Hands On

I am with Aramark and I am very pleased. When I signed on I went through the contract and modified the part where they can increase rates. The manager looked at it and said ok as long as he could raise his rate if I raised mine. We agreed and so my rated are locked and only go up if I raise my labor rate. Service is ok, and driver is responsive toy issues. Keep in mind you can modify contracts. Sometimes companies are ok with it, others will say no or give up. I always try.

As a small shop with two techs and four lifts, I can not afford to do oil changes all day long. I schedule one waiting oil change a day, first thing in the morning. Sometimes I will do two. I train my regulars to schedule a week ahead. I often suggest to my customers that they use a quick lube through out the year and just see me once a year for a good safety check. We are always busy year round and do not have car count issues. I have issues finding employees.

I am curious as to why you would no longer have your business? I always wonder when I see guys who do consulting and got rid of their shop also. I can not imagine ever getting rid of my shop, not untill I am ready to retire on a sail boat, and when I do I certianly would not be buying parts from Rock Auto.

Offering a discount with less warranty is a very dangerous game to play because that customer will absolutely forget that they agreed to no/less warranty when the part fails and they will hang you out to dry in reviews if you refuse to take care of it.

This whole thread is a good refresher on handling these issues, good thread

I had a customer lask week sent me a very mean e-mail because I kept her car all day and I did not finish her rear shock absorbers, the item she dropped it off for. What I did do was a complete inspection on the vehicle during which I found a leaking transmission cooler. I sent her an estimate stating this to which I got the nasty response. When she came t pick it up, I showed her and her husband the leak, they said "oh". The vehicle came back in today, we are fixing the leak, they are putting off the rear shocks as they are not as important as the leak, imagine that. My point is that no matter what you are going to have some problem or trouble customers that just don't "get it" Just keep doing the right thing and do not let the jerks get the better of you.

I can personally have had heater cores I have done in and out in a single day. I know techs I have had working for me sometimes will take 12 hours. If you have your guys do a few of them then they get the experience and the time to do it starts to drop, just like with any job.

After the fact is difficult, I will tell people that I will beat the dealer price by 5%, but the dealer is the only one I will price match. This usually ends the conversation and they can understand that. They understand it because big box stores say they will only price match each other, and not glamazon. Before the sale I tell them I will price match anyone that offers the same 3 year, 36,000 mile parts and labor warranty. This also ends it, because I am the only one in town that offers such a long warranty. Anyone that calls or walks in asking me to install their part I simply say I am sorry but we do not do that here. I do not want that customer. If you want or need that customer you may need to take a look at your marketing.

I am with Jeff there, we are trying to buy our own home right now and the number of homes we can actually afford is three... Three listings in the area we want to live in that we can afford.

Update: The customer rolled with the car without indecent. Grumbled a bit but I have not heard back since. I imagine who ever he took it to explained to him that the damage was done a while ago. To davine4real we typically run at capacity, sometimes we are booked out one or two days in advance, sometimes up to a week. I thought I did my best prior to taking in the job explaining to the customer that he had a good chance of motor damage. It was just one of those situations where the customer tried to forget what we had discussed and had in writing.

We recently took in a 2005 golf with a hole in the oil pan. It was a big hole. I made a note on the estimate that we did not know if there was engine damage because the hole was too big to fill with oil and run. When the oil pan was down we saw what looked like a pinch of bearing material squeazed out around the #1 main. We took a picture of this bearing damage then installed the pan. Added oil and car started. No power, Turbo seized. Now customer is accusing us of running the car with no oil and ruining his turbo. How would you guys handle this situation. I really don't feel like having a horrible google review calling us idiots.

I am thinking of leaving Alldata for Identifix. They are now carrying all of the repair information, and their other services have always been great, I just had a hard time to justify having two programs at once as they can be expensive for me to run both. But it now looks like identifix could replace alldata completly. Looking for input guys, thanks. I would continue to use alldata for my management program only.

I am still looking for a competent service writer. I interviewed a woman yesterday and hired her on the spot. She did not show up this morning. I called another candidate, he was already hired by an alignment parts sales company. He is getting 50k a year to sell allignment parts!! He would have to increase my sales by 10k a month if I was going to match that paying him 7% of gross sales. I can not find a tech to save my life either. Is there a pay shift going on? do we need to raise prices another 20% to be able to pay peole a competitive salary? The fracking and oil companies take the techs and sales companys are taking the writers. I am getting ready to throw in the towel.

First, sorry for having two accounts, it logs me on through facebok on my phone and through a regular log in at work, not sure how to combine the two. I asked him that same question, whats it do for me. Well, poeple who actually use the application I can send push notifications to, coupons, blogs. They can check in their car and get notifications on items that need to be fixed. It can have a digital loyalty card that you "stamp" each time they come in to earn rewards. That kind of stuff. I did a search online and another company does it for 500 down and 60/ month, much better in the long run.

This is about training a service writer who has little to no experience. I am working on training a new service writer. He was our shop helper at first, comming in half a day here and there to clean up and help with easy tasks, pick up drop off customers, ect. He was smart and had a good work ethic, so his days got longer and longer and he eventually became a full time assistant. He would do oil changes and tires, write some estimates and still keep things clean ect. He is not perfect, he does sometimes forget things. He is young, he is only 18. I feel like he has a lot of potential, and he enjoys the job. I like his work ethic and the majority of the customers like him. I am looking for advice on how to get him fully trained up. I know that everyone has to start somewhere and I am taking on a big task, but I tried one experienced service writer in the past and did not like how set in his ways he was. My current guy is and open book, and absorbs my policies with out question. What training do you guys suggest. Is there a class I should send him to? Online training courses? A book I can buy for him? Where do I start? I have been training him on the RO software and he is picking that up. He knows how to build the estimates, research parts online, and has sold a few jobs when I was not around. He mentioned that he wants to work on his confidence talking to the customers. When I sell to a customer, I know how to work on cars, and so when they throw me a curve ball I know the answers or know how to find them. How does a service writer with very little tech experience handle techy questions? Thanks in advance for the help guys.

I am working on my service writer. I am going to start a new topic, but I will ask here also. I am working on training a new service writer. He was our shop helper at first, comming in half a day here and there to clean up and help with easy tasks, pick up drop off customers, ect. He was smart and had a good work ethic, so his days got longer and longer and he eventually became a full time assistant. He would do oil changes and tires, write some estimates and still keep things clean ect. He is not perfect, he does sometimes forget things. He is young, he is only 18. I feel like he has a lot of potential, and he enjoys the job. I like his work ethic and the majority of the customers like him. I am looking for advice on how to get him fully trained up. I know that everyone has to start somewhere and I am taking on a big task, but I tried one experienced service writer in the past and did not like how set in his ways he was. My current guy is and open book, and absorbs my policies with out question. What training do you guys suggest. Is there a class I should send him to? Online training courses? A book I can buy for him? Where do I start? I have been training him on the RO software and he is picking that up. He knows how to build the estimates, research parts online, and has sold a few jobs when I was not around. He mentioned that he wants to work on his confidence talking to the customers. When I sell to a customer, I know how to work on cars, and so when they throw me a curve ball I know the answers or know how to find them. How does a service writer with very little tech experience handle techy questions? Thanks in advance for the help guys.

Did you stick wit it? seeing any better results?

Thats a 1967 Poniac GTO and a 1979 Jeep J20, I see no shame in having those vehicles in my shop. We just finished the Diag and Fuel pump replacement on the 2010 Tundra that the dealer chased away. Charged a total of 3.2 hours to cover diag time and fuel pump replacement, all bundled into one package, customer is very pleased.

I am talking about coolant pressure tests on cars with a blown hose or $104 to just know what code is in the car. Once you have the conversation things can change. Mr. Johnson, You have a code p0301, that means you may have a miss fire. I would like to spend some more time looking into it, would it be ok if we ran some diagnostics at (insert rate). I build the cost to cover the code check into my services. I bill for the smoke test... sorry i if was mis understood there I had a customer at my door the other day livid because the dealer would not talk to her about what was wrong with the car with out collecting money up front, after she spent 4k the week before... it just didnt make sense, but I can also see situations where you cant trust a customer is going to buy into the repair and need to make sure you will be covered up front One last thing I should say is that no two customers are exactly alike. Some of my customers I know understand diag fees and are ok with them, others do not even want to hear the word diagnostic. Both customers pay me the same gross profit percentage and both leave happy, neither one realizing what the other is getting/paying for. I am sure if our shop was bigger I could never keep track of these things, but being small I know each customer and can tailor things accordingly. I probably should be taking the time to educate all of my customers to make the industy as a whole better, but the wallmarts and quick lubes of the world are not going away anytime soon and they do not waste a second of their time on educating people.

I am starting to sell tires. I picked up a new changer and balancer. I have valve stems, weights, patches and glues, lube and a scuffer for the rims. We have 4 lifts total, two techs. I am looking for any advice anyone has to give. Right now my biggest questions are how much to mark up and how can i offer road hazard. Right now I am using US Auto Force as a supplier for my tires. The prices seem very good, but they do not offer a tire protection program that I am aware of. For pricing I would like to be at or a little above the dicount big boys like Big O and dicount tires. I dont want to get slammed with non stop tire work, but I also dont want to appear to be price gouging and start pissing off customers. Also are there any special laws to folow. Do I need to log the serials in the computer? Does anyone use Alldata and is there a special set up in it for tires? Thanks in advance guys, let me know if I am failing to ask the important questions.

I just started with mechanicsnet. So far it seems pretty much the same features as demandforce, at $100 less per month, and no contract. There was a $500 set up fee so that they could design my cookie cutter website which took some data entry person all of 25 minutes I am sure, but that is par for the course I think ( what are some of the start up fees you guys see with the other programs) I will say that having some kind of customer contact program should be a high priority. When I was with demandforce I could see the results each time I sent out a newsletter, and quite a few customers relied on the program to tell them when to come in. I have not been with mechanics net long enough to know if it is working yet.

Only cons, if you consider financial assistance a pro then your getting your financing the wrong way. If you see the partner as a pro because he is going to be an employee? he is not an employee, he is a second business owner. One thing that might help is if you described exactly how this partnership is going to function. Are you both mechaincs? Are you both going to be present and working. How much do you both expect to pull out from the business, and how long do you both think it will take to make that money. Are you both depending on this business to pay both of your bills? What do you envision the pro's to be?

ya I mean just like a treaty right, those always make everything better at that point. The point is at some time there is going to be a conflict and you cant just pull out a peice of paper and expect both parties to go " oh yeah, silly me, i forgot about that" and the problem magcally goes away. And to say that there will not be any problems is to play ignorant. Some of the best marriges end in divorce. Now I am not wishing the worse for you, but by preparing for the worse, we can usually end up surviving it. It is just that a partnership is in my opinion already starting out in a pretty bad spot and there is not a long fall to the worse that can happen.

I see a lot of people here are using mitchell, I have been using alldata. I am paying about 250-260 per month for my repair info and the elite version of the management program which has the parts matrix ability. What are you folks paying for mitchell?

We use digital pictures as a selling tool all the time. I have sold 100% of the estimates I took pictures of.