Zenoo

Hey guys thank you for all the valuable knowledge and help! Its been 1 year since I made that post and here is the update. I kept the labor rate the same and marked up the parts by 50%. In the beginning I lost a lot of cheap customers but eventually the good customers started to come who dont question the price of every single part. The business started to make some good profits and overall im happy now. During the busy season I have been booking 1 week out so I think now its time to hire someone. Im planning on hiring an entry level tech that can do oil changes, tires etc while I focus on bigger jobs.

Hi my name is Zenas and I am 26 years old from Alberta, Canada. I started my own automotive repair shop in December 2023. After running it for 1 year I made a little bit of profit. I needed some advice on how I could increase it. Its a 3 bay shop with two 2 post hoists and one 4 post hoist with alignment. I am the only mechanic in the shop as I can't afford to hire anyone at this point. I am charging about $120 per hour for the labor and very minimal mark up on parts. The shop had no customer base when I got it so it took me sometime to build returning customers. If I try to increase the prices on parts the customers run away. Seems like they are calling around the city and going to the cheapest person. My monthly over head cost is about $7000. Whatever I make in a month goes back into next month's rent. Any advices on how to manage this properly from other shop owners?