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You may be right. I have been given tickets to the Brickyard 400 and to Bristol but I have always given them to my guys who are really big fans. They like that! Besides I am not a beer drinker and is that a requisite?

I agree with you Joe. It is a good idea but it hard for me to see how we could make it work. It would also involved reminder calls and/or a phone call a day ahead of the appointment. To me it seems it could be more trouble than what it is worth. For example on my dental appointments (I go 2-3 times per year) and I wind up rescheduling about 40% of the time. Also if we have experienced a influx of time consuming jobs I may not want the car right then!

You are correct and we owe a debt to the people who provided us with these products. However, milking cows at 5:00 a.m. and 3:00p.m. seven days a week was just not very appealing to me.

CARMandP I too grow up on a farm although it wasn't a dairy farm but I did work on my brother-in-law's family dairy farm for a couple of summers. I have ground a lot of feed, cleaned out dairy barn stalls, and milked cows. In my opinion being a dairy farmer and milking cows twice a day is definitely less attractive than working on cars.

Joe, I really enjoyed your article. You do a very good job writing. I don't see how you do it with all of the other responsibilities you have. Concerning the term "grease monkey" you may find this interesting. Prior to opening our shop in 1999 I spent ten years working as a professional in the environmental consulting/contracting business. I held a CHMM (certified hazardous materials manager) designation and work on a lot of large projects almost from coast to coast. I have held contractors license of one type or another in nine (9) different states. Joe, I have also served as an expert witness in environmental litigation and I prepared Phase I & II reports for banks, lawyers, etc. My wife is from Appalachia and when here family learned that we were opening a repair shop (Car-x Auto Service Franchisee) her mother and brother were both saying that they couldn't believe that Frank was going to be a grease monkey. They never said this to my face but to other family members. This went on until my son got married and everyone came to the wedding and I took them to see our shop. It was a brand new modern brick building on a prime piece of commercial property with seven bays and five technicians working for me (we invested about $700,000 in 1999). It was obvious that they thought of the little old 2-3 bay garages that they were use to down in the mountains. They didn't have a concept of what we were trying to do until they saw the building. They never used the word grease monkey again.

All I can say is usually the older the car the harder they are to work on due to rust, corrosion, brittle parts, etc.

In case you don't get it or see it there is a great article written by one Joe Marconi:

We were up in January about 2-3% but on one less business day. Last year January-March was a strong period for us. However, we were one man short of the staffing I had last January so we actually wound up turing a few cars away. If we hadn't had to do that our car count would have been up. I have added another guy starting in February.

Our January car count was the same as last year although we are seeing some new cars mostly through referrals.

I don't know that it really matters a lot. Very rarely do I get asked what our labor rate is. Your labor rate needs to be what you need to be profitable and in line with your market. Our is currently $78. CARMandP where are you at in Tennessee. My daughter and son-in-law live in Cleveland, TN.

We have never used an odd amount labor rate. Currently our rate is an even dollar figure although we have used figures like $62.50 in the past. I do not know of any local shops that used uneven labor amounts.

The topsy-turvy tire and auto service year closed as it began, sliding down in December after an unexpected up-tick in late November. All tire and service sales segments measured appear to have ended 2009 at levels below those posted in 2008. Sorry...

Jasper has the best warranty in the business and if there is a problem that don't bat an eye. The Jasper plant is only about 50 miles from me so I can have most stuff next day.

I guess I am in the wrong business since I am not into NASCAR at all.

You handled it just fine. Do you have women call in asking for pricing with the husband talking to her in the background? I ask questions she can't answer. She asks her husband. He tells her and then she tells me. It is hilarious and ridiculous. I think these guys are uncomfortable with business dealings and they hide behind their wives.

We did a Jasper Engine on a 1994 Ford F-150 last week.

Next year I plan to do a Groundhogs Day promotion.

Great Idea!

Here is our TARP and stimulus money at work: Video Marketing and Mortgage News Designed for Mortgage and Real Estate Sales

It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach... One human hair can support 3kg (6.6 lb). The average man's penis is two times the length of his thumb. Human thighbones are stronger than concrete. A woman's heart beats faster than a man's. There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet. Women blink twice as often as men. The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain. Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still. If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it. Womenreading this will be finished now. Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

Here is confirmation that customers are keeping cars longer. This should be good news for our business.

Rotors, Resurfacing and the Law: How the Glad/Midas lawsuit will change how you sell brakes. http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/Article/70786/rotors_resurfacing_and_the_law_how_the_gladmidas_lawsuit_will_change_how_you_sell_brakes.aspx

I have to agree. I think it is over blown.

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It is obviously good news for the American car companies as it gives them a little window to sell a few more cars and perhaps gain back a few customers. In the long run I do not see it having a huge impact except for on Toyota's bottom line for the next year or two. However, I will add as a shop we have the impression that the Toyota vechiles of the last 5 years are not built quite as well as their cars were say 10 years ago. However, they are still top of the line, just not quite as durable. Does anyone else share that opinion?