TheTrustedMechanic

Advance Auto Parts will NEVER get another penny of my money. If they are the only parts supplier in town, I will find another line of work. Since they bought CarQuest my opinion of CQ dropped dramatically. Doesn't help that the local CQ store closed up and the one in the town where I like thinks customer service requires they ignore the customer at the counter for at least 10 minutes before even saying hello. Nope, in that town if I need pro-line auto parts I go to the Auto-Value store. The reason I will never buy again from AAP is because of three very bad experiences just before and just after I opened for business. 1) a friend had bought a wheel bearing and installed it himself. It was a "lifetime warranty" part. I installed the second one (first warranty) and tightened all bolts and axle nut to the manufacturer's specifications. When that wheel bearing failed in less than a year the store guy got real snippy and told me I had installed it wrong, I must have over tightened the nut. When I recited the torque values and he confirmed them in the computer he told me my torque wrench must be bad. Then he gave me another wheel bearing and told me it was the last replacement he would give my friend. 2) Just after i opened I replaced an alternator for a customer and 28 days later she came in on a hook. I checked it out, tested the circuits to verify it was the alternator and not the CHARGE fuse/fusible link or the PCM and replaced the alternator. They refused reimbursement for the customer's tow bill, they refused reimbursement for the testing and then they paid me half of the labor time for replacing the alternator at less than half of the local labor rate. 3) A customer needed four wheel brakes, pads rotors and calipers. I try to source all of my parts for a job from the same source so there is no argument over whose part is at fault. Only AAP had all of the parts, Bendix brand. A month later the customer comes back with a harmonic squeal in the front brakes. I spent almost an hour verifying the noise and trying a couple things to try and silence the noise. The problem was a large metal piece in on brake pad cut a groove in the rotor. The store sent me a new rotor and new set of pads but refused any labor except for again, one half the labor operation for pads only (for one side only so 1/4 the time) with no allotment for the rotor and no time for the diag. This same customer came back the following year complaining of suddenly no brakes and then the next time she hit the pedal it was grinding. All of the brake pads were worn evenly, all four front's measured the same, the remaining rear 3 measured the same thickness and one was just the backing plate. The guy I talked to at the store told me there was nothing they would do about it, there had to be something wrong elsewhere in the brake system. I protested that I had replaced pads rotors and calipers and all the pads were worn evenly, clearly the pad was defective and the lining had separated. He then blamed me for a mistake. I asked to talk to the store manager, a woman I knew and he said he was the store manager. When I asked to talk with Diane he told me I couldn't. Would you treat your customers this way? Ot would you do what it takes to take care of them and "Make it right?" I fail to understand why any respectable 'professional' shop would buy parts from AAP or from AZ. Both stores aggressively advertise in ways that devalue our work. Try to sell diagnostic time to someone who "had it diagnosed at(insert cheapo parts store here)." Try to sell quality parts to someone when they can buy it at AAP or AZ for so much less. I had a guy from AZ come in and try to get me to do business with them because their prices were so much better than everybody else'. I asked him what was in their box and he tried telling me that Wells was a premium line. Last I knew it was a used car lot line. It only needed to last long 30 days. With as much trouble as we already have with public perception, why do we reward parts stores who only reinforce the notion that we overcharge for everything we do? Nope, not gonna happen with me.

I agree with mspecperformance. When I worked commission/flat-rate I was responsible for filling out my "time sheet" with the job, the hours billed, the hours I wanted to claim for that job and then had to turn it in at the end of the week in order to get paid. The employer closed out their invoices when they were paid. Yes this often meant I got paid before they did but that's the difference between being the boss and being the employee. One other thing that comes to mind, you will drive yourself nuts if you try to micromanage too much. For example, say you have 3 techs and Monday each one does inspections and diagnoses on 5 cars each. Looks pretty good, your car count is 15 for the day. Well each car needed 6 hours worth of work so you schedule each car accordingly for each tech. That means Monday your car count was 15, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday your car count was 5 each day. What happened? Car count dropped by 66%. But not really, your average daily car count for those 4 days was really 7. Yes you need to know what's happening daily, but you will drive yourself nuts trying to make every day meet the average. Remember, average simply means there are some below and some above.

Why shouldn't the customer have to pay for the gasoline they used? If they were driving their own car they would have to pay for the gasoline anyway. Their car, my car, the expense to them is the same. Do you pay for their parking tickets and bridge tolls too? If your customer is so petty that they complain about or refuse to replace the gasoline they used, then perhaps you don't need that customer. They aren't a customer, they are a consumer, they consume all you have to offer and appreciate none of it. The loaner car that you have for their convenience is at great expense to you. Why can't you charge them for the expense you incurred specifically, exclusively, directly and solely as a result of their use of your loaner car? Depreciation, insurance, maintenance and capital repairs are a cost of ownership whether the car sits in the lot for a month or doesn't see your property for more than 10 minutes between customers. Gasoline, parking tickets, bridge tolls, parking lot fees, etc. are all expenses the customer would have incurred with their own car, so why shouldn't they pay those? It seems only reasonable.

M My company policy with the loaner cars I have are any expense the customer would have incurred with their car they will incur with my car. So if the tail light gets busted, then they get to pay for it. Now if the tail light was broken when they took it, which it shouldn't have been, then they aren't responsible for the damage that was existing. Likewise, a customer had the loaner and needed to get a jump start because they left the lights on. That was their responsibility. But if it is a capital repair or maintenance to the loaner car, like oil changes, brakes, exhaust, etc. then that is the responsibility of the ship. Another customer had the loaner and the starter went out. I paid the tow bill back to the shop and the taxi ride home for the customer. I am not certain exactly what portion of my insurance is the loaner car but my garage keepers ($million plus liability, quarter million contents (cars, tools, cash, etc.) plus two commercial vehicles is under $4000 a year and just went down again this year to just over $3000. Loaner cars are great. Yeah, there's a headache and an expense but it has closed some jobs and brought in other jobs that I would not have gotten otherwise. It can be the difference on a slow day between getting the job and having them "I can't be without my car, I need it. I'll have to reschedule for another day." and then not come back. You remove one more objection from the equation. I was the first in my area to have loaner cars and it's great to have them.

GE Credit is now Synchrony Bank. I was told the same thing by a local shop manager I'm friends with. Those who could get approved already had multiple credit cards in their wallet, they simply wanted the Same-As-Cash financing. Also at that time the percentage charged to the merchant was much higher. Now it's just a little more than regular credit card processing. I am a NAPA AutoCare Center and Synchrony is pushing their NAPA EasyPay (NAPA's version of CarCareOne credit). My only hang-up is they want MY social security number. They are not extending me credit, they are simply establishing an account for the business, so they can use the business' identification number not mine, right? NO! They demand my Soc.Sec. No. so I told them to stuff it. No officer of a large organization is going to give up their Soc.Sec.No. on behalf of the company, I should not have to either. It is not me who is receiving the credit, it is the customer. My credit report and score will NOT be impacted so Synchrony can make more money.

I got The Emyth on audiobook so i could listen to it during my 35 minute rural road drive home. I made it a point to listen to the book 3 times through just to make sure I didn't miss something important. I could have never listened to the book and still not have missed anything important. I don't know everything and I don't know a lot of stuff I should know. But I do know this, my impression of the book is that it is way overblown. If you want to buy a franchise, then good, get the book. Because that's all it was about, build your business so you can franchise it. There were only vague references to concepts and simple platitudes in the book. Similar to "Selling the Invisible" except in selling he often contradicted himself. The Emyth certainly was NOT for a small operation, anywhere or in any industry.

"...in order to get the customers you want, you need to clearly define what your profile customer looks like and create your marketing and advertising to target these people." (said to myself in my own mind) "The first step to getting help is admitting you don't have all the answers." Without repeating all the same, tired old generic lines, how do you define your customer profile? After 10 years in business I can't tell you that I know that. I mean I know my customer is the person who has two things, a car and a wallet and only one of them is broke. I build a good report with my customers but I don't get in-depth personal with them to know their income levels, their familial status or such. You would think the best customer would be the young professional with a family so they would need to repair their few years old car instead of buying new, but my best customer this month so far was an older guy, doesn't seem all there and works a minimum wage job. He approved >$2000 worth of work. I typically see him 2x a year and for nearly $1000 each time. Meanwhile the couple, she's a nurse and he's a real estate professional (high end real estate) they drive junk and refuse to put much money into them, they're always" broke. So with eager interest in getting your input, how do you determine who your customer is, who your best customer is? Thank you.

I am surprised at this from you. One way or another, without any documentation proving that you counseled the customer that their vehicle was unsafe to operate on public roads, all they have to do is claim you told them anything they want to say. As I posted elsewhere, IF IT ISN'T IN WRITING IT WAS NEVER SAID. It's amazing how crafty dishonest people can be when it comes to blaming others for their irresponsibility. And businesses are deemed to have deep pockets so they are prime targets when an accidents happen and the low-life who wouldn't repair their cars are shallow pockets. I read an article where a man refused to have his brakes repaired and blew a stop sign/light, t-boned a minivan and killed a child. The ONLY thing that saved the shop from liability was they had the man sign a statement on their invoice that he was aware the brakes were unsafe and the vehicle should not be operated on public roads. After that the man was convicted of negligent homicide. Urban legend perhaps but I do remember reading it in an industry publication but I can't find any reference in an internet search.

One thing i learned VERY early in life as a business owner, IF IT ISN'T IN WRITING IT WAS NEVER SAID! What the means is just what is says, if you don't have the agreement or claim in writing no one has to abide by it. The only way to protect yourself is to have it in writing. And if you are expected to enter into an agreement with another entity, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure you understand their terms of the agreement. I agree with you completely

Was the requirement to contact Snap-On Credit regarding the return in your contract? Did you READ your contract? If it was and you didn't then you are solely at fault. But it's easier to blame others instead of take responsibility, isn't it? . If this is a requirement of the SnapOn Credit financing contract and "the King" can enforce it, then you are solely at fault and your lack of knowledge of the requirement is not a valid excuse. If this is a requirement of the SnapOn Credit financing contract then it is your responsibility to fulfill it, not your dealer's. If the requirement is not present and you can prove it, then stop whining to us and contact the supervisor who oversees "the King" and let them know how he is abusing their customers. I don't use the exorbitant interest rate financing from Snap-On credit, I have good enough credit to gain financing from traditional reasonable rate sources (my bank).

That's not true. Effective Labor Rate is your total labor sales for a given period divided by the number of hour sold, that is true. Joe had it reversed but if you understand his mistake and that he does know what he's talking about, he is absolutley correct. But the answer I read that Joe's friend was seeking was what his NEEDED labor rate was. That does involve producttion. The greater your production, the greater your ELR is and the lower your posted labor rate needs to be to cover just your expenses let alone provide a return on investment. So in determining your required posted labor rate, your production absolutley fits into the equation. Not just fits, but is required.

THANK YOU! Your tight area gives me hope regardng mine. My office appears similar in size as yours. The door into the shop is in the same corner but on the ajacent wall. Thank you for giving me hope, my office needs updating too.

We need typically a minimum of 8 inches of the despicable white stuff before they close schools. In the Southern states a single flake can cause delays and closures. . It's all matte of, like you said, preparedness. In Alaska you know you will be getting hit hard and you prepare fo it. In Michigan we know we have varying amounts of snowfall and we prepare accordingly. I drive Nokian WR G3's on my car because I know I will be dealing with snow and have no problems witth slippery road confidence. But how many times does Texass get snow? So if they don't get much snow why should they prepare for what they don't normally experience? But you are right, it's all about preparedness. Be prepared but ther comes a point when it stops being prudent and starts being paranoia.

So do you think I still install customer supplied parts? Well....... Later this week I will be installing customer supplied parts for a gentleman I have know since I was 18. It is a battery door to cover the batter compartment on his shuttle bus. When he needed the underhood fuse block he asked me if it would be better for him to get it from the dealer and I told him, "No, it would be better for me to get it in case there is a warranty issue." Of course there were more discussions but he got the message. The only reason why he asked me to do the battery door was because he had already ordered it and has other issues for me to look at as well. Otherwise he would have put the door on himself. If I install customer supplied parts it is only after much discussion. Usually only because the caller thought they could do the job themselves but were smart enough to identify when they were in over their heads. How many of us derive great pleasure from doing it ourselves? Not because we are cheap but because we like that feeling of accomplishment. I know I do. Call them kindred spirits but if they can identify that they can't do it after all, they understand the value of my knowledge, my skill, my investment in tools. I have gained some customers this way. They find their "I did it myself" fix from other areas. When I was young and too poor to take my cars in for repairs I would do research (in books at that time) and only go so far as I could put it back together to take it into a shop if I couldn’t do it myself after all. Of course I would then take the parts back to the parts store. I understood that I wasn’t buying parts and labor but I was buying a complete repair. So do I install customer supplied parts, well……..

Can I swipe your list for future use? It serves many other "problems" in our profession too.

This is exactly what happened to me with one customer. She came to me to diagnose the problem with her A/C. The clutch was bad and would fail as it heated up . She complained about the price to replace the compressor since that was the only way to get the clutch. I don't blame her, 1300 for 3 months of real use each year was a tough pill to swallow. So she calls me a few weeks later to schedule the work. I say sure, let me check ont eh availability fo parts so I know how long it will take me to get them. "Oh. I already have the parts. I just need you to install them." Well the shop was a little slow so I recalculated the labor at a "Customer supplied Parts" rate kinda hoping that would scare her away. She paused and said, okay. She keeps her apointment and supplies, yes CHEAP parts. I mean these were to Chinese products what Chinese products are to quality products. But I installed them, recharged the system and all seemed to work well. Until, the stretch fit belt stretched and started to squeal. The original discussion about installing her parts and the work order both specifically stated there was NO WARRANTY whatsoever. She returned and wanted me to fix the squealing belt. After much investigation I found that the belt she supplied was the correct belt, based on ACDelco's catalog.but the NAPA ProLink catalog showed two belts with an obscure qualification with one belt being shorter. Guess which one her car took? Well based on the NO WARRANTY stipulation and the fact that the problem was based on her supplied parts, not improper installation of said parts I demanded she pay me to check it out. Then I quoted her the repair based on the ONLY belt available that day. She wanted me to put the car back together and let her go get the part and then install it for only the inspection charge. I refused and she refused the proper repair. I now have a bad review on THREE sites because I created a FIRE HAZARD by installing the wrong belt wanted to charge her 150 to install a belt that her dealer installed for $40. (The OE belt list price was $24 and the 'booktime' to replace is .8 hr.) i took 6 hours to do the initial repair when I "told her it would be 4 hours." (expansion valve book time is 2.4, plus flush, plus R&R compressor,etc. etc.) I am "Quick to fly off the handle when you disagree with me" (especially when you deny what you read, acknowledged and signed)

I will quote over the phone ONLY if the customer knows what is required. My favorite is "How much for brakes." That's it, not front or rear or what kind of car just, "How much for brakes." There is a shop nearby that has a menu price for brakes but they even have a price with rotors and one for pads only and resurface rotors and then the disclaimer "most cars". Funny, I'm a little higher on most cars with resurfacing rotors but I am generally less with rotors, adn that's using top quality stuff versus their "service grade." I always take their name and number and call them back. I HATE phone quotes as most are only shopping on price. But when I refused to quote without inspecting the car first I quite literally NEVER closed a sale. Quoting over the phone I will close a small percentage (usually about 1 in 4 or 1 in 5) but that's better than zero. A few have turned into good customers too. Quoting over the phone is generally a waste of time. But what if that person calling wants you to do the work but is scared off when you won't give them a price? They know how much they have to spend and they don't want to be embarassed and sometimes rightly suspect that the price will increase simply by having you check it out. Don't get me wrong, we are entitled to be paid for our time but the customer is right, having us check it out to tell them waht they already "know" will increase their cost to have the repair done. But say they only have $250.00 this week and they are afraid the repair will cost more than that. They don't know if they can afford the repair or not. So they call and ask. Hey, you never know, maybe your quote is only $230, "Okay, when can I get it in?" Or your estimate comes in at $320, IF that is what it really needs. Okay, I'll get back to you. Remember this customer wants you to do the work. So next month after rent and insurance and the light bill they have another $100. So they call you and make the appointment. But they would not have done that if you hadn't given them a quote over the phone. With all that said, phone quotes tend to be a waste of time. I hate them, but like I wrote, I never closed a sale during the roughly 9 months I refused to give a quote over the phone. Take my tirade for what it's worth, my 2¢.

The video being referenced has been taken down. I used to have it bookmarked even though I do not sell tires. The reasons I have read, heard and been told is we will drive to the capability of the front tires, they steer and stop. Acceleration ability is not so important. If the tires with the best tread/traction are on the front then you will be able to stop and steer at higher speeds but the tires with the worst traction which then would be on the rear would not be able to handle the speed and lateral forces (from steering). But if the worst tires were on the front, then you would drive according to them, not the the best tires and therefore you would never exceed the ability of the rear tires to track through a corner or curve or braking event. Of course that is only assuming you are not driving to fast for conditions anyway. And that applies to front wheel, rear wheel or all wheel drive vehicles equally. Or at least that is what I was told by very knowledgeable (20+ years experience each) tire guys. The video I viewed on youboob had a white and a blue Taurus, a circular pad and a wet section. Each trip around the 'skid pad' was at increasing speeds until the car lost control. With the 50% worn tires on the front the car eventually oversteered and slid off the track forward. The drive wheels are irrelevant. As the car with the 50% worn tires on the rear loses control it spirals off the skid pad, yes basically backwards. Again, the drive wheels are irrelevant.

Thank you for the suggestion. They look expensive for what you get, $50 for 6 decorated cookies. Also I do not like that type of cookie so I will not be trying them. I clicked the Thank You classification and I have to agree, I think these would be impressive, but like I, if my customer doesn't like shortbread cookies, the gift would be a waste. The problem with items of personal taste like these I'm told is the wide variety of personal tastes. If it was $20-$30 a piece and more choices I might be inclined. But I do really appreciate your time to suggest. Thank you.

I like that idea too. But I was told that it is too personal. A couple free pizzas where the customer would share with their neighbor was a 'better' idea i was told. I'm thinking a family, as most of our customers are, would not share a couple pizzas with the neighbors or a group of friends, a couple pizzas would be dinner for the family. Whereas a gift basket full of stuff to use at a barbecue would be more of a social event, but not in the winter. Even for a customer with a family, a couple movie tickets would be enjoyed as, like you said, date night. However I do wonder how much they would be thinking of my shop during, say Catching Fire part one. Oh well, maybe I will try the movie tickets if for no other reason than to do SOMETHING instead of nothing. If I do nothing, nothing will happen. If I do something than more than likely something will happen, at least something I can track, even if that something is no repsonse. Thank you for your reply.

I used DemandForce and dropped them after the trial period because aside from a few testimonials and about 50 email address that were either dead or opted out, they did NOTHNG for me. The problem as I see it is they are either exclusively email based or very expensive post cards. The problem with email is getting them and getting usefull addresses. I don't know why but people will give you their physical mailing address or their home address simply because you ask, but they hesitate to give email addresses. My experience when I asked for email address was "What do you need that for?" "What are you going to do with it?" "Well, I'll give you THIS one." Unless I have an immediate need for it they didn't want to give me their email address. Even people who eagerly gave it to me unsubscribed when DemandForce sent them the "opt out." CustomerLink on the other had was a service I used for many years. My redemption rate was extremely low. Their R.O.I. reports were VERY optimistic. Here's an example, you get a new customer or a customer they would mail to. They visit you on Tuesday and you schedule their follow-up or "found work" for the following Monday. Because you submitted your data and CL scheduled your postcard for that customer, their follow-up visit is credited to the CL postcard. CL did NOTHING to get you that customer. They did NOTHING to get you that follow-up work or to get the customer to return, but because your customer returned AFTER CL scheduled your Thank You card, CL claims they were responsible. I also did a new customer acquisition campaign with them after about 2 years with them and they had a profile of my best customers. I got zero response from a couple hundred mailings. They offered and mailed a second mailing and I got exactly zero response from that too. I was not displeased with my experience with CustomerLink but I ended my contract with them because of several reasons, not the least of which was the disingenuous R.O.I. report but high on the list was the 3 week lag from the time a new customer visited and the time the Thank You post card was mailed. I also had it set up to mail Thank You cards for any visit over $150 and those were 3 weeks of lag time too. I found this more of an insult than a Thank You. It may seem overwhelming but I woudl say do your advertising yourself. You control the message, you control when it goes out and who it goes out to. I am currently working with a marketing coach and yes, sometimes the marketing gets to be alot. But as a new shop, you are going to be working on building relationships. Doing your marketing yourself will show, it will be more personal and you will have postive response. And above all, TRACK IT ALL!!! IF you can't track it, don't do it. At least until you know what you can track is working. If you can't track it, if you can't expect a verifyable return, it's not marketing, it's a give-away. Like my ads in the local high school yearbooks.

It was explained on NPR one day how retailers can sell at such deep discounts. This is only one scenario though and certainly does NOT apply to auto repair. But say a store buys 1000 seasonal units at a cost of $20.00 per belt. They then sell 70 percent of their stock for a 150% mark-up or $50.00. Then they sell 20% for a 25% discount or “sale” then they sell their final 10% for a 75% “clearance.” They would realize gross sales of $44,000 on their $20,000 investment even though they sold the last 10% at a loss. Even selling only 50% at full price, 30% @ half off and 20% at the loss they’d still have gross sales of $35,500. In your scenario your wife’s $20 coupon was not off a belt, it was off the average daily sale from the store’s point of view. How many customers bought their items at full retail with no coupon? We do the same in our business. I market in a local coupon book that routinely returns 4:1, 5:1 NET profit. Or like my Christmas cards last year was $20.14 off anything, even oil changes. I got 19 redemptions, 5 of which were only oil changes. One of those returned for other work with the coupon book coupon a week later. But the other 14 redemptions were all well over $100 and the final tally was almost $4000 in NET profit. So for the 5 oil changes that I lost money on, like your belt, there were many others who spent enough to make the campaign VERY profitable. I’m not saying this is how the whole retail sector works, it’s just one scenario that may explain it.

"I remind them they can buy an egg for .10 but the omelet still costs $10." How does that work for you? It doesn't work for me at all. I've tried if many different ways too. "Do you take your own steak to Outback (Steakhouse) and ask them to cook it?" Then why do you ask me to install your parts? I've tried telling them that the $20.00 @ Autozone is the DYIer price, the professional, properly diagnosed and installed, warranted price is $50.00. All they see is we are overcharging them. It's not true but it is their perception. When a consumer asks my labor rate I tell them it is irrelevant, they are not buying an hour of my time, they are buying a complete, competent and reliable repair. I then explain to them that I may charge $80 (not my actual labor rate) and the shop down the street charges $60. If I charge them 1 hour for the repair and Joe charges them 1.5 then who is cheaper? I don't know how many minds I've changed either because most are only looking for the cheapest phone price. "How much would it cost for a brake job?" It's impossible to tell because I don't know what you need, do you need pads and rotors resurfaced or pads, rotors and calipers? "I dont' know, how much is it for just pads, that's all I want." Well that is a consumer I don't want and no amount of education I can give them on the phone will change their mindset. That amount of stupid can only be changed by time and a dramatic event.

As BStewart wrote, “I'd definitely focus more on increasing your hours/RO and ARO before spending advertising dollars on increasing car count. Perform courtesy inspections on EVERY vehicle, and notify EVERY customer about EVERYTHING that their vehicle needs. Make it a policy and stick to it! It's a fact that the average vehicle in North America needs AT LEAST $500 in unperformed maintenance, it's your job to FIND and SELL this! This will cause your hours/RO and ARO to go way up, without increasing car count.” Every bit is correct. I would however caution you to avoid the EVERY CAR trap. When your customer beings in their car it will need only what it needs, NOT what you need to sell. So often I read the “experts” saying this statistic and their victims believing that every car has to have $500 worth of work found or else the tech isn’t doing their job. The customer who brings their immaculately maintained car to you for an oil change does not automatically need $500 in maintenance. It needs an oil change, nothing more. At least in the owner’s mind, because they follow the maintenance schedule as if their life depends on it. Likewise the jalopy that sees nothing but oil changes when the light comes on and repairs only after something breaks won’t buy your ARO achieving list of ‘needs’. You will also have to develop your shop’s policy regarding ‘wallet flushes.’ Yes, every maintenance service and fluid flush have legitimate applications. I think most of us would agree that the 100,000 transmission fluid service interval is simply too long, but I also think that some of the flush service kit companies recommending their services at 15K-30K intervals are excessively short and are intended to serve your bottom line, not the customers’ legitimate needs. You said you are in a rural area and if you get the reputation for selling unneeded services your numbers won’t matter for long, as your business won’t be around for long. But as I wrote, BStewart is absolutely correct about shops routinely overlooking needed services. Imagine how your customer would feel if they just had their car in for service and 3 weeks later they have a problem. Why didn’t you find it and let them know? Sure there are things that you wouldn’t see, couldn’t know about, but your customer won’t know about that unless you build credibility regarding your ability to take care of their car, honestly. So to that end, I would not automatically do an inspection on every car. In fact I have read some articles where shops are prohibited from even opening the hood or pulling the wheels unless it is an integral part of the work authorized. So it has been suggested that you ask each customer, “Is it okay if we do a complimentary inspection of your car and present you with the results and an estimate for any issues we may find?” You build credibility with your customers, you’re looking out for their best interests. They know you will be doing the inspection instead of dropping it on them when they come to pick up their car. They will also be expecting an estimate for other repairs they weren’t aware of. And when they know you looked at their car, if something happens a few weeks later, you have a better opportunity to explain how you did not or could not have uncovered it. Of course you will get the occasional person who will decline the complimentary inspection or will tell you., “Sure, but I’m not fixing anything…” for whatever reason. That way you will know ahead of time not to waste your time with something that isn’t an immediate and desperate need.

Until I got on this forum I pretty much ignored the ARO and car count numbers except to try and increase both. Are there any benchmark numbers? My ARO for 2014 is $275. Car count was around 2100. Billed labor hours was 2400. Parts/labor looks like 4:1 I'm not sure if I'm reading it right. We do a lot of tires which are free installs and sell some cars which are parts only. I have 2 people working full time, I'm one of them. I have a part time secretary. What do you think? We are in a rural area. These numbers came off my Mitchell yearly sales report. Don’t know, don’t really care what my ARO and DCC are year over year but I am a one man shop, estimated 240 working days. I averaged 2.5 cars a day for a yearly total of 602 cars. My average RO was $382. With tires and auto sales included in your numbers it looks like yours are low. If you want to track your numbers using Mitchell, I would recommend utilizing some type of miscellaneous item to enter your car sales. DO NOT enter them as parts for the system to treat like a brake rotor or spark plug. It is throwing your mechanical repair numbers off to enter a “part” sale of say $4995 that your cost was $3900. If you have the ability perhaps you can set up a taxable miscellaneous item in order to be able to pull your numbers more accurately. If you are pulling double duty as service advisor and technician in addition to your technician your billed hours are still low. But the typical efficiency of a one man shop is almost always reported as 50% in the forums I have read. So for 100% efficiency for your technician, and for you as S.A./Tech your billable hours would be around 2900 for a 50 week work year. That puts your operation at 2400/2900 or 82.75%. That gives you room to increase your efficiency but is not a bad efficiency. Most management gurus will tell you that your efficiency should NEVER be less than 100%. But think about it, you will always have down time for wrong parts, delayed deliveries, broken bolts, no shows, slow times, etc. So in order to make up for these lost efficiency incidents you have to overcharge your customers pretty badly in order to maintain an efficiency in excess of 100%. Reasons, opportunities and other ways to offset the lost productivity incidents can be discussed and argued ad nauseum but let’s just agree that an ethically run shop will enjoy increased productivity through proper tooling, education and streamlining, not overcharging their customers. We all know the 1.5 hour job we can complete in .75 and examples of that same 1.5 hour job that legitimately required 2.5 to complete. It all comes out in the averages, not in charging every customer 2.5 hours to make up for the one that took We also know the jobs where ‘trick tools’ or just better tooling helps with cutting times required and we enjoy the return on our investments with 4 hour jobs done in 3 hours for example.