EXP Frank

This has been a good thread, and regardless of what status or income level a person holds (shop owner or not), I feel that you can learn something from just about anyone. I am a one man shop that has been in business for a little over 2 years. I still work from my home and have pretty small expenses. I am working hard to build my brand as an honest and ethical shop owner, putting customers first. I started my business because of a bad experience as a customer at a local shop, and do not regret it a minute. This business is hard as hell, but worth it! I am a college graduate, and spent the last 9 years working as an Operations Manager in the building material industry. I began my career in the auto business working in a parts department for Mercedes-Benz of San Diego, have worked as a parts man at several auto parts stores, worked as a technician for dealerships and repair shops. I find that you absolutely must do your research before committing to owning a business, and develop a clear plan for success. Finding a way to separate you from the competition will prove to be a profitable decision. And make sure you take time to sharpen your skills, as well as feed your dream. Most importantly, your dream (reason why you are building the business) has to be stronger than your fear of failure!

Think its hard now, imagine if you had to pay all the expenses of a legit shop.

I've always liked the idea of certifications, but I agree that they are not necessary when it comes to doing quality work AND that some guys are basically paper pushing - test taking geniuses that don't have a clue what to do when it comes to diagnostics or having a wrench in their hands.

 

My general thought on this has always been to rate the repair shop as well as the tech. Say an A-B-C-D rating system. Right smack on the front door would be a white sign with a black letter showing the graded/evaluation of that particular repair shop. Each shop can raise or lower their rating based on the quality of work and equipment as well as their technicians skill levels. The rating system could also dictate the highest labor per hour each rating could charge.

 

It's not a perfect idea but, this would allow the consumer to decide where they want to go instead of the usual, "I went here, then here, and then over there and nobody knows how to fix my car." If they went to a D shop that has nothing more than a code reader and OUIJA board to diagnose cars they can't blame anybody but themselves for only getting what they paid for.

 

How do you rate a shop? Simple, we do it. We as in the shop owners and technicians. Or, some sort of secret shopper deal. Take an older tech and give them the task of checking out shops. I personally like the idea of us governing us.

 

thoughts???

These ideas always sound great in theory. But do you really want some college grad, that couldn't make it in the real world so he went to work for the state, passing judgement on your shop? All this would do is raise the cost of doing business. Lets be real, the people who go to the shade tree guys aren't the customers you want. Let them go and don't lose sleep on them. Focus on the customers who see the value in what you do for a living. There's plenty of cars for everybody.

You want better techs, train them to be better techs. Our newest tech I hired with zero mechanical experience and we trained him with my A tech for 6 months. He's a solid B tech and I have no doubt he'll be a great A tech. 100% in house trained. We've hired UTI and Wyotech grads and they never last. They come out of school with a lot of debt and are qualified to change oil. But they expect big bucks. I have a UTI grad now and I believe the only reason he thrived is the fact he apprenticed with us while he was still in High School. You have to have some form of in house training.

Interesting topic. I'm guessing your techs are paid salary?

I have received several sales calls from them over the past couple weeks. Typical telemarketer call, local number with weak sales pitch. How many of you guys are using their services?

Some of my favorites are:

Customers for life by Carl Sewell

7 habits for highly effective people by Stephen Covey

Lynchpin by Seth Godin

We left alldata for identifix over a year ago and haven't looked back.

We went through demos for AV and bolt on here at Sema today. Both were impressive and I can't wait to integrate AV in our shop.

That's a pretty interesting a approach. What do you do about tools for your new hires if they're from outside our industry?

Anybody here ever been to their seminars or signed up for their consulting? Looking for some insight before I make a decision.

When I contacted them they told me my shop was too small (3 bays and Gross sales) to work with. Quite disappointing.

Welcome to the group

We have our regular labor rate and a labor rate for warranty/insurance companies.

What are you guys paying for the autonettv service?

These guys seem to all be sleezy salesmen. Who do you guys trust with your processing and do you have any tips when it comes to dealing with these companys?

Thanks for the replies. I think you guys all have valid points and I'm going to implement some of your ideas. We are in a small market and Yelp isn't as popular as it probably is in San Diego. We actually just spent 6 months advertising with yelp and got very little response.

Just built my first website for our shop. I'd like to hear your opinions and suggests on it. I have my big boy pants on so please be as honest as you'd like.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Frank

http://Excessiveperformance.com