Joe Marconi

I agree with you Joe. It is a good idea but it hard for me to see how we could make it work. It would also involved reminder calls and/or a phone call a day ahead of the appointment. To me it seems it could be more trouble than what it is worth. For example on my dental appointments (I go 2-3 times per year) and I wind up rescheduling about 40% of the time. Also if we have experienced a influx of time consuming jobs I may not want the car right then!

Those are all great points. It seems that we try to book the next appointment when we are slow. When we are busy, the works just flows in. Plus, the logistics of following up and calling the customer as a reminder can be a burden. Who will do it when the entire shop is busy?

Great concept, not sure about real-world...

I have been to a brickyard race. AWESOME I am a huge fan Joe and have been to several races and look forward to getting to a few races this year.

Being there is the way to go. TV gives the race no justic. And YES, you need to drink some beer!

You can easily schedule oil changes or tire rotations since they are usually on a recommended time frame not necessarily mileage related but once you see a customer a few times, you will get the feel for how many miles they are driving and the ones that need to be reminded to do their maintenance.

The concept is great, but I find it hard to implement. Maybe it's my approach.

That's ok. I won't that against you, at least not much

Go to one race, it may make you a fan.

xrac, Thanks for sharing that with. I really appreciate it. It took me years to even talk this incident. It means a lot to me to have my friends and fellow shop owners read this and share the pain. We need to be proud of what we do. You are a true professional; your credentials prove that fact.

Writing and sharing experiences is my therapy.

To all who read my article, thank you. You are the best. It makes me proud to be associated with all of you. Maybe I should have talked about this sooner. If I had to do it all over again...I would not change a thing!

Joe, I really enjoyed your article. You do a very good job writing. I don't see how you do it with all of the other responsibilities you have. Concerning the term "grease monkey" you may find this interesting. Prior to opening our shop in 1999 I spent ten years working as a professional in the environmental consulting/contracting business. I held a CHMM (certified hazardous materials manager) designation and work on a lot of large projects almost from coast to coast. I have held contractors license of one type or another in nine (9) different states. Joe, I have also served as an expert witness in environmental litigation and I prepared Phase I & II reports for banks, lawyers, etc.

 

My wife is from Appalachia and when here family learned that we were opening a repair shop (Car-x Auto Service Franchisee) her mother and brother were both saying that they couldn't believe that Frank was going to be a grease monkey. They never said this to my face but to other family members. This went on until my son got married and everyone came to the wedding and I took them to see our shop. It was a brand new modern brick building on a prime piece of commercial property with seven bays and five technicians working for me (we invested about $700,000 in 1999). It was obvious that they thought of the little old 2-3 bay garages that they were use to down in the mountains. They didn't have a concept of what we were trying to do until they saw the building. They never used the word grease monkey again.

xrac, Thanks for sharing that with. I really appreciate it. It took me years to even talk this incident. It means a lot to me to have my friends and fellow shop owners read this and share the pain. We need to be proud of what we do. You are a true professional; your credentials prove that fact.

Writing and sharing experiences is my therapy.

I worked at two different new car dealership's before starting my own business. One of them had their own loaner cars that they could offer to a customer if the customer needed one. The other dealership had a deal with Budget Car rental (I think) that they used for their loaner cars. You might want to see if there is any car rental places that would give you a deal that way the car is the responsibility of the customer/rental place and not your expense. You could add a small fee to the customer ticket if they wanted a loaner car and you may have to eat some of the cost. You would have to think about the difference of the cost of owning and maintaining your own cars verses just paying a little each time to a rental company and not having to worry about your own car.

That's a good point about the car rental. We do have Enterprise near us, it's the only rental car company in the area. The problem is that they run out of cars too often. If we know ahead of time, we do book a rental, but sometimes a customer breaks down and gets towed in. If we can't put them into a car, it becomes an issue.

Thanks for your input, great info!

I've been to a class and talked to reps selling equiptment I've read the sales pitch I would buy into it I can see how young mothers and most peaple could see the saftey factor and I can see the TPMS factor.The dealership I work for intruduced it to its costomers unfortunly I was at a diferent location when they did it but all the techs did there cars and they initally sold alot I,m not sure how they marketed it but I was told that the service advisors sold it up front.I was also told they paid for the equipt. fast.But I just asked about it recently and it seemed to be a lost art.And everybody seems to be incorperating a road hazard subscription with the service?Must not be confident it would be a easy sale?aND THE equiptment can be very pricey even it you just use the bottles you must arrange a sevice and need at least 2-3 bottles on hand.But if you guys arn,t doing it and the dealers costomers base is dwindling to to older cars and high dealer pricing than it may be safe to assum the aftermarket is going to have its day too with this?

I agree, some things take off on their own. It's almost like a fad. It the public starts to think of this a benifit or safety feature, they just might be more inclined to pay for it. I also think that including it with some sort of package makes sense. If a shop can tie it into a maintenance package to get the customer to return to your shop, that would even better.

We were up in January about 2-3% but on one less business day. Last year January-March was a strong period for us. However, we were one man short of the staffing I had last Jabuary so we actually wound up turing a few cars away/ If we hadn't had to do that our car count would have been up. I have added another guy starting in February.

I don't think we have turned the corner on the economy yet. People are still holding back and other are being carful with their spending. Also, there are a lot of people out of work. This has a long recession, but before you know it, good times will be back.

Our Jan 2010 is up over last year, Feb is running slighlty better than last year, but I have much more expenses. It's a little scary right now. Plus, all the storms are killing us. We had another snow storm today.

Please keep us informed. If this is a lucrative profit center, we all need to take a look at it.

The shop I left before opening this one has used loaner cars for about 10 years. Customers love it and don't mind paying a small fee for the convience. They were charging a $15 maintainence fee and replace the fuel you use.

 

The down side was the cost of insurance, cost of maintainence, lots of customers did not replace fuel(especially when gas was higher) . We were constantly cleaning and refueling cars. I think it would be important to have someone inspect and clean upon return to avoid any body damage and low fuel.

 

I would do a cost/benefit analysis and see if it would be better to work a deal with a local rental car agency.

Thanks! Great information, really appriciate it.

Our January car count was the same as last year although we are seeing some new cars mostly through referrals.

So sales are about the same? Steady?

I would not spend that kind of money on nitro machine. I currently use Nitrofill which has a great program and they will supply you with the machine and each fill allows you to sell a roadside assistance package with the service. Check them out at www.nitrofill.com

Is there a market for nitrogen and do you have an easy time selling the service?

The topsy-turvy tire and auto service year closed as it began, sliding down in December after an unexpected up-tick in late November. All tire and service sales segments measured appear to have ended 2009 at levels below those posted in 2008.

 

Sorry...

How are your daily car counts. And, are you seeing new people?

I am sitting here watching the Daytona 500 and wondering how many nascar fans are on here? I am glad that Nascar is back I have been a Jeff Gordon fan for about 10 yrs and love watching racing. I am also looking forward to getting to a few races this year.

I am not a huge fan, but I have been to a few races. I even visited the pits. Being there is another world. Much more exciting.

You handled it just fine. Do you have women call in asking for pricing with the husband talking to her in the background. I ask questions she can't answer. She asks here husband. He tells her and then she tells me. It is hilarious and ridiculous. I think these guys are uncomfortable with business dealings and they hide behind their wives.

Yes, I do get those calls. It is funny. You are probably right, these guys are uncomfortable. Are we that intimidating?

Next year I plan to do a Groundhogs Day promotion.

Now that's a great idea! Create excitement is a great marketing tool.

We did a Jasper Engine on a 1994 Ford F-150 last week.

I like Jasper, good company to work with.

If there is one thing I will never understand is why some husbands send their wife in for car service and instruct the wife not to make any decisions until HE is informed. It always ends up with what I call “the phone relay”. We inform the wife what the car needs, she calls the husband, the husband relays a few questions, the wife relays the questions to us, we respond to the question and the relay begins another round.

Why can’t the husband speak for himself? What kind of man sends his wife to get the car serviced, but will not allow her to make decisions?

Here’s a recent story: I gave a women a price of $300.00 for 2 tires and an alignment for her 2008 VW Jetta. The wife called the husband, he told her we were too high and she told us that her husband can get the same job for half the price. I patiently told her, “Please ask your husband that I would really like to know where you could get 2 tires and an alignment on a 2008 Jetta for only 150 bucks!

After 6 relays calls back and forth I insisted on speaking to the husband! About 30 minutes later, he called. He tried to act tough and started to dictate to me what he wanted. I listened but did not get defensive. I did not focus on his tactics. I firmly stated what the car needed and he said, go ahead and do the job.

When the wife came to pick up the car, she looked embarrassed. I did not want to put her in the middle of this. I felt bad for her and wonder if I did the right thing by insisting to talk to the husband.

How would you have handled the situation?

Great Idea!

Giving away chocolate hearts for Valentines was such a big hit, I plan to do something at every holiday. The dollar store had small boxes of chocolates for a buck a piece! I bought a few dozen, not a huge investment, but what an impact on the ladies! (And men too)

In the past, I only had give-aways for Christmas. This was unexpected, that’s what made it special.

Next holiday is St. Patrick’s Day.

Here is confirmation that customers are keeping cars longer. This should be good news for our business.

We did more transmission and engine replacements last year than in any other year. People are keeping their cars longer. The only problem I see that many are putting of preventive maintenance. When they come in needing brakes all around and 4 tires, they don’t have the budget to perform maintenance work.

In general, the next few years should be positive for us.

I went to the dollar store and bought a few dozen small heart shape boxes of chocolates. I started giving them out to customers today who were in for service, for Valentine’s Day. What a hit, especially with the women. They loved it!

If there is a dollar store near you, I recommend doing it.

Just wanted some opinions on labor rates. The management teachers always say to charge an uneven amount like 82.74 so it is harder for the customer to figure out. How many use this method and is it a good idea? Dealerships do not do this and they have no problem making lots of money.

Many don't know this, but in New York, you do not have to post a labor rate. So, I don’t post it. All I am required to do is to let the public know how I calculate my labor prices. My sign in my customer waiting area states:

“Labor rate may be computed by either hourly rate, which is multiplied by clock hours and / or flat rate manual.

Most labor costs are charged by method of menu pricing only. E.g.: oil service, wheel alignment, wheel balance, tire mounting, or diagnostic analysis.

You, as the consumer, have the right to additional information and explanation on labor costs upon request.”

I don’t know what the laws are in your area, but my opinion is to get away from talking about time. Many of the jobs we do are menu prices and don’t fall into an hourly labor rate. For example: a brake job that takes you 30 minutes you may have a menu price for 1 hour.

To answer your question, having a number like $82.74 is harder to calculate, but do you really need that to avoid confrontation by the customer? There must be a better way.

Here is our TARP and stimulus money at work:

 

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How in the world did it get this insane? Can we ever recover from what is going on in this country. It makes you want to give up. Most people have no clue about what is being done to them. And, we keep paying and paying and paying and....

I have to agree. I think it is over blown.

It may be baloney, but consumer perception is their reality.