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Greeting & Listening to Women http://workshop.search-autoparts.com/_Gree...0057/31710.html Has anyone looked in to joining www.AskPatty.com?

A blonde said, 'I was worried that my Mechanic might try to rip me off but I was relieved when he told me all I needed was turn signal fluid.

If one is dealing with one or two shops and only a few techs then I think formal reviews probably aren't worth it. Individual pep talks would be more effective. You see the techs every day and have a very good feel for their performance. Truthfully I am a very poor manager of people. I am a quick learn, good with finances, a good salesman, have experience doing a lot of stuff, widely read (I've read Blanchard), and a great people person but not a very good as a manager of people. My style is more to get impatient, push someone out of the way and do it myself. That isn't good and fortunately I have a good service manager who I allow to manage in the shop techs. Mostly I run the front.

I agree with you. Our customers can view 6 of our 7 bays. However, if I built a new shop I may or may not make the work area viewable from the waiting area. No technician I ahve ever had liked to to be watched while they work. Joe all there is to it is the picture and that little footnote. However, when I saw it I thought about what the guy was known for (customers viewing the bays and menu board pricing). My reaction was that I couldn't seem much benefit to either thing. We had menu board pricing with some pricing posted a few years ago. It would say for example mufflers starting at $29.95. Invariable you got customers who didn't understand the words starting at. They would want a $29.95 muffler on a BMW and then you had to go through the wasted effort of explaining why that wasn't possible and that there was no $29.95. As cars become more complex and unique than there are more and more variables that influence pricing and menu pricing is almost a waste of time. For example flushing a transmission may be dependent upon capacity as well as type of fluid required (Mercron 6, ATF +4, Mercron-Dexron, etc.). When I saw this I just thought it was a bad idea. I doubt that this guy does the volume or complexity of work that your shop does Joe.

Here is an article on Reviewing Techs' Work. Does anyone do any formal reviews? http://aftermarketbusiness.search-autopart...e/detail/633565

According to Motor Age magazine the service prices are clearly listed at Elizabeth Autocare, and customers can see directly into the bays while work is being done. http://motorage.search-autoparts.com/motor...ategoryId=48396 What is your opinion of posting menu board pricing and the customer being able to see into the bays?

Joe, that is more of a gut decision than anything. Maybe you made a good decision that will pay off. Maybe you got taken advantage of. It is ironic that the last time I paid for something that I didn't feel responsible for was when a long time customer recommended someone to me. I probably wouldn't work on anything for this guy again. In the case I described earlier about the people who thought we damaged her door our deductible was $1,000 so that was the minimum I was going to pay. I couldn't take that kind of hit at that time.

We normally give our guys Christmas day as a holiday plus close early on Christmas Eve. THis year we are going to give them an extra day. We will still be open on Saturday after Christmas but with a skeleton crew. It will be myself, my service manager, my service manager's son, and a former employee (working that one day). My service manager will spin wrenches as needed. This will give them a longer Holiday as a spiff plus a small cash bonus.

As we approach this Thanksgiving season, take just a few minutes to look at the link below. http://www.cpmsglife2.org/MSG/Pres/td/td1.html

What do you guys do as far as marking up dealer parts? Do you charge list or more than list?

We pay either a base guarantee or commission which ever is greater. Our commission is for parts and labor and has different % categories. Tires = 5%, oil changes and batteries = 10%, alignments = 30%, and everything else = 14%. At one point we paid our top tech 30% for all diagnosis time billed. Our better techs simply get a higher base guarantee. Our system isn't the best and I have considered changing it.

Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar! http://deepsm25.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/d...ck-eagles-soar/

I am trying to come up with someone who can be helpful but NY is a tough state for health insurance. Here is an article I think you guys may find interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/health/p...mp;pagewanted=1

I offer my love, respect, and appreciation to all of those currently serving in our armed forces, our veterans, and their families. Your service and your sacrifice are deeply appreciated. May God bless you and may God bless America.

They have been in my prayers. God bless our loyal patriotic soldiers and may He execute judgement on cowards who slay the innocent.

Not only was Cash for Clunkers a bad idea and ineffective but the Tire Tariff that this administration signed is also another very bad idea in my humble opinion: http://tirereview.com/Article/66890/fixing...re_wronged.aspx

Those are tough ones. If you have someone you can't reason with it is a tough situation. On an oil change once we had a customer return claiming we had dented the passenger door. The door was dented like someone ran a bumper along it and had black markings. All we had done was pull it in the shop, pull it onto the rack, and pull it back out after we changed the oil. My technicians all said that nothing had been done to it and I believed them. I was present the whole time and I do not believe anything happened in our shop. I walked the customer through our shopping looking for something it could have been scrapped against that was the right height and color. There was literally nothing that was the correct height or surface. My guess is that it had happened in a parking spot prior to coming to our shop and they didn't find it until after they left our shop. Because I had no evidence or belief that we had any responsibility I refused to do anything (it wasn't a regular customer). We did get a letter from a lawyer for them but I ignored it and that was the end of the matter.

NY is a tough market for insurance but I'll see if I can find someone who can help you.

You need to contact one or two local health insurance agent/brokers and let them do a group quote for you. This will give you the ability to decide if it is affordable or not. There are actually a couple of ways of going at this. First, you can do a straight group plan. What some people don't realize is that usually group plans are more expensive if a person is in good health. They are more expensive because everyone in a group has to be covered and because the state will often mandate that certain coverage be included in a group plan that can be excluded from an individual plan (say pregnancy or mental illness). If the agent/broker has the ability to set up a 125 (cafeteria) plan and your employees are in good health one can look at individual plans. How this would work is that the employee funds this with pretax dollars (you can contribute as well). The policies can then be set up on what is called a list bill and they are billed to your company but you pay the premiums out of their 125 plan dollars. Someone who does volunatry benefits can help you on this one. If you will tell me what state you are in I may be able to put you into contact with someone.

That sounds really neat!

Very true. What days will you be closed during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. We will be closed Thanksgiving and Christmas day but I am debating what do with Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas this year.

That would be really nice.

We use brake clean as well. You can use the non-chlorinated version. However, we have found a cleaner called Drive-up that is made to clean oil from concrete but a solution of it works great as a degreaser on engines. It is not a petroluem based product but must be some type of akaline. It does not have any obnoxius odor or fumes. Driveup is a good product. http://www.driveupusa.com/store/dynamicIndex.asp