alfredauto

I tried Repairpal and decided to not keep paying for the service. On their end, they do a great job. They researched my shop, came up with honest reviews, and put my shop out there in my zip code area. Unfortunately 99.9% of the calls i got from repairpal referrals were " when can I get my head gasket done?" They got themselves a low estimate on replacing just the gasket, ignored all the other advice, and dialed me. We don't do slip and slide head gaskets so it was a lot of rejecting future customers. Ultimately I spent over $1000 in 6 months and got back exactly $83.00 on a diagnosis we did. Your results may vary.

I'm sure this one is finished by now but a used VW 1.8 turbo is $60 just sayin

In NY and many other states you can't hold a car hostage because it's unsafe. Charge for checking it, get paid, note on the invoice "customer declined repairs, vehicle not safe for use on public roads. Vehicle must be towed." That's it, you are not responsible any more. You hand over the keys, if they don't tow it it's beyond your control. It doesn't mean you can't get sued if they crash and try and blame you but thats what your lawyer is for.

Agreed with joining a banner program to get the nationwide warranty. I'm on the express car care center program now which is basically the same as the napa program. In house it's not worth losing a customer over a defective part down the line so we stand behind our parts for at least 2/24. I quote all jobs with the best parts I can get. If a guy wants cheap and can't be persuaded to make a better choice he gets 12/12 warranty and I hold him to it. When a person buys oe stuff I expect it to last years.

Yea its me. All utilities are set on auto pay, the parts bills get paid once a month. It takes me literally one to two hours a month to check the Mitchell reports against my bills and confirm the difference is either in an unpaid invoice, parts put into used cars that didn't sell, or in inventory. Shrinkage - parts used and not billed - is less than 1% so its really not worth stressing over. I've managed other peoples shops where shrink was 10-15%, the bookkeeper was needed to keep the people that really needed to be fired in line. While the workload is difficult sometimes keeping a lean crew has its benefits.

Just about every job we do comes with a 12mo/12000mile parts & labor warranty. Wheel bearings/starters/alternators I push the best parts and extend it to 3/36 parts & labor. It's better for the customer and better for my bottom line. I've learned that the customer that's driving a $500 car and wants the cheapest part and cheapest temporary quick fix still has expectations on par with the more expensive correct repair regardless of dialog and disclaimers.

I was thinking about applying to become a Bosch service center. Anyone on the program, thoughts? Thanks.

I've found if the service writer web orders parts, and checks the parts invoices to the ro parts costs every time it eliminates the need for a bookkeeper. I'm not talking about an accountant. Back in the old days with hand written invoices a bookkeeper was required, not so much today IMO.

I was going to pull the trigger on a message board but decided to try a lower cost alternative. I had some big 4x8 outdoor banners made up with big bright easy to read letters stating "tire sale" "alignment" "check engine specialist on duty" etc and put them up facing the road on posts. Total cost less than $1000. It seems to be working. Electricity costs zero. You can't see them at night. I think they'll last at least a year, it'll be time for new messages then anyway. I have over 1000' of highway frontage so there's no problem spacing them.

So its been a little slow lately so I visited every garage around to see what I'm doing wrong. What I found got me thinking, just about everyone had the same empty parking lot as me. Made me feel better. Some places had million plus $$ renovations since the last time I had visited, they have shops and customer areas way nicer than I can afford without going into huge debt. To be honest it made me feel a little insecure. My waiting room is clean but dated, my shop is also clean and modern but the building is 70 yrs old, so its about as good as its going to be without spending big money. I resigned myself to keep offering the best customer service possible as that's what I feel really matters. I can't compete in the spend more money game, some of these guys can easily out do me every time.

What are your thoughts? Do you think customers are attracted to brand new facilities or can they be satisfied with just good service alone?

We had a weird one the other day. I heard this girl coming long before she pulled in, she ran over a good sized roll of bright blue pex pipe. No damage, but it coiled itself around every suspension item and was dragging like some type of redneck just married streamer.

I'm all for helping out, but lately I've become a real jerk. I have other shop owners calling me for diag help on every code because they don't think identifix or Mitchell or alldata subs are worth paying for. So I was spending two hours a day, every day, as a free hotline for every self proclaimed expert around. These people are not my friends. Now it's a 10 second answer "send your customer here with $85 I'll diagnose it for you" Guess who's the (insert derogatory racist sexist homophobic term here) now? Yup that's me.

I sell some of my brake jobs with "lifetime warranty" pads when a customer asks for it. I am very clear that lifetime warranty is the life of the pad, not the owners lifetime. If the pads wear out in 50k miles they served their purpose and are not going to be replaced free. If a caliper hangs up the pads aren't defective. I have replaced lifetime of squeal pads due to noise, the lifetime warranty ones went in the garbage and oem ones went on. I hate to play in to marketing schemes but people want reassurance. It's absurd to think brake pads will last forever. Tires have 90k mile warranties now. Another joke.

Xrac - be glad you aren't the guy who sold her the car!

Super slow here the last few weeks. I got my toolboxes organized, reviewed procedures with the guys, greased all the equipment, put up some new pos material. I also restocked all odds and ends like drain plugs cotter pins you name it. Down time is good for getting everything in order. I'm going to update my business plan next, maybe take a short vacation. The lack of work is widespread, around here everybody is quiet.

Solved this mystery by accident - my wife put 10 gallons of 93 octane in it. She made it to our driveway (about 8 miles) before it stalled out. I drained the tank, changed the fuel filter, and it hasn't smoked since. I'm assuming the gasoline cleaned up a sticky injector. I waited 5000 miles to post this due to uncertainties of the damage that could happen putting gas in a diesel but it appears to only benefited the car. I don't recommend it, due to the whole shutting off and not restarting until you do a few hours of work thing. Lol.

We install quick struts all the time with free install. It keeps us competitive. They pay list for the 2 or 4 struts, buy new sway bar links at list, and pay for the alignment. There are exceptions of course, like vans where the cowl has to come off. Luckily we work on European cars enough where a strut job is big money at the dealer, and quick struts aren't available. Struts and springs plus mounts on a c class Benz is 3 grand at my place, probably 5 at the dealer. Joe backyard isnt doing it himself. If you ever had the pleasure of replacing Mercedes springs you will appreciate a good compressor. The springs need to be pretty much coil bound to get the struts in. Hairy.

We've had springs spiral out of the compressor, DUCK! I hate springs, missiles really.

I would establish a baseline and then follow the dash indicators. For example, a 2012 crv with 70k miles comes in do all the services; diff fluid, oil, trans, plugs, cabin ait, brake fluid, yada yada then you don't need to worry about what was missed. If you pull out a new air filter oh well put it back in. I think it's funny Honda says adjust the valves if noisy. How many times do worn valves result in excessive clearance? In 25 years I've only found worn valves reduce clearance, or get tighter as they sink into the head.

Timing belts are good money jobs if you have the staff and time to do them. Lately we've been so busy doing tires/brakes/gravy there's no way I would tie up a tech half a day on a timing belt. You really need to be firm about doing the job right. Example: VW 1.8 turbo 105k svc; you must replace the belt, tensioner, water pump, pulley, and a few bolts. If you let the customer convince you into doing just the belt or use cheap rock bottom parts you get to buy him a new engine in a few months if your unlucky number comes up. Put in cheap hydraulic tensioners and I'll bet you get to do it again.

I've condemned probably 50 dohc Subaru's in the last 5 years with blown motors with new timing belts on them from other shops. Broken cam pulleys, broken idlers, all caused by $299.99 t-belt jobs.

Back to the original post topic, risking your reputation on another shops work is risky. I sublet paint work only, everything else say transmission rebuilds I just send the customer to the tranny shop. I exclude myself from the profit and the warranty issues.

I signed up and got a free d&b # 17 years ago in order to set up a commercial UPS account. They (UPS) refused to process my application without it. So far I've thrown out every letter from D&B wanting me to pay, but maybe I'm missing something? I obtained many commercial credit lines and nobody ever asked me for it, except UPS.

I worked for large corporations that gave me money envelopes with thank you notes in them. No money. Insulting. I give cash money, enough to make a difference.

I worked alone yesterday, I can't go back to that way of life. I had forgotten how hard it is to get things done being service counter man and technician.

I'm not disagreeing with the value of road force or fine balancing, but we've balanced literally tens of thousands of tires and you can't feel a 1/4oz or 10g imbalance. Even a half ounce on the back is not going to be noticeable on public roads.

Bent rims are the #1 cause of vibration. They balance out but they still don't go down the road smooth. #2 is garbage tires, the cheapo district of china makes square tires. (Not all Chinese tires are bad) They balance ok but will flatten out overnight. #3 is CV axles or stuck brake calipers. Get a rotor hot and it will warp, and if you have a stuck caliper it will shake with your foot off the brake. #4 is caked on mud, so obvious to most...

Incidentally loose tie rods and ball joints don't cause a vibration, they actually reduce it by absorbing it before it reaches the steering wheel. That's a Sinse-Ya moment when you rebuild a front end and now they feel their bent rim.

I took a class on NVH noise/vibration/harshness or something like that a while back, way back actually, and I recommend attending one of its offered. I went when I worked at Acura. You'd be surprised at what causes these "tire balance" issues. That's when ford was hanging large weights on the exhaust pipes.

Waiters cause stress, there's no question, but for us they represent 20% of business. We have a loaner car in case that "real quick" isn't. Some customers just need immediate service, like a walk in medical center. I would much prefer everyone to make an appointment and let us call when done but I'm not too keen on throwing away 1/5 of my business. That being said I don't stop work to do an oil change, I make an appt. They are free to wait during their scheduled appt. I do stop work if their wheel is falling off. We all know they aren't going anywhere when they find out they have a broken bearing or strut, and its a safety issue.

You really need to evaluate each case as it comes in. Do you want to stop everything and put on a guys used tire because he has an "emergency"? Sum it up, if his emergency was caused because he wanted to run his bologna skin until the air came out then too bad it's his problem and he deserves to wait. If a soccer mom with a reasonably maintained car picked up a nail and needs to get Suzy to the dentist in an hour its a real emergency and deserves your attention.

The only exception is " Sinse-Ya", as in "ever since ya did my brakes my alignment is off" I get these folks in immediately, as in right now. 99% of the time it's not our fault but I 100% guarantee if he goes to a competitor I'm going to get him back in the front door with receipt in hand talking before he even makes eye contact. Its much better for me to see that "oh it appears that you ran over a screw causing a low tire to make your car pull, Its possible you picked it up in my lot so we fixed it no charge" and we can keep the customer and our reputation. Joe down the road might plug his tire (without telling him) after selling him new control arms/motor mount/o2 sensor because we broke them when we did pads. The customer then thinks Joe is the hero and we are the hackers.

The ms908 is fast. Way faster than the old tools. Plus its a tablet so identifix and mitchell are right there.