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What do you think about this opinion:

Do you use Mitchell or Alldata now for repair information and/or labor time? If so they have shop management systems available.

Autozone has sold tons of parts by using a $300 code reader and a $8.00 per hour counter person this way. It is sad that the average DIYer and consumer does not understand that a code reading doesn't really tell you much most of the time. It only indicates where to start. We have a local shop that does free diagnosis and also generates some large estimates.

Thanks for sharing. Great story! It is good to know a celebrity!!

Cool! I think that is pretty impressive. How did you get selected to do the investigations? I once was an expert witness in a court case but it was in an unrelated profession in a different career of mine. I have had about three major careers and two minor ones. Ha!

I will attend this meeting but I could not afford their long term program. I have heard that it is in the $30-40,000 range. That is too rich for my blood. I know of one shop here in Evansville that adopted some type of program and made a lot of money but eventually destroyed their customer base.

Good to have you with us. We can all learn from each other.

My wife liked this one: Business trip

It would be very good if you can spare the time. I know that I would like it.

How are Ford F-150s and Chevrolet Silverados "greener" vehciles?

I thought this information might be of interest:

Some people my say that I have no life! Actually I worked today and we had a great day, really busy. Because I couldn't get a reservations at the restaurant I wanted on New Year's Eve I took my wife out an evening early and we enjoyed a nice, relaxing romantic dinner on Wednesday night instead.

Joe, thank for creating this forum and for the encouragement and advice you offer. I hope 2010 is a record year for you and that this forum experiences significant growth. Hopefully some day we will meet in person.

Sometimes we do and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we sell the parts at our cost, some times we sell the part only with no extra labor, etc. I think my service writer and I need to discuss this because sometimes we are too generous. If we want our business to be profitable we need to at least try to sell these things. On Thursday we had a nice repair approved through my service manager of about $630.00 but when I looked at it I saw that we had omitted any pricing of a serpentine belt that the customer had been told was need and would be replaced. The service writer was going to just eat the belt since it was a profitable ticket but I called the owner and easily sold the belt which effectively added over $100 of profit to the ticket verus giving the belt away. What we must realize is that unsold parts installed cost us in two ways. First the cost of the part (in this case about $22) and the lost amount on the total ticket ( in this case about $80.00). If we want our business to be profitable we need to at least try to sell these things. If we meet too much resistance we may then choose to make off. It doesn't have to be a hard sell.

As I said elsewhere we finished flat on the year and felt proud of ourselves for accomplishing it. We had a severe ice storm in late January that caused power outage in the area for up to two weeks. That hurt sales. Then we encountered a really tough period from May to September culminating in a very bad September. Our AC sales were soft due to an unusually cool summer for this area.

By turning in a strong November and December we managed to barely eck ahead of last years sales. All in all it was a decent year despite the economy. We had to work very hard to accomplish this. The month that hurt us the most was September. We have high hopes for the coming year and are going to work to make this the year we cross the $1,000,000 in sales plateau. As you all can see I am the life of the party. Here I am posting this on New Year'sEve. Happy New Year to all. May we all work to help, support, and encourgae each other. May 2010 be a record year sales and profits wise for all of us. God bless!

That is the big question I have to answer in four years. If I don't renew they will probably come into town with a new franchise. I attend any and all training that I have access. I have had a lot of management training and a lot of sales training but most of it non-automotive. Not at the current time although we are moving in that direction. It looks like I will have to do that. Mostly I have managed by cash flow.

A lot of different people email me stuff and I participate in several forums where I pick up stuff. One main source is my Car-X area manager. He visits us about 3-4 times per year to look over our operation, help where he can, offer suggestions, new ideas, answer questions, etc. He was a basketball player for Kent State and a career Army/Army Reserves Master Sergeant Infantry. He is a great guy who has been the most help of anyone from Car-x. He was my trainer when we set this up ten years ago. He also has a hilarious sense of humor and is all of the time sending me stuff. I have to thank him for this one.

Some people like Tequila maybe this is why: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...sa%3DX%26um%3D1

Our franchise are expected to offer and track certain services. For any new franchisee there are six weeks of training plus and on site manager will help set up the shop, computer software, equipemnt, inventory, etc. They also help organize a grand opening. We have an annual meeting that will offer a day of training plus a day of trade show with potential vendors. I definitely think have modules of business training could be valuable.

With only two bays bay management will be critical. Some bigger jobs you may need to avoid if it prevents you from taking on other work. You want to become known as a place that people can get things done, not have to wait weeks to get scheduled.

It has it's advantages. I can pick up a phone and call corporate or I can call another owner and seek advice or help. It can be about management, sales, marketing, advertising, yellow pages, computer software, shop equipment, parts purchasing, etc. There are new programs and services offered. The business model is discussed and expanded, etc. Sometimes it is real helpful other times maybe not so much. The question now is is it worth 5% of gross sales. Our franchise agreement expires in 4 1/2 years.

We are a franchise and therefore have costs and access to some programs that independents do not. This includes techinical training, management training, marketing, national account buying programs, etc. We also participate in a program called Certified Auto Repair through O'Reilly Auto Parts. This program gives us a nationwide warranty protection on any repairs that we do. This is nice.

It is my sincere heartfelt desire that everyone who participates on this forum would have a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year will be filled with joy and prosperity. I would like to thank Joe for creating this forum and for allowing me to participate on it. I have learned things from here that have helped my business and I hope to continue to learn. May AutoShopOwner experience growth in 2010. Most of all I am thankful to God for allowing me to have the ability and health to do what I have in 2009. May I never forget the ONE that this holiday is about. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I do count myself fortunate. I don't mind 2-3 inches but all bad weather, especially snow and ice is very disruptive to business. It is also an expense for removal. It makes it hard to work on cars with all the ice, melting snow, and water. It is also time consuming squeeging water. I would not want to have to deal with the amount of snow that your have. Were you paralyzed last week by the storm that blew through?