CarER

I have not had any experience with Yodle, but Lighthouse360 basically uses Bolt-On technology products. So, why not just go straight to Bolt-On instead, if that's what you're looking for.

Joe and Xrac, who is, for you guys, a good DIFM supplier?

I was on the phone with my Carquest/Advance parts guy today and he knows how much their "diagnostics" affects us as shops and how much it annoys me. So he mentions to me that yesterday, they received an email from corporate stating that June 1st, all Advance stores may no longer perform free code scans for customers. I thought this was a pretty big deal, if it is true, for us independent shops. Hopefully this is correct and will be coming to all Advance/Carquest stores. He said judging by the email, it's not just our regional stores but all stores. Maybe we can keep things changing for the better. Next up, let's get Autozone and the other stores to stop their "diagnostics" as people like to call them. What do you all think? Is this good for us, or will it not really make a difference?

Welcome to the forum! If I may make a suggestion: make sure that you and your son get started on getting your shop name out onto Google and the internet. The internet is my number one in terms of revenue it brings in. I just happened to search your shop and nothing really came up. 1. Make sure your claim your Google page, free. 2. Make a yelp page, it's also free. 3. You may also want to place your business in the free online directories. Make sure the name, address and phone number match the one on your Google and Yelp pages. 4. Budget permitting, get a website made, or make it yourself. (you can get started extremely cheap through GoDaddy or Vistaprint if you're internet and SEO savvy) Just a few things to help you get started!

I will just ask them straight up: "Hey Mrs. Jones, I see that you had our recommendations done elsewhere. Just so that I can improve my business, do you mind if I ask why you had them done somewhere else and not through us?" Just about everyone I've asked doesn't mind giving me an answer. I've see answers ranging from "I couldn't afford it" (maybe I forgot to explain financing options) "You were too expensive" (maybe I forgot to bring up the value that we provide with our services) etc... Either way, it provides valuable insight.

I'm a millennial shop owner. My father helped start the business but I'm the sole proprietor. However, we still butt heads sometimes on things like marketing and operations.

Yelp also works very well for us. That being said, we are in a town with a very large college student population. They love Yelp.

Thanks Jeff, That makes my life a lot easier. Now I can keep track of growth, woohoo!

Good afternoon everyone, I had a quick question for all of the Mitchell 1 SE users out there. I've been trying to look for a way to track the amount of new customers that come into the shop. Either by day, or weekly. I have yet to find a way to do that. Is there a way? Thanks in advance!

Like I said, I used them for my website. I'm no longer with them. They handled my website. For the first few months, everything went great. I was climbing in rankings, appointments were being made on the website, etc... About 6-7 months down the road, I noticed we started dropping and dropping until we weren't even on the first page anymore. After reaching out to them a few times, I decided to go with another company.

What exactly do you mean by internet advertising. I have used them before for my website.

Thanks for the tip! Last year my brother fell victim to that exact same scam - out of $9000...

Hey all! So I've owned my shop for just about 3 years now. And this has never happened to me in those 3 years or ever, but I guess there really is a first time for everything... A customer came in with an Infiniti G35 coupe. He stated that his 3rd brake light wasn't working. We dug into it and found that the 3rd brake light was malfunctioning. It's a LED light, so we went ahead and ordered one. Customer price for just the light was $246.57. He gave us the go-ahead and we got it completed this morning. When he came for it in the afternoon, he said: "Can I have the receipt for the light." So I said: "Yes sir, it's right here on the invoice." He says: "No, I want your receipt for the light." I actually didn't have one so that's what I said. He said for me to email it to him later, which I just blacked out my price and left the list price. The only reason I did it was because he caught me so off guard, I really didn't know what to do or say since it's never happened before. What would you guys have done?

I've seen this one multiple times, but it still gets me every time!

Keep him in there a little longer and you can have some lunch

Well, that makes sense LOL. I thought I read that it was an annual thing. Or maybe they plan on making it an annual thing. Anyways, my question now would be: does anyone here plan on attending?

Good day everyone! I was wondering if anyone is going to be at the Ratchet and Wrench Conference? http://rwconference.com/ If I understand correctly, it's an annual thing. Has anyone ever been to any of them before? It's a little steep for my shop, but if it's worth it, I can dig up the money somewhere. Perhaps Joe can chime in? Thank you!

We looked over everything and we found an axle that was a tiny bit loose. We mentioned that to him and he took it to the dealer.

Here is my new and improved website: www.car-er.com

For those of you who do state inspections (I'm in Virginia, I know some states have them and others don't but I imagine it's all the same concept), do you feel as though it is a worthwhile "investment?" What I mean is this. If for example, you do 10 vehicles a week. How many of them do you actually do "work" on? Out of those 10, do 6 of them go back to their mechanic to get the work done? 2 of the ones left actually pass the state inspection and then you do work on the 2 that are left? What does it do to your ARO? Would you rather not do them and have less car count but a higher ARO? Do most of them have the work done with you? Etc... I would rather have 10 vehicles that I do $300 on turning into $3,000 in revenue as apposed to having 10 vehicles x $14.00/vehicle ($16.00/car - $2 for the state) and say even fixing 4 of those cars at $300 = $1,340. Correct me if my way of thinking is incorrect. The reason I ask is because I have a 3 bay shop. In Virginia you have to have a dedicated state inspection lane that you can't work on in other vehicles (or you can but as soon as a state inspection comes in, you have to get it out.) If I dedicate one lane to state inspections, it turns into a two bay shop. Not to mention that I would essentially no longer be working for myself but for the state (since there are only 3 of us here) and all of the liabilities and things like that. All answers are appreciated ahead of time. Thanks!

Had a young customer come in this morning and said that his 2013 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has a vibration in the steering wheel under acceleration. He says, "When you accelerate there's a weird vibration in the steering wheel when you accelerate. It starts when you hit 60 and goes away at 80 then starts at 100 and disappears when it hits 120." He then proceeded to tell me that he replaced the tires, wheels balanced, alignment, etc... I don't even know how to answer someone like that, I politely told him that I would look at the vehicle to see if there's anything obvious. But it's not like I'm going to go drive this thing at 100 to see what he's on about. Well, that was my interesting story of the day.

I think that consistency is one of my biggest issues. On some days someone will come in, get a full inspection, a hand written thank you card on their seat, and a follow up call in a few days. On other days they won't get an inspection, no thank you card and no call. If I were a customer and my friend and I went to the same shop and I saw that he got all of those things an I didn't, it would be upsetting. I need to get myself together and make sure I'm consistent in every little thing that we do, I'm a firm believer that it's all of these little things that separates us from the competition.

Mspec, I've never really thought about it that way, and I'm sure my techs haven't either. I'll bring it up to them and see what they think!

Mspec, both of my techs are paid hourly. We've been up and down as far as the inspections go. Some days we're on top of them and other days it's as if we forgot the program existed.