Marksas

I'm a little late to this party but I figured I would throw my .02 in. We have our customers sign an invoice. We scan it and file it electronically in the management system. We then take the hard copy and put it in a "numbered accordion" style folder and use that for telephone follow up three days after delivery. It's actually easier and faster than using the computer for followup calls. Once the call is made we shred it. All parts invoices associated with a repair order is scanned and filed with the electronic repair order. The only "paper' we have currently are our EOM vendor parts statements which we file and keep. Looking at several systems to eliminate that paper also. Our server has hot swap-able drives with a "mirrored" drive which we "try" and keep one off site at all times. We also use nightly scheduled online backups with Rackspace. I am currently using RO Writer as our management system but I am not convinced that it is the platform for the feature as I feel it is a little behind in features. I have been using it for about 10yrs. I think they should be integrating the use of i-pads for authorization signatures and invoice signatures. They have some new i-pad features but it is pretty limited. I am not sure why it's so difficult being that the backend database is really pretty simple and straight forward. I guess there is not enough people screaming for it yet. I'm pretty adamant about signatures because they become very important for bad check collection although we might get 2 a year. I've had only one instance regarding a credit card signature. So yes the signature is "because that's they way we've always done it" mentality. I would much rather they sign an i-pad and email it to them. We do have video cameras 16 to be exact. We use them for several things and one of them being training and reviewing how many wasted steps or conversations happen in a routine day. Autovitals has helped reduce that. Parts trucks backing into vehicles. Retracing steps. It's just a watchdog and the employees know we have them and are totally fine with them.

Digital inspections. We currently use Auto Vitals but even before that we would just store the image in the electronic document file. We don't have any problem with customers in our work area and encourage it. They are always with an employee and our shop is kept clean because of it. Most people go in the shop and comment on how clean it is. We also have large windows into the shop so customers can look in if they choose. We have nothing to hide.

Health Benefits - yes, 75% company paid for employee medical, 100% company paid for LTD and $30K Life Insurance Vacation Time - Yes, 5 days after 1 year, 10 days after 2 years, 12 days after 5 years, 15 days after 10 years Personal Days - Included in vacation or PTO. If there children have something going on at school during the day we encourage them to attend. Use of shop for personal vehicle repairs? Yes 401K w/ Company Match? SEP with 3% dollar for dollar match Saturday's Off? Yes, we only open Mon- Fri Paid training, paid ASE tests one time only, retakes they pay 100%. They also get paid a flat $50 for attending any training in the evening. Any other benefits? Paid Uniforms, Bi-Weekly Efficiency bonus, EOY Bonus,

Nick, Do yourself a favor and find some local or online training for Excel or any other spreadsheet program as well as quickbooks training. I took classes in the evening and on weekends offered by one of the local colleges. I also had a membership to a New Horizons Training and I took all kinds of training before I ever went into business. I just purchased a yearly membership and could take as many classes as I wanted for the fee. This was in the early 90's and it was the best training I did. Along the way I learned some database training and SQL which I used extensively. I even wrote a management system for another automotive business I sold in the late 90's and they still use the application today. I would also say start using a management system to have a good grasp on your numbers. Also understand your training never stops, it is continual if you want to stay on top. I started my current shop in 2001 and built a new 7500 Square ft shop doing nothing but Collision Repair and then began doing General Automotive Service a couple of years later. We currently do both Automotive Service and Collision Repair out of the same building. We are in the process of building a new 7000 sq ft General Service Shop down the street. (Currently in the city approval phase). We do $2.5M+ in sales with about a 16% net. There is no doubt I can do better on the net but I chose to be a little fat in the office because I don't want to work that hard. I am currently evaluating all expenses and when we split our shop I will address those issues. When you grow it's easy to not pay attention to all of your expenses and to let them get out of hand. I do a yearly budget as well as sales projections and staff knows exactly where we need to be each and every day. I can tell you how much I plan to spend on toilet paper, ink, electricity advertising and everything else. I budget a reasonable salary for myself as an employee. My budgets are pretty detailed. We offer medical benefits paid 75% by the company, Life insurance, LTD, uniforms, training, and ASE certifications all 100% company paid. We have a SEP Retirement paid with a dollar for dollar match up to 3%. as well as the associated vacations and paid days off and EOY bonuses. If a tech attends training in the evening they are paid a flat fee to attend. They also receive efficiency bonuses if the shop hits certain milestones each pay period. These are all things you have to think about as you grow because you want to retain and attract good people. The hard part is staying on plan when you have little or no accountability. As for business plans, write it yourself. Lenders know what a professional written plan looks like. I wrote my plans in word and Excel and presented it to 5 different banks. I tailored each introduction letter to the specific bank. I ended up going with a smaller local bank with strong community ties. I am still with them today and they have been able to do whatever I have asked. I also shop them for every loan or refinance as rates have come down. I pay cash for any equipment purchases and only use the bank for land and buildings now. I don't use the SBA because I don't want to deal with the red tape and have heard to many horror stories. I might try them on my new building but at the first obstacle I will most likely drop them. My banker wants me to try because he says once your in, it's easy to get new money down the road with a track record. My banker always comments on my paperwork and the neatness and condition of my financials. I have used some local NAPA financing on some larger ($10k+) equipment purchases only because it was a 6 month financing with no interest, no paperwork and they just added it to my parts statement each month. I had the cash but if I could use theirs for 6 months for free then I did. I would also recommend reading The E-myth book. http://www.amazon.com/The-E-Myth-Revisited-Small-Businesses/dp/0887307280 This is also a very good book "Small Business - Big Pressure" http://www.amazon.com/Small-Business-Big-Pressure-Entrepreneur-ebook/dp/B00RPCWJTQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428333771&sr=1-1&keywords=small+business+big+pressure Another good resource you can listen to and gain valuable knowledge is Dave Ramsey's Entreleadership Podcasts on I-tunes. They have about 2 45 min podcast per month related to business. I listen to them as I drive, walk or run throughout the week. I also read/listen to several books per month. I know when I was in the shop actually working on cars I would listen on average a book per day. When everyone else is listening to music I was learning something. I am currently reading/listening to "Customer CEO" by Chuck Wall http://www.amazon.com/Customer-CEO-Profit-Power-Customers/dp/1937134377 As for start-up funding I have done several things in the past. I have written $10K promissory notes with interest only and principal and interest at 5Yrs. I presented these to various people I knew and had $50K in about a week. I paid everybody back within 2 years. In my current business my wife and I had 401K's that we rolled into a new plan set up by my new company which has to be a "C" corporation and had borrowing rights. My wife and I each borrowed $50K from our plans and paid it back on a 5yr term. We paid the funds back to our plans early. This is not a good plan because if you default the fines can be steep but it was a risk we were willing to take. We also made personal loans to the corporation at 10% interest only per year, which we rolled the interest back into the principle for the 1st 3 yrs. This way we still received a return on our money. As the business grew we paid back all the principle. One of the biggest mistake new businesses make is once the make a little money they began buying toys and spending the money. I didn't buy anything for about 7 years and then I didn't buy much. I like having a cash cushion and 6 months operating expenses in the bank. It makes it easier to sleep at night. Hope this wasn't too lengthy and good luck in your endeavor. Just remember whatever challenge you are dealing with, somebody else has been down that road and can offer advice if you just ask. Never be afraid to ask. Stay humble and eager to learn.

I am a new member and stumbled across this site while looking for information / complaints on Automotive Payment Club because I had received some information on them and I am currently evaluating all of our phone, cell, internet, cable TV and CC processing services. I appreciate the posts and it pretty much helped me make my decision to not pursue wasting anymore time with APC. The great thing is I found a forum for Shop Owners, so this turned into a good use of my time.