CAR_AutoReports

We have also seen limited opportunities to use this machine and are holding off on the purchase for at least another year as a local shop already has it.

Just an FYI, we provide DVI's and allow you to invoice and communicate with your customer through our platform.... for less than most systems.

On 1/2/2020 at 9:49 AM, bantar said:

Hi Mark,

Texas was under the gun to cancel our inspection program and before doing so, they commissioned UT to perform a study.  Their results are public.  We had on state representative in particular, who was pushing to get rid of it, living in my district, and we voted him out.  Still had more.  There were a total of 5 bills in this legislative session that were killed by our lobbying group.  I can provide a bit of data that might let you see how Texas handled it and provide contact information of our lobbying group.   Hope this helps.

Some background on our Safety inspections.  We are not that tough.  Brakes, tires, lugnuts if visible, wipers, lights, horns, power steering, 1 mirror and exhaust leaks.   No inspection of front windshield unless it is really bad.   No disassembly is allowed, which implies no racking of cars, which means that we won't generally spot and eliminate rust bucket cars.  So, braking test, then visual inspections of all other systems while on the ground.  Tires are 2/32" (we've only heard rumors of snow elsewhere).  Brakes must stop the car and no obvious safety issue noted.  Much discretion allowed to the inspector, so if something is bad, it can be called out and the car blocked from passing.  It could be over-ridden by a regional State Inspector Supervisor if protested, but they tend to do the right thing.   All of this is done for a whopping $7.   If you live in a SMOG county, then $18.50 more to get an ODB readout and a gas cap leak check.  Annual cost here $25.50.

News link:

Study Results:

And you may already know our lobbying group:  

Texas Vehicle Inspection Association
6101 Long Prairie Rd Ste. 744-240
Flower Mound, 75028 

--brian

The complete study is available here: https://citainsp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/safteyInspectFullStudy-TX.pdf

A lot of good stats in there, like the attached:

8 minutes ago, ScottSpec said:

I upgraded an older system a few years ago. I went with a system from Lorex https://www.lorextechnology.com/. I think my system was around $1500. I wanted the highest resolution cameras I could get and I would never go wireless. I wanted to be able to capture as much detail as possible, so we had the best chance of capturing tag numbers and possible damage to vehicles. The system has paid for itself many times over. First, there have been several hit and runs in our parking lot that the cameras have captured. This alone has saved me thousands of dollars. If a customer makes a claim, that damage was done while there car was with us, I can quickly look at the video to see if the damage was there when they dropped off. I trust my employees, and never put cameras in the shop with the old system. With the new system I did. I realized there were a lot more benefits to having them there. When the cars come in and out, you get a better look at any possible damage, and we have 6 loaner cars that are always being recorded. We have not had any issues, but if a car were to come back damaged, we would be able to quickly check to see if the damage was there before or not. Then there are a number of different scenarios where the cameras have been useful. Can't find a key, look at the video to see who drove the car last, and what they did after. A car sitting in the parking lot for days who's origin is unknown, just look at the video. The guys are always coming to me asking me to check the security cameras for these types of things.

I would never trust wireless cameras. I would do as we ask most of our customers to do, and focus on performance and quality over price, and make sure the Hard Drive is big enough to capture several weeks on continuous recording. Which is the mode that I recommend. If you run them on activation mode, you run the risk of missing something valuable.

Scott      

We usually double the capacity from the start, of whatever the system came with.  Most NVR's have room for one more hard drive in the enclosure.

We try to get as close to 30 days as possible.  Working on backup solutions for 90 days, had some scenario's that warranted the use case.  Not a rush, but will be nice to figure that out as well.

I would not recommend wireless camera for security purposes.  Hardwired should always be the choice if possible.  But Arlo does make decent wireless cameras.

We have used hard wired Lorex setups from Costco, with amazing success.

https://www.costco.com/lorex-8-channel-uhd-4k-network-video-recorder-with-2tb-hdd-4-uhd-4k-active-deterrence-bullet-cameras-security-system.product.100469040.html

That is the actual kit we have.

One camera is out, connector needs to be waterproofed a little better.

App Print Screens available on my phone:

The practice of ending safety inspections in NJ completely changed the business.  We saw glass guys fold within 30 days.  Because once the state ended safety inspections, they ended as part of the inspection process.  Meaning you no longer failed for a cracked windshield.

I would do a little digging on what exactly that means for you and your state, because for us it was a license to drive anything that could pass emissions.  It was more of a political move, used to trim the DMV budget and move money around.  It is the worst thing any state can do for public safety.  We see some insanely unsafe vehicles driving and there is nothing anyone can do.  As long as the check engine light isn't on, the state doesn't care.

Just a quick update for this month:

We have now had three solid months of ARO exceeding $750 (credit card transactions).  Which usually means, this wasn't an accident. 

Our business is reacting to the changes we built into it.

As for CAR, we had some minor program fixes and recently added a feature to help you get your customer back in the door.

Our system has always allowed you to input Registration and Insurance expiration dates.  This system would send the customers reminders to renew their documents and it would notify you, upon check-in, if they were expired.  With the recent addition of Inspection Expiration, we have a feature built in that will allow you to search for expiration coming up and connect with that customer to just say "Hi ABC Customer, friendly reminder about your insurance and/or registration" or if your state warrants... "Hi, ABC customer.  We noticed your inspection is coming up.  Would you like to schedule your state or DOT inspection today?"

As our product closely resembles a fully formed management system at this point, we are working with subscribers to build features to help them each tackle specific problems they are facing.  We have some interesting surprises planned for the first half of 2020, where we were given exclusive access to certain systems in addition to problem solving features you just won't find anywhere else.

We look forward to continually building within the community and even expanding across other areas of this industry.

As this may be our last update for the calendar year, we thank everyone who gave us an opportunity and the forum for allowing us to have open conversations about what we are doing to transform businesses and customer relationships.  We are excited about what 2020 will bring and look forward to sharing it with you.

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy holiday season.

On 12/7/2019 at 8:40 AM, Judoguy1975 said:

did they say when the new products will be released?

 

Pretty sure they spoke about 2020 releases on their new line, but don't recall what quarter.

2 hours ago, airbagbob said:

Our investment with new scan too (bound to the adas tower) was close to 24,000 for the complete system. If you are only interested in windshield calibration you can buy less components or buy the new A600 tower and targets. 9k plus your Autel Scam tool with at minimum of ADAS update software at around 900 

Did you get the LDW2 package as well?  We ended up getting it as well.

Also, for anyone considering buying a scanner from them, they have an entirely new lineup that they discussed at AAPEX this year, along with new price points for them all.

They are now pegging their product against the Snap-On scanner line up in terms of price.  Hope everyone has a seat for the new prices they are launching with.  As well as an all in one box that does scanning, programming and scoping capabilities.

I don't think all of auto repair is a commodity, even though I agree with your assessment that customers treat it as a commodity. 

To be really clear, here are the commodities that I see within what we do, that translates into price shopping:

• Tires - There are a plethora of competitors in the space, what advantage can the small shop have?  You have to actually install them regardless of where they are purchased.  Smaller players have an insanely difficult if not impossible time trying to compete here.
• Brakes - Long been a safety item that was commoditized by cheap materials providers and the marketing companies that operate in our space. Nearly impossible to compete here as there is no telling how low anyone is willing to go.  We have a car wash that advertises pads and rotors for $225 down the street from us.
• Oil Changes - Another item that was commoditized by quick service facilities.  Although, if you do some homework these days, you will find the quick lubes are the most expensive game in town and their entire game is upselling.  Customers are starting to notice this.
• Exhaust - Used to be a serious commodity where a lot of small shops would lose out on the sale to a Meineke or Midas with pipe bending equipment... but better materials like stainless steel, hit these businesses with abrupt changes in market dynamics and many of them found it difficult to initially find their new position in a post exhaust service world. This is happening to the Quick Service routine and that is why you are seeing the Quick Service facilities become the one stop shop for all commodities within our industry; Tires, Brakes, Oil Changes and now even filters (cabin & engine).

Everything else, although treated like a commodity, it really isn't much of a commodity.  It's more a service calculation, or lack there of.  What makes them a commodity in the customer view is that a large portion of the industry is in the business of undercutting everyone for the quick sale instead of trying to build long term value.  This is a pain point that will likely never stop happening in our lifetime.  Especially as the cream work starts to dry up and shops begin to suffer from not staying current with tools and procedures.

For example, the A/C work you did... A/C is far from a commodity, especially when vehicles have a smaller version of a house system, wrapped up between the front and rear bumpers.  You wisely made a choice, likely based on local competition and your local market to address it in a manner that would bolster your credibility.  Your choice may also have been a result of having the right equipment and experience.  But each market is different, even though customer behavior is not.

We get plenty of calls for "water pump" or "radiator" or "hose" quotes.  We're just not interested in competing in an arena where we are blind bidding based on what one person may have indicated is wrong with the car.  We also don't subscribe to the logic of, "Give them a cheap number to get them in the door and then we can adjust."  We think that is the most deceitful of practices and participating in it, makes you complicit in what ruins this trade.

We are also seeing interesting shifts in consumer behavior where customers want to fix older vehicles that we advise them not to.  Not only do they want to, they are insistent that you help them get this sorted, because we're the local expert they rely on.  We've had to get really crafty in how we procure parts and negotiate the price for said parts and then the selling angle to the customer.  We had to get crafty, because we knew if we weren't... we would lose a customer for life.

Personally I think that customers have too much of a choice in parts these days as there are too many combinations of good, better, best... and they aren't all interchangeable and even worse... we're seeing even the better and best parts have poor quality which is leading to higher failure rates.  But customers don't see your side of the headaches, they just want their car fixed for the least possible price and if you don't help them fulfill their needs... someone else will.  It's also hard to explain to all customers that they maybe making a poor choice trying to save $200 on materials, only the ones that really trust you understand.  Sometimes, even the ones who really trust you... are going to learn the hard way.  When that happens, you may have lost that customer for good... even if you end up being right.  The worse is, when they get lucky and their gamble pays off... you will always be the one who tried to rip them off.

It's not easy and the only advice I have is... talk to your customers, educate your customers, and treat them how you would expect to be treated if you were in their position.  Second, be very thorough in everything you do.  We've gone to great lengths to make sure customers are satisfied.  Up to and including, making appointments at the dealer for recalls and getting them done for the customer while the vehicle was in our possession.

"I know a shop owner who basically locks himself in his office and let's the service advisor handle customers - even when they ASK ABOUT HIM!"

With regards to this... A shop owners time is the most critical element in his entire business.  The entire point of the service advisor is to act as a buffer, while it may be overdone at times... I can only tell you that it is immensely difficult to focus on a task at hand when you are stopping to treat every customer personally.  A good team helps you carry this burden and as they successfully do so... they become the face of service alleviating the pressure on the owner to still be at the forefront of operation.  No business in this industry can grow to a million in sales annually with the owner trying to grow the business and personally attending more than 30% of workflow and depending on the goals... even 30% might be a lofty number.

With regards to standing out, there are a myriad of ways to do so.  From thank you cards to follow up phone calls to holiday appreciation.  Standing out helps you stay on your customers mind... but it does not do much to mitigate the price wars we are all facing.

This industry is shifting from a high parts margin business to a full rate for service business, where parts are going to be a nice supplement but labor prices must pay for everything and have a net profit built in.  Customers are wiser and even when they aren't... they have access to parts cheaper than you do all too often.  All of which is designed to sell product and ruin your reputation if you are working on becoming the lowest bidder vs the place that fixes it right the first time and prevents come backs. 

I have dozens of examples of jobs that we were able to sell, because I would rather make money on labor than parts.

This is just the scanner and no actual calibration equipment.  They have several packages but I am not sure anything is available under $10,000 at the moment.  Most of their packages don't include that scanner/tablet.

I can tell you without the scanner, our ADAS investment is over $20,000 at the moment.

I highly recommend Federated Insurance as they have policies that are really fine tuned to the challenges we are seeing in our day to day operations.

View full article

I think price matching a commodity like tires... is way less risky than price matching services like the water pump mentioned above.  If done correctly, price matching tires is a cheap way to get that person in the door and dazzle them with the rest of what you do and why your value proposition far exceeds whoever they are trying to compare you to.  Large marketing firms have completely commoditized the very services we all rely on to survive and profit from, forcing all of us to change our landscape in ways we couldn't ever imagine 10 years ago.

This is our opinion of the present landscape:

• Large firms in our industry are putting more money into marketing and sales tactics
• These tactics are driving customers to their doors on lower margin items
• While they are there, they are deploying a wealth of sales tactics to raise the ticket sale
• Often times selling customers things they don't necessarily need

If you doubt this, go visit a local national chain with one of your vehicles.  Experience what they are providing and how they manage while you are there and their follow up after you have left.

Why is this important?

The longer they can keep this game up with all of us divided, the more of our customer base they can pull from us.  Eventually putting us in a bind if we aren't paying attention.

I think a lot of us are underestimating the steamroller making its way through the industry and if we all stand still... we're gonna be in a lot of trouble in 5 short years.

We've seen consumers get a lot smarter about this. 

We've actually had consumers give us complete estimate from other dealers or service facilities, with the price hidden, and ask us to quote them out.  Which leaves us in an interesting predicament, one that is mentioned above by Joe.  We can easily present our value vs a dealer quote, but a quote versus a competitor shop... becomes exponentially harder.

I think once you start competing with price, you enter an arena that small competitors can't manage against the large marketing arms competing directly with us in our space.  Each scenario is also clearly very different, but I can say this... we have found tires to start becoming more profitable than I've ever seen them.  We've increased our average profit per tire sale significantly over the last 18 months, and we're going to attempt to stretch that as far as possible with some aggressive marketing and advertising starting next year.

For those of you who doubt it, we monitor tire prices insanely closely and we can compete with the large online retailers in brand tire pricing today.  Something we couldn't dream of doing just 5 years ago.

In short, we don't price match actual repairs over the phone.  We ask the customer for the opportunity to actually look at the vehicle and assess it ourselves.  We then explain why this is important with the old water pump trick mentioned above.  We explain that while the water pump may be leaking, what do the other hoses look like? Has the thermostat ever been changed?  Changing these items together, will actually lower the cost of repairs long term and if the other shop hasn't properly inspected the vehicle... they aren't doing anyone a favor but themselves.  If they actually do make their way in, which we have a good statistic on... they are usually impressed with us and how we operate with CAR and open them up to the process.  We usually earn a customer for life with this tactic.  Quick Quote, a recent feature, was purpose built for the price match or quote callers.  Initial tests are showing some promise even though it's still in it's first stage.

This is a work in progress, like everything in our business these days and we are tweaking constantly as we fight for survival like everyone here.

Hello everyone,

We've been really crunching hard on our platform and haven't had time to share many updates, even though we've had a lot of progress recently.

One of our latest additions is a module called Quick Quote. 

Quick Quote is in it's infancy, but is a system that is designed to help you capture a tire kicker and turn them into a customer.  Although in it's infancy, we have seen some interesting capabilities with it at our facility.  Converting one customer the first few days we used it in a test environment.

If a facility would be interested in using Quick Quote, we would work out how to best extract value from this unique feature, together.

New Request Categories:

We added several items to our main listing page as well as specialized categories for ADAS services.

Additional:

Powertrain Management -> Computers & Control Systems -> FICM Fuel Injector Control Module
Powertrain Management -> Fuel Delivery & Air Induction -> Turbo
Engine, Cooling & Exhaust -> Engine -> Oil Pump
Engine, Cooling & Exhaust -> Engine -> Oil Cooler

Vehicle Profile Fields:

We have enhanced the vehicle profile with fields you actually need.  In addition we also have the ability to allow any facility to make custom fields for vehicles they service.

Fields Added:

• Inspection Expiration Date
• Transmission
• Brake
• Driveline
• GVWR
• Wheel Base
• Tire Size
• Wheel Lock Location
• California Emissions
• Other Labels - Photos for other labels such as Engine Label, RPO label, etc...

For instance, if you need to track a specific Asset number for a vehicle, you can now do that with CAR.

Employee Permissions Header Sticky:

Small, but nice when setting up permissions.  Making it slightly easier and faster.

Reporting Enhancement:

We are working on enhancing our statistical overview of your business.  We have started with  a Parts section and have plenty more slated for the near future.

For anyone really interested in changing their business for the better, we welcome you to explore a real alternative to business consistency.  One that automates customer service as a part of it's process and helps increase accountability and reduce liability with every transaction.

As for transactions, we recently found that prior to using CAR, we were at $360 ARO (credit card transaction), the last two months we have seen our numbers push beyond the $800 mark in ARO (credit card transaction).  We did this with small doses of advertising till recently and most importantly.... we stopped selling.

We have an automated CRM system built into our platform that also allows you to export your customer data to MailChimp and run your own CRM campaign through that. 
 

In 2020 we have initiatives planned that will give our business users more flexibility and more custom CRM functions. 
 

For now:

It keeps your customers up to date with everything related to their scheduled service.

It keeps your customers in the loop while it in your hands for service. Including sending them the estimate for their service so they can review it. 

It allows your customers to authorize it through our customer app or through our web portal. 

It notifies your customers of any changes as well as when the service is completed. 
 

You can communicate with your customer through the platform. Sending them messages that are delivered right to the app and/or email. 
 

It automatically follows up with customers 3 days later to ask them to rate the service and provide you with feedback. 
 

This is included in our shop management system and is the standard in what we offer in our most basic of plans. 

14 minutes ago, ScottSpec said:

Ricardo,

I believe you and I have exchanged a number of thoughts over a period of time, and I always thought our philosophies were similar. I hope I didn't come across as adversarial. 

Scott

 

 

Not in the least.  Really intrigued by your tenacity to jump into different areas of the business and execute.

3 minutes ago, ScottSpec said:

This may not make me the most popular here, but I get so tired of hearing shop owners complain that they can't find good techs, and that the industry is facing a tech shortage, or that the ones they hired turned out to be crooks selling unnecessary work, and then go on to talk about how all their techs are on commission, and if they don't work, they don't eat. Wow, that sounds so appealing. I can't understand why people aren't knocking down the door to take advantage of that opportunity, and why techs sell unnecessary work. This industry does not have a tech shortage, this industry has a technician pay structure, and technician pay shortage. If technicians started getting paid, and provided benefits that were inline with what they could earn with their skills in other industries, there would be many more reputable technicians. 

Now, my comment above is not to blame those shop owners, as we are all struggling with the high cost of providing automotive and trying to make a profit. I just want some honesty about the reality of the issue. It's an industry problem. Customers are only willing to pay so much, and there is almost always someone out there that is willing to do it cheaper. Yes, we can sell them on the value of our shop over the guy down the street, but that only goes so far. 

I pay all my employees a flat salary plus a commission on the gross sales of the shop. Yes, this can be painful during slow times, but my employees don't have to worry that they might not eat this week, or be able to pay their mortgages. It's amazing how much more productive and committed employees are when they are not living with that fear. I can go away for weeks at a time, and when I come back ,it is no different then when I left it. With the commission component, they also know that the more the shop produces as a whole, the bigger their paycheck is. This also encourages them to work as a team, and not fight over the "gravy" tickets. I currently have 4 employees. The first tech I hired 30 years ago is still here. The service manager I hired 20 years ago is still here. The technician I hired 11 years ago is still here, and I hired a young guy about a year and a half ago and I don't think he will be leaving anything soon. In fact, while I have fired a few techs, I don't recall ever having one quit. I also offer paid time off, a 401k, and pay portion of their health insurance. I used to cover the whole amount, but it got too expensive.

Now, you may be curious about how much they get paid. I don't want to give specifics, but I assure you that they can all make more money working some place else. I know for a fact one of them could be making twice as much as I pay him because a friend of mine is doing just that at a shop around the corner, and he works shorter hours. I understand that this pay structure may not work for a lot of shops out there, but it does illustrate my point that a more traditional employee pay structure, one that they don't have to worry about being able to eat or not, or have to sell unnecessary work to eat, does breed commitment, motivation, and teamwork.

Scott

 

 

  

  

Scott,

We're more alike than each of us probably realizes.

Everything you wrote up there is close to what we do here.  No 401K at the moment and we are working on the health insurance initiatives... but very similar in everything else.  From being able to go on vacation and having them actually do more... to having them know they can make more money elsewhere and won't leave.

Team building is the most critical element for any business to survive.

Ricardo

9 hours ago, ScottSpec said:

Ricardo,

The part I shared from that article was just to shed some light on the role law has on dictating warranties, and the fact that you can't just write a disclaimer on the invoice and think you have no liability. I'm sure if we dig through Maryland's consumer laws, we will find a more in depth explanation, that is if we don't fall asleep first.  An implied warranty is essentially what a consumer can reasonably expect (yes, pretty vague, and I'm sure is different for everyone). There is a pretty good description here: https://consumer.findlaw.com/consumer-transactions/what-is-an-implied-warranty-.html

With your regard to the what if on the junk yard motor, from what I have read, you just have to pass along the same warranty the provider of the part offers. So regardless of new, used, rebuilt, or other, you just have to extent the same to your customer. You can't use any disclaimer to change that. This of course is Maryland law, which is where I am located. My understanding is that the same would apply to a customer supplied part. So if you bought a used engine from a salvage yard with a 3 month warranty, you would have to provide the same 3 month warranty to the customer if they bought it themselves at the the same salvage yard.  

It sounds like you and I have come to the same conclusion though, and that is we are ultimately responsible for any work we do on a customer's car. If we use our supplied parts, or we use their supplied parts. And while the laws are a bit vague, as you say, I don't think that really matters much any more, because if there is a problem, it will always come back to the fact that you and I are the professionals. Customer's are allowed to be ignorant, but we aren't. It reminds me of NTSB airplane crash investigations. I don't fly anymore, but I used to. One of the guys I work with is also big into aviation and we used to fly together a lot. We joke around about this quite often, and that is the fact that the NTSB almost always sites pilot error when a small plane crashes. Wing falls off, "pilot error" engine grenades "pilot error"  bird strikes "pilot error". As I say it is pretty comical at times. My point is that it we will always shoulder the responsibility.

We very rarely install a part without doing the diagnostic work first. But when a customer has a stalling, not starting, or some other serious issue, and we cannot find the cause because we are unable to reproduce. then we don't object to trying something if the customer wants. That is as long as they fully understand that is essentially a guess, and a way to eliminate a possibility.

Scott

   

 

 

Scott,

A lot of insight in your post, as usual.

I think the one thing that worries me is, when a junk yard will give someone a different warranty than they will give you.  We've seen it happen, we call up and get a 30 day warranty.  Customer or another shop calls up 1-2 days later and gets the same price (sometimes even cheaper with the same sales rep) with a better warranty offered to them.

The law is assuming that all business is conducted above board and with standards... when this industry is far from that, especially with second hand parts. 

Sh*tty scenarios that constantly have us adjusting and sometimes making harsh decisions just to protect ourselves.

It's really just a sad state of affairs that we have to be the adults to protect other adults from themselves. 

I recently had a scenario where someone brought me a 1997 F Super Duty to have the brakes checked.  The driver that dropped it off, noted several other concerns that made him feel unsafe.  The standard procedure here is, new customer.... full inspection from bumper to bumper. Which we did and uncovered several unsafe items in addition to the other items that the owner had mentioned.  His total estimate was around $6,000 for a really neglected vehicle. 

He wasn't interested in fixing anything, he wanted to have working brakes, so I should just "put pads and rotors on the truck and lower my price significantly."

This guy flipped his lid and insisted he was right and I had to do what he wanted to do, because he would assume all liability anyway.  I tried to get him to understand that it doesn't work like that... and this is a guy who owns a business in town.

He eventually found a butcher to do things his way and made sure to reach out and throw it in my face that he got what he wanted at this other shop and I was just trying to rip him off.  This individual went as far as threatening me with bad reviews because we charged him for our full inspection and estimate.  He has since pretty much told anyone he can in town that I was trying to rip him off, essentially trying to tarnish the reputation I have spent over a decade to build.

Our technician has 2 hours and 8 minutes of time into his inspection, he left that disaster of a vehicle on my property for nearly 4 days (it filled our entire warehouse with smoke when trying to start it) and it took us well over 2 hours to find correct parts, part numbers and sources for these parts.  An estimate that he brings to the butcher... which orders all of the parts that we told him were for the vehicle... and looks like a hero for doing what the owner wanted.

But I've gotten used to being the bad guy.  My business.  My insurance policy.  My rules.

The moral here?  I got paid for my time.  Probably not enough to deal with the aggravation this guy caused... But we provided an exemplary service and we got paid for it.

Ricardo

10 hours ago, samgoto96 said:

 Our employees have all been on a flat hourly rate. How do you deal with the techs on hourly plus incentive? I am interested in hearing opinions on this topic. I always thought that the base hourly rate with incentive somehow worked in would always increase workflow / productivity. The only issue that I see is how do you deal with warranty work?

This is such a double edged sword.  I can definitely see it's value after some of the discussions we have here.

But I just don't see it as a fit for what we do here and how we do it. 

My guys give 100% nearly every day and changing the dynamic would change the culture we've worked so hard to build.

I also feel like there is incentive to oversell and see how much they "can get away with" in an effort to make money.  Which is the complete opposite of what we do here.  We explicitly don't sell and if you I catch you selling something someone doesn't need or worse yet, selling someone on undue fear... It's grounds for dismissal.

I got my guys to do exactly what I need them to, just by talking to them.  They are appreciative of the respect we all have for each other and the team approach to what we do.  It makes it challenging to find people to fit into our mold when hiring, but I don't know anyone who easily hires employees.

We also provide full digital inspections, mandatory with ever service performed.  If it is not done, the technician or service advisor must physically bypass it.

Forcing everyone to really inspect vehicles consistently.

If you're interested in an organized approach to processing vehicles and customers, we would be happy to help you get setup and give you several month of free use.

You can learn more @ www.completeautoreports.com

To provide real world numbers for this discussion... our sales this year compared on a Jan 1 to Oct 21 date range in 2018 vs 2019.

Total revenue is up 35% compared to YoY.  As of right now, I'm over 2018's numbers as of last month.

Our average ticket is hovering around $600, even though last month, credit card sales averaged $780 per ticket.

We do 0 mailers.

We have tried to implement a "special" to draw customers in, but it fell flat.  We are trying it again this winter to see what happens, albeit with a different advertising and marketing approach.

We have raised our labor rate this year, but our costs have also risen due to hiring one permanent employee and we had a part time employee with us for several months that recently left.

If I stripped away all of the variables that may have caused for a "rougher" year last year in addition to the revenue generators we added this year (ADAS)... I'm pretty sure we'd still be well over 10%+ YoY growth.

My advertising budget grew from last year to this year, but it's still a rounding error considering what I know some places spend on advertising.  While my advertising is really effective and has drawn in over 10 new customers a month most months, I attribute A LOT of our success to "building" over the last 7 years and now we are finally seeing the fruits of all of our hard work paying off.

19 hours ago, TheTrustedMechanic said:

@dfrisby You can always find a reason to install customer supplied parts and examples of how it works out.  But in the end, it is nothing but a problem. 

What if this customer, after you installed the hood release cable and then quoted the other work, he asked to buy those parts and have you install them too?  Where does it end?  When I first opened I thought I would win customers by agreeing to install their parts the first time.  I can't remember the only customer who converted from parts supplied to parts buyer. 

With that said, I will install certain parts for certain customers, such as the one who wanted a back-up camera and monitor that was a gift from a family member or the fellow with the 1960 Thunderbird that needs a wiper switch that he has already purchased.  But the person who calls up and asks, "How much to install tie rod ends?  I already bought the parts." is a BIG no!

We really have the same approach.

I can count on one hand the customers we install supplied parts for.  Even then... that already tiny list is dwindling down.  We make very few exceptions and none of them are for new customers.

20 hours ago, ScottSpec said:

Car,

You are correct that you can refuse service to anyone you choose, and warranty different types of parts for different periods of time, but you are incorrect about the law not being able to dictate how long you warranty something. See https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/OCP/Resources/Files/Licensing_Forms/Auto_Repair_Shop Introductory Letter.pdf It specifically states "Maryland law does not allow implied warranties to be disclaimed or limited in any sale of goods or service to a consumer, so an invoice you give to a consumer should not contain language like “seller disclaims all warranties.”

Another example of the law dictating warranties, is the lemon law. https://www.peoples-law.org/marylands-lemon-law The law forces a manufacturer or dealer to purchase back a vehicle. In Maryland, they get one chance to fix a safety related problem before you are entitled to a refund, or replacement vehicle.  

We all take risks every day. It's part of being in business. The main point I want to get across is that every shop owner should make sure they fully understand the risks of installing a customer supplied part. I think a lot are under mistaken, or misunderstood beliefs. Just like you with regards to the law and warranties. Some believe their insurance will cover them. Mine will cover up to $2500 in liability. Some believe a disclaimer, or release of liability will protect them. This has been proven over and over to provide little to no protection. I actually just lost a court case earlier this year despite the customer signing a disclaimer. We didn't install their part, but we did replace a Cam Position sensor at their request. We stated on the invoice that we were unable to reproduce her symptoms, and that we replaced the sensor based on her request. Then when it didn't fix her problem, she decided we did an unnecessary repair. The judge sided with her as we are the professionals. Some believe that a customer will appreciate your installing their part, and would never try to hold you responsible. People's attitudes and approaches can change pretty quickly when things don't work out as expected.  

Scott

 

Scott,

You forgot the front half of that statement that starts with" In addition to express warranties, there are implied warranties. In Maryland, whenever you sell a part to a consumer – even a used one – there is an implied (unstated) warranty that it is fit for ordinary use and will last a reasonable length of time. "

So what exactly is an implied warranty and what is the reasonable length of time?  Seems like something that is designed to allow the court to use their own discretion to determine what is fair and what is not.  Which basically means... when it's up to courts to decide your fate.... you should always prepare to be on the losing end of each equation.

You're also citing state law, not federal law.  Which would vary greatly from state to state.

Based on the numerous attorneys we've had speak to us... we're basically told that anything you put on that vehicle is explicitly your responsibility.  Thus why we don't make it common practice to install customer parts.

It seems like that really vague law in Marylands books is designed to help customers pull frivolous claims against a shop.  So maybe you should reach out to your representatives and speak to them about the problems and loopholes left in that law.  Because what happens when you buy something from a junk yard that comes with a 90 day warranty and it blows up 180 days later.  Are you still forced to warranty it for longer than the warranty was granted to you?

A lot more questions left to ask than answered here.  In addition to that fact that if we can't replicate a problem, we've learned that it's likely not a sensor problem and we rarely replace sensors with intermittent issues we would even be less likely to replace them "at a customer request".  Even more so now after reading your post.

I would rather diagnose, document my diagnosis, get paid for what I did and let the customer that is trying to dictate their terms... do so elsewhere.

Also, I was clearly wrong in stating that the law can't tell you how long to warranty items.  Which is ok, now I've learned and now I have my own homework to do.

Ricardo

Best of luck on your journey Riverhill!