mmotley

I think your guys handled this just fine. Customer wanted something done, your guys explained that without them diagnosing it, there was no guarantee it was gonna fix it. Both parties agreed and went ahead as planned. You may very well earn a customer for life now, if you diagnose it correctly and fix it... Just my thoughts

He didn't ask anyone to sign up and hand over their customer database and history. He just asked what features we are looking for in management software. Geez, no need to go kill his dream right from the start... Screw it Jake, give up now I guess. It can't be done! xrac said so! Save yourself the time and headache. Give up and just go to work for someone else, punching the clock... You're only one man anyway, how dare you dream! Text messaging is a huge plus, a decent scheduling tool to schedule customers coming in, the ability to customize reports (end of month, new customers, recommended repairs, etc), customized and electronic multi point inspections, and the most important... customer support. When someone needs help, don't try the over the phone crap. Remote log-in and fix the problem now... not later, now!

I worked for over 7 years at 2 different places that had showers... Maybe saw the showers used twice. They are nice to brag about when trying to hire on a tech, but that's about it. Edit: The 2 places I worked at had over 25 techs at each place. So there were plenty of opportunities for the shower to be used.

Maybe he thinks he can improve it? I use Mitchell and there are times I really hate it... Bolt On Technology is a company that has done well for themselves making and selling improvements for Mitchell...

This is a really good question. I would say 'technically' you can replace just 1 rotor. After all, if the other one is within spec... it's within spec! I would say 'replacing as a pair' is probably more of a good practice, IE Jeff - " If the old rotor is thinner it will build heat and thus fade faster than the new one. That in turn will develop a brake pull that could cause loss of control" . I would also agree, now that I think about it, that I don't recall reading or hearing any official material say that they should be replaced in pairs... Maybe a quick google search would turn something up?

Quick question, which the answer may be obvious, but the average car count for the month... Is it figured on total RO's divided by 30-31, or is it divided by the total number of days the shop was open for business?

I simply don't mark my parts up as much, so a customer is less inclined to supply their own parts. If they still insist on bringing their own parts, no warranty is offered with the work.

Thanks Alex. Does anyone have any feedback/experience with these electronic inspection forms? ROI? Ease of use? Ease of set up? Cost of set up (did you have to purchase tablets, cases, etc)?

Perhaps we could connect the dots in this thread, with the thread about aftermarket parts not being up to par, and come to the conclusion aftermarket is cheap. Or that you get what you pay for.

Edit: Removed comment

Agree with xrac. I'd be shopping for something to buy, or purchase the place you are currently renting.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^This right here^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Perfect example. Customers usually won't argue about how long it takes to do a job, or ask you to justify why your labor rate is what it is (if they do, you should probably have some ASE's hanging on the wall or other certs to justify). But you better believe people will price shop parts. Especially when you are getting them from Napa, Oreilly, Autozone, or wherever down the street that they can get them from too. Plus, if your state doesn't require you to tax labor, you can argue that you are helping out your customer by keeping parts prices as low as possible to help them avoid taxes!

Numbers are for last month: Parts profit - 25.47% (maybe a little bit higher due to flat rate pricing on some jobs (i.e. I charge the same for all brake pads, regardless of what they actually cost, same with timing belts)) Labor profit - 79.95% I fudge this number a little due to the way I pay my help, but it consistently runs 70-90%. The busier I am, the higher the profit percentage since my help is paid hourly, not commission.

I wouldn't mind sharing my numbers. I will post them up tonight after work has slowed down for the day. However, know that I am a small shop. I am not a shop with 7-10 mechanics, a receptionist, and 2-3 service advisers. It's just me and 2 other guys. I implement what I discussed loosely. I have a price matrix built loosely around the discount I receive. I.E. Sometimes after I mark a part up, I still sell it for less than what a customer can buy it for. Other times, after it runs through the parts matrix, I sell it for a little over what the customer could go buy it for. In some cases where the price goes over retail, I bring it back down to match the regular 'walk-in' price (just case by case, depending on the job, how I feel, the customer, etc.) Let me be clear, I am not referring to 'list price.' I know that list is not what a regular customer pays. I get 2 prices before I try to sell parts: My discounted price, and the regular prices (NOT LIST). I will post up some actual figures from last month later on, and maybe a few specific examples.

All the more reason to stop marking up parts so much! Why should someone pay you double for a part just because you got it? Especially when you are getting parts right down the street from a store your customer can walk in to and get the same part. If you make $1000 profit at the end of the day, does it really matter if it came from parts or labor? If anything, I would want more profit to come from labor than parts. Why? Because then I can argue that I don't mark up my parts like shop 'B' down the road. We live in a day of smart phone, tablets, amazon, and rockauto.com. If your customers know you get brake pads from Autozone or Oreilly and they see you double the price of them, of course they are gonna be mad! So why not just raise your labor up, lower your parts mark up, and keep the customer happy? And now your customers have no reason to try and bring in their own parts... Why not just make 10%-20% on parts, and make 80%-90% on labor? I still cannot understand why some folks on here feel they HAVE to make large profit on parts. WHY???? WHYYYYYY? If I don't mark up parts and my ticket comes to $200 and you do mark up parts and your ticket comes to $200, the only thing you have done is created an opportunity for the customer to get upset about you marking up parts for more than what they can get them for (and depending on your state, increase in sales tax). You can say I'm leaving money on the table, I say your getting your butt caught in a crack when the customer gets their invoice.

Take the key you have and go steal the car back and lock it up in your shop. You should have a signed estimate or RO, with the proper disclaimer on it. Seriously, why do people tolerate this behavior? A grown adult who is responsible enough to purchase and operate a vehicle should know how vehicle repairs work and should also know that stealing is wrong. Back in the day, when people respected the law, they would hang horse thieves... Just saying.

Cannot disagree more with this statement. It seems like there has lately been quite a few people who are obsessed with profit percentages, particularly on parts. I understand everyone wants to make money, and I know everyone sees profit on parts as free money. You buy a part, turn around, and sell it for more. But spending so much time worrying about percentages and matrices and discounts for 1 section of your business doesn't make sense. If at the end of the month, your OVERALL percentage is where it needs to be, who cares about your parts markup or whatever (within reason). If you make 300% on a hose clamp and I make 20% on a transmission, who is going out to eat tonight? When you get your electricity bill, do you pay it with percentages or dollars? Instead of chasing a better parts discount, maybe you can look into better advertising to bring in more customers. Or perhaps send a few employees to do some sales training, converting more oil changes into big tickets. Again, I understand how it is easy to get excited about selling some brakes pads for $50, when you only gave $20 for them. It just seems like there are a lot of guys obsessing about it and missing a whole other aspect of the business.

Curious where you got these numbers from?

I'm sure I'll come off as being rude, but seriously? Complained to the state, county, and local govt? Did you try your parents too? I guess that attitude comes with living in a state that 'licenses' repair shops. Much like XRAC said, just outlast them. If you are fixing other shop's screw ups, you should be earning customers at that point. I don't have any customers that like getting something fixed twice, so most come to me to get it fixed right the first time. With that reputation, you can charge what you want (within reason). I would make sure to tell every customer 'This is what you get for price shopping'. Being nice and cutting them a break doesn't educate them at all on choosing a quality repair center over the 'shade tree mechanic' down the road.

I have a business owner next to me who is a 'nice guy'. He can barely pay the bills because he lets people go on payment plans and 'promises'. The quicker you realize that you didn't open up a charity, but a business, the better off you'll be. If you feel like helping someone out financially, go donate to your local church or the wounded warrior foundation... It really is simple as that. No if's, and's, or but's.

This is a great video to remember when you might be having a bad day! I hate to think what that helicopter costs to replace!

Yup^^^^ I was a tech for years, and I thought all I needed to do was buy my own lift, rent a shop, and roll my toolbox inside... Turns out, that's not half the story of an auto repair shop. Something can really be said for working at another Indy though! You can learn a lot of their procedures and processes.

5 of the top 10 makes were luxury brands, all with plenty of extra systems and equipment (not to mention, Land Rover has consistently been at the bottom for the past few years)... HAHA I gotta side with Wes on this one, either they need to seriously upgrade the owners manual and invest heavily in salesman training, or work on putting out a better product... Interesting none the less

PJ, no need to be embarrassed! Everybody starts somewhere! We don't all start of with a multi-million dollar facility.

I would like to hear how others are selling tire rotation services when places such as 'Discount Tire' and others offer free tire rotations when you buy tires from them? I try to sell a tire rotation every 5,000 miles with their oil change, and offer at '5K mile service' which includes the oil change, tire rotation, and vehicle inspection(measure tires, brakes, test battery, fluids, etc.) and stamping their maintenance book. 75% of the time I get the response 'Oh, I get my tires rotated for free down at [insert business name here]. How much for just the oil change?' How are you guys competing with this? Is it just my inexperience with making sales? Should I press on and mention 'you wont have to wait in line' or 'we already have it on lift, are you sure?' I don't want to come across as a pushy salesman, but it's really starting to get under my skin. UPDATE: I just phone shopped one of these chain stores locally and they told me they offer free lifetime tire rotation AND spin balance! Is there this much profit in tire sales?