Mario

It was given to him, not you

Northern mike, don't have one here but have used one. There is a new line of autel scanners but the DS708 is still popular. It can be had for around $800 from harbor freight with a 20-25% coupon online. It's an authentic version supported by Autel (lots of online knock offs that aren't supported). It has lots of holes as a scanner, but is cheap and a good additions considering the price of snapons and OE scanners.

You can make money with a picoscope for sure. It's not handheld but a lot more ability then the snapon scopes. Some techs love scopes, most techs can't use them. They are not in most OEM diag. trees and most schools don't get in depth on their functions and uses. Most techs that know how to use them learn on their own time. I use my vantage a couple times a month, but normally not required to diag and repair what I see, but your needs may vary.

I use a snapon solus. I have a vantage as well that I have to dust off every once in a while. 95% off vehicles I work on a solus and a DVOM is enough but I understand electrical circuits, functions, and can read a wiring diagram. My technician unfortunately is another story.

All of the chain stores here pay labor up to a reasonable amount. I buy a lot from a regional supplier that does not offer labor claims. It use to be the part markup was the built in labor claim. As the industry has gotten more expensive, the part markup fund gets reallocated to other costs.

Alfred, those customers running their cars to the ground don't happen to all have Ohio plates do they?

We are discussing going open market prices for labor in areas all across the United States.

Most the cars I service are old enough to get the universal or Dexcool. I don't like mixing colors so I will order a special type/OEM coolant if the car requires it. Do I think it matters? Probably not, I just do it so the customers has the same color fluid as the factory put in it, whether it be a Toyota Red, Blue, Green, Yellow etc... SMM, not that I am advocate of using universal fluid in everything (as I stated above), but those water pumps were probably going to fail regardless of what fluid is in them. Engine driven water pumps are a sealed bearing with an impeller and water passages. The pump itself could careless what fluid it is moving, whether its blue, green, extended life, or straight H20. The only harm I could see being caused to a pump is if the Coolant waxed up due to types that aren't compatible. And at that point it would be needing a pump, radiator, etc... Today's universal blends are not going to wax up like the stuff did 20 years ago when people were mixing conventional with dexcool etc... Most of the different fluids are different so the manufacture can profit on a product upsell at service interval for a propietary fluid. Heck I've called the Dealer's before for special Anti-freeze, power steering fluid etc... and its not even in stock and will never be in stock at that location. I remember trying to find PS Fluid for a Cadillac CTS and the GM dealer told me GM has so many PS Fluids anymore they just stock a universal and use it in all the systems.

The Chevrolet dealer by my shop is at $60/hr. I have held estimates from customers and they quote right at book time and even offer aftermarket parts vs dealer. The Euro dealer (volvo, jag, VW) downtown is $100/hr, other domestic dealers 70-80. Most Independents are $65-75, with the national chains being all over the place with price and routinely more expensive then the dealers.

I keep dex cool and "universal green/yellow" in stock. If I get something that takes a special coolant i order it as needed from parts supplier/dealership.

Just to add, I had this situation once where I had a verbal OK in person but no signature. The customer told me they didn't sign anything so they weren't paying and I said you didn't sign but you are on camera giving me authorization. It shut him up and he paid. I never went back to even have to pull the video.

Can you audio record conversations? Most states are only one party consent.

This is why I operate lean. Winter is slow here as well (actually last winter was super busy, but not the norm). I budget my business as if every month is December. Winter is going to generate the dirty work that needs done, brake lines, fuel lines, starters etc... Make sure every car gets a full inspection to catch any problems that will strand a customer again.

These are most of my customers in Ohio unfortunately. It is frustrating and I completely understanding wanting to retain the customer. About a year after I opened my shop I invested in a plastic/nylon fuel line kit. All the fittings, adapters, compression fittings, and sizes of line to cover almost any application. We have a lot of rusted out gas and brake lines in my area. One day some guy comes in with a car with rotted out gas lines and asks me for a quote on replacing them. I got him off of a craigslist ad I ran (my mistake). I gave him a quote for two new gas lines from the Fuel Pump to the engine for $400. The plastic fuel lines are expensive to make, but are a near permanent fix unless they are cut. The tank had to be lowered to access the lines closest to the pump. Honestly with all the rust, doing these kind of jobs end up taking a half of the day to preserve the gas line brackets, cut out all the nasty line, cut and fit new lines, and button everything back up and clean the bottom of the car. It makes a mess on the floor and the shop stinks for the rest of the day. The guy acted like he just fell out of his shoes when he told me "Wow I only paid $200 for the car". So because he bought the car cheap, all the repairs on the car should cost less then the car? After that experience I went on craigslist and removed my ad.

I am putting this in Non-Automotive Discussion, but my price shopping experience relates to how customers feel and may relate to sometimes in purchasing vehicle maint. and repairs. The Back Story: I have been on vacation since June 8th in southeast Europe. I am leaving in two days to go back to the United States. I am here with my wife who is a huge animal lover. To make a long story short their a huge stray dog problem in Europe. Dozens of stray dogs in every village, town, and city you go into. The town we are staying in has a population of around 80,000 and is pretty densley populated. We seen one particular dog the first few days we were here. My wife commented on how ill he looked at that time. Fast forward two weeks later and we seen the same dog again, this time almost dead. He couldn't pick himself up off the sidewalk, was very low on energy and strength and appeared to be dehydrated. I picked him up and walked home with him. We fed and watered him, and took him to a vet to get medication and later shots when he was healthy enough. I couldn't find an appropriate home for him so I decided I am taking him home to the United States with me. I figured I would just bring him on our airplane, but found out later he was too big to fit into the largest cage that is acceptable on the airplane. So I had to go to plan B, fly him on a seperate cargo plane. I started contacting cargo brokers in the area. As a private individual you cannot just book cargo yourself, it must go through a cargo company. The first company I found was located in Turkey. They were going to fly my dog out of Skopje Macedonia (2.5hrs driving from where I am), send him to Istanbul, and then to Washington D.C. That is the most common route for cargo in this area back to the U.S. The cargo agent assured me that the dog would be fed and watered on layovers. I waited a week for a quote from this company and when I got the quote I almost fell out of my chair, 4300 Euros which is nearly $4800 with exchange fees. I called around to another company who could not complete the transaction because my dog would have to go into Bulgaria which is a EU member. The EU has some rabies blood test that needs done after vaccination but their is no lab in Macedonia to complete this test at the moment. So I called a Cargo company from the Skopje Macedonian airport. Once again the booked route was from Skopje, to Istanbul, to Washington D.C. The price estimated was 1100 euros. After a few days of talking options and the broker looking into customs requirements the price went to 1580 Euros. I selected this broker and went this route. I didn't get a chance to get into contact with anymore brokers due to time constraints (over a week being wasted by the broker in Turkey). During this mission to get my dog back to the USA I felt like a customer calling around to auto repair shops trying to price a service. I also rediscovered as to why a customer may feel on the defense whenever talking to a company for a service. I found one price nearly 3 times the amount compared to the competitor. There was also a 40% increase in price from my estimated price to the actual price. I don't know the actual reasons for the price increase, if it was increased due to customs and airline fees, or if it was the broker sensing I was determined to get my dog to the USA and he wanted to profit off of my determination. I also remember why I got into this business, I was an avid DIYer and came from a family of DIYers that rarely sourced out work. I generally DIY projects, and with this one "project" I felt "weak" because I had to rely on somebody else to complete this task for me. Lots of rambling, I don't know what of this pertains to a customer psychology when choosing a service, I thought I would just share my story.

Even as a shop owner, I have discouraged family members from going into the automotive field. As a tech the pay is "ok". Not great, techs don't get rich, and often are looking for an exit by their mid 30s. It is one of the most expensive trades to get into with the cost of tools and equipment. You can make $40k sitting at an air conditioned bank anywhere in the United States. $40k in the auto world is often back breaking work. In Ohio the shops are cold in the winter and hot and humid in the summer. You have to literally be a jack of all trades and a master of all to make it. Electronics tech, plumber, welder, fabricator, a mechanic, and lastly a student to make it 30 years in the field. In my area the best dealership techs are lucky to hit $60k. $60k is great money in this area, but you can make it a lot easier in other fields. Unfortunately I would say the average tech doesn't even gross $35,000 which is not even $17/hr at 40 hours a week. Things need to change. I hear fellow shop owners willing to pay service writers $50-80k a year, but they look for ways to underpay their tech making $30k.

Not all weld in obd II cats are the same. Normally your parts supplier can look up the proper sized universal cat. I don't do a lot of these, but I have never had a propey sized obd II fail, but I have seen plenty of wrong sized cats fail after a year or two

Where in ohio? I am near akron/canton.

How about the cheapo that doesn't want to buy new wires and then the plug wire boot breaks on spark plug and the customer gives you that look like it's your fault. I forgot we let engines go 130k without removing plugs and no dielectric grease on plug to stop them from getting stuck.

Greg smith and all the smaller name brand lifts are the same lift. Greg smith is probably your best bet though for parts etc... After the sale. I have two tuxedo lifts which have been good. I would have liked a quality or challenger but I had a lot to buy when opening up with no financing available.

No problem getting hyundai parts here.

Turn the salesmen away. So many shop owners are up to their eye balls in debt. Weekly payments on this, monthly payments on that, rent, utilities, insurance etc... .I have a friend the next town over who just spent another $10k on storage roll cabs from s/o. I asked him why so much and why snapon to store seldom used equipment. His response was because it's only $90 a week.

It shares the post with more people in your area on their news feed. I always have ads from a used car dealer on my news feed when he boosts the post and his posts regularly have 30 or so comments about the vehicle in the post.

This is why I don't promise any same day repairs, not even on an oil change!. Crap happens and auto repair is not a cut and dry process sometimes. If it's 5 and the job likely won't be done real soon then I will arrange a ride home for the customer and it's time to go. I have enough signage telling customers that I don't operate as a drive thru (mcdonalds) repair shop that they don't blink when I say no guarantees on same day service. I tell them it will probably will be done but they better have plans for transportation to and from work and don't even think about holding my feet to the fire!