risingsunmotors

We are in College Park Md, labor rate is 126.63 and will go up 4.00 per hour each quarter as we did last year

We've used interstate for at least 30+ years, no issues bad enough to consider switching.

These guys are pretty good

https://www.autotraining.net/

Jeff

We use Sil-glyde , part number BK-4 , carquest has it, worldpac has it too. 

Jeff

Our techs buy their own gloves, shop supplies , nuts, bolts, chemicals , we use Imperial, Worldpac, Carquest, Autozone, Melik Global trading for wipers. 

jeff

23.99 for rotation and .3 to the tech's , sometimes most of that time or more is spent looking for the dreaded wheel lock key...

we sell tires at 30.00 over cost to remain somewhat competitive , it works well , convenience is a big thing to , the customer can just have all done here at one time instead of bouncing all over town looking for a "deal" we sell more than we lose. 

Jeff

www.risingsunmotorsMD.com

Done by Netdriven out of PA. they do a good job 

Jeff

All tech but one are flat rate so they can work on their own stuff, office help pays 10% off labor and 10% over on parts most times, unless a tech will work on for free after hours or something like that, not a huge company here , only 8 of us and we pretty much take care of one another 

we sell to employees at 10% over cost on anything

We use, have been for about 6 months +/- it is 199. monthly plus if customer comes in via repairpal , towed or off their website they get a 10% fee of invoice amount, we have gotten a handful (one handful ) of new customers in this span of time , I don't think we will continue much longer , don't really see the value. A lot of bargain hunters ....we are not a bargain shop, we are better than that.

jeff

using the above method of tire pricing we average 60 tires a month +/- , which i dont think is too bad for a small independent shop

we sell tires, usually pick a good brand and offer just that (hankook) , we do not stock tires anymore , used to , but was difficult to keep up with ever changing sizes and carrying multiple brands etc. we get 2-4 deliveries a day , we sell of course based on customer need but convenience as well, car is here, needs tires, we can do NOW, you get the idea. what we charge, 23.99 M+B each tire, valve stem, service pack, extra.

tires we price like this , tire cost 87.91 lets say, multiply by 1.5 , sell for 131.86 , if tire is over 100 dollars we multiply by 1.36 102.44 x 1.36 sell for 139.31 . we make some money on tire sales and alignments of course, not record breaking BUT, the car is here, needs tires, why should we lose out on that profit?, right, we shouldnt.

we sell quite a bit of tires, the ones we loose are the ones that like costco, sams club, etc.

jeff

There are a lot of part suppliers out, and I have been around the block for more years than I care to admit. For me, it’s about service and relationships. We all get frustrated from time to time about part quality, deliveries, pricing, etc. In the end I want to know that I have someone I can talk to, one on one, to help with key issues. In my area, no other parts company qualifies under this criteria than CARQUEST. They do deliver (sorry for the pun).

 

I would like to know what other shop owners value from their suppliers.

I would have to say our top supplier is worldpac, best parts , delivery , price , quality etc.. second would be parts authority . napa and carquest tied for third, sorry but dont see much in high quality from those 2 , dont care about price at all, quality matters most. want to do job 1 time only!!

jeff