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In October I joined a local Business Networking Incorporated (BNI) group. So far it has been a big success. Although it cost me $690 to join it has already generated new revenue in excess of $8,000. I am the easiest referral in the group because everybody has a car and needs something. If you haven't done this I would encourage you to check it out. However, it is a big time committment because i am spending 4-6 hours every week on this. With that said let me pose this question. I am trying to come up with the best elevator question for someone else to use as a door opener to refer our shop. Here are some of my ideas are there any thoughts, ideas, suggestions: When you have car trouble do you have someone you can call that you trust? Are you confident that you have an auto repair shop that you can go to that is competent, fair, and that you can trust? Do you have a go to auto shop for repairs and maintenance? Do you have a go to auto shop that you can trust? Who do you call if your car brakes down? Do you have a regular mechanic you always go to? Are you happy with the quality, price,and service you are getting from your current auto service? Are you looking for a new auto repair shop? Someone please give me a prize winner. https://www.bni.com/

Just wish I had moderator powers on Google. I wouldn’t mess with those were there was honest disagreement but I would definitely whack the bogus ones I am getting.

Sometimes you can win those people over.

I have on this and another but haven't heard a thing as yet. Alex, do you have any idea how long it takes for Google to respond or do they respond.

About 6-7 years ago a customer had us tow his no run 2000 Chevrolet Blazer into the shop. The tow was billed to our shop. The conclusion of our diagnosis was that the car needed an engine and the customer was not gong to fix it. Imagine my susprise to come in on a Monday morning and find the Blazer was gone from our lot. It had been blocked in by other cars but someone had went to the business next door drove up over the curb and the grass and drug it out of our lot over our curb. You could see the tracks in the grass and on the curb. The total that was owed was only about $80. Guess what I never heard from the owner (kid) again. So I assume someone out of the blue did not steal a car that would not run. I turned the bill over to our law firm for collections simply on the principle of the matter. About 6 months ago my law firm collected on the bill which was now over $300 due to interest and court costs. Then today I am left two one star reviews slandering our business on Google by this individual. This person was nothing other than a thief and Google allows this kind of reviews to occur. I have received about 6 undeserved one star reviews with no comments in the last year. Stuff from a former employee I fired and reviews from people with no record of them having ever been in the shop.

I know the business broker who specializes in evaluating and finding buyers for automotive businesses. He values everything Monro buys so I think he knows what he is doing and is a serious player. I can pass his name along should anyone be interested.

First of all welcome to the forum. If you would give us a little personal background it might help us answer your questions. Buying a business is tough. Most owners want way more for a business than the numbers justify. What part of the country are you interested in. It all depends. If you buy an existing shop with an established customer base at a reasonable price in a decent location then your odds of succeeding are probably better. If you start a shop from scratch your risks of failure may be higher especially if you have no previous book of customers or no industry experience. I bought a franchise, built and furnished a building, and started from scratch. It was touch and go as to whether we would fail or succeed for about 5 years. On a new operation it takes about 3 years to get established and about 5-7 to reach full potential. You have to have enough money to weather the build up process. Locally we had a Meineke open up and an All tune and Lube. They started from scratch with nice buildings and advertising in horrible locations. They both were gone in less than 2 years.

Seems to me that the Facebook site is taking activity away from this site.

Good advice. Most of the time when people talk about I am going to hear from their lawyer I laugh. I know what lawyers cost and I know how expensive and inconvenient going to court is. Usually we are talking about only a few hundred dollars. I have only gotten a letter from a lawyer twice and both time I responded with the facts and never heard anything else again. The first letter was over body damage to a car a woman blamed on us. I did not believe it had anything to do with us. The reason is that there were paint marks associated with this particular damage and there was nothing in our shop or on our property either the right height or color that it could have been rubbed against to cause the damage. The second case was a phone shopper wanting a price on a head gasket. We priced it and he brought t in to do the work. Another shop had told him he needed it and we never asked more than that. Then he was mad at us when the head gasket didn't fix the running problem he was trying to fix. That when I was green and hadn't learned not to rely on another shop's diagnosis. The one time I was sued in court a regular customer was excited to have bought an old car that has been sitting. She had us look it over and we found about $1000 worth of work that was needed. After she did this work she found out the car needed a head gasket. She then got mad at us for not finding the problem. However, she had never mentioned to us that it was overheating or that she was adding antifreeze on a regular basis. It wasn't our fault she didn't tell us that upfront before we did tires, and exhaust, and whatever else we did. In small claims court we won because she didn't have a problem with the work we did but with the problem she never told us about until after all the work. It was buyers remorse because the bargain car she was so excited about buying had became a big expensive turd. About 5-6 times I have been in small claims court collecting a bill and every time I have won including customer who stopped payment on a credit card.

If the filter was left loose there would have been steady dripping, oil spots, and oil on the engine. That would have happened way before 2,000 miles unless that had been happening and was ignored. Otherwise it seems impossible to have happened after 2,000 miles. What are the possibilities for sabotage? Was the filter easy to get to? Any chance of a bad engine and the customer found a creative way to get a new one? Nothing is outside the realm of possibility. If you are on Car Fax I would check and see if anything shows up for service elsewhere after the oil change. It may be your baby but you just never know. I had one time where the drain plugged was stripped and the customer said we were the last one to change the oil. I found that it had been over a year since we changed the oil. The sticker in the car was not ours and it was not our brand of filter. With more conversation it happened that another shop was a possibility culprit. However, she couldn't find a receipt and they denied having any record but it was their sticker in the car. Long story we install a new oil pan at a good price and turned her into a customer who won't go anywhere else.

If that were the case there would be six extra cores in the shop or that they had picked up and owe you credit on.

I have replace two bad Interstate MT series batteries in the last week are Interstates less than 2 years old.

It is good practice to always ask what the customer wants. I have had customers ask for way less than I was going to offer.

Jeffa is right. You cannot make everyone happy no matter how hard you try. As long as a business has a rating above between 3-4 and some really good comments it looks very realistic. To have all 5 stars seems almost doctored. I have some one star reviews from people that I do not think have ever been in the shop. I have a 1 star review recently from a former employee who is a druggie that I have helped countless times. I have bailed him out of jail on two times, loaned money to, let him borrow a car, stored an engine for him for a number of years, and all kinds of stuff. I think he did it because he came in a couple of years back and wanted me to loan him $300 for Christmas. He offered me a pistol to hold for collateral. After hanging on to the pistol for over year and not hearing from him I saw him one day and gave him a deadline to pay me back. He didn't pay and I sold the pistol. He left a review slandering me and slander my technicians that he doesn't know. I contacted Google and have no response. You can only do what you can do and you can't lose sleep over stuff like that.

I have purchased from Keltner in the past also.

It is like I said. It is time to fight fire with fire. Depending on how nasty you want to be you can withdraw your previous offers and demand payment for what is due you. You are actually now in control of this situation because you have their car. If you have your lawyer send a letter it would scare the socks off them. Hiring a lawyer to defend themselves would cost them a couple of grand. People are naive and watch too much TV. They are overplaying their hand. In regards to the BBB they are just a joke, a paper tiger. They never give a business a bad rating unless that business is bankrupt or being pursued by the law. If you respond to them they will always wind up closing the case whether anything is resolved or not. BBB is too afraid of being sued to give a business that is functioning a bad rating. All BBB is a money scam. When people threaten to call the BBB I offer to give them the number.

This person has already done the damage that they can do and you have lost them as a customer. At this point in time I would dig in my heels and let them do what ever they will. There is no way that they would win this case in court for more than what you have offered. The further demands through BBB is nonsense. I would send them a certified letter stating the orignial agreed on amounts and would add storage fees from that date. This person has been watching too much court TV and listening to the wrong people.

I might suggest adding that when there is a loss it is only the duty of the responsible party to restore the vehicle to like Condition. This is all any insurance company is required to do. What you have actually done is restore the vehicle to better condition by performing several hundreds of dollars worth of work that you are not charging for.

I think over time that will happen and the osmosis process will cause the migration of there participants to ASO.

You took the words out of my mouth. For several years I participated in two business forums unrelated to the automotive business. One was tightly controlled and content was always top notch and well worth investing the time. However, because of tight control it never grew really large. The second forum was wide open and attracted more participants. At first it was very good with lots of good info and people who were willing to help you. However, overtime it attracted a lot of newbies, wannabes, and people promoting their ourselves and services. It has degenerated into a lot of cat fights, people posting who don't know much, and a lot of garbage promotions. Many of the knowledgeable original participants who were helpful have disappeared. When I see ASO it reminds me of the first forum and the Facebook forum reminds me of the later. I think what will happen with the Facebook page is too many newbies, wannabes, advertisers, and people self promoting. It won't be that there is not good useful stuff there but that you have to spend too much time finding it and wading through too much other garbage. May be I am prejudging and wrong but that is my gut feeling at this point in time.

Anything is possible. We have had a couple of heavier drug users. Plus several where it was not as impairing. I think it is something we all have to deal with.

i think the Facebook group can be useful but could also be a huge time waster. It is hard enough keeping up with this forum.

Mitchell always want you to sign a contract and then hold your feet to the fire. NOTHING MITCHELL EVER for me unless they are the last compaynon earth.

It appears that consolidation is occurring within the service sector of automotive repair. Both Ichan and Monro are being very aggressive in acquiring service and tire centers. I think you will see many of the small independent groups with 5-25 stores disappear in the next few years. Just like we have seen with the parts stores.

Having sold insurance in the past I would check this possibility out. You may be able to secure coverage for four months for less than $1000. I don't what that market is like today but short term use to be super cheap. Personally, I did not pay my last month of premium before I was Medicare eligible. The mandate was fulfilled if you were covered 10 out of 12. If I had gotten sick during the last month I would have paid the premium and been covered since there is a 30 day grace period. If you want to do that you only have to look at it as covering 3 months. Of course, the mandate is going away so coverage doesn't matter from that aspect.