CMillet86

Do you already have a 4 post alignment lift or a 4 post lift? Like I mentioned I just bought the machine for $26k and thats the Elite with a 32" monitor, tire clamps, vin code scanner, code link etc. It's so fast, I'm actually doing alingments with a 2 post lift and stands right now and it's still fast.

I'm thinking about motologic.

I just bought a Hunter Hawkeye Elite, Now I didn't get every option in the book or the scissor lift. But the machine itself was $27k, the top of the line Atlas is $21k and to me is a unknown quantity. So the Hunter was a no brainer.

I get a verbal ok on the phone, and then when they pick up the car, they sign the Repair Order stating that they authorized all the repairs before they get the car back.

I've been there, had a Later model cadillac come in with a headlight bulb out, when I told the woman it'd be $120 or so to fix it I about had to duck. Then I had to explain to her that we had to pull the whole front bumper.

I checked out your whole shop on your website. I can only dream of a shop like that.

I get where LMCCA is coming from, a small shop that does low number and volume like mine it's crazy to think about that kind of money. For me as a single person shop I find it impossible to do the numbers that allow real profitibility. But thanks to this forum it's something I'm working on.

The Mastercool tool has been worth every penny.

I'm not an experienced sales writer by any means, but I bought Elites Elites Auto Repair Sales training package and it has helped me immensely . It's audio based but it comes with PDFs and so forth. It's $30 so I wouldn't expect it to be anything great, but it gave me a ton of perspective.

I do get a deposit on any job over $2k. But if I'm working on a few big jobs at once and not doing any cashflow work I still burn through that deposit money.

You have to be firm and consistent. The only time I will install a customer supplied part is if it's a performance application, say a customer bought EBC rotors and brake pads or borla headers, something along those lines, labor rate goes up to account for lack of part profit though. Also a good idea I've heard a lot on here is to quit giving prices over the phone, sure you can price a brake job, but what if it needs a caliper, hose or both. Now you have to call that customer and tell them it's going to be more then it was quoted etc.

They are seperate companies on the same property. I have full authority to excute a plan in my shop. Lack of working capital does cause a delay at times, I don't have any net 30 accounts for my parts, I write checks for them as they come. Which I'm realizing is killing my cash flow. Turn around time from him is fine most of the time. I pay him just as a walk in would. He has one employee that works for him. Also our prices are usually much cheaper then a Jasper but we don't offer the warranty that they offer.

I share the building with my dad who runs the automotive machine shop, when my grandpa retired he split the business between my father and I. That's why I rebuild them because I just disassemble them and have him do the machine work without even leaving the building.

That would be a surefire way to get rid of all that type of work thats for sure.

It's so hard for me to quit doing that work because thats what were known for, thats our niche so to speak. But I understand completely, and with the help of some guys on here, I'm re-evaluating every thing about my shop. I've already placed an add for a entry level tech, and had some response in a day so we'll see how that goes.

I'm a couple hours from Mario, and my labor rate is $70, thats on the upper end of the independent scale in my area.

I've got a C5 corvette in one bay with the front timing cover off for a warranty issue as I built the engine in it, that requires pulling the rack, and I also don't feel comfortable leaving that vehicle outside every night. I've been trying to finish it, but also trying to finish the engine job to get some cash to make sure all the bills are paid this week. The other bay is actually the F150 with the valve covers off of it, I'm going to push it out Monday morning, was just trying to get an idea of what they are going to do with it before pushing it outside. I'm going to put a help wanted thing up as soon as I can. Andre are there some affordable apptitude and IQ test that I can give prospective employees? Like you said I don't want to hire someone based on like or dislike, did that with a guy part time and it ended up burning me big time.

I try to keep one bay open for the quick stuff, but it's hard to keep one bay empty all the time when all your doing is big work. My average RO is $540, but I have as many ROs In a year as some of you guys do in a month

I use all data currently. The biggest thing I can implement I believe is getting my parts margins up. They are at less the. 40% average. And next is getting car count up. Like Andre said, too much wasted time. It looks for the year I've basically averaged 15 hours a week billed.

Improbable goals, seems hard to think about those because I've been thinking about just trying to do baby steps. My business goals are to be able to expand the shop I'm in and make it state of that art, top of the line aligner, balancer and so forth. I want a nice clean shop with a few good techs. It's hard for me to imagine anything too crazy. My personal goals are simple, I just want to be able to do things that I want to do when I want to. I don't want to work 7 days a week, every week like I am currently. I want to be able to enjoy my life, have a decent house and some toys.

If I complete both Jobs, I have 2 more fairly large jobs in the parking lot. One is a engine overhaul, I spent most of the day cleaning and preparing parts to assemble that engine. Incoming phone calls vary on the day, I'd say 2-4 phone calls that could be prospective customers, maybe 1 walk in a day that could be a customer. I'm not bad at commuicating with people, If I have bad news for a customer I sometimes have trouble calling them and letting them know. Had to do that today, customer brought in a 08 F150 that needs an engine, I don't rebuild those because of a few issues, had to give him a $7000 quote for a reman Jasper. I don't cower from talking to people, it just seems like by the time people make it to my shop they are at there wits end. I tend to think people like me, I have some loyal customers, have lots of friends.

On a main road, County Road, In an industrial area but residential is just 2 blocks down. My shop is directly facing the road with letters on the building with just my name. This year so far has been less wholesale work, mainly because I ran one Dealer away because of slow payment. Last year was probably 30-35% wholesale. This year is only about 10%.

City Population 21,000, 80K within 20 miles. Have Autozone, Advance, Napa, and O'Reillys all delivering parts. No Rent Building is paid for from my grandfather. Overhead is Roughly $2500/Month, a good chunk of that is tools/equipment because all the equipment that was here was completely wore out. That will go away in a couple years if I can stay afloat. Then I'll have property taxes which are only 2k a year in a Our Tiny Town.

I have 2 bays with lifts, I have a 3rd bay in the back of the building where the chassis dyno is, it's not useable for much else. Currently there isn't anything In the shop that can be done today. The majority of my work takes multiple days or weeks with rebuilding an engine, ordering parts etc. I diagnosed and scheduled a car yesterday for today, but they were a no show.

I totally agree with you, currently I'm waiting on parts. I have both bays tied up with fairly major work, waiting on parts that weren't in stock for both. I haven't done a brake job in probably 2 months, I've probably done 3 stand alone oil changes. I need to market to more general repair and clean my shop up. I don't have tire machines or balancers, no alignment machine, so I don't get those jobs. I gave myself until June of 2016 to get this place on the right track or I'm closing shop and going to work for someone else.