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totalautocare

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Posts posted by totalautocare

    Digital inspection sheet?

    in Auto Repair Shop Management Help? Start Here

    Posted

    Lakeside, there is another thread here that talks about this, as well: Do you use a Digital Inspection Process?

     

    We still haven't chosen a process yet, and truthfully, we've begun talks with a company on the west coast to enlist the help of a development team to design one from scratch. I see the great value in using such a process, and I do believe that in the near enough future, it'll become a matter of staying competitive, even. (There are still shops that don't even have a computer in their building as a standard piece of business equipment)

     

    If a piece of equipment cost $10,000, but all evidence & research about it's use suggests that you can see a return on your investment in a relatively short time, isn't it worth buying? Wouldn't you wonder why everyone didn't get one? On the other hand, if the same equipment cost $100,000, and was just as likely to see the return over time, can you agree that there would be fewer people in the same control group to pull the trigger? Afterall...isn't $100,000 a lot of money to consider?

     

    I think that the "apps" that drive the software to perform digital inspections for us should offer more features than they do currently, and that it should be made possible, as an option, to purchase the software once for a fair price. There may be some legitimate reasons to need ongoing software support, etc....but these programs aren't exactly Microsoft Windows, or part of the Adobe Master Collection. $2400 a year forever is too much.

     

    If I manage to see this project to fruition, I'll surely share it with Joe & the rest of you. Digital inspections in auto repair is only costly because the authors know the street value of their implementation. If they want that much of my money, they should open their own repair shops.

     

    For the record, however, Autovitals has one of the most innovative platforms I've seen...if you want my opinion, Lakeside.

     

    Just one man's 2 cents.

    We've began creating our own on the side. Its simpler than many think. We're still in beta phases yet. Well said and very true.

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    • Like 1

    Customer's buying their own parts

    in Pricing, Discounts, Labor Rate

    Posted

    Think about the headache when cheapo's parts are wrong. He's already got rock auto up on his screen when you call, and I'm pretty sure he's not willing to pay $200 for a bearing he can get for $39.99 which in his mind is the same.

     

    Here's the bring your own eggs to the diner checklist, see if you want to opt in.

     

    1. Customer states he is cheap and does not care about your bottom line.

    2. Customer does not see a value in your warranty.

    3. Customer does not respect your expertise.

    4. Customer proves he can re-negotiate your estimate.

    5. Customer will prove he can renegotiate your warranty policy via litigation, bad reviews, Facebook, etc when his part didn't fix the problem or failed prematurely.

    6. Customer will refer his doper friends who pull the same sh!t.

     

    No thanks its all bad. There are some exceptions, but not many.

    Absolutely agreed. Instead of playing "let's make a deal" with the wrong customers, get out there and shake hands/kiss babies with the right people!

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    Customer's buying their own parts

    in Pricing, Discounts, Labor Rate

    Posted

    Here's one for everybody. Does your shop insurance actually cover it?

     

    To many of your surprise, it won't!

     

    My reply is generally, sorry sir/ma'am. Insurance won't cover it if something happens to you and I can't put you in a situation like that.

     

    "But Bob's tire will.."

     

    Sir/ma'am. Does Bob's tire know that there insurance likely won't cover you for your supplied parts?

     

    Let's get you in, treated right, covered by our part and labor warranty with insurance covering you!

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    Digital inspection sheet?

    in Auto Repair Shop Management Help? Start Here

    Posted

    Digital is the way to go however the problem is the bugs and the blame. We subscribed to Bolt On for one quarter and our experience was allot of bugs and we were blamed for the incompatibility of the relationship. Unless I publicly complained, resolve times were non-existent. We even subscribed to a product that never worked out of the gate and the issue never got resolved. Upon discontinuing the relationship I was told the product that never got used couldn't be sold as new so I had to eat it as well as the setup costs that they couldn't complete either.

     

    At the end, I'd believe pictures and videos will fill the gap of communicating to the customer and building trust. Its just a matter of a technology company with fewer "bugs and blames".

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    Production assistance needed

    in Accounting, Profitability, & Payroll

    Posted

     

     

    I am currently producing $800.00 per lift per day in labor dollars. This does not include parts sold, and for the purpose of this question I do not want to include any parts revenue nor profits of parts per lift. I am talking about labor dollars produced per lift only. There is one man per 2 lifts side by side. So in this scenario we have 4 lifts 2 techs.

     

    Is there anyone out there that is producing more than this and how?

     

    The base hourly rate is $125.00 per hour.

    The hours are from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. No overtime worked or calculated in this equation.

     

    I am trying to refine my system and I'm wondering if there is something I'm missing or not seeing. I do not want to add a tech necessarily because there is a point of deminishing returns I feel. I like the 1 tech per 2 lifts system because I find it extremely workable and efficient when it comes to payroll.

     

    One tech costs $520.00 per day all in after all costs and produces $1600.00 per typical day. I consider it ok but not terrific. How can I improve this scenario?

    $520 per day, I'm assuming that's after tax, insurance, benefits.. Breaking things? Can I ask, how does it add up to that? I'm trying to really organize our p&l.

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    Production assistance needed

    in Accounting, Profitability, & Payroll

    Posted

    What I'm trying to work out is the lapse of lift productivity. IF the lifts are at 100 percent productivity they should be producing $1125.00 per day per base hourly rate, right now they are $800. per day. Which means there is an innefficiency. I need to bridge the gap. If I add another technician to another 2 lifts I still have the same problem multiplied x 3 employees and so on and so forth. So the purpose of the question is a matter of improvement not complaints.

     

    And the question is, can this inefficiency be solved and how? The question is not "What is your problem if you are making money?" but rather, "How can I maximize the shops time and space?"

     

    Can it be done and if so how? So with 8 lifts I have a deficit. 3 dead hours per lift per day. Which means I have the capacity to deliver 120 more hours per week which would equal $13000.00 more weekly.

    Forgetting the extra income or the production value, I am certain no shop owner wants a piece of equipment or employee in there shop that is 2/3 efficient. This is in no way and absolutely NOT a complaint against the employees. They are second to none. This is a matter of equipment potential and possibilities. This is a matter of intelligence and "problem" solving of shop inefficiencies. How do we make things better?

     

    Of course one can say raise the price or charge more if you want to make more money but that still doesn't solve the 2/3 efficiency issue. The purpose is to maximize what already exists, not look for excuses or settle for the status quo. It's time to raise the bar.

     

    Problem : 2/3 efficient

    I appreciate your mindset of "how good can it be" as apposed to "good enough".

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    Communication is a lost art

    in Customer Experience & Reviews

    Posted

    To help your guys, the mindset can be "if they won't give the full information, they will likely not be the consumer we're looking for." I've met allot of rebuttals from staff and other business owners but I've also worked for some of the best sales companies in the world and they consistently prioritize profile creation/updating at the top and it only makes sense. You may lose some folks but you win the great majority of extra time that can be spent creating and maintaining customers that are interested in the relationship, not just the transaction.

     

    Also, one of the best sales tools I've ever encountered is recording a phone conversation and letting the employee listen to himself and critique himself on his phone conduct.

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    • Like 3

    Has anyone tried using a Dry Eraser board as a large scheduler for the day?

    in Workflow, Procedures, Shop Forms

    Posted

    I use a large white board that I use for daily/weekly goals. I keep track for the week on the white board but also fill out a weekly sheet so that I have a hard copy to look at later. I think it would be a good idea for scheduling as well as long as you keep a hard copy or picture of it. (I like to pull up previous weeks and see how they look, etc.)

    Thanks for the pic

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    Has anyone tried using a Dry Eraser board as a large scheduler for the day?

    in Workflow, Procedures, Shop Forms

    Posted

     

     

    I tried using the scheduler without much success. I will probably end up trying it again once they work out some bugs and design flaws. I have used their other software with tremendous success. In my opinion if you are not using a digital inspection process you are missing out on a lot of opportunity and trust building with your clients. Just my opinion.

    Agreed. Pics and video are required with recommendations. Next time we talk I'll show you how we're doing it for free with less hassle.

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

    Has anyone tried using a Dry Eraser board as a large scheduler for the day?

    in Workflow, Procedures, Shop Forms

    Posted

    For mitchell users, report pro through bolt on just added a advanced scheduler. It is a bit clunky right now but they are a company that constantly updates their products. In short it is what we mitchell users have wanted, a visual scheduler.

    We've had serious problems with bolt on. I think they're a few years ahead with there technology and a few years behind with there functionality. Love the ideas, hate the outcome. We recently cancelled 100% of our services with them and we subscribed to ALL of them for 4 months until we bagged it.

     

    Sent from my SM-N900P using Tapatalk

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