alfredauto

I finally got my first yelp review. "Liars!!!" It says 4 times. From a person I never met - Ayed from San Diego California. I have to flag it and I hope they take it off. I think I would remember if Ayed was mad, or even if Ayed came in. Its not like Mary from Rochester NY. Gotta love the Internets.

I need to vent, lately we've had a rash of selective hearing cases. The latest one is this guy comes in about 4:30 and needs his rotted brake lines replaced real quick. I explained that its not a real quick job and we don't have time this week, but we could do it next week. Well he needs his car now and its not driveable, and it's a quick job so what can I do. I offered that he can leave it with me and I'll try to work on it between appointments if we get some time, but we are very busy and its going to take a few hours at best. Maybe we can get to it, most likely it will be next week. OK so he leaves it, sure enough he calls 8am the next morning. Done yet? This repeats every couple hours until his representative (step dad or uncle or someone) shows up wanting to see the manager. He doesn't like my manager's facts so he asks who I am, maybe he's going to call my boss and get me fired. I told him I'm the owner. He then bashed us for not fixing it as fast as promised. Really? Just as soon as he leaves another kid comes in at 4:45 - i need a valve stem real quick. Keep in mind its 1/2 hour before closing on friday and i have 2 waiters in the office already getting tires and about 8 people to bill out. I'm Sorry sir I can't do it today, can you leave it and run the spare for now? Maybe try the place down the street. Nope, he needs it now! So while I'm billing a lady out he barges in the shop, demands my tech air up his spare, badmouths me, then uses my jack and swaps his spare in the lot. WTF? I can't take it. It's like going out to eat, not wanting to wait for a table, and going into their kitchen and making a hamburger. Bizarre. The worst part is I feel bad about it. I would like to help the kid, but there's only so much work a person can do. I'm sure even if I had 10 guys working somebody would expect me to have 11.

I wonder why his buddy with 30 years welding experience didn't just weld it for him in the first place.

My lead tech has been with me 5 years, he is a valuable employee. I'm looking to hire a full time service advisor, and he suggested his wife. She is super nice and has retail customer service experience so she can definitely be taught the job. She makes little at her job which is why she's looking for a better job. I worry about the dynamics of it all. I'm afraid if either one needs to go I'll lose both my employees. On the other hand, they can probably work together better than 2 strangers could. I'm not overly concerned with theft issues, they are both trustworthy. What do you think? Good idea or fuggetaboutit?

I may have come across too harsh, used car sales net me over 20% on average. Not too bad I suppose. At first I hated the game, I envisioned clean trade in cars selling for cheap at the auction meaning easy money. Not so much. The local auctions have a lot of rusted junk. I was lamenting to an old timer at the sale about a lemon i got stuck with and he said "son, its called tuition. We all pay it" By the way, The auction is the most expensive way to buy a car. Customer trade ins are by far the best deals. At least you know what's broken when you buy it. Other dealers old inventory is also good of they will sell directly to you. I buy a lot from Manheim online, in western NY everything is rusted so I buy cars from the south and ship them in. Rust free cars sell here easily. I can usually get deals on older high mileage units that are rust free, nobody wants a high mileage rust free car in southern NJ because they all are rust free. Overall I think once you get used to having a dealer plate its hard to quit. You can buy a vette if you want one, sell it after a few months and your vette was a free rental car.

Best one I had was a customer came in complaining of an intermittent noise. We go for a test drive, he starts holding his ears and grimacing. "Do you hear it?" I asked? NO! But its almost doing it I can almost hear it. How can I fix a noise that is almost about to happen?? Huh.

I finally got my lifts in, the guys that installed them took care of everything including delivery. The crew put up 5 lifts in 4 hours. Nuts.

The law says anything with less than 100k miles gets a 30 day warranty. I warranty everything for 30 days to avoid confrontation. In NY all retail cars must pass inspection so they are good enough no matter what. I sold one recently and the girl ran it out of coolant and blew the head gasket after about a week. Rather than tell her to shove off I bought it back. I'll fix it on my time and resell it, not a big deal. By time consuming I mean the auction takes up a full day, reconditioning takes time, handling the car shoppers takes time. After the sale they always come back with a squeak or rattle, you need to hold their hand for a while. If you want to put used parts on that's more time. Bodywork means shuffling them to the body shop. Cleaning the cars is never ending, because nobody wants a dirty car like the one they already have. My problem is I refuse to overpay, at the auction I might bid on 50 cars and go home with nothing. That's time I could have been fixing something and making money.

Don't sell junk. I sell about 60 - 100 cars a year, it helps pay the bills. If anyone tells you selling cars isn't a full time job they are dreaming. I put my service customers first, you really have to be careful because the used cars can suck up all your time. I recommend coming up with a plan of attack, and stick to it. If you sell junk you will end up fixing junk for junk clients. I try to mix it up, I have some low end cars and keep a couple higher priced models. The $2500-$8000 price range works for me. Less than $2500 doesn't leave room for repairs, over $8000 and its too close to the big dealers with their financing bs I can't compete with. You need to know your market, in my area pickup trucks and 6-7 passenger SUV's sell instantly. Minivans are hit and miss. I happen to collect w210 Mercedes so I always have a couple for sale, but they are a niche car. If I inadvertently buy junk I wholesale it. win lose or draw it disappears asap. Pros: you can make some real money and you always have extra cars to drive. Auctions are fun. It keeps the mechanics busy. A full lot generates more business. Instant cash infusion when one sells. Cons: time consuming, you can lose $$$$ easily, you can ruin your reputation FAST If you sell junk. Paperwork can be tedious. Full lot means nowhere to park. Many new friends will want to borrow your dealer plates. Less profit than expected. Last thing, once you get your dealer license the state will make sure your paperwork is in order. Most used car dealers are assumed to be liars, cheats, and scum bags and the state knows it. Do it right. Don't sell junk. If you have questions feel free to ask.

I just bought a couple more rechargeable saber led lights. They seem to be pretty tough. The old standby is the 2aa mag light. If only I could keep the guys from taking the batteries out to power other stuff. I had 4 or 5 dewalt magnet lights, these are really the best if you can remember to unstick them before a test drive :-)

This post made me review my insurance coverage, I thank you guys. I discovered I wasn't covered for any physical damage to my dealer cars. I'm not on a floor plan meaning i own (or owe someone personally) for my inventory. One big hail storm and I stand to lose half of my net worth. I added some coverage. On a side note I am reluctant to file a claim for anything so I have a high deductible which lowers the rates.

The landlord might also just be ignorant to the auto repair industry. The last shop might have failed due to mismanagement, poor customer relations, dishonesty, sloppy mechanics, and a host of other things that aren't posted on the wall as prominently as the labor rate. In my opinion, a shop that fails charging $80/hr would probably also fail charging $60. Unless of course the average labor rate in that neighborhood is $45. Location is king, but even a perfect location can't make up for a bad reputation

I think location is crucial, I estimate that every new customer I get that wasn't referred by someone came in because they saw us driving by. That's a lot of business from no advertising dollars. A shop off the beaten path can survive with enough of an advertising budget.

The aftermarket carb compliant ones are fine, I had one come back on a 1.8l vw but I warrantied it and the 2nd one has been working for over 2 years. Before the NY law we used to weld in the $40 obdii cats which had about a 70% fail rate. But if a customer could spend $100 to pass inspection vs $1200 they didn't care if the light came back on in a month.

Hmm I tried the Quickvin and it doesn't work with Mitchell Manager Teamworks SE. I called Mitchell tech support and they never heard of it. Carfax says it works, Mitchell is confused. I'll update if if I get it to work, I was excited to not enter 17 digits over and over all day.

I give out synthetic oil change coupons. They are worth $60. I probably hand out 5 a month. As much as I'd like to believe otherwise it's all charity.

I'm pretty sure Napa tracs is Mitchell manager. I use Mitchell, its an easy system for anyone to learn. Its not the best at everything but it makes invoices like a champ,

That's the scariest thing in today's world - "Slippin' Jimmy"

On a side note you probably won't lose too much cash, take some of the profit from the original job and put some valves in the broken engine. Have a different tech do the work. Its possible the tensioner was defective in which case the vendor might help you with a labor claim. I doubt the belt was defective. What is the vehicle?

My insurance doesn't pay for comebacks or technician mistakes that cause me money and work. Example: if my guy doesn't tighten a wheel and it damages the car - too bad I pay. If in the same situation the loose wheel flys off and hurts someone waiting in line for the bus then they will pay for the medical bills.

AJFA makes a good point on the ll01 oil, some BMW owners follow the factory service intervals which could be 20,000 miles between oil changes. Ditto for Mercedes. I've seen the sludge caused by $19.99 quick lubes in these cars.

"So next question. Your favorite diagnostic tool? (Other than your brain :)" Identifix.

I don't know if any manufacturer can make a vehicle safe for all accident scenarios.

Got a good one on the lift now, jeep liberty with a rusted out oil pan. 4x4. Should have sent him to the dealer. This job sucks. Just ranting. For those unaware the front axle gets removed, then the pan comes out with the pickup tube. Oil dripped on my head for hours. I tried a dozen ways to cheat the book time on this one and failed.

Finally got this one done, customer was too busy to leave it with me until today. No problem, I center punched what was left and drilled it out. Once I got up to 1/2" the tapered seat snapped off the bolt and the wheel came off. Luck was on my side, the threaded portion unscrewed by hand. I didn't charge the customer, I was the last guy to take the wheel off.