tyrguy

You missed my point entirely. We took a chance that he would be okay with it. However, I told my service manager if he balked when paying his bill, we'd just take it off. I don't have a problem with him doing that at all. What does bother me is him saying he would have given the okay if we had been able to contact him. I would rather he have lied and said "no, it's an old car and I wouldn't have had it done".By saying he would have given an okay he's basically saying I can take advantage of you and the situation and I will.

At 63 and in business for 37 years this month I wonder more and more how long I want keep having mornings like this morning. Guy comes in yesterday and drops his car off for a tire repair. It need tires so I call him and tell him that. He says why don't we put a set on. I explain that I'll be glad to do that but he really only needs 2. He's grateful for the advice and decides on one of the 3 options I quote him. He asks when it will be done and I explain in an hour but if he wants to take advantage of the free alignment check he'll have to leave it for the day. He agrees so later in the day we proceed to check the alignment which is out badly. We try to contact the guy 3 times for an okay to proceed but he doesn't respond to our messages. Finally my service manager and I agree to go ahead and align the vehicle but we made sure to print before and after copies of the settings. When the guy comes in today he balks at paying for the alignment. I immediately tell him I'll deduct it from his bill. But then I explained that although our policy is not to go ahead without an authorization, we couldn't get a hold of him and took a chance that he would want it done. I then showed him the before and after readings. He didn't budge so I took it off his bill. But when running his credit card, I asked him if we had gotten a hold of him if he would have given an authorization and he said yes. So he was basically saying I would have paid for the alignment but since I have you in a bind, I'm going to take advantage of you. I so wanted to really give this guy a lecture but I bit my tongue and kept silent. I'm getting soft in my old age.

Some points. We went thru an audit 5 years ago and managed to keep our service advisers as clerical. I reviewed my notes and here are the reasons I think it went our way. Different uniforms. Our service advisers wear totally different uniforms than out techs. Don't discount this. You are trying to differentiate your advisers from your techs. Separate work areas. It says right in Ohio's clerical description there must be separate and distinct work areas. That means a wall between where they work and the bays. We don't have a adviser work station in the bays. Additionally, behind the counter we have an office where both advisers have a dedicated desk. All selling is done by the advisers. They specifically asked whether the techs sold any of the service. The answer was no, which is true. All the selling is done by the advisers. Lastly they asked about wholesaling tires. We do a bit with other shops and car dealers. They asked whether the advisers did that selling which the do. I think it re-enforced their status as salespeople. Again, these were from my notes. I don't know for sure why they ruled our way but these are my best guesses.

I just read an an advertisement in one of the trade journals that might be the ticket for many of us when the need for flashing increases. A company called Drew Technologies has a system they refer to as RAP [remote assisted programming. I believe they lease you the box that you plug in the car and it connects with their company and they remotely re-flash the car. Have no idea about pricing etc. It would eliminate the need for any OEM subscriptions. Check it out at http://www.drewtech.com/.

A set would be 4 units. A pair would be 2 units. I'm assuming what you are referring to as a set is only 2? Also I don't understand your last sentence.

I remember a tool for shocks many years ago. Late 70s or early 80s. It was a gauge that attached to the fender by a magnet. You jounced the vehicle and it would measure the oscillations up and down and pass/fail the unit. Problem is it wouldn't work for struts because of the way strut/spring assembly is engineered. The only "test" I know of is how the unit reacts on a test drive. Obviously it's easy to recommend a leaking, bent, or obviously weak unit for replacement. But don't discount a "soft" recommendation based on mileage. We start to recommend replacement at 80mo/80k miles. Studies have shown that ride, braking, and tire wear can all be improved by replacing oem units above a certain mileage.

Okay guys, I'm pretty computer illiterate so if I'm providing info you already know, excuse me. I did a dumb thing yesterday. Got an email that gave me a confirmation for an order of some sort. Please, no lectures, I know better, but I opened it. It was ransomware. Infected my computer and encrypted my Quickbooks and POS software. That's the bad news. The good news is, the local company we use to fix computer issues was able to correct the situation quickly, and that's the advice I want to pass along. The reason they fixed the issue so quickly is because there is an option in the Windows operating system that makes something called shadow copies. So each of our computers is always backing itself up. The issue was only on my computer and the tech was able to restore my data back to only 7 hours. He said that a lot of people don't have this option clicked on because it takes up a small amount of disc space. The reason we had it clicked on was because when they were here last year for a different issue, they clicked it on. We also talked about initiating some constant cloud type backup which I am looking into. Sorry if this info isn't more detailed but again, I'm pretty stupid when it comes to this stuff.

Okay, I misunderstood what you said. i thought you were saying that they didn't expect you to be responsible in any way. I'm assuming you meant that they don't expect you personally to go down to Florida and fix it, but they do expect you to get it handled thru these programs. So in essence, they do expect you to be responsible.

I disagree. If we put a water pump on a car and they travel to Florida a short time later and it starts leaking, I would fully expect to be held responsible whether it was my fault or not.

The break even point depends on how many hours they work.

Another thing that will really hit Tire Rack is if and when congress gets around to passing the fair marketplace act which will force Tire Rack to charge sales tax. Right now that is our biggest disadvantage when competing with them on price. The fact that one of the biggest web based retailer [Amazon] has started to charge sales tax on all sales most likely will hasten the implementation of this legislation.

I buy exclusively from ATD. Now, you can say putting all your eggs in 1 basket can be a bad thing. However, there is an upside as well. If you spread your purchases out between several suppliers, you aren't as important a customer to any of them. But if you concentrate your purchases with 1 supplier, you are as important a customer to them as a customer many times your size that buys from multiple suppliers. Additionally, most good suppliers will reward that kind of loyalty.

Hoses are the most neglected and un- recommended/ un-sold service out there. We adhere to Gates' recommendation of inspect at 60k, replace at 90k. However, most of time we tell customers that at 90+k they should replace them they almost always initially say go ahead. That is until you tell them it's going to be $400-$500. Most back off at that point.

For the few times a year that we need to re-flash something we use a Mobile re-programming service. Same day service and reasonable [$115.00]. We have been very satisfied doing it this way so far.

We were very similar for that period. Our sales were down about 30k for a month as well, but for us it was April. If April had just been equal to 2015, we would have been up as well. Currently, Our sales are down about 10% for the year. But considering one of my techs retired in April and I've elected to try and make it work with only the 2 service techs remaining and 2 tire techs I don't feel too bad.

I pay my techs $34/hr for every flat rate billed. If it's a slow time I pay them a minimum of 60% of that rate or $20.40 /hr worked. They work 44 hours a week so 40 hrs x $20.40 + 4 hrs x $30.60 = $938.40. They get whichever is higher. The hours at which it flips from hourly to flat rate is 27.6 hours. With three techs over the last few years, I was paying a lot of minimum weeks but now with only 2 techs, they rarely get paid hourly.

I also think this is a valid topic of conversation. I would think if you value the opinions of your fellow shop owners on business related topics, you would also value their opinions on this topic.

I haven't hired a tech in 22 years. Currently at $34/ hr billed with a minimum of $938 per week. Insurance contribution $850 family/ $425 single / mo. 3 weeks paid vacation, uniforms, unpaid time off as needed. My first tech [also my first employee] just retired to a home business after 36+ years with me. Attempting to go forward with just 2 service techs and 2 tire techs.

NAPA is our main supplier that pays those labor claims.

Some are Sonsio. The others, I don't know if the manufacturer or my supplier is paying. Doesn't matter to me as long as I get a credit. My point of view is I don't buy from the manufacturer, I buy from my supplier. How he gets it handled is his problem.

Develop the relationship. We don't jump around and buy parts from multiple suppliers. We use our first call supplier [10k per mo] for everything unless we absolutely have to go elsewhere. He knows this and responds accordingly. We average about 2 labor claims a month with him. I have another supplier [2k per mo] that we use that supposedly doesn't pay labor claims. If we have one with him [once a year] and he balks, I just tell him that I'll instruct my guys to cease doing business with them immediately. It works.

Pretty simple really. If it's the tech's fault, he works for free. If it's not his fault, he's paid to redo the job at regulars hours. We offer a 24 mi/24 mo parts and labor warranty. Other than dealer oem parts we make our suppliers pay for parts and labor [at 75% labor rate] within that period.

After 37 years I still don't.

Just another day in paradise. Here is a Facebook review I received today and my response. You would think that if a customer had a problem like this they would at least make a call to the shop before posting something so inaccurate. And before you chide me for not doing a complete inspection [wheels off], as you can tell from her first comments we were really stretched for time and when that happens we do sometimes perform a more limited inspection. The customer's review: I swore by Defer Tire for many years and always had my work done there. Took my car in recently for an appointment that I made a week in advance. They called me and tried to move my appointment but I was unable to move it because of work reasons. They rushed through my car, did not fix what needed fixed, charged me for a front end alignment I didn't ask for, and now my wheel almost fell off because they didn't tighten my lug nuts on 1 wheel. All because they took on more then they could handle. We will never go back again. Disappointed and ticked. Now I have to spend a whole bunch more money to have my car fixed, may have to contact a lawyer LikeShow more reactions CommentShare Comments Defer Tire Sorry we didn't meet your expectations. The car came in 2 months ago for us to check the coolant hoses and spark plugs. It needed both. We changed the spark plugs but when it came to the hoses, there was a metal tube needed that could only come from the Toyota dealer and would have to be ordered. Because of that, we couldn't complete the car on that day. We got the tube in a few days later and called to let you know but you have not called to reschedule. As far as the alignment, you had not had it checked in 4 years so we suggested that be done. You gave permission to do the check which we did. In this case the alignment was fine so you were only charged for the check, about half of the price of an alignment. As far a wheel coming loose, we never had the tires off on this visit. However, a year ago we had suggested that you needed 2 rear tires. When it came in in July, we noticed that you had purchased them elsewhere. I would suggest that you contact that shop about the loose lug nuts. I called you and left a message today if you wish to discuss any of this. Like · Reply · Commented on by Mark Defer · 6 mins · Edited Write a comment...

I know that there is a lot of buzz about fully autonomous cars sometime in the near future. Personally, I don't see it happening. There is a great article in the July Car and Driver magazine that agrees with me. It's titled "How we see it: Autonomy". It talks about the 6 stages of autonomy [we are in the third stage] with the last stage being "complete absence of driver involvement". Their point is "unless every object in the streetscape if fully automated, nothing can be". It goes on the say "the unfettered movement of fully automated cars among free agents will require a system that contains some element of risk, and risk is antithetical to automation". But that aside, think of the implications if full autonomy is achieved. I'm talking no pedals, no steering wheel. A customer could send the car to the shop by itself. Also, they would have to have some kind of wireless leash so you could guide the car into your bay. Crazy stuff..... http://en.motorwebs.net/motor/how-we-see-it-autonomy-and-self-driving-cars