Hands On

Thanks. What works exactly?

Anyone got the 3 sentence or less summary?

My techs prefer clean up pads over kitty litter. Those of you that use pads, which ones, how much, where do you get them etc? Thanks.

Most of the replies above answer your specific question, interstate = bad. I also use ACDelco as several others have mentioned. If I have a client call and they want to go buy a battery themselves, I tell them they should go to Napa or O Reilly's.

Man this sounds like a dream come true. I hope I can find something similar soon.

How did the move go, did you find yourself having to ramp up again, lose any clients, business drop off? Did you go to a bigger facility? Did you buy or lease?

That is positive news. Maybe I should just do the above ground. I would feel much more comfortable pulling the trigger on an expensive setup if I was not leasing my space.

I do maybe 2 or 3 alignments a week. Would that increase if I had a machine? I never did hear back from my landlord about digging up the concrete for a flush mount rack. I do have the ceiling height for non flush mount, I just worry about maneuvering around it. I would be looking at a 5 to 6 year pay off before I started making money with the machine. I pay $69/ alignment right now, it is just a hassle. I would prefer to know they were being done properly in my shop.. Decisions! I still like the idea of the 20k unit, It would pay for itself in a year and a half. If we find ourselves doing way more alignments, I could maybe sell it and upgrade.

How does this work on a two post lift, do you have to set the car on stands, or does it take measurements on the floor then adjusts for droop as you lift?

Thanks for this. I lose an employee for an hour each time we need to send out an alignment. I feel like it would eventually pay for itself in that aspect alone. I do worry that the bay would get less use due to the difficulty of pulling wheels on a rack style lift. Decisions!! Thanks for the input.

Right, like we have outgrown the building, but I am reluctant to get a larger building, as I hear more headaches more problems. I usually just advise clients to use the local Valvoline for their routine oil changes, and hit us up once a year for the inspection and maintenance stuff. My ARO is at 962.73 right now. I could use another super tech that can produce 60 Quality hours per week, but have trouble attracting the good talent in my little tightly packed shop. I would not mind getting a larger place, but I am intimidated by the process of finding the financing and location, and nervous about moving. If I could find two more 60 hour a week techs and convince them to work here, I could hire a good service writer and go open a second location or expand ect.

How do you handle this when your shop is too busy to schedule more then what already shows up with out any effort?

Hi folks. A quick search and I did not see any recent alignment machine posts. I have a quote from Hunter, $86,000 includes a scissor life and the concrete work to flush mount it, shipping, the machine with wall mount cameras. Some accessories. If I do conservatively 3 alignments a week my break even is approx 4.5 years, a bit longer depending on financing cost. I lease my shop, and one of my biggest fears has been getting kicked out of here. Should I be looking at obtaining a location instead? I am always nervous about taking on the massive cost of a bigger building, especially when I struggle so often to hire good people. I talked to a friend that went from a small shop like I have to a larger facility and he said it was a lot more headaches with very little increase in income. I want less headaches, less stress. Maybe it is my small shop that makes it hard to hire? Is this the right time to try to get a new location? How do I even start finding financing, I do not have a ton of cash saved up right now. Should I get the alignment machine now, and continue to save up for a new location? How much do I need down for a new spot? Should I keep my eye open for other shops that might fail in the coming year and hold off on the alignment machine and continue to stack cash? I am kind of tired of loosing an employee for 30 minutes to an hour to run an alignment across town that may or may not get done to the same quality standards I hold my employees to.

I am well aware of how it works, I did not want 500 people who had 50 different phone numbers for my shop stored in their cell phone. What happens when you cease using that call tracking number?

I do all of my own advertising. I raise and lower my budgets on both Ad words and Yelp as I need to control my car count. It works amazingly well. With a few clicks I can fill my bays in a couple of hours. I do not use tracking numbers. I do not want someone to put a number in their phone book that might not be valid a year form now. Yelp is way better then Adwords these days. Google is being super sneaky, they put you at the top when someone searches for a specific shop. I get too many calls form people asking if there car is ready,and the car is at another shop across town.