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Polk Report, Average Age of Autos Increase


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I would think if the economy improves, you would see more people buying new cars, not holding on to older cars that are in need of repair.... Just my thoughts.

 

Also can't help but wonder how the 'Cash for Clunkers' program affected the numbers in this study... I would think the average age would be higher since the gov't created an incentive for people to trade older cars (and subsequently destroyed and removed from the market) in for new ones.

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Not sure what the real long term effect of that program will be, but here is some fairly detailed post regarding the program

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/10/cash-for-clunkers-two-years-later.html

imo, nothing that is artificially takes away and/or inserts something into economy can have any long term benefit, but I am not economist, just a regular Joe Schmo, what do I know. :unsure:

 

What I think I know, is that people are still going to buy new cars because they are shiny and well marketed and we buy on emotions not on logic. Some of them will default on their loans, but car is already in "circulation", so it will go to the auction and another "Joe Schmoe" will end up buying it. Depending on how many hands it will change the reliability of that specific car will be effected and so will our "opportunity" to see it in the shop.

I really wish there was some kind of generic chart, showing - "Buying a new car with payments vs keeping the older car with maintenance". But again, that's logic and people don't use it in general, especially when it comes to new and shiny things :)

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...that's logic and people don't use it in general, especially when it comes to new and shiny things :)

Well said. A couple from our small group in church just traded in their two used cars for a brand new sedan and SUV right off the lot. They had very little logic behind the decision that didn't boil down to, "we were tired off looking poor and wanted pretty cars." They make $60k combined which does not go very far in Atlanta.

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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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