3PuttFever

Been gone awhile so I assume your situation is no longer a concern. I put in place a higher per hour wage and commission structure that would allow for solid income IF they produce. I'm having an issue with my Store Manager, too. I feel my Techs are good when they're busy and my Shop Manager likes to socialize too much. I'm going to hire another Service Writer and likely fire my Manager. Get someone good in here that I can train and depend on when I need time off. I've had my Manager for three years and he's not increased performance or outcome one bit. Almost fired him this summer but gave him another chance. It's been six months and he has made insufficient improvements. It's hard because I care about the guy. 

Joe, you make terrific points. I find payroll and motivation to be my largest challenge outside of finding good, reliable talent. I have spoken with accountants, read article after article, and even spoke with the US Department of Labor about payroll, FLSA and overtime. Unless you're a dealer you cannot pay Flat Rate to your Technicians as their only means of income that is exempt from overtime. If you're an independent shop you can pay a guarantee but if your staff work more than 40 per week you MUST pay overtime. Any overtime also needs factored into any production bonus. It's a hard formula to create. I'm going to lower my hourly rate to my guys and pay them a higher per hour rate when they eclipse labor hours in a pay period. It's going to upset one of my longest working Techs because he's comfortable with his hourly and overtime income. The hustle is gone from his step, thinking, attitude. Wondering what flat labor hours per week we should be using as a threshold. 

Small town means little competition. Also means thin labor pool. Cart before horse. How easily is it to find labor? Pretty easy. How easy is it to find good labor? Not at all. Good techs? Even more difficult. Find the best you can, get two to start. Get out there and drive business in the surrounding towns and first and foremost your own town. Pay the Techs a living wage until you get busy when they can make more money. Don't assume anything. Life and business are alike. Unpredictable. Do your best to make it predictable. 

I would fight in on principle alone. You did a thorough job of going through the process. It can feel like a no win situation but there's a silver lining in there somewhere. Did another shop fix the issue they deprived you of fixing? You should not have to have the old parts to prove what you did fixed a needed safety repair in my opinion. If that is what we're coming to then I would think we'd be best served to simply ALWAYS return all non-core parts that are R&R'd. 

No, the OEM sensors are a smaller style sensor head. These are a more common head size that fits in the TS601 that I have. It took some doing but it works and I expect future repairs to take less time. 

Quick update: Did the relearn again, followed the instructions to the T, road test, and the car's system reads the MX sensors from Autel like it should. No dealer needed. 

Programmed the MX Sensors from Autel to the car, installed, road test and tire light went away. The on-board display is still showing tire pressures that don't make sense and I'm scratching my head why we can program the sensors to the car, get them to turn off the TPMS warning, read fine with my tool but yet this. Part of the way there. 

I'm actually brining in the 433mhz mxtpmsensors from Autel. Will hook up to the WRX, get the ID's, program the sensors, install them, relearn procedure, and road test. If it works I will have a solution for these that I can package as individual or a set and make better margin while saving the customer some money. I had another setup that was supposed to work like this but didn't. We will see come Thursday. 

I have since spoken to Autel. I've spent two hours trying to speak with them/chat with them and get something going. Updated my tool and they said as long as you get their sensors you can program them. I'm going to give it a shot. We didn't use our tool to program the sensors as someone on staff thought the car would self-program which is a laugh. This is on me for not staying on top of this with my team. Will report back and see what we can do...

Isn't that lovely? 

Customer brings in his WRX wanting us to install his new tires, custom rims, and outfit with sensors. Ordered the same style of sensors that were in the OEM rims/tires. Our Autel MaxiTPMS TS601 couldn't read them or program them for some reason. Tech assumes that the car will magically program them and all will be well. Car is shipped and now I have an appointment for this Thursday to get it done correctly and beg forgiveness. The customer is very laid back and understanding. Me? I'm working on a thin as it is patience level. Does anyone have any suggestions on what they would do? I'm an owner and know only what I know. I have been searching for a solution online and unfortunately, my best Tech who could figure this out will be off when the customer returns. And I know I have an issue here with Tech and shop Manager letting jobs leave here unsure of the outcome. A simple road test would have revealed we didn't hit our target. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. 

I received a great price on uniforms, custom floor mats, shop rags, and a bathroom freshener that's a lifesaver! Five year term, all they would do because the 'National' pricing we get as part of a franchise group. So far so good. I grew tired of the inconsistent look of having my team do their own laundry and the costs of buying uniforms really wasn't saving me that much money or time. 

There's a generational difference today between many of us and the new candidate pool. I challenge myself to remember Joe Marconi's words - look at the positive, get in the right frame of mind, and we will get to our destination. Finding the money to pay a Tech a good living is hard but possible. Wish I had answers that could help us but I don't. I will add that I buy the guys lunch on Saturdays and coffee/donuts once a week. I probably spend about $200 to $300 a month on them and it helps. I also pay for training and have an online University available for them for all the CBT they can stomach. 

Good stuff, Jhamrick. My tire business is about 10% of my service mix. If I get too much higher it cuts into my overall margin too much. When I have competitors guaranteeing lowest price, Fleet Farm, Sam's, Discount Tire, Walmart, and Big O within a few miles of my shop I just don't try to fight to the bottom of the price barrel. I explain to those that will listen that our service is superior, benefits and ease of doing business with us great, convenience stellar, but most calls and drop-ins are looking for price first. My good customers see the value and we convert some. 

Do you know if what Sam's and Discount Tire sell are the same tires as what we buy? Someone here alluded to the specs being less than but I can't imagine the Bridgestone making a diluted product to help the box store business model make more money. I assume they just buy so much they can negotiate great pricing AND they strategically take losses or less margin on tires to sell more profitable product. 

One of the most successful shop owners I've met gave me a basic template idea. He states what he wants, what he can provide, and how much an A, B, or C level Tech can make if they're good. He pays to move their tool chest in and will pay to have it moved out wherever it needs to go after 6 months if the Tech isn't happy. He'll pay them a healthy sign-on bonus, half on their first day and the other half after 3 months. He clearly writes no drunks, no drugs, no excuses. It works for him and it has worked for me. 

Not really interested in spending money on standing inventory, even at a good deal, hoping someone comes in matching the need OR marketing to sell my tires I bought. We can't compete with the box stores. I'm not sure if the big tire outlets have tires with the same names and different specs but I suppose they could. Rarely but on occasion, I find a tire buyer who claims their priced tires were less than what I can buy them for to which I advise - go get them. When they're installed, come see me for the alignment and rotation if you want them to last and don't want to wait. I raised my tire prices to reflect what they're worth to MY business and I've reduced my tires to a manageable number. Less headaches, better margin. If I've had a 100 phone callers for tire prices this year guess how many end up buying here? 

An interesting topic for sure. I used to work in Information Technology and the negotiations with people from India could be exhausting. With some I would learn to start above where we needed to be to get there and with others they'd expect something beyond what was even possible. On busy days I'd tell someone 'I get you want the price you want for your services but this is what the customer can pay. Do you want to accept this project work or wait for something better? Usually, they'd call back or find a way to make it work yet would continually ask if we could give them more...Sames as car industry - certain people enjoy the negotiation. I typically work in blanket discounts for nearly everyone so that when they ask I tell them I've already accounted for that discount of $50, see? and show them the invoice. With others who bring in online coupons after the sale has been agreed upon we will make it work for them. Rarely do we have an issue. 

I found several programs out there several of my peers hadn't heard of. I've used only two here and the one I'm on now is robust, versatile, and gives angles to look at Tech performance, sales performance, inventory, and much more. The most recent add ins have been tire registration, CarFax integration, and digital inspections. 

Call Janco for their product StockTrac. I love it and after two years I'm still finding ways to benefit my business. 

@pam Pam, don't allow HighHorseAloha to bother you. Customer's brought cars to us for repairing an issue. If they can't afford it they can make the determination to not fix, finance, or replace the vehicle. Too many contextual issues don't get discussed here. This is a general forum. 

Synchrony is good but they need a high enough credit score to qualify. I direct them to Acima for financing if their credit is suspect. It reads like a lease plan, think furniture/bed financing but for automotive services. Customer takes care of the application, it gets loaded into your portal, and you process everything through them. There are a couple of tricky nuances to the process but they're great to work with when you need help.

 I think those of us with smaller staffs and 5 to 6 bay shops doing $4m with 8 employees sounds out there. My goal is half that with 5 employees. It's going to take a bit to get there but I'm focused on car count, ROA, and maintenance sales. Doing 10 oil changes per day ain't going to cut it. 

I have maybe two cars in my shop a year without license plates on them - meaning 99% of my in-shop vehicles are registered to the owners. I couldn't justify $5k on that little prospect of business. Do you take in that many unregistered vehicles? 

I appreciate the advice. There is some merit to taking the high road. Very difficult to ignore bad reviews when the people are intending to cause my business family harm. My nature is to take care of all my customers. A few customers treat us as beneath them or as if we're cheating them. When they go to online review sites and exaggerate or mislead people with half-truths or lies you bet I'm going to defend myself. And no, I'm not doing something for free for a bad customer just to see if I can earn their business. If that works for you great but this is a flat out struggle to be profitable. Not one of my vendors feels sorry for me. Not one of any business I frequent do I get anything for free. If a customer isn't willing to pay for my expertise and service then they AREN"T a customer. I also don't believe giving away something for free will result in referrals other than 'they do this for free'. To each their own and results vary, right? There's a distinct pattern of the complainers and decliners and I'm getting better every day in recognizing how and what I need to do to be successful. 

I've lost sleep over people's lies and words online. Late last year I heard a religious speaker on my radio when driving home talking about how there will ALWAYS be some people against me. As long as I know I'm doing honest work and my best I can't let the negative people bring me down. I've decided that I'm not going to battle people on Google or Facebook any longer. If we screwed up we own it and fix it. If we didn't we work with them and find as close to a win/win as possible. If they ONLY want to damage my business reputation I will apologize for their negative experience, briefly mention that I don't see it the same way, but I'd be happy to work with you in-person to resolve. They NEVER call or return to resolve because ALL they wanted to do was to let everyone know how unhappy they are.