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TrustedMechanic, welcome to the forum. However, did you notice this post is almost two years old?

Women In the Marketplace http://www.tirereview.com/Article/72967/women_in_the_marketplace.aspx

More expose': Brake Shops Use Fear To Sell Costly Repairs - Atlanta News Story - WGCL Atlanta

The Real Obama Economic Plan: Overwhelming the System to Destroy Capitalism and Freedom on Wayne, please visit Wayne's web site at: ROOTforAmerica.com.

There use to be state inspections when I lived in KY but they were discontinued. I remember them as a headache for me as a driver. However, Gonzo I am with you. I think they should bring inspections back. From time to time I see vehicles drive into our shop that are incredibly dangerous. We once had a pizza delivery driver drive in with a vehicle that needed a total brake overall. When he didn't have the money to fix the vehicle we insisted that it be towed not driven from our shop because it was so dangerous. I once had a Cadillac come in with a running problem. They only had about $100 to spend and wanted to know what they could do. While talking to them I glanced at the front brakes through the wheel opening. I saw the rotor ground away with the rotor venting exposed. They had grinding brakes so long the outer part of the rotor was ground away on all four wheels and the vents were visible. I immediately told them not to worry about the running problem and fix their brakes which would probably require a minimum of $600. They didn't have the money to fix it so I told them to take it home and immediately park it and don't drive it. However, the bad news is that with those brakes they drove away. Then there are headlines like this: Most hydroplaning is due to inadequate tread depth on the tires. I suspect that a state inspection could possible prevent some of these situations. Here is another one that took the lives of three teenagers. When I read some of the things that have happened in our area the last few years I have wandered how many lives better tires and a suspension check could have saved. I would support both as a shop owner and as a citizen a return of inspections! If you cannot afford to have a safe car you should not be driving. Can anyone tell me why inspections were discontinued in many states?

Joe, I would like to have a copy of your plan. I also thought of a new way to promote these clinics. One could put a clinic on for existing customers but make the price of admission that they have to bring along a friend who has never done business with your shop. That would guarantee an even mix of current and prospective new customers and would allow the customer to do the promoting. Just a though!

Gonzo, the issue in this case was they were offering and selling services they did not have the equipment to perform not that they were offering those services like P.S. flushes. As far as the effectiveness or need for P.S. flushes I would differ with you. Now I grew up in the country. There was a stoplight in my home county and you had to drill for electricity. Nobody ever did a P.S. flush and honestly I have never done a P.S. flush on any of my own vehicles. However, I have seen as you have P.S. systems with very nasty P.S. fluid and that cannot be good for P.S. pumps or steering racks. In addition on multiple occassions we have cured both noisy and stiff power steering system by doing a flush and adding additive. Thus, we in good faith offer P.S. flushes but we don't push them hard. We believe that P.S. flushes are worth doing although not critcial as a maintenance item. We often offer a flush as a first step to attempt to cure P.S. noise rather than pump replacement and we also offer P.S. flushes when the fluid is dirty.

Currently we do not have the capability to flash any vehicle but that will be the next thing we add. I would suspect we will want to do GM first followed by Toyota. Any recommendations on what to purchase?

Here is another automotive group in trouble over fraudulent practices. NorthJersey.com: Lodi car repair shop paying $250,000 to settle suit

Infinity is one car we will not invest in equipment for. The closest dealer to us is 130 miles away and we see very few Infinities here. We will work on them to the extent that we are able.

Welcome to the forum. Do you find much time to hunt/fish? What type do you pursue?

Forget the LED keep the banner. What do you have on the banner?

Welcome to the forum. No I have not tried it. Hopefull someone else can offer input.

Sad article. All I could think was no succession plan. We all need some type of plan in place to exit our business. We will all exit our businesses some day in one of 5 ways: Death Disability Retirement Selling the Business Bankruptcy No matter what path we take we need to plan to do it in the most profitable and advantageous way!! http://www.tirereview.com/Article/73322/how_do_you_stop_a_successful_dealer.aspx

Most one or two man shops probably like to do as few oil changes as possible. They are kind of a necessary evil or am I wrong?

Yes! Practically 100% of the time. In fact it is the process of trying to do an alignment that drives alot of our strut jobs.

The problem with struts is the size of the ticket. However, we are more successful in selling struts now then ever before. We don't push the replacement but we explain vehicle sag over time and how the ride will be improved. We present the cost and let them decide. Often we tell them that they have a nice car and it will remain so if they put a little money in to it. It is suprising but I would say that we probably have a 25-30% closing rate on these overtime. However, it is all strickly soft sell. We explain the need and educate them as to why. We explain the benefit and allow them to make the decision.

I kind of like old country music and I really enjoy this song: Takin' Back Our Country http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=x2G3wGVAnlQ "'>http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=x2G3wGVAnlQ

Mark, I can see that we could probably make what you are doing work and we do some "free code" reading on a case by case basis. However, the biggest issue for me is we have a shop locally that offers "free diagnosis" not just code reading. They have grown a large business doing this. I like and respect the owner and his shop has every diagnostic tool you can imagine but my impression is that their diagnosis approach includes replacing many parts that could be related to the problem creating some very large tickets. We attempt to follow suit with free diagnosis (not just code reading) but we could not make it profitable because the size of our tickets didn't cover our time invetment. Plus our business model is geared toward rapid turnaround (usually same day) and that is not the way the other shop operates. On the cheap oil change front we offered a basic oil change and a full service oil change the first six years our shop was open. However, about five years ago we dropped the basic lube, oil, and filter. This also improved our customer base. It helped weed out people who wanted an oil change and didn't want you to look at anything else. The funny thing is now with our growing business our oil change customer base is also growing. Our sales for 2010 so far are up 15% over last year.

Mark, I am also a franchisee but I do detest cheap oil changes. It brings in a few good customer but a lot of bottom feeders also. I have found I do better by offering a moderately priced oil change ($25.95) with a FREE tire rotation. This drives enough new business and gives me a shot at a customer who is interested in something besides an oil change. I also get to look at his tires, suspension, and brakes when I am rotating tires. I used cheap oil changes early on but have moved away from that. We also tried "FREE DIAGNOSIS" but just could not figure out how to make that work profitably for us. We got too many old pieces of junk that were time wasters. They came in because they knew it was FREE and had no plans to fix anything. We have built our business on repeat customers, referrals and word of mouth as much as anything and have done a good job with it. We won Car-x store of the year for our region in two consecutive years (2007 and 2008). We missed in 2009 but will have a shot at it again this year so it has worked for us. In February our store ranked 14th in sales out of 170 shops. However, I will say that I have a friend in the San Antonio/Austin areas who is doing much the same thing as you are and he seems to make it work. I am wondering if the size of the market you are in has a bearing on tactics. Our town is about 125,000 with around 200,000 in the metro area. How large is the market you are in? My thinking is that in a larger market word of mouth is not as effective and it may take a low ball offer to get people to try you.

Welcoem to the forum! Sometimes one can get away with things where it is all family.

You have to listen to this! wow_troll_2.mp3

Getting Back in the Suspension Business Getting Back in the Suspension Business - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

Here is a detailed example of using the three strike method: Employees Coming in Late By Elite - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

Yes, but a good 75% of the time (my estimate) the part they think they need because the code reader said it is not the problem. A few months ago I talked to a Ford F-150 owner on the phone who told me all of the sensors and parts he had installed on his truck trying to fix a running problem. In my mind I totalled up his cost at between $350-$400 not including his gasoline and time and labor. He finally had gave up and brought it to our shop with a very bad running problem. It was missing badly. He watched as my service manager raised the hood, reached up under the engine cowl and with his hand blocked off the vacuum leak that was causing the problem. The truck immediately started running normal. The owner of the truck jumped like he was shot and cried out, "What did you do"! My service manager said, "I can fix your truck for $50". I believe this man will think twice before he tries the DIY approach to the next repair. I know that many DIY are having this experience. I think over time the code reading stuff at the discount auto parts store will lose much of its appeal.