Book explaining hours for job

Rooster · August 9, 2012

Hey guys

I just opened a shop about 2 months ago. Business was really slow at first, but it's starting to pick up a bit.

My question is, what book or service are you guys using to quote hours on a job. We've been just taking a guess so far, but my mechanic wants to get this service that tells you what amount of hours a job takes, and it's like $500 a month. I just can't afford it right now, since we are not breaking even yet. Would love to know what you would suggest.

Jeff · August 9, 2012

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CARMandP · August 9, 2012

I'm with Jeff. Love my Mitchell1. Costs 260 a month and this program not only lets me do my invoicing, parts ordering and repair section but pricing as well. An ABSOLUTE must have. I also have Identifix for any strange problems. Great tool for some easy diagnostics.

xrac · August 10, 2012

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Joe Marconi · August 10, 2012

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find01 · August 10, 2012

I personally like alldata, I had Mitchell on demand for a month as a trail version and found it much more difficult to locate repair information. As a general rule try to estimate a little on the high side, so you have a cushion for any unexpected problems with the repair and if the job goes well, the customers will be happy with a bill that was lower than the original estimate. They will come back.

Mario · August 10, 2012

AutozonePro offers ESTIMATING software from ALLDATA with Invoicing for $50/month. There are also alternatives such as RealTime Labor Guide for $300 and it is your forever unless you update.

The estimating software is what is valuable to me, the repair information can all be found on google and normally is quite useless anyways.

xrac · August 10, 2012

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Joey N. · August 10, 2012

We currently use AllData for estimating and procedures.. were happy with it and never felt as if we were in need of any additional information other than what alldata offers.

Do yourself a favor and stop guessing right away, you are hurting your business.

Rooster · August 10, 2012

Thanks for the info guys. Great forum you have here. Tons of great info.

xrac · August 10, 2012

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sjdieselrepair · August 10, 2012

As a small shop owner myself with a budget, we use identifix and also napaprolink. We get it free through our local napa store. It comes in handy doing estimates and u can beat the price! Identifix is $160 a month for good information also.

LinconlnAutoRepair · August 11, 2012

We have Napapro link as well. Its nice but you do have to be a napa auto care center in order to reap the benefits of it. We have ALLDATA and I have to be honest. I feel it lacks a lot to be desired. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to find basic stuff (both labor times and repair info) and its no where to be found when you preform the general search. If you know how to look for stuff on it under the sub headings, SOMETIMES you can find it. I have used the entire Mitchelle 1 set up and truly feel its the easiest to generate quotes and keep up with customers history. Right now we are using MAXXTRAXXS and it is complete crap. Horriable user intferface and you can not search previous work orders unless you know the invoice number. Also, generating quotes takes a while and its not like Mitchelle where you can just click and transfer over the job from the estimating book.

When it comes to using ALLDATA for labor estimating, I have found their labor times to be on the short side and they don't often offer the extra time needed. IE Pull drive/engine 6.4 hours. There is nothing said about extra time to discharge the AC system, Radiator, Wiring harness, ect... you have to know the trade to know where to add on.

Granted Mitchelle is pricey, but there are ways to get discouns, (NAPA AUTO CARE) and other ways. If I would start again, I would prob just go Mitchelle and be done with it. There is no real "perfect" program out there yet, its whats the best out of whats offered. JMO

TheTrustedMechanic · August 12, 2012

I have AllData and contrary to the Mitchell lovers I find it fairly complete. I tried Mitchell1 for their trial period and told them forget it. Of the first three cars (actually the only three I tried) I looked up, one had info but it was less than 1/3 of what was in AllData, the next only had about half of the info and was VERY difficult to find and the third, a 1988 Ford Ranger 2.9L had zero info for tune-up specs. Zero, nothing, nada, and I spent over 35 minutes looking and trying various search terms.

If AllData does not have the info you're looking for you can fax a data request and they will research it and send you the info. With Manage Elite for shop management/invoicing it costs me about $235 a month. I also have Real Time Labor Guide (you can get a free trial version to check it out) and I am a Napa AutoCare Center so I can use ProLink, Too bad AllData doesn't interface with ProLink and based on the extremely poor performance of Mitchell1 I won't use it. I find AllData and Mitchell times to be very similar most of the time but sometimes there is a significant difference and it goes both ways. Real Time Labor Guide is almost always higher so I would be careful using it as my sole labor guide.

LinconlnAutoRepair · August 12, 2012

I have AllData and contrary to the Mitchell lovers I find it fairly complete. I tried Mitchell1 for their trial period and told them forget it. Of the first three cars (actually the only three I tried) I looked up, one had info but it was less than 1/3 of what was in AllData, the next only had about half of the info and was VERY difficult to find and the third, a 1988 Ford Ranger 2.9L had zero info for tune-up specs. Zero, nothing, nada, and I spent over 35 minutes looking and trying various search terms.

If AllData does not have the info you're looking for you can fax a data request and they will research it and send you the info. With Manage Elite for shop management/invoicing it costs me about $235 a month. I also have Real Time Labor Guide (you can get a free trial version to check it out) and I am a Napa AutoCare Center so I can use ProLink, Too bad AllData doesn't interface with ProLink and based on the extremely poor performance of Mitchell1 I won't use it. I find AllData and Mitchell times to be very similar most of the time but sometimes there is a significant difference and it goes both ways. Real Time Labor Guide is almost always higher so I would be careful using it as my sole labor guide.

Thats really interesting. I have a question. Do you know which form of Alldata you're using? I have the S3000? setup, not the Pro. Do you know what the difference is? I agree that Mitchell can be a pain to use, like when you use the search function for tune up info, but as far as the estimator goes and the ease of generating a quote, I haven't found an easier set up. Real Time Labor guide is close, thats for sure, but I like how in Mitchell you can have all the previous suggested services with the customer and just click to transfer them over along with the required time/date stamp and method of contact.

Is there any other real option for repair info besides Alldata (either pro or S3000) or Mitchell?

CARMandP · August 12, 2012

My only complaint with Mitchell is their search engine sucks. I have been told for about a year its supposed to be changing.

TheTrustedMechanic · August 13, 2012

My only complaint with Mitchell is their search engine sucks. I have been told for about a year its supposed to be changing.

I was told it was supposed to powered by Google, but from my experience, I doubt it. I really wanted to like it but I couldn't handicap my business with not having information available. As a qualifier to that, I always research torque specs and tighten all fasteners to them so repair information is important to my repair technique.

TheTrustedMechanic · August 13, 2012

Thats really interesting. I have a question. Do you know which form of Alldata you're using? I have the S3000? setup, not the Pro. Do you know what the difference is? I agree that Mitchell can be a pain to use, like when you use the search function for tune up info, but as far as the estimator goes and the ease of generating a quote, I haven't found an easier set up. Real Time Labor guide is close, thats for sure, but I like how in Mitchell you can have all the previous suggested services with the customer and just click to transfer them over along with the required time/date stamp and method of contact.

Is there any other real option for repair info besides Alldata (either pro or S3000) or Mitchell?

I may be wrong but I think S3000 is the online version of AllData. Due to internet service provider speeds and connection qualities I am still with DVD. AllData changed the name of ServiceCenter to Manage and at least in AllData DVD format ServiceCenter/Manage is available in two versions, Basic and Elite.

I was told Mitchell Manager was far superior to Manage for available information and Customization so that is why I looked into it. But in order to use it on two machines (my office and my toolbox) even though I am a one man shop they wanted to charge me a ridiculous additional charge because they have multiple tiers of installations, 1 machine only, few machines, and many machines. I don't remember the exact numbers but 2 installations was as expensive as 5. To the contrary, with AllData the second installation only costs me $10.00/month for the extra key. Too many negatives for me to swallow to use Mitchell.

ecar larry · August 27, 2012

Hi Rooster,

Check with your local parts house that has online parts estimating most have a labor guide for free in our area Kohlweiss auto parts has a free labor guide through Autocom link.

hope this helps

Larry

Brianp · August 29, 2012

Mitchell is by far the best service if the cost is to much to start id use identefix do its additioanl benifits until I could afford both.

TTP · September 23, 2012

Hey guys

I just opened a shop about 2 months ago. Business was really slow at first, but it's starting to pick up a bit.

My question is, what book or service are you guys using to quote hours on a job. We've been just taking a guess so far, but my mechanic wants to get this service that tells you what amount of hours a job takes, and it's like $500 a month. I just can't afford it right now, since we are not breaking even yet. Would love to know what you would suggest.

I use LaborGuide. It works great its cheap and its accurate. I have checked it against All Data and they are either spot on or very close. They also give you the option of low, high or average, which helps if you have a good client that you want to give a special deal to. Hope this helps you out.

JOE

PARKSINDUST · September 26, 2012

I really like Alldata Repair & Manage, that way I have my labor times, check pricing at the same time and do my invoices, keeps track of my customers, can send out updates, only $200 something a month which is pretty manageable for our small shop.