Jeff

Integrity don't discount the fact that you are, as you put it, a little one man show. I am a one man show with a 2500 sq foot shop. I do it all. Meet and greet, parts orders, repairs, accounting, etc. It is draining but at the end of the day it is mine!

In nearly 10 years in business I have had 3 bad checks. 2 I collected, one left the state. In Florida if you write a bad check you will go to jail!

I would like to add....there are several mobile mechanics in my area. They do provide a service that is needed by many in my area. Many retirees/seniors only drive as far as the doctors and to get groceries. It is a niche market that I can't fill. And I have considered it myself! We ALL have our business models and goals and they are not all the same. If you are making a living and playing by the same basic rules then have at it!

This all boils down to one fact. Most people DO NOT understand the cost of doing business. Yes the customer can bring in their parts. What happens if it a defect or just the wrong part. Now a bay is is UNPRODUCTIVE. And again I bring up the issues of warranty. Yes everyone has a lifetime warranty. In the consumers eyes once it is paid for they never have to pay again. How do manage your losses in this case? Now me personally I am in business to make a GOOD living and to be able to, hopefully, leave a legacy to my son and his children. I could probably make the same money working for someone and not have the headaches but where is the future in that? Ultimately I hope to build a biz that I can put good management in place and continue to draw an income from.

Don't make much sense to me. I use mitchell so I don't matter who is on the phone, they all get the same quote. I will on occasion do a phone quote if it is cut and dry...brakes....rad r&r...etc. As far as staying late I work many nights till 10-11 either trying to get a car out or doing paper work. A few weeks ago I was here doing paper work and answered the phone, around 8:30. Young lady on the phone was broke down on I-95 and needed her car towed in. I told her that I would wait here till it got here to see if I could get them back on the road. 9:30 she calls and says they are loading the car on the tow truck. 10:15 car gets here. I check it out real quick, needs a water pump. Order the pump for 8 am delivery and shuttle her and her boyfriend to the hotel. Finished the next morning around 9:30, picked them up at the hotel and they got back on the road. had I not been here they probably would have missed their vacation flight...were going to Puerto Rico to visit family. Yea, ya never read these stories in the news!!

GOD, FAMILY, BUSINESS. That's my priority list. My wife had cancer and passed in 1997 at 37 years old. We only knew she had cancer for 6 weeks or so before she passed. I tell folks never hold back on things you want to share with or tell someone. The doctors told us they thought the cancer would be treatable but was not. There are NO promises of tomorrow, make the most of today. The local surf shop my son frequents has a sign on the counter that reads "YESTERDAY IS GONE, TOMORROW IS NOT PROMISED. THAT IS WHY TODAY IS CALLED THE PRESENT. PUT A BOW ON IT AND ENJOY TO THE FULLEST"

I use Mitchell also. I dont find myself lowering, more often raising the price. If I find my matrix is far below recommended list I will raise the price. It is all about profit per ro/ hour/ day/ week. I used to find myself lowering prices because i thought it was to high or was afraid the customer would balk at the job. Then a wise old shop owner pointed something out to me. If the customer cant afford a $200 repair odds are they cant afford the $175 either. We have to be profitable or we wont be here next month. Just my $2.98 (2 cents with inflation and health care tax)

Mitchell provides a 30/60/90 type listing that gives you factory recommended maint schedules.It is listed under maint/fluids. I also use Identifix who also provides factory schedules.

The funny thing about all of this is the dealers are guilty as well. Every dealership I worked at pushed the flushes and value added services at 15k, 30k, etc.

Right beside ya Joe. This leads to another point. As a biz owner I have track everything. Waste oil and refrigerant are the two that make the point easiest. If I advertise A/C service and the state walks in I better have a recovery machine. Mr. Doe can walk into A/Z buy 10 can of 134 and after he blows it all off to atmosphere because he don't know what he is doing it shows up here. Who accepts responsibility for that mess? Same as motor oil and filters. I have witnessed the locals pull into the swale in front of the house, pull the plug and let the oil run down the ditch! And we are less than 2 miles from the ocean!

Now the question is......Did he pay with a bucket of fresh "oysters"?

I would venture to guess that any of the parts like the mode motor was a dorman regardless of whose box it was in. The flip side of that is I can order parts thru world pac...comes in a world pac box..open it and the parts many times will be in the factory wrapper.

the biggest problem with repair pal is the estimate is not complete. I have found they will leave off incidentals that are necessary to complete a job. the consumer only sees the price they want to see. And repair pal has a disclaimer that states there may be additional parts required and that their estimates are just that...an estimate. I do have a listing on their site but have only had one occasion where the customer questioned my price compared to theirs. And I did have a good return on their paid listing, but dropped it when they fell off the first page of google.

For most parts my NAPA offers econo and premium. Be sure to compare apples to apples.

In reality it is all PERCEPTION. I have never shied away from the LOF. The quikie lubes all PROMOTE the 30 minute service when in reality its not. And I believe if you would check none of them have a clock in the waiting area. It is all in the promotion and marketing. My LOF runs $35 and up with the taxes and fees. Not much profit with the extras I include (BG MOA and their road service) but every car gets a complete inspection. A few filters, a rotation and balance, set of wiper blades, etc will boost that margin. And if you have the space I believe a quik lane would work, if the person you have working it is through with the inspections. Just my $2.98 (2 cents with inflation)

I will say I dropped NAPA for several years because of poor service and inventory. Recently they hired a friend of mine to work the front counter. He called and asked if I could throw him a bone now and then. Basically told him that I could if they were going to fulfill their end of the bargain. SOOO the store manager came in and we had a nice looooooong talk about my expectations. Seems they were loosing a lot of biz from the small shops and were trying to turn that around. As it is they have increased their inventory substantially and made improvements in their delivery times. Since then they have become my first call. Now as to the parts labels...what are you getting when you buy an ADV starter, alternator, brake pads, master cylinder, etc? They all come boxed in ADV boxes and those were the parts I was having the most problems with. Premium pads were noisy...went thru 3 master cylinders to get a good one. Cleaned out their inventory of Ford alternators one day because none of them would charge (4 in total), and most looked like they had been used as test parts. In fact that was when I quit calling them. Had a 20 year old kid basically tell me I didn't know what I was doing. So I personally returned the last no good alternator and told the snot sucker what I thought of him and his pos parts!

NAPA, Carquest,Cold Air. I have found that NAPA often beats the cheap-o stores in price and far exceeds the service I expect.

That all works well till you HAVE to do a warranty repair. Then you submit your labor to the parts store. 30 days go by and you call "Where is my labor?". Another 30 days goes by...still no labor. 90 days and the manager calls and tells you it is not reimbursable. Or they will only pay 30-40 percent. Now ya waited 3 months to get 30 percent. Not to mention the time again! Nope...I will stick with my mark up, explain to the customers that ask, and keep on making money.

Well I am finding that my memory ain't what it used to be( the 70's were kinda hard on me). I have found this to be a great way to keep it all together.

In the state of Florida we have to post labor. Now if I raised my labor to compensate for my loss of parts mark up and posted it the folks would flip! And in my opinion if I have to use my money to purchase the parts then I am justified in charging for the use of it. My mark-up avg is 80%. Now lets compare another industry. Outback buys steak at $6.00 a pound. They cook it and serve it to you with the extras. And they charge accordingly. I realize the stress of trying to explain to customers the mark-up.....but if I have to explain then they are not a good customer. My good customers trust me to get them the best part, for the best price. I DO NOT use a factory parts price and then go shopping for the cheapest pos part I can get. My customers want me to be here next week, month, year to keep them running. Even when I moonlighted at home after work (that's how I got my start),I still marked up parts. You have time involved in procuring your parts, time is money. Just my $2.98 (2 cents with inflation).

On a major job like this I will do several things to help in the re-assembly. 1) Take an old box and stick holes in it and then put the bolts in the holes and mark where they go. 2) I use green painters tape to label the harness as to where the connectors go. 3) TAKE PICTURES!!! It takes a little longer on the dis-assembly but makes re-assembly a breeze!

I tried that for a while. Could never get them real clean and the crap ruined a washer. I use Cintas and don't have a problem. have you talked to your cintas rep? I have found the next best thing was the blue paper shop rags. Super tough, very absorbent, and hold up well. I understand they are not as envio friendly but have been a good alternative for me. maybe you could recycle them with your other solid waste.

I will still check iATN on occasion. I do subscribe to identi-fix, although I have been a little disappointed with them recently. And yes the cost is a bit stiff but for the most part they are a GREAt source for info and they provide factory diagrams and repair data. Most of the providers like Mitchell reformat the info. Anyhow good luck and keep us posted on the fix!