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My son and his wife are on a cruise. My wife and I are staying at his house with our four grandkids. He has a beautiful house on 42 acres out in the middle of no where. A driverless car would be nice since we are having to take our 15 year old granddaughter who doesn't drive yet to work and pick her up. She works at Holiday World and it is 16 miles one way.

Photos and medals from my daughter-in-law's grandfather a World War II veteran and her great grandfather a World War I veteran.

If it is there I will stop in and say hi. However, it is not a high priority for me.

Harry, I love it. My experience with claims with Progressive is expect the worst.

Today I am remembering my great-great-great-great grandfather who fought in the War of Independence, my great grandpa who fought for the Union during the Civil War, my great uncle in fought in the trenches during World War I, my uncle who fought in Korea, a good friend from high school who was in Vietnam and my wife's brother who was in Vietnam. My great uncle was wounded in World War I had a steel plate in his head and was told he wouldn't live to be 30 but he died at age 96 and I was able to be acquainted with him. My wife's brother was wounded in Vietnam from shrapnel from a mine and my friend was shot but recovered. My dad was turned down for the draft in World War II due to an injury from being thrown by a horse.

Scott, thanks for the answer. Your response is what I would have expected flexible as the situation calls for. I really appreciate you sharing the loaner vehicle agreement!

Scott in your loaner agreement you have this provision: Your acknowledge that there is a minimum of $125.00 in service or repairs required while using the loaner car. Is this hard and fast? Do you make any exceptions for example on some diagnostics situations where you don't know where the repair is going or if it may turn out inconclusive? Do you use the loaner for warranty work situations for either your convenience or the customer convenience? When this occurs do you make pen and pencil alterations? Does anyone else have a dollar limit on use of a loaner?

I think that is a valid point.

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Joe, thank you for the information. I also have a couple of other questions that I would like to ask: First, how are the people who have their cars worked on during this day selected? How many hours was the event? Second, I have inquired about Family Services Day and had an initial telephone conversation with a lady who represented the organization who was suppose to have followed up with a call with more information since I couldn't talk very long at the time. However, that never took place. However, I have to say that I was somewhat shocked at what it cost to join the Family Services Day and wondered about your take on that fee.

Joe, can you give us in general an estimated cost to participate.

Does this fancy wiring repair qualify? Gonzo it may be a repeat article but it is still a good one.

This is a post that every shop owner should read. Too many of us have picked labor rates based upon no financial calculations.

I received a call Monday from a customer whose son had brakes replaced at a different Car-X in November while away at college. The car had sat for some time and when the grandfather had driven the car he thought a front brake was locking up (I think all it was was noise from the rust coat after sitting). He proceeded to take the car to a shop near their home. This shop looked at the brakes and told the woman a bunch of stuff about how it looked like the rotors were never machined and that it was not professional work, etc. She called me asking me what to do? I told her that all of the work done in November would still be under warranty and that if there was any problem it would be fixed at no charge unless we ran into something new like a locked up caliper. I proceeded to call the shop where the worked was performed and had them fax me a copy of the paperwork so I would be prepared when they came in. Later in the morning the car came in and the woman told us that when she picked the car up the owner of the shop that had raised all the red flags told her there was no problem with her car. The brakes were fine and the person who had called her should not have told her there were any problems. The other shop had created a problem where there was no problem at all. I personally looked at the brakes and it reflected what was shown on the paperwork which was new pads and rotors on the rear, new pads and machine the rotors on the front. You could tell by the rust on the rotors that it had been sitting for a while. This other person created a problem where there was none, upset this woman, caused me to waste the other shop's time and my own time, and in the long run he only made their shop look bad. Often shops like to degrade other shops thinking they will get ahead. I have always felt like we all lose when this occurs because it just make consumers more distrustful. The good shops in our town I consider to be friendly competition. If I run into a situation where there is a problem with their workmanship and the customer is returning to their shop I try to give them a call and an explanation of what we have found to be wrong and to give them a chance to be prepared to deal with the customer.

It is just the total number of cars on the road per service bay. If you figure with a population of 5,000 there is one car per person which may be high with 80 bays that is about 63 cars per service bay. You certainly have more competition for a car than in the adjoining town because you coul estimate them at 250 cars per service bay.

Nice day with my son and his family. He grilled steak, chicken, fresh salmon, and brats. You could have your choice. It was very good. The Johnsonville beer brats were my favorite.

In 2008 it was suppose to be about 200 cars per bay.

Good for you. We need raise ours.

We do not have a fleet of loaner vehicles but we do have three. We currently have a 1999 Dodge Caravan, a 2003 Ford Focus, and a 2004 Fort Taurus. Based upon our experience with loaners over the past 9 years I can truthfully say that the Dodge Caravan has been the most trouble free that we have owned. We had a couple of others different loaners that we got rid of because there were constant repair issues. We purchased the Caravan 9 years ago for $2,000 and it still runs great. Since all of these cars are getting long in the tooth I have decided to upgrade to newer vehicles. I am not a fan of Chrysler made vehicles but the vans seems to be an exception other than brakes and transmission issues on older minivans. This week I purchased a 2005 and a 2006 Chrysler Town & Country Van both are the touring trim package. The vans are 130K and 180K that drove out good and are in good mechanical condition. They have only needed a few things. Less than $300 in parts per vehicle. One needs a good detailing because it was real dirty and they will both require headliners later. My total purchase price for the two vans was $3,000. I intend to buy two more once I get these on the road and the others sold. I should be able to come out with no more than $1000-$1500 out of pocket. If your are looking for loaners consider the Chrysler make mini vans. There are a lot of them out there, mini vans aren't popular or cool, they are versatile as loaners because they will handle car seats and can seat a family, and they are cheap to buy.

Do you have industry experience?

I suppose the way to look at this is to add up the total number of bays in your town and divide it into the estimated number of vehicles. Then you could compare to the national average. It does sound like that there may be too many shops chasing the available cars.

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