Saturdays by appontment?

[carbtech72]

Ive been having Saturday hours from 9-2 since I opened 4 years ago. Its never been a great day, every once in a while im busy but mostly its small stuff and not really worth staying open. Does anyone do Saturdays by appointment only and if so how does it work out for you? Im not opposed to working on sat. just want to make it worthwhile. and also have the option of having 2 days off if I want.

[mmotley]

I was working Saturdays, 9-3. I got tired of playing on Youtube and Google the whole time, so I changed to Appointment only. Now, I have someone scheduling work every Saturday... Seems like I can't win. However, appointment only does let you come in, knock the work out, then head home!

[Dustin Rutkowski]

We are here Saturdays 10-4. I have to say being a short day, it is actually one of our busiest days of the week! I would love to have a full weekend, but cannot justify it with the business that pulls through on Saturdays here

[Mario]

Saturdays are very busy here but all the commercial suppliers are closed at 2pm so it forces is to buy from the chain stores were our discount is not as great.

[Joe Marconi]

All great comments. Opening Saturdays is a business decision. If it doesn't make economic sense and you can organize your work to become efficient in 5 days, that's great. I think it also depends on your community.

[xrac]

In the smaller communities Saturday hours can be a problem. Our town is about 150,000 and some of our dealers do not open on Saturday for parts so we cannot get Chrysler or European parts on Saturday. Napa and our AC DELCO distributors close at 12:00. The discounters all have second stringers working and so parts help can be slow, unavailable, or incorrect and delivery may not be available or slow. All of these things can make Saturdays hard for efficiency.

 

Our Saturday car count and work load can be hit or miss. Generally I would say we have a lot of cars but mostly minor repairs and oil changes. This Saturday was slow which was good since I was short staffed.

[GermanCArDEpot.com]

Saturday's we do 2 times as much work as a weekday .

I envy shops that can be closed on saturdays.

Don't people work on weekdays? All over the US ?

I could not give up Saturday's my customers would not be happy.

Edited August 17, 2014 by GermanCArDEpot.com

[Stephen]

I tried being open Saturdays 8:30 - 2:00 for 8 months with advertising through emails and Facebook and all we really got were DIY'ers wanting us to bail them out at 1:59, a few oil changes, and lots of State Inspections (which the State of Maine mandates cannot be over $ 12.5 [i added on a Saturday $12.50 Saturday convenience fee which people gladly paid]. The only tech willing to work Saturday was an apprentice.

 

Occasionally we got a decent paying job. I thought with so many Boston area commuters, we would be busy but no. Once summer came, it died because people want to play and not be without their car (even though we have a fleet of loaners) and with summers being short and winters long, I figured I would rather play on the weekends like my customers. Having started in 1976, being open on Saturdays is not going to improve the remaining years I have left.

[Jeff]

I offer Saturdays. Come Thursday closing if I don't have appointments for Sat. I wont book any unless it is a very good customer. I have come in on Sat if the call came in and I was still close to the shop. You have to play to your customers. A lot of my regulars just cant get in on Saturdays. And many times I will have a fleet in for minor services so they don't have to be down thru the week. But I will add I offer late nights also. I have made appointments for as late as 7 pm. The down side to that is they may have to come back due to parts availability, Its all in how you want to provide your service.

I will add that I am single with grown children so not much home life.

[mspecperformance]

I used to be open during the week from 10AM to 7PM. Then I scaled it back to 9AM to 6PM. We are currently at 8AM to 5PM. We also changed our Saturday schedule from 10 to 3 to 8 to 1. I found that some customers had a hard time dropping off and picking up at our times. Saturdays is convenient for customers to drop off, pick up and for minor services. We also occassionally set up a few bigger jobs on Saturdays as some customers really prefer the Saturday time slot. There have been times when the work was slow. I would say average 1 Saturday a month we are pretty dead. I will probably reevaluate our situation once I get my management more on point.

[UsedTireShop]

As a tire shop we have to be open on Saturdays. We are open 4 hours less on Saturday and we pull the same numbers as a weekday. I am highly considering opening from 11am to 4pm on Sundays.

[Gary A]

There is no right or wrong on this one. It depends on your clientele and business model. We only open 5 days but have done this since the beginning. As long as you are making money being open Saturdays it is good, but if your not making money then why?

[Joe Marconi]

There is no right or wrong on this one. It depends on your clientele and business model. We only open 5 days but have done this since the beginning. As long as you are making money being open Saturdays it is good, but if your not making money then why?

 

I agree, great comment!

[aauto]

I do Saturday's by appointment only and customers must drop off the vehicle/s Friday night before we close so I don't get stood-up and if it's not there Friday I won't be there Saturday and yes, no oil changes.