alfredauto

I like the local dealers, they grab the customers with $19.99 oil change/rotate then the customer comes to me with a $900 brake job estimate to see if we can beat it. I can always beat it, and I don't have to give away an oil change to get the job. I'm not sure if there's a new trend but the new car dealers are making the wallet flush chains look like saints.

Contact your tire salesman, that's the best source. Or, if you are just starting out put up a huge Goodyear sign, I guarantee a Goodyear rep will stop in to chat. :-)

Though of this thread today, a car buyers dad called me upset about a 10 year old car his daughter bought back in January. Stated the motor mount is broken. My response was Things happen in 5 months, we will gladly repair it and work with you on the price because I appreciate your business. His answer was I'm a thief and a liar for selling his daughter a car with a motor mount that I knew was going to break and I need to pay up or else. It's a surreal experience selling cars. I believe the guy might have actually been mad enough to commit a crime over a $35 motor mount. It's also an emotional roller coaster ride. Cash money tied up in cars is rusting in the parking lot and they might as well be invisible. Tire shine has worn off, a battery went dead so the monitors need to be rerun, another one the drum brakes locked up due to the humidity. Someone broke the door handle on another one. I hate these cars, all of them. I get an idea; I'm going to wholesale a car carrier full and dump these things. Messy divorce here we come. While I'm looking up the # for my auction guy someone comes in and plunks down the sticker price on one, ten minutes later another couple bought a different one. A third one goes out tomorrow. I'm loving these jewels again. Until next time.

I prefer cash or check, but some people prefer to spend money they don't have or, like me, they use the card for everything to get the points.

We use a large at a glance calender. The night before I make a to do list for the next day on notebook paper. Things get done, jobs get crossed off. My tech likes it. In up down out is how its supposed to go.

I managed a shop where the same thing happened. One tech was doing another techs girl, then he moved in to his house while a restraining order was filed. The girl also worked there as a cashier. 3 useless employees in one day. I think I beat my head against the wall on that fiasco. Thinking obviously wasn't part of that equation.

I made a game of tire training, demonstrate on a spare wheel/tire, have your guys practice on a 215/70-15 until they can do it drunk and tired while blindfolded. Once motor memory is learned they will do tires fast and easy. I'm assuming you have an air powered rim clamp machine. Older center posts take way longer. You also need 150psi of air constantly at about 20cfm. A weak compressor will really bottleneck your operation. You really need to train the guys on tpms, as in where to position the valve to prevent damage. Basically for removal position the stem across from the duckhead, install with the stem right next to it. If you install new tpms stems every time forget beating the clock. We reuse the stems if they look good as in we don't touch the sensor but we put in a new core every time. Rubber stems get yanked out with dyke pliers new ones pulled through with the tool. 10 seconds done. I bought a wheel weight rack a few years ago, best investment ever. Every weight is arms reach from the wheel on the balancer. Trying to reuse old weights was the biggest time waster ever.

I have a good 8" grinder with a coarse wire wheel next to my tire machine. Tire comes off, wheel gets grinded shiny clean, bead sealer applied, new tire on, balanced, rolled to car. 4 minutes tops. 35" super swampers take more time because they're heavy and require the cheetah but a regular 235/60r18 takes 5 minutes done. 195/60r15 takes like 2 or 3 minutes. Like I said your guy needs to be faster than the machine. When the wheels are off look at the brakes, once they are torqued check the tie rods etc. I've had guys take over an hour to do a set of tires, they were lazy plain and simple

The slowest employee needs to be the first one sent to the unemployment line. I pay hourly plus bonus, but I also work in the shop. I expect my guys to work as fast as me, if not they figure it out real quick that if I can do their job faster why should I bother paying them? Right now my top tech outworks me, he also makes a bigger paycheck than I pay myself. Slackers need to be sent packing asap, its hard but needs to be done.

I sell as many tires as I possibly can, we price them at $30 above cost which includes mount balance valve stems grind and bead seal, free rotate, free flat repair, free roadhazard for a year. We store snow/summer tires free. My theory is when someone buys my tires they get me at their service for life. I charge tax, waste fee, and physical disposal on top of the price. If someone has a car with cheap 14" tires I might only make $60 on the sale, but 14" steel wheel tire changeover takes 10 minutes so no biggie. To be competitive your mechanics need to bust their butt - 4 tires in less than 40 minutes, 20 minutes is ideal. Lazy bones that take 2 hours to put on a set of hoops will run you out of business. Lastly, you can't sell tires that you don't have. Get a supplier that will give you consignment inventory of at least a couple hundred tires. We have about 500 tires on hand and get deliveries 3 times a day. Tires are dirty work, but they rarely come back defective so its easy to gain happy customers.

We are usually booked up at least a week, so when people drop in we make them an appt a week out, I get their phone # and ask if they can't make it please call us the day before. If they are a no show I'll call and reschedule them, no hard feelings. The rescheduled appt is another week away so most local folks get the picture. Honestly, we are so backed up if somebody is a no show we don't even realize it half the time, every quick oil change turns into a check this check that which turns a 45 min appt into a 2 hour appt. We're lucky that our location is superb, and there's nobody around that takes walk ins.

Get a carbon pile tester off the tool truck or amazon. The toaster is 100a, good enough but not really good enough. The electronic tester is an ohm meter, essentially useless but designed by tech nerds who think it works. The carbon pile loads the battery to 200a, call me old school but when a battery passes the vat40 test its good. No question.

Partners are a good idea in law enforcement and tennis. I can't think of any other good applications.

That principle is true in theory, not in practical real life. I am fully aware of the 80/20 rules, but say you fire 20% of your problem customers, now a new 20% will form from the new group. It always ends up the same until there's nobody left to get rid of. If you are in a large city with endless people and little competition by all means filter out the problem cases. If competition is tight or you're in a small town you'll be the next garage for rent if you are too selective. If anyone has succeeded in getting only A+ customers let me know. I'm kind of playing devils advocate here.

Word of mouth is what we rely on. I spend $10k a year on Google AdWords and some radio spots but mostly what drives traffic is my attitude. Example: A lady comes in with a flat at 6pm on her junker dump wagon, I turn the lights and air back on and fix it, also fix her taillight at the same time and give her a handful of snacks and a coffee while she waits. She comes back for a 30k service on her good car a month later. Come to find out her best friend is CEO of a large international company that sells to the college. I invested 45 minutes of time and probably gained 20 new customers, maybe more. I haven't had a warm meal in 5 years Sunday being the exception. Give your customers more than they expect every time and you'll be facing the same problems - too much work.

Thanks for all the responses, ultimately the risk outweighs the reward. Someday my tech might own the shop when I retire, I'm sure they'll make a good team then.

The last couple months have been extremely busy for us, I'm very thankful for that! My goal was always to increase car count. The complaint I hear every day is "I tried to call but your phone was busy" and "oh no, I'm stuck, can't you get me in today?" We have six lifts, work in the parking lot, and yet another right now emergency always seems to show up. I'm running 2 loaner cars. Shop efficiency is high, but theres a limit to how many working hours are in a day. These are new problems that I didn't expect and its tough telling people no. The reality is new customers will find another shop that can meet their needs, existing customers will feel l should squeeze them in. I'm not wishing for a slow down, I'd like to hear how you guys handle it.

We are going to simply close the shop for 2 weeks. We all get the same vacation at the same time. Trying to operate short handed as in the past caused too much stress. I can't emphasize enough how important a little down time is. This year I'm taking the wife to Bosnia/Herzegovina and Croatia. I took my 1st vacation four years ago, prior to that I was always "too busy". 20 years of work work work is not healthy for anybody.

Before the internet the BBB sticker meant something. I'll bet 99% of people under 30 don't even know what it is.

To add to the customer confusion we charge for diagnosis sometimes. For example; a customer comes in with a squeak complaint. We check it out and they need brakes. Checking it out means we retract the calipers to see if they're any good. The brake job is partially done at this point. They OK the job so we don't charge for diag. If they refuse the work because bubba can do it cheaper we charge .5. Ultimately every car in the bay gets billed the hourly rate. First timers with check engine lights are charged $75 no matter what. If its a regular customer we will do a scan for free (5 minutes) and determine that it needs diagnosing for $75. unless they left the gas cap loose. Free doesn't buy me a scanner update so we try to avoid it. Sometimes they come in for diag when the maintenance required light is on, we retract the fee when this happens. I feel if we charged diag for every rattling heat shield our reputation will suffer. Occasionally someone will translate our kindness into a free repair hotspot, we reeducate these types or convert them into ex customers. CD Howell - that's a great sign!

I used to go to the training classes offered by advance auto and parts plus (uni-select) which were hosted by manufacturers ie Tenneco, Moog, four seasons...we stopped going because they were all about selling their parts with very little real information gained vs the time involved. I'm eager to find a solution, we haven't attended a class in months.

The sad part is they keep believing in the "booster pro". How many cars do you see rusted out with one of those little rust proof boxes dangling where the fender used to be? Guess what, the next beauty they buy will definitely have a new rust proof box installed, maybe even a magnetic gas saver strapped to the intake duct. When it doesn't work they blame themselves for not recharging the flux capacitor annually or some other quack science reason. I've never once heard anyone say "you know what, this bogus crap was a waste of money and I feel stupid falling for it"

6 lifts total. 3 are new, 2 of the old ones got rebuilt and installed in the back shop. 5 two posts and one drive on alignment rack. Four guys did the work, I asked the boss how they do them so fast he said in 30 years they installed over 10,000 lifts. That's all they do. The only thing they didn't do was some drywall work in the back shop, they had to cut out the ceiling for the back shop lifts to fit.

If they use road salt where your place is I would think pretty hard before putting your rack in the floor.

Great write up! Every day, gonzo, is the same story repeated. "My check engine lights on, I just want to know what's wrong" sure thing sir we can diagnose it tomorrow morning. "OK great, but can you just tell me what's wrong now real quick?"