xrac

Same here. We had a record May. June is not bad, but traffic in general appears to be lighter than normal.

Our June sales are running slightly ahead of last year. We have been experiencing some extremely hot weather the past two weeks which is helping AC sales.

Ok, well it's that time of year for most of us. What are you charging for a r134 recharge.

 

We're getting 139.99 for a full recharge with die, free follow up inspection within 2 weeks.

We are $30.00 cheaper in a coupon we are running.

What a great way to take money ($1B) from taxpayers, including shop owners and techs, to give to consumers to purchase new cars so they visit us less often.

 

Basically, one of the dumber ideas (there are so many lately) they have come up with in Washington.

It also encourages debt which is some of the reason we are where we are at.

Do you have any plans or ideas on how to get those car counts up?

I detest doing cheap oil changes because of the type of traffic they generate. If you run a $17.95 oil change you generate about 75% who will not even consider fixing anything else on their cars. Some even tell you they don't want anything else looked at on their cars. We are trying to run value added offers that attract people interested in maintaining their vehicles. These are like a free tire rotation with oil change, summer vacation special with oil change, tire rotation, new wiper blades, and vehicle inspection, etc. We are also working on developing some new commercial accounts.

We use www.carquestdirecthit.com which is powered by identifix. We live by it and use it everyday.

Thanks for the information. I didn't realize that there was another thread on this forum discussing Identifix.

Many shop owners are stating that car counts are down. Is this the norm? Are we headed in a direction where there may be too many segments of the auto service industry wanting a share of the service and repair pie? In order to grow, a business needs opportunity. And opportunity starts with a healthy car count.

Our car count is trending flat to slightly down. The biggest thing we are seeing right now is a yo, yo on car counts. Gang buster weeks are being followed by very soft ones.

What do you think about the article below:

 

How to start an auto repair business

 

Starting any business takes time and management. When it comes to auto repair there are a many items that you need to consider before venturing out.

 

Auto repair to most people might seem hard, but as long as you have the experience and know what you are doing you should be all set. If you don't plan on being hands on in the business itself, you are going to want to hire qualified mechanics. Doing this is probably going to be one of your most difficult feats when it comes to the business. Start interviewing possible candidates before you open your doors. Take the time to make those phone calls to verify a resume. Read More

In my opinion the two key factors in starting an auto repair business are (1)location and (2)people. A location can make or break you especially if you haven't already been in the business and developed a clientele and following. The guy who is a hands on technician and has a following may be able to go to some back alley low rent location but it will impede growth. If you have no following you had better be on a main drag. We are a Car-X franchise and Car-x says we need to be in a high traffic (think 30,000 cars per day) destination type location. Our shop is located about 1/4 mile from Walmart and we are surrounded by restaraunts and businesses. They are building a VA hospital behind us. The only problem we have now is our lot and building are too small but it was all we could afford ten years ago. If we had started in an out of the way location we would not have made it.

The second thing is people. The article is right, help needs to be screened as carefully as possible. The problem I had coming into this business is that it is pretty easy to be fooled without having worked around this business. I am much better now at judging potential employees having ran a shop for ten years. We hired a service manager and our sales have grown from $560,000 tp $900,000 in three years. That's how much difference the right employee can make. The service manager who we had before thought this business was in declined and that we had topped out when we reached $605,000 in sales.

Location and people are the most important factors in my mind and of the two good people are the hardest to find.

This is thinking outside of the box:

Do any of you use Identifix? Is so for how long? How useful has it been to you? Is it worth the cost? We use to use Identifix but got away from them about four years ago when we changed service manager. Now we have a new tech who swares by Identifix so we are looking at them again.

HEY ALL FIRST POST SORRY ABOUT ALL CAPS MITCHELL LOOKS BETTER ON CAPS SO NOW I DO IT ALL THE TIME LOL

 

WE STARTED SELLING USED CARS AND SOLD 14 LAST WEEK WE HAD TO GET OUR DEALERS LICENSE LAST YEAR BUT WOW WHAT A HELP WHEN WE ARE SLOW THIS KEEP ME ALIVE AS A SHOP

 

 

BRYAN

KNOXVILLE TN

We want to do some used cars but do not have enough parking lot space. I bought a piece of property that we could have done it with but sold it turning a quick profit. Then the recession hit. I am glad that I held off but still would like to work something out.

Loaner cars can be a huge benefit. The problems are insurance and having enough cars available. If you advertise loaner cars and your car counts are high, you may end up disappointing people when you don’t have a car to give them. This is the problem even dealerships have.

 

We made a deal with a local Enterprise for a good rate. (Approx. $30.00 per day) Enterprise will meet my customer at my shop and handle the entire transaction. For high-ticket jobs, I will give them the rental if it helps to get the job.

 

Are there any rental companies in your area? If so, meet with them a broker a deal.

 

Joe

Car-x in larger markets has worked out loaner deal rates with Enterprise. We have a couple of shop vehicles we use as loaners but we don't advertise it. It has been a positive but ofcourse, insurance rates in this area are much better.

We finally opened our brand new 4-bay expansion and things are going great! Read all about it in Joe’s Blog.

Congratulations. It was a lot of work wasn't it but it will be worthwhile.

It is not too bad of a schedule. Obviously most guys would like to have Saturday off but unfortunately it doesn't match the needs of our customer base. I think the smaller shops that have an established customer base and large percentage of drop off business may be able to get by with being closed on Saturday but they are losing some business they could have if they were open.

I really can't take credit for our schedule though it was devised by my service manager. He is absolutely outstanding (he was an Army Ranger). Through his efforts our sales have grown from $560,000 to $887,000 over the last four years and we have won two consecutive store of the year awards for our region with Car-X.

You make great points!!

 

Do you have a rotation schedule or does everyone work 6 days?

We rotate schedules. Everyone works five days and we schedule to give our service manager and technicians at least one three day weekend per month. In other words the guy who gets Saturday off this week also has Monday off the following week. Everyone enjoys that. I personally only worked about one Saturday a month. Our guys work 7-5 but we are open until 5:30 for pickups and dropoff. The guy who gets the three day weekend also only works 8-5 that week. They also enjoy coming in an hour later. We run shorter hours on Saturday (7-3) verus weekdays (7-5:30) and we also buy everyone lunch on Saturday. That way instead of them taking an hour lunch everyone takes a short lunch and gets the work done so we can all go home at 3:00. We are about as productive on a shorter day verus a full day.

Dan,

 

8%! That's great news. Six days a week can be draining. That’s why we have added more techs and started a rotation schedule. Also, this keeps overtime down and gives techs much needed time off.

 

We have built such a saturday trade that it would economic suicide to close at this point.

 

Great hearing from you,

 

Joe Marconi

We are open six (6) days per week also. The advantage is we are taking care of our customers, growing customer base, and utilizing fixed assets. If I am open on Saturday my rent, insurance, etc. are covered. I have these costs whether I am open or not. If I am not open on Saturday and my competitor is there is potential to lose my customer to the compeititor.

Our community has a population of about 180,000 with not a lot of shift work. In this market the evening and Sunday hours haven't seemed to be very profitable and haven't caught on.

This is a strange year. Our car counts have gone from an average of 100 per week to 135 per week. And we see more new customers than ever before.

 

The only negative thing I see is that people are more cautious and budget their money. Our over sales are up, but not what we would expect from such an increase in car counts.

May sales are about even with last year. We may finish slightly down but not by much. My regional Car-x contact tells me that the Cincinnati market is taking a beating this month.

How's it going friends? Thanks for the response. Well I'm from Corpus Christi, Texas. We have alot of fishing here with nice beaches. It's mostly steaming hot but you can get used to it. Been here most of my life and with interest in working for myself, I can say it's gonna be one helluva task. The local shops in town are successful but I want to bring in my own with a 'twist', so to speak. With a population of around 200K+, not to many 'performance' shops exist here, maybe 2 or 3. My question is, in the line of work that I want to do, how can my future business survive in a town like this versus your basic auto repair shops? It's the performance industry I'd like to take a shot at. To me it seems to be alot harder on performance minded shops. I don't know. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong but hey this is the place to ask right? Like I was saying, I just happened to find this site and it looks like I'll be doing alot of searching for questions on the business-world. Once again, thanks!

Joe it has become much harder to survive in this business as a specialist. The muffler brake franchises are not called that anymore but have now become "auto service". New car dealers are now selling tires. The quick lubes are expanding their service offerings. Each business is fighting for market share and customers like one stop shopping where they can go somewhere and get everything done. When we reach a new customer we work to capture their business and be their one stop for everything.

If you go the performance route it will probably require some astute planning on your part. In essence to do that you are chosing a market niche. The effect of selecting a niche is to exclude a large portion of the market. Performance business is also more discretionary spending. What has happened to those in the performance business over the past year with $4.00+ gasoline, a recession, and a bear stock market? I have also found that those interested in performance are also those who try to do most of it themselves and are harder to get to spend money.

Well, I've finally found the place that might lead me in the right direction. I look forward in learning all I can. What I do now is what we all love, cars, cars, and cars! I'm currently a Diesel Technician who loves what he does and looks forward to being 'knee deep' in it. I've been around cars since I can remember, I'm 38. For about 7 years now, I've been really interested being a future shop owner. I've met a couple of owners who took that first step and are successfull, well I want to be in that place some day. I have no college skills, but don't mind trying something new. Just this past week, I took my first ASE Gas and Diesel Engine tests, really the first two of many. Getting my certifications will no doubt give my future customers trust in my skills. I hope to one day open my own performance shop. I love street cars and diesels, but the town I currently live in and economy will dictate where I really start. Maybe some place bigger who knows. So again thank you for this forum!

Joe, welcome! I am in the minority here because I am not a guy who loves cars. To me a car is only a tool to get from one place to another. I didn't get into this business because I love cars but as a business investment. Ten years ago I didn't know anything about cars. It hasn't been easy but I have succeeded because I am a good businessman. The business side will make or break your success.

January and February were pretty much flat. March was a 7% increase over last year, and April is looking to be a 3% increase over last year. First couple of weeks in April had days that were rediculously slow.

Looks like we finish April down about 14% below last year. It was also ridiculously slow here. We had a $500 day when our average is over $3,000. Business finally came back alive the last week.

My sales pattern was the same as yours.

January - Feb Strong

March - OK

April - off the cliff (down about 30% from last April)

 

Seems to be picking back up but still not where I need it

I noticed where you are from. My youngest daughter lives in Cleveland, TN, and I am wrtiting this from the computer at her house.

How has business been during the first months of 2009?

Our January-February was strong

March was o.k.

April has fallen off the cliff.

So you will know where I am coming from we had not had a down month to month in 4 years until March.

Can we compare notes?

There appears to be a push from many franchise institutions such as Midas, Mineke and others urging independents to become franchises. With the economic climate the way it is these days, are there any shop owners out there that may be considering this option?

We are a Car-X franchise (http://www.carx.com/). I came into this industry with no automotive background at all. The franchise gave me tools to succeed although it was a long hard pull. It would have been very, very difficult to do what we did without the guidance the franchise gave. However, once we were successfully operating the franchise does little for me. The Car-X name is not a strong brand in this part of the country. Based upon what I NOW KNOW if I were opening a new shop today would I be a franchise? Probably not! I would think long and hard about it because of the fees. But with that said I have also gained a BUSINESS perspective of what it takes to succeed by being a franchisee that some independents lack.

Please post your shop's monthly average car counts.We had 379 cars in March.

Average monthly count: 350

How many bays: 7

Hours of operation: M-F 7-5:30 Sat 7-3