Joe Marconi

Do you fear that your techs have an issue with keeping up with technology?

Do you fear that your techs have an issue with keeping up with technology?

Taking a poll. Let me know your favorite scan tool or tools. Most of us work on just about what ever rolls thru the bay doors. That can be an issue.

I took a ride today with my wife and son to visit my old neighborhood in the Bronx. A lot has changed in 30 years. I moved out of the Bronx in 1980 to open up my shop. Time goes by real fast. We need to stop and smell the roses more often.

Many shops require their techs to attend a certain amount of training each year. Many shop owners tie bonuses and rasies around training. I agree with mandatory training for all employees, not just techs. What are other shops doing?

The other day we were diagnosing an air bag fault on a 2001 BMW 325. My Snap-On Scanner pulled codes for the passenger side seat sensor and pre-tension. My tech also found some information on IATN and Identifix, but could not trace down the problem. He finally called Identifx and was told that the information to the scanner is wrong. The actual problem area is the driver side air bag located on the pillar. When we pulled the side air bag down on the driver’s side we found a broken connector at the air bag and fixed the problem. We find these problems way too often, particularly with European cars. I will log this with the NASTF.

We struggle with labor times on a daily basis. We compare Mitchell and Alldata all the time. The other day we sold an oil pan on a Chrysler Mini Van. The service advisor used the Mitchell time, 1.4hr. When I saw that, I nearly screamed! This is a real problem. The tech was also doing an exhaust (cat-back) on the same car and the labor time for that was 1.3hr. There is no consistency with time. Maybe we are approaching it all wrong. I try to teach my staff to take into consideration the complexity of the job. For example: An hour of brain surgery is worth more than an hour of racking leaves, right? What it comes down to is that you need to be competitive where you need to be, and charge a premium for those more hi-tech jobs. You need to use good judgment too. We give too much away as it is. It’s a delicate balancing act. Agree? Thoughts?

Where I am in New York (less than an hour north of NYC) you can expect to pay about $2500.00 per bay for rent. So a 3 bay facility will run about $7500.00 per month. I had too much negative feedback when I used to charge supply charges. The customer did not mind paying the $400.00 brake job, but had an issue with the $3.00 supply charge. I guess it's like those annoying line item charges you find on your phone bill and electric bill. I calculated what I was making on supplies charges and then amortized that number and raise my prices slightly and spread the charges over all the invoices. I achieve the same results, but just behind the scene, and a few pennies here and there is not noticeable to your customers.

We use to charge a supply charge. We had some customers complain. Plus, New York has a few restrictions on how to charge supply charges and enviornmental charges. According to New York, you can charge supply and other charges only if you document what the charges are for, and, you are only allowed to recoup your expenses, not generate a profit. It may be different where you are. It looks like the supply charge really works for you, that is great!

A parts matrix is the only way to insure that you achieve your overall GP on parts. And, I agree, those items that are price sensitive are the ones that we need to be more competitive with. As far as fees are concerned, are you talking about hazmat and supply charges?

Great article. My newsletter will be out next week, it will feature the Right to Repair Act.

We are going thru some growing pains; the more people your have the more personalities there are. It becomes a challenge.

I understand the need for people to take time off, and we do rotate Saturdays for that purpose. But like you said, durning peak times (such as holidays) we need a full staff. We are in a service type business. it could be worse, we could be a business that requires us to be here on holidays. I guess what I am looking for is a fair policy. I can't allow senior poeple to dictate when they take their vacaction. I think the problem started with me. Years ago when I was not as big, it was not an issue. Now, we have 14 people on staff and I want to make sure people don't feel like they are not being fairly treated.

I use Mitchell with the parts/labor guide. It has most of the dealer prices which can be imported onto the invoice. The only problem is that you don't know the cost. If you go off dealer list, you may be hurting your gross profit. Mitchell can also control your in-house inventory and order parts from a parts house like CARQUEST. For in-house inventory and parts supplies, you can set up Mitchell to adjust prices automatically to meet your profit margins.

you make one general rule for everyone?

Yes it is, any information is important.

Do You Support The Right To Repair Act? We'd like to know who here supports the Right To Repair Act, please vote on the poll attached to this thread. http://www.righttorepair.org/

I have employees that want to schedule and overlap vacation time around the holidays. Some want to schedule ALL their vacation time around ALL holidays. This is a constant struggle between being fair and balanced for all employees. We are in a service business and during the holidays we are always busy. I want to know how other shops handle this. I know shop owners that will not anyone to schedule vacation time around a holiday. Need advise...

I have heard of this company. The advise she gives on the vedio is good advise for all people. I am going to check it out.

WOW! I like my hand and finges too much to try that!

The artilce is ok, not too specific, too generic. I think most of the conversations found in AutoShopOwner have more relevance to every day business.

Ok, I can't resist...here's my blonde joke: Three blondes were walking through the forest when they came upon a set of tracks. The first blonde said, "Those are deer tracks." The second blonde said, "No, those are elk tracks." The third blonde said, "You're both wrong, those are moose tracks." The blondes were still arguing when the train hit them.

THat's a very impressive program. I think I will "borrow" your idea...

Please keep us informed about the sucess of this program. Thanks!

That's great public relations effort. Good job. Has it made you new customers too?