Jay Huh

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

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

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

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

Joe! I am very looking forward to meeting you in person sir. Great topics btw

LOL. The last issue of R+W is sitting on my desk and he is staring me in the face right now lol.

Hey Harry, how do you price those items per job? Do I just divide it by the number of RO's for the month? Right now, I am taking the total amount per RO, minus tax, minus part cost, minus labor cost for tech to get GP. I guess if I am pricing insurance, SA pay, rent, and ads, my GP will be much much much lower. But I feel like getting people in and doing more cars will make that number better as it is watering down my rent, insurance and SA pay per RO. Currently my car count for this month so far is 244- another record for me. I was consistently around 170ish - 200 last few months Last March my gross sales were $18k. Right now I am at $54k with $9.9k WIP so hopefully doing $63k if all books out by Friday. Sharing that because it's been constantly changing, my expenses and such bc I am growing at such exponential rate right now. I have been doing all the books myself but besides the one accounting course and tax evasion course I took in college, I have no experience. But yea any helpful advice I can get to get a more realistic GP per RO, I am all ears and here to learn

Good read and something I need to remind myself of, saving the PDF, thanks

Mspec I already know what you look like now lol. THey got your picture everywhere

I signed up the other day, booked the room and booked the flight. About $1600 in all not including food. Not a lot of cash sitting around but I think this will be money well spent. Looking forward to it for sure, hope to see some of you there in person!

I was thinking of buying it but signed up for the 2017 conference instead. I will find the person who taught this lesson and ask him personally to give me the quick rundown lol

O yea, I forgot to answer the question of paying my guys extra for inspections. I don't but they do it anyway. We used to not do inspections until recently. They only really pointed out safety concerns if they saw it. It's after I joined this forum that I highly "encouraged" this process. But really, I am thankful for the master tech I hired because he sees the big picture and leads by example. Other guys sees the thorough job he is doing and the return he is getting so they follow suit

I get oil from Cambell Oil Co - $1.38/qt synthetic blend 5w30 in a 55gal drum. Wix filter from Napa $1.49 (for like 70% of the filters out there) - Toyota cartridge filters are like $2.79. All my techs except my master tech gets paid $20 flat rate. oil changes pay .3. So really my cost is only like $14.39 for MOST cars. Disposal cost is around $100 for 350 gallons.... minimal I charge $50 for full synthetic and I get it for $2.68/qt (Cam2 full synthetic) Brakes: pad slap pays 1 hour, my techs LOVE brakes. Most knock it out within 20min - we grease all the pins and clean bracket etc. Labor cost: $20 Advance auto parts Gold Ceramic pads: $23.99 (no matter what car - European, Asian etc we get for $23.99. We did this at $75 for a while and always sold a brake flush with it. If it needed rotors, .6 hr so we charge $45 labor plus cost or rotors. I thought long and hard before we bumped it up to $95. I wanted to give my guys a raise because before when we were at $75 for pads, brakes paid .7 and they were at $17/hr. I made brakes $95, bumped my guys to $20/hr, and made brake 1hr. Until recently, everyone I hired pretty much had little to no shop experience and worked under my direct supervision. I hired a 16 yr old kid as help for $8/hr. My second tech he was $9/hr. Then I hired a guy with really good experience and he wanted flat rate so we changed over to flag system like a year ago and never looked back. How I made it this far I have no idea..... I had NO TECH experience when I quit my job as a service advisor at Carmax. I stayed up endless nights learning on YouTube and only did brakes. Bought a CTS with blown engine for $1200 and replaced the engine 3 months after I started working on brakes in my home garage. My master tech now makes $25/hr with a promise of bumping him up to $28 (happening soon) with $50 bonus at 40 hours. He hit mid 50's this past week with a $1450 paycheck. He does oil changes but I leave oil changes to my other 3 guys at that shop, but whenever this guy does one, he does the most amazing inspections. He has highlighters with 4 different colors and highlights them for my advisors. He had a $3000 ticket last week and customer came in for a 120,000 tune up (toyota Tundra)- and that was after he declined $1000 of the work to come back next time. I am opening multiple locations because this formula works. I advertise cheap brakes and people come and they buy. When it was just me and that kid, we had the most outstanding customer service. We got people out quick and we both worked on their cars. Full brakes pads and rotors we got people out in like 45min from check in to check out. It's definitely not like that anymore. I had 129 perfect 5 star reviews before I got a bad one. Anyway I am getting off topic lol

This was definitely an interesting read. I am the newest one here with only about 2 years of experience of owning a business and a lot of that was being mobile so I don't have a lot of wisdom to offer and I know I could be totally wrong... I honestly think it can go both ways. I remember when I used to work at Merchant's Tire/NTB, they were putting out $9.99 oil changes.... what a nightmare. So many people coming JUST for that and it was so busy that we were getting angry customers and didn't even get to do a thorough inspection and even if we did, we couldn't do the work we were so slammed with oil changes. That is the extreme.... When I opened my second location, it was dead first 2 weeks so I did $19.99 oil changes. I figure with the cost of oil, filter, labor and disposal, it is my break even price. I could either not make money and have no chance of making money, or not make money with a CHANCE of making money. Now would I keep doing the cheap oil changes? I have decided not to. In my honest opinion, cheap oil changes are worth it if you have a really strong service advisor, a really meticulous tech and it's not busy (or in Andersonauto's case, 1000000 bays, very impressed by the shop btw!) If my car count wasn't already what it is in my Durham location, I would continue to advertise $25 oil changes. I advertised $25 synthetic blend with a courtesy 22 point inspection and up to a 5min consultation for FIRST TIME customers so that we can get to know them and their vehicles. This actually worked out well but wanted to spend my adwords budget on brakes instead. You guys probably disagree with this too.... but I've built my business not on cheap oil changes but CHEAP BRAKES! When I first started out mobile, I advertised $25 pad install! Then when I had a shop, I advertised $60 brake job INCLUDING ceramic pads. Then it got bumped up to $75, now it is $95. Believe it or not, I still got a couple $25 pad install customers that stuck with me.... did a heater core and intake manifold for him at our current shop price- it was over $1000. It's a hit or miss, but if they like you, they will stick with you. I got a wheel bearing job in my shop right now, another customer from my mobile days. $800 for both rear bearings on a Mountaineer. He told me straight up that he was impressed by the way I worked on his car in the parking lot of Advance Auto (he had broken studs while I did the $25 brakes and was impressed by my battery powered cutting wheel and sparks flying everywhere and using a ball joint press to press in the studs lol) It's almost impossible to stay cheap tho, I just raised my shop rate to $80 yesterday from $75. Maybe we can use cheap oil changes to get NEW customers and new only and show them such great and awesome service that they will come back no matter what. That way they can't take advantage of you but also get a chance to experience your shop

I'm sorry for your loss! LOL

Yea with Groupon, you have to price things REALLY cheap, they expect half price AND THEN they only give you half of that. I was tempted to do Groupon as well.....

Yea! It really does. I hope I get to meet you all someday

Well.... I haven't been on ASO long but many many many many MANY changes have been made to my business since then and it's been largely due to the good advice I got on this forum. But most importantly, my stress level has decreased GREATLY. My ARO has gone up, hired a master tech, opened a second location, signed the lease to the third location and opening next month. O yea I also got a tow truck since then as well. it's been about 3.5 months since I've joined. Implemented everything I read on here with my team. The strut sales post was very helpful and one of the first posts that has changed my shop. Thanks ASO

Definitely! Thanks for the reminder, those winter months were TOUGH

Guys, thank you so much for your invaluable input. I am new in this game and I have a lot to learn. I am lucky to be surrounded by so many successful people. This post has really opened my eyes and being only 31, I have not thought about a will, but I think I will definitely have to make some plans for my wife and newborn baby boy. I would very much like to own my own land and building and completely agree that is where the money is and that is one of my goals. The reason for expanding quickly is this: I want to capture the market. I live in the Triangle - it's called the Triangle because Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill are the 3 major cities and make a triangle. (Duke, NC State, and UNC) I feel like the way to make money is to spend money and I am sacrificing for long-term goals. I have put 90% of what I make back into the business. With 3 locations covering the Triangle (my locations will make a Triangle with with 20-25 mile average between the 3), I am wanting 1 out of 4 people living in this area to recognize my name and my logo. I read a book today and love this quote: Don't be competitive in your market, DOMINATE your market. As to the question how I am finding good people, luck has some to do with it. I have had bad employees that I have had to let go but all in all I think of my guys as family. Having a ASE master tech on staff really helps, not only that but he is a generous one and has a great attitude. Helps everyone he can and all my guys get along well (they all go out to lunch, meet outside work, etc) I'm signing the lease tomorrow and excited about this location, there are like 7-10 dealerships within 1 mile location. Carmax is down the street- I used to work for them, always swamped and I know they will need help. Our Durham location just got RepairPal certified and they outsource work to RepairPal shops. We'll see how it goes