grifftrans

Thank you. We currently use AllData, and tried a trial of the Profit Boost, Pif Pro. We are a Transmission shop, and I am looking for something a little more user friendly than Alldata. My husband likes it, but he's used it for so long. I just don't like the flow and the set-up.

He is great with customers and they think very highly of him. I guess my main concern is how do I price a transmission out accordingly. Can I use a price matrix when pricing a transmission?

Has anyone used Pif Pro?

I posted a while back when I first ran across this page. My husband runs a transmission shop in Nebraska. I know we are not running everything properly to be making the maximum profit that we should be. He has a great name, and customers love and recommend him to everyone. He doesn't just do your typical bare minimum rebuild. He replaces everything that is and could go bad as well as any known manufacturer parts that typically fail. He doesn't want to see the same car back again.

I don't want to tell him how to work, but I want advice on the business side. Because he does put more parts in his rebuild, he has a hard time pricing accordingly. He is slightly higher then the other shop, which is 15 miles away. He has fixed a lot of problems this other shop has not properly done when they rebuilt it. How does he stay competitive and still make money with the way he's working? He is the only tech, which is losing money there, because he is stopping to talk to customers, run errands, test drives, etc. But we don't have the money to hire. I would love to have someone come into our business and say, this is what you're going to d and this is how you're going to do it, lol!

 

I do not want to come across as harsh but these are some of the thoughts I am having:

 

Yes does he charge diagnostic time?

Does he charge for shop supplies: rags, floor dry, parts cleaners, etc. He probably should charge 5-10% extra on each job.

Does he use a parts matrix mark up?

Does he charge for all of the fluids used? Does it include extra for the cost of synthetic fluids or special fluids like Honda?

If he has to have any outside work done on a job does he mark those cost up?

Since you are in a small community you may have to do a lot of driving to pickup parts. If so have you figured extra time or markup on a job to cover this cost?

Can you tell me how many book hours did your husband get paid on last week and the week before? He work 60 hours plus but how many hours did he get paid for?

 

If your husband is CHEAP on his work he will literally be worked to the point of being broke, exhaust, and burnout and will have nothing to show for it. He will be no good to you as a husband because he is exhausted and you will have no money to do anything together because you are broke.

 

Is your husband taking home as much money now as he could working on a job for someone else? If not this is not a business it is just a job and not a very good one. If you figure the hours being put in what is being made per hour?

 

I do not post this to either anger you are to belittle. My goal is just to challenge and stir sincerely thought and focus. It is times like this that we can refine a business and become better.

I haven't looked at an invoice lately, but last I knew he didn't charge for diagnostic.

Yes, there is a $15 charge on every ticket for shop supplies.

No, he doesn't use a parts matrix, he just adds a certain percentage. But if he thinks it looks to high or the customer might be upset he'll lower it.

He'll charge extra for synthetic or specialty fluids, but doesn't physically keep track of what is used.

Typically he'll mark up sublet work that is done.

He has a few part stores that will deliver but he does run around a lot. The biggest thing is he doesn't physically keep track of actual time on anything. He'll estimate when he makes invoices.

I don't know how many hours he actually billed out. He spends most of his day talking to customers. He'll have some that will just stop in and talk for an hour, and he's not getting anything done. That's why he works nights so often, he's basically doing his work for the day without the interruptions.

You aren't coming across harsh to me, because these are concerns and questions I ask him all the time. It's hard for me as his wife to try and bring these points to him because I imagine it comes across as belittling him and he becomes angry. I'm trying to get as much info from others in the industry to show and talk to him about. Right now he uses Alldata, I personally don't like the program. I tested out ProfitBoost and I liked that better, but I don't know if it would be better in the long run to switch.

I was just reading a thread on here for parts mark up. You might want to go find that thread, very helpful! Good luck with your business.

I worked at a Mr. Transmission for awhile and never really understood how we could turn a profit. Almost an entire day was spent rebuilding a transmission plus the remove/replace time to get it into and out of the vehicle. Then, add test driving and possibly removing/replacing it again if there are any issues.

 

This shop would NEVER upsell anything that was unrelated to tranmissions. I once had a vehicle in that had every single dash light on possible. I'm talking headlight warnings, TPMS, oil pressure ... you name it, it was on. I wrote this all up and recommended to the service adviser that we take a look at it. "Nope, that's another shop's issue. We do transmissions here. That's all we do."

 

If this shop made more than 10% net profit, I would be surprised.

 

Additionally, I did not know that a town of 12k could support a dedicated transmission shop. Maybe it can ... I do not know small markets too well, but it seems like a stretch.

 

Personally, I would do the following to increase revenue:

• Start doing all vehicle repairs, not just transmission. Do a full courtesy check on each car. Recommend what you can, even tires. Heck, the car is going to be in there for a day or two anyway, so you can easily keep no inventory and wait on the parts/tires you need.
• It may be more efficient to just buy a Jasper transmission off the shelf and send the core back ... rather than rebuilding every single one. This really depends on your volume, though.
• It sounds like you are in a rural area. Have you looked into doing the big stuff? Tractor transmissions, Caterpillar work, etc? Lots of money to be made here, especially if nobody else is doing it.

Just throwing some ideas out for you. I wish you the absolute best.

He probably works on average 65 hour weeks. Then on there are some weekends and late nights. He has been extremely busy, but with him being the only one there to work, talk to customers, answer the phone, make tickets, test drive, diagnose, etc....he doesn't have a quick turnover. He will do mechanical work if there is something broken that will cause a problem with the transmission or if the vehicle is unsafe to be on the road. He is plenty busy with transmission work that he doesn't have time for other mechanical fixes. We live in a farming area, so we get mainly trucks. If we were to hire 1-2 employees then we would look at doing more then just transmissions. Another problem is the building we are in isn't that big and he is out of room. He only has two hoists. He'll usually tear the trans out of the vehicle roll it out and pull another truck in and do the same thing. Then he can tear them all down, order parts and rebuild them. So he'll have multiple jobs going at once.

He uses Certified Transmission for some vehicles, but he likes to go through them and honestly, he does a better job.

Sounds like your husband is an excellent tech, but has not had business training.

 

If you guys have a chance, step out of the shop and go visit your competition, that should help to open your eyes to what you could be charging.

 

If your husband is really as caring as you say, he really has no competition and may be leaving a lot of money on the table to his detriment.

Yes! He is a great tech and he really loves it, except the fact that he feels he is working and working and not getting anywhere. I have an associate's degree in accounting, and planned on continuing for my BA, but we had a baby and then a second not to long after the first. My husband has no business knowledge, but trying to explain or change things is tough with him.

I've always wanted to go to other transmission businesses to see how they price out and work things, but I just thought that was something that wasn't done? How would I go about it?

hi I am by . no means an expert but I have struggled in the tranmssion business for many years and know where you are coming from. the first thing I see wrong is 70 is not enough labor rate. I am in a small town of less than 1000 people but have a 50 mile radius that I draw work from. you need to figure out how much the shop needs to break even then figure out how much you need to live on then add on how much profit you want on top of that to invest in new equipment etc. I try to make enough off of my parts markup to cover all shop expenses each month and pay myself half of the labor to live on the rest is for new tools etc. 1 other thing that might help is a good shop management program that moniters profit margins etc. also you might look into a vidieo from George(becky) wit at avi called shop priceing strategies. hope this helps some

He was at $55, and I convinced him to bump up to $70. A lot of general mechanic shops around are at $55-60. He's been bad about not separating business with personal, and I understand it's hard when you're a sole proprietor. Thank you for your advice.

It can be hard to get over that pricing fear. But its a must to stay in business. Most use a matrix pricing system and use a management system that marks the parts up for you. Bringing pricing up eliminates bottom shoppers which in my opinion do nothing but stress you out. I recently purchased a series of books on eBay that have helped me quite a bit. Its the automotive service management series and its available from zchiltonman on eBay. The members of this site are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. A system such as all data manage may help with controlling the shops paperwork and QuickBooks will help you see you're profitability!

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Thank you! He uses Alldata for his invoices and estimating program. He tells me that if he marks all his parts up to the suggested retail he'd double some estimates and that would be ridiculous. I'll look into the series on ebay. I'm just hoping I can work and convince him to change a few things.

He usually always rebuilds them. Every once and awhile he'll get a Certified transmission for some customers. I know there's a suggested retail, but he doesn't think that he should mark them up that high. He puts in a lot of parts. I understand most rebuilds come with new torque converter, gaskets, clutches, etc. But because he doesn't want that customer to have a problem, he puts in more. He has a great reputation for reliability. His shop hourly rate is 70 and he very rarely takes longer than book time to finish something. Honestly though, I don't see why is would take longer on an older vehicle. Book time gives you plenty of time and if you take longer, that's kind of for you to eat. If it doesn't take as long, do you charge for less time?

Keep in mind that we are in a small town, 12,000. I tried to run the office before, but I just didn't know where to start when it came to pricing on parts. I just feel like he is giving away his parts sometimes.

My husband owns and operates a transmission shop. He is the only one there and we just aren't making it. I think that he doesn't charge enough for the jobs he does, but he thinks he plenty high on pricing. He puts in many more and parts then most shops would, and he return rate is almost none because of that. He is very knowledgeable and honest. I would love for him to be able to hire a couple employees so he isn't at work all the time. I would like to run the office, but my lack of knowledge on the automotive side of things makes it hard. I don't really know where to start to learn everything I need to know about pricing jobs and turning our business into a successful profitable place. PLEASE HELP!