lmcca

we have tekmetric and the really bad part is they use MOTOR for the labor guide and it is absolutely horrible. Labor times are really low compared to mitchell and missing info on vehicles and some vehicles it has no labor information whatsoever. We use XLPARTS mainly which offers mitchell labor guide lookup while you search for parts. Aside from that we really like the program.

they keep trying to get us, they call every few months and everytime they do i say, "i would absolutely like to advertise with yelp" and they go, really? thats great and i say, as soon as you stop blocking my customers good reviews. The hiding of reviews doesnt work very good, i understand why they do it do the system does not work. For that reason, i'm out.

we have two and there is no need to assign techs to them or find a solution, it generally works out easily enough when customers walk up to the counter. We rarely see an imbalance. Plus, one is the service manager so he can delegate if needed. We also have a parts guy but he only handles parts as they come in, if it is a wrong part, part inventory, part returns and tracking. We also have a body shop so he handles those parts as well. He does not write up tickets, the service writers do.

wow, nice tips, very good.

yikes, stay out of peoples shops man

Autozone, Carquest (which is now Advance) do the same thing, Oreileys loans tools i believe but dont do the check engine scan anymore that im aware of. Point is, they are all doing it. I know allot of you wont like me for this but we allow people to bring their own parts, to a point, as i would rather get something out of it rather than nothing out of it and as Joe pointed out, the labor is where the money is made. In your case Joe, we tell the customer up front there is a 1/2 hour front end inspection charge if during the course of an alignment we find loose or worn out parts and they decline the repairs here. Then when they come back we get the alignment charge as well. This way we arent doing free front end checks for the do it themselfers. (kinda of the topic but wasnt sure if you did this or not).

so you dont want to help us figure that out? not sure what you are here for, but thanks........i guess..

if you are not going to provide this invaluable way of finding a tech, WHY would you post it in the first place? OP, i have had the same issues as you, in the end craigslist has been the best in finding us a candidate. The general service guys are easier to get and look at craigslist. The tech also go there but it does seem to be more difficult to find them. I post to CL and indeed. I also keep all past applications and resumes and go thru those and make phone calls, got one by doing that. Just wish we could get the magical search terms to find the golden hidden tech resumes.........

were you on monster? Indeed? needtechs?

lol, fake news.

ok, but how? what were the search terms? what websites? i mean, resumes have to sit on a server somewhere so im wondering where you are seeing them? Where did you find this guy you hired?

we have been using cradlepoint for several years, in fact, just got our second one. We have a collision center that is cloud based on most of what they do and i guess the service side for repair information etc as well. I got it because we switched from t 1 lines to cable, with the unreliability of cable i had to have a back up. It has saved us many times, the longest was about 4 days without cable, ouch, but people never noticed any speed difference as its 4g and its really fast. With the t-1's and other newer technology the down time is slight, in fact most phone companies have a 99 percent up time but its nice to have a backup to not slow you down etc.

so where did you find the resumes?

we signed up for the trial a few days ago, it is neat but the problem we are running into is there are several phone numbers for us, meaning, in marketing companies use their own numbers to track and monitor the phone calls. So, if you look on our website, it is not the real phone number to our shop. i figure there is 3 maybe 4 different numbers that will actual ring here. Textbox can tie all the numbers together but they will charge you for each line they do that. So in our case, we would be charged 4 times in order to get all the lines covered. now, do we need to have all the lines covered? I guess not but it will raise problems for when people say, i texted you but got no response etc.

whats a book?

jesus, its hard enough to get them to work efficiently enough when they are on flag. What a nightmare to have them hourly. Do yourself a huge favor, go flag, use hourly general service guys for cleaning and get your techs thinking about the cars that come into the bay that makes you money rather than a cleaning list. We have 3 techs, flag hour. 2 general service techs, lof, si, keep shop clean etc. they are hourly.

no

what the heck? This was the case back in 2004 but, sorry, this is completely wrong. In fact, it is becoming harder and harder to find analog lines, VOIP IS the go to technology.

yeah, i agree, dont feel guilty but at the same time explain the extra costs involved so that may help them understand, rent, insurance etc. They should understand. However, you may still lose some because they came to you (most likely) because of the 35 an hour, they may not be able to afford the rest. If that does happen, it isnt your fault, your growing, thats a good thing, you wont grow at 35 an hour for anyone in that building.

We were EXACTLY this except no tires, during the week we get killed with cars and on Saturday, 9 to 2 for us it was dead. One or two cars and thats it. I put it to the owner as far as costs etc and he said no, we will stay open on Saturdays. Then 3 months later, guess he started to realize, we closed it for saturdays. Been closed on weekends for several years now and its great for employees and us and the customers are used to it now and not many objected. Some places get creamed on the weekends, some dont. close it up, your peoples morale will go up some too.

hmm, i think i would pick a different place for empathy, thought this was for business. I keep forgetting how sensitive people have become, i weep for the people of this country, been so wrong over the years. Ill say a prayer for you both and hope your feelings are better tomorrow.

so, since i said the same thing as mspec but said it first, im the one out of line, lol. Im not out of line, he had a procedure in place, he chose to go outside of that, it bit him and he is mad because a customer took him on it. Big deal, if this bothers you guys so much you should stop airing this kind of stuff. I tell it like it is, like several others on here. Cry to someone else.

so your saying that he posted so that we would come here and give him a pat on the back and cheer him up with joy joy feelings? I guess they should add in the post that, its not about OUR opinions when posting that its about saying what he wants to hear. A customer took advantage of the situation, shocker. Seems to me he brought this on himself with a terrible question to ask the customer, if he is so upset about the guys answer then he should not be asking those questions to begin with. There is nothing he can do to change that situation. He can leave it peaceful with the customer and see him again and again for service or he can get in a pissing match with him and never get another penny out of it. Another thing, i would have NEVER asked that customer that question, because if that situation happened to me and the service guy asked me that question and i gave that answer, i would never go back to that facility as i would think he would try and screw me the next time i came in. So again, i think it was a bad call to ask that question and again, you made a bad choice, get past it and move on with a learning experience.

i got your point, the customer saw an oppurtunity to save some money and took it. Doesnt mean he is right about doing it but you gave him that option and he decided to save a buck.