grifftrans

Thank you. We currently use AllData, and tried a trial of the Profit Boost, Pif Pro. We are a Transmission shop, and I am looking for something a little more user friendly than Alldata. My husband likes it, but he's used it for so long. I just don't like the flow and the set-up.

He is great with customers and they think very highly of him. I guess my main concern is how do I price a transmission out accordingly. Can I use a price matrix when pricing a transmission?

Has anyone used Pif Pro?

I posted a while back when I first ran across this page. My husband runs a transmission shop in Nebraska. I know we are not running everything properly to be making the maximum profit that we should be. He has a great name, and customers love and recommend him to everyone. He doesn't just do your typical bare minimum rebuild. He replaces everything that is and could go bad as well as any known manufacturer parts that typically fail. He doesn't want to see the same car back again. I don't want to tell him how to work, but I want advice on the business side. Because he does put more parts in his rebuild, he has a hard time pricing accordingly. He is slightly higher then the other shop, which is 15 miles away. He has fixed a lot of problems this other shop has not properly done when they rebuilt it. How does he stay competitive and still make money with the way he's working? He is the only tech, which is losing money there, because he is stopping to talk to customers, run errands, test drives, etc. But we don't have the money to hire. I would love to have someone come into our business and say, this is what you're going to d and this is how you're going to do it, lol!

I haven't looked at an invoice lately, but last I knew he didn't charge for diagnostic. Yes, there is a $15 charge on every ticket for shop supplies. No, he doesn't use a parts matrix, he just adds a certain percentage. But if he thinks it looks to high or the customer might be upset he'll lower it. He'll charge extra for synthetic or specialty fluids, but doesn't physically keep track of what is used. Typically he'll mark up sublet work that is done. He has a few part stores that will deliver but he does run around a lot. The biggest thing is he doesn't physically keep track of actual time on anything. He'll estimate when he makes invoices. I don't know how many hours he actually billed out. He spends most of his day talking to customers. He'll have some that will just stop in and talk for an hour, and he's not getting anything done. That's why he works nights so often, he's basically doing his work for the day without the interruptions. You aren't coming across harsh to me, because these are concerns and questions I ask him all the time. It's hard for me as his wife to try and bring these points to him because I imagine it comes across as belittling him and he becomes angry. I'm trying to get as much info from others in the industry to show and talk to him about. Right now he uses Alldata, I personally don't like the program. I tested out ProfitBoost and I liked that better, but I don't know if it would be better in the long run to switch.

I was just reading a thread on here for parts mark up. You might want to go find that thread, very helpful! Good luck with your business.

He probably works on average 65 hour weeks. Then on there are some weekends and late nights. He has been extremely busy, but with him being the only one there to work, talk to customers, answer the phone, make tickets, test drive, diagnose, etc....he doesn't have a quick turnover. He will do mechanical work if there is something broken that will cause a problem with the transmission or if the vehicle is unsafe to be on the road. He is plenty busy with transmission work that he doesn't have time for other mechanical fixes. We live in a farming area, so we get mainly trucks. If we were to hire 1-2 employees then we would look at doing more then just transmissions. Another problem is the building we are in isn't that big and he is out of room. He only has two hoists. He'll usually tear the trans out of the vehicle roll it out and pull another truck in and do the same thing. Then he can tear them all down, order parts and rebuild them. So he'll have multiple jobs going at once. He uses Certified Transmission for some vehicles, but he likes to go through them and honestly, he does a better job.

Yes! He is a great tech and he really loves it, except the fact that he feels he is working and working and not getting anywhere. I have an associate's degree in accounting, and planned on continuing for my BA, but we had a baby and then a second not to long after the first. My husband has no business knowledge, but trying to explain or change things is tough with him. I've always wanted to go to other transmission businesses to see how they price out and work things, but I just thought that was something that wasn't done? How would I go about it?

He was at $55, and I convinced him to bump up to $70. A lot of general mechanic shops around are at $55-60. He's been bad about not separating business with personal, and I understand it's hard when you're a sole proprietor. Thank you for your advice.

Thank you! He uses Alldata for his invoices and estimating program. He tells me that if he marks all his parts up to the suggested retail he'd double some estimates and that would be ridiculous. I'll look into the series on ebay. I'm just hoping I can work and convince him to change a few things.

He usually always rebuilds them. Every once and awhile he'll get a Certified transmission for some customers. I know there's a suggested retail, but he doesn't think that he should mark them up that high. He puts in a lot of parts. I understand most rebuilds come with new torque converter, gaskets, clutches, etc. But because he doesn't want that customer to have a problem, he puts in more. He has a great reputation for reliability. His shop hourly rate is 70 and he very rarely takes longer than book time to finish something. Honestly though, I don't see why is would take longer on an older vehicle. Book time gives you plenty of time and if you take longer, that's kind of for you to eat. If it doesn't take as long, do you charge for less time?

Keep in mind that we are in a small town, 12,000. I tried to run the office before, but I just didn't know where to start when it came to pricing on parts. I just feel like he is giving away his parts sometimes.

My husband owns and operates a transmission shop. He is the only one there and we just aren't making it. I think that he doesn't charge enough for the jobs he does, but he thinks he plenty high on pricing. He puts in many more and parts then most shops would, and he return rate is almost none because of that. He is very knowledgeable and honest. I would love for him to be able to hire a couple employees so he isn't at work all the time. I would like to run the office, but my lack of knowledge on the automotive side of things makes it hard. I don't really know where to start to learn everything I need to know about pricing jobs and turning our business into a successful profitable place. PLEASE HELP!