Brent J

Hi everyone, I’ve been a shop owner for 20 years, I have a small 3 bay shop in a small town of about 3,000 people. My question is how do I deal with being so busy all the time, I’ve been trying to find another experienced tech for about a year now. I’m so swamped all the time I can’t keep up, I’m 54 years old and just about ready to get out of the business because I can’t take it anymore. I’ve run ads online, in newspapers, on Facebook. No response ! I have 2 other techs. We’re so busy every day I’ve gotten to the point of leaving the phone off the hook for half a day. I used to work a lot of hours when I was younger and just refuse to do it anymore. Pretty much worked my life away. We’re scheduling 2 weeks out. I’ve even gone as far as telling people I’m not accepting any new clients. We do good work and have a good reputation, but sometimes I feel like I’m letting my good customers down cuz I don’t have time to get their car in the next day when they have a problem. I put an add online through a newspaper and it went to 20 different sites and papers for a month straight and got 2 applications out of it, neither one for the experience I’m looking for. I offer a great salary, I supply all the tools, contribute to retirement plans, paid holidays, don’t work weekends and contribute to health insurance plans. Still can’t find anyone. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Brent Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I hand write out the estimate, complete with customer phone number, vin number and all with a date, I then take a picture of it and add it to the notes app on an iPad mini. Then if a customer calls months later it's a couple of key strokes in the search function. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

For you guys using Mobile special, would that be the same as Mobile Clean? My supplier said I'm getting Mobile clean and that it is a synthetic blend. I've been with the same supplier for 15 years. Sounds like I'm getting shafted. I'm paying 2.42 per quart. Which is like 9.68 a gallon.

If at all possible I only use Oem electrical parts, I know for a fact because I've tracked it that if I use a tough one or any other aftermarket junk it will be back to the shop within a year and a half to two years. Failed. It does take a little extra time but I'm totally up front with the customers. I tell them for a little extra money they can have a genuine Oem part in which I never have problems with. And anymore it's not just electrical parts, racks, brake calipers, radiators, it's all junk and seems like it keeps getting worse, I put a set of Moog upper and lower balljoints in a 4wd Dodge truck one month ago, the guy took it to another shop to have it aligned and they couldn't align it because the lower balljoints were so sloppy, The brake calipers are a joke from Aap, cradles that are wrong, hardware that doesn't fit, rotors that are machined wrong, I started making a list in a notebook so I could give it to my salesman. I get so pissed off because I watch all of the guys leaving the parts store at 5 pm and I'm there till seven replacing defective parts for free.

We used to be open Saturdays for years, I've found that my techs are much happier having the weekend off to look forward to as am I, I could work 15 hours a day seven days a week and there would always be something to do to keep me busy, family time and free time trump working the weekends for me.

Almost everyday of the week we are constantly bothered by people we have never seen in the shop before asking us to stop what we are doing to help them. The biggest one is people asking us to put air in their tires for them. Now with the tpms systems it's even gotten worse. I will be in the middle of a complex job when the bell rings telling me someone has come in the front door only to see a little old lady I've never seen before telling me her tire light is on and asking me to come outside and air her tires up for her. If they are a customer and have gotten work done at the shop before no problem I stop and help them out. When I do help someone I usually get in their car to take it outback wher we keep an air hose I look at their service sticker on the window. Usually says walmart. Ugggg. What I'd really like to say is hey lady take your car to Walmart where you spend money and let them air up your tires and quit bugging us. Had a guy in the shop yesterday with a flat tire, it was on a taxi, asked me to come out right now and put his spare on, I explained in nice terms we were all busy at the moment and couldn't stop what we were doing right now to help him out. He was actually yelling obscenitys at me as he walked out the door. Seems pretty petty but very frustrating and I don't know how to handle these people. Was wondering what others do??

Just had something similar happen to me the other day, may seem irrelevant but thought I'd share, I have one of those little electric popular heaters I leave on in our customer waiting area, makes the office nice and cozy, when it quit working the other day I called the shop in town where I bought it to see if I could drop it off, the first response I received from the guy on the phone was " yea we will look at it but it's fifty bucks just to look at it and we are three weeks behind" I got the feeling he was trying to discourage me from bringing it in. I thought to myself it's the dead of winter and I'm trying to get something repaired I bought from you. I considered this terrible customer service and now know I'll never purchase anything from these people again. Same thing goes in the spring when the lawn mower breaks down and I hear " man we are a month behind" I say but it's prime mowing season and I bought it from you. When I'm really busy and a customer calls I might say something like" yes mr johnson I'd be happy to look at your car, we are a little busy at the moment but I'll take a look at it as soon as I can" some phone conversations can go a long way

Jan and Feb here pretty much the same as everyone else, slow. Live in Northeast Ohio and this has been a cold snowy winter. I'm in survival mode right now. I remember the old days when cold weather was good for business. People lined up to buy snow tires, wiper blades, batteries etc. a lot of service calls, no starts etc. seems like the newer cars just don't have many problems with cold weather.

I had the same problem about two months ago, my clean up guy at night quit on payday because we had some unfavorable word the day before, we clean the shop floor every night, I am really anal about being clean and organized, my tech didn't have any problem staying after work and helping me clean up because he was getting time and a half, some nights I cleaned up on my own which meant working 70 hours per week, I went through three guys in two months, I let all three go because they were so worthless, two nights ago I called my clean up guy (57 year old with a handicap ) and apologized to him, telling him what an asset he was to the business. I could leave work at night and this guy would clean all of the bay floors, put tools away, lock up cars, wipe down equipment and racks, clean the office and restroom, three hours a night five nights a week, I didn't realize what an asset he was until he quit. It's really hard to find the right person to do that job. He is coming back on Monday and sure will let him know this time how much he is appreciated.

Its nice to read about people that experience the same crazy day to day things that happen when you work in an auto repair facility. I try to explain these things to my wife who doesn't have a clue what I'm trying to explain to her.