ATLAuto

Alex, what sort of pricing does MaxxTraxx run?

You are approaching it the right way. People get a sense of pride in being able to recommend places they "discovered.". They love being able to say, "check out this shop I found that does great work at a reasonable price." It makes them look good in the process.

Agreed, Joe. A franchise shop I worked at did $3M gross one year with a 4 out of 30 score on Google+. I didn't even know a score that low was possible. Sows customers trust the franchise name more than the review, unfortunately.

hahahaha! I have never understood buying tools off these trucks. Maybe it's my Dutch roots, but paying 200-300% higher costs for brand-name tools just never sat well with me. Amazon, eBay, and even Sears have treated me very well over the years.

Welcome, Leonard. If you have not already purchased one, get a Ross-Tech VCDS Vag-Com. Best $350 you will every spend on a VW. http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/ Best of luck.

Those look pretty nice! How long does a box usually last yall?

Wow. Just wow. Fairly certain everything about this is illegal, regardless of the contract. This will not save anyone from negative reviews in the least. Rather, it will absolutely massacre an online reputation. Just google "KlearGear reviews" and see (here's a link). Not a single positive review anywhere. My recommendation is to just continue doing what you are doing. Offer excellent service. Go above and beyond for your customers. And at check-out, give every customer a card asking them to review your shop on Google+ and Yelp.

Uniform pricing in our area is $8 - $12 per employee per week. That's $416 - $624 yearly uniforms that we will never own. Looking at the numbers, we can buy 6 sets of high-quality uniforms for that price (or 20 sets of low quality). I'm talking uniforms with built in knee pads, great pockets, very comfortable, breathable material, etc. Certainly better than what the uniform suppliers offer. Do any of you do this? If so, who is responsible for cleaning them?

Agreed, Jeff. The blue shop rags are great. Nothing beats bulk cotton, though. I'm going to buy a bale from him cheap and just throw them away as we use them. We'll see how long they last. Could be competitive with Cintas or the blue rags. Also, thanks for the heads up on the washer. Foregoing that route for now on the shop rags...

Great thoughts, Joe. A few good newsletter topics for "Winter Tips" ... "How to winterize your lawn mower / weed eater / jet ski." People never remember to do this, and they wonder why their stuff doesn't work in the Spring. Or tell them to bring it in, and you will winterize it for them. Other ideas would be a snow tire reminder for the northern states. Or sell a Rain-X application to keep the slush off the windows. Or an ABS / brake inspection for slippery roads. This one is pretty well used already. A "cold weather survival kit" reminder is good. Keep a sleeping bag, hand warmers, flares, and some food in a bag in the trunk. A quick lesson on how to transport a Christmas tree with a small car without destroying your paint or interior. Give away a "free" bag of sidewalk salt with every oil change or service. Thankfully, we left all this cold weather nonsense behind in Iowa years ago and don't have to deal with it any more!!!

Great to hear, Jeff! What a blessing to be able to take some time off when you need it and have the shop continue to run "in the background."

Good point. We are really getting to the point where we need an actual locksmith in this thread to answer some questions.

Interesting. For $90, I think you need to buy one and report back to us. I'll come down to Savannah and help you test it out!

Whoa. $1500 vs. $90 is a HUGE difference. Would you mind linking to the tool your guy used?

Thanks, Joe. Still looking for those new markets. Right now, the only "Blue Ocean" I see is hybrid / electrical work. Very few independent shops are touching it, leading to no competition. However, on the flip-side the ones that do go after this work compete directly with the dealership and fight for a very small customer base. Interested to see what new markets other guys on here are getting into.

That is very interesting. Would you mind sharing the pricing you received? I doubt this is proprietary information if anyone can call the dealership and get the same price.

Joe, I thoroughly explored both options in opening our shop and met with top CEO's of two large franchise chains. I will write an extensive article on this in this future, if it helps.

After we got done working on a guy's truck a couple years ago, he asked me if I wanted to see his new flashlight. I said, "sure, why not?" He then proceeded to haul out the mother of all flashlights. This thing was MASSIVE and had about 200 LEDs blasting right in my face. It was worse than staring directly into the sun. Blinded, I told him to turn it off!! After regaining a bit of vision, I asked him how much it cost him. "Oh, this one was only $250. I like to collect flashlights, though, so I bought two of them." All in all, the guy had around $4k tied up in various flashlights. Weird.

Sorry, I did not explain this very well. A sharp tech will make GREAT use out of IATN / Identifix and use it to expand on his/her skills and knowledge. A lazier tech will simply use these systems as a crutch and never really critically think through the issue. Did IATN / Identifix make the lazy? No, it is simply a tool.

Motley, could you expound on this a bit? Do you mean that you are able to buy bulk oil and filters from the dealership for less than consumers can buy it for? I.E. a consumer would walk into the dealership and ask for a Toyota filter and pay $8, but you would only pay $2? I have never heard of buying anything in bulk from the dealership, so I'm quite curious.

Yes and No. Ford, GM, Volvo, and Toyota allow security programming through the standard J2534 protocol. The rest of the OEM's do not allow security through J2534; rather, they require their proprietary tool to do this programming (example: Honda needs the MVCI, Nissan needs the Consult3). The DrewTech CarDAQ-Plus is pass-through interface from your laptop to the vehicle. You still need a subscription to the OEM database. Most offer one to three day subscriptions (Ford = $27, GM = $55, Volvo = $115, and Toyota = $55). The DrewTech software walks you through getting this subscription. Is it worth it to do the key programming yourself? That really depends on your volume and how many times you call the key guys to come visit you. Most shops pass the subscription fee through to their customers. I don't have a problem with this, because they are still paying pennies on the dollar for what it would cost to bring their vehicle to the dealership.

Great source material. Thanks for the link.

Wow, what an absolute headache. Looking forward to hearing the end of this saga.

Well said, Mike. I always look at Europe to see where our country is headed on various issues. Europe is dominated by trains, buses, and subways. I see no reason why our major cities will not be the same way in 35 years. In regards to technology costs, look at how far we have come in just 10-20 years. Previously, cell phones and GPS satellite tracking were a military-only option. Well, military-only OR pay and arm and a leg for it. Now, everyone with a smart phone has tracking down to 3 meters for around $100/mo and can call anyone on the planet from wherever they are in America. Plus a TON of other incredible features. That is mind-boggling to me!! This is technology that went from 1% of the population to over 90% of the population in 10-20 quick years. I see no reason why vehicles will not continue this trend. Sure, driverless vehicles are cost-prohibitive now and fairly untested. However, given 35 years and the exponential speed of technological innovation, I see no reason to argue this prediction.

I just finished the book Blue Ocean Strategy, which I HIGHLY recommend, especially in regards to this thread. It is a business book on every Fortune 500 must-read list I have seen. I know most of us are busy, so I will summarize Blue Ocean Strategy below and how it applies to us: In summary, there are two "oceans" in business marketplaces: The Red Ocean: This is your standard, competitive, dog-eat-dog marketplace where similar businesses are competing based on similar metrics. It is an old, well-established market. Our auto repair sector is a prime example of this. We are competing with each other based the same metrics of who offers the best warranty, who offers the best prices, who treats customers the best at the front counter, etc etc etc. We try to distinguish ourselves in one way or another, but at the end of the day, we are still competing in the same arena. Another good example of this would be the beer industry. There are hundreds of beer brands all competing with one another. It's a well established market with competition around the same metrics ... taste, quality, cost, packaging, marketing, etc etc etc. It is very possible to win in this dog-eat-dog market, but it is not easy. Due to the heavy competition competing in the exact same areas, it is a struggle to become the very best and achieve a high net profit. The Blue Ocean: This is a new marketplace. It is a marketplace with little or even no competition from other companies. It is a marketplace where the first one in gets to define the new metrics. It's a wide-open ocean of possibilities and freedom. A few good examples of Blue Oceans follow: Cirque du Soleil - Look what Cirque du Soleil did with the circus industry. They took an old well-established market (circuses) and turned it on its head. Instead of competing on the old standard metrics of who had the best clowns, the most elephants, the best prices, etc, they shifted their focus to creating an entire new genre of entertainment. Cirque du Soleil brought Broadway to the circus and created an entire new form of entertainment. It is incredible. The best part is ... nobody competes with Circque du Soleil anywhere. They simply dominate the market. If you have not been to one of their shows, go to it. It is an unforgettable experience. Yellow Tail Wines - Yellow Tail noticed that only 30% of Americans drink wine regularly ... the other 70% find wine too complex, confusing, and too complicated to enjoy. Yellow Tail made a decision. They said, "We can compete in the cutthroat world of regular wine drinkers and hope for a small piece of that 30% pie, or we can go over a completely untapped market of non-wine drinkers. The 70%." Therefore, instead of competing on the standard wine metrics price, wine label, wine vintage, etc, Yellow Tail did the opposite. They created a wine that even wine-haters would actually enjoy. They created a simple wine with simple flavors that still gave the illusion of drinking a complex wine. Thus, instead of a cutthroat competition for the 30%, Yellow Tail went into the untapped Blue Ocean of the 70% who don't drink wine and soon became one of the largest wine exporters in the world. Nintendo Wii - Historically, Nintendo competed in Red Ocean against the Playstation and the XBox. Both companies wanted to make the best games, the best graphics, the best price, etc. etc. And, historically, Nintendo did a great job in this battle. However, they realized that they were all competing for the exact same customer base: young males. Young males buy the vast majority of gaming systems. Nintendo, Playstation, and XBox were all competing directly for these young males. Well, what about older folks? And females? Why not market to them too? After looking at this missing demographic, Nintendo entered the Blue Ocean of older and female customers by developing the Wii, a very simple, fun, party-like gaming system that was an instant hit. The real question now is ... what is the Blue Ocean for our industry? What can we offer that NOBODY in our marketplace is offering? Better prices? Nope, someone will always beat us there. Better service? Possibly, but we'll probably get beat there by somebody, somewhere. A better location? Dealer trained techs? Shuttle cars? Wifi in the waiting room? A national brand name? Better marketing? More bays? Quicker oil changes? All have been tried with great success. However, they are rapidly becoming the norm, a Red Ocean. I'm looking for the real game changers to our industry. Is there a Blue Ocean that we can tap into and be the only players in our region?