Superman

I have not attended any Napa classes and only 1 Snapon class, wasn't impressed. But Worldpac training is really good as well as Carquest CTI. But also checkout BWD training through Orielly's. It is pretty good, especially for those that haven't had much training. Also ATG has awesome classes, atgtraining.com You can sign up to be notified of any upcoming classes that aren't on there website yet. Also for a multi day training expo there is Automechanika in Atlanta August 8-10. ASTE in Cary, NC the last Fraiday and Saturday in September. You should also check out scannerdanner.com You can get his book for $100 and his premium content for $11/month. His premium content with his book is worth so much more than he charges. His premium channel used to be on YouTube but it is now on his website. I can't recommend that enough.

We do have one Verus edge and a cheap code reader. But with 3 techs trying to use the verus it can be aggravating waiting on it. That's what I was thinking but wrapping my head around spending $2k plus is difficult. I do plan on getting a uscope and/or a used vantage pro

I am not an auto shop owner. Originally signed up on here because I was considering starting my own shop. With that being said, should a tech buy his own scantool? We have 3 techs using 1 Verus Edge. Sometimes it can be aggravating having to wait on the verus. I do have a scanner that will read codes and view data but no bidirectional. Can't decide if I'm trying to talk myself into or out of spending $2k on a scantool. Part of me thinks if I'm going to be a serious diagnostician, I should have my own. But then I think a tool that costs that much plus the yearly updates should be a shop tool

German Auto Parts, ya'll ever heard of them or use them? I am thinking they are selling counterfeit parts. I wasn't working on the car but it was a mid 2k Mercedes needed the center link because the inner tie rods are bad and are made onto it. New part came with the outer tie rods and the center link for less than $150. Came in a plastic bag with Febi Bilstein on it and the parts marked Germany, but I still think it has to be counterfeit due to the price and the new part seemed to weigh half as much as the old parts.

Thanks for the response. I wasnt sure if this was a good model or not. From doing a little more searching, Direct Cost of Sales would be the cost of parts. In that model they show parts to be 10% of the total sales figure. That just isnt going to work. So how would I figure the cost of parts for a business plan? Say I project 150,000 in labor how would I figure the parts?

How did yall go about writing your business plan? What did you include? Found a sample plan online but dont know if this is a good example of what I should create. http://www.bplans.com/auto_repair_shop_business_plan/financial_plan_fc.php#7.1_Break-even_Analysis It doesnt exactly look right. For example it shows year 1 sales of $178,800 and direct cost of sales being 10% of that at $17,880. Direct cost of sales would be parts cost wouldn't it? Granted whoever wrote this probly doesnt understand the auto repair business so that is understandable that it wouldnt look right. What I was thinking is parts cost would be about 45% of labor. Does that sound right for making my business plan Then under expenses it shows Deppreciation, EBITDA (whatever that is), interest expense, and taxes incurred What I have is Payroll mortgage/rent utilities Ondemand/identifix insurance payroll taxes equipment payment advertising uniforms safety kleen I have my breakeven about $155k in gross profit(after parts bill), or about $3000/wk. May be a little low, I am probably leaving something out. I realize a business plan is more than just a sales and expenses projection, so any advice is appreciated.

I have worked at shops that had radios on and the shop I work at now doesnt allow them. I usually have a radio on when I am working at home but honestly I dont hear much when I am working on something so I could really care less about having one on. I would think they fall into the same category as cell phones.

Chalk the tire? You dont get any customer complaints doing this?

I know this is an old topic but thought I would way in anyway. I have been a mechanic for 13-1/2 years and have been paid flatrate and hourly plus commission. One job I made $10/hr plus 10% commission on labor, another job paid $7/hr plus 15.5% of parts and labor after the first $1550, but they also figured overtime into the commission. That job payed the tire/lube techs $10/hr plus 9% of parts and labor after the first $650, not including tires. All pay scales have there pros and cons. Whatever the pay scale I think commission/bonus needs to be some aspect of it.

I am very interested in it. I have used Alldata in the past and my current employer has Mitchel Ondemand, but they wont use the management software for whatever reason. They tried it for about 3 days and went back to handwriting work orders.

That looks fantastic. They just need to add a management system to it and they will be set.

Thanks for the welcome and the advice. But the the term Superman is just what I described in the OP. "A little about my username, I am proud of it. I have been at my current job for over 4 years. The very first job I got was diagnosed as a burnt valve on a Chevy 3.1, by one of the other guys at the shop. I didnt think it had a burnt valve so I spent a little time on it and the injector was stopped up. The tech that diagnosed it as a burnt valve started calling me Superman." The way I understand it is he started calling me that because he felt that I "showed him up" and he didnt like the new guy showing him up. He never would tell me why he called me that, I found out from one of the other techs later on. As far as being a top notch mechanic, I can hold my own. I know there are better techs out there.

My name is Bruce, located in southern middle TN. I have beeen a mechanic/technician for 13 1/2 years. I am working on going into business with someone. He currently works at his brothers transmission shop. His brother wants him to buy him out. He wants to do this and partner with me to move the shop into town and expand into more than just transmission work, it is currently out in the boonies. There is a building we are looking at that is on the main drag about a 1/2 mile from the interstate that was booming when the previous owner ran it right. But he lost interest and started doing other things. He would close in the middle of the afternoon or just not open at all if he didnt feel like it. I have been reading on this site the past few days and there is a lot of great info here. A little about my username, I am proud of it. I have been at my current job for over 4 years. The very first job I got was diagnosed as a burnt valve on a Chevy 3.1, by one of the other guys at the shop. I didnt think it had a burnt valve so I spent a little time on it and the injector was stopped up. The tech that diagnosed it as a burnt valve started calling me Superman.lol