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Hammer

By Hammer
in Repair & Maintenance Services

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Hammer Newbie

Hammer

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My shop is in a very rural area in South Carolina.  We are mainly a new tire dealer and we have been here for over 40 years.  We repair and replace everything from hand truck tires all the way up to large radial rear tractor tires.  We do alignments, brakes, front end suspension work, batteries, and oil changes.  We have been successful at what we do, but I see the effects of the internet and additional competition from car dealers, big box, etc. on tires and rims.  

I took over from my dad about 3 years ago and I added oil changes and focused more on the alignment and front end suspension work, which has been great.  I have a great alignment and suspension guy.  My background is more finance and the business side of things as opposed to the mechanical side of things.

I would like to get into doing more for our customers.  I want to get some opinions on what types of services we should offer, and how I can find a decent general maintenance tech.  I don't think that we should jump full on into engine and transmission work, but I could see doing things like master cylinders, ac work, fuel filters, general maintenance, etc.   

I am going to have a pretty steep learning curve on this, so any pointers you guys could provide will be appreciated.

 

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gandgautorepair Enthusiast

gandgautorepair

Posted
Posted

Not sure what you're already doing, but the basics are a good inspection on every car or truck and consistently looking up the factory maintenance schedules every time...then do the work that you find. We have signs around the customer area all about the benefits and savings of proper maintenance, so we stress maintenance over repair. Then we present that we inspect the car every time so they are safe and the car is reliable. We'd rather find a problem while they're car is in the shop then them finding it out on the road. I have signs with sayings like these so customers read them and the advisers have consistent word tracts. You could look up a variety of factory maintenance schedules to get ideas of services you would need at add.

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