TTP

That really sucks to hear that I cant go after him, but at least I can warn other shops about him. You know you try live an honest and good life, be kind and friendly and this is what you get for your trouble. You hire a person to do a job and pay them to do that job, you don' expect to have to go and hold their hand every step of the way. Hmmm maybe I will find him in a dark alley and explain the facts to him a little more clearly....SO FRUSTRATED!!!

 

I guess the worst part is that I had a sign he wasn't any good the week before, but since we are so busy, I ignored the warning and gave him another chance, now I am paying dearly for that mistake. Even when I brought him into the office to discuss the issue he completely denied that he did anything wrong. What a standup guy....NOT!!

I have a question, I hired a guy to work for me that was supposed to have diesel repair certification. I put him on a few simple jobs the first week to test him, he did fine. I then put him on a harder job, this job labor hours booked at 22, should have it done in two days tops. Well after he was still working on it on day three I had my shop manager start to watch him more closely. When he still was not finished on day five for multiple issues that had to be redone twice and they still were not right, I let him go.

I then put my best tech on it to get it buttoned up. After a few hours he came to me and showed me several issues that were wrong, along with several broken or bent parts that have to replaced, lines that were kinked and no teflon tape on the connections, loose bolts and missing bolts. For safety's sake I had him tear it all down and go completely through it. He just came to me and showed me that he had broken a part of the oil gland on the head of this truck, now the bad thing is that the broken piece of the head cannot be found, so the entire motor has to come out and be broken down to see where that broken piece has landed.

NOW my question is this, do I have any legal recourse to go after this guy for the damages he caused, cause we are talking about thousands of dollars now, or am I just screwed?!

In our industry (high performance parts and installs) we have found that just the opposite is true. Our sales increase dramatically as the fuel prices increase. I have spoken about this to others in our business and they also see the same results.

Yes its sad, that the honest worker can't afford to stay in business because of all of the dishonest moochers out there that work the system and make it so hard for us to make a living!

I am in the same boat as you are Jeff, hardly ever get sick couldn't tell you the last time I went to a doctor! But I am getting older now, so healthcare is becoming a concern of mine now but the prices of insurance are just plain ridiculous!

Also from what I have read if you don't have at least 10 employees you are not required to have insurance for them.

George, thanks for the reply. I just became a Mitchell user, signed up last week. I like that idea, going to give it a try.

When you say that the office person double checks them before they are separated, How are the "seperated" by vendor, date, customer???

Please elaborate

I can feel your pain, there are some days that it just dont pay to get up. But you have to put one foot in front of the other and keep that positive attitude, which is very hard for me too at times.

We just switched over to MaxxTraxx. I really like it, it keeps track of everything. Customers, orders, PO's, reminders to send out cards etc..I just wish it had access to wiring diagrams and repair info like AllData or Mitchell, then it would be perfect. But there is no contract and the parts database keeps track of every part number either on the fly or loaded, also tracks your inventory too.

Sorry, I have no knowlegde of this. Is it more of a accounting program than a business management like Mitchell1?

 

Well just an update...it is full of bugs and the customer service is horrible. After repeated attempts to resolve issues we finally gave up using the program and started sourcing out others.

We have since started using Maxx Traxx. We are very happy with it. For our business model it works quite well. Price is reasonable for all they offer. I especially like the time clock feature on the cell phone. Each employee enters their start and stop times from their cell phones. And they have the best customer service, I have ever seen. They really seem to care about you succeeding and offer tons of help to make that happen.

I was wondering what is the best way to organize receipts. By Vendor? By date? By Job?

Which way do you do it and is it working for you?

 

I want to be able to put my hands on any receipt when called upon. Like if a customer calls about the warranty on a part. I am looking for the simplest

way to accomplish this.

I am currently using Quickbooks and we recently purchased a Neat Desk. Both of which are great, but I gotta figure out the best way to organize this stuff.

PLEASE HELP

Well I guess I am in the middle of this pack, I turn 50 in February.

 

TOOLS! are wonderful things, I was taught from an early age, buy the best you can afford, take care of them and they will take care of you.

 

I am a bonnified "Tool Hound" at least that's what the wife calls me. I too get dragged out ( I usually go willingly) to the various stores, yard sales and the flea markets. I always look for deals on the odd tools I dont have...yet!

We were off bigtime Needed a good month and it didn't happen. January will be very tight.

 

Guys I agree, this Holiday season, wasn't the best. retailers were expecting a 4-7% increase in sales, but the net result was only .7%, that tells you real quick that people are not spending any money, other than what is necessary.

Now with this "Fiscal Cliff" we are about to jump off of its not looking too much better. A good friend of mine told me that its about to get alot worse before it gets better. I hope he's wrong. One of the oldest shops around this area closed up last week, he said that he couldn't make a go of it anymore. Its got me a bit concerned about our future. I guess if worse comes to worse, I can always go back to swinging a hammer...UGH!

We had a good response after thanksgiving .I deliver donuts,kolaches for breakfast and pizza's for lunch to the local repair shops and parts stores. We sent out service/safety and winter service reminders. I snail mail hand signed Merry Christmas Cards to the customer's that came to the shop during the year. When young children come in with the parents i give them Hot Wheels cars.

 

 

YOU purchase the refreshments for the local parts shops and the repair shops? How does that work, I would think the other repair shops were your competition not your allies. Has this approach helped your bottom line? Are you in a small town setting?

Just curious...

I was just curious on how everyone else's sales for the Christmas season were doing. Ours was the worst we have had in the last three years. It seemed right after Thanksgiving sales started to steadily decline in my area, We always experience a slight decline then a big surge through Christmas into January. How were yours?

Very interested in this segment, specifically the off-road side of the business. I currently have a General Repair Business and am thinking of adding a couple bays next door for off-road. Off-road is my personal hobby therefore my interest in that market. It appears to me there will be little to any markup on the parts side with the Internet so the business model has to be supported by labor charges.

 

WELCOME! to the forum.

You are quite right about the parts, there is very little room for profit. If you get with some of the major warehouses, you stand a better chance of making some money. When you get ready contact me and I will give you some names of suppliers.

 

JOE

Any news?

 

It was a shorted out computer, new one installed and it ran.

OK,

Here is the complete history, I did not include it because I felt it might cloud the issue.

The 5.2 in question has been installed in a 1990 Jeep Wrangler. We rewired the harness to integrate the OBD1 and OBD2 systems, since at the time of this swap no one was making a harness. The Motor is out of a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 2x4, it was recently rebuilt and has about 50,000 miles on it. It was running fine when we removed it from the donor vehicle.

 

I am not showing any oil pressure on the scanner, but I can manipulate the sensor and prove it works fine. I also installed a manual gauge to verify there was oil pressure.

We have spark verified from the coil to the plug, it will pop off every once in a while like its trying to start, but thats it. If you add a shot of either/carb cleaner it does nothing.

We verified that the signal was coming from the crank sensor and replaced the cam position sensor. Today I am going to check for sync between the two.

I am also going to test for high resistance readings on the ground circuit, to see if our harness has any issues.

Nothing yet to report, have not had a chance to get back on it.

 

BTW I do have a DVOM, didn't recognize the acronym, it is a Fluke.

I also have a Power Probe it is awesome for troubleshooting electrical issues.

 

I really appreciate you checking back

Oh boy... Hmmmmmmm,

 

Do you have test equipment? Such as but not limited to:

 

Scan tool? If so which ones... Snap On Solus and Vantage, Auto Ingenuity

 

Spark tester? YES

 

DVOM? NO

 

Test light? Duh...

 

Fuel pressure gauge? YuP

 

Propane enrichment bottle? NO

 

Labscope? VANTAGE

 

Pressure transducer? ?? For the oil I used a manual gauge, if thats what you are asking

 

Compression gauge? YES

 

Also do you have an information system to look things up? If so which ones... ALL DATA

 

It's Saturday. I am at the shop are you? NOPE closed shop for Thanksgiving

 

Jeff- Fuel pressure is good, I have not checked the sync, but will let you know.

 

JOE

Anybody else out there on this forum? Please post up and show your support.

I have a 2001 Dodge Ram with a 5.2 that will not start. I have changed out the PCM, coil, plugs, distributor cap, cam sensor, rotor. It is also not showing on the Solus scanner any oil pressure. Replaced the sensor still no luck. Hooked up a gauge to the port shows 45psi cranking. Somethings missing but I don't know what, does anyone have any suggestions? ASD and fuel relays are testing good. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

JOE

One of the problems with the custom market is there is much of that segment that wants something cheap. Here in Evansville we have the Frog Follies every year. We literally have hundreds of customized hot rods built on old car chassis. These people as a general rule are terrible customers. Many of them are do it yourselfers and they are constantly shopping car shows and the internet. Many of them do not understand the difference in quality parts. By shopping the internet they can usually buy stuff as cheap as we can. It is hard to do business with that segment and make any money. In additional a car will have a brake setup off of one year and a totally different setup under the hood. These cars are hard to work on and waste a lot of time. While we are not a custom shop or in the truck market our general strategy is not to work on that kind of stuff period. We concentrate on the customers where we can make our full margins. My suggestion is that if you are doing the installlation of customer supplied custom parts charge a premium on your labor hours (at least 15%-25%) and be sure to charge a fee to cover shop supplies and miscellaneous.

 

I can understand where your coming from, they are indeed a different customer than what you as a general service shop would be accustomed to. Most of these Hot Rods are unique and one of a kind. Very few of these guys could afford to have someone else build their dream. So they do it themselves, sometimes with bad results. When you do get one these customers though you have to think outside the box. I know many of the general repair shops are not equipped to service these types of customers, thats where the specialty performance shop comes in.

 

For example we do Jeep V-8 conversions, ever try to call the parts house asking for a part to a Chevy 350 and tell them thats it in a Jeep. Most of these parts jockey's are wet behind the ears, if its not in the computer in front of them, then it dont exist. And dont even get me started what happens when you tell them to look in a book! Most of them don't know they exist!! So we tell them the part we need came off of a (the door vehicle) and that usually helps sometimes. And these new computerized motors, ever try to mate an OBD1 system to a OBD2 system? They both use a different protocalls and a different bus, but it can be done, but its not fun.

Anyway back on subject..Those customers are harder to deal with in a way, but most already know what oddball part is on their rig, so half the battle is already won for you. It the guy that just bought a great deal from someone else who doesn't have a clue, thats the guy to watch out for. He will waste your time asking a thousand questions and then one of two things happens, he gives you the job or he goes home and tries to fix it himself. I will provide those people a few simple answers and then I politely tell them they need to bring in the vehicle for further diagnoses, when they start to hem haw about that then I know they were just fishing for answers and are not willing to pay for anything, just wasting my time.

 

I appreciate your advice to CYA, but in most situations its not possible, especially in my area where there are several shops in a 20 mile radius ( I can think of 6 in my area) that will happily do the same thing for cheaper. For others not being located close to a major city then they can probably charge a little extra and still get the job.

Well guys this forum is made for all of us to be able to learn from. I know there are alot more than just the 5 of us, that has responded on here servicing Diesels and Off-Road vehicles, maybe some more will speak up and be recognized. If we can get enough response, maybe we can get our own section on here to help and learn from each other.

I know when I first joined I was looking specifically for an Off-Road/Diesel shop owners forum, this was the best I could find at the time. I was hesitant at first to join up, but after looking at the forum and all it had to offer it was a no brainer. But, I know there are others who are looking for the same thing, but may not take the time to really look at this forum and all it has to offer and just skip on by. What do you say Joe? Got room for a bunch of Diesel/Offroad gearheads in here? Who knows maybe listening to our issues might be able to help you on some of yours.

 

Because first and foremost we are all salesman's, whether we like it or not. In our area we just have to sell the customer on purchasing our product first and then sell them on installing their purchase, instead of just doing a diagnoses and selling parts. What we do to some is considered a luxury not a necessity. So we have to work harder to make the sale.

I live in Texas where the pickup truck is king. It seems almost everyone has at least one truck. With the recent move to diesels, there is a lot of trucks that are aging now and alot of customers that do not have a clue on even where to start on working on them. I once had a guy call me to ask where the sparkplugs were... Thats where we come in. By providing an outlet that is not the dealer and showing professionalism and patience with these people.

OK. I will step off my soapbox now...KEEP THOSE COMMENTS COMING!! and tell any other shop owners you know or deal with about this forum.

 

JOE

XRAC you are so right, most of the custom market is catered to the DIY guy, and they are the cheapest customers out there. But there are quite a few especially in the Jeep market that will pay to have things done. Those are the customers I go after, then ones who have the money know what they want but dont have the time to do it themselves, but are willing to pay someone else to build their dream. The problem is that they are very few of those types of customers.

I have to deal with a major chain store,(4Wheel Parts) that is also one of my suppliers. But they are always priced below me, and sometimes even priced below my cost when they hold a sale. The markup over jobber is usually about 10-15%, on a few products I get lucky on and get about 25-30%, but its a rare. And dont even get me started on tires! If I make 10-20 bucks above cost I'm doing good.

Our diesel market is much better, most people in general dont have a clue how to work on a Diesel. I once had a guy come in and ask me where the spark plugs were and why he couldn't find the distributor. We tend to be able to make better profit on the diesel work, when parts on a diesel break it usually not cheap to repair, you are usually looking a $1000.00 or more in most cases.

TEXAS TRUCK PERFORMANCE

TEXAS CITY, TX

 

We are a off-road/diesel truck performance shop that specializes in Jeeps. We do anything and everything related to them. Motor work, transmissions, gears, suspensions. We have small fab shop that we can make alot of the specialty parts that we need. We do motor swaps and long term builds. Here is a link to our Facebook page gallery.

www.facebook.com/pages/Texas-Truck-Performance/110471795674179?ref=hl&sk=photos_albums

 

I look forward to hearing from others on here.

 

TTP