cars Too Long?


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Yes, I am seeing this. In my opinion, this is a ruined customer to a certain degree. You will have to balance your perspective as to what kind of revenue you will expect from this type of customer if he is the type that is rolling the dice.

 

If they have neglected maintenance, any major work you do, they may expect the car to be "fixed" for another "long" while, just to be back in the following week.

 

If they have been the regular maintenance customer, I am not afraid to keep up their cars since I have probably replaced struts, wheel bearings and other major components.

 

The point is, don't get stuck with neglected old clunkers, ask for deposits, and always watch your bottom line like a hawk!

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New car sales are experiencing sales that are showing very promising signs to a recovery of sorts for some, this good news is for those twisting wrenches on the newer stuff (collision services) that rely heavily of the dollar value of repairs needed not exceeding the thresholds set up by those who profit from someone else s loss (Insurer and re builder of salvage) as salvage has been in record territory at the auctions for the past several years.

 

As for keeping them running for as long as possible consumers can be suggested to but never demanded of and should a VO (vehicle owner) choose to negate necessary services we can not "Not" service them when asked to.

 

Just pity the folks who purchase the old cars showing up with little or no service records and the song and dance by sales people how well this car has been meticulously maintained all the years it's been in service with the previous owner. Pity? Perhaps but certainly it's all business all day!

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

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      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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