KMS

We do something very similar. A test is the only way to test real knowledge, but it doesn't test for anything else. The interviews and personality test must be completed also.

Allowing side work has always been part of our hiring policy, as long as they don't work on BMWs or Minis. Unless they are family members vehicles. Our insurance will cover it if anything happens after hours. We trust our techs to be safe at all times while here.

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.

Also... More to add...

 

Today, people search for shops based on their smart phones. They open up Google maps or Apple maps, zoom to an area, and type "car repair." Guess what the number one factor influencing your ranking on this map search is. You guessed it...

 

If a user is using Apple maps, the ranking is based of your yelp score.

 

If a user is using Google maps, it is based off your Google+ review score (which is another topic all together)

ATL,

Reviews are needed by everyone these days. I just feel yelp is misleading and not very trustworthy. Very similar to the issues Angie's List is having. They just don't manage the reviews correctly. When it comes to search engine - I know for a fact that Google Plus and Yelp is a very small part of search results. It helps, but is a very small part. I have recently been doing a lot of research on how these search engines work and it is very complicated.

I like the guys that are saving money by fixing their car on their own. The story goes like this, my uncle had a car doing the same thing as mine was and injectors fixed it, so I replaced my injectors myself to save some money but it was doing the same thing. So I did some research on the internet and decided to replace the fuel pump, but it still does not run. Now I need you to give me a worst case estimate on the phone because I don't know if I can afford diagnostics or the repair for that matter. I just spent $ 1400.00 dollars saving money!!!

Wow, I love these stories. I never have any problems talking to these customers about their own ignorance. There will always be times you guess and get the repairs right, but most of the time they will be wrong. Diagnosis is cheap, repairs are expensive! Next time I go to the doctor I am going to tell them I need a pace-maker. I will also tell him not to ask me why. How f'n stupid can people be. LOL!

Sound like you have a problem with locating the correct keys. Just tag your keys and add the number to the repair order. I just use the slotted racks for the paperwork and hang the tagged keys where the slot wraps around. Makes it easy. I have also seen companies use a large singe file rack that they put all their folders and keys in. You can try that. It should be cheap enough to try.

Local shops are preferred by the motoring public because they are more accommodating and reasonably priced. If you have a brand, work it. If you do not have a brand, develop one. Think outside the box, be unique and you will not have to worry about the dealers.

Good post and that is completely true. Find something unique to separate yourself from the rest. Everything else will follow.

You will never please every single person. It would be nice if Yelp would challenge some of these reviews. From what I am hearing Yelp isn't a very good review site to join at this point. Maybe there will be another, even better site, to come along where they will see both sides. Who knows.

Believe it or not the Duralast Gold pads have really been a non issue for us. No comebacks due to noise or performance. Easy to source, priced decent, easy. Example, on my hd3500 duramax I use OE pads because I use OE everything on my cars, they are $160 a set. They stop good and last forever. The golds are $40, stop about the same. They wear out quicker but not 4x quicker. They fit pretty good. No doubt the OE parts are the best fit, but I can't send every customer with a tight budget away if they can't afford the best.

Sometimes it may just be easier to give your customer options and let them decide after you explain the differences in them.

Probably soon!

This discussion is definitely two-sided. My thoughts on both these subjects is that as long as their productivity stays high and doesn't affect the shop in anyway, I don't care. If it ever does, then we have major problems!

A good customer will want to come to your shop because you are approachable, have a great reputation, treat them fairly and honesty and overall just like you. The value of your expertise, being able to talk to their technician, shuttle service, market leading warranty and keeping up with their expectation is where you will win. Customers that you have to motivate with freebies and discounts are not the type you typically want unless you are looking for a low ARO and high car count business model.

Cheap and Freebie always bring in unwanted customers and headaches! Not what we want.

Automotive Brake Pads

 

What is your preferred brand of automotive brake pads and why?

Who is the supplier of that brake pad to you?

What is the warranty on those pads?

Who manufactures those brake pads?

What grade are those brake pads, low end, mid, high end?

Are they ceramic, semi-metallic, organic, or blend?

We only use Akebono Ultra Premium brake pads. They are ceramic (No brake dust, and quiet). Our customers love them. Some track cars we use Hawk. We purchase them either through SSF or WorldPac.

For as little issues we have with customers signatures, we don't worry about to much. Now, the only time I ever ask for a signature is when the customer has an extended warranty. A long time ago I was at another repair shop where we got custom to getting signatures on everything, but this was only because of the shadiness of the customers that walked through the door. Some customers, unfortunately, will try to scam you.

It's all about convenience and customer service. Our independents shops can do both, and usually a lot cheaper. It seems to me people are looking for the full service shops more. I see that they are sick and tired of dealing with multiple service shops, and just want to find one that does it all.

Drill it down slightly to remove the taper. Lugs are pretty soft.

 

I'm more interested in hearing how yall deal with charging for this. We give this stuff away ... Probably too much.

If the vehicle has never been to our shop, and/or we have never taken the wheels off I will quote the repair accordingly. If we did it somehow I would let them know and repair it for free. I would let them know if they decided against it and they ever get a flat tyre they wouldn't be able to remove the wheel to install their spare tyre, and it would need done anyway at that time.

The problem is is that an elaborate story teller with a vendetta against a business can have multiple accounts or friends accounts and write all kinds of made up nonesense. With the amount of potential damage yelp can do, they should have an investigative team so that they can request documents, receipts, invoices even showing the customer actually frequented the business.

Very good point. I do believe only the individual with the gripe should be able to leave a review.

You have to understand, dealerships are getting desperate. Their customer service is getting worse due to the manufacturers becoming greedy! I wouldn't worry too much about this because it will be one of those things that will dissipate very quickly. You could up your warranty slightly and let all of your customers know. Our warranty is 3yrs / Unlimited miles and seems to be working out great for our customers. You also need to understand a better warranty doesn't beat great customer service!

I do see the positives and negatives with Yelp. I think it needs to focus more on the positive reviews. There algorithm to chose the most influential reviews is flawed! It should show all reveiws and allow the review to be disputed easier.

We use good ol' American muscle! I have used a car caddy before and they work great, but most of them are pretty expensive.

I will never put trust in a computer. Day in and day out we all deal with some type of technology that has a glitch. They can't make the tough decisions that a human brain can. Once they can, we are all in big trouble!

This one was so filthy and in such bad shape we probably did him a favor by not working on the vehicle. it should be condemned.

Condemned is a great word for some of these vehicles. Gas can and a match, or a bio-suit for the owner.

In a way it is off subject but I had to tell a customer no today. This afternoon I got a call from my dentist's office. There are within walking distance and some of them bring their cars to me including the dentist. Alexa explained that a gentlemen who had been in their office had a car smoking in the parking lot and wondered if I could help him. We were busy but I told her I would try. In a few minutes the guy walked in obviously distraught. He thought he had blow a hose. I told him to give it a while for the car to cool down and we would try to start it and bring it over. After about an hour I gave one of my guys his keys and asked him to see if he could bring it over. My two guys came back a few minutes later and said that there was no way they wanted to sit down INSIDE this vehicle. It was piled full of trash even with the rear window glass and the guy had a wood 2"x4" propped in the center of the car to keep the trash from falling on him. They said the trash and the smell were unreal and unsanitary to the highest degree. Based upon things I heard this guy say in the office and based upon what my guys told me I decided to punt. As kindly as I could I told the gentleman that there was no way we could work on the car in the condition it was in. Obviously he was mentally ill because he talked about having no money to fix his car but he also told me he was feeding 30 cats.

I have had similar cases of animals practically living in vehicles. I have no problem telling the customer that he/she needs to clean their vehicle before I will allow my technicians to work on it. There are ill people out there, but my technicians health is more important.

The 5% Net profit is a good way to look at it for tax purposes. Just pay yourself more to get the lower percentage of taxes owed. Than put that money in savings just in case it is needed.

I had one tell me last week how he really wanted me to do his work and he really liked us but he was just a working man and we needed to do something about the price. The last shop did both front wheel hubs for $50 and if I'll do it I can have his business! He got offended when I laughed?

 

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It's amazing isn't it! Yes, there are small home garages that can work for $25.00 an hour, but those technicians most of the time are not a complete shop. They have very little over-head. The way vehicles are turning into one giant computer will put those shops out of business soon. I would have laughed also!