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Just wondering how you all pay your quick service tech? In recent years we have paid ours hourly though a time clock and not based on actual hours worked or commission. I have actually had some problems come up with this as far as employee urgency goes. My guy was taking too long to service etc and not really into the job because after all he was getting paid hourly. Just trying to find the best blend of pay structure hopefully somehow including a commission based pay and a guaranteed rate. My only problem here is since he is quick service he will only get smaller tickets so commission may not be competitive. Also I have considered giving an "upsale" incentitve. So if the customer comes in for an oil change and through the checklist he finds a CV Axle for example and recommends and sells it he gets x% but my B tech would do the actual install and quick service tech would continue the other items on his board. Just looking for some ideas.

Just wanting to know how you all are handling labor billing for the smaller things ie Bulbs, Air Filters, Wiper Blades, Cabin Air etc. We tend to charge only a few bucks ($10) for cabin air labor (we make about 70% profit on the part) and no labor for air filters because these are typically done with some other services and sold as an upsale. Wiper Blades are labor free and bulbs are typically $10 installed (not headlights). The thing here is that when you look these things up in the labor guide it seems that they are way overstated. We have seen several cabin airs which took 5 minutes to install but called for .5-.8 hrs which is great profit but seems like highway robbery and hard to justify to the customer. Brake bulbs typically call for .4hrs etc. So just wanted to see how you all are charging for this. I think we are leaving a lot on the table here personally but not sure what the market will pay.

Personally, I tend to stay away from price boards. As Joe mentioned, you really should focus on Value not just price. I actually like the customers to ask our service writer prices as it gives my service writer an opportunity to sale that service, to highlight the features and importance of the service and ask for the sale. Something as simple as an oil change for example....if on your menu board it says Oil Service $35.97 when the customer walks in for an inspection instead of them asking "hey how much is an oil change" in which you could reply $35.97 and that includes up to 5 quarts of oil the oil filter, tire pressure checked all you fluids topped off and a full vehicle checkover (which sounds better to the customer and makes them think they are getting more bang for their buck) you leave them looking at the board and thinking man that is high...I can get it cheaper at xyz and never even discussing it with your advisor. My advisor has asked me in the past to post some prices (i.e. Minimum Diagnostic charges etc) but because of the above reasonings, we did not do that.

Just wondering if anyone shares their shop numbers (mainly Sales & Expenses) with their employees? I have bounced back and forth on this for years. One one hand I don't think the employees should know these numbers because they take them out of context ie $100k in sales they think you can afford to give them a raise when in reality you may be making a $100 profit (not real numbers just an example). On the other hand I can see sharing the numbers so that they can get the picture and buy into messaging we are giving them a bit more. I have had emoloyees in the past that have had this issue. They want a raise because "business is great and we are making a lot". I then proceeded to ask him what he thought out fixed monthly expenses were and he guessed a little over half of what out real number was meaning he had no clue what it took to run the biz.

Thanks Joe! I have implemented this over the last week and so far so good. Thanks for the advice.

Hey all, Looking for some ideas on how everyone is managing their parts charge accounts. Specifically, how are you tracking your receivables and returns? Every order we make with our supplier comes with one page minimum, not counting if the part has a core charge, which is often times another page. We get a parts bill once every 2 weeks, when this comes we send back all of our returns for credit. My main concern is making sure we are getting all the credits for our returns/defects/cores. Our parts house leaves us a return book so that our service writer can fill out the slip as the parts are placed on our return shelf that way we know for sure they are getting written up correctly and we can make sure that a new part return isn't only getting returned as a core. We are getting hundreds of slips of paper every 2 weeks and it is difficult to manage (this is just from our main supplier). When the invoice comes, we have RO #'s as our PO but even this doesn't help with returns because if there is an RO # it doesn't indicate if we received the wrong part and had to return it or if the customer calls and cancels the repair etc. I am just looking for a better way to track the bill that way when the invoice comes in I am not just paying it but instead comparing it with my totals and ensuring they match. I know some shops that have someone who manages just their parts tickets full time but my shop is not set up that way and currently this is not a possibility. Any ideas?

During a recent shop meeting an issue came up regarding getting the vehicle information when the car was dropped off (ie mileage, tag, make etc). Our service advisor thinks that it should be the techs responsibility to bring this information in with the work order once the car has been checked over however the techs think the service advisor should be going out and getting this info after the car is dropped off. I understand both sides of the argument. On one hand I only have 1 service advisor so her being out in the lot getting this information leaves the possibility of missed phone calls, neglected customers and techs needing parts ordered etc. However, on the other hand if the service writer got this info at drop off then she could have a service interval chart printed and ready for the tech for additional up-sale opportunities. How are you all handling this and what would you suggest especially with just 1 service writer.

So it's a problem that is good to have but some days our phone rings off the hook while we have a waiting room full of customers and a few people at the counter waiting to drop off or pickup. It is days like this that it is very overwhelming for our 1 service writer. The issue here is that we are not consistently this busy to need to hire another service writer. My question here is what do you all have in place to catch the calls that aren't able to be answered? I am thinking about getting voicemail added to our line through TWC Biz Class. Not sure how beneficial this will be so wanted to get some ideas here. Also, I was reading an article recently that said that you should setup some sort of after hours answering service (ie call forwarding or voicemail) so that you are always available to the customer. Are any of you doing this? Lastly, what is your policy while a service advisor is working on a phone estimate? What I mean here is do you require your advisor to put the customer on hold? We record the calls that come in from our website and I have heard various recordings where the service writer is having to answer a customer question or talk to a tech while working on the estimate and to me it sounds like the caller doesn't have your full attention so I am wondering if I should just have her put the calls on hold while the estimate is being worked up? Any thoughts here?

These are all good ideas. My question is how do you charge for check engine lights where the fix is somewhat straight forward (ie O2 Heater Circuit). Currently we charge a half hour for check engine light diagnostic and charging system diag. But we have an issue with coming up with a solution for those not so clear cut codes that require more digging and flow charts. A lot of times the customer wants a price when they drop it off. I don't want my service writer to say the $45 (half hour) and then it require an in depth diagnosis that we loose on but I hate to keep calling the customer with a revised price.

I see you mentioned wireless kiosk technology. Are you using this now? If so could you provide some details around it?