davine4real

Throw out the blood pressure medicine. People want the PERCEPTION of free....so give it to them guys! The answer can be quite simple. Ex: FREE DIAGNOSTIC WITH REPAIR. not rocket science. Another choice is to have a 10 minute conversion with every customer about why you charge. Or just ask them if they would work on their job for free. Don't get mad at the part store. Rethink the game. Customer brings egr valve...give price with NO WARRANTY... offer paid diagnostics but don't be pushy. We are in the business of SALES....not simply repair. If you make the customer feel stupid, they won't spend money with you. I don't give my services away but I do offer choices that end with a SALE and a repaired car. It's always more than 1 way to sell those ice cubes to an Eskimo.

My advice would be definitely 2k-5k. Don't recommend selling them at shop. Get separate lot. Folk expect perfect car when sold by mechanic shop. It does require time. Contrary to popular belief, it is a separate business if you want to make real money. The auction can be simplified but does require taking chances for most reward. I've been transitioning my business from repair to sales w/repair. Greater risk with sales but greater potential economic reward with less manual labor. I say go for it.

Start marketing and hiring BEFORE you open. I'd start by going for some commercial accounts, car lots, delivery places, even other shops. Here's what I learned way down the road: car lots usually are cheap BUT it only takes 1 that you can train to be the ideal customer ( higher priced cars on their lot), if you're good at diagnostics you can definitely get work from other shops! Have the service writer call your old customers, advertise on free classified sites, look for other advertising opportunities. There are many ideas that work for my area and may work in other areas. I just happened to learn them rather late...school of hard knocks.

After taking care of me and the family....I'd start to build the type of shop I truly want. Techs that get paid decent $20/hr. Or maybe $650 week to start. Manager to take my place. Shop that offers discounted repair work to those in need at $69/hour. Shop won't make the profits of other shops upfront but once build steam... can survive on its own merit. The shop is to help people first and profit second. But know it would take money to get going because bills would be higher than income at first.

Start small on the expenses. Get what you need and save up for the rest. Only finance equipment if you can't live without it. Bank loan not needed, but helps take the sting off but creates more stress because just another bill to pay monthly. Biggest investment may be your help. This is because you won't necessarily see the return on investment right away. Decide if you want to be in the shop first or on the phone and then hire someone to do the opposite. If you're set on turning the wrenches, then hire a service writer. You will think that you can't afford it at first, but you can't afford not to get help. I learned this way to late and have gotten burned out trying to do everything alone. Keep in mind if you work alone...you have a j.O.b. If you have help you're on your way to having a business!

Hire 2 techs to start. So if 1 peels you have 50% work force left. You run the front to start. No partners!

Trusted....that's an awesome way of thinking of it. I had a shop mentor Dave Dickinson I think, tell me a similar strategy and he is right. It's. Just a numbers game.

Charge for alignment check if the work isn't performed. Don't do alignment if you are not allowed to do it 100%...items up for law suit. You don't need customers who want you to do that anyway. Get more on your rack by offering shop discounts and for dealers. Offer Free assignments with certain repairs....work it in the price. But don't half ass.

At the first sign of her loudness and ignorance I probably would have asked her to depart with her car. There's nothing to salvage there. You don't want to work on her car as she will be the type to try and look for something wrong. Customer is always right until I say that they are not.

I tried the "no bringing parts" way. It was short lived. I'm not profitable enough yet to transition. I think the bay rental fee for holding up my lift with incorrect parts is great idea. Or maybe letting them know that if there is a delay with parts, there will be a delay in finishing their car because you will need to move on to the next car. But honestly, it's not that big of a deal most the time. I don't give any warranty when customer supplies any portion of parts. No warranty for correct installation either. Nothing, zilch! It's written on my work orders and I tell them. I don't mind if they get cheap parts as long as they are correct. If the part fails then they pay me twice! But we all know that their aftermarket parts can fall just like the non dealer parts we buy. I offer diagnosis but don't haggle when they insist that auto zone already gave them 1. I don't try to make them feel stupid for listening to auto zone. I simply say "hey, we can start there if you like and see what we have after." Therefore, I get the initial repair and the correct repair afterwards. Same thing with their wrong or crappy new part. Some customers bring their own parts because they haven't been educated on what's different about letting a shop get them versus not. I educate the pace of mind factor so they can weigh their savings now against there potential loss in the possibly near future. Also when they get their own parts I make them get everything like brake cleaner, grease, shop towels, cotter pin, top off fluids, etc. Abd I let them no if I need something else I'll call them. I don't pick up items from the part stores for them. Nor call the part stores on their behalf, nor give cores back before I'm completely satisfied with job. So they must pay their core charges. It only takes a time or 2 that I have to call a person to say a seal is missing or incorrect and "i need you to come from across town to bring me that asap, or I can pick it up for you at a higher markup than I normally would have charged". I do it all with a smile and they usually do return because they like my work and charm, but let me get parts next time to avoid hassle.

I have found that its not extremely important which gender the service writer is. There are indeed advantages to having a female because of the female customer base factor. The important factor here was that she had hardly any mechanical experience. I agree with not having too many bad habits from previous shops. But that has nothing to do with a lack of mechanical experience. Being a female mechanic/shop owner/service writer myself I would not hire a service writer male or female that had no mechanical background. The selling part is an art....true. But if they have no clue about what they're selling they won't be successful because customers are looking for a reason NOT to BELIEVE a woman anyway due to lack of knowledge alone. If I had my choice I'd choose a female only because they attract the female customers and amaze the male customers when they are knowledgeable. I think that if you make sure the next service writer has mechanical knowledge AND motivation you will be good to go.