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Depending upon the requested quote I will often avoid giving a price or may throw out a price range. About 40% of the time price quote requests are based upon incorrect assumptions that are a waste of everybodies time. I will often try to engage the customer in a conversation and get them talking. I make them laugh if I can. I ask questions. "How do you know you need a thermostat? It could be a something as simple as a low cooling system caused by a loose hose clamp. We fixed an overheating car a couple of weeks ago by installing a new radiator cap. A cooling system pressure test is only $14.95. Why don't you bring it in and let us find what is really wrong with it." What I am doing is building rapport, causing them to relax, offering hope that things could be not as bad as they may think, and I am not shooting out a price or trying to sell them something. I get them asking for me by name when they walk through the door.

I talk to all my vendors, to all my outside sales reps, all the tool guys, and all my techs. Do you know anyone looking for a job? Who have you worked with that is a really good tech? Do you know anyone not happy where they are at? I also review candidates on the state sponsored unemployment jobs site.

I feel for you guys. Business is actually up in this neck of the woods.

The problem with had with the guys from the tech school is they should no interest or eagerness to learn.

Joe, that us a perception. Yesterday the guy who married my wife's brother widow was telling me a friend had read an oxygen sensor code and put a new oxygen sensor on but with no change on the code. I tried to explain to him you can get an O2 code because the sensor us good and doing it job. I would guess it is a lean condition caused by a dirty MAF sensor or a vacuum leak of some type. This guy was having a hard time it seem grasping that the sensor is not bad.

My mother has been gone since 1989 but she was the best and I still miss her. I am fortunate that I married a woman who was born to be a mother. She is in my mind the image of a perfect mother and grandmother and I love her dearly. Happy mothers day to all the mothers but especially to my wife.

I think there has to be very selective screening to find the right candidates. Does anyone know if there is an assessment test developed specifically for automotive industry that can be used as a predictor of the candidates potential? For example LIMRA, formerly the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association, has developed an assessment test for the insurance and financial services industry that is a predictor of success. Scoring well on that test may not mean you will succeed but scoring poorly means almost for certain you are not a candidiate. Before I took someone on as a formal apprentice I would probably want to work with them anywhere from 6 months to a year before I decided to take them on. In the plumbing trade a company can work someone for a few months as a pre-apprentice before they formally enter the program. Poor candidates could be weeded out in this process. We have had about four different guys that we gave a try from the automotive program at the job core center and they were none of them worth taking on. This program is definitely not producing shop level technicians or even lube techs.

The union model of a 5 year apprenticeship where the apprentice works 40 hours per week and goes to class two nights a week is not a bad model. This is how my son became a journeyman plumber. He started out being paid about $7.00 per hour with a yearly increase. By the time he became a journeyman he was a full union wage.

Glad you got your money. People are funny. I had a car left with me in December. We did diagnosis on it and it needed about $2100 worth of work but it was a $2,000 car. The driver keep promising to have it towed. After the fifth phone call over two months we quit calling him. About 6 weeks ago I started the mechanics lien process on this car. In Indiana it consists of getting records from the state as to the last listed owner and any lien holders. Certified mail is this sent to all parties, an auction ad is placed in the paper (costs about $100) and after 14 days the vehicle can be sold at auction. All of the papers are sent into the state and then a new title is mailed to the purchaser. You usually have to figure about $150-$200 in costs for the process plus your time. It was worth it because I had someone I could sell the car to for $450. I have done this process enough that I am pretty good at it. We finished this process last week. Funny thing is the car was not titled in the name of the kid who brought it in. I think he had bought the car and never titled it. The legal obligation is to send the notice to the last legally listed owner at the address given. If the ownership has changed or the address has changed and it is not updated with the state tough luck. Funny thing is after 5 1/2 months which is more than ample time to do something the boy's mother called this week from Florida to see if we had her son's car. What a joke? He leaves it for almost 6 months and then calls? I told her it was sold at auction on April 28.

Yelp is not a useful means of advertising in our market.

Intermitten no starts are the most frustrating of all.

I agree! We should do every oil change we can now! This alone builds loyalty because we become THE place they go to. My biggest problem is we stay busy and it DISRUPTS the big jobs as far as my employees are concerned.

I would not invest 30K into a parking lot without some concession on my lease. You are making an improvement that should increase the future value of the property for the land owner. However, I do not know enough about your situation to make a proper judgement. Is your lease so low the owner cannot afford any improvements. Is the lease such that you are responsible for everything? Etc, etc., etc.............

We will not install the third Cardone. THat is a certainty.

We do a 12/12 warranty on most things with some exceptions. Plan and simple parts were out and manufacturers produce some parts that have limited life.

Joe, tech pay is a real tightrope. When I have guaranteed a high wage for many guys it has killed motivation.

By the way Gonzo I like the piece.

I love you site address that is really short and easy to remember. Everything loads fast. The site is easy on the eyes. My suggestion would be add more pictures of yourself, staff,and the shop in action.

This has been my week for hacks. First there was the guy who was trying to fix a running problem who thought it was the catalytic converter stopped up. He had a guy working for him (window cleaning business) who said he "use to be a mechanic". He said he could fix the exhaust. When he finished he told the boss he had removed the converter and put in a piece of straight pipe. The boss's wife came driving the car into our place dragging the exhaust. What we found was a resonator (the cat was still on the vehicle) removed and replaced with four pieces of pipe pieced together over a 30" span. Some of it clamped, some of it not clamped, and some sealed with muffler mud. It had came loose from the cat end where it was never properly attached. For $70 we got rid of all of it, welded in a single section of pipe and replaced one rubber hanger. Not only was this former mechanic not somebody who had done much exhaust but he didn't know the difference between a resonator and a catalytic converter. Some mechanic! Obviously the diagnosis of a stopped up cat was incorrect. Literally hundreds of dollars of parts were thrown at this car and it still didn't run right. The second vehicle was a Dodge Intrepid that the owners had tried to put a fuel pump in and couldn't get the tank back on. It came to us on a tow truck. What we found was they had installed a used junkyard pump into the gas tank. To originally get the tank down they had taken a sawzall and cut the rear stablizer bar links instead of unbolting them. Once we got the tank back into the car where we could check it out we found the original problem was a locked up motor. The other was a pickup truck he did his own rear brakes with the help of a buddy who "knew what he was doing". They either lost a caliper bolt, didn't replace it and or didn't get them tight. The caliper had fallen off the right rear and had almost ground a hole into the new custom aluminium wheel on the truck. We found replacement bolts and properly installed the caliper but the guy still may need a wheel. How much money did any of these people really save? What a bunch of clowns trying to save a buck.

Joe, I have had a terrible time with a Cardone reman distributor this week on a 2001 Mazda Millenia. It was the only one available in town at the time. The first one lasted 4 days and the second lasted a day. It cost time and a $70 tow and a $45 tow.

I have decided that I am not going to get involved with ATI due to the negative things I have heard about cost. However, they continue to keep calling the shop. I have told them everything except get lost and I am about to reach that point.

THanks for the information Travis. Are these your biggest issues with the system?

I think that what you have is a small claims lawsuit. I had this happen to me once when the owner claimed it was stolen. I couldn't prove that it wasn't. This guy was not to be trusted and it was about $1200 fourteen years ago. THat was a lot of money. Disable vehicles if you feel nervous about the owners is my advice?

I like that and I think it should be our attitude.

Wow! THat is a large drop for you. Last year was like that for us. The good news is I think this year will be a little better for us. March was down a little but April was up. The most noticeable trend is that business is like a YOYO. It is feast or famine. We haven't saw an extended run of strong business for a couple of years now.