Jimbob661

I just went through this with a car we recently repaired. Call your Highway patrol office and ask to speak to the DMV enforcement officer. It's the same guy who oversees the state inspection stations. Tell him what you need and most are happy to e-mail copies of the forms you'll need. First you'll need to fill out and send in a form to report and unclaimed vehicle. Then after 10 days, fill out and send in a notice of intent to sell vehicle. The DMV will send you a copy the letter they send to the registered owner and any lien holders. Sometimes this gets them calling wanting to pick up their car. If the state doesn't hear anything you will get a letter telling you to contact the clerk of court to file a petition to sell the vehicle. Just ask the clerk what papers you need and they will tell you the process you need to go though. And remember, they will be a charge with the clerks office. About $120 I think to file the paper work. It's a long process and it sucks, but some times the bank or the owners will hurry and get their car because they see you are serious about selling it. If they do I tack on storage and the court fees.

Remember, people will always remember how they are treated. Not what you charged them!

In NC we have to check aftermarket tinting also. It is the first item we check. If it is too dark, we inform the customer and let the customer deal with taking it off. Most of the time we send them to a local stereo shop that does a good job tinting for removal.

Hey Guys, Looking at purchasing the Ford IDS. I'm already familiar with the Tech2win that GM uses. I'm just not real sure about the IDS. Do you just buy the hardware and have a year long subscription you log into to use the program? Or do you buy the software also and pay for updates? Just want to make sure what I'm getting into before I make that leap.

Just had a company do a sales pitch from a company called Yodle who helps with social media and website referrals to your business. Has anyone had any experience with them?

Got a local oil supplier trying to get me to switch to a bulk oil system. The brand he sells is called Total. I think it is pronounced "toe-taal" ? It is supposed to be some kind of European oil. Anyone heard of it or know anything about it?

I was in that same tough situation. No easy answer. Talk to an attorney about what you should do next time. I had my coach recommend not releasing the car except by towing it away. If they pitched a fit about not releasing the car, let them call the police. When they show up, explain the situation and if the cop tells you to release it, it's on him!

Once I was sure the guy would work out, I gave him $200. Might be high, but the guy is productive and does good work! Well worth the cost to me!

Talk with the tool truck guys and managers at your parts vendors. I even paid a bounty to one of my tool guys who referred me a tech I ended up hiring. I told him I would make it worth his time if he sent an applicant to me that I hired and saw he was going to work out.

We call every customer who comes in for repairs, but not the ones who get simple services done ( oil changes, inspections, bulbs ) first time customers also get a letter on nice letterhead also thanking them for choosing us and listing our services and warranties.

I understand that point about being invested. We are not close enough to be in direct competition with each other, but close enough to drive to meet for meetings. It would give us a chance to meet regularly to bounce ideas off each other, evaluate other members shops, and help encourage each other. And since we are all in the same area, we are all familiar with the economics, parts availability, and other stuff we feel is unique to our area. The forum is great, but there is something to be said for checking out your neighbors shop and networking with you local peers.

Hey Guys, After reading a recent article in the ASA magazine, myself and another shop owner have been kicking around the idea of starting an informal 20 group, but maybe limit it to maybe 10 folks. We have put together a list of some like-minded shop owners we would like to invite to join. The only problem is we are not sure where to start or exactly what to do. A few of us have been in or are currently in coaching programs. Has anyone else tried this or have any suggestions?

We provide uniforms as a perk. That way everyone's uniforms get repaired/ replaced as needed and everyone looks professional

I'm looking at switching from Mitchell to garage partner pro. Does anyone have any comments?

Does anyone cut off vehicles older than certain year? We recently towed a car to a dealer for another shop. The service writer came outside and looked at the car before the driver could unload it. When the driver asked why, he was told that if the car was older than x number of years and had over a certain mileage on it, they would not work on it. He said most of the time the repairs were so expensive, the customer would not have it repaired. Any thoughts?

We are not getting paid in western NC either

Does any one pay their techs on a plan that is not flat rate? Thinking about something different and was just wondering how other pay their techs and would like some examples

I agree with you Gonzo, I had a customer want us to rewire his burned wiring harness. I told him we didn't do that kind of work and referred him to the electrical shop across town. When he kept insisting, I explained it to him this way. You don't go to your heart surgeon to have brain surgery done. Sure he could probably wing his way through it, but do you really want to take that chance?

The perception part is what I'm talking about. They perceive that a $90 code scanner used by a parts guy will be all they need to find out what is wrong with their car. Because of that, a lot of them also perceive that an honest garage with thousands of dollars in scan tools, info system access , and testing equipment, not to mention qualified techs with lots of training, is ripping them off by charging a testing fee. True, there is some of them that you can talk into paying the fees and turning them into loyal customers. But we don't install the parts that the parts store said they need. When it doesn't work, they are not happy that it didn't fix their problem. You offer to diagnose the problem, but then they find out there is a testing fee, and you're ripping them off twice! Once for installing the parts and now you want to charge for testing! I think you need to set some boundaries and keep the "converts" and send the rest down the road. They wanted a cheap way out and that not the customer you want.

I think what has made this worse is the auto parts store down the street who advertises a " free check engine light diagnosis" or the chain of stores who advertise on their commercial " come on down and maybe all you need is a gas cap instead of a catalytic converter that garage down the street is trying to sell you " . When I' m told that the auto part store said it was an egr valve, I politely tell them to have them replace it. But if they want us to repair the car and warranty it, we have to do the testing required to make sure their car is fixed right the first time. 😄

We use eastern catalytic and have had no problems on Japanese or domestic. What make car is it on? I've has some GM cars that had to be reflashed because of a false p0420 code that kept coming up.

Here's mine www.raineysautomotive.com

I have no problem with it. The problem I have is that the state is broke and there will probably be no enforcement. That means I will have a license and the guy down the street who rips people off won't . Nothing will change because there is no teeth in it. I may be proven wrong, but history tends to repeat itself.

Let me know what you think www.raineysautomotive.com

Just wait until a female customer wants to argue because you just told her she has "x" wrong with her car, but she insists that " y" is the problem because her brother ( or boyfriend , husband, whatever) is a mechanic and he has already diagnosed the problem, but he doesn't have time to fix it because he works so much overtime at the furniture factory warehouse!