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On parts I just add 10% for my workers. Tires a few dollars. I just want to cover bookkeeper fees.

I also had Cintas but after months of BAD service I threw them out of the building. I had to pay them off $1,200 which sucked but I couldn't take it anymore. I now have a rag man who also sells supplies. I purchase my own uniforms from dickies.com.

Thank you for the update. I hope for a speedy recovery.

I pay .7 for oil change and multi-point inspection.

I hope you recover quickly Gonzo.

You were right about the "Power Down" Jeff. The radio took forever to power down and was confusing my test procedure.

FYI - This draw was from the sway bar control unit. Water gets into the unit and shorts it out.

I am in this predicament right now. This tech is loyal, honest and willing to do what he is told to. I love him as a friend and truly care about his well being but he has to go. 

The issues I have with him is:
Massive procrastinator
Weak production. Under 50%
Messy
Every vehicle aggravates him and is a piece of crap. He will yell and swear when working on cars while stating that he needs to find another career.

So why is he still there? I have put off letting him go because his 18 year old daughter was killed in a car crash 2 weeks before Christmas.

Now that I think about it he has always had the issues I mentioned above and shame on me for being a chicken. He should have been gone years ago.

The lesson to be learned here is. As soon as you know someone is NOT right for your shop then let them go. Nothing is gained by hanging onto the wrong people. Do not let your emotions block the proper decisions for the company.

I have a Jeep in from a NEW customer. Battery dead this morning. Was towed in and had 6 volts. Put jump pack on and it started right up. New battery and alternator in December. Car is drawing 3.7 amps I pull the radio fuse and it drops to 1.7 amps. Is 1.7 normal? Still seems high to me. Perhaps 2 draws? Also, I am not totally happy with the alt output.

2012 Wrangler w/ 3.6l. 95k miles

My mistake people. Maxx Traxx is not cloud based. I apologize but I was confused with Omnique. Omnique is cloud based and Maxx Traxx is not.

Sorry for the mix up. I have tried several pos programs in the last 8 years that my brain is scrambled.

If anyone else has an issue with the limited notes field please tell them. If they receive enough complaints they will fix this. PLEASE help by contacting Mitchell at Toll Free 888.724.6742

Here is my issue:

I believe I got this idea from this forum somewhere. I like to be able to say the words "No Cost" over the phone to a customer with an issue. So I offer a free initial diagnostic. This is when my tech will spend 1 to 10 minutes looking at the customer's concern. Once the tech does this task he comes back to the Service Writer with a request for the proper diagnostic time. The Service Writer then sells the required time for diagnostics. The problem is Mitchell limits the note field and we can not add the proper lines and spaces needed. My work order for the tech should look like this:

Customer concerns:




Step by Step - What have you tested and what are the results of the tests?:




What will happen if the customer doesn’t repair this problem?:





Potential other problems once this is repaired?:




What will fix it?:



Parts list:





Estimated time to repair:

I am actually still paying Scott Systems for Maxx Traxx so I can have access to my old records.

Pros: Great company, Awesome people and great customer service.

Cons:
1. Kinda klunky getting around. Takes to long to get the story of the customer. Allot of clicking.

2. Hard for new people to learn although they have great training videos.

3. Not sure if it is a good thing that they have accounting built in. I had issues in the past.

4. You can not add parts without a labor line. This sounds petty but, as you may soon find out, it is aggravating.

5. Since it is cloud it is very hard to have your history if you choose to leave them.

6. Not totally sure one this one but I do not believe they work with Bolt On.

7. Big one here... Unless they recently added it, they do not supply a labor guide. I use to have to pay AllData for real time labor.

Feel free to contact me with any Maxx questions. I used it for 1.5 years.

The Mitchell scheduler is the best I have seen but I also have issues like mspecperformance.

We have done a good job getting people to show up and on time. This is a rather easy issue to cure if you are willing to apply the effort. Here is what we have done to minimize this late/no show issue.

1. We text the customer to remind them of the appointment with the wonderful BoltOnTech messenger pro. If they do not confirm the appointment we will either text them a note or call them.
2. We email the customer to remind them of the appointment with the Mitchell CRM program.

3. When a customer is 1 minute late we call them. This is the most important step because we are training the customer to honor the appointment time. An important thing to know about calling them is to call them in a manner that you come off as being concerned about them. You want the customer to know that you are concerned about their welfare and you want to know that they are okay.

4. I feel that if you have a repeat offender that it is alright to call them and explain to them the importance of your schedule. I have a great customer but he was always late or a no show. I politely told him that we really appropriate his business and he is a valued customer. I then went on to tell him that in order to give all our customers the top notch service we need to follow a tight schedule. By the end of the call he knew that when his appointment was for 9am that I had a tech waiting for him. He was happy and our relationship has never been better. He has never been late or missed since.

Follow these steps and in a short while you will be having customers calling you when they are running a few minutes late.

About the scheduling issue!! I am also struggling allot with this. I think smaller shops have more trouble with this than larger shop with more techs. I have days were we can not give service away and days where everything sells itself. I think the only thing we can do is to insure that our techs know their schedule DAILY. A whiteboard is good but takes time to manage. I print the tech's schedule every day and hand it to the tech before the work day begins.

Other than that I am at a loss of what to do. It always seems that Mr. Smith who barely had time for the oil service all of the sudden he wants to do that 4 wheel brakes and transmission service. Now we scramble to get him to work, order parts and get the car done with an almost full schedule. I am always fearful to reschedule Mr. Smith in fear of losing the 62% profit margin job. If I don't take the job I risk losing it but on the same token I am one broken bolt away from a disaster day.

I am trained to have more techs than what I need and push the pressure to keeping them busy onto the Service Advisor and tech's but i feel that is an UN-healthy game. I would love to hear some ideas to solve this problem.

I like it FrogFinder. I will try it. Thank you.

Tell me more about the $2 in the fuel door. So when the customer adds fuel he or she sees the bag with cards. I get that part but how does that get more cares in the door?

Funny how you mentioned going out and meeting people in the area. My wife and I just finished making little packages with biz cards, Andes candies, mini candy canes and a post card. Gotta be honest. I am a little gun shy to get out there.

Man o man I know it is Christmas but where the heck is everyone. I can even give away repairs. I do not recall seeing it this slow in recent years. I am throwing everything out there and not seeing any response. Just paid over $200 to text blast an oil change special and have only gotten 2 responses for unrelated items. This is scary.

Do not forget that you can only pay your techs 30% of labor loaded.

I was surprised to see so many positive things about Mitchell CRM. I can't stand this CRM and here is why:

1. Mitchell sends out recommended service emails and unlike MechanicNet you do not have a chance to review who they are sending to before they send. It would be nice to review the list so have the opportunity to stop marketing to the bottom feeders and call my top customers in a couple of days.

2. Contract - By the time you figure out this CRM sucks you are locked in for 1 year.

3. The reporting is horrendous and inaccurate. If they send Mrs. Jones an email for 150,000 manufacturers service and Mrs. Jones comes in for the brakes you told her she was going to need in 6 months ago, the CRM reports that she came in from their email.

4. They send out an email for a manufacturer 180,000 service. The issues is that as the shop owner I can not see what the hell they sent. And the real amazing thing is that Mitchel maintenance schedule stops at 150,000 miles.

5. You have no control. You have to call Mitchell to do anything.

Just my 2 cents.

I use to worry that I was too expensive but after some training I quickly realized that I am not. Our labor rate is $110.73.

Number 1 reason people come to you is "TRUST". Price is number 6.

Jay... It's not about the price.

My pleasure Mike. Bolt on is one of the few companies that are on top of their game. Always updating things to make it better. I appreciate that.

My shop (Primary Care Auto Repair) will be customers for many years to come.

Step one in this case is to paste his VIN into CarFax and see if the customer went elsewhere for service.

Is anyone using Mitchell CRM with success? I am not sure if I am getting any ROI.

I also dislike the reporting and I hate that I can not read the recommended emails that they send to customers.

Any input would be appreciated.

I use Bolt On for my texting service. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!. Bolt On nailed their Messenger Pro program.

Have you ever called a customer to discuss an estimate and they are in the middle of cleaning up little Johnnies spilled milk while the 2 dogs are barking uncontrollably? Not me anymore. I simply select the customers name and then select my quick template which reads:

"Don Your 2007 Infiniti G35 has been diagnosed and an estimate prepared. Please call 4016814994 so we can discuss repair costs & completion time, Thanks."

When the customer has a few free minutes they call me for the price. I can not tell you how much easier it is to close a sale when the customer is calling you when they have the time. Texting also makes your shop look up to date on technology.

This is a must have tool for any shop.