OOOooo

I am owner financing the sell of my business and the new owner has 3 other shops that are smaller than mine. I have my insurance with Nationwide and they will only insure him if they get all 4 locations. Their concern is that he might shift employees around from location to location. I want him to have BOP insurance (Business Owners Policy) which covers the building and Liability. They are also going to consider this as non-owner occupied and don't like the fact that he sell used tires. The price they are giving us is almost 3 times what I was paying. My insurance agent says he can't find anyone else that will write the policy. Does anyone that sells some used tires have BOP insurance with someone other than Nationwide?

I used it for 7 years. It is very easy to use. They will let you try it at no cost. There customer service was always good and the labor was correct 95% of the time. I also had AllData to compare it with but did not use the database function on all data. Again Automotive Expert was easier and less expensive. I would not recommend it for a large shop because being easy means there are limitations to it.

I think as shop owners we get hung up on reviews too much. We should think as consumers in this case. The type of people that check reviews before going to a business will expect to see some negative ones, if there are enough posted. What they are looking for is consistency. If all the negative are about the same thing then there is a problem. If you get a negative just bury it in positive ones. When a customer is really happy ask them to post a review.

I am concerned that I may have an employee using drugs. We have found two plastic needle covers for a syringe. I have not noticed any unusual behavior or anything missing. Has anyone dealt with this before. Any advice? Is it possible to have a drug user that is maintaining like House on TV?

Marksas, that is an excellent idea. I am in the process of doing something like this on a different business. I am going to fund it and let them do all the work and build the business for me. They will get paid and receive 6% equity each year if the hit their targets up to 24% each.

I will throw out another thought. Buy the land and rent it to someone else. I have done that several times because I didn't want to deal with running another shop. If you do this you will hold all the cards so you can do what ever you want down the road.

Just had a guy stop by to get a tire. He said his wife ran over something. We found this .22 inside the tire with a live round in it. When you think you have seen it all....

I think I have the answer for anyone that may see this post later on. Changing my business model is not the answer. It is true that it would run most of these customers off but this is a very profitable business. I base that statement on the fact that I have been to several of the ATI seminars and my numbers are usually one of the best in the room. I am talking about percentages not dollars. There is money to be made in this market. I see post all the time about how we need to get rid of "those" customers but they have to go some where. I spoke with another shop owner near me and then my attorney. In my state I have the legal right to use reasonable force to remove a customer from my property. That is what I was really after, if it gets to the point that I need to do this until the police show up I can.

All good information and I would hope those of us that have been in business for many years are following the above advice. I deal with low income customers driving older cars and many are clearly on durgs. I would guess we have to call the police once every 3 months. What I am asking is after we have done all the above and the customer is out of control.

Need some advice on dealing with angry customers. I try to call the police as soon as things get out of control but it usually takes half an hour before they show up. It is really bad when another customer has to see this so I want to limit that. This is obviously for situations where we are in the right. (Stuff like we replaced a tire and now the car overheats)​

We got it shut and she claims she is returning to get some work. I think this will all work out well.

I was in court once for something like this and the Judge told my customer that if she had the car towed to my shop it was obvious that there was an expectation for me to fix it and for her to pay for my services. If they have found another shop that will do this work for less I think you need to take the savings out of the equation. When they find out how much It will cost for you to undo what you have already done they may tell you to keep going.

This issue depends on your customer base. I deal with low income customers and I could not get away with that. The same thing would go with a battery. They know they could go to AutoZone and buy it with free install so all I can do is sell it at AutoZone walk in price and pocket the difference of my discount. For the air filter, at my shop I wouldn't go much more than $10.00 mark up with no labor. I have some friends with nice big shops on the high income side of town and it is a different story for them.

I deal with the entitlement section of our society and have been to small claims court many times. I have never lost. If I am in the wrong I settle out of court. I pay a monthly fee to Legal Shield and get free consulting with an attorney. If you are in the right don't be afraid to use the system.

I don't live in fear over google reviews but I do keep them in mind and I don't like getting bad ones. I also agree that this shouldn't be on me but if I were her I can see why she would think we are responsible. I just told my mechanic to man up and fix it. He is understandably upset having to fix someone else's problem.