AJFA

We have them clock in/out each job, it's easy, the clock is by the assignment rack so they come get the next job, clock out on done job/in on next job, grab keys and bring the next one in. The clock begins, isn't that what we do at a restaurant, --- whens my food coming??? is my car done??? Yes, we have had some that do not get why they never have to punched in before at other shops, I tell them, no one has ever rewarded you for working hard before, that's why. We flag the time and at end of the day & they get a bonus if they do, #1- a good job (ie no comebacks/cars need to be fixed first & foremost) #2 - excelled by turning 35 hours or more,(we need to make a profit). 45 hours or more get a bigger bump in flat rate pay that is meaningful. It's all about results = rewards, as said by Roger Penske, what do I know. It's simple, fix the car, get paid. Why do so many people have an issue with this??? There are only these 2 metrics we need to measure. Dave

So critic this one, I can take it, but my wife is the one in charge of this! http://ajforeignauto.com/ Dave

Yep, I do not use them, just passing it on. Dave

Ni-copp tubing & Mastercool hydraulic tool = $600.00 to $900.00 per job or more & it keeps my guys busy all day, Yea for both of us! I luv the rust belt! NY winters are the best. Dave

Anybody on here live in a 6 million dollar house?? I so want to move on................ sorry. Dave

There is a site to blacklist bad customers here: http://www.autoshopblacklist.com/Default.aspx Dave

In a heart beat, but the purchase check needs 6 zeros on it! I've been working on cars for 48 years or so, at a multi line new car dealer for about 33 of those years, my own shop for 11 of those years now. I would move on to something less stressful if I could find someone that wants to do this job but I believe the younger people are not at all interested in this occupation any more. Over the years I have seen so many guys get into this business and get out a short time later. Us old timers just did not know when to get out I guess. Going back to work now............ Dave

Same here, $1.75 for most drain gaskets - replaced every time & we document past due changes & oil level before draining - we are amazed how many cars have no oil on the stick so we do not need to get blamed for an engine issue when the last 3 times here they had no oil on the stick. Of course we all know no customer opens the hood now days. Dave

I have been there 2 times, it is very overwhelming, so much eye candy!! I will return another year. We watched the cars exit the show one year out back and saw Grave Diggers Dennis Anderson do a 4 wheel burn out down the back alley, sweet!! Dave

OH boy does this stuff drive me crazy Phone call goes like this: THEM: I need a state inspection ME: when can you bring it in? THEM: when can you do it? ME: its easier if YOU tell me what day you can get here, then I put you on the schedule, any day is open. THEM: what day is available? ME: any day for an inspection, that's why I asked what day is good for you. THEM: well let me look on my calendar....................................................wait, wait, wait...................... ME: (thinking to myself) - you called for a job, why did you not look when you could get your car into the shop first! THEM: so I'm out of town next week, (which happens to be the end of the month). THEM: the state inspection will be expired when I will return. ME: thinking - it sucks to be you, plan ahead next time & do I want you as a customer? ME: so when can you bring the car in? THEM: I need it today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ME: ah, its 3:30 pm now, I do not have any time left today, sorry. THEM: Oh I will keep calling around. ME: good luck, maybe we can help you out next time if you plan ahead but not today! THEM: thanks ME: after hanging up. WHY DO I DO THIS??????????????????????? why are other peoples lives so XXed up?? Dave

I have the same way of doing it as all you guys but I don't like to make it cut & dry, yes or no to their own parts installation. So this guy calls and asks me if I will install his own exhaust pipe, he already had a good used part & clamps. We are very busy at this time and I think it over, "what kind of car is it ask", a 2005 Audi A4 1.8T with 100000+ miles, I think, this car is a $$$$ money making pit. I say to him I will look at it and I only let a customer to bring his parts one time. I want to try to get them as a regular. He comes in & we look at it and he has the wrong pipe!! He states he is tired of trying to save money on this job & for me to give him a price to fix it. We do our 27 point check & come back to him with a price for a new Audi center pipe & rear calipers, pads & rotors. He just spent $1500.00 here that we never would have seen if I said " we do not install customers parts". Another guy this week couldn't get his Audi caliper bolts loose so he could replace pads. We turned that into a $500.00 job for a couple hours on the lift & I know he will return for other work, maybe even to do the brakes correctly. I'm not saying I do this all the time, many times they are such a pain to deal with, I'm just saying I try not to just blow them off because I know if I do, we will never get another chance to see their car $$$$$$. By the way, in NY we as a shop cannot work on a car without guaranteeing the job doesn't matter where the parts come from, part of repair shop law. Doesn't mean if I put a used muffler on I am on the hook to make it new, only that I did the job correctly. Party on. Dave

My stress level would go down if I fired the customers I want to fire when I have the first encounter with them! So often you can tell by their attitude and line of questions that the transaction is not going to end well. Unreasonably people are everywhere. By letting the truck account go I would say you have dodged a bullet there. Your only hope is to get to the business owner and enlighten him as to what you can provide different that the other shop. my $0.02 Dave

Every story I just read has happened to me and I assume all of us on a regular basis, its part of dealing with people. It makes me wonder how much longer do I continue to try and help people out with their car problems?? Glad we are busy and making a profit! After my 45 years in the car repair business, its the people that drive you more nuts than the cars do!! The cars we can take a hammer to when no one is looking, do not try that with a customer - even if they are not looking! Laughing about what customers say is the only way to get through the day some times. Dave

Wow I never thought I was the only one this happened to but it is interesting to read the stories of what's out there. An ex employee was hired and requested an internet connection so he could "look up " repairs at his toolbox, I agreed. Next thing he had a play list on with some F### words of course you could hear it outside and it did not go well when I shut it off. I have a hard time understanding how anyone could think it was appropriate music for a public shop. Dave

Mitchells scheduler is not the only thing that drives us crazy. Tech support has not always been seamless and quick books integrator has given us numerous time wasting sessions on the phone solving issues, they have actually told us we should log out of the program half way through the day and log back in to clear memory out, of course that's not always able to be done. The use of the RO write up is not very self explanatory in that I have hired service writers that have used other systems and they struggle with completing all the write up correctly, there are too many hidden fields. For example why is the most important charge - labor rate hidden? There system is OK if you only have 1 hourly rate but many shops have a variable rate depending on the car line, there is no way to change this in Mitchell with out remembering to go to the obscure button ( type) and select the correct rate. What happens is the service writer forgets to look at the type/rate and bills the job out at default whether its a Honda or Mercedes or a Rolls. It would seem to me Mitchell could have a rate list that is set according to car make so the writer did not have to decide what rate to charge. I could go on with issues we have but Mitchell is what we use and we have gotten use to it so its hard to change now but I feel like they never get into the shops and see how it is being used and the issues that are overlooked. Dave

We keep universal for the lower class cars and use ONLY OEM for premium cars. We keep BMW, Jag, Benz, VW, Toyota & Honda on the shelf. Why would a shop put the cheap stuff in everything when you can charge a premium for the OEM fluid? It makes no cents $$$ Dave

Kendall oil link here: http://www.phillips66lubricants.com/brands-products/Single.aspx?pid=235&brand= Dave

BMW 3 series = 55% GP. VW 1.8 = 51% GP. Profit pays the bills! Pentosin does cost about $1.00 more per qt, we use Euro spec Kendall in 55 gal drum. Dave

So he needs a shop that charges for his time at $135.00 labor and he needs to guarantee 40 hours production a week! It can be done but I doubt a 5 year experience tech can do it, at least none I have worked with. I had a guy who said he owned his shop and built race engines so I hired him and the first job I gave him was to replace a bent crankshaft in the shops 5 horsepower lawn mower, 2 days later for a 4 hour job, he had it running with the other guys in the shop helping him get the carb linkage installed so it worked. Needless to say he lasted about week. The thing that irritated me was even if he could put a Chevy engine together with his eyes closed, there always is a new challenge in this business that you cant go into with your eyes closed. If he needed to paint cam line up marks, draw linkage diagrams, photos of bolt placement etc he should've known that. Certainly the repair business needs to pay higher wages if we are to attract talented people but they need to bring talent to the table not attitude. Dave

My bad apple quit last month. He had 9.5 unpaid days off in the first 3 months of this year, when asked if he could put in some nights or weekends to make up for the loss in revenue he did not think he owed me anything. Sorry to say I have had other 24 year olds say the same thing to me in the past. This one gave me notice then texted me the next day to say he was getting his tools!! Of course the shop & schedule was more than full but we survived without him. Looking for his replacement still. Dave

$30.00 to $35.00 per tire mark up, $25.00 to $30.00 per tire labor for M&B, $40.00 for run flats. Stems or cores at $3.00 each. TPMS kits charged accordingly at 60%. Always clean wheels with a 4" wire cup grinder. If they send Tire Rack tires we always perform the higher priced alignment. It has been said selling tires is the highest margin job for the time spent in most shops. Sounds like we are charging market prices. We do lots of tires for our size shop, convenience to our customer. Dave

Yes, I tell the customer I will charge an admin fee depending on how long the phone time is, usually $25.00, I document all phone times. When they say the dealer doesn't charge I tell the customer that's because they made 50% profit on you selling the warranty. I never have them send parts, even if I have to lower the price a little. The goal is to keep the customer coming to us, of course if you don't accept x warranty's they will go elsewhere. There are warranty plans that I have charged higher parts & labor than you would for a customer pay job, you might as well start out high priced when you call them and play their game. I had this Audi here that needed an alternator and I called the x warranty company and the guy on the other end goes "holy cow", I say what's wrong, he says they may have to buy this car back, he said they have spent over $10000.00 on it in claims!! It was an A8. They agreed to replace the alternator, seems like it was over $1000.00. Dave

We use Sure Critic as part of the Mitchell Manager programs: http://www.surecritic.com/reviews/aj-foreign-auto Even the not so nice reviews are meaningful, usually means we did not explain things very well! The ones that kill me are the ones where they say we did a great job but they couldn't give us a 5 star review because they never give anyone 5 stars!! I think they have a complex, just like I do . Dave

"Normal" heating of the tie rod is included. Within reason we charge an extra "Torch Fee" if it gets complicated. If it is a big ticker job it may not show on the bill but if it is a single line job, yea you have to cover costs. We clean ALL wheels with a power wire brush outside the back door and that is built into the tire install job. NY cars are always corroded. I would charge a one tire install at a higher rate but seldom do one tire. We never sell used tires due to liability concerns. See this: http://www.safetyresearch.net/Library/Used_Tires.htm Steering angle resets are charged out in addition to the alignment. Any broken bolts are shown to the customer, maybe with a photo, and billed accordingly. Same with lost locking keys. ALL customers are "financially challenged" but I don't want to be! When they say I don't want to spend much on this car I say "I have never yet had a customer come in the door and say spend as much as I can on the car"! Dave

Health Benefits - yes - 50% paid, individual only Vacation Time - yes - 6 national holidays after 6 months work, 1 week vac. after 1 year. Personal Days - yes - 1 per quarter accrued at the end of the quarter, unused are paid at end of year. Use of shop for personal vehicle repairs - yes, repairs with my permission only, free oil changes and state inspections on the car you drive to work. 401K w/ Company Match - yes, 2% after 1 year. Saturday's Off - yes unless need to catch up in summer time. 5 employees normally, have had up to 9 at one time, too many issues! paid training, paid ASE tests one time only, retakes they pay 1/2. Dave