mmotley

I gave a $400 tool allowance and paid for $100 ASE training course. I wanted to give a cash bonus, but I knew it would go to a new cell phone or toy. Plus, he geta a $200 bonus and a raise with each ASE, so he'll ultimately get cash

Please, do share with us fellow shop owners how you are paying your techs 50% of your labor and still keeping the doors open! I'd love to hear more, because I must be wasting 20% of my labor sales somewhere. So how many techs do you have working for you? Are they all paid 50%, or is that just like an average of all of them combined. Are uniforms, insurance, and other perks included in this calculation, or is all that additional to the 50% they are getting?

Jesus Christ when did this forum turn into 'Auto Shop Owner and those who just have an opinion about owning a shop'? I literally find myself spending more time on another forum due to this issue. It's really a bummer, because there are so many insightful shop owners on here like mspec, Joe, xrac, and others, but to have to sift through people's opinions who have never looked through a P&L, cash flow statement, file for an EIN, or got a bank loan really sucks. I feel l'm not the only one on this forum who would love to see all members submit an EIN in order to continue posting. Everyone else can go jump on Reddit or make a facebook page. Hell, I'd even pay a membership fee as long as I knew I was reading advice from an actual shop owner who has been there and done that. I know this is way off topic, but it's really been getting under my skin lately. Rant over! Felix, I worked at 2 dealerships for about 3.5 years each (7 total) as a technician before my dad finally pushed me to start my own shop. He had absolutely no automotive experience, but had worked for a HUGE company for about 25-30 years before they laid him off on Christmas vacation. He didn't know what he was gonna do, so he started his own business and instantly regretted not doing it earlier on in life. So between his advice and a few other mentors, I decided at 25 (no wife, kids, and only student loans), I was never gonna have a better opportunity. So I turned in my 2 weeks noticed and never looked back. Started out really small and cheap and grew it from there. Almost all my shop equipment was purchased used on craigslist except for my lift. I will say this, before I left, I had it in my head that the dealer was making a killing off me and I would be able to open my own shop at half the labor rate and still make a killing. Boy, was I in for a rude awakening. If there is one bit of advice I could give, it would be to attend as much training as possible. RLO, ATI, Elite, or one of the many other companies out there, take AT LEAST one. Elite as some AMAZING videos on youtube (can't believe they are free for the information they are giving you), RLO has some old videos out on youtube that still have valuable info, R&W magazine is a great resource, Elite has a 'blog/article library' on their site which is a goldmine. Sure, one company might be better than another, but your biggest mistake would be delaying signing up with one of the companies. I can personally vouche for an RLO course that I think would be a perfect fit for any new shop owner, but again, any course/coaching will do wonders for you. I know of 2 very successful shop owners on here who are still active in training/coaching. I'm sure many of the successful shop owners on here will agree with my above statement, in fact, another member on here actually encouraged me to sign up for my first RLO course (and man am I grateful he did).

Probably the dumbest thing I've read on this forum to date. Actually, your entire post failed to help the OP entirely. How a moderator hasn't already blocked you for contributing CRAP to this topic is beyond me.

Exactly. Have every little thing documented and signed. It sucks, but it has to be done. I had an employee violate a policy in the handbook that was signed and they still received unemployment (which raies your taxes)... Thanks Texas. I know the real reason why she received unemployment, but that's not something I'll comment on in a public forum. So have a paper trail like Shopcat said. The more write ups, the better you off you are

Curious as to how many shops around here are using 'complete strut assemblies' instead of replacing just the strut itself. Anybody have feedback on these?

If it's truly the same part and it 50% less, I'd charge an extra 25% and chalk that up for covering warranty expenses (plus the customer is still getting a better deal).

We stock air, cabin, and oil filters for the cars we mainly work on. We keep 2 gallons of universal coolant concentrate, stock most bulbs (except HID), and most wipers. Trans fluid, p/s fluid, and brake fluid.

I agree Joe. I know you said not to say it, but they likely aren't your target customer (in the beginning). However, I think their might be an opportunity to turn them into your customer.Maybe you could handle the situation by doing your best to teach and show the customer why it is in their best interest to bring their car to you first, instead of heading to the parts store to try to save a buck. If you can empathize with the customer's frustration of lost time and money, you may be able to convince them to make you their first call next time they need anything automotive related. Hopefully they can walk away realizing that auto shops aren't out to get their money, but instead only trying to offer a trouble-free vehicle ownership experience. Sure that means spending a little more money, but they know when they get their keys back, it's fixed right and they can have peace of mind.

He's arguing just for the sake of arguing. He quoted Adams “You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public.” Basically saying don't trust the stupid general public, then turns right around and says republicans should eat crow and follow the popular vote/general public... He'd probably argue if you said the sun is gonna rise in the East and set in the West. Please stop feeding the troll

^^^ This

Luckily not a huge deal for us. Oreilly and Autozone seem to have identical inventories, and it covers 75% of what we need. Napa rarely has something we need if oreilly or autozone doesn't have it. If Oreilly or Autozone don't have it, I almost immediately look to the dealer. Worldpac is next day for us, and usually shows up late in the afternoon, so I've almost completely written them off at this point. Oreilly never gives me any hassle when it comes to warranty or replacement parts, so I really prefer to go with them. Since that means I buy a lot of parts from them, they tend to keep what I need in stock and have really worked out some great deals for me on brakes, wipers, etc...

Glenn Beck, get off your high horse. There is never gonna be a perfect candidate, so you pick the lesser of the evils. Jesus is never gonna be a candidate, so come back to the real world and act like an adult. If you think Trump is worse or even as bad as Hillary, you have no business spouting off about morals and so on. You've really swallowed that blue pill and are asking for seconds aren't you?

Curious, how many of folks are actually enforcing these fees? I know I had a customer who couldn't make it to pick up their car on Friday, so they are coming in Monday. Obviously I don't think anyone in their right mind would charge that customer. However, I also have one that a customer agreed to ~$1400 worth of repairs and it's been sitting out back, finished, for about 3 weeks. He's made one $300 payment about 2 weeks ago. At what point to do you decide you're gonna start charging?

A lot of people are not aware of this, but it's true. Combine that with a dealers 'labor matrix' and it's easy to still come in cheaper than the dealer while hitting your GP% benchmarks To answer the OP question, I'll usually adjust case by case, but never lower than 30. If I'm having to run across town to pick it up, etc, etc, I'll approach 50%

That's cause they are less than full citizens. They can't pull their own weight.

We use the maxisys pro. Seems to do everything we need it to

Same. April was our best month EVER and we moved to the other side of town in the middle of the month into a new shop that was still under construction and we didn't look open. How the hell do you have record sales when you don't even look open for business? May, June, And July weren't far behind and then sales were cut in half for August and September... Totally agree with what Joe said. Stay positive and continue to look for ways to improve. Building and keeping a financial cushion can make these ups and downs a little easier to ride out

The easiest way to make things right is to stop allowing those who receive government benefits to vote. Only exception would be for veterans and those who receive social security. When you stop the subsidized citizens from voting, you'll see complete 180

Very polite and elegant way of putting it. I call em leeches. Of course, they all have an excuse why life, the man, or whoever, keeps holding them down. When both parties attacked Trump, I knew he was the right guy.

It's posted in the 'non-automotive' sub forum, so... Probably just ignore it

I've considered doing a lifetime oil change program. Now that this topic was brought up, I definitely think I'm gonna add it to my marketing plan for next year. Should be easy to add 'Ask about our lifetime oil change program' to a mailer and also do an email blast to existing customers.

Ratchet + Wrench seems to run an article focused on those topics periodically. You can do a search on their website to pull past articles

Yes, I have taken 2 of their training courses and am currently in their coaching program. Looking to join one of their 20 groups eventually. I can say every penny I spent with RLO was well worth it. No regrets... Well, I regret not signing up sooner.

I won't go publicly posting rates, but last time I spoke with Elite, they were less than $1,911. User mspec works with Elite, you can probably send him a PM for more details. I'm also curious what ATI was doing for that price, to make sure we're comparing apples to apples