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Posted

Currently customers gauge the cost of one shop vs. another entirely on labor rates.  I wouldn't mark up any parts if I could charge the labor rate required to accomplish that. In Minnesota only the parts are taxable. The labor is exempt as long as it's repair work. The customer would pay less sales tax if I charged cost on my parts, but I'd have to just about double my shop labor rate.  The total cost to the customer would be close to the same either way, but I'd have to have customers that had as much schooling on economics as they did algebra in order to get them to understand.  The other benefit would be that I just wouldn't care if the customer supplied their own parts anymore.  Wouldn't affect me or my bottom line.

 

Posted

When I mentioned this exact thing on a Facebook auto shop owners group, I was basically ganged  up on by an angry mob fueled by one idiot shop owner who said I was a you tube mechanic newbie idiot. His words, not mine. Actually I’ve had a successful shop for over twenty years, but have always been forward thinking. As long as dinosaurs such as that shop owner exist in this industry we’ll never move forward. Face it, parts margins are shrinking and it’s time to adapt. I’ve been looking at ways now to get more labor out of the job and not worry so much about the parts. Any ideas would be welcome as I’m just starting to experiment with this. 

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Posted

This is an old discussion around our shop.  Our best answer is: wholesale on parts & whatever labor rate it takes to reach your gross profit goal is what is charged to customer.The challenge is we are too fearful to think about stating that actual dollar amount per hour for mechanical labor & diagnostic labor that it would take to take to a customer. Mostly due to the perception (or fact) that consumers really don't care about why; they just want to compare a number.  Many assume a good warranty, customer service, and value is standard.  We may age out before we can ever get on the same page together on this as an industry.

  • Like 1
Posted

That’s the exact formula I’m looking at, but worry about the high labor dollars too. I like to be a disrupter, but I don’t want to disrupt myself out of business. Do we charge $29 for brake pads and $250 to install them? Does the consumer adapt to that and say they have great parts prices but their labor is ridiculous? Has anyone tried this approach?

Posted

Yesterday I had a conversation with an investigator for the sales tax division in my state. I ask her the following questions:

If I stop charging a mark up on parts and roll all the charges into my labor rate, would I be flagged for an audit by the sale tax division, because my overall sales would remain the same but the sales tax that I report would be cut in half. She did not think so and she had been asked the question before by other owners. Labor is not taxable in Michigan.

I then asked her "what if" I stopped charging markup on parts and started charging a "shop rate" (in lieu of a markup on parts), and that "shop rate" was a variable of (and based on) the cost of the parts used on the invoice.  She wasn't so sure how that would be received by sales tax division, by she would ask a compliance officer and report back to me. 

Personally, I would rather just have a shop rate that covers all controllable costs to the customer. Unfortunately in Michigan we are mandated to have parts & labor charges, plus billed hours, clearly called out on our estimates. It is unlikely, in my opinion, that the BAR would allow a "shop rate" other than as an additional charge on top of parts and labor, which is no less confusing to the consumer than our current scenario of marking up parts. I am currently in the middle of a friendly audit by the BAR and I will ask the compliance officer his thoughts on this. 

Maybe the first thing we need to agree on is that our true charge to any and every customer(consumer), by every and any automotive service facility, is typically:

"Our normal charge for the job minus our cost on the parts "   We control all other charges on the job, except parts cost. Regardless of what quality of part we use, there will be a parts charge and we did not set that cost.

This whole mess became much clearer to me, when I figured out that the price we charge a customer that wants to supply their own parts, is as follows:

Our charge when a customer wants to supply their own parts is whatever our normal everyday charge for the job is, less our cost on the parts required.

Once we agree that is exactly what we charge our very best customers, in every shop model, we will be one step closer to a solution, Imo. 

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

We charge by the job but we do breakdown parts and labor on the ro. Once in a while someone will question the markup I reply "the Amazon price is if you do it yourself" end of story we don't put in your parts I need to buy groceries like everyone else. Some people complain about the 8.5% sales tax i tell them to call Albany it's not up for discussion. 

I suppose we could just raise the labor rate to compensate but I'm afraid its going to be a race to the bottom once everyone starts wholesaling parts 

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      It always amazes me when I hear about a technician who quits one repair shop to go work at another shop for less money. I know you have heard of this too, and you’ve probably asked yourself, “Can this be true? And Why?” The answer rests within the culture of the company. More specifically, the boss, manager, or a toxic work environment literally pushed the technician out the door.
      While money and benefits tend to attract people to a company, it won’t keep them there. When a technician begins to look over the fence for greener grass, that is usually a sign that something is wrong within the workplace. It also means that his or her heart is probably already gone. If the issue is not resolved, no amount of money will keep that technician for the long term. The heart is always the first to leave. The last thing that leaves is the technician’s toolbox.
      Shop owners: Focus more on employee retention than acquisition. This is not to say that you should not be constantly recruiting. You should. What it does means is that once you hire someone, your job isn’t over, that’s when it begins. Get to know your technicians. Build strong relationships. Have frequent one-on-ones. Engage in meaningful conversation. Find what truly motivates your technicians. You may be surprised that while money is a motivator, it’s usually not the prime motivator.
      One last thing; the cost of technician turnover can be financially devastating. It also affects shop morale. Do all you can to create a workplace where technicians feel they are respected, recognized, and know that their work contributes to the overall success of the company. This will lead to improved morale and team spirit. Remember, when you see a technician’s toolbox rolling out of the bay on its way to another shop, the heart was most likely gone long before that.
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