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Posted

The short answer is absolutely. It's not just the alignments that you will do, it's all the other steering and suspension work that you get that makes you money.

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Posted

Marketed correctly, an alignment machine can be a goldmine. Hunter is perhaps the best out there, it's what we have. The new Hunter is real nice, quick and easy.

 

If you do go for it, make it part of your inspection process, when you can. For example, when we have slow day, I put one tech on the align machine to get a qucik read out for all the cars on the schedule. With the Hunter it's quick and easy. We then disucss the print out with the customer, if the alignment is out. For the winter months, it's an easy sell and you are doing the customer a real value by extending the life of the tires. You can create a package also: Alignment, tire rotation, balannce, suspension/steering check.

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Posted (edited)

I'm sure most people have seen this on the Hunter website.

Fill in your own numbers and run the calculations yourself and apply them to your shop.

 

Using these numbers, payback on a $63k system would be less then 2 years. Still really good.

Even if you only sold 1 alignment per day instead of 2, you'd pay $63k back in 5 years, and you'd get a 234% ROI on a 10 year life cycle ($147k in net profit). 200% ROI would be the bare minimum to make a good investment.

These numbers even account for 100% depreciation, so after 10 years, you could sell the machine for about $6k (10%) and bank it or put it towards another new machine.

 

This also accounts ONLY for alignments. In reality, alignments also sell a lot of related steering and suspension work on top of the alignments, so your payoff would actually be much higher.
A6439T-12.jpg

Edited by bstewart
  • Like 2
Posted

Marketed correctly, an alignment machine can be a goldmine. Hunter is perhaps the best out there, it's what we have. The new Hunter is real nice, quick and easy.

 

If you do go for it, make it part of your inspection process, when you can. For example, when we have slow day, I put one tech on the align machine to get a qucik read out for all the cars on the schedule. With the Hunter it's quick and easy. We then disucss the print out with the customer, if the alignment is out. For the winter months, it's an easy sell and you are doing the customer a real value by extending the life of the tires. You can create a package also: Alignment, tire rotation, balannce, suspension/steering check.

Joe what do you charge for an alignment. Do you do one price point for alignment or different for 4 wheel verus 2 wheel?

Posted

I am currently in this predicament right now. I actually am getting quoted $54k after everything said and done. Might have to get with you (Framingham) to compare our quotes. I would LOVE to have an alignment machine but need to make sure it is doable....

Posted

Are those $54k and 63k alignment systems the Hawkeye Elite?

There's a 2 year old ProAlign in my area for $13k on kijiji, I'm tempted to make an offer on it even though I don't have a shop yet lol!

  • 4 months later...
Posted

I am currently demoing a Hunter Hawkeye system. The costs is about $28,000 as we will use it with our existing drive on Rotary Lift. We currently have an older Hunter machine and average about 1.5-2 alignments per day. Currently alignments are too cheap in this market and we only average about $60 per alignment not counting suspension work. The bulk of our alignment business comes from Discount Tire referrals. We discount alignment work by $10 to their referrals. I would like to buy the machine as it will increase our ability to do cars that we are turning away now including steering angle resets, vehicles with bigger tires than our heads will handle now, and vehicles with custom wheels that we do not want to clamp to due to potential damage. I will expect that this would increase our alignment count by at least 20% plus the new machine will be faster to set up and should shave 15-20 minutes off our time per car. To make this investment profitable I see the need to increase the price of alignments and increase the number of alignments that we do. However, that will raise other issues such as do I have a dedicated alignment technician? If I do that I probably add a technician. How do I handle suspension work where a drive on rack is needed? Currently we often use the alignment rack for suspension work. We have seven racks: fIve two posts and two drive on. One drive on is pretty much for oil changes and the other is the alignment. Unfortunately we are pretty much land locked and unable to expand. I don't want to relocate because this is the best location in our city in many ways. Any thoughts in general about how you would approach it? Have any of you dealt with anything similar? I am just brain storming!

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

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      It always amazes me when I hear about a technician who quits one repair shop to go work at another shop for less money. I know you have heard of this too, and you’ve probably asked yourself, “Can this be true? And Why?” The answer rests within the culture of the company. More specifically, the boss, manager, or a toxic work environment literally pushed the technician out the door.
      While money and benefits tend to attract people to a company, it won’t keep them there. When a technician begins to look over the fence for greener grass, that is usually a sign that something is wrong within the workplace. It also means that his or her heart is probably already gone. If the issue is not resolved, no amount of money will keep that technician for the long term. The heart is always the first to leave. The last thing that leaves is the technician’s toolbox.
      Shop owners: Focus more on employee retention than acquisition. This is not to say that you should not be constantly recruiting. You should. What it does means is that once you hire someone, your job isn’t over, that’s when it begins. Get to know your technicians. Build strong relationships. Have frequent one-on-ones. Engage in meaningful conversation. Find what truly motivates your technicians. You may be surprised that while money is a motivator, it’s usually not the prime motivator.
      One last thing; the cost of technician turnover can be financially devastating. It also affects shop morale. Do all you can to create a workplace where technicians feel they are respected, recognized, and know that their work contributes to the overall success of the company. This will lead to improved morale and team spirit. Remember, when you see a technician’s toolbox rolling out of the bay on its way to another shop, the heart was most likely gone long before that.
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