Jeff

Be careful...NOTHING IS FREE!!

Thing is they dont go away. They pillage and plunder...giving us all a bad name. When it all goes bad they pack up till it blows over and reopen in a new place! Watched one guy move 3 times to get away from those he screwed. As far as complaining to my parents...get a life!! It is called following the rules! You aint gonna tell me that you are flippin theses bottom feeders into "good" customers on a regular basis.. Been doin this to long to buy that bs.

I also have been moving toward good better best. Once I explain the options of each they generally choose best.

I am doing the same as Gary. That along with the Mitchell E-Crm program. I still need to do more with my FB and get the mail outs going!

I face it every day. Have complained to the state, county and local govt. Unlicensed shops working under the radar. Just keep pluggin away. You will find that the people that frequent these places are not your target customers. Some can be turned but most want Prime rib repairs for a spam price!

I price shop quality parts. I DO NOT buy the least expensive crap part and sell it for premium part mark up. If I pay 5.00 for a part and my matrix marks it up to 6.50 that's it. If I buy that same part for 4.50 I do not sell it for the 6.50...I let the matrix figure the retail price. Compare apples to apples.

I chose Able Auto for a few reasons. First when I still had an ad in the yellow pages it kept me at the top of the list. Secondly I felt Able would put forth a confidence...we are ABLE to repair your car. As for scanners I prefer the snap on products. Had a Gensys years ago...just couldn't get the hang of using it.

My experience was they only listed repair. No time for testing, etc. The times were OK, it appeared they did their homework. And like I posted before they were receptive to input on the repairs. For me the cost did not justify the service.

Got one myself. 1992 F150..4.9 six...auto..2 wd. It was white once. 300,000 plus on the clock. 2 boys learned to drive in it. It has hauled my tool boxes everywhere, rescued me and my broke down old Harley more than once. I would love to restore it, do a 3" drop, put in an offy cam and intake, etc.

I attended the workshop in Jacksonville last year. A first class event all the way.

I am having one of the worst winters for a while. Not much of a snow bird season. It did pick up last week but it is hard to stretch a weeks work out to a months bills!

I will jump through hoops to help a senior. I fix a lot of my sons friends cars for little or no profit ( they all call me Pop, just need to figure out how to write them off on my taxes! ). But come in and yell, call me names, accuse me of ripping you off, etc, and you will find yourself walking ( if I dont slide you out the door on your arse first ).

I cant really say one works better than others. Right now I have super cool and u-view on the shelf.

It was 180.00 for a 3 month run. Local coupon shopper rag. It was a flop. Redeemed 2 coupons in 3 months.

I verbally inform before the repair, then include it on the invoice. And I always add dye after a visible leak repair. This shows the customer we are proactive and it helps to show a different leak (or an incorrect repair ). Many times I will pick up an additional leak after the road test. This lets us inform the customer of additional needed repairs before there issues at delivery. A perfect example...had a 7 series BMW that had a monster leak on the right valve cover. Performed repair and advised customer we added dye. Nothing had shown up on the road test. Week later owner calls to say there were leaks showing in the drive again. Returned top find a leak on the right front timing cover. By adding the dye I was able to show them that the leak was not the same as the prior repair.

My tool guy keeps me up to date with the other shops in the area.

I have a good friend that 'tries" to fix his own cars. Usually calls me before he starts to be sure it is something he can handle. Some time back he came in and wanted to change plug wires on his windstar van. Figured he was gonna do it here (it was on a Sat so I let him have a bay) so it should not be a problem. Gave him a routing diagram for the wires and told him "ONE OFF ONE ON YA CANT MESS UP"! Well an hour later he starts it and it has a miss. I stop and recheck his work and the wires are crossed. No biggie. He then proceded to tell me how his garage at home is sectioned out with carpentry tools on one section, plumbing tools another and so on. I ask him where his mechanic tools are. He has them in a locked box so his kids wont loose them. I looked straight at him and said "Just take the whole box to goodwill cause you cant work on cars!" We still get a good laugh outta that one!

I used BG and it worked as stated. Dropped them when they started jerking around the road services(was a big selling point for me). Me personal ride is a 92 F150 with 315k on the clock. It will start to shudder in OD under load. I will pull a quart of fluid out and add a quart of Lucas. Stops the shudder every time.

WOW!!

About 6 months ago I signed up for the top shop program. Never got any tows, the AARP referrals never materialized, and they still were not coming up on the first page of the searches.Many of the calls that came in on the unique phone number were bs to say the least. I have since cancelled. If the return on investment isn't there why continue to pay?

Along those same lines...Just got a call from an old friends daughter. She and her hubby "diagnosed" the poor running problem on her 2000 Beetle using the internet. She said it was not shifting properly and had all the misfire codes. So they ordered a coil and wires from ebay and installed them. Now it wont start and she wants to know if I can come to her house to test it! Sorry folks gonna be here at the shop till 5 then off to supper with my girl. No time for a house call!

Who backs it and how secure is your customer data?

Welcome. Cant imagine ya would ever have a slow day!

It hasn't affected just the north. We rely on the "snow birds" to carry us through the winter months. It is generally our busiest time of the year. BUT the migration never materialized this year. I believe it was just so miserable that they never left the house, let alone traveled to Florida! And we generally build the bank thhis time of year to carry us through the summer.

I have used their timing belt kits. Good fit, no problems.