ScottyP

1 hour ago, Transmission Repair said:

Use a PowerProbe to find out.  It's not very hard.

Power Probe 4 Master Kit

Don't have access to the car.  Long story short the local dealer is pulling some really shady crap on a customer of mine(known for it, all the time), who came to me for some advice. I may get the car in at some point but for now was trying to figure it out with a diagram if I could find one.  This is something that's going to court.

5 hours ago, Hands On said:

It looks like you have the lighting harness for towing, green is one of the turns I think.

It's not, the car didn't have one but an aftermarket kit was installed. That big black wire going through the grommet is the power wire to the tail light converter.

Long story but I need to know what this green wire is for or what circuit it's in. It's the harness in the left rear of the car that goes from underneath up into the left quarter panel. 

Thanks and Happy New Year, hope your shop is doing great!

Just got off the phone with my attorney, he's going to start with a letter to the ins co. I forgot to mention that the adjuster was at my shop, checked out the car and approved the claim. He had sent me over the paperwork, had found an engine with 140k miles, basically they were going to put a used engine in it for $3k rather than total the car. It was 2 days later some lady from the ins called to interview me, this was after the original shop told her the car was junk when it came in. We'll see where it goes from here.

Not me. I'm trying to help my cousin with his car. Long story short it's an 02 Honda CRV wth 186,000 miles. Started stalling on him so he brought it to his mechanic. While at the mechanics shop someone went in and asked for the keys to check out the CRV, no one knows who that was btw. Mechanic gives the guys the keys and then apparently forgets about it and leaves the keys in the car overnight. Car gets stolen that night, probably the same guy. He gets about 6 - 7 miles and the engine locks up and he abandons it.

So it gets towed back to the shop and the mechanic pulls the valve cover and said it jumped time and not worth fixing. I go and pick it up and bring it to my shop( an hour and a half north) to take a look. Started doing a leakdown to see if it bent valves, get to #2 and found a valve sitting on top of the piston.

So I tell my cousin to call his insurance since it was stolen and they destroyed the engine. He does and after almost 2 months they finally tell him it isn't covered because of the pre-existing condition of the engine when it was brought into the shop. Found out the mechanic told them the engine was junk when it came in the first time which is a crock! It was running when it was brought in, it ran for 7 miles after being stolen. It may have jumped time causing the initial problem but was probably only off 1-2 teeth, the car thief caused it to jump enough more to hit the valves and break one off. The mechanic threw my cousin under the bus to protect his own hide as I'm sure he knew if there was a claim the insurance would come after him for giving the keys to who knows who and then leaving them in the car overnight.

I just texted my attorney, we're going to talk about it tomorrow. Ben should get paid for the car and I'd sue the shop if the insurance doesn't pay. They can also pay me $10/day storage fees for the last 2 months too. I've been plowing around that damn thing all winter.

I won't even do oil changes period, except for my fleet customers if I'm also doing something else for them. I have limited billable hours and consider them a waste of time.

I let the other shops do the cheepo oil changes, then lots of those customers come to me to have their work done right. I hear it almost everyday, "I was at ****** getting getting an oil change and they said I have a bad right front wheel bearing and I also need rear brakes". Lets take a look and see when I can get you in lol.

I will say the one thing that kills me working by myself is interruptions. I lose at least an hour a day or more just waiting on customers and answering the phone. There are days it's so busy I cannot get my scheduled work done and I'm there till 7 finishing up. I'm really looking forward to hiring a full time tech come spring.

I'm sure it's not the best but I use an Autel AL619. For $300 it reads obdII, manufacturer specific codes, ABS and SRS codes, and can read, record and playback live data. Only thing I don't like is it doesn't have it's own power source. I can't unplug it and bring it out to show the customer.

I don't think there's anything wrong with running a one man show, as long as that's what you want and are content.

I'm a one man shop too, and I like it that way, at least for now. I don't kill myself either, I work from 8:30 - 5:00 and I am out the door at 5:01. I'll work half a Saturday if I feel like it or if it's super busy, which it usually is. I keep it simple though, easy in and out work. I'm not cheap either my labor rate is right on par with most indy shops.

You could define my shop as both a job and a business. There's no question I have to go to work everyday and do my job, but it certainly is much more than a job and it's very satisfying to build up a successful shop. I make at least 3x what I could make turning wrenches at any other shop and it's only going up. My business plan does include stepping back and out of the shop though. I've had a summer helper the last 2 years and I'll hire a full time tech this spring. My son will be 16 this winter and wants to work at the shop this summer so I'll keep him busy as well. I purposely held off hiring help as long as I could but I barely got through last summer in one piece it was so crazy busy. At this point if I don't hire help I'll be hurting my business and customers.

That's not enough work for 2 techs, I'm not surprised there's no money left. I'm a small shop too, in fact I work completey by myself except for the summer months when I have a helper. My ARO is around $350 and I average 3 cars per day.

My buddy asked me why I don't have a coffee pot, I told him I don't want to encourage people to hang out here. I much prefer people drop their cars off. I know not everyone can so we have magazines, decent chairs and a radio, but that's it. And now that I'm a Beta dealer I've taken out half the chairs and they have to stare at a dirtbike

November was slow here too, the first half was average but it really fell off from the 15th to the end(deer season). I haven't looked at the numbers yet but it was down from the last couple years. For the year though we are up over 27% and our net profit is up even more. Hope the winter holds.

I can't tell you everything we did, I can tell you some of the big ones.

1: go above and beyond with every customer, educate them and treat them as much like friends and family as possible (don't cross the free line)

2: communicate proper expectations, and notify them on plan changes as soon as possible.

3: Admit when your wrong. Always be as honest as possible.

4: If it breaks and it's your fault, fix it. And tell them it was and honest mistake.

5: explain in as much detail as possible the issue and educate them. Teach them how the system works.

6: make sure to do thorough look inspections when you see the car, inform the customer with out being pushy about sales. (I think we all forget, when customers come to us - regardless of how ridiculous an expectation it is - they expect us to find upcoming failures so they don't while driving. The more of these you catch the better.

7: don't be nervous about the price, don't over think the price. If your nervous about what your charging you can bet they are picking up on that.

 

Honestly, for me it all comes down just be a quality repair provider.

We are a small 2 bay shop.

We don't advertise outside of our website, Google listing and a Facebook page.

We are telling customers 3-4 weeks before we see the vehicle, and we're turning down work we don't want.

My point in this ridiculous and long post is simple, don't over think increasing aro/car count - if your being a quality shop, and treating your customers right it won't be long until you realize aro/car count are great tools to stay on top of the performance of the business. But focusing on them may give you tunnel vision that sees the customers wallet without seeing the customer!

 

 

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This is how I operate and it's worked for me. I've never done any advertising and my little 2 bay shop is always full. People just want someone they can trust.

The average RO for brake line repair (towed in, no brakes) is around $700. Changing brake lines sucks, no doubt, but overall a couple hours fixes the lines and then another couple hours of gravy work to replace calipers or wheel cylinders when the bleeders are rusted off makes up for it.

 

The lines aren't hard to replace, but getting covered in rust and brake fluid is inevitable and we all prefer to not get all oily during the day. There's really no way to stay clean, and I find brake fluid just plain nasty.

Is that to replace all lines? I do a ton of brake line replacements and that would be my average cost to replace all lines on a vehicle. Chevy pickups I do all the time, cost is $750 to replace all lines with new fittings, more if we replace hoses and or other parts. NICOPP is the shit! Haven't used steel in years and never will, not even on a junker. And if you don't have a hydraulic flaring tool get one.

I also own a brake shop and in my first year I did install customer supplied parts on occasion. Over time I noticed a pattern with these people, they rarely showed up! Most likely they found some backyard guy to do it for $20 and a 12 pack, but didn't have the decency to call the shop to cancel. I quit doing it, no exceptions, and it doesn't bother me one bit if they don't like our policy. Let them go, they are not going to hurt you and only cause you grief. Focus on doing top notch work with quality parts and charging a fair price and you'll do just fine. After 4 years now I'm the go to brake guy in town and can barely keep up with the work.

Oh and if they need a reason I tell them it's a liability issue with our insurance company, that if their parts fail the insurance company has no recourse. They usually understand that. I even get one now and then that'll bring his parts back and let me do my job.

Lol we had a guy a while back thought our calipers were too expensive. Did them himself over the weekend. Had to get his truck towed in because he couldnt bleed it no matter what. He installed them upside down, bleeder on the bottom. I should have taken a picture of the empty 5 gallon pail of DOT 3 in the bed.

I had two F150's come into the shop in the last year both with calipers on the wrong side and bleeders on the bottom. This kind of stuff makes my day, I laughed all afternoon when I saw that pad on backwards.

As I read the posts on this page I see things from a different prospective as most, I am a Master Tech, L1 , Master Emissions license , state inspection license. As some may know from reading my posts. I have been at the same shop for 25 years and am so fed up with the business practice and pay that I am looking to open my own shop, but want to find a shop that need to be taken over or the owner is retiring .

 

Problem being it is very hard to find one that people aren't asking crazy money for, so the search continues. My problem is nobody wants to pay what techs are really worth, How can I be paid the same commission as a 21 year old with no schooling or training what so ever?? anyway I think the good tech problem is only going to grow and grow until there is some sort of licensing implemented to weed out all the street mechanics and rip offs. Every other career needs to be licensed (plumbers, electricians , doctors, pilots, cdl truck drivers and so on...)

 

I for one am very honest and treat peoples cars as if they were my own, I won't over sell, I won't lie, in fact I get a lot of state inspections referred to me (I hate doing them not enough money very boring ) since I am honest.. State inspections are not for the purpose of making money they are for the safety of the vehicles on the road, if people really understand the inspection process they will see that every thing is the bare minimal needed to be considered safe..

 

I get customers that come to me after someone (possible another guy at the shop) have worked on their cars and they still have the same issue , I always point out my certificates that are hung not really in view over my tool box, and let them know I have many years of experience and am a Master certified tech. I then tell them you get what you pay for. None of the other guys here are certified or would I let work on my car , now many of you are now saying that I am probably killing the business or as an owner are pulling their hair out saying you can never talk bad about the business , well I do and will until things change.

 

i agree with the need for better pay , and getting the public to realize why auto repair is expensive, it's not like the 50's thru the late 80's cars are very advanced now and need some one who know what they are doing to fix them. Also that there needs to some sort of licensing so that the public can have some sort of confidence in taking there cars to be repaired. too much stigma out there of how we are rip offs. I say if your are not ase certified then another License must be obtained to be able to work as a Technician/Mechanic

I don't know about your state but in Michigan you have to be licensed, state or ASE either way you have to be certified and pass the tests and your work is limited to the extent of your license. Also my shop has to be a state licensed repair facility to operate in this business.

I stop and visit them myself and I've probably gotten 80% of the businesses that I walked into. Most are smaller fleets of 5 - 10 which I prefer. Had a local engineering and enviromental company ask me if I was interested in maintaining their fleet of 30 trucks just recently. A little big for me but they'll rotate them all through in the winter when I'm not so slammed and the trucks are just sitting.

LOL!

Decided to move forward with this, sent all the paper work into Beta today. Now have to deal with the state.

For signage I think I'm just going to put a banner on my building for now. My main sign is not big enough to add anything to. Plus I'm well known in the dirt bike circles and once I let the cat out of the bag word will get around quick. I wish I had more room here but I can't give up this location for a bigger building.

I've been a dirt biker since I was 12, that's 40 years of riding and racing and it's still in my blood, I ride every week. I have an opportunity to get a Beta dealership. Beta is a small 110 year old Italian motorcycle company who produces the worlds best trials and off road bikes as well as dual sport. They've been breaking into the US market the last few years with their enduro models and have their sites on KTM, who is due for some competition. One aspect of the Betas is that they are physically smaller than other race bikes. My KTM has a 38" seat height and some models are 39". The Beta is 36". This is huge for many riders and makes the Beta a clear choice for a lot of us. And of course they're Italian, and gorgeous!

At this point I see them as KTM was 15 years ago, a small Euro company who took over the off road racing market in short order. Beta stands a chance at the same, they certainly are producing a bike that is on par or superior to KTM. To me it's like a ground floor opportunity with an emerging brand that is ready to explode in this market. The investment is minimal, $1200 for parts required to stock and that includes the EFI scan tool/programmer, minimum first bike order of 2, 4 is preferred with one being a demo(at special pricing from Beta). Margins on bike sales are 17% and prices range from $7,300 - $10,000+. No idea how many bikes I could sell in a year, but dirtbiking is huge around here.

One hurdle is I would have to get a class A dealers license. Beta requires it and so does the state. Maybe not a huge deal. $15-18k investment initially for 2 bikes and parts. I have very little room in my lobby for bikes, I would have to push them outside every day. Would eat up my time with tire kickers and people wanting to see and learn about them.

I'm guessing knowing my area and the riders around here I would sell 5 - 10 a year, so $7500 - $15000 in profits. I'm very passionate about dirtbiking so this fits me personally. I'd get my own bikes and parts at cost, and dang I just ordered a new 2016 Beta a month ago, it's why I'm looking at a dealership cause the closest was over 4 hours away. I'd have the whole U.P. of Michigan and most of Northern Wisconsin so potentially sales could be much more than I'm expecting.

Anyone ever sell anything outside of the automotive world at their shops? Any thoughts on this?

If any of you shop owners have excess space where an RV motor home can fit, your missing the boat on all that work. Many of the owners are thinking they only can go to a RV place for any service. There are more gas powered units than diesel and if your so inclined, these owners need service. If your anywhere close to an RV park, stop in and meet the owner or manager and let them know your able to help service anyone needing your help. The labor rates are higher than what most of you are charging for auto repairs and I found the units easy to work on. Yes they do take room, but the rv owner normally would want the rig fixed as soon as possible and will pick them up as soon as called that the work is done.

I traveled 8 years in my rig living full time in it and met a LOT of unhappy folks that were dealing with the RV only service places. If you read any of the RV related forums finding a reliable, honest and qualified service place ranks as the top complaint. The places that are rated high in the service side are always busy and have a big following of customers. Just a thought to increase sales and profits. Might be worth looking into.

+1 true story. I moved into my current location 2 years ago, on the main hwy with both hwy and side street exits, so RV's and trailers can drive in and out without turning around. This building used to be a trailer, hitch and rental shop, so when I moved in I took on hitch sales and installs, trailer parts and accessories, and working on trailers. That business has been huge with sales exceeding auto repair work We've done some work on RV's but we're limited on space and my doors are only 10' tall so anything with AC is not going to fit. I worked on a class C motor home today, outside, which I hate but it paid well. We did new brakes, drums, bearings, brake lines, master cylinder etc on a 12k lb dump trailer yesterday and that bill was over $1600. Very good margin there. Hitch sales and installs are huge for us and parts and accessories markup is 100% up to 200%. Easy money. If we only had a bigger bay we could work on RV's continuously since not many like our local RV dealer nor their very expensive service.

Yeah no kidding, time off? I haven't had more than a 3 day weekend in over 2 years. Even this last Memorial day weekend I worked till 4:00 pm on Saturday. I do get to play though, I ride dirt bikes every Thursday night, have an enduro race on June 13th too, ride mountain sleds all winter, do Taekwondo 3 nights a week but vacation time at this point isn't going to happen any time soon. Hopefully within the next year or so I'll have the staff to handle the shop so I can get away a little and not work myself to death lol.

What a great story! Thanks for sharing.

You also need to take a look at the brake work your techs are doing. One of the biggest no no's I've seen is pad ends being ground down to fit in the brackets and abutment hardware, even by well know shops. I assume you're in a salt zone as I am and one of the problems I see on a daily basis is rust buildup behind the hardware which starts to pinch the pads and sticks them in the brackets. Hardware needs to be removed and all rust cleaned off the brackets. I have several methods but my favorite is to use the sand blast cabinet. Once the rust is gone I treat that surface, grease it and install new hardware and then the pads will fit perfect, not too tight and not too loose. I assume you're greasing the pad ends and or abutment hardware, glide pins as well as the caliper piston end and opposite side contact areas. In the four years I've owned my shop I have never had a brake job come back for squealing, and I do a crap ton of brake work.