Jay Huh

Thanks Harry. Those are some solid questions and there are some I have not thought about so thank you for that. I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I don't want to just make a living. I want to leave a legacy. If it was just about money or a comfortable living, I think I would have just stopped with my first shop. I'm not sure as of yet how many shops I want to have but I do know that I want 1 out of 4 people in my city (Raleigh, Durham, CH) to have heard of my shop and recognize the logo by next year. It's hard or almost impossible to gauge that but that's what I want

Thanks guys. Few other people have said the same thing, to wait. I did put in an offer and heard back today. I asked for first 3 months free for setup, they came back with giving me 2 months. I was adamant for 3 months- should hear back again next week. I feel like I have a formula that works so we will see.... if they dont take my deal then it makes it an easy decision

Joe, can you please chime in on this?? Since I didn't get to hear the whole lecture, want to know if this was what you were getting at

My software sends out email 5 days, 30 days and 90 days -We get email addresses from every. single. customer. Only about 1 in 200 dont have one but I don't believe the, lol. I tell them we don't send junk mail and we email them invoices in case they lose their hard copy

So I watched this teaser video from last years 2016 Ratchet + Wrench conference. The guy is banning the word "diagnostic." Personally I think the guy is GENIUS. Diagnostic is such a watered down term now. People think the guys at Autozone "diagnose" their cars for free. I've told my advisors and techs to use the terms "test" and "analyze" like the guy mentioned in the video. For example, if customer comes in for an overheating issue and wants to know why: previously we said "it'll be $38 to diagnose why your car is overheating." Problem with this is that it could be so many different things, if we use the words "test" and "analyze" it becomes: "Hey John, we need to TEST your cooling system by pressurizing it and ANALYZE it for any leaks. It'll be $38 to do this test." This is GENIUS! Why? because the customer will be happy because he knows what we are testing and feels that his money is being well spent instead of a "diagnostic" which conjures up images of a guy just sticking the code reader to the obd port. If it ends up NOT being a leak: "Hey John, we tested the cooling system and the good thing is, there's no leak. WE need to now make sure you are getting good coolant flow and test to make sure there's no clog in the lines... or test the water pump.... test head gasket by anazlyzing combustion bubbles entering the system... etc" Let's be honest, how many times have we pulled out our hairs diagnosing vehicles and only getting paid/charging .5?? Not only do we get what we deserve with "test" and "analyze" but the customer is happy too! Can anyone that went to the conference last year chime in?? This is from watching the first 7min of the video (have to pay to watch the rest, which I don't mind but thinking about buying the all access pass for 2017) and I'm thinking this is where the instructor was heading.... correct me if I'm wrong and what do you guys think??? Let's get some good discussions going

It's opposite for us. The parking lot is like a healing ground or something. Customer has a problem for us to diagnose but we can't ever duplicate it! Customer admits that they can't either

Nice of you to lend out your personal vehicle. I haven't been able to do that. Too attached to my cars. That is great customer service though, especially for something that wasn't your fault!

Very true. Rest of my crew are kind of slow to jump on board with complete inspections. Sometimes my new guys find so much stuff that my advisors don't end up letting the customers know everything.

Thanks. Yea I've been lucky and got some good people lined up. Main thing is cash flow - I have yet to take out a loan or pay any interest with this whole ordeal of opening a shop. I have a credit card maxed out but I always pay it all before interest hits. With this third one, because of the abrupt timing, I might have to take out a small loan.

I'm lucky, i have yet to have this happen in our shop but what I can imagine what a nightmare it would be. Especially if that customer has a trust issue (which is common in our industry) and one that tries to take advantage of every situation. Don't want to jinx it but really hope I won't see something like this for a while

My average RO increased significantly. We had a record month.... in FEB!! Statistically, Feb was slow for us and our car count was much less than our previous record. Customer satisfaction wise? Hard to gauge right now but most seem appreciative to know what is going on with their vehicle. Our oil changes take longer now but still much less time than other chains. I tell our guys that inspection process should take 10min max and my advisors to price things out within another 10min. I don't want the customer waiting more than 30min for an oil change if that's all they are here for. We don't use high pressure tactics or anything like that. Our policy is to "inform" not "sell." Customers see that, we don't show desperation, and most come back for the repair.

yea, i dont remember anything needed to be kept secret. The only thing I can recall is that I wanted to show a customer the really in depth inspection sheet a tech goes through when getting a car in the shop. Wanted to make a copy but they were very adamant that I could only show them and the copy MUST return to the shop. Never seen another copy since. Layout is the same as other dealerships. You got a parts counter out back, 1 or 2 shop formans sitting in the back. They use their own computer system called ERO. Really good software

I hired a master tech and a GS from Mr.Tire. Those guys know how to do an inspection. Hire someone from one of those big corporate chains and you already improved your inspection process 10 fold.

I used to work in the service dept for Carmax. The absolute BEST company to work for. It's not just chance that they are thriving as they are today. Now as for the flooring, I never paid attention to that while I was there lol. You should work there part time as an inventory associate lol, you'd be let into the shop then haha

Nice to put a face to the name! That alignment tool looks handy. Thanks for the tips too

Anyone here in the Triangle area in NC? I'd love to meet up and get coffee

Thanks for your input. Yea if you put it that way, it makes sense. I don't like dealing with insurance companies and to do that on a daily basis would be a nightmare

I see. To me, I think it's almost impossible to run a shop alone. I was there less than 2 years ago and I remember thinking that I'll never hire anyone bc of the overhead. But now, even on a slow day I have to have a minimum of 3 people in the store. One busy day makes up for a the week of being slow. When its busy, you can't turn away business but if you're a one man shop, then that becomes the reality. I would hire help at minimum wage and offer to train them as a mechanic. There's a lot of kids looking for jobs like this. Have him help with phones and train him to do the simple stuff. I wasn't looking to hire but a kid came and begged me for a job. He was swapping out motors and heads since he was 12 and no one was giving him a chance. He promised me to be the best employee at minimum wage. Having that extra hand changed EVERYTHING If the going rate is $65, advertise $60. Hell I'd do $50 and get my car count up. Once they see who you are and trust you, raise the price then. Looks like car count is the problem as ARO is great. I'm cheaper than all my neighbors and they come to me. Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart wondered if people would drive a little more, come and shop at a place that wasn't as flashy or nice to save a few dollars. People will do more than you think to save a couple dollars. In the auto repair business, I notice that people will go the cheap route and once burned they will look for a reputable shop and stick with them. I've only been doing this 2 years so I'm not an expert but that's my philosophy and so far it's working. I'm not making a killing but definitely a living

I think that'll be my next read

I started out cheap, I price things cheap, and I used cheap labor.... until now. Hired an ASE master tech whom I thought was out of my ability to pay. Last week was his first week and he knocked out 63.5 hours of work!!!!!!! Previous record to that was like 43 hours? Had the highest grossing week in 2 years of business. I didn't give him 63 hours of work.. HE FOUND IT. My car count wasn't different, still the same customers, just a different attitude. He brought his prodigy so I took 2 of my old guys to my new shop and hired these 2. We open at 8:30 am and expect techs to get there around 8:20, they show up at the shop at 6:45 am.... I had to give them a key lol Haven't been excited about my business in a while. I pay him flat rate- he was making $28 before but I got him at $25 and promised him $28 in 2 months. I think a big factor was me being able to hire his friend as well. So far so good. Looking back, cheap labor ended up costing me more money with comebacks and inexperience.

Hey Brian, best of luck to you and glad you're here. Excited for you, looks like you are starting big

Long story short, been in business about 2 years and started mobile. Current location for about a year, just opened up a second location about 3 weeks ago- HUGE step for me. In my area, auto shop locations are REALLY REALLY RARE. There'll be months before a single shop will pop up for lease. Well.. I was looking for auto equipment on craigslist and stumbled upon a listing of a shop moving and selling all his lifts. Found the location on loopnet- 5 bays, previous business extremely successful, great location, great price too.... 1st location hit record sales this past week, 2nd new location held its own (divided by week, came out on top after expenses). I got both stores running self sufficiently. I am pretty much maxed out and I hate taking out loans but I have a line of credit available. Am I crazy to want to do this?

Didn't realize what a big part of my life this site has become in such a short period of time. Happy to see it back up and loving the update. I'm sure I can't be the only one that feels this way

I would like to know the success ratio to the preference of how one takes their coffee. I think there might be something there

LOL. My BS has nothing to do with what I'm doing now. Textile supply chain management