autoguy

They have a nice public facing video right on their website front page. Was curious so I took a look.

Some funny stuff on there!

Any other parts integrations outside of partstech? Nexpart, IAP direct or any parts suppliers portals directly like worldpac? partstech is just a third party software that uses connectivity from systems like a nexpart or IAP to connect. 

Saw this also, like the idea of referrals. Has anyone checked facebook careers? https://www.facebook.com/careers/

On 3/25/2018 at 1:13 PM, Jeff Ford said:

Hi everyone.  My name is Jeff.  I'm in Prince Edward Island, Canada.  Just purchased the shop I've been working at since 2006 last week.  Excited to get to work!  Awesome site, I've spent hours reading all the posts and catching up.  Looking forward to contributing and learning from such a great group of shop owners.  Thank you all!

How's your new shop doing?

You can use MS word also...see video

Everything keeps going up except the cost of parts which seems to be driven down by competition and availability online.

Is everyone still using BG products?

Autel has come out with some nice units lately, worth a check.

With all the available wifi cameras these days, what is everyone using for shop security? Anyone using Nest, zmodo, d-link, arlo or other? There's a ton of them out there especially on amazon. 

Who's writing estimates and invoices? Mechanic(s)? Is this a one man shop? How many bays?

A year later, are you all still charging the same prices?

On 4/21/2018 at 1:48 AM, defiancetire said:

I havent posted here in awhile figured id might get some insight. I am 27 years old, Been in business for 4 years. Over the last year i just feel like ive run out of gas. I am getting depressed, Not interested in working on cars or the business. Its taken a toll on it. Very close tk losing it, I do not want that. Any ideas on what to do?

@defiancetire any updates on your situation? I saw your other topic on changing your business name, so just wondering how it's been going with you...

On 3/7/2018 at 3:22 PM, Dec said:

I just took a class from Jeremy O'neal that addressed this exact issue. Rather than raising your shop supplies fee, you can add it as another, separate fee on any diagnostic line. Label it 'additional resource fee'. I haven't started this yet, but he says that he hasn't had a single customer question it. I imagine that if you have clear a detailed explanation of the testing a diagnostic process you went through to figure an issue out, they won't think twice about 'additional resources' needed.

An additional line item for "Additional Resource Fee" or something similar is an interesting idea. 

On 6/10/2018 at 11:03 PM, Superman said:

I have not attended any Napa classes and only 1 Snapon class, wasn't impressed. But Worldpac  training is really good as well as Carquest CTI. But also checkout BWD training through Orielly's. It is pretty good, especially for those that haven't had much training. Also ATG has awesome classes, atgtraining.com You can sign up to be notified of any upcoming classes that aren't on there website yet. Also for a multi day training expo there is Automechanika in Atlanta August 8-10. ASTE in Cary, NC the last Fraiday and Saturday in September. 

You should also check out scannerdanner.com You can get his book for $100 and his premium content for $11/month. His premium content with his book is worth so much more than he charges. His premium channel used to be on YouTube but it is now on his website. I can't recommend that enough. 

Good information, thanks.

PM services are the way to go and money makers.

I don't see any road hazard, anyone doing anything or charging for road hazard? This is where the big tire stores make money.

On 6/14/2018 at 11:20 AM, tirengolf said:

Hope everyone is having good week with great sales. I am in the process of renegotiating my employee’s uniform contract. It is sorta the same old thing start low then get higher. Could I get some feedback on how you guys are handling this. I have looked at buying uni’s for my guys. In my area it is expensive and they do not want to update my guys. Just lchecking some ideas . Thanks guys. David

@tirengolf Were you able to renegotiate? Who is your uniform supplier?

2 hours ago, ScottSpec said:

We tell our customers that our insurer won't allow us to install customer supplied parts. Sometimes I take it a little further and explain to them that my business license, landlord, and many of the other organizations I depend on, require me to have a minimum level of insurance and I cannot afford to lose those.   

I like it 👍

The only thing I've seen out there to check from multiple suppliers at once is RO writer smart ecat. 

This is getting much more pronounced with the online auto parts stores selling parts cheap to everyone.

You can look at indeed resumes https://resumes.indeed.com/ 

Doesn't look like repair jungle made it...🤣

saw this video on youtube from back in 2014

For those that have used groupon, what have you put on there, an oil change as a lost leader or other service? I see some examples currently https://www.groupon.com/local/oil-change and the avg seems to be around $19 or so.

For anyone looking for web based, this topic is a good read,. there is a comparison the last post