BNC173

We are a small rural shop; my guys are on salary and average 55-60 hours a week. Between the salary & bonus plan I think we are fair on our pay. We only charge 65.00/hour for mech work but our main shop is a tire shop, so we don't get into much other stop besides brakes or light mech work. The shop stays very busy that we some nights must stay late to get everyone taken care of. 1 employee focuses on the mech. part & helps with tires, the other is mainly tire & office sales & paperwork. There are a few times a month that the tire guy will need to do an afterhours call from anything from a jump start to a tractor tire repair. I want to compensate him for his extra work but not sure how to figure something simple & fair. I also don't want to make it something that they will start running more after ours because they will get more pay then if they were able to go out & do during reg business hours. Anyone with idea what they do hate to give profit away we still need to pay for the truck & fuel?

I don't spend a lot of time working in the shop on a day to day basis, but do have to do some after hours services or jump in to help. The shop has a few sets of tools that have been placed around in the shop so you don't need to go looking when you need common tools. Yesterday doing a couple simple tire changes & I needed a pair of pliers they station should have 2 they had none I asked a mechanic he went across the room to go get one pair. I then use the machine to breakdown the tire & it wouldn't bust the bead, so I went to the other machine & it was the same way so I went to do it the manual way. Put it on the rim clamp of the first & it wouldn't close, so I went back to the second & I had to clean & oil so it would clamp. I head to balance & had to move tires that will be installed or had been taken off but had life left so we hung on to. So a 30 min job took 45 min. I asked come in this morning & before I could ask or say anything I see one of the tire guys doing a car tire by hand, I asked you always do it that way & he said yes neither machine is working. I said I found that out last night & have called the repair guy but how come nobody said anything, I got the I don't know answer. So my question is how does everyone handle the putting tools back, checking machines & notifying of needed repairs & even sweep the floor. Do you have a person with a checklist go to each station every night, sweep the floors every night. Just seems like we have everyone working right up to quitting time or after hate to push more but our running after tools stepping over tires & machines not working correctly is costing us. Just getting ideas of what has worked for others. Thanks

We are looking at the same idea. We feel it is a team program all doing a great job to provide the best experience for the customer. We are all on salary & trying to increase our profits with new customers & retain existing. So I have tried to think of away to come up with a benchmark that say last year in the first quarter we did xxxx amount of sales this year we increased it buy 7000.00 so the group gets a part of that to split. My issues is A, just because we sold 7000.00 more don't mean our profit was much higher. This shouldn't be so tough I'm sure other shops have a plan that works & how do you back up showing your numbers when the employee says oh I know we made more than that without showing your finical. I have thought running off our profit & loss sheet but then get expense in there taken out like a new piece of equipment that the service advisor complains it should have been figured in because they don't use the machine.

Looking for ideas or suggestions maybe something that has worked for other shops. Again we are a small rural shop, out of the main town about 10 miles. We have several tow companies in the area that will haul by our shop & take to another shop. We mainly do tires but are able to do light mechanic work like brakes, alternators, batteries, starters, etc, etc. I know some customers may request to take it to another shop but I also feel that we are an option that gets over looked & the tow companies may make a little more buy driving on by. My Question is does anyone have a program that they are working with a tow company to bring cars to the shop when a customer does not have a preference. We have a loyalty program that I thought for every dollar the customer we will give the tow company the same value in points. Do we offer to pay the tow bill upon del so they don't have to mess with? How do we know if the tow driver is bringing to us on his own or the customer requested? Open to ideas & maybe it is what it is. Thanks

We have a small shop in a small town where feedback is important to us. We have a handful of customers that owe us money for one reason or another. I don't want my name in the local paper that I sue everyone that owes but how can you get them to pay. I know we can't go take wheel off to repo them or assume we can't? Looking to be that pain that they will just pay to get rid of me. We call or message and get the same story as always checks in the mail or I will stop in next week etc. What are others doing and don't give me the we don't allow charges because we don't either but everyone has that special case that it happened.

We have also used "ontheclock" but are moving to our shop system since it has one built right in.

I agree on the Fujitsu ScanSnap as being great scanners.

Well, I was thinking 5% across the board. Then the question arose about labor, If he wants to use the shop & tools after hours & is a trusted employee that is not taking advantage of it do you allow it or say no so it don't start something you don't want. If they want to do it on reg shop hours I feel if I'm paying them they should pay full shop rate because I could maybe have that bay full of a paying customer, so what do you all do with labor or shop use?

I have a new employee that needs to get some tires & asked if he was able to get them at cost or a discounted rate. We don't put much profit on the tires so not a lot of room to offer a discount. I do have other employee's that get for the cost, but they are also family members & in management. I'm curious what do other shops do or offer the employee's. Thanks

I started a business idea & funded everything to get the business going. It has boomed faster then I expected, i still own & run the shop from the outside but I have 2 family members that have grown the shop from the sales & service from the inside & have been paid a weekly check plus sales bonus checks above any local shop. I have the idea that over the long haul I will recoop my investment & time. I have told them the more we grow the more you will earn pretty simple plan. The company continues to grow every month so I'm not worried about location & all the other things that go into what is my business worth. My question is if I would sell to 1 of them how would I figure a fair price. Mind you I personally have yet to gain a profit from the business myself. I draw a small check but it goes toward bills that it took to get the company started that came out of my own pocket. My quick simple thought was Equipment+Inventory+ (Net profitx3)= Selling price to walk away. I would like to know others I feel I should gain on taking the risk & putting my personal family finaces on hold, but also feel I don't want to cause family issues that I was trying to cheat a family member that would say the business would be nothing without them. Thanks

http://www.wilsonsdirecttires.com/ Our new website still working on the tweaks but always a work in progress.

We use the VDO sensors also so far no issues.