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HOW MANY OFF-ROAD, DIESEL & TRUCK SHOP OWNERS ON HERE?

TTP

By TTP
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CARMandP Proficient

CARMandP

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CAR Maintenance and Performance

White House, TN

 

We are a general repair shop that is branching out into the diesel truck market. That market is huge around here and no one else in our area even works on Diesels. My tech also drives a cummins that we enjoy working on so that has stoked the interest for us. Would love to talk with someone in the market to get help. Include me in :)

 

Craig

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aorcustoms Newbie

aorcustoms

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Anyone's Off-Road & Customs Northern Calif.

 

Thank you for starting this thread

 

We have been in business since 2001 and you are SO correct it seems like such a hassle dealing with no mark up and the person on the other side of the counter. We are just trying to help them out and they want to treat us like were ripping them off.

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Spence Enthusiast

Spence

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The money is there it's what you are targeting. We do a lot of the ones that don't know how but like having these modified vehicles. Or with the DIY'ers it's doing what they can't do. Also what they thought they could do and failed at it. Whatever the service is you can say no if it's not profitable. I have done this early in the conversation and found it to work well. If they find out they can haggle the cost of repair you are sunk from then on.

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sjdieselrepair Apprentice

sjdieselrepair

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Just wanted to say thanks for starting this thread. Have been on here a wile and this is this first.

S&J Diesel Repair is a diesel truck repair and performance shop. We specialize in the cummins 6.7 and the ford 6.0 and 6.4 powerstroke diesel engines. I will admit my parking lot is always full. They get towed in by the dozen. My biggest competition is the internet. I will give a customer a quote on a egr delete and oil cooler relocation job. They will complain how expensive it is and how there buddy can do it cheaper. A week later im towin the truck in and the customer has a cardboard box filled with parts and cans filled with bolts. Come to find out they bought the same aftermarket parts i get for the same price. THE INTERNET turns everyone into a mechanic overnight.

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OverlandAuto Newbie

OverlandAuto

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Anybody else out there on this forum? Please post up and show your support.

 

Very interested in this segment, specifically the off-road side of the business. I currently have a General Repair Business and am thinking of adding a couple bays next door for off-road. Off-road is my personal hobby therefore my interest in that market. It appears to me there will be little to any markup on the parts side with the Internet so the business model has to be supported by labor charges.

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Dsl_truck_tech Rookie

Dsl_truck_tech

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What a great topic. So good I just had to register. I am a diesel shop owner also. At least that's what my business name says and how I market it. BUT.... that's not all I work on. If I did, I wouldn't survive. I work on just about anything. I found out fast you have to difersify to stay in the game.

 

Sure if I could have it my way I would just be working on diesel pick-ups and semi trucks. Instead I'm doing oil changes and brake jobs on the family mini-van. Don't get me wrong, I still love what I do (and I still make money at it), but it's just not what I invisioned my company to do.

 

Yes there is a special niche out there for the "diesel shops" or the off-road performance shops (which is how I advertise the business), but my bread and butter seems to come from the everyday maintenance items, ie: oil changes, brakes, tune-ups, window motors, diagnostics, wheel bearings, & ect. I'm sure you get the point. Oh, and most of those maintenance items are on the gas rigs my customers have not their "diesels".

 

Yes there is a market out there for a good diesel shop. I've had customers tow there pick-up truck a 100 miles for me to work on it because they know I will do a good job and they can trust me and my work. I even had a customer haul his Toyota 4 runner with a diesel in it from PA, because he said he could find a shop to work on it, but that's for another story. :D

 

My point being, you can be the best and only shop around with a niche, but sometimes you will have to take those smaller jobs that don't profit has good just to stay in the game, but in the end, it all pans out the same. Whither you do 5 jobs for $200 a job or one big job for $1000. Being diversified is the key.

 

That's just my 2 cents. ;)

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az mike Apprentice

az mike

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We do a big percentage of diesel pickup work. A lot of our customers are either farmers or horse people. When Ford started with the 6.9 in '83 one of my customers bought one of the very first one's sold. Being we did all their work (about 6 trucks) I decided to be the best diesel pickup mechanic around. Today my shop is utilized by people all over Arizona, including other shops. I get my share of the DIY guys looking for info. I give them a little time and then tell them I need to get back to my business. So far we've gotten quite a bit of work from them but even more referrals. Though we don't get too deep into the true high performance part I do have my recommendations for products and ideas. I never argue over what's better, just tell them that my experience is this and that's what we recommend. It doesn't hurt that at the local truck and tractor pulls I blew out the competition with a near stock 2003 Ford 6.0. I prefer to make my money with proper diagnosis and being able to do the job right and usually at a better price than the other shops. There is so much misdiagnosis out there that we get a lot of work after the other guys did it wrong. But as many of you have said we do the Kia's, Hyundai's, the Focus's, Cavalier's and whatever else they drive. I want ALL the cars and trucks in the family. Fewer customers with more vehicles is a better way to go in my book, instead of the other way around. Just my 2 cents worth- and I still may be overcharging!

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rhc320 Newbie

rhc320

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We do all diesel in our shop we have 7 techs and book about 3 weeks ahead. Our web site is grdiesel.com in Fredericksburg OH It is a tough business to start with. We build trucks from all over the US. But you have to do a good job We price our work a profit and let our quality speak for its self We have an in house dnyo our own machine shop with a vertical machining center to make our own parts so if you guys that need parts like dual turbo kits dual fuel pump kits call our contact us we would be glad to help you out. We need to work together and save our business from chop shops that are making kids trucks smoke and giving diesel a bad name If you want to call our phone number is 330-695-2039

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Moremph Newbie

Moremph

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We are a Diesel Specialty Shop In Foster Ky, Cincinnati Ohio Market. We do 95% diesel work and 90% of that is pickups. We specialize in the powerstrokes that is where we have made our market niche however we do our fair share of duramax and cummins work. Since we moved into our new facility 3 years ago we have pretty steadily been few weeks backed up. I Found this forum recently (because I have always been an avid diesel forum user and new thier had to be a place similar that would help me in my shop) I want to grow my buisness and not become stagnet. We have made a good name in the area and reguarly work on stuff from well over an hour away. The Diesel Market is very tough, In our area everybody with a 2 car garage and a premier account is a diesel performance shop and sells for pennies over cost. The internet and the sales tax scam that it has cost is another rant I will not get into today!! It is extremely hard to Make it as a "Performance" shop you are most definatly have to have your own product to be a succesful performance only shop. For the rest of us you have to make your bread and butter on your day to day repair work and your bonus money on your performance stuff!!!

 

Mph Enterprises

MPHDiesel.com

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ADP Apprentice

ADP

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My shop is Abilene Diesel Performance

 

I can agree with everyone here. It's very hard to stay up and running with the internet these days. In my area there is 3 diesel performance shops that started after I opened mine. One of them was started by my pervious employee after he quit and opened his own shop. With the internet and all the shops around us it's hard to make a profit. Good to hear from other diesel shops.

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Moonlight Apprentice

Moonlight

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I don't get on the forums much due to I stay very busy. I did notice this thread and scan through it. I do sympathize with you guys in trying to compete with the internet, its become a tough situation in doing performance upgrades and accessories. You just can't compete with the guy that sitting in his underwear in the basement selling product with no support. I do however think most companies are trying to curb this problem but it still exists. If we can be of assistance to anyone I am always willing to help a fellow brick and mortar shop.

Also a note I picked up on as I scanned the thread. I find as a diesel truck repair and performance shop that we are in a much different arena than our fellow auto shop friends. While they are selling several jobs a day with ARO of $300 and 80% GP we find that we have much larger jobs that may carry for days so our average ARO hasn't been under $1000 in years and to have tickets over 10k is pretty normal. We all know small jobs are bread and butter that bring big GP we find our GP much lower. I look at it this way if a big chunk of the ticket is parts and upgrades then i will take a 45% GP on a 10k ticket any day over a 80% $300 ticket. You're never going to see great GP when your selling a $8000 engine or transmission verses a guy selling a brake job. We would all like to see more and I think it is possible but until we can curb this internet problem its not going to happen on the performance aftermarket side for sure.

 

Take care of your diesel customers. They can be a very loyal group that see the value in taking care of their trucks.

 

I learn everyday but I have been doing this since 1996 so if i can help some of you find an easier way let me know.

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juanpablo4219 Contributor

juanpablo4219

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This is nice to hear and glad that this was brought up.

 

I recently open an automotive services shop and I want to build the next phase/niche of the shop around the off roader and diesel customer.

 

Why you might ask?

 

Well somebody just mentioned it, the small jobs are the bread and butter but the off roaders and Diesel Customers are the big jobs.

 

I am an Off Roader and use a diesel truck to pull my rigs.

 

I agree with moonlight, with the exception that I just started my shop last year.

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ncautoshop Proficient

ncautoshop

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In my opinion the clientele for this diesel side has changed drastically, the age has decreased and the drama has gone up. We still do a good bit of performance work, but for a select group. I feel I do much better financially and stress wise on the typical automotive repairs. Also much more rewarding for me personally. I liked diesel performance, but I don't think when it's all said and done that it's as financially lucrative or rewarding as a typical repair work.

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

 

 

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Sharp'S Rookie

Sharp'S

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We don't do much for diesel work around here but we love our Jeep and other off road work. We have spurts where every bay and every hole on the lot is filled with a Jeep and then there's weeks where we have nothing but Escorts, Grand Am and anything Mitsubishi.

 

A lot of the Jeep people around here are DIY so it's hard to build the niche. Plus this entire county has been seriously unemployed for years now and custom tube doors and lift kits aren't necessity. Our regulars spend several hundred per visit though and the economy here is picking up so there is hope. In the meantime we're collecting equipment and hoarding Jeep parts and making bread and butter off the electrical jobs nobody in town wants to mess with.

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      The Toolbox is Last to Leave, First is the Heart
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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.
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