FROGFINDER

Remember that the internet is a bad part of town. Be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.

I worked alone yesterday, I can't go back to that way of life. I had forgotten how hard it is to get things done being service counter man and technician.

You are never alone because we are there in spirit !

Merry Christmas and Happy new year to All I meet! I often say it with a hug or hand shake. I also leave a card and two dollar bill in the gas cap cavity. Merry Christmas!

If you are going to take the advice of industry coaches, you should start looking into hiring a quality full time tech (if you can afford it) and take yourself out of that position so you can work on the business. This may cause you to take the role of the front end person for a while but thats where you'll be able to make the most difference to the bottomline and grow the business. Eventually you can hire more techs and a service advisor and not have to write service anymore.

Some one invested in the future of the shop needs to quality control check each vehicle before it is released to the customer. A perfect repair can be ruined by grease on the steering wheel or oil cap left off, bad repair,etc.

A customer is always right.....unless I tell them the error of their ways and what I can do to help them even if it is to refer them elsewhere. I offer them a soda and a hand shake..

Bad thing about large bonuses is that if the employee drinks or drugs and you give them $$$$ all at once it could kill them. Better yet is money towards tools they need,food to keep them strong or a specific family need. We keep them alive to serve the ship....row and row well. They pull the wagon...Feed them well. Merry Christmas!

Oil change intervals are now extended to align with visual warranty, safety and service checks intervals. I offer a immediate free ride to their destination of choice or I recommend rescheduling. If they are really in a hurry I say that they can try a lube in the box but don't let them upsell you anything,recheck all fluid levels and watch where the park for leaks.

Merry Christmas

Free Massage!

If he/she is good they will get you to $25K week within 6 months.

Pay he or she enough not to leave.

There is a large market for driveway service. Offer road service checks to your good customers. Have the drive on wrecker ready and get it back to your shop. Quick turn around and courtesy ride for your good customers.

We will all be wearing body cams at some point. I serve those that allow me to and wish the others all the best. You have to attract the small fish if you want the big fish to come.

I recommend fluid services by condition and mileage. I use oem type fluids and make sure that the vehicle leaves with no fitting leaks and full. I road test the vehicle before the service to detect transmission slipping, poor brake feel or engine temp issues. A lot of cars come in with low or overfilled dark/contaminated looking fluid levels, leaking fittings and the customer states that he just had the fluids flushed by xxxx.

Ever have an "ASE Master Tech" break a BMW windshield while changing wiper blades? It happened to me.

Yes and he tried to not say anything because it was so low on the windshield.

I had the windshield replaced for the customer that made my shop owner mad but it was the right thing to do. Later the tech offered to pay us back for it so I was right in the end.

IF they ask please and thank me for talking to them I might use the supplied parts but with NO WARRANTY AT ALL!

I replace drain plug washers with oem style washers and charge for them. Often they are missing or smashed paper thin. I document if they are missing or damaged at check in. I also document if the vehicle checked in past oil change due date/mileage and if low on oil/fluids at check in.

Careful the way you turn a customer down!!!!

 

Had to deal with some BS this morning. Stupid kid obviously his parents are savages brings in a Mercedes he just bought. We give him an initial assessment of a Check engine light problem, explain to him we need to book him for an appointment to properly test and diagnose his problem. He returns 3 times in the next few days every day asking for prices on various possible fixes. We explain to him we need to book an appointment to have enough time to properly test and diagnose. Tells us story about how we went to another shop after he left ours and he had some coils replaced and it didnt solve his problem. He said he knew they were good coils because the shop let him go buy his own parts (FML). Leaves again says he'll give us a call. Calls us up after the weekend is over and wants to book an appointment. Explain to him we are down a tech and our next available appointment is next week. We could have filled him in but we really didn't want him as a customer however we were always 100% professional and courteous. Gets pissed off and 15 minutes later we get a nasty 1-star yelp review filled with lies stating we cancelled his appointments, made him empty promises etc. Mind you he never ever spent a dime with us whilst we did give in a 30 minute consultation for free.

 

 

Point to the story is you have to be very careful when you turn away business. People can be 110% irrational POS.

Careful the way you turn a customer down!!!!

 

Had to deal with some BS this morning. Stupid kid obviously his parents are savages brings in a Mercedes he just bought. We give him an initial assessment of a Check engine light problem, explain to him we need to book him for an appointment to properly test and diagnose his problem. He returns 3 times in the next few days every day asking for prices on various possible fixes. We explain to him we need to book an appointment to have enough time to properly test and diagnose. Tells us story about how we went to another shop after he left ours and he had some coils replaced and it didnt solve his problem. He said he knew they were good coils because the shop let him go buy his own parts (FML). Leaves again says he'll give us a call. Calls us up after the weekend is over and wants to book an appointment. Explain to him we are down a tech and our next available appointment is next week. We could have filled him in but we really didn't want him as a customer however we were always 100% professional and courteous. Gets pissed off and 15 minutes later we get a nasty 1-star yelp review filled with lies stating we cancelled his appointments, made him empty promises etc. Mind you he never ever spent a dime with us whilst we did give in a 30 minute consultation for free.

 

 

Point to the story is you have to be very careful when you turn away business. People can be 110% irrational POS.

As In business you if youwill find

No good deed goes unpunished.

Day one- Ask any kid bring in a car for repairs to have their mommy or daddy call to authorize testing and repair costs.

We live in the hills. We guarantee our pads won't squeak. We use Akebono or centric ceramics if possible. We charge for a brake inspection which includes a test drive, pulling all 4 wheels, measuring inboard, outboard pads, rotors, checking the master cylinder and brake lines. I see our brake jobs are a lot more money than the average. We pay the tech .3 for brake inspection and 1.4 for the brake job. I see I have been paying more than most of you. Our brake jobs, not counting rotors usually from $200 to $250 plus a hydraulic brake flush. If you believe in your value, you can sell it. We do a lot of redos from the $99 places. We don't lose many brake jobs.

DITTO as You and I are close. Our brake job with centric ceramic pad kits with new hardware start at $295.00 per axle. Brake fluid flush was extra. Our brake jobs were proven to be quieter.

I would want to own the property rather than a lease. Sometimes more cars is not better imo.

I always accepted more tough jobs than turned them away. I do a show and tell with the customer and explained the risks they are taking. But if it were my car and I would not attempt the fix I won't ask the customer to. Case in point. A guy brought me a old jaguar xj6. It had warning lights on the dash glowing, expired safety sticker, worn out tires and brakes, misfires, engine oil leaks, power steering leaks, a/c not working, headliner falling down, coolant rusty and leaking fuel injectors. I explained that the car was not worth any repairs.The guy hands me $1500.00 cash to start work,I handed the $1500.00 back to the customer saying to use it as a down payment on something else. A few weeks later the guy calls the shop asking for me. He said that I was right and that he should have listed to me. After he left my shop he went to another shop. They took his $1500.00 and another $2000.00. Two days after the other the shop fixed his car it caught on fire from the fuel leak and burnt to the ground for which he had no insurance.

My question has always been is it good for the customer? If he misses a payment they let the dogs loose on him and I lose a customer's family.

Frog there are more important things than money. All I can say is good for you.

What blows me away is hearing his own family members and even some of his customers say that his lying, cheating and stealing is just "business" because everyone does it!

Used epoxy from Sherwin Williams and it looks great. Customers comment how great!

If your customer thinks your worth it than charge ALL YOU CAN FOR YOUR BEST WORK EVERY TIME!

I have seen do it your selfers do that and Brake in the box do that as well!

The biggest business problem is that on the small business level of automotive repair and the auto body industry there are too many criminal enterprises and transactions.

 

They can be recognized easily by "pay me cash and I'll save you the tax." Also by paying employees off the books.

Quoting dealer parts and selling cheap aftermarket parts instead. Selling not needed or untimely repairs, etc. Claiming to have installed parts but didn't, etc. Misdiagnosis seems to be big in the automotive repair area too. So on and so forth.

 

The reason this industry is so suppressed financially and distrusted is because there are too many unethical shops, unethical employees and unethical transactions creating unethical customers. I'm willing to bet that if we went to 10 shops in an area, 7 out of 10 would have these unethical practices if not more.

 

How do you build trust or get a customer or employee to trust you when your blatantly waving a pirate flag stating I'm willing to break the laws of the land and I'm doing it so you can save the tax? I'm willing to get arrested, go to jail, pay tremendous penalties, and this sacrifice is all for you the customer. It would take a jackass on both sides of this transaction to believe this fairytale to be the case. Selfishness has created criminality. If the shop owner is afraid he/she can't eat his piece of bread because he has to pay more taxes when he shows more money, or pay employees more money off the books to save money, then that shop owner is losing his game as shop owner and trying to win by cheating instead. So let's stop lying to ourselves about what has been created in our industry. To many people believe the automotive repair industry is a racket.

 

So to reiterate, the biggest business challenge is playing in a slanted game with an unfair playing field.

 

Picture this, you are playing a game of monopoly with family and friends. You think you're good or should be good. You realize though no matter how good you are or should be doing, you are losing. The guy next to you has more money and/or properties and you wonder how. You catch a glimpse at the right moment and you see his slight of hand towards the cash box. You say, "This person is a thief". "This game is a joke." And that is what your customer says and thinks as well when you give them a glimpse of your criminality. From that point on he/she thinks that everyone in this game is a thief or has the potential of being a thief and the whole game is distrusted and goes to hell. The customer you created, who is now criminal also for partaking in these unscrupulous activities of save the tax goes shop to shop looking to save the tax, get the deal, or take advantage of a losing and unsuspecting shop owner.

 

So the lack of consistency and standardization in the automotive industry is a problem I see. Automotive repair shops should play by a consistent, predictable, and scrupulous set of rules that customers can trust.

 

Cheaters don't have that, they have fear based systems and pricing. Through that fear they resort to unscrupulous activities. Through unscrupulous activities they create distrust in an area, activity or industry. That area, activity or industry then gets suppressed financially or oppressed by the government. It then appears to become less lucrative. But that is only the case for those who don't know how to play the game right.

 

In order to win in life you need to have self-confidence and self-respect. When you have self-respect and self-confidence you have power. People believe in you and people trust you to do the right thing and are willing to pay you to do the right thing.

 

We get paid very well and handsomely at my shop. We attract many high end clients. I have never marketed to any of these people. They have been referred by other high caliber individuals.

 

I am proud of this. I bought my first shop and cleaned up the previous owners BS and criminality, business doubled the first year and then doubled the second year from the first years numbers. I did that through ethical practices. I bought the next shop over and did the same thing. Both of these places were dumps from the get go. I am buying another shop a few blocks away that has been sold twice in the last few years. How am I doing it? Ethical practices. Self-confidence. Self-respect. Ethical environment - people, places, things.

 

So my solution is:

 

Have some self-respect and do the right things. Take survival actions. You will feel strong.

 

Have the self-confidence to believe in yourself. That you can make it in an honest manner and do it and keep on keeping on with honesty and integrity.

 

Create an ethical environment that you can trust in and people around you can trust in. This is how you make it in life and in business.

 

Try it for a week, the worst thing that can happen is you feel better about yourself and like a more able human being.

I drew a line in the sand when it comes to integrity. I worked for a family owned independent shop as service/parts advisor for 26 years fighting for what was honest and right. I would wash customers cars on my lunch and breaks. I promoted the business on my off time, cut the shop lawn and solicited $250k more business per year. I would not lie cheat or steal. The owner would damage peoples cars, loosen bolts, burn up clutches and engines for his profit. He was mad that I would not sell his "jobs". The stress made me sick and I had a stroke at work and pinched nerves in my spinal cord in 2005. In 2014 the owner hired a thief as mgr that was "horny for money" to replace me and sell his "jobs". My retirement was "TURN IN YOUR KEYS" NOTHING! I am now disabled and caring for my ill mother in law and wife but I can look myself in the mirror and sleep at night. I hope to work in this industry again but it has to be "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"