Transmission Repair

I used Google Pay-Per-Click advertising to grab the bull by the horns and CONTROL the work in our transmission shop. I've posted about this before. Normally, our ads would show within a 5-mile radius of our shop. If it got slow, I would increase the radius. If we got really busy, I would either reduce the radius or sometimes PAUSE all PPC ads. Over time, I got really good at it. The purpose of the ads was to get people to call, and we would set an appointment from there. Clicks were, on average, about $12/click and it would take about 3 clicks ($36) to set an appointment. We did that up until my retirement in 2015 when I sold the shop. We were consistently averaging $1.2M/yr. in gross revenue.

No wholesale for other shops. I avoided warranty companies like the plague, mainly because of the hassle factor of plugging up our production. We only did retail jobs and left the rest to other shops to do. We had plenty of work to do.

We had different labor rates for different jobs. Sometimes it was because of the difficulty, and other things like risk. We had our labor rates at the lowest, plain vanilla, straight jobs. If the vehicle had been chipped, twin turbos, high flow heads, exhaust, or deleted emissions, part labor for those types of vehicles carried a higher premium labor rate. For me, it's not just about the money as it was about managing risk. We commonly found when customers make a horsepower/torque range change, the first thing that goes is usually the factory original transmission. With diesels, this is especially true. The transmission simply is the weak link in the drivetrain. They were never meant to handle that much power. Sometimes it was the extra hard parts/upgrades that drove the price up, which is additional parts on top of the increase in labor. Our ARO for major jobs was about $3,600 as of 2015.

I agree, Joe. I experienced the same thing. Often, I wouldn't know how good of an employee I had until they were gone. Essentially, I took them for granted and assumed anyone could do what they did. It was definitely a "trial by fire" learning experience.

Welcome Jade!

I've said it before and I say it again, we use our Google PPC advertising radius to "throttle our business." Normally, we would be listed at the top of a Google search within a 5-mile radius of the shop. If it got slow, I would increase the size of the radius. If we got slammed, I would even pause our Google PPC ads altogether. If it got slow, I would increase the size of the radius. The largest I've ever gone with our Google PPC program is a 100-mile radius. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Google PPC program works for a transmission repair shop. That's because, in our line of work, it is transactional-based. How it would work for other automotive businesses, where it's usually relationship-based, I can't say for sure. If anybody wants to know that this works, make sure you get hooked up with a call-tracking company and use call tracking where you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's either working or not working. This is true with any type of advertising. Each lead source has a different tracking number. Otherwise, every phone call is just that, another phone call. You have no way of knowing the source of that sales lead. Without call-tracking being a part of any advertising campaign, advertising is just another bill you'd rather do without.

Yes! I would shut the business down for 4 days and take my entire crew for them to learn not only technical stuff but also learn about business. It was a great time for everybody. Most years the trade show would take place in Vegas, but one year it was in Orlando, Florida, and another time it was in Washington D.C. All in all, we had a good time. Airfares I covered, I would also cover the hotel and the rental car. We would not cover a rental car in Vegas, I just sprang for the gas down there and back. Speaking of business, one of the best business experiences I've had the pleasure of attending was The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack. The only training was how to read a P&L, and balance sheet, and forecast a budget. Look them up online with the link below...

That is a good topic starter. I have been doing what some may think of as dynamic, or surge pricing, but I never did it regularly. However, I see nothing against it. We (I) used dynamic pricing only to cull jobs I didn't want such as leaks, noises, vibrations, and jobs that were either high-risk or extra difficult. Plain vanilla jobs would get our regular pricing matrix. Speaking of matrix, there are quite a few SMS that have a pricing system built into their software. That tells me more than a few shops are using dynamic pricing. I always measured my pricing by the week, month, or quarterly. The longer the time frame, the more accurate your measurements are. As an industry, everybody likes to talk about numbers, but few put their P&L out. I'm going to break that pattern with a P&L of my own, attached below. The bottom line is all that matters... 2011P&L (6).pdf

Also, you'll never see a long-term employee being paid off the books. Paying off the books almost automatically induces high staff turnover. Needless to say, in retirement, a tech's social security payments will be greatly reduced. People who get paid off the books are not looking to the future. For those shop owners who think they can trick the system by paying with a 1099 at the end of the year, I've got some news for you. When the IRS catches up (and they will) and discovers you misclassified an employee as a subcontractor, the would-be employer is on the hook for ALL the back taxes, including the matching S.S. and F.I.C.A. It's UP TO YOU AND YOU ALONE to try to recoup from the employee. Good luck with that one.

I don't specifically know of a lift remover near you, but let me tell you how I found one in my area 35 years ago. I found an automotive lift company that would sell me and install any new lift he had in stock. He only had a minimal level of inventory, so most of the lifts he sold had to be ordered. This worked out for him because he would simply have the lift(s) delivered to the shop's location; with less handling. This same company had a "side hustle" where he would remove, move, and reassemble lifts for a set fee. As I later found out, he used this side hustle job to keep his installers busy. But that was only good for a while as his lift sales grew. HERE'S THE DEAL: He would put me on a waiting list. His lift sales took precedence over moving an existing lift type of job. That's understandable; I got it. So, my advice to you is to find who sells and installs lifts near Costa Mesa. You can Google it. Offer him the moving job and ask for an unofficial bid. You can negotiate from there. The 3 times I had my lifts moved, I always called him. The last time I used him was in 2008 and it was $500/ea. for each lift moved. They were the 2-post design with the overhead equalizing cables between the two posts. 4 lifts = $2,000. You may get a better deal than I got. THE CATCH: Neither he nor I could predict his slow times. His territory was Utah and the surrounding 5 states. He would only participate in moving the lifts when his installers were all caught up. The longest wait for me was about a month. If you were near SLC, Utah, I'd simply give you his name and number but I think you would be better served by a lift company in California.

They both look like excellent choices. At this point, I would say, "Pick your poison." I'm still leaning towards the Trinco blast cabinet because that's all they make and sell. And, as a bonus, they sell the blast media as well. Don't forget to order a few bags with your machine because it will more than likely save you money on the freight.

I looked at the Trinco Model 24 blast cabinet online and it looks like a very good choice. I didn't find a price but if it falls into your window of features, then I vote to go for it! That unit seems like the dust collector portion of the machine could be put outside the shop if need be. I come from an automatic transmission repair background where excessive dust is not allowed. Upon further research, all that Trinco makes are blast cabinets. They've been making them since before I was born. 🙂 Additionally, they are only a 1-day drive from your shop. They even sell a lot of different blast media. Thanks for letting all our members know about Trinco.

Here ya' go. Only ~$245 w/tax. https://www.harborfreight.com/40-lb-capacity-floor-abrasive-blast-cabinet-68893.html While you're at it, you might as well get these ceramic sandblaster nozzles.

This video gives great ideas for how a shop can protect themselves. It's solid advice that should be performed before any vehicle gets pulled inside the shop. 12:01

A $20/hr. increase in 6 years? That's a 14% increase. Does that sound right to you? Just asking.