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CARMandP

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Everything posted by CARMandP

  1. CARMandP
    Welcome. Good to have you here. I would love to hear about how things are run in other parts of the world.
  2. CARMandP
    I have seen this video numerous times and it never gets old. LOL. I love the line about keeping your peanut butter off the 50" viseo. LOL
  3. CARMandP
    We signed a lease this week on a new location. Its 3000 sqft with a parking lot on the corner with great road traffic. We should be moved into this building in the next few weeks once everything is set up for the city occupancy permit. We are very excited. The only problem we are having is getting enough financing to be able to afford this move without completely wiping us dry. I am only renting the back half of the building for now since I don't need much more room than that but will still have complete access to the whole building as long as there isn't anyone in the front half which doesn't seem likely since this building has been empty for a long time. The economy has made this one more affordable to rent and its the only building in our area that will work without much modification.
  4. CARMandP
    I am up 21% gross over last year all by myself Of course, it doesn't take much when my numbers are not as high as you guys. I am glad for that increase and hope to be even higher next year when I get into my new building with a little help.
  5. CARMandP
    I use the Wagner brand from Oreillys almost exclusively except when I am doing Honda vehicles and then I use Honda brake pads.
  6. CARMandP
    Depends upon what vehicle I am working on. Most imports I get the OEM brand manufactured belts from WorldPac just because I think the OEM belts tend to last longer. If I am not using the OEM brand manufactures I am using Gates belts supplied by Oreillys. Gates belts are 1 yrs warranty from Oreillys.
  7. CARMandP
    I looked through the download files but didn't find exactly what I was looking for. You any of you guys have a copy of the form that you have each customer fill out when they drop off a car? What kind of "legal" information do you have on the sheet? I am looking to update my form and need a little direction.
  8. CARMandP
    Very cool. Wish it was that easy to actually work on one of those vehicles. LOL
  9. CARMandP
    I do 3000 mile service when I use conventional oil. I am a dealer for Amsoil products and use a lot of their XL series oil which is 7500 mile oil so I recommend that interval with their oil. I change the oil every 5-7k on my own personal van (which I use Amsoil in) and just recently did a full service (valve covers removed) at 195k and there is no sludging and the engine is clean. I will continue to use that interval on my own vehicles.
  10. CARMandP
    I found that out after I widened my search. The row of dealers within 20 miles of here are all over $90 an hour which I already knew. It was good to see that I will be able to easily raise my rates and still be able to compete.
  11. CARMandP
    Where will I find that information? I can't seem to find where I will locate the hour rates.
  12. CARMandP
    I am getting ready to move into a new building (larger and more overhead). I have been able to work the last few years out of my own garage which has kept my overhead costs way down but my business has become to big for one of my neighbors and someone called the county on me even though I have never had any complaints from the neighbors. Oh well. Of course, with the bigger building comes bigger expenses and overhead. Can anyone give me some good ideas on how to properly set my prices to not kill myself financially.
  13. CARMandP
    I checked for the shops in my area and haven't even heard of several of them? Not sure how they are "qualifying" shops for this site. I may add mine in a few weeks when I get moved to my new location.
  14. CARMandP
    Hmm. Interesting. Good information.
  15. CARMandP
    That's a great story. LOL. I had a Saturn towed in there a few weeks go that the girl ran off the road and bent the rear suspension. Not a problem. Just go the scrap yard and get another rear suspension. Of course, the driver didn't bother to tell me (the wrecker driver did) that the car had been flooded in their yard while it was sitting there (we had some massive flooding the beginning of May). I called the customer and said that piece of information would have been good to know. If I can't get the car to start, it isn't worth fixing (it isn't anyway but she wants it done). I couldn't believe it when I charged the battery and the engine started right up. It needs a starter but the funny thing is the left front headlight still has water inside of it (3 months later).
  16. CARMandP
    I loved flat rate. I made a lot of money working flat rate but the problem is when there isn't enough work, you don't make any money. Also when you get stuck with the warranty work all the time instead of the service and maintenance work, it really kills the paycheck.
  17. CARMandP
    I couldn't agree more that is why myself I don't ever talk down my competition even if I think they did something stupid or are crooks. All you do when you say stuff like that is cause the people you are talking to wonder if that is how you talk about them...
  18. CARMandP
    I can't agree more. I do my best to be the "good guy" to my parts suppliers. They send me a lot of work. Of course, when you spend a lot of money with them you get a few nice perks.
  19. CARMandP
    I agree 100%. One of the problems in this area is we have a "tech" school for training technicians. When I graduated from their in 1997 the school was privately owned and concerned about what you were learning. Now its owned by a bigger "group" and the student numbers and money are more important so that school is pushing through "techs" that can't hit their butt with both hands much less do a decent job of working on high tech cars. The other problem (I saw this at the dealership I worked for) is the tech field is getting older. Not enough young people wanting to work in the harsh envirnment for the lousy pay. Because of this, most of the techs have been passed by with the technology required to do the job. That will be another problem in the future.
  20. CARMandP
    Don't see many of them around here but growing up in upstate New York we saw them all the time. They actually called them coy dogs because they were turned wild dogs and not afraid of humans. It was open season on them.
  21. CARMandP

    is loving the nice cool shop while I wait on rotors to be machined.

  22. CARMandP
    Wow is that an eye opening article. I guess my import training will pay off in the next few years if I really pursue that avenue more.
  23. CARMandP
    What kind of policies are you thinking about?
  24. CARMandP
    No it does not. It holds 23. The owners manual is wrong because the customer is never wrong. Great story
  25. CARMandP
    Very cool ad. I want one

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