xrac

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JVAhr4hZDJE&vq=medium#t=19 http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=JVAhr4hZDJE&vq=medium#t=19

Your article reminds me of the woman who dropped a car off this week and then called every 30 minutes to see if it was done. She drove us crazy.

I would only flat cost a few things like oil changes and a basic disk brake jobs. I would be careful on doing more than that because you can cost yourself too much money. It seems like today that every vehicle is different and it is harder to flat charge things.

Matt it is great to have you. Around here we do our best to help each other.

Ain't that the truth. I graduating but in science. I ain't a bean counter.

If we put bean counters in charge does it mean look out? http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2081930,00.html

Gonzo it is great to have that type of relationship with your parts store. We have that type of relationship with our major vendors. If we tell them something is wrong they believe us.

The "Little Secret Behind the Chevy Volt"! And now you will know 'The Rest of the Story. Patrick Michaels is a senior fellow in Environmental Studies at the Cato Institute and is also the editor of the forthcoming Climate Coup: Global Warming's Invasion Of Our Government And Our Lives, as well as the author of several other books on global warming. His Forbes column on the Chevy Volt is a case study in the nexus between big government corruption and big business rent-seeking. Michaels briefly recaps the well-known consumer fraud in which GM has touted the Volt as an all-electric mass production vehicle on the supposed basis of which its sales receive a $7,500 taxpayer subsidy, which still renders it overpriced and unmarketable. Michaels notes that "sales are anemic“:326 sold in December,321 sold in January, and 281 sold in February." Doesn't there seem to be a trend here?“ Michaels adds that GM has announced a production run of 100,000 vehicles in the first two years and asks what appears to be a rhetorical question: "Who is going tobuy all these cars?" But wait! Keep hope alive! There is a positive answer to the question. Jeffrey Immelt's GE will buy a boatload of those uneconomic GM cars. GE is also awash in windmills waiting to be subsidized so they can provide unreliable, expensive power. Here, the case study opens onto the inevitable political angle: Recently, President Obama selected General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to chair his Economic Advisory Board. Consequently, and soon after Mr. Immelt's appointment he announced thatGE will buy 50,000 Chevy Volts in the next two years, or half the total Volts produced by GM. Assuming that the corporation qualifies for the same taxpayers subsidy credit, we (you and me) will shell out $375,000,000 to a company to buy cars that no one else wants, so that GM will not tank and produce even more cars that no one wants.And this guy is the chair of Obama's Economic Advisory Board? But of course. Michaels also includes this hilarious detail in his case study: In a telling attempt to preserve battery power, the heater is exceedingly weak. Consumer Reports that their tests averaged a paltry 25 miles of electric-only running, in part because it was testing the car in cold Connecticut. A GM engineer at an Auto Show stated that cold weather would have little effect on performance. It will be interesting to see what the range is on a hot, traffic-jammed summer day, when the air conditioner will really tax the batteries. Also when the gas engine came on, Consumer Reports got about 30 miles to the gallon of premium fuel; which, in terms of additional cost of high-test gas, drives the effective mileage closer to 27 mpg. A conventional Honda Accord, which seats 5 (instead of the Volt's 4), gets 34 mpg on the highway, and costs less than half of what Consumer Reports paid, even with the tax break. The story of the GM Volt deserves a place in the HarvardBusiness School curriculum, but of course, it won't. It is a classic tale of the GOVERNMENT deciding what the public needs, not the marketplace. PS. Even the guy who sent this to me missed part of the point. What is one of the reasons for all of this?To keep the UAW in business! Because Obama owes them for his election. Is it starting to make sense yet? Plato said: "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that YOU end up being governed by your inferiors."

Wow! That was a bad week. Thankfully there are good ones also. Thanks for a great article.

My experience is that when you have the reputation for being the cheapest in town you will attract a lot of cars and customers that you really don't want. Your open hours become filled up with stuff that is unprofitable.

For me the fourth service manager I hired was charm.

Joe, your model and experince for Saturdays is virtually the same as ours. We have always been open on Saturdays and always will be. The biggest obstacle we have for our Saturday business is parts availability.

Welcome! Glad that you found us and I hope we can help. I'm a management consultant, an entrepreneur, and have 20 years experience in technology and business strategy. I have a masters degree as well. As a result of all of this...I AM BURNED OUT! Make great money, but can't see myself doing it beyond 5 more years. What you are experiencing is typical of all of us guys. I think it may be called mid-life crisis. For your information I am a career changer. I bought an auto repair franchise 13 years ago and I have been successful. However, if I had it to do over I would have pursued something else because I think there are other business that would have been more financially rewarding. Along this line of thought we had a guy locally take his 401k money and stick it into an Alltune and Lube Franchise. He lost his shirt and after less than one year he had to close up shop and go back to his engineering work. It is very hard to be an absentee owner. You should be scared. I am not going to say that it can't be done but it is very hard. Finding someone you can trust who thinks like a manager is very very hard. Working on cars is not like operating a McDonalds. My honest advice is don't do it. It will be a lot of work and headache and you may lose money. How much can you buy this place for and what are gross sales?

Gonzo, sounds like you offered a deal that would be of value to the young man but it sounds like the young man might be spoiled to say the least.

That is what everyone who wants to run their own business and haven't do not understand.

Welcome to the forum. I love your business name. How did you come up with it?

Everyone's operation is different. Some Saturdays are really good and others are a waste of time like last Saturday. The biggest problems we have on Saturday is it is a short day (we close at 2:00). We have a problem with parts availability. Some dealers are closed and the discount parts stores have less qualified people behind the counter causing a lot of wasted time, incorrect parts, and poor information. On Saturdays we try to do the fast and easier repairs like brakes, AC, tuneups, maintenance, etc. We avoid heavy diagnosis or complicated repairs.

An old guy (not in the best of shape) was working out in the gym when he spotted a sweet young thing. He asked the trainer that was nearby, "What machine in here should I use to impress that sweet young thing over there?" The trainer looked him up and down and said, "I would try the ATM in the lobby."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9mb8zrXzRQ&feature=player_embedded

I am finished and will have a whole week off!

The same to you Joe and your family! God bless AMERICA and my friends on this forum, even Gonzo!

So your time was worth nothing. Why didn't he just replace the wire set himself without bringing it to you?

Do you still have a lot of beehive hairdo's in your neck of the woods? Some of the most holier than thou and down right meanest people I have ever know are those with beehive hairdo. Thankfully not all are that way.

Some people would consider me to be a devote Christian. However, I dislike dealing with people who declare themselves to be devote Christians especially if they are preachers or fundamentalist. The more vocal they are about being Christians the more I have a tendency to put my hand on my wallet. They tend to expect deals and never have any money. By the way I have been cheated out of more money by people in this category than any other. I had rather deal with drug dealers because they pay with cash.