alfredauto

Weeks with the highest car counts correlate with the lowest profits at my place. Like SKM said when the pressure is on to move 15-20 cars through a day inspections get skipped, recommendations disappear, services opportunities get missed and profit tanks. Example: tire rotation. If time allows a tire rotation could mean new struts, brakes, tires, sway bar links, alignment, a whole host of good win-win-win necessary jobs for everyone involved. Push the tech to do them in 10 minutes everybody loses. Line up people at the counter and the SA cuts corners. However, not getting customers in when they want results in lost sales as well. No cars on the lift means no opportunity to do anything. Just hire more highly qualified people and put in more bays. Simple. Nobody said it was easy.

Nobody around you has a waste oil burner? I'm sure they'll take all you can produce.

Remember some companies break up the charges to deceive customers. I studied a colleagues account because I wanted 1% processing. Turns out he got a monthly statement that was fixed at 1.2% on all transactions; swiped, typed, cvc not present you name it. Looked good until we checked his bank statement😦. They deducted the interchange rate before depositing funds. All part of the contract. I had a similar system when I first started, trust me I paid for that free equipment. I didn't do a complete analysis but it ended up around 4% total. We pay about 2.7% average because we accept Amex, discover, over the phone. Pin entry with chip inserted is the best and cheapest way to get paid. What burns me is I'm paying 2.7% to collect sales tax for the state. Do the math. It costs us money to collect sales tax. The credit caps out fast if we do even moderate volume. Some months it's below 2% but being in a college town keyed entries are common, as are multiple cards for a relatively low purchase. It all adds up.

I have nothing but respect for the guys fixing trucks on the interstate. I don't like working in the driveway. I don't like customers standing over me when I work. I don't like working away from my fully equipped shop. For $300 an hour I guess there's some real motivation to work roadside. Good luck!

I have kits with axle bearing pullers, seal drivers, race drivers, and a couple size slide hammers and a few various pullers. My ball joint kit cost $1200. It has so many adapters that can be used "off label". Buy them individually or set up a shop cabinet with these tools and the need for special tools goes way down. Expecting a tech to do a job without the proper tool is going to make everyone unhappy. Techs should understand how machines work and fit together. Skill is the most important tool. If anyone thinks a $20 stretch belt tool is too expensive wait until you rip a belt or spend 45 minutes on a 10 minute job. Fwiw my Otc ball joint master set doubles as a master bushing driver set with the addition of a basic bushing press tool (threaded rod)

Well the other day I had a guy come in with a printout from autozone in hand, wants me to put in his alternator. "We don't install customer's parts, please let us diagnose..." blah blah you know the normal routine. So anyway the guy was in a bind, not going to make it another 100yards, pleads with me so we (against our good judgement) put in the $99 AZ alternator which was the correct frame type but the wrong amperage for the vehicle. No money to do it right, no dollars for diag, help a guy out, just try it, come on man I'm dying here story. "Understand, there is absolutely no warranty" Yes, sir, I'm grateful your helping me. All done and it's still not charging (their homemade wiring issues if I was to guess.), the belt and tensioner were cooked, battery is no good, the guy has zero money for any additional parts or labor. "Leave the vehicle until we can fix it please" NOPE! His wife got involved and now I'm a scam artist now on every review site there is. She was screaming at me on the phone until I had to hang up. The moral of this story is if a customer won't let you do your job properly, let them be mad and go somewhere else. Rip the band-aid off fast. I hate to be that guy that says no I can't help you but sometimes it's mandatory.

We tried it, ended up realizing that we could work 24/7 and still not please everyone nor fix all the cars that are broken, but we could wear ourselves out personally and emotionally. So We went back to M-F 8-6 that's enough work for us.

Just adding $5 to a set of brake pads compensates for the brake clean and synthetic grease used on the job and keeps everyone happy. $5 to balance a tire? Not when weights cost .25 per ounce. You must charge for the materials used unless you're running a charity shop or are independently wealthy.

As long as the commercial parts store managers are on bonus and commission programs you'll see the price creep. It really irks me that the smiling sales guy isn't at all our friend. You really want to burn up type in the Dorman or Cardone part number on higher ticket items into google and see what online retailers are selling the same item for to anyone with a pulse.

Auto repair, general contracting, towing, you name it someone will always hang out their shingle with unreasonably low prices. I call it magic. How can someone do quality work so cheap? They can't is the answer. Even one man shops in the backyard, if the guy is good he is eventually going to get so busy and so far behind by offering the low rate he will raise his prices to slow down the calls. Or it's a trick like most of the chains. How can you get your oil changed cheaper than the cost of the materials? The sales team is not going to let you leave with just the coupon lof, they need the upsell to make any profit. I like the mouse and cheese analogy, even when Micky sees his brother get snapped he still wants that free lunch and believes it.

That's pretty funny. I want one that says "certified hydraulic press operator". Just YouTube search hydraulic press you'll get entertainment.

We all learn from our mistakes. I call it tuition. We all pay to learn. I haven't really made too many mistakes in the auto repair business, I'm pretty conservative and I opened up my shop after 15 years of working for other people learning from their mistakes. Ask me about the used car business and your head will spin. It has a much more expensive learning curve. About the same as gambling but not as much fun.

I did away with all my cheap wipers. Do the math. Pay $1.99 sell $7.99 you make $6. and you know they aren't going to last. Why not pay $7.99 for a much better blade sell for $17.99 make $10? Customers needs are much better met, you make more. I don't believe anybody that comes in with a broken wiper will say no to a $20 fix. You can transfer that mentality to every aspect of your business. Sorry to come across gruff but the parts stores push their garbage on us and it's exactly garbage. As pricing goes, we shop around even when we don't have the time. The parts store matrix will jack up your price over time if you become loyal to one supplier. It makes me sick and every shop owner has felt it if they've been around long enough. The only way to combat the creep is to shop them hard. Usually once we start feeling comfortable is when we realize we are overpaying by a few %. Your sales guy will remind you that you are marking up the higher price thus it's a good thing. What they forget or ignore is it's not good to overcharge your customers, the ones that matter the most. AZ & others have online coupons for 20% off to anyone that can click a mouse. Something to think about when they are pumping the preferred customer diamond platinum smoke up your you know what. Lastly on my rant here is the quality control on aftermarket parts has become so bad I'm thinking about only using oem dealer parts. My reputation suffers when that garbage wheel bearing or power steering component or fuel pump fails in 6 or 8 months. The OE pumps last 10 years. Airtex? I'd bet the farm it ain't going half that. I'm the guy that has to say "your original battery lasted 8 years, great, thanks to corporate greed your new (insert and parts store unit) will last 2 years at best. Thanks please come again"

Loaner cars are a big convenience to customers, no doubt. I'm afraid of the liability so I don't do it. I used to and it worked out fairly well, there's always one jerk who smokes out your loaner and burns all the gas but overall it was positive. My insurance doesn't cover rental cars and it's fairly expensive and requires a different company structured for it if I wanted to pay so I don't do it. It might be a NY thing but any car owned by me I'm 100% responsible for what it does even if I'm not driving it.

I'm throwing this out there to help those shop owners who are taking a beating. What do you guys do to remain positive? Recently we've had a couple backyarders open up undercutting every legit shop around, and customers are believing the magic promise of something for nothing. Others are going on a long trip in 15 minutes and want a full checkup for piece of mind, but no money. Then there's the guy who's inspection ran out 3 weeks ago about the same time his windshield broke and the steel came out of the tire, yet now he has an emergency at 5:45 on Friday because we won't give him a sticker. Its really starting to be difficult to just grin and bear it. Maybe I'll take up drinking.

The only benefit I can think of resulting from being old is I still use the telephone. It's hard to delete without opening and forget when there's a real human. 🤓

I'm too small to have weekly meetings but if important policy changes happen I just tell the guys. If something I'm not liking happens it gets addressed immediately. When it's raining I have a 5 minute meeting "check the wiper blades don't let a car leave if you think they won't be able to see" you get the idea. I'm not a fan of "we need to do $120k this month" it's ineffective.

Nothing wakes up insurance companies like storage charges. Day 1 starts right after it was dropped off. We don't do body work but we store cars here all the time. Easiest money ever. I'm not sure if you can charge if you do the work, check with a neighbor.

Wait until you see how much that unit costs you a month in insurance and repairs, not to mention the paperwork bs. Unless your state is lax or your hot shotting it owning a tow truck is too expensive to run it part time.

Discount tire is all about volume. I don't try to compete on price with them it's not possible. It's the Walmart of the tire world. I'm not saying it's a bad business model or not wildly successful but I'm not putting $35 tires on my car why would I put them on my customers car?

Go big or go home. If you have the gut for it why not? I don't have the ability to relax with 20 or 30 people waiting on a paycheck.

I hope they stay in their own lane and just buy/sell cars. They have too many resources to try to compete with.

I don't understand why az can diagnose cars without a facility license but I gotta pay the state for one. The atty general should shut these guys down for fixing cars in the parking lot. It costs consumers millions in unnecessary parts. " Az said I need an oxygen sensor and its $22. " Sorry ma'am the air fuel ratio sensor in your car has six wires and costs $375. The single wire universal one won't work. I'd like to test it before replacing it if it's ok with you as they rarely fail but I'll need the car for a few hours. " Will it cost money to check? " Of course, our labor rate is x but it's much cheaper than replacing unneeded parts. We go through this daily. "I bought a cam phaser for $41 because parts man said I need it, how much to throw it in real quick?" It should be outlawed.

Carmax figured out fast what most dealers already knew. Buying cars at auction is expensive with fees, competition, transportation, and the very real possibility that a shady dealer temporarily hid major problems. So they get customers to bring cars to them, mostly untampered with at prices below wholesale. It's a good business model. I didn't know they did retail service work.

the millionaire next door is a good read. The guys you see in new sports cars with rolexes usually are credit rich but are probably worth very little. I know guys with multi million dollar dealerships who put water in the ketchup bottle to get the last bit out.