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Opinions on my work hours

Zs Automotive
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Zs Automotive Apprentice

Zs Automotive

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Hi, everyone

 

I just opened an auto repair shop about 4 months ago, but I'm still working my full time job as a tech therefore I open the shop from 4 pm until 9pm M-F and 8-5 on Saturday. I'm starting to build customers but most are from referrals and neighbors I don't get much traffic cars. I'm starting to think that the hours I'm open don't really work for the auto repair business seems like after 6 everything dies. Has anyone worked this kind of hours or what do you guys think about this odd hours.

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ncautoshop Proficient

ncautoshop

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Hi, everyone

 

I just opened an auto repair shop about 4 months ago, but I'm still working my full time job as a tech therefore I open the shop from 4 pm until 9pm M-F and 8-5 on Saturday. I'm starting to build customers but most are from referrals and neighbors I don't get much traffic cars. I'm starting to think that the hours I'm open don't really work for the auto repair business seems like after 6 everything dies. Has anyone worked this kind of hours or what do you guys think about this odd hours.

Maybe you start doing some face to face marketing in local businesses that close around 5 and pickup some work from the folks who cant make it in normal hours? I never tried odd hours but I can see how it would be a struggle. IMO this is a wors of mouth business and sometimes that just takes time!

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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ncautoshop Proficient

ncautoshop

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Thanks for reply NC. I will look into talking to local shops that close earlier and just give it time until I feel I can do it full time.

If I can ever help let me know. Where are you located? I might have resources I can helo with, heck if nothing else I can refer customers that are up here on vacation to you.

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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Zs Automotive Apprentice

Zs Automotive

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Thanks NC. Well I'm the only one working the shop and I'm the only one supporting the family. My current job pays the bills and I don't think I can live of the shop yet. I'm just curious how did you guys do it when you first started in this 4 months I've barely made my over head.

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mmotley Proficient

mmotley

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Do you own the shop or are you renting? Seems to me you would make more money if your shop was open during regular business hours, so maybe leaving your current job and opening your personal shop would serve you better.

 

I almost did the exact same thing you're doing when I started my shop, but I decided to dive in head first and do my own thing full time. I'm so glad I did and never looked back.

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ATSAutomotive Collaborator

ATSAutomotive

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Just keep in mind, if you keep building these after hours clients. When you do go full time you will probably lose a lot of them if you don't stay open for them late. Double edged sword. Ill tell you that when I first started there is no way I could have made it if my fiancée hadn't of supported me personally. She kept me afloat while the business grew to a point where it could then cover me. That was just over 4 years ago. Now I have four full time employees, it was a scary ride but its been fun.

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ATLAuto Rising Star

ATLAuto

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Thanks Xrac. I'm going to look into that. See if there are large fleets around here.

 

Fleets are an excellent idea for how you are currently setup.

 

Be careful on how you structure your fleet invoicing. As a lean start-up, you probably are not going to have the cash reserves to float the net 30 to 90 days worth of invoices that many fleets will be expecting. Here's an article that will help you get started in it (link).

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phynny Community Regular

phynny

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Keep in mind that 95% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years. Another thing is that wrenching is by far the easiest part of the business. You will also do 3 times the work for less money.

 

Not trying to deter you, but I'm sure you have a family that depends on you so you should know EXACTLY what your getting into.

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Jmazur Apprentice

Jmazur

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When i started 5 years ago, I was the only income for my family, and it was really tough for the first 6 months. But 5 years later, I own 2 shops doing around 2 million in sales, and still growing. It was not easy, but we were determined. I would recommend that you give some serious thought to whether you want to be a business owner, and dont dabble in it. Either get determined that you will do what is needed to make it work and dive in with both feet, or decide to stay with the safety of a job. You can not continue with the schedule you have right now. It is not good for you or for your family, and will not last long term. You will get burnt out. If your overhead is only $1700/month, it will not take long to offset that and generate income for yourself. Assuming that you are working 40 hours at your other job, and 34 at this business, if you take and put 74 hours a week into your business, you should have no problem growing your clientele rapidly enough to support your family. You can always go back to a J-O-B if this doesnt work out, but just decide what direction you want to go, and then figure out a plan to get you there. Most everyone here has been in your shoes and had to face the same fear you are dealing with. It is scary, but once you get to the other side, you will be glad that you did. And like others have said, learn to be a business owner, because fixing the cars will be the easiest part of your job. Message me if you would like to talk about it more in detail. I would be happy to help.

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  • 4 years later...
SmartAutomotive Apprentice

SmartAutomotive

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I did the same thing you are doing.  Kudos.  I also did Sundays too.  Three months of that and I finally just quit my job and went headfirst.  You can do it alone man!  Plan on spending any down time on getting business education.  Learn and implement marketing(not advetising) first then focus on learning reading financials next.  You will grow so fast  you will wonder why you ever worried.

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newport5 Enthusiast

newport5

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You are getting some great information.

Start encouraging online reviews. Even referral customers check your online reviews.

In CA it's Yelp, which is free. I say, "Hey, if you liked my service, please go online and leave me a review."

I'd heard that the simply satisfied customer doesn't refer you. it's after you do something special for them.

Victor

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

    • Joe Marconi
      Technician Production is More Complicated than You Think
      By Joe Marconi in Joe's Blog
         0 comments
      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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