alfredauto

I'm in the same situation. My tech goes home for lunch, when he started coming back 5 minutes late I didn't say anything. Then it became 10, then 20. Finally I put my foot down and he was surprised and got defensive on me. Its my fault because I let it go for so long. To be honest I didn't really pay attention until he was taking an hour and a half. He knows he's not going to get fired so I'm going to change his monthly bonus to be dependent on punctuality.

I'm in the same boat. It seems like the front door is connected to the phone and the street; as soon as a customer walks in the phone rings. Someone wants free air at the same time, then sure enough a family will want to test drive a used car, then a guy will want to look at tread designs of every tire in stock. All at the same time. Then the parts guy shows up along with a solicitor. I dont have any hair left to pull out. Then an hour will go by with no calls no walk ins. My wife helps out when she can, it makes a big difference for someone to be permanently attached to the phone. We get at least 20-30 calls a day, most are status updates, tire prices and appointment scheduling - all things a secretary can handle easily.

Great tip, thanks! I ask "have you ever spent time in prison" it breaks the ice with the younger guys, except one applicant responded "who hasn't?" Oh! He didn't have the required experience for a second interview. I might advise you guys to familiarize yourselves with your state labor laws. Denying employment may be considered discrimination so be very careful with your wording.

We got into the habit of selling a mileage service when doing cabin air filters. If the tech notices low flow or foul air from the vent I'll suggest a 30k mile service. That way we get paid 2 or 3 hours to change the filters and wipers and the customer gets on a maintenance schedule. Most of the mileage maintenance is easy but important. Normally if the cabin filter is clogged the whole car is overdue for the scheduled maintenance service. As for small repairs that take less than 10 minutes I normally dont charge labor, the word of mouth advertising is worth it. It's a fine line I guess between giving away time and providing outstanding customer service.

Wait until he puts it in himself, screws it up, then blames your free diagnosis. Lol

Everyday life around here. We buy from 5 stores, when one store can't get their act together we order from the next one. It seems like when we buy from the same store all the time they get a little too comfortable. It took some work to set up 5 vendors in Mitchell but now its simple to buy from all of them.

My tech backed out a f150 the other day (first job of the new year) and caught the mirror on the garage door. Broke the plastic. So I tell the guy hey sorry I'm going to order you a new mirror. So he gets pissed but what can I do, we didn't break it on purpose. I could have not said anything he probably wouldn't have noticed for a month its just the principle. That oil change cost me $400. Happy new year. Sh#t happens, we break it we buy it I can't think of any other way.

I've got a 2007 on my lot, 55mpg makes me happy. Its a tight fit for me 6'2 250lbs or i'd keep it.

As a Napa car care member I had to purchase my own 40" internet ready TV, provide the connection, and it was like $80+/month for the content. Not exactly sure of the cost as they had some deal going on, theres a few options. I didn't want to pay anything per month to advertise for NAPA but its the easiest way to get set up fast. Like I said I saved money doing it myself but I have nothing to show for it. Its on the to-do list.

Until I got on this forum I pretty much ignored the ARO and car count numbers except to try and increase both. Are there any benchmark numbers? My ARO for 2014 is $275. Car count was around 2100. Billed labor hours was 2400. Parts/labor looks like 4:1 I'm not sure if I'm reading it right. We do a lot of tires which are free installs and sell some cars which are parts only. I have 2 people working full time, I'm one of them. I have a part time secretary. What do you think? We are in a rural area. These numbers came off my Mitchell yearly sales report.

Napa wanted to sell me their program, I figured I could buy a monitor and put my own content on it cheaper. Its still under construction. I think educational material is better, like women talking about car care and let the customer ask for the services. Pep boys used to use a menu board ( haven't been there in a while though) customers ordered like at McDonald's - tune up, oil change, brake flush. Go platinum please. You want balance with that? It generated a lot of unnecessary work. We would do $1000 in menu items and the cars still broke. I can count on one finger how many tune up menu service items fixed a real problem.

I like to think of myself as a mechanic and technician. If my power steering pump leaks I find the leak and replace the pump (technician) or I take it out, replace the seal, bearing, and emery the shaft (mechanic). Mechanics fix broken mechanical things. There aren't many mechanics left in the world today, they all went broke. All that's left are the techs that learned its faster and easier to change parts that they know are the problem. Not to be confused with shotgunner who sprays parts under the hood and hopes one hits. :-)

We charge the same for all 4 wheel alignments, some take longer. Full contact shims isn't normal alignment procedure so we charge for that. Basically if the suspension is adjustable that's included in the price. Heating tie rod jam nuts is part of it around here even on 2 year old cars. Drilling, removing, replacing is separate operation, normally replacing springs brings the specs back in line on cars that we think need this type of major band aid. Our alignment rack came with the building but IMO it is a mandatory tool in any shop that does any type of suspension repair. I don't have enough man power to do as many alignments as I could sell so I don't push them too hard. I dont want to install a tie rod and then send my customer to another shop, they might not ever come back or they could do a sloppy job. Steering angle reset has been around since the 90's on Mercedes, we don't charge extra for it. Its so simple to do. Bottom line is even a new install full price hunter Hawkeye will pay for itself FAST! With a full time trained alignment tech on the payroll. I'll say 50% of all alignments need a small adjustment only and a correction in tire pressure to be perfect. The 50% that are way out need repairs like springs ball joints bushings tires ect.... Our hunter rack makes us a lot of money because we use it properly and the cars leave fixed. Sure we slip sometimes and line up junk but I learn my lesson every time. Toe n go for $39.99 might not be the best strategy. Junk with big lift kits we don't do, the customer re-engineered thier truck we can't help them. Duallys we don't do either, they don't fit on the rack. Oversize tires and leveling kits are usually no problem, as long as the camera clears the tread we can line it up. German cars want weight in the car, we do the best we can without a ton of special equipment. Wholesale alignments to used car dealers has been a loser, we try to be too busy for them. They always need a ton of work that we aren't going to get.

We are lucky to be the only shop within 5 miles of a college. The kids call AAA, we are the only shop they can get towed to for free. Works out good for us and the towing companies, plus I keep a part of my lot clear for AAA tow ins so its easy for the rollback drivers to get in and out. We never say no to tow ins. But, we are not a AAA paying member garage so there's nobody telling us how fast to work. Like I've always said following someone else's plan benefits them, now if there was heavy competition the $$$$ might be worth it.

I might add that Alfred State, our local tech school has a tool requirement and an attendance requirement. Everyone in the program must have a sizeable tool box to be in the program, they have to wear a uniform, they can't show up late. So tech school is important to me, it shows the basics are covered. I prefer an applicant to be persistent, as in ask for a job and stop in every day until he gets an interview. If a guy wants to work he should show me. I dont expect an entry level tech to know everything, its all about by having a can do attitude while gaining experience. Also, dress for the job when applying, a greasy weed logo tshirt and a mouthful of chew spit guarantees a no call back.

I've adopted a new policy because of this post and I want to thank usedtireshop. They pull up "I need air" now I respond no problem we'll get you right in and check your tires. Car goes on the lift. If they are all uniformly down a few psi we top them up, check the condition, take a look in at the brakes and suspension and out it goes. "No charge" and the customer feels like we care, we even got a tip yesterday. If something's wrong its a great opportunity to sell a tire, the car is already on the lift. Filling tires in the parking lot was a loser for us.

I try to re-educate the customers that price shop the parts. If I say my water pump job is $200 and they want the breakdown, the pump is $50 and the labor is $150 for example. If they respond they can get the pump for $20 I remind them they can buy an egg for .10 but the omelet still costs $10. I see your point of selling at cost and charging more labor, but the next thing is "Joe down the road charges less per hour " and you've let yourself get bullied out of business.

I disagree. My $300 basic home washer is going on 15 years no problems. I don't wipe my hands on my pants so the uniforms mainly get dirty from tires and stuff, a little oil might splash on them. I don't wash rags at home they ruin the machines.

I buy the uniforms online, local guy embroiders them, the tech washes it. Saves us both money. No weekly fees.

No franchise here, they wouldn't take me anyway too low of a population. Monro muffler closed down 2 stores in my county, all the coupons in the world can't make up for population density. Plus I feel if I follow someone else's program they win, if I follow my plan I win.

Thanks for the info.

I work on hybrids, no membership fee. Prius batteries last what, 150k-200k miles? Dorman makes a reman, takes an hour or so to install. Simple really. No forklift or electrician needed. I think when hybrids first came out there was a lot of mystery, now anyone with YouTube knows you take out the fuse and the bolts and your done.

We put a cardone rack in a Volvo, lasted about 2 weeks before the input shaft seal blew out and ruined the pump. Investigation proved the lower snap ring wasn't installed properly. Customer doesn't care - they paid me and it didn't get fixed is all they know. Napa paid me enough to cover the techs pay to do it again. Live and learn, now I suggest new OEM parts if the customer wants to take a chance on reman junk they know the risk.

I use Mitchell manager for both sales and service. My dealership is a customer, everything we put into the used car gets recorded on an invoice including purchase price, transport, fees, parts. No labor except sublet. I put my cost in and zeros for the sell price. When the car sells it gets another part added zero cost sell price is what the customer paid. Mitchell figures the tax and profit. I can see in 2 seconds how much I have into a car. I'm a sole proprietor so it all goes into the same pot anyway, and if I want to see how the dealership is doing I just pull up my "customer" for the YTD totals. It skews the reports a little because theres no labor profit, but has no effect on the tech because he's hourly and gets a bonus on monthly gross regardless of the source. It works simply because I don't work on my cars unless there is nothing to do, if I had to take a tech off a customer car to work on a dealer car labor would have to be billed. The rest of the dealer accounting goes on the state mandated forms, hand written like they want.

He wanted to be in charge by the sound of it. Definitely different.