Jay Huh

7 hours ago, Wheelingauto said:

Over the years I have fixed up customer cars who did not want to make the investment themselves. Picked up cars for a couple of hundred and fixed them up. Last year I went out and bought 3 brand new Ford Focuses, this year  I bought 4 lightly used cars. My fleet has become considerably newer and nicer over the last 5 years but I dont think you can put a guy driving a 100k SL into a POS old Ford Taurus.

I have 5 Camrys, 1 Corolla, 1 Lexus ES300, 3 focuses, 3 fusions, 2 lincoln MKZ's, 1 POS Taurus, 1 POS Jetta, a Ford Edge, Subaru Outback, Honda Civic, Fit and Accord.Kia Soul, Ford C-Max hybrid, Pontiac GP and Ford Ranger.

We also have a Box Truck loaner, Honda Element as a shuttle, my personal pick up and MB convert on our policy. Almost all have full coverage and we own them all fully. We pay on average $600 a year per car so thats 18k per year.

Auto Owners is our insurance company and I hear Zurich is pretty good with loaners too.

I would not lease because they will get dented and dinged and you will not be able to keep up with it. On top of that remember they are tools. About 6 years ago I added 4 newer cars one being a 2010 Focus with 10k miles on it. The first person to drive it kissed something and took a wee bit of paint off the corner of the bumper. My Service Manager at the time got all heated about it...it happens.....its a tool.....and you aren't going to alienate a good customer over a ding or something small.

WOW!!! You have quite an operation!!!!! You could start an Enterprise rental with that lol

4 hours ago, carbtech72 said:

has anyone read Slingshot by Dave Dickson or Internet marketing for auto shops by John Hemmingway?

I have not heard of either of those books. Slingshot sounds interesting but mixed reviews on Amazon. Only $10 though so might be on my read list

On 2/13/2017 at 11:01 AM, mspecperformance said:

E-Myth by Gerber is essential.

 

 

My Current fav is Be Obsessed or Be Average by Grant Cardone

I bought this 2 days ago and is on my list to read. Past 30 days I finished "Think and Grow Rich" Napolean Hill "Start with Why" by Simon Sinek (must read by the way!),  10x rule by Grant Cardone. Currently reading "Contagious" and "The Tipping Point" at the same time. E Myth will be next and already sitting on my desk.

Last night was the first night I took off from reading and played a game of CS Go. Been so long, I was completely unranked. You're asian so I have a feeling you play CS Go as well. If you don't know what that is then nvm lol

On 3/2/2017 at 3:20 PM, Shopcat said:

I bought 10X by Grant Cardone based on Shumsauto recommendation, and its AWESOME so far!

I just finished 10x by Grant Cardone. Great motivator

On 4/4/2017 at 10:44 AM, mspecperformance said:

Jay I understand your logic however I would be wary if I didn't have a better plan of how my car count, ARO and profitability would look like beyond the 2-3 months of free rent. That's why having the right marketing plan and projections is of particular importance to me.

Yea I definitely understand. What really motivated me to do what I did was reading "Think and Grow Rich." Amazing book. Also "the 10x Rule" was part of it as well.

If you see me in Chicago come Sept, that means I'm still in business  

2 hours ago, skm said:

   I like this one.. Think it leans more towards auto repair , where the others seem more generic . This one with the wrench, piston, and clutch steel lets you know it is auto repair even if you can't read English. That would be my pick

I also vote this one. Who designed these? The proofs look similar from when I got my logo designed. Wondering if it's the same person

But yea cash flow is important but when you already have a location making money, you don't get as stressed about the new location. Also with 2-3 months free rent, expenses are low so you should at least break even. Also for your second and third locations, you already have a customer base. 

But you should probably get advice from someone more experienced lol. I am experimenting as I go 

15 minutes ago, mspecperformance said:

You are calculating everything by total sales from all locations? It may help if you do more of a breakout per location. 

I was mainly interested in how fast you are getting your stores up and what kind of car count and ARO you are seeing from them. I see that you are opening #3 which is impressive. I am in the middle of expansion myself. I have a very robust plan that I've been working on for the better part of the year but I am always looking to improve it. As you probably are aware since you've expanded, getting the car count and numbers up when launching is extremely crucial for cash flow. 

Your number seem extremely low for 2 stores, how are you handling the expenses? It might be just a different in area that I am not taking into account. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing your numbers by the way

Yea for march I did bc the second location just opened but this month I am seperating the 3. 

I see the 3 locations as an extension of one another. They are under the same LLC, shop management software is all under the same account so all my advisors see all RO's. Startup cost for each location is really low and really simple. I always try and negotiate free rent upfront. (Typically 2-3 months). The third one already had 4 lifts and air hooked up from previous tenant, I bought all the equipment from him for $4500 and he is taking $500 installments! Lol. He even left the furniture.

I am still new to this and there's a lot that I don't know. I rather try and fail than not try and regret later in life. I'm still young so failing doesn't scare me but as of now I don't see failure as an option. Started this business with no capital. Every year I open a business card with no interest and pay it off before apr hits. I have a business line of credit that I've never touched. If I overanalyzed or delayed in taking action throughout this whole journey, I'd probably still be a mobile mechanic working out of my 01 Jetta or still a service advisor at carmax 

1 hour ago, mspecperformance said:

What has been your experience with car count and ARO for your first month up to 3 months? 

Not sure if I understand the question but in Jan my car count was 178 and Feb was 179. My ARO Jan $159, Feb $238 (hired master tech and his apprentice and they do awesome inspections - reason for the jump in ARO)

Now March was when I increased Adwords budget and started campaigning like crazy bc of the new shop. Yelp ads I kept at $425 and I boosted Adwords from like $1000 to $2000-$2500, also spent $50 on a couple small Facebook campaigns. March car count was 261 with $229 ARO. March was also when my second shop became fully open. 55 out of 261 cars were from the new shop. March of LAST year my car count was 129 with $229 ARO

I broke a lot of records in March, total sales, GP and car count. Previously my record total sales for the month was low $40's. I was like $200 shy from $60k in March, and that's with nearly $10k sitting ($2400 head job just booked out today). Only thing that I have really seen work is Google. Yelp brought me a decent clutch job so far this month. Word of mouth is good too, got a $1,000 timing belt job coming Wed that is a referral.

What I noticed after opening a second location is that my first shop started ranking better on Google (could be my imagination....) but if I type in "auto repair durham nc," I am #6 on the list and the ones before me have been open for YEARS. It's just now been a full year for me.  If you sort by ratings of 4+ stars, I am #3 on the list. I think having more than one locations gives a perception of less risk for the customer and they are more likely to try out your shop.

26 minutes ago, PAPShop said:

We have a Hunter scissor lift.  Besides alignments and the repairs related to them, we do oil changes on the lift and we do inspections on it.  In a pinch we've done brakes also.

I would think that monkeying with the stands would create inefficientcy in the shop, as opposed to drive on - drive off situation.

4 post lifts/alignment lifts are GREAT for quick oil changes. Also good for heavy trucks, ours is rated for 18k lbs and we've had some pretty big trucks on there

1 hour ago, mspecperformance said:

Jay, what kind of marketing are you doing especially for launching the new shops?

I'm mostly doing google adwords, that seems to work the best. I tried  a couple facebook campaigns and I pay Yelp as well. My new shop was actually busier today than my old one - my third one opening next week I think will be busy from the getgo bc of the location. 

All my adwords ads links to my specials page and I have a really high conversion rate: carmedixnc.com/specials

1 minute ago, Wheelingauto said:

Some of the reasoning above has validity, but I dont usually like to rely on excuses when my business is not performing like I expect. I guess it's always been comforting to call the parts stores and ask hows everyone else doing but my bank has never accepted that as a reason for slow payment. (I am actually debt free but its a good metaphor).

Anyhow, most of the surveys conducted asking car owners the reasons for selecting a vendor, the top 3 things (not necessarily in order) are trust, expertise and convenience. Price always showed up 4th or 5th on the list. Some shop owners insist offers are the best way to get opportunities (cars on racks) but it has been my experience when you put price first you get price conscious customers. Now, I would agree that you have a lot of untapped potential in a tire database where they go elsewhere for service.

Other surveys done are people tend (77%) to buy tires from the first person (shop) who tells them they are needed. 72% of people get their cars serviced where they buy their tires. So if the above surveys are accurate I would focus on marketing to my existing database and tell them how good we are. I would be talking about my master techs and our ability to solve the difficult problems others cant. In my opinion tire stores are not known for expertise. Trust takes time to build and things like warranty, not over selling or being pushy, offer the customers sound solid advise and most of the time they will buy anyway. This also is a part of why I don't like price based offers. If you sell something that is at aor below cost it requires you to find and sell something in order to make a profit. This is a conflict of interest and just because it happens everyday in many [places does not means it has to happen in yours.

Convenience: How can you make it more convenience for you customers to do business with you. For me it was to offer shuttle service, loaner cars and pick up and delivery. As others have said if you increase your shop hours by 20% it might make it more convenient. Like you I do not want my guys to work crazy hours or have multiple shits so I try to focus on efficiency and billing out as many hours as possible within the time frame we work. Not work more hours and be less efficient or equally efficient.

I would say the one best tool we have ever implemented (other than internal processes)that grew our business was loaner cars. Far and above any other thing. Add another $5 per hour to your labor rate and give them out freely to service customers.

Nicely said! It's hard but my goal is to make auto repair as convenient as possible and that's one of the reasons why I am opening multiple locations. I want everyone in the Triangle to be within a 10min drive to any one of my shops.

It's hard to keep in mind that price is not number 1 factor so it's always nice to get a reminder

I use hostgator for webhosting service and have like 10 different websites on there. I just use wordpress and made my own site. It's convenient when I'm in control as I can make changes on the fly. I think I pay $150/yr for the hosting part (remember I host 10 other websites too) and pay $12.99/yr for the domain name.

Yea I get a lot of those as well. Since we do a courtesy 22 point inspection for every car that comes in, I let the customer know that. When they ask if we can look at something while the car is in the shop, I always say "sure, we do a courtesy 22 point inspection to see if anything is visually bad or needs attention." I also let them know if it's a specific noise that they are talking about and the 22point inspection doesn't reveal what it is, I tell them it'll be $40 to test and analyze the steering and suspension system to isolate that specific noise. This has worked well and the "looking" part is limited to 10min and anything extra we charge the customer to test the specific component.

On 12/22/2015 at 11:25 PM, J.P. GLENN said:

Anyone using alignment stands on a 2 post lift? How are they for daily use?

 

I have a smaller shop with 2 techs and 3 bays, We have 2 lifts and 1 small "flat" bay. We are Japanese specialty shop that is growing and we were planning to add a new lift to the flat bay. The bay is not deep enough for a true 4 post alignment lift, so I was planning to purchase a new 2 post lift and add stands with an alignment machine in the near future. In searching for the right lift to be used with stands, I was just offered a used 2 post Hunter alignment rack that would fit in the bay for the same price as the 2 post with stands... and that really got me thinking...

 

We do an average of 25 cars a week on 2 makes and we are adding 3 more early this year (thus the need for another lift). We just started doing tires this past year and only sublet alignments when they are absolutely necessary. Our situation is pushing us towards needing an alignment machine in house, but we could use another lift for "over flow" just a much.

 

 

Knowing that we will be doing alignments out of necessity in the near future, I am leaning towards having a dedicated alignment lift. My questions are:

 

1. Does anyone regret purchasing their stands over an actual alignment lift?

2. Does anyone do "other" work on their alignment lift?

3. And how many alignments should I really expect?

 

 

If space were a major issue, what would you do?

(Drive-on alignment lift -OR- 2 post lift with alignment stands?)

I have the stands you are talking about. They were $1900 and I used them twice.... I actually had a 4 post and it was just much easier driving it on the 4 post than setting up the stands.

Now if I didn't have a 4 post, I would've used the stands no problem. My third shop I just moved into doesn't have a 4 post so I am thinking of taking my stands over there when I get an alignment machine. If a 4 post will not fit, then 2 post with stands is fine. 

www.carmedixnc.com

I just became "RepairPal Ceritifed" this month and haven't seen anything from it yet. $199 is really cheap to the $425 I spend on Yelp (which I'll probably cancel soon) and $2000+ on google (which is the best so far)

12 hours ago, tyrguy said:

I've detailed on posts before about declining hours billed over the years. Brief summary: From 1979 to 2008 every year was a record year. From the late 80s thru 2008 we always billed around 97% of our 3 techs hours [avg 6150/6350 hrs/yr]. Didn't matter recessions or whatever we were never more than 50 hrs off those numbers. The recession hit and our numbers started to decline around 3% a year. We did have a few up years, but also a year or 2 when the hours took a 8-10% hit. From 2008, our last "good year" to 2015 we saw our hours billed drop 25% to 4610/6348 or 73% productivity. So for 8 years I've been looking at the numbers from every angle and kept coming back to my theory that it was all due to the recession and slow recovery, consumer confidence, etc. But I think I have been ignoring the elephant in the room. For the first 25 years or so in business, I always had the biggest shop in our little town. Started with 3 bays in 79 and grew it to 12 bays in my old shop. In 2006 we sold the land the old shop was on and built a new shop again with 12 bays. Prior to 2006 our town of about 15k population had by my estimate 40-45 bays in town so I accounted for 25% of that. Then there was a change that I have been ignoring when analyzing my business. Prior to that time we had no car dealers in town. We now have 5. Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Honda and VW all within a 1/2 mile of my shop. So in our little town we have gone from 40-45 bays to easily double that. Being "old school" I just never considered them my competition. I now think I was in error. So what to do? Last year my very first employee retired to run a non automotive home business. Wished him well, told him to keep his key in case he ever needs to use the shop. I mean after 37 years he's like a brother. So now I'm trying to see if we can make it with the remaining 2 full service techs, 2 tire techs, 2 service advisers and myself. Because I pay my techs minimums no matter how slow we get, I've had a big savings in wages. I've been able to cut expenses in other places as well. Plus we upped out labor rate from $95 to $100 per hour. We're still making money, not as much as before but it just feels better without techs standing around. Maybe I'm getting lazy in my old age. Anyway, I just think we have over capacity in our town at this point that will hopefully get better as town grows, which it is. Thoughts?.

I too thought that dealers were not competition but I think we have to be careful. They're changing. Yesterday I called the dealer for a master cylinder and they were $2 cheaper than Napa! And Napa was a reman... I ordered a rack and pinion from Toyota bc once again, they were actually cheaper!

I am seeing brake coupons and oil change coupons for dealers cheaper than I have ever seen before. And like AndersonAuto said, they have the visibility and road frontage. 

I have to say though, I love the look of your shop (pic on your website). You have been in business almost a decade longer than I've been alive! Being young I don't have much advice to give. From my very limited experience, I've noticed an increase of customers by giving more attention to social media. I am 31 but even I didn't know that Instagram is more popular among younger generation than Facebook. I just recently learned what snapchat was.

I created a Instagram and Twitter account this month and tried to upload a pic 3x a week on facebook, instagram and twitter and put more money into google adwords. Also became RepairPal certified and now featured on Repairpals website. I had a record car count this month. I don't know how long you are planning on doing this but all teens are using Instagram. so if you're looking 5-10 years ahead, I would do Instagram. I post on instagram and it automatically publishes on Facebook and Twitter so it's super convenient.

😂 very funny story btw, it's how we tend to operate lol

15 minutes ago, HarrytheCarGeek said:

I think you will enjoy this:

https://jcrowcoaching.com/2012/04/04/preparing-a-roast/

http://www.snopes.com/weddings/newlywed/secret.asp

 

I always saw myself as being in the business of helping people get to where they want to go. Have worked on  bicycles, motorcycles, car, trucks, buses, etc. Got to be that the main bread came from car repair so that has being the center of attention.

But if you ask me why I do what I do, the answer is simple, I enjoy getting to where I am going and therefore enjoy helping other get where they are going. I have been lucky enough to have traveled all over the world, and my mechanic skills help me and others along the way get to where we were going. Thanks for the post, it brought back some very sweet memories.

 

You remind me of a friend that also owns a shop. He started because his goal was to help those in need and use his skills as a missionary abroad. I think he reminds of himself of that goal and he is very successful and I never see him down even if business is not going well for a season.

Reading a book and it mentions that most businesses know WHAT it does and even HOW but rarely WHY. 

For ex: early 1900's railroad companies prosper and the whole landscape of America is changed. WHAT it does is make railroad tracks and the how is obvious. 

But when Airplanes came along, all the railroad companies failed because they were so situated on WHAT they were (a railroad company). But if they went back to the WHY, they could have thought themselves as a mass transportation company and it would have been natural to adapt to changes in the mass transportation industry (airlines).

I thought long and hard WHY my business does what it does and why I started this company and this is the text I sent to my employees:

"Hey guys. We are in a saturated and competitive industry and I've always strived not to be competitive but to dominate and in order to do so, we have to do something totally revolutionary and different than the rest of the industry. With our name being CarMEDIX, I have come to the conclusion that we should see cars as an extension of the owners family.

I have been quick to tell customers to give up on their cars bc of the cost they are having to put into it. But if you look at hospitals, no matter what the health condition, people will hold onto family and do whatever it takes. It is my belief that most people have sentimental value to their vehicles and are concerned about who is working on them and how it's being treated. When we are selling a ticket, if we use personified words such as healthy/unhealthy, I think it will have a great impact.

For ex, "Mr. Smith, we completed your courtesy vehicle health report and your brake system needs attention. In order to restore your brake system to 100% health, we would need to flush out the old fluid and provide it with fresh fluid to protect it from further damage." Something along those lines. (How can you say no to that?)

Also, if we can assure them by simply saying "we will take great care of your vehicle while it's here" I think that will go a long way. For those of us working on cars, if we treat every car like a family heirloom that is irreplaceable, I think that would make a huge difference in the way we do inspections (more hours/more $) and the way we fix them  (less comebacks).

I think as a company we should have a slogan and I'm thinking along the lines of "keeping your vehicle healthy" or "keeping your vehicle alive." Anyway, I am thankful for each and every one of you guys and sticking through the changes and it is my hope that whether your long term goal/future is carmedix or not, I hope that this opportunity will launch you to what your goals and future aspirations are and I will do everything I can to help. Hope everyone has a great evening."

Wondering if this makes an impact tomorrow with the quality of work, morale and sales. My thought is that it will

1 minute ago, RonBC said:

Hi.

Spent the day yesterday working on a canned job to describe a full diagnostic repair.  Heres what I wrote.

(Canned job description)
ENGINE SYSTEM ANALYSIS
 

(Perform)

ANALYZE, TEST AND TROUBLESHOOT:
RETRIEVE DATA FROM ON-BOARD COMPUTERS
VERIFICATION TESTING OF RELATED SYSTEMS
RESEARCH TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETINS
PINPOINT TESTING OF SUSPECTED PART FAILURE AND RELATED COMPONENTS AND WIRING
PERFORM REQUIRED REPAIRS
VERIFY REPAIR - RETEST

 

To diagnose only I remove the last 2 lines..

 

feedback plz..

Ron

 

Spot on, I'd pay $120 for that and I am cheap lol. That to me is getting a lot of value. With the word "diagnose check engine light," I'd expect a free code read and expect to know what the problem is

That just doesn't make sense. Good thing this isn't the case for automotive repair UNLESS all independent repair shops are authorized to work on cars then maybe it would be a GREAT idea! lol

4 hours ago, AndersonAuto said:

You're calculating the GP correctly. GP = sales - direct cost (parts cost, labor cost, sublet cost). You never include tax in this equation because it's neither a profit center or an expense. It's a pass through.

Your rent, insurance, utilities, SA cost, advertising, etc. etc. are all expenses. Your net profit is your GP dollars minus your expenses.

When analyzing your business, you have two sides to look at. First, did you make enough money on the sale? Are the percentages that you're marking up your parts and your labor enough to cover your expenses plus give you a little in your pocket?

Second, how much are your expenses as a percentage of your sales? Quickbooks will actually do this for you in your P&L report if you select "customize". Then you can look through your expenses as a percentage of sales, and see where you can trim and were you can't. For instance, most of us can't do anything about our rent expense. The only way to reduce your rent factor is to increase your sales. Other things like uniforms are usually up for negotiation.

There are also two types of expenses. Fixed expenses and variable expenses. Fixed expenses never change, or change very little, based on sales. If you sell $10 or $10,000, your rent is your rent. Others are variable. For instance my advisors are on a commission pay plan. The more they sell the more they make, so my SA cost is a variable expense. 

There are ways to increase your GP without getting out of line on your sale price, like negotiating a better price structure with your parts suppliers. You can also get cheaper techs, but that usually comes with a significant quality cost.

With this info in hand you can design a nice spreadsheet with your break even points and profitability in a nice graph to look at. One line on the graph will be expenses and the other will be GP. At zero sales your expense line will equal your fixed expenses, and your GP will be at zero. As sales increase, your expense line will increase by the variable expenses as a percentage of the sale, and the GP$ line will increase at a rate equal to your GP%. Where the lines cross, that's your break even sales. Any sales above that nets you the spread between expenses and GP.

Thanks, very helpful. I keep all my information on a spreadsheet by month. One thing I never thought of was a graph! Thanks for the idea

4 minutes ago, mspecperformance said:

 

 

 

OMgoodness its going to an asian triad meeting of shop owners LMAO. The universe is about to implode. I think RW has selected me to be the token asian for the industry.

 

 

 

That looks pretty interesting, I think I'll look into this! Just make sure you roll out the air mattress for me Tristan lol

😂 I didn't want to be the first one to mention the asian thing but I was definitely thinking it lol