John Pearson

Funny thing that happened today. Had a car drop off yesterday hit a pot hole had a coolant leak. 2009 328xi. Found that the leak was coming from the waterpump. After giving the customer a price he said he wants to go through his insurance for road hazard. Today I get a call from Geico asking the vehicle to be released to another shop. At this point I am a bit confused so I call the customer up. Customer said he had a discussion with his wife and his wife wanted to bring the car to BMW. Oddly enough I think his wife mystery shopped me the day before asking what the difference was between the dealer and my shop. I went through the list of things that differentiates us from customer service, personal attention, ability to speak to the technician, longer warranty, same training, dealer level equipment etc etc. Gave her my best pitch which works 99% of the time to get "Wow, I feel really comfortable bringing my car to you." This time though she seemed super skeptical and I got responses like, "well I dont really care to speak to the technician" and odd responses like that. At the end of the 10 minute conversation she says, "well I'll have to think about it." Even after I mentioned our reputation and reviews she said, "oh yeah you do have great reviews online." So then??????????????????????

 

I tried to ask questions to understand why they chose to bring the car to the dealership. The basic response I got was, "well if insurance is going to cover it my wife feels more comfortable bring our car to the dealer." The only thing that was going through my head was, "Why?!?!?!?!?!!?!?" I may be looking to much into this although I guess my personality forces me to never settle for anything less than 100%. This is the first time i lost a customer to the dealership in 9 years after their car was already at my shop. Gets me thinking what else do I need to do to not have this happen again in the future. There will always be illogical strange people out there I can accept that. Still sucks though!

 

For shizzles and giggles I went and yelped all the BMW dealerships around and none were above a 2.5 star review. Brand has a strong pull on some people.

 

Been there. You will see them again after the dealer f-up something and treats them like crap. It take some people a while to go outside their box of normal.

Just be patient, some people are just odd ducks and have to learn the hard way. They may not be back this year but they will be back.

just go to the office supply store and they a have some that mount to the wall.

The sell they "CarCaddy". Cost is $3,999 according the their web site.

 

 

That looks like it would work great in the summer time, but I think that if it is -25 where the swag master is at he is going to be damaging cars and have no traction on ice and snow.

 

I think the idea of self driving cars is going to look much different once the realities show up. Right now all we are seeing is perfect world scenarios. Can't help but to think about the Marlboro man and the realities of smoking. Anyone who has been in this business for a while learns very quickly that electronics and software do not always act as expected. Some manufacturers are still struggling with unintended acceleration and ignition switches. Then there is the maintenance side of it. How many customers have you seen that ignore the check engine light or many of the other warning lights? What are they going to do when the "self-driving" failure light comes on for the third time after spending $2000 - $3000? What about the second and third owners of a car that don't fix anything unless it is broken? I won't even get into computer viruses or malware. I'm sure fail safes would be the argument, so does that mean these cars would shut down or drive themselves at 5 mph to the closest dealer every time an issue is detected? There are just too many unknowns to deal with. What does the car do when you are sleeping and your 3 y.o. gets out of her car seat and starts to climb out the window?

 

Flying an airplane from point a to point b is a much easier task than driving a car from point a to point b yet there is still no commercial system to do this. There are auto pilots which can maintain heading, speed, and altitude all of which must be set by the pilot and cannot be engaged till a certain altitude is reached. There are automated landing systems that most pilots will not use unless they have to. Even those only get them on the runway where they must take over.

 

Just wait till there are a few unexplained fatal accidents with self-driving cars. Here is a great experiment that I have been doing for some time. I continually ask people, would you ride in a self-driving car? Would you really get in the back seat of a car with no steering wheel and let it drive you to work? I have not even gotten a maybe. Do a quick search on Google, and you see some of the following headlines.

 

Most Consumers Say They'll Steer Clear Of Self-Driving Cars, Survey Says

 

People ‘horrified’ by self-driving cars, says survey, as trials begin

 

I believe it about the current generation but as new technology comes in to play the newer generations will succumb to it.

My great grandma didn't understand the purpose of a cell phone.

Grandma has a flip phone but doesn't understand texting.

mom has a smart phone and texts but doesn't navigate it that well and doesn't use many of the features.

I use all of the features of my smart phone, and text, email, and app things to death.

My kids (if and when I have any) will most likely have an implant and think that there is nothing wrong with it.

cool thingamajigger but id rather pick up the car and look at it while I am changing the oil.

You can bring them back to life and they 90% of the time be okay. warm them up slowly and charge them slowly. If you are hitting these temp you should look in to offering a winterization package. a block heater, battery trickle charger and engine oil pan heater all tied together with a 3 way that come out the front.

If you would like help let me know, I can get you set up and show you all the tricks.

Pushing car's in with anything is a no no at -40. and with 1 bay we have cars coming in and out a lot!!! I will have pics in a second but infront of my tool box I have a 2in receiver mounted to the floor and a 8000lb winch in a cradle and a battery quick connect with a wireless controller. by the door are studs to put snatch blocks making 1 person able to pull a car in.

We are basically shut down at the moment, we got an error message, called Alldata, they were too busy to help us at the moment, since its the end of the work day to help us! We tried calling them back hoping someone would help, and no such luck. If anyone is familiar with the program and wants to try and give us a plan we would appreciate it more than you know!

John

907-371-0440

So John is 10 below zero a balmy winter day?

We might throw on a hoodie!! -10 to -20 is pretty standard in the December through February months with a few weeks or -40 and 2-3 days of -50 to -60. Right now we are having one of the warmest winters on record, we only had about 3 weeks of -40. At those temps cars dont start unless plugged in and the cold doesn't feel cold really but more numbing and it hurts.

Fairbanks, North Pole, FT WainWright and Eielson AFB are all in the interior of Alaska where we dont get as much snow up to about 3.5 feet over a winter but we get pretty cold. Prudhoe Bay where is oil pipe line is and they will have -40's with 30MPH winds, they also have 30 days of darkness and leave their trucks running 24/7.

Summer time in Alaska makes up for all of it though, the fishing, hunting, and other outdoor activities are all 100% worth it.

The few people I have had apply I always put through a working interview. I always have at least 1 car that I am flipping and have them do a repair to the vehicle. One guy that I though was more of a parts changer I put on head gaskets on a toyota 3.4 and now I have to put it back together.

Another one said he was a good electrical guy and I pulled the ATC fuse on a chevy truck and the service 4WD light came on. He scanned it, had no communication, sat down in front of a wiring diagram and then walked over to the truck to look for the fuse and saw where I pulled it. He got a job.

Joe, we are complaining about our weather and look at John Pearson! Us Northeasterners look like a bunch of sissies comparatively.

Its all relative.

I know that up here we loose all most all of our daylight, at our winter solstice we have about 3.5 hours of dusk and then it is dark again. It can be pretty depressing, the only time we really shut down though up here is when it warms up and rains. other than that 12in of snow is no big deal.

I offer a couple different services but all under different business names to keep away from Jack of all trades master of none stigma.

We have auto repair, heavy in domestic support (factory scan tools and special tools). Pearson Auto

Car audio, really mostly auto starts. Excessive Audio

Hydrographics, that I started as a hobby but I am the only one doing it with in a 300 mile radius and my equipment is the largest in the state. Hydrographics By Johnny5

Each one is also its own entity so that if something happens to one it doesn't take the whole deal down.

I already have one shock wave and its a BA MOFO. I was more interested in any experience with the Y lift.

Ah man, that sucks!!!

Well then John you are to old to be flashed. lol

Right now as some of you know I have 1 rotary shock wave lift right now and it is BA. Towards the end of July our addition should be complete and you know how sometimes things just fall correctly into place, well I was offered a deal of 35,000 for 3 more shock wave lifts and a Rotary Y drive on alignment type that is an extended length.

Does anyone have any experience with the Rotary Y drive on? I really dont want a 4 post because they are wider than this one, and do you think 35000 is a good deal for all of this equipment brand new? http://www.rotarylift.com/Lifts/YA12/

No I am using someone local that I can talk to in person and sit with face to face and we can come up with ideas. Mine launched on thursday and tech talk is he is working on adding stuff but needed it live first. Pearsonautoak.com

I worked at a dealer for 2 weeks. Buddy system pay meant my buddy got paid for my extra work and I lost because my buddy was slow. That was enough for me, most stressful 2 weeks of my life. Plus the dealer work was bs for the new guy, warranty crank shaft jobs for like 6.2 on an Acura Integra yea right good luck beating the warranty time...at least the senior guys didn't have to do that nonsense.

 

The only good thing was a guy cleaned the floor every night.

I was let go from the dealer because they thought I was cutting corners, after 1 year of doing the BS new guy work I was flagging as much as the old timers I was also working 3 hours more a day but nobody noticed that. Keep doing the same job over and over and your get fast and good at it.

I am super sad right now, we had a customer that we have done a couple winterizations for, a couple repairs, couple more auto starts for came in saying their car was overheating at -40 and she thinks the coolant froze (if so our fault for not getting it rich enough) so we take a look at it and there is no coolant in it because the water pump is leaking on a 2005 tahoe with 145k on it. what does she say? She is going to have to talk to her old tech that she used to have before moving here before doing it because she thinks it might be our fault her water pump failed.

Why at this point are we being questioned.

I try not to name names as well but say some of the fast service "quicker" places dont necessarily put as much pride in to their work. or have as highly trained people working on your car.

 

I sincerely hate it when my good customers go anywhere else for service. It is an opportunity we lose them. Not necessarily because I feel anyone can match what we do but there are a lot of dishonest shops out there that will undermine and undercut you any chance they get. For this reason alone if I can't book them I apologize for not being able to meet their expectations and offer my services on a day that I can meet them. The impatient ones never call back most likely meaning they were not going to be an ideal customer anyway.

 

 

Yes it is a shame. What I try to educate my customers on is that we perform an Oil SERVICE not an oil change. Meaning we take the time to inspect the vehicle and give a professional inspection every time which saves time, headache and money in the long run. The good ones understand the ones I don't really want walk. It still doesn't feel good letting anyone get away though. I guess its the days with little business and wondering where am I going to get the money for rent that month are still fresh in my mind lol

I agree, I just smile when my customers say they have their oil changed at walmart and they want me to inspect their vehicle for an oil leak and its coming from the double gasketed filter.

At that point I try and explain to them do they want a high school student or college dropout changing their oil, someone that has very little training and no experience. Or do you want to spend 20 dollars more and have me do it? Normally after that they tend to come back.

Continental tire sent me to their test track in Uvalde TX to prove this theory. They had a circle track with a wet patch to simulate a highway off ramp. The front drive VW spun out every time when the 2/32" tires were on the back. Proof without a doubt the best tires should go on the rear. Fast forward to the real world of upstate NY and bald tires on the front means no traction in the snow, so we try to sell all 4. Put 2 snow tires on the rear of a fwd car and I guarantee your customer will think somethings wrong with you.

I like it when people ask me for 2 snow tires for their FWD cars and wonder why I wont do it, then I give them a little of my bondurant racing school knowledge and see a glazed look in their eye. So I rephrase it, you have a 30k car and its -40 out everything gets brittle if you go in to a snow bank you will be needing bumpers at a minimum and if you damage your radiator your going to sit there in the cold. Oh yeah and 10 miles out of town you have no cell service and the next town it 90 miles away or 350 miles good luck.

Then they buy 4.

Hey I was born in 1988......

Any time I have a warranty claim I have my customers price then inflate the labor time and parts prices and bid it that way, sometimes it works, sometimes they cut you down a little but I have never had a job that pays less then the customer would.

Being in Alaska helps also they dont really send anyone out.