Findyourfix

I work from 5 am to midnight frequently. I own and operate an inspection business that covers warranty, mechanical breakdown, appraisals, pre-sale, pre-warranty, and shop compliance concerns. As such, I must be familiar with as many facets of automotive business life as possible. By and large, I have a business that has one particular purpose: to provide factual information to my customers. The need for many of these inspections ranges from pervasive fraud to simple second opinions backed by video, photo, audio, and technical proof. Throughout all of that I must logically tie cause and effect together so my customers can make a determination on whether or not to spend their money. I do work long hours, I do understand our industry quite well, I understand running my own business, and most importantly, I do it all because I want to see our industry thrive. BTW, I am on here so I can gain more insight into why my inspection business has so much work to do. Now I know.

Hmm…where oh where to start. Shops are where techs spend a full third of their daily lives, earning the money for the shops, by and large. The environments they work in, the people they deal with , and the challenges they face are not just in the stall. They are every bit as concerned and affected by poor billing, marketing, sub-contracting, warranty plans, equipment issues, code enforcement, consumer issues and the like as the owners are. The is a major difference: the techs are the ones who are chiefly responsible for being correct in diagnostics and repair practices. If they are subject to a poor business environment and poor leadership, the practice of fixing things right the first time suffers a great deal. Sadly, even in the face of poor leadership and business practices, they are held responsible by people who quite likely could not do the job they do. Techs don't get scapegoats. They are the doers, the thinkers, the actual workers that make a shop what it is. This goes for virtually any service industry. They have a vested interest in how their shops operate, because it is the framework in which they earn their living. The same goes for writers, porters, inspectors, and support staff.