PAPShop

Welcome! Where in MN are you at?

Following.....

"Minnesota winters are not kind to our vehicles. If your vehicle is more than 15 years old, you may have a small additional labor charge to accommodate the removal of rusted nuts, bolts or parts." And forum guys, we ask what shop their "forum expert" is out of. There seems to be a lot of guys working at "sumguy" Shop.

We provide shirts and hoodies. Also, allowed is plain black t-shirts or t-shirts advertising products we sell ie) Dynocom Dynos, Nitous Outlet, Flowmaster, etc. We have a strict policy on pants and we allow shorts in the summer; can be jeans or dickies, no rips tears or stains. We included jeans because the owner hates to wear dickies.

It sounds like you want to work on higher end cars, so you should charge a shop rate to keep only those cars in the shop. If your rate is lower, you will get the rusty buckets.

Projects. We line up project cars to work on during the winter months. A restoration can be worked on in the fab shop or the dyno bay. Sometimes we'll have an extra enclosed trailer sitting out back with a car waiting to be worked on during the winter. We also take a deep breath and enjoy the not so frantic pace. We know that November thru snow melt is slower, and we really enjoy the slower pace. But it all depends on the weather. The alignment rack keeps a good pace in winter, especially an icy or snowy winter; we like pot holes and ditches.

Welcome! Glad to see another performance shop here.

Do you call your physician and ask him to diagnose and tell you how to fix your broken leg? No, he has to examine it to find out what all is wrong with it. We are the same way. (The owner has also asked customers if they like his shirt he is wearing today. The answer is "I don't know I can't see it". And he explains it is the same with their car.)

This thread is refreshing. I know we are not the only ones with unrealistic people walking thru the front door; or in my case the back door. I had a person walk thru the "DELIVERIES ONLY" door, which is the back door to my office, walk thru the back rooms to the sales floor. The sign on the outside door is very obvious. He interrupted me speaking with another customer and is holding in his hand a side mirror that he said he got at the auto strip lot and he just wanted someone to "just pop this on". I told him all of my guys were working on other vehicles, but I would be happy to make an appointment for later that afternoon. No he needs it done now and someone can "just pop this on". After explaining that my guys were working on vehicles that had appointments and deadlines, they would be available later that afternoon to help him. Nope, he didn't like that answer and turned around and started to walk out thru my office, complaining all the way. I tried to redirect him to the front door, but he was mumbling to himself. My other customer laughed (a regular customer). I have just one thing to say to him -- hey dude, don't wear your work shirt some place and be rude and demanding. I now know where to not shop, or (which I will not do) I can go in and be rude to you.

We have 3 options. 1. "All Hands on Deck" is used for collector cars (non daily drivers) 2. A 4 wheeler (ATV) with a push bar on the front or a blanket over the snow plow blade during the winter 3. Bobcat with tires attached to the front to push with. We picked it up off Craigslist for $2500 a few years ago. It isn't pretty but has a bucket and pallet forks and been worth the investment, especially when clearing the parking lot of snow.

Facebook has been good for us. Another avenue is networking groups. BNI (Business Networking International) has also been successful. It has helped to grow trust between us and other businesses in our area.

We did add NAPA CSC to our shop, they had a few freebies that made it worth our while. We liked some of the services their program has. We are going to ride out the year with both then evaluate. Thanks for all of the information, it really helps knowing we can get honest, unbiased information here.

Salerno's.... all I can say is wow! Is the NAPA owner related to the other shop? Is the other shop in direct competition with you? If the NAPA store is independently owned you may have fewer options. Here is some contact info I received direct from NAPA. Terry Mann, Director NAPA AutoCare Headquarters - NAPA Autocare 800-205-0642

We are currently a CSC for Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper. We are happy with them, and they are a block away from us so delivery is quick. Auto Zone has recently broke ground for a new store in town. Now the other parts suppliers are scrambling to get as many auto repair shops to be CSC for their brand; coincidence? We have had a lot of promises thrown at us by salesmen. Is there really any differences between what each brand offers? We have in town: NAPA Advanced Auto O'Reilly Car Quest Auto Value/Bumper to Bumper and soon Auto Zone Just asking for input in case someone has a better program.

I'm in Central Minnesota and just heard we are not getting paid either, AND they may start charging us for taking in used filters.

rtauto3000, what industry did you use when you set up using the program? There doesn't seem to be an automotive specific industry from the drop down box. We are looking at changing the way we schedule, and this may be something to look at.

Saturday's have been the day that works for everyone. And of course the new hire is ok with it, if not, they are not hired. We pay them as if they were subcontracted labor and it is at a lower rate (about 75%) than what they will be paid when hired. We have not had any issues with legal worries. Since we have gone to this system, we have weeded out most bad candidates before this point. Because of the nature of our shop, we have unusual jobs come thru and we try to save one for the interview. They do about 4 hours and we pay for lunch, which gives a chance to sit casually and bs with them.

Time off, what is time off? Winter is our down time. We have Brainerd International Raceway 5 miles from our shop. We bring to the track a Racer Support Trailer that is a mini store with parts, Nitrous fill station, CO2 fill station, and race fuel. We spend just about every weekend at the track during the summer with the trailer and our Camaro that we drag race.

Been there, not that extreme though. We have implemented a multi step interview process. Had to so we can weed out the imposters, the wanna-be's and the divas. After interviewing with each of the owners individually, the final interview is a working interview on a Saturday while we are closed. One of the owners will be working on another job in the same room observing out of the corner of his eye. We have started this and it has given a feel for the person and their work habits. We also check their previous employment, references, facebook and internet search to include their driving record; also check spouse/girlfriend/significant other. We've had "married to crazy" that effected work habits. Needless to say, we vet applicants thoroughly.

About a year ago we had to fire our bad apple. He was constantly complaining about working on rusty cars (Uh, its Minnesota dude.) and was just never happy about anything, to include how the owner ran the shop. There was no real reason to fire him, and the owner was looking for someone else. The bad apple did us the favor by taking a customer's 1969 convertible Mustang for a joy ride, I mean test drive, to check out if the fuse he replaced was the problem. 30 minutes of joy ride later, I mean test drive, and he returned, flying over the railroad tracks and a big grin on his face. When the owner asked if he brought a spare fuse with him in case the new one failed, the answer was no. He knew he was done and there was cause to let him go. The change in atmosphere and attitude was like a fog was lifted overnight. The owner took his time finding a replacement and used a working interview to select the final hire.

About a year ago we had to fire our bad apple. He was constantly complaining about working on rusty cars (Uh, its Minnesota dude.) and was just never happy about anything, to include how the owner ran the shop. There was no real reason to fire him, and the owner was looking for someone else. The bad apple did us the favor by taking a customer's 1969 convertible Mustang for a joy ride, I mean test drive, to check out if the fuse he replaced was the problem. 30 minutes of joy ride later, I mean test drive, and he returned, flying over the railroad tracks and a big grin on his face. When the owner asked if he brought a spare fuse with him in case the new one failed, the answer was no. He knew he was done and there was cause to let him go. The change in atmosphere and attitude was like a fog was lifted overnight. The owner took his time finding a replacement and used a working interview to select the final hire.

We use QuickBooks Pro currently. Does any of the other SMS allow for retail? We have a retail store for our performance side which is about 25-30% of our business. I have been slowing looking at a SMS, and want one that would integrate with QuickBooks. Computers....ugh!

Most accounts have daily ATM withdrawl limits.

We are in the same boat as you. There just isn't book time for example a 1965 AMC Marlin or an AC Cobra. As a result we developed a pay scale with incentives for our guys. They earn their hourly rate and a percentage/commission on the hours that are billed, not the hours they take to do the job. The owner gives the tech an idea of what it should take to finish the job based on the quote given to the customer. They earn a percentage of the labor rate per hour billed to the customer, when the customer pays for the hours - which means customer pays for hours when the job is done. The percentage is based on tech's skill level and length of time with us.

Our processing is done by Metro Merchant Processing. The batch processes before a certain time at night (around the time we close) and the money is in our bank account the next day. We have a local representative, he stops by the shop on a monthly basis to see how things are going. If we have any issues, I call him and he is in the shop the same day. The other thing is, he brings his car to us! We are doing business with people who do business with us - it's a shop policy. My rates are low, and I am comfortable with the company I'm working with. For a 6 month period last year, I watched our monthly rate like a hawk just to prove to myself that we had good rates, and they were good. He has built loyalty from us because of his customer service, and we have done the same with him. So when Mr. Scammer calls me about my processing, I ask if they are in our customer base. When their answer is no we are in XX state. I politely tell them we only do business with companies that do business with us. End of phone call - they hang up on me.