Custom Coach

yes there are people who are not my customers either. BUT people walk into my shop everyday some turn out to be customers and some you just can not get through to no matter what analogy you use. I do however try to inform people about their vehicle and their troubles so they don't get the idea all mechanics are crooks and just out to take advantage of them like some of these commercials try to lead people to believe. I still believe their should be a one size fits all initial scan charge because dealers around here charge $100.00 and up to do an initial scan and a lot of people cant afford that So I charge $50.00 and that makes the customer happy because they are saving money and it more than covers my scanner updates every year and any trade in / upgrades it might need

This is a touchy subject. Most people believe that the GODS of the automotive stores have all the answers in THEIR scans and trying to convince most customers its a generic scanner and their could be more to it than what their scan shows This sometimes is like pulling teeth for the fact that they saw it on TV so it has to be true. I had a gentleman a couple years back brought me his car and over $500.00 in parts that the local AutoZone sold him because that's what was affiliated with his codes. I told him lets hook up mine and see what it really said. turned out his whole problem was a chewed wire leading to the MAF sensor grounding out to the block once in a while However with all these aftermarket gizmos you just plug in and you get a code on your smart phone because WE ARE ALL CROOKS according to the commercials its getting harder and harder to convince the younger drivers that our scanners and we ourselves just might know more than these cheap scanners. my favorite commercial around here show a couple in the middle of nowhere and the check engine light come on and he pulls over to stare under the hood BUT the next time with their new code scanner it sends a message to her phone telling her its a faulty sensor and she just tells him that and then says were good! well it all depends on which sensor it is if your good or not or you might be walking in the next 5 miles got to love infomercials (NOT)

we had one that the day the customer picked up the car he cried on social media about his so called mediocre paint job and how anyone with brains would never have work done here I simply replied with the truth ( " If you were not happy with your cars paint job then you should have brought your concerns to our attention when you were picking the car up then we could have addressed your concerns at that time ") I now have a woman who is suppose to bring her car back for a check engine light concern to see if its from work recently done by me but she has canceled or no showed twice so far so we will se if she shows up Tuesday morning this week or not if she is a no show again I will just write her off as a lost cause because I am offering to scan her car for free to see if its recent parts changed if so I will replace them at no cost to her if it turns out to be something else then I will try to explain to her what needs done and leave the ball in her court if she wants me to do the work or not. but she cant say I never tried to help her

We note the damages to every part of the car and these are backed up by date and time stamped photos once the pictures come up on the screen for them to see with the car sitting right where they parked it initially and the photos are time and day stamped there's never been a problem I don't think most of these people expect you to have pictures of their car before service

I have run across the massive colony of little black ants millions I believe turned the red carpet black in one large area. I also run across a compulsive buyer she once that left meat in her van right front floor stacked up to the seat all these bags were moving and the smell OMG I refused to even touch the van let alone get within 20 ft. of it after initial contact of opening the door on a hot day. But by far the most heart stopping thing was opening a car hood to find a LIVE 😲 opossum under there right beside the hood release handle how I missed getting bit is beyond me getting it out from there turned out to be a whole new ball game and much like the ants it left the car dead

The cars I really cannot stand to work on are people who work at a local donut shop these people work near the fryers and the smell and the cleanliness conditions in the car has turned me off locally made donuts completely

Not only do you have to worry about what's in someone's messy car that might poke or bite.(or just plain gross you out) But now there is the spreading epidemic of fentanil and CARFENTANIL to worry about. Just a little contact with this white powder that looks like baby powder can land you in either the hospital or the morgue if not caught in time. I have gone out and bought some cheap bed spreads to put in questionable cars that after use go into a bag to be washed on sterilize cycle and I am thinking of getting full body disposable painters suits to wear with the rubber gloves I already use. It doesn't matter rich or poor, color or nationality if they are using you are at risk to exposure So please be careful if your shop is near any size city with this pro

Joe I see your points and 99.9 percent is on the money. I have been commented to that I bring negativity with me when I post. NO its not negativity that you are reading its a very small shop owner speaking his mind over current concerns with multi million dollar marketing geared to crush the little guy just like Wal-Mart has done to mom and pop stores that were doing just fine or even great till they came to the local area. Most of the smaller places lost out and had to close because they could not compete with radically low prices and massive quantities on hand. My town has 35,000 plus residence we now have a booming motor sports college I was doing just fine never a worry about income but when you throw in your regular competition and now almost every kid going to this college opening un licensed back yard shops and throw on top of it all the parts houses now promoting DIY it (SOMETIMES) gets to be a struggle. I took over my dads shop in 2008 after working beside him since I was 2 I am not a novice at this I know what needs done to keep the lights on and I love what I do! But a little help from parts suppliers could go a long way to help the very small shops (4 people and less) and to get their discount many times requires you to spend 2,000 or more a month just to get a 5% discount sometimes that's hard to do month to month when your fighting competition, college kids, and parts suppliers. negative no but just concerns from small shop owners

glad to have you with us

That's just the thing there are more and more customers who think they can do it themselves because of places like AutoZone, AAP , Oreilly, ECT ECT and lets not forget the YouTube pros that make everything look so easy (if it only was that easy). So just saying move along and serve the next customer wont fly unless you have a never ending supply of new customers daily. Not to get off subject a little but I read on another thread where a man was told if he had a part for $ 100.00 his cost to tell the customer it was $ 200.00 and so on marking up the parts 100% how is this possible when people can go to these parts stores and get the exact same part and brand for a little more than what we are paying? its almost a daily struggle to convince some people anymore that you do know a hell of a lot more than Joe behind the counter poking buttons on a computer or reading them the generic code scan list of what's wrong with their car. It seems like everything Automotive anymore is geared to removing ( ALL MECHANICS ) from the equation of working on cars and everything can be DIY. Its like watching these shows on TV where they restore a house or a classic car in a week or less we all know this cant be done with the 2-6 people working on them but what they don't show you is the crew of 20-30 people who are really doing the job when the cameras are off. These parts stores can advertise a lot of easy DIY stuff but they should also inform the customer that not everything they sell can be done without a true mechanic. I myself have had people bring in their own parts 99% of the time they end up being the wrong parts or if they are the right ones I inform them I am not responsible if their part fails I stand behind my instillation but not behind these cheaply made parts that look like they wont last out of the box.

what gets me is it does not matter where you buy your parts from if the consumer/customer can buy from the same place nine times out of ten they can buy the part for the same price or a few dollars more. so where is the real savings to the shop buying from these suppliers ? oh if I buy 2,000.00 or more a week from AAP I get an extra percentage off but I have to maintain that 2,000.00 or more a week to get it . so I guess what we are suppose to do is sell the part at cost and jack up labor? I do not go for the cheap parts they never last I prefer to spend a little more and get the parts that will last or at least they can be greased. I think there should be a definite price gap between what we pay and what the customer at the same place walks in and pays. I agree with Joe

Our shop is a very small one body and paint man (my brother) and one mechanic (me). I charge for the initial scan and I do my best to get across to the customer just what it is that my equipment does that the cheap scanners at AutoZone, advance auto and Oreilly auto don't look for or cannot see as a generic scanner. I had one customer who stopped in and had several hundred dollars worth of parts with them from the free read auto parts store. They wanted me to change everything they had bought, I could have been greedy and taken their money but instead I said let me scan it and see what we are dealing with for certain. Instead of them spending a large amount of money to fix the problem they spent 200.00 to fix the problem and took back the parts that were not required to fix the problem. my scanner is wireless so I can let my customers watch the process I go through and they can see first hand that I can usually narrow down the trouble through the testing process. this way its better than just saying well it might be this lets throw a b & c at it and see what sticks.

Just the best Very well said. The ONLY reason we ever got hooked into the chamber was the top woman there was a very good customer. She promised great insurance rates through their membership and small business loans etc. etc. After four meetings I realized it was all BS and it was more or less an excuse to start drinking at breakfast (don't condemn those that do) but don't like being the odd man out either! I do know its very hard to get any kind of help when you really are a small business (under 10 total employees including the boss) most consider a small business to be from 50 to 100 employees. Hopefully the new government administration will not leave us slip through the cracks as he has promised