Dad's Auto

I have a saying for times like these, "Too busy to make money"

I know how hard it is to turn a customer away or even put them off and schedule them out a few days. I don't want to lose a customer either...BUT, when you try to cram too much work into your shop, ARO drops, things get rushed, missed, messed up. Inspections get skipped and the bottom line plumets.

For every new customer that you "worked" in, you lost another by short changing their experience with your shop.

It's not an easy balance to find and lord knows I have not mastered it, but balance is what we should be seeking.

A simple thanks but no thanks.

Has anyone had any experience teaching in a Votech or Community College setting?

Do you have a teching degree?

Was the experience a good one?

How much time did it consume?

How did you manage your shop during this time?

On a/c we charge 1 hour labor plus freon. We fully charge the system and add dye. If the system operates we do a real quick check for leaks and send them down the road with an appointment to recheck for leaks at a later date. Approx. 2 weeks later.

If the system is full and has an electrical problem, we use that hour we already sold them and diagnose it. Then call them and sell it.

On oil changes, I just try not to lose money. If you are not a quick lube center, you are not going to pay the bills changing oil.

Oil changes are a convienence item I offer my customers, not a profit center.

That's too true.

I ended up having to eventually let him go and I moved myself back to the front desk. Now I treat myself as an employee when at the desk and stick to the policies I had set up for him.

It's hard to do, but well worth it. I didn't lose any customers that were worth keeping.

I hired a service writer a couple years ago. Set him up with a pricing matrix and some standard policies and things were going great.

Then one day my wife tells me that she heard rumors that people did not like my service writer and I was losing business because of him. I investiagted a bit and found out the few people that were complaining were the ones I used to let make payments or give "deals" to.

They didn't like having to actually pay for their car when the repairs were finished.

I was thinking about this scenario just the other day and actually came up with a plan for it.

I would sign the business over to my long term employee. Give him all the tools and equipment and then lease him the building. I think it would be very fullfilling the help him and watch him continue to grow this business and be successful in life.

I guessing it will never happen though as I do not buy lottery tickets...