phynny

I had a couple of shops and sold out a while back and my weekly income was at least 4 times what I see the current franchising doing. Wondering what each of your bays is supposed to do per week? I'll post the data collected once I gather everything and put it all together. Charles

I hate to say it but sometimes you just have to write it off as a lesson learned. If they vehicle came in to be repaired and it left with the same issue then they have a legit gripe. Reasons like this are exactly why I charge diag time and take the time needed to make sure I can repair it and repair it correctly. Sucks, but it's happened to us all.

I do not think there is an owner here that would not gladly pay a new tech $25/hour if they were worth it. Why on earth would I pay some kid from school $25/hour when all he does it have me diag the issue, come to me 10 times during the repair to ask what's next and then screw it up in the end anyway?

Why would you charge yourself for your hourly guy fixing company vehicles?

I highly prefer a dedicated sales person.

NOT AT ALL! I did this for a couple years and it's so lop sided and frustrating for the tiny bit of cash it brings in.

We run them on with a gun then torque every after we lower it down, my guys are fantastic about it.

I have yet to see this be the case.

This is one reason we charge for any diagnostic work period. As long as they pay our rate, the rest is up to them, of course we try and keep the work here but at least we're never out time/money.

Seems as though you guys are trying to say technicians cant be businessman also? If there are 2 separate shops both with knowledgeable businessman owners and one has been a tech and one not, I'll put my money and statistics on the tech own shop any day. Right now I'm at a Midas with a non mechanic franchise owner and I see the complete opposite of what you're saying xrac, he doesn't understand why spending 1k on software updates is needed.

Basing mine of past and current experience of businesses I have purchased and currently work with. This business is not, nor will it ever be "cookie cutter" so unless you came up through the ranks it will be much tougher on non-mechanic owners. Just because xrac is doing fine really means nothing in regards to who will struggle more in this business. What you're talking about is delegating and having the right people doing the "business" side of things. Like I said, this is just from my personal experience and I've had a lot of it when it comes to dealing with failing shops. There are hundreds of better investments for non mechanics then auto repair shops, and so much less of a struggle.

The whole, "Hey, we're from google and can get you on the front page for a low monthly cost of xxx.xx", then you find out they are not from google and they have done nothing for you.

Most of us have fallen for that scam at least once

I believe that non-mechanic owners have 10x the struggle to succeed. I'd stick with what you're good at.

I do not get the point of the video, I learned nothing...?

Not a chance you are responsible for that, you didn't build or break it. A customer that doesn't understand that is a customer I don't want.

We have Valvoline and we pay $6.14/gal for conventional.

I've been tossing this around for years and I'm very close to pulling the trigger. It'd be something like for an additional 20% the repair will have a 2 year warranty and for 30% we'll do a 3 year warranty on parts and labor. I've always taken care of customers after the 1 year warranty anyway so this could be a good way to recoup that and a great marketing tool. Thoughts?

This made me laugh out loud, thanks man

But you have to add the e bola

Interesting and disturbing. That'd be like Long John Silvers and Chipotle joining forces... You'd have a better chance of winning russian roulette with a 9mm then getting a quality job completed.

Ni-cop for president!

Had this happen not long ago on a 5.4L I believe. I gave them a quote for plugs and it called for 1.5 hours which they agreed to. Upon pickup is when the father/son duo came in and started complaining about the price, the father(60+ years old) informed me that 2 hours is a complete rip off and he could do it in 20 minutes. His implications were that we were ripping his son off and I was just in a mood that day so here's how I handled it. I told him if he would go get just 4 plugs replaced of my choosing in 2 hours I'd refund his full bill. He declined my offer and his son became a loyal customer.

Ah, gotcha man. I didn't think that would have any bearing on things but you never really know I suppose. There are a lot of people bothered by it and have contacted me after my original post. Most are either too nice or have said that I've already shed light on the issue so the don't have to keep pushing. Like I said though, I'm done with this thread and guy honestly.

I've been around a bit longer than yourself and have no intention of leaving so I do not get your point. Yeah, we all deal with the non stop "courtesy" calls all day long :/. McDonalds sounds good smart guy... How about you read about this site and what its for before you make ignorant comments, here, I'll link you since you obviously haven't read it. http://www.autoshopowner.com/about_us.html I did not bother to read your whole post but I did catch something about paying... IMHO you should go peddle your "product" elsewhere as this isn't the place for it. If I am incorrect in my assessment of the site and it's goals I'm sure Joe will step in and clear it up. Either way I'm done with this conversation, I'll leave you to your shamwow type tactics(I say this jokingly-ish, as I literally got stopped by a shamwow salesman today). .