Joe Marconi

People like to be recognized on certain days, such as birthdays. With Mother’s Day coming up, think out of the box and come up with a little gift you can give to your customers; maybe a flower or a small inexpensive box of chocolate. Something that shows you are thinking of them. This will go long way in showing customers how much you appreciate them.

Yesterday, May 5, was Elite’s Marketing Seminar, where Bob Cooper and I co-presented the seminar. We had a great turn out, over 30 attendees. I also was glad to see a few ASO members, like Gary Armando. We covered many topics and gave everyone tips and a greater understanding how effective marketing and advertising can help your business. The Seminar was held in Philadelphia. I will keep the members posted of future seminars.

This is sad. Has our business been reduced to selling commodity items? Gonzo, you went out of your way to show the difference in the rear main seal; the truth is there are people out there that will never go back to their mechanics to express their feelings. How do we reach them, when there’s always a brother-in-law, cousin or friend who can get a cheaper part either on line, at an AutoZone, or another shop willing to do a subpar job? We are headed down the wrong path if we cannot position our business on quality. If the motoring public cannot see a difference in what we do as compared to other low pirced shops and price-positioned parts houses, then we have reduced what we do to no more than a consumer going to the grocery store to buy a carton of eggs or a gallon of milk. “It’s all the same, so why are we charging more”, will be the rally call for the future consumer. In this ever-increasing price sensitive time in history, where the entire world is a few mouse clicks ways from checking prices, we need to come up with an answer. To go engage in battle to justify our price is not only insulting, but’s it’s a big waste of time. Does Morton Steak House justify its prices as compare to the Outback? Does Mercedes justify its price as compare to KIA? No. So why in the world do we need to justify our prices? I find myself in the same position more and more and it’s starting to concern me. Tomorrow I plan on have a meeting with my staff and we are getting back to basics. We are going to make sure we market and position our shop not on price, but on quality. We will cater to those people who respect what we do. I urge everyone in the automotive repair and service business to take a long hard look and see how we can improve the image of our companies and not engage in a foolish price war. Too many shops, due to the economic climate are looking for ways to increase business. Too many of them are willing to reduce prices, find the cheapest parts and lower the price on the repair or service because they assume this is what the world wants. No one wins in this scenario. When the day comes that Morton Steak House or Ruth Chris Steak House lowers their prices because the consumer sees no difference in their steak dinners than a steak dinner at Outback, is the day I go selling apples on the street corner. Then this truly will be a world where will not be able to say, “Please compare apples to apples”

That's too bad, that's a lot to go thru, for you, your wife and the poor dog. Hope things get better...

Same here, go for quality, companies like Rotary offer great quality and the price is very reasonalble.

We are not a body shop, but do a fair amount of insurance work. Customers with minor fender benders or run off the road will often bring us their car to handle the repair and also to handle the insurance process. All too often our estimate and the insurance adjuster’s estimate do not match. And no, the adjuster’s estimate is never higher than ours. I understand that the insurance company has an obligation to keeping repair costs down, but shops also have the obligation to remain profitable. I also understand that there will always be shops that will accept the adjuster’s price. But this is my customer we are talking about. We are pretty successful through the negotiation process, especially when I remind the adjuster, that this person brought me the car, this person is my customer. They may have purchased your insurance, but we have been chosen to repair the car. The person trusts me and in order to be here in the future for this customer and other customers, I need to be profitable. Now being a mechanical shop, the rate insurance companies’ pay is higher than body rate. The area of concern is when the price the insurance company wants to pay and the price the shop needs is to too far apart. Both parties hate to get the customer involved, but the customer needs to know. There needs to be a balance and fair monetary agreement between the insurance company and the repair shop or body shop. Insurance companies go through great lengths to insure they are profitable. They do not loose and will adjust their prices upward to insure their profit each year. We in the repair industry need that same consideration and respect.

On March 23 New York Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz introduced a bill (9865) which would set ground rules for proper tire repair procedures. The bill would also establish a $500 fine for each improper repair. The legislation is based on procedures created by the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA). The feeling is this legislation will begin to spread state by state. Proposed is the dismount of a suspected leaking tire, breaking it down, inspecting the tire to determine any interior and exterior damage, removing any debris on the inside and fill the damaged area with a cured rubber stem and tire patch. Proponents say this is long overdue and that there are too many improper repairs being made which may compromise driver and occupant safety. Opponents say that in light of recent law suits and the money awarded, the liability is being pushed from the tire company to the repairer and the shop. What’s your opinion?

ASE certification is a must; we need to promote it more. One thing we tend to forget about is the level of overall professionalism. Much of our industry lacks the demands or standard on how competent a shop owner needs to be. I am an ASE master with L1, but I must admit that's not enough today. Every shop owner needs to understand that running a shop takes many different skills, such as business skills. I think this is where many of us get into trouble. And, I am not saying you need to be a great tech to be a great shop owner either. In fact, I know many great shop owners who never picked up a wrench. Oh, by the way, the tech that emailed you about not needing a piece of paper to prove his credentials....I wonder if he feels that way about his doctor, attorney, dentist and accountant....hmm, I wonder.... Great article Gonzo, this is another area that as an industry we need improvement.

Your weclome, always willing to help fellow shop owners!

We track hours through our Mitchell Management system. We do use book time, but not always. For menu priced jobs, which we use much more now than years ago, we calculated the average time for a particular service or repair and have assigned menu fixed labor times for those jobs. Each tech gets a productivity/efficiency report each week. For slow times, that's a different story. If a tech is working on the company truck, we track productivity. If a tech is working on servicing the air compressor or other piece of equipment, that time is deducted from his potential productive time. We use a log sheet where the manager and tech signs off for those non-productive hours. If the tech is still on the clock, but he is repairing the parts washer for example, he will get paid for the time, but it does not affect his productivity hour tracking. So the tech is never abused and his/her hours are accurately tracked. This is the way we have done it for many, many years. It’s simple and the techs like it.

I was speaking to a few fellow shop owners around the country, and there seems to be areas of the country that are in desperate need of qualified technicians. I know that for a long time we have all been complaining. I would think things would be getting better. Just look at the tech schools; UTI (Universal Technical Institute), Lincoln Technical and more. These schools graduate thousands of entry level techs each year. Where are they? I would like to hear from other shop owners about this problem.

Yes Frank, the wicked sister of the West!

What a story: flying monkey wrenches; brilliant! You hit the target again today. I had a customer walk in the other day for a price on a check engine light diagnose. She also needed a NY State inspection, and it will not pass with the check engine light. She said she already knew what the problem was because her boyfriend is a mechanic and the code is for an EVAP problem. I asked her, why not let him fix it? She said he’s real busy at the dealership but he gave me this bottle of engine cleaner. She said that you have to put the bottle in the gas tank, drive it around and it will pass the state inspection. I mumbled a few words under my breath, and my service writer quickly ran out of the office saying to himself, “Oh boy, this is not good, she just flipped Joe’s switch”. When I tried to explain to her that it is not going to work, she raised her voice and said, “Yes it will, just put the bottle in the tank, drive it around and it will pass inspection”. I now repeated in my loud voice, “Why don’t to ask your boyfriend to do it, he gave you the bottle!” She rambled on, but at this point I was not listening. Well, without going into too much detail I ran around the counter to the door, opened it up and said, “Mam, you have the wrong guy, thank you, but no thanks”. As she was walking out she mumbled, “Well, I heard you guys are expensive anyway”. If she only had a brain!

Yes! You Can Measure Advertising John Wannamaker, a prominent business man in the early 1900’s, once said, “Half of my advertising money is wasted, but the problem is I don’t know which half”. While there is some truth to this, there are things you can do to help zero in on your target market and find what forms of media are working for you. To start, whenever a new customer arrives to you shop you need to ask this person, “How did you hear about us”? The person may say a friend, a TV ad or radio. This information must be documented and tracked. Equally important is to ask a second question, “Did you know about our shop before you saw the TV ad?” Many times they will tell you that they pass by your shop every day or heard about you though print ads, etc. This is important information. You need to build a profile of how people find out about you, where they live, who they speak to, what local organizations they belong to. This is how you zero in on where to put your advertising dollars. In other words, if you are spending money in the local newspaper and no one ever tells you they see your ad in the paper, you are probably wasting your money for that newspaper ad.

Sorry, never heard of that. You said the car was jumped started. But for what reason, was the engine cranking a long time and the battery ran down? Maybe gas fumes accmluated in the intake? It would be interested to see what transpired just prior to the jump start.

We recently installed a new gas tank in a 2002 Hyundai Elantra. The old tank was rusted badly and leaking. About 2 weeks later the customer called us to tell us that after she filled the tank; gas came gushing out of the filter neck spilling onto the car and the ground. We called the company that supplied us with the tank and they told us that they never heard of that. We also called the local dealer and he told us the same thing. We had the customer bring the car in, we took it to the gas station ourselves, filled the tank, the gas nozzle clicked off and a moment later about a two quarts of gas came gushing out. We removed the tank, check all the vents, lines and hoses and ordered a new tank. After doing some research, the tech on this job found a diagram of the tank showing all the components of the tank and everything hooked up to it. Inside the neck of the tank there is a fuel shut off valve. It’s pressed into the neck. We did not see any valve in either the tank we installed or in the new tank. After a lengthy call to the local Hyundai dealer, the parts guy found the part number and ordered it. He said he never heard of the valve and according to his records, never sold one either. We got the valve, but it would not fit into the neck of the tank. We had to carefully file the neck until we were able to press it into the tank. My assumption is that the old valve was never seen by the tech who installed the tank originally and was discarded along with the tank. I am sharing this with everyone as a word of caution and education. We called the tank company, he was very grateful to hear we solved the problem. My problem; paying for this “education”.

Sorry, I am in New York and have no knowledge of such a law. Is there an a trade association in your state that can help you with that? In my area, we have a local auto trade association where we can call with all legal issues. Maybe another ASO member can help also, good luck!

Agree 100%

That's a great question, and I call tell you from my experience, every shop is different with respect to breakeven and sales and labor. You can have two 5 bay shops with 3 techs and both do 20,000 in sales per week. Shop one has no mortgage and low taxes. Shop two has a mortgage, a truck payment, high taxes, a new aligmemnt lift note each month. The two may do the same in sales but the profit at the bottom line is quite different. For my shop, I don't like labor cost to exceed 30% of sales, but again, that's my number and my cost of doing business is different from the shop down the block. Just keep this in mind when you do your calculations. I hope this helps, sometimes I can too analytical, but I am a numbers guy....

You know, I was thinking, why do we have to do these in April or October? I think of a shop wants to hold an event, do when they can. I was even thinking about doing one as a fund raiser for a local charity, to get the entire community involved.

Don, I also had Service Expert, it was a great system. The reason I switched to Mitchell was that we were told at the time that CCI/Triad would not support or enhance the program any longer. I do like Mitchell, but not happy with the progression of the features, it seems like they stalled in that area. They have great support and the new SE version works great with online part ordering. I would take a look at Mitchell, Max Tracs and any other program. It's not an easy choice and there is no program that will suit all your needs unless somone builds it for you. Good luck!

1) Yes, we have two buildings, a seven bay shop and a four bay shop, we kept the 7 bay shop open for business and we had the table set ups in the 4 bay building, along with the food, drinks and pop corn. 2) It took the entire staff to pull it off, I assigned duties to key people: Clean up on Friday night, set up on Sat morning, Food person, my office manager organized the food and getting the food, my foreman was in charge of traffic control, two techs were assigned to the car care lane (we rented a 16x16 tent for the actual car care inspection), two service writers took care of the workflow, 4 techs worked in the 7 bay shop working on regular service work and repair work, I took care of the car care lane and jumped around saying hello to everyone, we a hired a photographer to take photos and video, CARQUEST had 2 reps to help and BG had one Rep. 3) The event hours were from 9-3pm, the radio station was there from 10-noon 4) Car Care Lane outside in the tent, all talbes and demos inside the 4 bay shop 5) All car care inspections were done according to the car care inspection list: underhood, fluids, lights, horn, battery, belts hoses, tires, tire pressure....no undercar 6) Without extra payroll, about $3,000

Is this for real????

I lived that life as a mechanic at a Dealer way back in the 70's...I guess some things never change....