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Raise your prices and eliminate the bottom 20%. Work less make the same amount of money is one thought on how to move forward. Maybe your labor rate is way too low?

Here is a little insight from a franchise owner who was never involved in auto repair before purchasing and opening a new business. Location, location, location is the most critical factor. The number of cars passing the location is not as critical as do they have a reason to stop where you are at. CarX looks for locations in a destination location i.e. retail center. Recently a Meinke opened in a high traffic area with a very nice building in our city. They only lasted about a year. All that was near them on either side is industrial type properties. Thousands of cars were passing by but no one was stopping. It was outside of their travel pattern. It was only a pass through corridor. I new they were doomed the minute they opened in that location. Be sure there is reasons for people to stop where you are at beside s you. If it is just you it will take an established following or huge advertising dollars and you may still not succeed. The other advice is do not underestimate how difficult it is to hire qualified help. I have been in business twenty years and went through a time this spring where I thought I might have to close for lack of help. I survived by overpaying and hiring a couple of problem techs that I survived with until I got very lucky and hired better people. When you talk about working on your own stuff you sound like every guy I interview looking for a job. Most of them are woefully under skilled and way too confident. The learning curve is very steep if you come into this business from the outside. I have survived but it hasn't been an easy journey.

In a town of 120,000 I started with a working manager and two technicians plus myself. I had another body I could bring in when needed. For us that was about right. People are so hard to find these days I would start with at least two. One or both may not work out then what. The question may not be how many you hire but how many you can find. If you have the techs you can go out and beat bushes and find work.

Joe, I know where there is one for sale in Indiana. The current help situation is making it too difficult. At almost 67 years old I did not intend to be working 63 hours plus per week.

Just and update about my daughter and her husband. Four years into their church plant and they are still surviving. They have just moved into a new facility in Woodstock, Georgia and looks like they may now have a rising tide.

Great article Joe! While it is a different issue we just had an experience of dealing with Car Shield. They were a complete waste of time. Denied claim and then reopened and had us do a tear down at customers expense and then denied it again. I do not think they ever pay a claim to anybody.

My problem with BG has always been the price if the products. They seem to be too high for us to make decent money in selling the service.

Joe what does a three part fuel treatment kit cost you?

Joe, we are all in this thing together. A good perception of our industry is good for us all and everyone knows there is way to much negative perception. As much as possible I try to maintain a friendly competition attitude with the shops around me. I make it a point to never diss another shop. That sort of thing makes us all look bad. For example this week we had a Toyota Pickup towed in that had lost the oil filter. The quick lube about two blocks away had put the wrong oil filter on it a few days before. The filter it lost was a Penzzoil PZ-37 but the correct filter should have been a PZ-38. Fortunately this owner heard the pop, saw the oil light come on, and shut the vehicle down. He didn't drive more than 200 yards. No harm, no foul except for a new filter, new oil, the tow, a little mess, and a whole lot of inconvenience. It appeared someone grab the wrong filter one slot off on the shelf. Was it a careless mistake? Absolutely! Could it have ended in disaster? Absolutely! Could it have happened to me and I would have been on the other end of the stick? Certainly! With that in mind I told the owner it just looked like an honest mistake that could have happened to us. He went to the quick lube and they reimbursed him his costs, gave him a free oil change, and asked him to monitor the engine. Don't know if he will use the oild change? However, I think everthing is fine. If I was the manager at the quick lube I would be very grateful that his competitor up the street did not bad mouth them to the high heavens making a bad situation much worse. If I was the manger of the quick lube I would pay it back again the next time I am on the other end of the equation. We can all benefit and learn from each other.

Good story Joe! You are spot on.

There was a Mobile Fleet Service business started up here with the golfer Brian Tennyson as an investor. It lasted about 7 years but eventually went belly up. The service trucks they had were about $80,000 per truck counted the truck and equipment. One of the problems with the Mobile is finding reliable help who doesn't milk the clock. They can waste so much time driving for parts and loafing that it ain't funny. Pep Boy locally cannot keep enough help to service the stuff coming into them. They send a lot of stuff to us.

We do not pay for any yellow pages advertising. We paid listing up until last year. It is no longer of any real value. No one under the age of 70 uses it any more. I throw them in the trash when they are delivered. In the last year I have only been asked by a customer 1-2 times that I can remember if I had a phone book.

Well I’ll be!

Would you believe that we removed this from a tire this week. The wrench end was inside the tire and the broke end was sticking out.