Joe Marconi

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Tough Winter Will Pay Off If you are a shop owner that has endured one of the toughest winters in history, don’t despair. The effects of winter are already taking its toll on the road ways and will no doubt have an effect on your customer’s cars. Get yourself and your team ready to inspect all cars for pothole damage and other damage as a result of the winter. Look for damaged tires, wheels, exhaust, steering, suspension, wheel alignment, splash shields, bumper covers and other areas. Maybe create an “End of Winter Promotion Package”, to include a complete vehicle inspection with a tire balance, rotation (if needed), wheel alignment. Or create your own promotion. The point is you need to look out for what is best for your customer, which in turn will bring in much needed dollars after losing so many days from the winter storms.

It was announced this week that Toyota will have to recall another 2.1 million cars for sudden acceleration, gas pedals being trapped by the floor mat. What happened to "Driver Error". Something smells rotten to me...

Leave Your People Alone! Sometimes, in our effort to strive for perfection we end up accomplishing the exact opposite. Getting too involved with your team could end up in micromanaging, which is a recipe for failure. It’s better to leave your people alone. Let them make decisions, support them and always be positive. Let them come up with solutions and answers to issues and problems. This will lead to increased productivity and higher profits. Obviously you need to hire the right people, build systems and policy, and wok on strategy. But just like a baseball or football coach, when the game begins the coach manages from the sidelines, he’s not on the field peering over a player’s shoulder.

Hidden between the words of these forums lies the true spirit of the independent auto repair industry, expressed from the hearts of those who live in trenches of the service bays every day. I always knew AutoShopOwner.com would bring out the best....I never realized how great the people in our industry really are. There are so many articulate shop owners with multi-talented, multi-faceted lives. I have said before but it's worth saying again, "I am truly proud to be part of this industry"

Wow, is it me or are there multiple messages all wrapped up in one story? My emotions were on a roller coaster ride as my mind shifted from the customer, the new technology, how we did things in the past and even brought back memories of my own father. Here's personal note: Thanks! Thank you for explaining in one article why people like us choose this business and why we are the best of the best! I was having a tough time today thinking about an article for the next ASO newsletter….well thanks to you I know what to write about.

Amazing, if this is true, it will never be used. This type of discovery would tip the economic scale and cause the fall of the global business as we know it. It would rewrite our future.

I maintain my position too. Unless I miss the point, I really don't look at what I spend in ratio to my sales. BUT, I do look at the gross profit precentages and gross profit dollars I make on parts and labor. If that is what you are asking that's different. NOW, every shop is different, so numbers will be different. But I try to make 48-52% GP on parts, 65-70% on labor. Again these are my numbers....I did the math. When you factor in you cost of doing busines, you will come up with a number you need to obtain in order to turn a profit. So the more I sell, the more parts I buy, the more labor I sell, and the happier I am. I hope I am helping here and not confusing the issue. To sum up: I know what my breakeven is, I know what my cost of tech labor is and I know what my goals are. I creat a plan to turn a profit. PLEASE, let me know I this is helping...

I have to agree with Southeast tires. Those percentages are not looking at your numbers the way you should be. You need to do the math and understand your break-even. You also need to check shop/tech productivity and overhead expenses. In addition, you need to find out what your capacity is: Number of techs, number of bays, number of days open and potential labor hours. knowing what your potential is will give you a true goal to shoot for. From these basic number you can put together a plan to become profitable. And remember, break-even means paying your bills, not making a profit. You goal is to make above break-even. There is a lot more to know about your business, this is just a basic starting point.

Quality techs are getting harder to find. With all the new technology and a different work ethic today, it seems the work force is in need of competent people. As far as crossing the line, if a tech is not happy he will look for another job somewhere. If it happens to be your shop, that's life. I have had techs from other shops come to me for a job. If I know the other shop owner, I ask the tech if it would be ok to call his present boss. His reaction will dictate his true feelings. Sometimes, the tech is the problem, not the other shop owner. It's a delicate situation. I would not actively seek a tech from a shop that I know, but if he comes to me, that's another story.

Toyota Cleared of Unintended Acceleration??? Federal Highway Safety Officials on Tuesday of this past week absolved Toyota for problems pertaining to unintended acceleration with respect to its “electronics”. As Toyota cheers this finding, the news media now reports that according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Driver Error is the cause for most cases of unintended acceleration. That’s right, MOST cases. All that was cleared in this investigation, which NASA also participated in, was the electronics systems of the Toyota vehicles. No conclusions were reached for the mechanical issues Toyota has with either the floor mat or the gas pedal. Many news stories failed to report other parts of the investigation. Here’s a quote from the Wall Street Journal, “In a few cases of prolonged uncontrolled acceleration, NHTSA said slipping floor mats that trapped the gas pedal were the likely the cause” Here is a direct quote from Mr. Ray Lahood, US Secretary of Transportation, “ The evidence points to mechanical and driver problems, not electronic”. And, the last quote for today from NASA’s lead engineer Michael Kirsch, “An electronics failure couldn’t be entirely ruled out”. For me, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Three main causes for unintended acceleration were found, Sticking gas pedal, floor mats that trapped the throttle and driver error. I don’t know how you feel, but for me the jury is still out. I know firsthand that I had customers complaining of run-way Toyotas long before the problem hit the news papers. And, if this is driver error then why only Toyota vehicles? Wasn’t it Toyota who finally admitted to the problems? Please, I want to hear from my fellow shop owners. What do you think?

We all need to be reminded of the basics from time to time. Too many times in this hi-tech industry the tech looks for the most complicated reason for failiure. How many times have you heard of techs condeming a fuel pump when the problem was "no fuel" in the tank.

Gonzo, I was too afraid to pick up the hammer, but you did and hit nail right on the head! Those are my thoughts too. Well said.

I can always rely on you to bring a smile to my face!

I have found that the best service writers are those with "some" automotive background but were never techs. Training to be a tech from a young age actually wires your brain to become too technical and not customer service minded. It's the main reason why mechanics-turned shop owners have a tough time with business. For me, I use craigs list, the local paper and career builder. I also ask vendors and tool reps. With many dealerships closing, you might find service writers out of work. My most recent service writer worked five years as a manager in a qucik lube. It took me a while to untrain some of the sales tactics that he was taught, but he had the people skills, which is probably the most important thing to look for.

A few things bother me. Is the tech someone with a questionable past? Has anything like this happen before with this tech? Accidents do happen, that's why we have insurance. I don't understand why he can't find the exact spot where the accident took place. And, if he hit the dog, where is it? In any event, have you spoken to the owner of the car? Does he/she want it fixed? Can you make some sort of deal. You need to remember, the very first thing that will suffer is not the cost of the repair but your reputation if this is not handled right.

Mechanics Seek Out 'Right to Repair' By ANGUS LOTEN When independent mechanic Joe Marconi replaced a faulty windshield-wiper switch last summer on a 2004 Saab—a minor type of repair often done at his shop—the car wouldn't start. Mr. Marconi, who owns Osceola Garage in Baldwin Place, N.Y., discovered the switch needed to be "initialized," something only a Saab dealership can do. Initializing is a problem that has been happening more and more often, says the 55-year-old mechanic. "The entire car basically has to be reprogrammed to accept the new part," he says. In the end, he was forced to pass the vehicle, and his customer, on to the dealer. As auto makers design vehicles with increasingly sophisticated technology, independent mechanics complain they lack the proprietary tools and data to service many late-model cars. There are some 500,000 independent auto-repair shops in the U.S., industry figures show. Many garage owners hope the new small-business-friendly tone in Washington, including sweeping regulatory reviews unveiled last month, will re-energize the Right to Repair Act, a bill they say levels the playing field with auto dealerships. The bill, which in various forms has languished in Congress for nearly a decade, requires auto makers like Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., to supply smaller repair shops with the same onboard-computer data they give to their affiliated dealerships. Technology in newer vehicles controls everything from the steering wheel to the fuel delivery system, brakes, air bags, tire pressure and more. Supporters, including a range of auto-service-trade associations, consumer groups and small-business advocates, say the move will boost competition in the auto-repair market, forcing dealerships to lower prices. Auto makers, who fiercely oppose the bill, say they need to protect trade secrets from cheap generic parts makers. The car makers say mechanics already have access to what they need to get vehicles back on the road. Yet there appears to be some grass-roots support for the bill. A survey in November by AutoMD.com, an auto-repair-information website, found 83% of 2,800 car owners polled said they favored right-to-repair legislation. Supporters have shown up on Capitol Hill in jumpsuits and overalls to rally lawmakers to pass the measure. Initially introduced by Rep. Joe Barton (R., Texas) just before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the bill was buried under a wave of national-security legislation. It has since been reintroduced in every federal legislative session, only to get bogged down amid strong lobbying by auto makers and dealers. The latest version was sponsored last year in the Senate by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) and Sam Brownback (R., Kan.), while a bill put forward two years earlier by Reps. Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.), Anna Eshoo (D., Calif.) and George Miller (D., Calif.) had more than 60 co-sponsors, including high-ranking members from both parties. Both Sen. Boxer and Rep. Towns expect to reintroduce the bill as early as possible in the new session, with concessions aimed at easing auto makers' intellectual-property concerns, their spokespeople say. But supporters say the bill may stand a better chance in states such as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut—and in Kansas, where Mr. Brownback is now governor. Last July, the bill passed the Massachusetts state senate only to collapse when the House closed its regular session—the closest its come anywhere to being enacted—after debate on a casino-licensing bill put all other issues on hold. State lawmakers there also expect to reintroduce the bill later this year. "We think the momentum now is at the state level," says Aaron Lowe, vice president of regulatory and government affairs at the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, a Bethesda, Md.-based trade group that has lobbied for the bill since 2001. It estimates that repairs cost up to 34% more at dealerships than small repair shops, or an extra $11.7 billion spent by drivers on their cars every year. "Once it's adopted in one state, we expect it'll spread to others pretty quickly," he says. Auto makers aren't going to let that happen without a fight. "The problem is they want full access to all the computer information, not just the repair codes but also the design and manufacturing codes. And that's where intellectual property kicks in," says Gloria Bergquist, a spokesperson for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a Washington advocacy group that represents Ford, GM, Toyota, Porsche and other auto makers. She says all the necessary tools and diagnostic data for any repair job are available online from individual auto makers, as well as from tool manufacturers like Snap-on Inc. Mr. Lowe says mechanics aren't interested in auto makers' intellectual property. "We don't want to know how to make their onboard computers. We want what's on those computers. That's what right-to-repair is all about," he says. Beyond intellectual-property issues, Sandy Bass-Cors, executive director of the Coalition for Auto Repair Equality in Alexandria, Va., says mechanics are frustrated that the federal government spent billions of dollars bailing out GM and Chrysler during the recession, while boosting dealership sales with the Cash for Clunkers program. "Yet they're keeping the same motoring taxpayers from having a choice in repairs," she says. For now, Mr. Marconi says he's taking vehicles that need reprogramming to dealers himself, often at a loss, rather than send drivers away. "This is crazy," he says. "But in this economy the last thing you want to do is turn down a customer." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703555804576102272750344178.html

Gonzo, I just finished posting my weekly business tip....I should have read your story first. My post talks about handling angry customers. But, I forgot to make your shop the EXCEPTION. How do attract these people??? Too funny!!!!

That's an amazing video!