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Unfair competition, it's just not fair!

You invest lots o money on tolls,equipment and training.

You create an excellent environment for the customer,work hard every day to have an excellent customer service and then comes the statement:

The guy down the street can do it for less!

I have 25 shops around me and at least 20 of them it's unfair competition. I'm always redoing their work, but people still goes back because of the price. They don't do any mark up on parts and only charge 35 dollars in labor to replace brake pads on any vehicle.

 

I did the math many times and it does not add up. How can they survive?

 

stressful!!!!!

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I face it every day. Have complained to the state, county and local govt. Unlicensed shops working under the radar.

 

I'm sure I'll come off as being rude, but seriously? Complained to the state, county, and local govt? Did you try your parents too? I guess that attitude comes with living in a state that 'licenses' repair shops. <_<

 

Much like XRAC said, just outlast them. If you are fixing other shop's screw ups, you should be earning customers at that point. I don't have any customers that like getting something fixed twice, so most come to me to get it fixed right the first time. With that reputation, you can charge what you want (within reason). I would make sure to tell every customer 'This is what you get for price shopping'. Being nice and cutting them a break doesn't educate them at all on choosing a quality repair center over the 'shade tree mechanic' down the road.

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Build value, build value, build value in your service and sales presentation. Sell the benefits of your service. Charge a fair price for your level of service and if they won't let you make a profit be glad they went somewhere else.

Your webpage and shop look good. I can tell you are doing a lot of things right. If you are having trouble closing sales, my advise would be customer service / sales training. Customers focus on price because that's all they know to ask. You have to point out the advantages for them doing business with you. If it was easy everybody would do it. We have to work hard at it every day. Also Marketing to the right demographic helps. I understand the frustration. I wish some shops would close and eventually they will.

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when I first opened I had the same problem. Eventually I stopped caring what the mobile guys and backyard scam artists were doing and just focused on my own shop. The screw-ups the cheap guys made I was able to fix and that slowly is building my customer base. And the customers who just want a deal and spend no money, well let the cheap guys have them. Let them be someone elses headache. Just keep your head and spirits up :)

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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