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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.

Gonzo I hired one of those clowns. He was sent packing after 3 days. What a joke.

I think Interstate Batteries have had quality issues. Don't know if they still do but they did when we were stocking them. The biggest problem locally was the Interstate Dealer did not take care of warranty issues and the prorates were outrageous. I had to eat batteries that were bad that they said were good and that we tested with their tester. I also had customers get mad at our shop because the Interstate prorates were calculated on Interstate list which was an outrageous price that no one sold for. Often I could sell a new battery cheaper than the prorate. I love selling NAPA batteries. They let me do what I need to do. Warranties are a breeze.

A young guy from North Carolina moves to Florida and goes to a big "everything under one roof" department store looking for a job. The Manager says, "Do you have any sales experience?" The kid says "Yeah. I was a vacuum salesman back in North Carolina." Well, the boss was unsure, but he liked the kid and figured he'd give him a shot, so he gave him the job. "You start tomorrow. I'll come down after we close and see how you did." His first day on the job was rough, but he got through it. After the store was locked up, the boss came down to the sales floor. "How many customers bought something from you today?" The kid frowns and looks at the floor and mutters, "One". The boss says "Just one?!!? Our sales people average sales to 20 to 30 customers a day. That will have to change, and soon, if you'd like to continue your employment here. We have very strict standards for our sales force here in Florida. One sale a day might have been acceptable in North Carolina, but you're not in the mountains anymore, son." The kid took his beating, but continued to look at his shoes, so the boss felt kinda bad for chewing him out on his first day. He asked (semi-sarcastically), "So, how much was your one sale for?"The kid looks up at his boss and says "$101,237.65". The boss, astonished, says $101,237.65?!? What the heck did you sell?" The kid says, "Well, first, I sold him some new fish hooks. Then I sold him a new fishing rod to go with his new hooks. Then I asked him where he was going fishing and he said down the coast, so I told him he was going to need a boat, so we went down to the boat department and I sold him a twin engine Chris Craft. Then he said he didn't think his Honda Civic would pull it, so I took him down to the automotive department and sold him that 4x4 Expedition." The boss said "A guy came in here to buy a fish hook and you sold him a boat and a TRUCK!?" The kid said "No, the guy came in here to buy tampons for his wife, and I said, 'Dude, your weekend's shot, you should go fishing ! ► l

Gonzo, we put a fuel pump in a car and about a month latter it was towed back in for what they said was the same problem. It was a long tow that cost about $150 which was billed to our shop. Guess what, nothing wrong with the fuel pump. It was out of gas. They paid the tow bill and we didn’t charge anything for looking at it. 🤪

So what are your plans now?

Don’t you just love the Geek who has researched everything on YouTube and has a solution all figured out. They go into great detail and the whole time you know it has nothing to do with what they have going on.

One tool that I have found to be very useful is a Power train lift. I bought a used one at an on line bankruptcy auction more or less not knowing it's capabilities or usefulness. The one I purchased is a Norco USA Made 1,250 lbs. Power Train Lift which sells for about $2,500. I purchased it for about $400 and also purchased a new caster set for it. This tool makes it much easier to handle engines which have to be removed from the bottom. It is much safer than transmission jacks and jack stands. It is also very handy for transmissions, gasoline tanks, transfer cases, etc. or basically anything where there is significant weight. We now no longer have to empty a gas tank to drop it diwn. It turns some jobs into one man jobs instead of two or three men jobs. This lift makes the work safer, faster, and cuts down man power needs. Knowing what I know now I would have purchased one a long time ago.

That is a great analogy. I will definitely be using this.

Some of the 100k tires are lucky to get 50k.

Goodyear Tires definitely will not last 8 years. Some will not last 6 years.