Jeff

Magneti Marelli, to my understanding, was/is a player in the European market. Started seeing some of their product 3-4 years ago. Since the Fiat take over of Chrysler they have stepped up their distribution through the Mopar dealers.

Example: I was closed yesterday (sat), no work so spent the day with my girl. Got 2 calls this morning (Sun). 1 tow in for no start. 1 drive in for an a/c inspection. Sold an a/c service with dye and they may have the t-belt and seals replaced when they return for the a/c reinspect. Sunday turned into one of the best days I have had in a few weeks! Again my size and close proximity to the shop helps!!

I wish I could post those kind of numbers. I avg 9k a month on 3 bays. Low overhead keeps me alive! keep us updated.

Welcome. You will find all that and more here. Need a good laugh just go read some of Gonzo's stuff.

Not sure how things work in Leesburg BUT down here in Saint Lucie county you can be charged with littering in any of them hit the ground. Folks still do it, see a lot of crap on windshields in parking lots. Several of the small pizza shops would do tossers. Delivery drivers would throw ziplock baggies with folded menus and a few stones out in driveways. Folks made a stink and it went away. I considered it but was warned it could go all bad. Be sure to check your local ordinance.

By all means sort it if you can. I pick up extra bucks by breaking down the radiators. The coolers are brass or stainless. The scrapper I use pays less for a complete radiator than the aluminum and brass. Also pull lift motors off window regulators. The scrapper sees those as motors, no longer mixed scrap. Using slow days to sort it I try to maximize all that I can.

I advertise 8-5:30 Mon - Fri. Sat 9-3. Sun by appointment. Being a small shop gives me some flexibility that you may not have in a larger shop. I don't stock a lot of materials so it can be harder to complete a job on the weekend if I need added parts. My theory is we are a service industry. As mentioned prior, folks will not be without their cars during the week if they can avoid it, so why not offer them the convenience of the weekend?

Time is money...we all know that. Package service is the way to go. If someone balks at the rotate, then discount it. You are doing the inspection in order to, hopefully, gain more sales as well as keep your customer safe. I hate the word free but sometimes ya gotta do it. I have a free wiper blade promo going now. Requires a minimum purchase but I hope to gain added sales. I did a survey of some customers and FREE seems to trigger something. They will at least read the entire add to see what is free. And the blades cost me less than 5 bucks each, most take less than 5 minutes to put on. Cost tops at 20 bucks and it gets them in the door, If we cant upsell at that point we can market to them down the road. Just my 2 cents worth.

Looks good Ollie.

In Florida if you write a bad check you will go to jail. Since '04 I have had 3, collected on 2. Third left the state before they were prosecuted. Been a while so the laws may have changed.

I get that a lot on the Euros. Seems a lot of these folks own more car than they can afford!

Yea it was disappointing to say the least.

No different than Linked In. ANYONE can go into the site and view the content. I could care less. My opinion is if the general public were to happen across ASO and spend time looking around they may get a better perspective on their automotive needs and the reasons we do what we do. Just my 2 cents!

Had a call a while back. Fella has a Kia? van he uses for his airport shuttle service. Tells me it needs a compressor. And how does he know this? The last shop he used diagnosed it but couldn't fix it because they were going out of business. Ok I will write an est and call ya back. Before I get off the phone he tells me that he owns 5 or 6 vans and if I treat him right on this one I will have all his business . As it turns out the drier is part of the condenser and the expansion valve is on the evap requiring the dash to come out. When I call back with the numbers this dude starts off about how expensive it is and how he can get his own parts for a third of that on the internet. After 5 minutes off this crap I asked him why his other shop was closing....get ready....are ya settin down...? His other shop had gone broke and could no longer afford to stay open! Yep heres your sign!!

Same here...barrels get full we make a scrap run. Been a couple of times it came in handy...found money!

Welcome! Great place to learn !

A good close game, few flags, and Denver wins by 6! And if the weather holds out BBQ! YEA BABY!!!

I can say that many of the dealerships I worked at would have focus groups to hash out problems. Management as well as techs, salesmen and office personnel would be represented. Many times the view from the top wasn't as clear as from the floor. Just my $4.95 (2 cents adjusted for inflation and health care cost!)

Could you guys elaborate on the usps services? Thanks.

Man I am already living on peanut butter and rice and beans!

Thanks MMotley. I read that also. The fella was doing it in house. Good article. Unfortunately my pockets ain,t that deep.

I have the filter on my machine. Some other shop owners I have talked talk to have the small recovery units with filters. They recover into them and then handle it as haz waste disposal. And the filter has worked well for me so far. Recently looked into getting a new recovery machine thru Snap On. Supposedly you do not need an external filter for their unit, all built in.

I have been looking into some finance options for my customers. GE Capitol looks like the industry leader but I have also looked at check guarantee companies. The rates for either seem a bit excessive to me. Thoughts? Thanks in advance. Jeff.

Phnny I take no offence. I see and appreciate the differences. Outside of employees I have all the same issues. And as the asst manager at the dealership, I had to deal with ALL the same issues. 4 line dealer 8-10 mechanics each. And my pay was DIRECTLY tied to the shops performance. So to the point, I was, as a tech, very concerned with the shops performance. Now I admit most of the others didn't give 2 hoots, it was just a paycheck. BUT I knew then, someday, I would have a facility of my own and anything I could learn up to that point would serve me in my endeavors.

I wonder sometimes if it is the region. I have just started with Mitchell's eCRM. Hope it works better than the others I have tried!