Richard Ehler

WOW!  Great info.  Exactly what I was looking for  on the programs to buy/sell/finance, etc.  You the man!!

Thank  you for taking the time to answer

I am planning on adding used car sales to my auto center, in atlanta, ga.  Any advice on software, buying, selling, financing, evaluating, reconditioning would be appreciated.

We are about to change to Protractor which offers x charge and 360 and first mile. Who do I choose?

SBA website is what I used.  Very good.  Easy to use. Good info required, but not too much.  Bank was good with it. Saves updates automatically.

I just signed up for ATI after attending 4 seminars in last 9 years.  Coach seems very good.  They seem to have the most complete program as I did elite, and apm.  It is expensive, but I don't see how I can lose. Goal is to make more net profit, AND have better processes, accountability and KEEP it going.

As a Tire Pros dealer this is not good news.  I don't understand how goodyear, bridgestone expect to sell more tires by having less distribution. Exact opposite of what they

have been telling us and doing for last 10 years.

I recieved an email today announcing AMS company stopped selling RO writer and switched to Protractor.  May want to check out why.  I did demo a while back seems pretty nice.

Mitchell and RO writer are the market leaders. Integrate with many digital inspections, marketing companies, etc.  Probably can't go wrong with either one.

We use TireShop by freedomSoft, integrated with autotext.me for digital inspections. We handle 1,000 car per month flawlessly.  We have a quicklube, service, and tires all in one.

We switched from paychex to ADP.  With ADP we put info in online monday morning. It does all calculations and send check or money to bank accts. all get paid wednesday.

We like better than paychex, but were not aware of their online service. Our CPA recomended it and got us a good rate

We use TireShop by Freedomsoft. Small company out of north carolina.  Awesome program, easy to use.  Great for service, quick lube, AND Tires!  Just integrated

with autotext.me digital inspections and texting.  Great price too!  About $300 per month.  They have about 300 users in U.S.

I have learned that these middleman process companies can be very decieving. We switched to "Retreiver" recenlty. Rep is Jason Woodward. He has signed up

hundreds of Tire Pros dealers in last couple of years. They are a "direct processor" No middleman. Analysis said they will save is about $503 per month from our $4k bill.

We purchased an "allworx" system in 2016. Very popular with doctors offices, small business, etc. 6 phones, plus 3 portables handsets. Takes a good vendor

and some setup, but all good since. Not sure about cost.

We do car care club also. $99 gets 4 free oil changes etc. No other discounts, creates more loyalty, helps with sales. I totally agree with owners above

Selling without standards is stealing. Therefore, that should not be an issue. A combination of hourly or salary, sales goals, gross profit goal, and month end bonus works well. Salary or hourly should not be so high they are satisfied. Your pay for advisor should be about 10% of sales.

Please, somebody tell US who will insure these cars? State of Georgia for me.

I think Joe is right to be concerned. My goal is to get "everybody" within 3 miles of store to come in for something. May be tire repair, emissions test, oil change, bulb, etc. Then do my best to persuade them that if this visit was easier than going to new car dealer, why no make all visits easier by bring "all" work here.

I like the take out of pay plan/bonus program. I give 1 late for the month. 2nd time 50% deduct, 3rd time 100%. You can do this on hourly, weekly commissions, month end bonus etc. Works well most of the time.

I am going to be purchasing my own shop. SBA wants a business plan. Anyone know of a good template?

I just upgraded from a Bartec to the Bartec Tech 500. We believe best on market.

It is time we END "the customer is always right" mantra. We need to try to satisfy them to stay in business. They are "frequently" wrong! Our advisors have "daily" experience in the matters we all deal with. Customers do not. They often lie, play games, hide information, play dumb, etc. Yes, you are better off without that lady. Maya Angelou said "when someone shows you who they are, believe them".

Loaner cars are great to have when you have a problem child vehicle because it can buy you time. We do not have a fleet of loaners but we do have two vehicles that we use.

I just purchased a Toyota as a loaner car. This seems like a good idea to have for problem child cars. But, "nobody" is answering the questions about how to "reduce liability" when we do loan them out. Yes, Enterprise is great in many cases. They come to our store and pickup the customer for us also.

In Atlanta, GA. AAA is opening up car centers. They have about 8 so far. They charge is $1000 per year to be certified by them and then open up a center down the street!

Great replies by all!

In the future, I would recommend having a "prospective new advisor" male or female sell some air filters, fluid changes, etc. to see if they can get "comfortable" selling.