Tom Ham AutoMN.info

Joe: Sorry to take so long to reply. The plans I am referring to pay the tech a basic wage for the hours they are at work, and then pay a progressive incentive based on production. The lows of flat rate are higher, and the highs of flat rate are lower. But, the system is still significantly tied to incentive enough to make good production critical to excellent pay. Similar systems can be created for advisors and parts managers. Hope this helps,

A number of shops are having good success with a pay system that is about half hourly and about half flat rate....kind of the best of both worlds and fair to all parties.

What a great way to take money ($1B) from taxpayers, including shop owners and techs, to give to consumers to purchase new cars so they visit us less often. Basically, one of the dumber ideas (there are so many lately) they have come up with in Washington.

I'd guess that the majority of suppliers are now at risk. We could see quite a wave of filings in the next few months as the full impact of the GM and Chrysler filings comes to light.

It's also pretty simple to add text to all of your marketing that states: "We will price match all dealer specials and estimates".

Certainly a possibility. Used car prices have gone way up around here...as much as double on the very low end cars.

Most of the more successful shops that I know of use both loaners and rentals. For insurance, we use: http://www.hastingsmutual.com/

Several good ideas there. However, a lot of shops fall into the trap of trying to do too many different things and being all things to all people. The focused specialists appear to be doing the best right now (as they always seem to do).

One big one is what you do with your shop and property and parking lot to cause people to stop in or call. Drive around your area, looking at other auto service shops and other businesses of almost any kind and note why certain ones stand out. Colors, lighting, signs, vehicles, flags, landscaping, etc. can attract a lot of customers.

You certainly have some valid points, however low average RO and low labor rates are still a massive problem in many shops that I see. We should certainly adjust to the market, but I believe that increasing average RO should remain as a primary goal in almost every shop.

We use and recommend systems where both techs and advisors are paid about half hourly/salary and about half incentive of some type.

...then this might be just the thing you were looking for. It's a slightly unique story told a number of years ago by Frank Paretti...one of the best story tellers ever. It's a family story...perfectly safe for all ages. When you can get things quiet for about 20 minutes, click on the link in the middle of the page that says: "Listen to the entire program". http://www.programsnow.org/specials/frankeperetti/ (Some parts of the audio with music are a bit rough, but the story telling comes through just fine.) Please let me know if you liked it! Merry Christmas!