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So we are looking at moving our shop to a really nice shop here in town that has some amenities that we are very excited about but I got to talking with the landlord about the past few shops that had been in there and he told me that he didn't think this location could sustain a $70-80 labor rate. He thought that was probably why the last shop didn't stay busy enough to keep the doors open. I have always thought that while location can be a great plus that it really truly depends on how you package things and how well you do with marketing and advertising. Ive always seen that good customers will travel a little bit just to come to a shop they like. What do you all think? How much value should I put in what the landlord was saying? How much does location truly have to do with a shops success? How far will customers travel to come to a good quality shop they love?

Good call, what point should I shift to flat rate?

Any advice for keeping the employee happy until I have enough work for him? I have found so far that many guys out there are nervous about working for a new company that is just starting out.

Yes that is also very good advice I think I will set that as my first option and if that doesn't work I will just start by hiring an employee. Any advice for a good way to find a business that would be willing to sell or transition ownership?

What is the best way to keep them paid well enough to keep them even if we dont have a fully scheduled day? At least until we get off the ground.

I like that idea but I feel that if I'm stuck running the front office to start then I won't have the time to market the business well enough to keep them busy all day...

Good point, I plan to stay in this business until retirement at which time I plan to either hand it down to my kids or sell the business. The only reason I am considering a partner is mainly due to my lack of expertise in the actual technical side of the business.

I guess my only fear with an employee over partner is then they are not nearly as invested and if I lose my first employee I'm in trouble until I found another.

I am an experienced businessman who has a lot of experience in starting, growing and operating a service based business. I am now wanting to start an auto repair shop but am trying to decide how to handle the fact that I dont have enough of the technical know how to do repairs myself. Should I partner with an experienced mechanic or simply hire quality professionals to work under me?

If you were to add all your fees up, including the hike in your business insurance, gas, time it takes your employees to clean them, registration costs how much would you say it probably costs you, per day, to loan the vehicles out??

I think that is the direction we are leaning too. What advantages and disadvantages have you found with the different companies? For instance hertz I know will bring the vehicle and return the vehicle to your shop where enterprise will just pick the customer up. Also would like some ideas of how to deal with the pricing. Its only about $30 a day for the rentals but would like to figure something out so we don't have to eat that cost. And something smoother than just charging the customer...

So I downloaded the app and just for kicks and giggles I put in a standard location that I could see needing a ride to. It was super seamless to use the app and get it set up but to my dismay it wanted to charge me almost $30 for one way. At that rate I could pay for the rental for one of my customers for a whole day without even a shop rate on the rental. Am I doing something wrong or where are these $5 fares??

Awesome, do they also do website and app development??

Hey guys anyone using an online one stop shop for marketing? There are some really cool website developers out there that are web-based and also offer marketing solutions such as mswebpros.com. Would like to find some others that also do marketing online, social media and even locally.

Did u just use a local developer or an online website developer???

How much does that run??

I found out that mitchell 1 has a software called management SE that can be bundled with shopkey together for about $229/month that does more on the management side like scheduling etc. I guess I'm more interested in what u guys use for scheduling your workflow and keeping track of where each ro is at during the process??

Does anyone know if shopkey pro has scheduling capabilities too??

How much does motorev cost?

What software are you guys using for scheduling repairs in your shop and how much does it cost?

What is the best way to go about finding who to use for health insurance as a shop owner. It seems there are some many companies out there where do you start!?

I'm starting an automotive and tire business here in central Kansas. Just want to hear from you guys when your busy, steady and slow times of the year for service are? Thanks!

We are a full service Automotive repair shop with tires, alignments and lube as an obvious added service, my main focus will be on the repair side of things but I don't want to turn people away just because i don't have a tire machine or don't call myself a quick lube. I realize I can't be all things to all people but i can have a focus with additional services as well. I am simply working on the financials of my business plan, I have all of our one time capital expenses pinned down as well as all of our recurring (monthly) fixed and variable expenses worked out. We will have one master mechanic, another tech that is fresh out of tech school and then me doing the service advising and running the business side of things while helping out in the shop every once in a while. We will most likely start with a 2-bay garage but plan to quickly move up into a 4-bay garage and hire on more seasoned mechanics. Currently I guess i am just looking for rough estimates on what i can expect for revenues when we start that is where most of these questions are coming from, so unfortunately I don't have any data to go off of except what i get from you guys and other market research. We are opening up here in central kansas so that gives you guys a little better idea of the market we are located in. These numbers are helping a bunch tho, i appreciate all the help!

What would you say your average markup is tho on tires because although you are correct that you just have labor involved with the tire you still have to mark up the tire price correct? so what could i expect from markups on tires if i am doing an average of 2000 a year as you are? thanks for the numbers this is helping a lot.

Thanks, some very useful info I appreciate it!