SMMotors

We shoot for 1.6-18% combined. Averaging 1.7%  Local bank doing the processing. Machine cost is$40/ unit. 

What does your handbook state about random drug testing? What does it state about drug use? 

Just playing devils advocate, is anyone a sloppy diabetic? Any homeless by your shop? Being in west Los Angeles, I'm plagued by homeless. They have freaking encampments along my block. God I hate Commiefornia. 

 This is a perfect example of why you need to specialize. 

Yeah it sucks having to buy a tool to do what you think is easy. 

How much time is wasted when you don't have that seal installer. What's your hourly rate? How much would that tool of costed after you factor in the come back cost, the loss of credibility with the client, and the frustration of the tech. 

The days of working on everything that rolls  through the shop are/ have been over. Oon your case, there's a TSB, that means there's a problem. 

If you can't afford to purchase the tools you need to do the job correctly, raise your labor rate, or don't work on the car to start with. 

Iatn.net has a forum just for HD and a wealth of other knowledge. 

Have you ever done mobile repair before? It's an entirely different animal. 

If they want to get better at understanding looking at data and pids on scanners have them start watching " Scanner Danner" on youtube. He primarily uses snap on scanners ( not my favorite, but useful) but more importantly he explains what your looking at and the theory behind it.

It's free, he's a teacher and goes into the theory on it, and touches on scopes and the importance of them. Highly recommend. I learned a lot and I'm a CMAT W/ factory training for Ford and Toyota.

I'm sorry, I'm confused. Why is he getting behind from writing up work, but he doesn't perform it? Does he just briefly write down " lie front brakes, bad idler, bad pitman, leaking radiator ?) or is he doing that and putting estimates together?

To answer your question, at my shop all my guys are either hourly or the foreman is salary. If we ( the techs) turn a certain amount of hours I give them a bonus ( which is 1099 so it doesn't raise my work comp). Then if the total labor hours for the shop is sold at different levels they get an additional bonus on that ( ie 400 hrs gets $250, 475 $375, 525 $500).

It's worked really well because we all work as a team and everyone wants to get the shop the higher hours which a is stagger so I make the lions share of the money but techs get a nice bonus (up to $1000 extra/ month)

Bolt on just put it the update last week, worth checking out, FYI.

I use Mitchell. I know for a fact that car fax asked and is now using info to report what I was doing to my customers vehicles. They stated that after a Mitchell update, they had lost that ability wth my particular server.

I said I wasn't interested and it's not my place to release service history's of my clients.

Flash forward 3 months later and guess what, my clients service records are reporting to car fax.

Further more, car fax does work wth Mitchell. With the new 7.0 update, it now has license plate decode.

Yes it's a nice feature, but I call bs saying car fax doesn't work wth Mitchell and that they automatically report records without consent.

What management system are you using?

I spend less that that with kukui and am rank top 2 on google searches. Your way over paying. I'm not thrilled with kukui, I feel like we got screwed when they set up our website ( different thread for that story), but for what I'm paying them, I'm getting way more that you are for $1100.

I haven't " played" with gds, I've used it. I'm assuming that's what your referring to? If your looking to go that route I'd look at a cardaq m or newer. You can run full function gds, Toyota, Honda, and a few others.

The time is coming to specialize. The days of all makes and models is coming to an end.

Let me know if you have a specific question about gds.

Give nothing away, you'll go broke. Charge more and be happy. Focus on quality and not price.

OP, I'd look at getting a used hawk eye, I've seen them go for $7-10 k on Craigslist. Way better investment than an outdated model.

I'm with Jeff, you sure the other shop didn't put in a used ECM? You shouldn't be able to communicate with nats if it's not supposed to be there

Condemning the ECM would be the last thing I would be doing. Just because you have no injector pulse doesn't mean the ECM is bad. You have no injector OR SPARK.

No need to go through all that work of pulling the valve cover off to check timing. What's your cam degree reading during cranking? What is bk1 vs bk2? For every 15* off! that is one tooth.

Since you already pulled the coils, check compression, but I don't think that's the issue. Read up how the system determins spark and fuel pulse and start there. There's no way the injector driver and spark driver went out. Look at the ECM that's in there and check for salvage yard writing.

Let me know what your cam readings are on the scanner.

I too specialize in honda. The. Only thing I would add is to do the trans every 25k, and valve adjuster every 60. Trans service is and easy sell. I charge $150. A new trans is 6-7$k.

I also do the BG program for the warranty and flush the ps system every 30k and do the fuel services when I'm doing the valve adjust. Brake fluid every 2 years as well.

Btw, I made more money after I got rid of the tech and gopher than the business had ever made. Running efficient and taking care of your staff can make you a lot more money with a lot less headache.

I gotta be honest with you. Based off what your saying, you need to fire everyone and start over. Sounds harsh right? Well, your basically bankrupt from what your billing out now, I can't imagine how your able to pay your techs,staff, OR YOURSELF.

First thing you need to do is stop being a mechanic and work ON YOUR BUSINESS. Your not going to have a business pretty soon. Let's address the problems your sharing one by one.

3 techs and 65 hours is bs. Is that total hours billed or per tech?how are you paying your techs? Do you have great techs? The way my shop was ran before I took over was 3 techs, 1 porter, 2sw, 1 shop gopher.

When I took over and made changes, I got rid of 1 tech, 1gopher, paid the other 2 techs better and switched them to hourly at a higher rate. They can crank out hours if the work is there. They are great techs and I want them happy. I also do a bonus if the shop hits over its monthly nut (that nut includes in the 20% off of the gross that the owner wants in addition to what he his salary is. Everyone gets a big bonus if we hit that, including the SW's and gopher.

If your parts suppliers are having to be called to see where your parts are,time to get a new supplier. Are you ordering from a commercial retail place or Orylies/auto zoo? It sounds like Orielurs/auto zoo if you have to keep calling.

Are you keeping the fast moving parts in stock? Do you work on everything or specialize? Me personally, I only work on a few car lines that I'm tooled up for with factory scanners and service info, and can keep parts stocked for. I order a ton from world PAC but get deliveries every 45-50 mins.

You need to hire someone to replace you. If you need to be in the shop, the hire Someone to run the office. Or hire someone to run the floor and hire someone to work the office while you figure out the roadblocks, fix them and have set SOP for your staff to follow.

If you know your a nice guy and can't get your people to do what you want, that's fine. It's great that you know that about yourself. The owner was here. You earn respect, but if they aren't doing what you want, hire someone that will make them and not be emotional about it. It is your business and lifeline.

What's your ARO? Have you figured out your effective labor rate? Good techs don't cost you money, neither does hiring more staff if that's what's needed. Figure out what's slowing you down and charge more.

In your example above, if book is 1 for plugs and 1.2 for wires, you should be charging 2 hours minimum for both, not the higher of the 2. Offer amazing service and quality parts with a great warranty and your customers won't even notice that you charged 2 hours. It's a guide, not a bible.

I have it set up to bump up the labor on all my charged jobs. If book calls for 1 it bumps it up to 1.3 automatically. You gotta realize that you got to get paid for your office staff as well when they look up estimates,answer phones, ect, that cost money.

Just some thoughts, answer the questions and everyone will chime in. You sound like your working way too hard for way too small of a return (bankruptcy based off what you shared).

I got the dymo printer for key tags and a zebra for my lube stickers for using with Bolt On. The dymo cost me a whooping $100. It's great because I can print my key tag and lube sticker from my tablet and phone while I'm walking in from getting the mileage from the car.

We have racks assigned to each tech which we keep the signed RO and all receipts together. Each tech has a color. I have 7 racks. One for each tech, one for waiting for parts, waiting for approval, and one for completed tickets. On that one I have a strip of woof that has cup hooks that we put the completed work order and keys next to it.

No looking like an idot when you cash out the customer and can't find the keys. It's nice because if the paperwork is done and hanging up, a quick look and the keys better be up there. We also park the completed cars in a special section so looking at the lot, I know what's completed the I can spot check the rack and make sure the office is doing their job.

The racks are also nice because I know what's going on in the shop if I'm not in front of my computer.

I have 2 a techs and 3 bays and I make more than when I had 2 b techs and 1a. If a car gets tied up because of parts or life, my tech can move over to the other rack and make me money.

It also means I have my best guys doing inspections which finds more work than a lube jockey. Imagine that, a skilled worker doing better than a lube jockey. I do have a lot gopher who shuttles customers and moves cars in/racks them so the techs can focus on just working and not wasting time to move cars out to get to that one car that's in the back lot abs no one can fond the keys.

So you have a chance to pick up an a tech, hurt your competition, and make more money. Seems pretty simple. Why does he want to leave where he is at now? Did you recruit him or did he come looking?

I charge for them with an individual line charge. I buy them by the 100. Usually cost me .20-.35 and I charge a flat $1.75 for all of them. I also list the torque I tightened the plug at. Looks good and can't be blamed for stripping a pan unlike the ham fists at the quick lubes do.

I responded to your ideas inside the quote. Read the grey area to see what my suggestions/thoughts were.

Hey Folks,

 

My wife and I currently run a 1 bay operation. We are looking to expand into a larger facility. We are currently hitting 60-70 cars per month. Running the numbers to operate a 5 bay facility that we're looking to purchase. We should be doubling our car count to stay profitable.

 

Here is my marketing strategy to accomplish this, I would love your feed back as well:

 

-Ribbon cutting event, grand opening party, live music, food, beverages, give aways, have other vendors come out to support event, etc

 

 

 

This is nice to do because it's fun, but your not going to get many customers out of. You'll get the initial influx of people that want to try you out, but it will taper off and be a poor return on investment.

 

 

-Direct mail campaign - MudLick mail? ValPak? (Thoughts)

 

 

Direct mailing generally has one of the lowest return rates out there. Ask yourself, when is the last time your purchased a service that you found out about from junk mail. Myself, never.

 

 

 

 

-Google pay per click advertising

 

 

If you do it right, this is a great thing. However, you have to have a great website that changes content, stays current, and is mobil optimized. I pay to have this done for me. I don't have time or the skill to do SEO. How are your stats now? Who does your website? What are you spending per month on it? How important is yelp in your area? ( over 91% of my new business is from yelp! I track it! but I'm in a major city ).

 

-Signage - it would be on a major road in community

 

Signs are fine, but people aren't going to come to you because you've got a nice sign. Brand recognition is more important.

 

Looking for the best bang for the buck opportunities to get up and running and then explore other marketing ideas for the future.

 

Thanks for your input!

AJ

If you can swing a 5 bay shop off of 140 cars and turn a profit you must be doing something amazing. I think you need to rethink your numbers a bit is my honest opinion. What your ARO? Gp? Realize coming from 1 bay to 5 your going to need 2 service writers and at least 2-3 techs. Plus a shuttle driver/parts guy/ shop gopher.

The best way to grow is to get to the point where your running super efficient and productive and then your getting to the point where's it's costing you money if you DONT expand. Meaning your losing business because you can't keep up. Granted you can grow before that but you better have your SOP locked down and know how to run it because it can become chaos if you grow that fast.

The tech's are trying to poach customers. Your boss is an idiot for letting him hand out cards with their cell on it.

I have no problem having a tech leave the shop business card with the techs name and MY PHONE NUMBER ON IT. I like the customers to know who worked on the car. Makes it more personal. John Pearson has the right practice.

The fact that the tech is putting his personal cell number out there means he is hopping the customer will side step the shop and go straight to him. After all, it wasn't the shop that fixed the car, it was the tech ( in the customers mind). I'm sure if Mr customer called the techs cell, the tech would say " bring it in the shop and we will take care of it".

Better yet, why doesn't the owner have his wife call from a blocked number and see what the tech says. Would be nice to know if the tech is that devoted to te shop that he takes calls on his PERSONAL cell and tells everyone to come back to the shop. Might open the owners eyes and be an easy cause for dismissal.

When I was turning wrenches I would leave my card that I had made by the same company that made the shops. It had the business logo and shop phone and it said "your car was proudly worked on by Don Yocum Certified Tech". I would vacuum the drivers area, rub off any paint transfer and scratches, and lube doors, ect ( little things that make the customer happy).

The reason I dud this was twofold. One was self serving I'll admit. Customer was stoaked that the shop would do that without being asked ( boss was happy by my initiative) but the self serving part was when the customers returned, they asked for me to work on their cars. It's was money in the bank for me. Service writers liked it because customers felt that if I recommended it, then they must really need it. After all Don did such a bang up job last time, I TRUST him.

Again, have your boss call the techs cell and see where it goes. I know the only reason I would be doing that is to do side jobs or when I started my own shop, I had a built in customer base. We shall see!

I have storage charges not on the estimate saying vehicles that are still on the lot are subject to $45/day storage. It's nice because customers signs it and keeps my lot clean.

It' seems like a basic sales pitch. I have attended management suscess and wasn't blown away with it. It wasn't bad, just nothing earth shattering.

We use Maxx Traxx from Scott Systems which also has a built it loyalty rewards program. I give 3% back if invoice is paid by credit card and 5% if paid by cash. This program is new to us and so far I feel like I am giving away money that I would have already gotten. I need to find a way to market this program so I can actually see the customers are coming in for the rewards program.

 

I currently mail out a custom letter the Maxx Traxx generates. I often will add money in their loyalty account. I will add like $6.36 to their account and mail them the letter along with a letter of the recommended services.

Your giving away 3% on credit cards plus the credit cards are charging you 1.9-3% already? And your automatically giving 5% off if they pay cash? That's horrible business sense my friend. Why are you giving any discounts especially ones like that!

I can see giving a discount off an oil change if they are doing 4 tires but to arbitrarily give 5% back paying cash seems crazy.