insomniac

Iv noticed over the years there are times when business/car count drops off by a huge amount all at once. Last year it was brutal in January and got worse in February. It got busier the 2nd week of March and was pretty steady the rest of the year with my best month ever in November then even topped that in December. But this year its back to the same. January came leads completely dropped out, February came and it got worse, just like last year. Now I know its just a waiting game and business will pick back up. Its not just me every shop in the area is completely empty. --- What triggers these pattern down turns? Has anyone ever figured that out? Thought?

Rather than cater to the bottom feeders isnt it just better practice to sell a higher quality tire like a cooper or a name brand and just train our managers to be better sales people? I mean when you price out a water pump, starter, or alternator are you routinely looking for the cheapest lowest quality part? I try to not compete with the low end hack shops of the town.... and unfortunatly there is too many of them but they can fight over the bottom feeders.. .just my 2 cents

are the mastercrafts much cheaper than Starfire?

what kind of mark up are you guys putting on a tire?

Was wondering if it is worth to stock tires? Seems like with all the sizes would be a tremendous outlay of money but sometimes the big box stores like Pep Boys, Mavis, STS etc.. are hard to compete with because they stock the tires and sometimes it could take me hours to get the tires from the supplier.

Thoughts?

I can't answer your question specifically, but we have recently begun several marketing programs. I looking at advertising as an investment. While impressions, leads, clicks, calls, conversions, etc. are nice metrics to talk about, the real measure is ROI like the above posts states. How much am I making from my investment in advertising is the question to ask. This however can be very difficult to calculate. Do you look at the short or long term value of the customer? What about customers referred by them? Right now I am looking at what that customer spends over a 3 year period plus what any of their referrals spend over a 3 year period.

 

Scott

Thats a great way to look at it but how do you track that?

Was wondering if anyone tracks how much it cost per lead. I started to track this myself and I have found over the last 8 weeks I have had exactly 200 leads and have spent $6480 to acquire those leads thus costing me $32.40 per lead. I was wondering if anyone else has tracked there cost per lead and see how it stacks up to my $32.40. I question whether my advertising is effective based on my numbers.

Thanks

here is another situation im in at my other shop: (and i swear this isnt the norm..lol) Customer comes in for a oil change and tire rotation in september then in november the guys studs break and wheel falls off.... guys is blaming it on us... is that possible 2 months later? He claims the wheels were over torqued... but 2 months really? Guy goes to the BBB demanding 1100 dollars for 4 new rims because his aftermarket wheel is no longer available....

bad week

i hear a lot about "firing the customer" - what exactly does that mean other then just declining to work on their car?

so your saying in my situation you would just tell the customer to take a hike basically?

So right now im my shop I am dealing with a customer who is claiming we scratched there car in like 5 different places. Unfortunately we have been slacking on the pre existing damage report. Because really my multi point inspection form does not have a good one. Its just a 3 inch by 1 1/2 picture of a car and we are to circle the damaged areas. Now in this case here on out final road test a rock from a truck hit the windshield and put a nice chip in it. I called teh customer and explained what happened and told her I would replace the windshield for her which I did. Now half hour after she picks it up she is claiming of all this damage on the car. She stopped by today to show me the damage and it is on the d/s and p/s/ front door and a little on the fenders. Its not like one scratch its multiple blemishes obviously not caused at the same time. So being a new business and concerned with her blasting me on the internet I am most likely going to take this one on the chin and get it fixed. She had brought me in 2 estimates for 1000 dollars. I told her to go to MAACO and they gave me an estimate for 525. The thing that really bugs me is she kinda just wants me to cut her a check for 500 bucks so it appears she is obviously just is looking for money. How would you handle this?

Also in the future I am going to be doing a pre existing damage report on each car that is dropped off. But lets face it, most of the cars we see are 100k miles plus with multiple blemishes on them. What is the tolerance of what you are marking down? And even if you have the report they can always claim you added that in.

Thoughts?

Cold and snow!

yeah has to be the right type of snow tho... if it starts over night and drops a foot then everyone is snowed in and no one is driving in it. It needs to start at like 10am so everyone has to drive home from work in it... Then they blow them up, especially those Hondas and Acuras... Honda's false great reputation is the best thing to happen to the trans business. A lot of time my shop looks like a Honda dealer

although somewhat off topic, I dont work on any european cars outside of transmission replacements. They just arent worth the headache. Even the simpler seeming problems turn into a pain in the butt most of the time. And on top of it most of the european cars i see are one that were never maintained, they come in and have 15 codes in the system, and the customer wants to fix it as cheap as possible. I usually have the type of customers that buy the high end cars because they just want the emblem.... Champagne taste with beer pockets... I dont want to deal with them types...

these next 2 weeks are always terrible... But January and February are usually my best months. Having transmissions as the core of my business I guess maybe its the cold breaking them...

lets say you buy 4 tires that cost you 75 each. what does you invoice look like? (roughly)

Mine would show something like: (obviously it isnt going to be as neat as my invoice in a forum)

4 New Tires (Brand) (Size) 105 each = 420

4 Mount and Balance 14.95 = 59.80

subtotal 479.80

Supply & Disposal Fees 16.79

Sales Tax 34.76

------------------------------------------------

Total 531.38

is that about right?

usually cheaper. more so on the domestic units... a popular one is like an explorer with a 5R55S trans LKQ is probably low-mid 2000's. Id expect around 1700 from aamco... although keep in mind they are all independently owned and operated. So pricing can vary... GM 4L60E and 4T65E's around 1500. keep in mind LKQ is just getting them from ETE i believe, then adding a mark up

obviously that would be ideal but lets say under that scenerio, if your taking 60k and still left with 200k in profit at the end of the year what is your gross sales? Which I guess bring up the question as to what % of return on the gross sales is considered the average?

This question is more for owners who are not also mechanics working on the cars. Maybe your the owner/ service writer. When you calculate all the hours you put in are you the highest paid per hour employee of the shop? A lot of times I feel the more money that comes in the more money that goes out. The parts bills, payroll, insurances, taxes, marketing, etc... When the dust settles, figuring all the hours you put in, are you the highest paid per hour employee of the shop?

if you have an AAMCO near by they now remanufacturer their own transmissions with a 3 year 50k mile warranty and the price is usually about 30-40% lower then jasper

How is everyone pricing tire jobs? I just got into tires. Marking up the tires 20-30 bucks and charging 14.95 per wheel to mount and balance... I also charge a supply and disposal fee on all ro's 3.5% up to 19 dollars...

not very profitable... am i missing something

I've stopped doing phone quotes and started asking for the appointment to see the vehicle. It either gets them in or saves wasted time writing an estimate for work you will never do. Either way you win.

do you just flat out tell them " i dont give estimates over the phone""

So how is everyone handling price shoppers.... Customer calls and wants a price on a "tune up". How are you handling that lead? I for one know I am one of the more expensive guys in town and I am kind of surrounded by just old filthy under cutter type of shops. The type of places that will buy a starter for 150 bucks and charge the customer 200. Seems like all price shopping situations I am going to lose on.