kars

My 2 cents. Get an accountant. Get one that has at least 2 other shops. I have gone through 3 accountants in the past year. They just don't get what I need. None of them has ever done accounting for auto repair. Ask around to some other shops and see if they can recommend someone.

I can't say my business has increased by being a member. I find the value in meeting and talking with other shop owners. The group in Phoenix is very friendly and all of the owners approachable. A few are very successful and always seem to be willing to give some good quality advise. Dues seem to vary from state to state. I pay quarterly so it's not a big financial burden. As for paying additional per meeting, most are catered, so I can see the added expense.

I will do one rotor as long as I turn both the rotors for a matching finish. Of course the other rotor needs to be within spec after the refinish. This scenario does not come along often for me.

Let me know if I can help. I am in Peoria, a suburb of Phoenix.

Be brutal with him. No side work in YOUR shop. I learned the hard way. Don't let it happen if not solely for the liability aspect. I doubt any other shop would let him do that.

It suck's but I think you owe it to the customer to get the roof closed. The tech had no business opening the roof. I would also disconnect the switch so this will not happen again. This is why in my shop we do not open windows, sun roofs etc.. on older vehicles unless it is part of the repair process or requested. As for the tech, tell him to suck it up. He has no experience? There is only one way that I know to get experience, and that's to do it.

I usually have a vehicle or two that I have bought that need repairs. I put the lads to work on them. When they are complete I use them for loaners or just sell them. I usually don't make a ton of money on them but it does cover the parts and techs time.

Sorry, I just don't understand all of the angst going on in this thread. How they come up with estimates. They poll several shops in your zip code or immediate area (that's why they ask for the zip code). They find the lowest shop rate and the highest shop rate in that area. They take OEM list parts prices for the high end and available aftermarket parts list prices for the low end. Hens your high and low end. Theory is you should be in that price range cut and dry. If your too high on your quote there is not much to say, your going to have to sell the difference.. Too low, you may be leaving money on the table. It's no more perfect then the flat rate guides. It's just a tool for the customer to try and gauge if their getting a fair shake.

Work's great for me. Well worth the $200 a month I spend. I get 8-10 new customers a month. I don't know if any of my customers use the estimator. I use it a few times a week just to make sure I am charging properly or if someone questions the price.. They are a review site and they will get you some reviews to start out with. They will vet your shop. Verify training and equipment. They will also call your customers to verify you are on the up and up. They will ask those customers for reviews as well and then publish them for you. If you don't have a lot of reviews out there, this is a great place to start. They are partnered with AARP and now USAA. I never got an AARP member, but I have got a few from USAA. They record all of the customers calls they send you (which you can listen to) and send you an email as well. Very easy to track what they are doing for you. It probably works better in metro areas where there is a lot of competition. Maybe not so well in small towns or rural areas.

Why are you not partnered with a vendor that will offer a 2/24 nationwide warranty? NAPA, Pronto, Worldpac, FMP etc.. Some will do a 3/36.

Word of mouth. Make sure everyone you know, knows about you shop. If it's free, advertise in it. Craigs list, Facebook etc.. Always carry a stack of business cards. Paying for advertising. Anything in print has been a complete and utter waste for me. Less than .01 percent return. No mailers, newspapers, Welcome Wagon and even Mudlick (unless your planning on giving stuff away, which I would advise against). What works for me (gets me 30-50 percent growth a year, just started year 5) Affiliate with someone. NAPA, Parts Authority, FMP etc.. You need to be able to offer a decent nation wide warranty. Also it will get you on there websites and POS materials. Typically it runs 6-700 a year. Money well spent. I offer 15 percent discount to all new customers. If your being shopped your going to have the lowest price. That will entice them to come in and try you. Going on 5 years and I still do this, although I may amend it soon if not discontinue it. Aside from this and a 10 percent military and AARP discount, I don't discount much of anything else. I don't run oil change specials etc.. I feel it brings in the wrong type of customer. Yelp. Spend no more than $200 a month and no pay per click. Tell them that's your budget and no more. Tell them you may spend more if you see results. Yelp still brings me 20-30 new customers per month. Put the 15 percent off first time customers in your call to action for Yelp. Take care of these people. If you know they are happy don't be afraid to ask for a good review. You will live and die off internet reviews. Google Adwords. Spent 2-300 a month the first year. Wrote my own ads and picked my own keywords. The phone would ring 3-4 times a day. When the money ran out, the phones would stop ringing. It seemed to work. I only used it the first year until I developed an internet presence. After a year or 2 I got in with RepairPal. They are another review site with a very good online estimator. Costs about $200 a month and a couple hundred to get started. They will call you customer base and vet you. They will also ask for reviews. They got me 25 to start. That helped a lot. I probably get 6-10 phone calls a month, all that is trackable. I would say I convert most of them to appointments. Customer Lobby. When you have a few hundred customers, you may consider them. They send out reminders and ask for reviews. They will post them to their website, your facebook page and ask for Google reviews. Again, you can live or die by reviews. Take care of your customers. If you screw up...make it right. And, never,never lie. Just be tactful and straight up. Grand opening. Never had one. Always though the time, energy and money would be better spent someplace else. You may consider openbay.com. Got a call from them the other day. Sounds interesting. Not sure if it will take off or not. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Good Luck!

My 2 cents. If you do not know how to effectively run every aspect of the business, do not get involved. Getting into a business you do not have extensive experience in should be out of the question. If you read through this forum you will find that perhaps 80-90% of the owners were technicians first and foremost. They could repair vehicles effectively. In the end almost all of them are struggling with the day to day aspect of RUNNING the business. They had never done much managing, marketing, payroll, accounting etc.. Most of them probably never had to even balance a check book before. Without being an expert in at least 1/2 the business makes the chances for success very slim, and even then the learning curve is long and painful. Employees will come and go (most at very inopportune times). You may/will be needed to fill any role in the company at any given time.(Example- I have 3 techs. In November I lost all 3 for 3 weeks due to various reasons. That left me and a service adviser. If I could not have filled the technician role, I would have had to close the doors. As it was we still had the best November ever.) With that being said, good employees are VERY hard to find, especially good techs. Good employees are hard to find, getting them to be loyal and to buy into what your trying to build or create is even harder. Perhaps in your situation it might be better to partner with someone. Find a successful shop with a good reputation. One that has a good customer base. One that IS profitable. Someone that needs a partner for expansion purposes. Someone that would truly have a vested interest in training properly. Just my 2 cents A little more insight. This month is the beginning of year 5 for me. I pay myself $1200 a month. I hope to be able to cash the 20k in back pay checks I have in the drawer for myself. That's after having 30-50% growth after every year and starting out as a one man shop. I am one of the guy's with all the mechanical experience and none of the business experience.

$200 a month through Zurick. Phoenix metro area.

Not a fan of Yelp. On the other hand I spend $199 a month and they seen to net me 10-20 new customers a month. My only advise is to not sign a long term contract (they will probably want at least a year). Keep the budget low. Don't let them try to up sell you. Stick to a low budget. I don't do pay per click.

That my friend, is a good honest list. I find myself guilty of about 1/2 those things. If you can trim that in half I would consider it a victory. You might consider putting your techs on commision as well. It will help with the inspections and force you to do a better job of selling.