weighit

In the last business I owned I stripped paint and rust off anything with low pressure blasting of recycled plastic, walnut shells and glass bead at no more than about 30 psi. Had many folks come in and ask how much to strip this item, I would give a price and say you can have it back tomorrow. They would sometimes say, naw, i will just strip it myself and I would say OK, if you end up not getting it done, I will be here if you need me. Off they go, then a few days later in comes the part 1/2 done, and they ask if they get a discount for working 8 hours on the item? Nope, same price as before, but you can see how much work was involved and you only got it partially done, and not all that well either. On a few occasions I told them it was now more than the last quote as they buggered it up and made it harder for me. Some folks learned a lesson that paying for someone else to do the work is the right way to do it.

When I had my business there were jobs I really didn't care to do nor want to do, but reluctantly did. One day my wife asked, for that job you don't like, how much more if you charged would you like to do it? I gave her a figure, and she said Ok starting today that is the new base price. I started to actually like doing those jobs and funny thing was, not one person said Oh that is too much, they just said OK do it. You have to not only make money working, but like what your getting paid for that job. She was a LOT smarter than me somedays.

When I owne my body sho[ it was a good thing as I wrote and submitted the estimates and got paid off that.  We were able to start repairs fast and things went through the shop quiclly. Then an inspector would hand pick a few final repaired vehicles to go and reinspect to ensure all that was paid for was done. That worked well, then they started hiring outside adjusters / or hiring their own and then it turned bad. Seemed to me they must have been paid a commission to low ball all repairs. No way to make any money, they tied up the shop waiting for them to come inspect, or come back for additional missed repairs. Demanding repairs that were not the best for the customer or the vehicle. I kicked them out of my shop and actually made more money without them. Things might have changed, but it would be up to you to give it a try and see if they are worst, or  better. 

Typicality I would start asking the vendors you have coming into your shop, the tool man in the truck. He is in and out of many other shops and would have a feel for who is good and who is not so good.  Next time a insurance adjuster shows up for some insurance claim, afain another person who should know who they think is doing excellent work and who to stay away from. Once you get a coupke of good ones, call and make an appointment for a one on one visit to see for yourself. Ask them for the run down on what makes them a good shop and see how the "sell themselves to you". Just my suggestions. 

If you came into my shop, I would want to show you the frame machine and how the tech was trained by that factory to use it 5 times in some other state. That we use the German paint system and the painters are all expert in the applications. What warranty that paint companies gives. How we have an office staff that keeps control of all the billing with the comuter system that is state of the art. We only try to use orignial factory parts, when we can. The parking ,lot is monitored by 10 cameras and a guard stays on property over night. You get the idea, let them brag. You should get a feeling of good, well run and quality or poor everything.

As a past body shop owner I used to visit service repair shops to get the "tour" so i could use them when needing some mechanical repairs we could not do. Talking with the owners, asking questions and seeing with my own eyes, giving you the good feeling or bad feeling. If I was a customer, would I feel good about spending my own money here. Many smaller bodys shops are always fighting to get customers away from the big national chains. Take a few hours one day and go visit what is in your area. Many of the smaller shops will not be on the main highways but off on a side road/street. They may need you for things they can't or don't want to do just as much as you could use them. Could be helpful for both of you to build a relationship. 

I started out as an assistant body shop mgr under a good leader, he was patient and honest to teach the new guy the right way and worked my way up learning the ropes. I had asked way back then why there was no training center for either body shop mgrs or estimators? There may be now, but back then there was none. You maybe could start asking all the paint supply store salesmen who in thier opinion would be someone maybe willing to switch jobs from where they are to your shop. Knowing a good paid and appreciated employess would not be willing to move, you just might find a good replacement close to you? Worth a try.  Those salemen know a lot of folks doing exactly what your looking for. Letting them know your willing to pay a finders fee to the person who puts you in touch with that new hire might be a lot chaper in the long run?

I no lomger have a shop and the one I did have was totally different from yours. I just thought for anyone on here to help they needed more info on what it was exactly you were going to be doing. I hope someone can give you a better idea on what your looking for.

I cannot believe anyone can give you an educated guess with this as there is just too much information missing.  But I could be wrong.

Recently moved to a new town, about 30,000 here and with the surounding towns about 100,000 folks. There are many radio stations I can listen to but have narrowed in on a conservitive one that is all talk radio. Many local businesses advertise in 30 second spots. I have had the pleasure of meeting some of these business owners and letthem know I heard their spot. I then ask how the radio is doing for their business? Everyone said they are or have seen a tremoundous increase in business and for the cost they are paying per month is a no brainer. The one fellow gets other local business owners that use his auto repair shop to to give in their own words how they have been treated and what a great service this shop provides to the community. The battery shop i was in yesterday said his business has increased 40% in the past 2 years after using the radio station. Are any of you advertising this way?

I always looked at as they are working for and with me, they make me a good living, giving up profit for an employee was a no brainer. They got cost on parts, they did their own labor without my paying them, so off the clock. All family members got a cost plus on parts and 25% off labor. And they got scheduled as to not disrupt the normal business we had. Helping employees was what helped me keep a crew together for years. I learned a long time go it was very expensive to hire and train a new person, much cheaper to keep good guys happy. 

I know this fellow, Keith, he has helped untold new business owners with his videos dealing with landscaping and other small businesses. Really a nice fellow and wants others to learn from his mistakes. Have never seen a body shop owner or service center owner ever talk this way and try to help the 'new guy' start up.

Years ago I woirked for Hertz Rent-a-Car and the whole management team was sent to a seminar for 2 days to learn to do exactly as your describing.  I know it changed my attitude and outlook as a manager and it did make a difference in my groups work output. We seemed to 'click' as a team in a short period of time after that 2 day work shop. When I left Hertz I made it a practice to carry that new learning on to my own businesses.   

I'm sure we would all toss out a figure now, but back when I was young and knew everything, no way would I think I could learn anything from some old guy!! Its amazing how smart we get as we grow older.....

Why would you not pay the employee for doing his civic duty when called by the courts to do Jury Duty. The jurist is paid a daily rate from the court but it is not much, here it is about $35 for the day. That is a far cry from what most employees make a day and in some cases they pay mileage from the center of your town to the court. Telling the judge that my boss won't pay me while I'm here in court won't get that person released. You think your employee WANTS to be in court? I think not. Not his fault he/she got selected to report. It only happened one time to one of my guys and I paid the difference from the court pay to what he normally made a day with me. He was not selected to be on a trial so it was only one day for him.

Wow I was generous I guess. Each employee got 1 weeks average pay paid in check with taxes paid one week before Christmas. I didn't have anyone with less than 5 years working for me so didn't have to worry about figuring out what the 'new' guy should get. I looked at it like these guys work hard for me, make me a really decent income and I wanted them to stay working for me.The money would not change my life style one bit, but they could use the added money and besides, it felt good to shake their hands and say Merry Christmas!

Unfortunately Mr. Trump was not my first or second choice, but I now support him as a better choice than anyone else running. I look at what he has exposed as the corrupt news media that I have for years said were not giving real information. He is not a politician and thus has some baggage that some real politician would not have, knowing they wanted to be in the political world. But he seems to get things done and know what it takes to run a business, so he is getting my vote. Worst case he is a flop and we boot him out in 4 years.

Many years ago I was hired as the service manager of a Toyota dealership that had 7 techs. I was hired to replace the last fellow that could not get the sales number up after a couple of years. Things flat lined and even with the many additional sales of vehicles, the service department was stagnent. Did not take long to figure out the problem, one tech, actually the best tech in the shop that got many of the best jobs had the worst attitude of anyone I ever met. His being grumpy caused the other fellows to always be on guard and in my opinion they all held back. I told the owner I was going to let this fellow go, he was strongly against it as this was the star producer he said. I said you could have 6 star producers as opposed to just one. After a few months one day I did it, cut that guy loose. It was like the whole shop perked up the next morning, then I started getting all kinds of thank you's from the other techs, One fellow kept the whole shop down, sales went way up, production went up, employee pay checks improved and my checks really got good. Finally a few months after the change the owner came to me and said he had no idea that the one guy caused so much problem.

How about looking in another state? Sometimes hunting out of your own area might pay off. Once i was working in Detroit and someone in Chicago contacted me. He paid for me to fly in for an interview, offered at least 10% more than I was making, would pay for the movers to move me and gave a $1,000.00 advancement check towards the cost of deposits on the new apartment. That was to be repaid over the course of the fisrt year. He said he was having a hard time finding qualified applicants in that area and was willing to pay for help outside his area. Of the 20 or so mechanics I bet 5 or 6 were from other states. Some areas of the USA are probably better at having employees willing to leave and move to another area especially if they can not only make more, but learn and become a better tech.

I just tried to get on your web site, got the message "This web page not availible" that is not a good sign.

The meeting with my insurance agent when i had my shop was like an hour long. He asked me 100 questions, he wanted to know everything about the business, the sales, the highest amount of vehicles that may be in the shop at the worst possible time. He wanted to make sure should that once in a life time event happen, I was covered and not left hanging exposed. Overall I had the final say on what and how much, but he started out letting me know where we could, should and should not cut coverages. He gave me the blue print as it were that I then could compare with other insurance companies. For 12 years he was my guy, but I checked his prices every year, just in case as I like everyone else didn't want to be giving money away needlessly. It is so much easier to compare when everyone has the exact same coverages to bid on.

I ran the body damage department in Detroit for Avis Rent-A-Car when I was younger. We had many new cars with less than 3,000 miles rented for the weekends at some really low week-end special rates. They would be returned with bald tires and rusty wheels, batteries switched out with some wrong size and radios replaced. A few came in with a different windshield that was replaced with a cracked/broken one. One even came in with a different color front seat! Folks would rent the car, take it home and switch out the parts they needed with the same older car they must have owned and return the car. We never once went after anyone, as the policy was how do you prove who did what. Since I had a budget to keep it effected ME as my pay was based on staying within budget. These costs were not something that were factored into the normal costs of keeping a new car on the road.

To gain attention I used to park a bare metal car that we stripped out by the road to show what we did at that shop. We removed paint and rust with low pressure blasting. When I had a body shop we parked the wrecks by the street to show what we fixed. When I ran a service shop we parked cars out by the street with the hoods up. All of these little visual things gave folks driving by a view of what we were doing behind the fence. Adding a banner of what you want to say will add to the visual of a car or truck in some state of repair of non repair.You need folks to notice you or your shop and get an understanding of what you do. Very low cost for all of these things. Most of the time a banner removed daily will not require some city permit as it is not a permanent sign if it is hung on a car/truck. Just a thought

I have a friend that is a part time teacher in the auto shop class at the college level. Problem is the students are not from the college but from the other schools that are making the bad students attend the auto shop class as opposed to tossing them from the school. Kind of a less punishment thing I guess. He said it is so frustrating trying to teach kids that don't want to be there, have no desire to learn and are just filling a seat till they are 'allowed' to graduate and leave. They are disrespectful, damage things and are making it difficult for the 1 or 2 students that actually want to be there. He said he concentrates on giving the 1 or 2 that want to learn 110% effort to let them be the best possible the rest oh well. The high schools in the area have closed down the auto shop class to save money, or cut costs and find it cheaper to farm the students out to the other school he happens to be working at. I guess things are changing and not for the better.

If any of you shop owners have excess space where an RV motor home can fit, your missing the boat on all that work. Many of the owners are thinking they only can go to a RV place for any service. There are more gas powered units than diesel and if your so inclined, these owners need service. If your anywhere close to an RV park, stop in and meet the owner or manager and let them know your able to help service anyone needing your help. The labor rates are higher than what most of you are charging for auto repairs and I found the units easy to work on. Yes they do take room, but the rv owner normally would want the rig fixed as soon as possible and will pick them up as soon as called that the work is done.

I traveled 8 years in my rig living full time in it and met a LOT of unhappy folks that were dealing with the RV only service places. If you read any of the RV related forums finding a reliable, honest and qualified service place ranks as the top complaint. The places that are rated high in the service side are always busy and have a big following of customers. Just a thought to increase sales and profits. Might be worth looking into.

So true, I was hired into a dealership as the Service Mgr and had a wiz kid tech, really was an all around great mechanic, just a terrible person. Threw tools, swore, unhappy at most of what life tossed his way. He would come in and the whole mood of the shop would turn glum. I tried the normal things you would to to cheer him up, gave all the kudo's trying to inspire him to enjoy life. Talk and listen to what he was 'upset' about. After at least 6 months of this, pulled him into the office and said I Quit! He looked at me funny and I said your out of here, I quit trying to get you to work as a team mate and your unhappy attitude to the other guys and office staff. No notice, no lets try something else, I quit YOU. Load your stuff and I will have Sally cut your last check right now. As he was making his exit, the rest of the guys all came and said Thank You! Many said they were in the process of trying to find other employment, but now would stay and not feel threatened by the bad guy. Hard to believe but the work output went up with that one guy gone. Don't put up with a toxic employee.