HarrytheCarGeek

Miller millermatic 252. This review is a bit dated but pretty much spot on. http://www.shopfloortalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16868

Joe, I don't gender discriminate when quoting prices. We love to fix cars and help people, we like to treat our customer well, as we would like to be treated. I agree, articles like that are a bunch of bunk that's the core of yellow journalism.

This is a great point that must be highlighted! I make it a point to take at least a day off a month to go price shopping my competition. I also take the opportunity to see their setup and operations and whatever else I can learn from them. I have been doing that for the past year and a half and have learn that I was under-pricing much of my work. Using this tactic I have been able to raise my gross margin by 3% to 5%.

My wife thought I lost it when I could not stop laughing!

A redneck with a bucket full of live fish was approached by a game warden in Central Mississippi as he started to haul his boat away from a lake. The game warden asked the man, "May I see your fishing license please?" "Naw, sir," replied the redneck. "I don't need none of them there papers. These here are my pet fish." "Pet fish??" "Yep. Once a week, I bring these here fish o'mine down to the lake and let 'em swim 'round for a while. Then when I whistle, they swim right back into my net and I take 'em home." "What a bunch of hog wash that is .... you're under arrest." The redneck said, "It's the truth, Mr. Gov'ment Man. I'll show ya! We do this all the time!!" "WE do, now, do we?" smirked the warden. "PROVE it!" The redneck released the fish into the lake and stood and waited. After a few minutes, the warden said, "Well?" "Well, WHUT?" said the redneck. The warden asked, "When are you going to call them back?" "Call who back?" "The FISH," replied the warden! "Whut fish?" asked the redneck.

This is an interesting topic, I know someone that owns a dry cleaner and was running a loss for 18 months prior to being shut down due an environmental spill. Allegedly he did not receive any funds due to the fact that he was not making enough to be covered. However, he did received payments from the insurance company that was liable for the spill to cover his fixed costs. I would like to know more about it though, as it may be worth to purchase the right type of coverage.

Priceless thread! Wes Daniel, excellent advice in choosing a location! Just went through it in picking a new shop location and it works like a charm.

Rule of Life, people want what they can't have. I just price them out of my place. BTW, when I was younger and not married, women seemed to like me more when I ignore them and treated their friends with more attention. Just don't let my wife know the secret of how I got her to marry me.

Study up on your mark up / margin definitions and pricing. http://blog.conseroglobal.com/markup-vs-margin-whats-the-difference/

I mark up parts 70% and strive for a 35% margin. I am in business to make a profit and stay in business, simple as that. I let my customers decide if my service and parts are worth it, so far I have managed to stay in business and my customers keep coming back.

Same deal on a 2008 Passat Komfort, customer was told he needed an ac compressor, upon close inspection the ac compressor plug had been switched with the pressure sensor...

This may seem odd or out of place but you must lead as an example. Your policy and procedures manual will only work if you have developed a system within your shop and you are holding to it. Tough to do at first glace, but just think how would your shop run if you were not there to handle the daily grind. For example as if you were sick or on vacation.

Not Independence Day. In the United States of America we celebrate the 4th of July as our Independence Day. But I am damn sure that if you are living anywhere in the United States of America you are not feeling very independent, as a matter of fact if you are the typical American you are feeling very oppressed right now. Have you asked yourself why? Why do we feel like rats in a cage in our own country when we are supposed to be the very example of freedom and Liberty? Let me begin by giving you a small example of how we have degraded in America from Liberty to Tyranny. It is 11:00 pm on the 4th of July, on your way home from your parents house, your wife and children are in the car with you , when you come upon a massive DUI (driving under the influence) check point that is being conducted by the local and state police. As you wait your turn, you think only of getting home and putting the children to bed and getting some good rest yourself. As your turn comes up and the police officer signals you to pull up to him and roll down your window. Officer: “Have you been drinking tonight?” You: “No.” Officer: “Where are you coming from tonight?” You, surprised: “Why?” Officer: “Why? BECAUSE I ASKED YOU!” You: “Excuse me officer, but you don’t’ have the right to ask me that without reason…” Your Wife: “Sir, we are coming from my in-laws.” The officer no longer an officer but a mere bully cop. The cop annoyed and agitated signals to another cop and tells you: Cop: “PULL UP TO THAT OTHER OFFICER OVER THERE!” You pulled up to the area where the other cop is. Cop2: “Give me your license, insurance, and registration.” You pull out your wallet and hand over your license, then hand over your insurance card and vehicle registration. Then Cop2 inspects your documents, looks at you with a non nondescript look and tells you to step out of the vehicle. At this point, you would like to ask what’s going on, and why you are being treated the way you are being treated. But you know, better. You know better because you have served in the Army overseas and know what can happen to you and your family in an instant, even if you are in America. Cop2: “Sir, how much did you drink tonight?” You, reply: “Nothing.” Cop2: “Sir, you are being stopped on suspicion of DUI, I will administer a field sobriety test, ok. Please step over this way and on the line.” You notice that other cops now have your wife out of the car, and the trunk of your car is now open, while your children are still in the back seat of your car. You experience high anxiety, and decide just to grin and bear it. You know they have the power and upper hand in a situation like this, they know they can hurt you and hurt your family and you will not do anything about it because you would not like to have your family injured or hurt. So you go through the motions, answer their questions and hope you are let go in peace without injury or harm to you or your family. Cop2 administers her field sobriety test, asks you a few questions and tells you to return to your car. You are signaled to proceed and pull out of the DUI check point. Once you have left the check point, you wife is mad at you for not being attentive and deferential to the cops. Wife: “ Why couldn’t you just answer him, why did you have to ask him why was he asking?” You: “Because it is none of his goddamn business where we are coming from.” Wife: “Yes it is, he has a gun!” You sit there stunned, you cannot believe what you just heard, yet, you bite your tongue and travel home in silence in order not to argue or ruin the rest of the night. How did we get to this point in America? HOW DID WE LOSE OUR LIBERTY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA? 1. We lost our Liberty from simple ignorance. 2. Those that know all about greed and debt, stole our country from the rest of us. What is the solution? 1. Learn who you are, and what a powerful legacy has been left for you as an American. The few very rich people that run our country are very rich because they control our money system. They control how much money is created and to whom it is given and for whatever purpose. You and I can only get money by selling our labor or borrowing. The rich control the money system through the use of government bonds and having the bank notes used printed by the government to give their scam the illusion of legitimacy. Learn your rich history, know that you are a very powerful individual, learn law so you can defend and uphold your rights in court. Teach others so they can help you protect your rights while they are protecting theirs.

I think you are way off! Country founded by Geniuses, but run by Master Minds! They are not idiots, they know the agenda and whom benefits, and it sure is not you nor I. It is all about the debt, the money system. In short USURY. It is not until you comprehend the evil trick that USURY is, that you will see who benefits by all you have listed. CUI BONO? Follow the Money if you can.

I use Cardone's Flash2 http://www.autopartsnerd.com/content.wws?fname=subject/cardone-flash2-reprogrammer.html I bought the bench programming kit too for servicing a large fleet of Ford and Chevy CNG vehicles.

Yes, I am seeing this. In my opinion, this is a ruined customer to a certain degree. You will have to balance your perspective as to what kind of revenue you will expect from this type of customer if he is the type that is rolling the dice. If they have neglected maintenance, any major work you do, they may expect the car to be "fixed" for another "long" while, just to be back in the following week. If they have been the regular maintenance customer, I am not afraid to keep up their cars since I have probably replaced struts, wheel bearings and other major components. The point is, don't get stuck with neglected old clunkers, ask for deposits, and always watch your bottom line like a hawk!

What's a fair price for them may not be anything fair for your shop. They think that if the defective part only takes five minutes to change they should not have to pay for any for your capital expense that you have invested to become a competent shop. Oh, your shop needs a new alignment machine, what? That will be $22,000.00 Oh, you need a new lift too to use that fancy machine? Ah, that will be another $14,000.00 What? You need a labscope to trouble shoot? No worries, that will be another $3,600.00 for the scope and basic accessories. What, don't tell me you didn't get a pressure transducer kit with that, that will be another $1,700.00 Oh, you don't say you will need training and proper environmental procedures. That will be another $4,500.00. New models coming out with additional accessories other than basic OBDII troubleshooting? That scanner will be $8,000.00 for the kit... $$$ $$$ $$$ Customer: WHAT?! $85 an hour! You are ripping people off! Thief! Shop owner: Just paid $5,800 for that ac machine so I can service your car, and $1,200 in technician training and certification, plus his $28.00 hourly rate. Hmm, what, you don't wanna hear it, that is not your problem you say?

Joe, Don't get me started on all the crap regulations we have to deal with. I am still fuming from a state environmental inspection last week that didn't find any significant violations, but nevertheless I need to have an additional environmental study to see if there has been significant soil contamination to the tune of $5,000.00. There is only one way out of all the "protection" government is offering the ignorant sheeple, and that is by forming a third political party that will push for the interest of the independent business owners.

Just did one last week, got paid 19.7 Hours for long block R&I, plus 5 hours for diagnostic and failure confirmation tear down. Make sure you get a nice premium on your hourly rate, you must make a decent profit in order to prosper. It is my observation that the dealers do not want to do this type of work because it takes their techs away from doing the most profitable type of work which is maintenance. I do this type of work as a filler when maintenance business slows down, but even then I mark up my hourly rate to average out for any loss.

Joe, thank you for your excellent reply. I have been knocking heads with them for a while, but they are getting worse at not providing written approval or authorized amounts. I had a bad experience where one of them had approved an amount and then called the customer and had a different settlement with my customer, when it came time to pay they told me that they were only paying me half of the authorized amount and that the customer had agreed to pay the rest, needless to say, the customer then tells me he doesn't have the amount then due. The car had to sit on my lot for six weeks. From there I always asks for written confirmations or approvals, and instructions for submitting invoices. They want to do everything verbally.

Do any of you do warranty company work? I regularly have done work for them, but now I am having a difficult time from them to issue written amounts and authorizations.

Jeff, we are on the same page. Except that I do have my qualms with those that built the ladder. I agree with you as to how you define money, but if you analyse it further, you will see that the promissory note is nothing more than the representation of the agreement. Now, I ask you, what right have those that built the ladder to enjoy the interest from the "issuance of money"?

Jeff, That's exactly it, the topic of what is money. You tell me that it takes money to make money, but I bet you if you really think about it, you will have a hell of a hard time describing what is money. Which by the way, in our present system, money is an agreement. You talk about the markets and the banking system, but you are describing the system from an inside perspective, that is to say from a player and not a game maker perspective. I tell you, it is truly terrifying once you begin to grasp what the USURERS have done to humanity. I don't fault you if you do not want to look deep into the system. I only did it out of desperation for the welfare of my children and future grandchildren.

Hi Jeff. I like your post, and felt exactly like you do. But in my opinion the author's point is not that of wealth redistribution for the sake of just being equitable. He is talking about the the way the monetary system is manipulated for the benefit of the very few that know how USURY works. His main insight in my opinion is how the media is the main tool that keeps people within their mental prisons, I really like his article because it resonates with much of what I have found out for myself. I know there will always be poor people, but by my own experience in business, the usurers always seemed to me to have a much bigger piece of my efforts than I did for me. His article has answered many question that I suspected were true from my perspective. -Harry