Leonard Lee

Oh boy, there's so much to learn about wages and all. From calculating the hourly rate of the shop to what employees should be paid and how they should be taken care of It's probably information that should be common sense but it's really not working out for me cause i'm starting out. *bows to all the masters here*

www.syncrowerkz.com.sg is mine. built with wordpress. not a wordpress expert. i'm adept at asp.net / mvc / .net C# :|

mmmm i tried sending SMS's before and it sure did work but it also meant there was a lot of messages to check out. i stick to emails. easier to manage.

It's always terrible to be on the receiving end of customers that just have to have a price and ask why it's so expensive - all over the phone. however, i've always taken it as someone who doesn't understand the gravity of the work required and as such, the only metric is 'price'. the best way so far is to have them come in and we can find out for ourselves why they were asking for a service. The guys in our immediate area shop around and never dare to tell you that they did. I would rather they be honest and tell us they did. I just don't see the point with hiding things if the whole point was to get something fixed. the thing is, they may not even be shopping based on the solution. It might just be a misguided diagnosis and now they're just running around asking for a useless service. *shrugs* I find the guys who come in to the shop and allow us a good look at the car, to be more sincere customers because they see the big picture. If they spent their time shopping based on price alone, they're just missing the whole point of finding the right solution. The ones i've encountered, just end up fixing item upon item up item without actually clearing up the fault... low prices never did businesses any good. high prices too. however, i find that giving prices for basic services online helps to give customers a ballpark and i maintain that it's a ballpark. If they wanted something accurate to the dollar, contact us!

Good points there mspecperformance!

I currently have a paper-based form which I get all new customers to fill out. Sometimes doctors hand writing prevails and my data entry person can get it wrong. lol... Theres a plan to have customers fill out e-forms on a tablet in the workshop to reduce the amount of interpretation errors. It's all about time since i'm a software developer! It would be awesome If i could then have it tie in to my accounting system! everyone can have dreams. If you want my paper-based form, let me know or email me at [email protected]. more than happy to send it through mate Cheers!

Wow! How in the world you guys in America do such low priced oil changes? What's your costs? I think that giving something of no 'real' cost to us during an oil servicing works very well. for my shop, I give their car a safety inspection & a clean at the end of the servicing.

Quinn, i always refer to the worlds encyclopedia when in doubt or the factory oil specifications guide. Customers that don't know what they are paying for should always get what their car needs unless they have an awesome reason why they want something else. I prescribe because i have the knowledge and because i want the best for the customer. In terms of stock, i stock a certain weight of oil, eg 0w40 or 10w40. But if the vehicle requires a different viscosity, i will order it in from my supplier just for him/her. We are the car doctors. Their interests should be our 1st priority. I wouldn't necessarily trust what was placed in before.

On my end, i've undergone a little bit of training at an oil facility in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. For starters: to be US friendly: - 1 kilometre = 0.621371 miles. 120,000 kms = 74,564 mi | 60,000 kms = 37,282 mi - Left = Wrong side. kidding Weights 1) Always refer to the vehicle manual to determine the recommended oil when it's new. e.g. 0w20 or alternatives 5w20 or 0w30. 2) Discover kilometers (sorry Americans; which is everyone ) since a brand new engine e.g. Travelled 110,000kms 2a) Every 60,000kilometres, go UP an oil grade e.g. 0w20 to 0w30 to 0w40 and onwards. 2b) In this example, 110,000kms = 0w30. When it hits 120,000km, recommend 0w40 as a starter. 3) Disclaimer: Some cars are in even better condition and the 60,000km marker is a guideline. It could be more. Specifications 1) Always refer to the vehicle manual to determine the recommended/required specification. 1a) Regardless of age, it always stays the same. e.g. An Audi A4 requires VW 502 and VW 505 2) Check Oil for the matching specifications. If it's not shown, i'ld be a little wary about using it in the vehicle. 2a) Most people would say it's alright. Its not my car so if anything goes wrong, the business supplying the oil can be liable. 3) In the case of API, any rating after will be A-ok if nothing else more specific is specified. like a SN used when the car specifies SJ. Base Oils We don't need to go to that level however it's useful to know the various types. In my case, I service 2 brands, Volkswagen & Audi and use 2 brands of oils. Certain car models should only use certain oils within the 2 brands. My life is easy and customers are guaranteed oil that is top notch, good quality, compatible and recommended by the manufacturer. Doesn't get easier than that! A little bit of research is required at the start but it's work worth its weight in gold.

Thanks Joe, I will! I'm actually looking to upgrade my membership and putting that as an educational tax writeoff. Let you know when I have the paperwork done!

I hope that I can have even a shred of your resilience guys when the time comes. Have a happy holiday Joe & Gonzo!

Heya! I'm the sort of guy that won't want to stock too much of anything because that to me is dead stock/inventory. Of course, oils are sold by companies that may have a lot of stock and are trying to get out of their warehouse. With my shop, i'll be using Martini Racing. It's Australian and a part from being a workshop owner (to be), I've also picked up the sales position for Martini Racing in Asia just so I can get the sneaky into the industry. heh Martini does things differently, There's no need to stock, which is good. It is also used by a fair number of cars in the World Time Attack Challenge held in Sydney, Australia. It is used in the champion's car as well as a lot of the other competing cars. I stock & sell that because I have full confidence in the product. If a $700,000 car wants to use it exclusively, i'm selling it! LOL plus the margin is good. Hope that helps!

Seems like driving the vehicle home to get a feel for the issue is a common thing? I recently spoke about this with a friend of mine who was troubleshooting a hunting idle and he spent 2.5days changing/checking Coolant level/PCV/IACV/Spark Plugs/Spark Leads/blah blah blah and eventually he decided it wasn't possible. Turns out a string of shops had already seen the car and offered no answer like him... He charged for the plugs and basically added an hours' of work onto it. Here I was thinking 2 x 1hr for it? But I guess, they did come to you to have it resolved so they should be aware of the possible charges. On the other hand, this is a learning experience and useful for the future?

I agree that it will make a big difference in the eyes of the customer. It's never nice to see dirty technicians. I've got friends who are mechanic/owners of their own garage and they are trenched in grease. It's hard to give a good impression under all that grease. At the workshop that i'll be starting (it begins tomorrow! hurray!), i'm looking to do what you've done in the beginning and to have look clean every day.

That is a wonderful way of providing feedback whilst allowing the technician to feel like part of the business and really over-achieve! ARO, part GP and labor GP <-- I don't understand those terms. Would you be kind enough to spell them out for silly ol me?

Hi Gonzo! Thank you for the welcome! I concur! This is a treasure trove of information on how, why, what to and what not to do when owning an Auto Shop. I have much to learn and foresee myself having many questions that I don't have answers to - Thankfully all I will have to do is ask it here! I have always been one to give back to the community so I will be around to help the new ones out for sure I look forward to meeting and getting to know all of you! Hi Wes! Thank you! I will recommend that to be purchased! Thank you for the link. I'll need to do some reading so I know what I'm talking about We haven't set up shop yet nor have we decided on a location - however we have zoned in on 2 locations. What software do you run for managing bookings and customer information? I'ld imagine I would need some sort of CRM to keep track of work done, notes from my mechanics as well as talking points for each customer. Am I over-thinking things? How do you handle customers at your workshop?

Hi guys, Only just realised that its a US-centric forum. I hope you'll allow me to stay around and learn+contribute I'm Leonard Lee and i'll be co-owning+managing a brand new auto shop in Singapore. For the moment we're looking at Volkswagens however, I won't be turning any customers away as I want to be able to expand the business to do as many makes as I possibly can, without diluting the quality factor of course. I have much to learn at this stage in terms of management. I'm not a total stranger to working on a car and i think i'm alright with diagnosis/troubleshooting, R&R of any mechanical parts on a vehicle, what I don't know is engine assembly(still learning), gearbox assembly and differential assembly (i think i got it lol) I've got so many questions and I guess i can't fire them all out at once. heh... can I ?