Jeff Monson

We are in the upper mid-west. It has been a very strange year for sure. After a mild winter we were slow for a few months, spring was better, summer very spotty. Now August and Sept have been record months? I wish I could put my thumb on what is going on.

Joe, you are not alone. I charge for analysis, always. We have to get paid for our time and our professional knowlege. What takes us a few minutes, may take others much more time. Should we sell ourselves short for this?? Heck no. We educate our customers on how, and why, they are paying for diagnosis and inspections ahead of time, makes life easier for me and my employees.

Thanks xrac, little confusing, could you email the spreadsheet to me? [email protected] Thanks a bunch.

So how do you put a value on your shop? I'm being put in a position where I can buy out my partner, putting a dollar amount on a shop seems like a hard thing to do. So if you guys were put in this position how would you come up with a value?

Joe, What do you do with the customer that says "I just want to know what the code is" or "I just want the light cleared for now"? Is that done at no charge also? I'm just trying to see all the pro's and con's on this approach, not trying to stir the pot. I REALLY like the approach, and I can see myself doing this, and my reasoning is, there are a lot of places that are offering free scans, and I think it is just to get them in the door. Its a nice approach to keeping up with the competition and not joining them.

I think you are right on a colts victory, my guess Saints 24 Colts 31

My problem with that is what do you do with the easy ones? Do you sell yourself short? I totally respect you for going out and trying something new, I like the concept of it, I'm always looking for a new marketing strategy. Please share the "cons" if there are any yet. I think it would be hard to be disiplined enough to get what you have coming, when that "gross evap leak" comes through the door what do you do??? With a scanner in hand it would be VERY easy to just clear it, then tell the customer it was probably just a loose cap and send them on their way. "something for nothing?"

Been a vikings fan since I was a kid, that was a really tough loss, the vikes beat themselves for the most part. Hats off to the Saints for getting at Farve, he was pretty beat up. I was really looking forward to a Manning vs Farve superbowl, 2 of the all time greats in a championship!! I'll be cheering for the Saints as they have never been to a bowl game......but IMO Manning is just too smart of a qb for them to handle. Should be a great game.

My shop gets an hours worth of diagnostic charge quoted up front to the customer. If it turns out being a difficult diagnosis, we call the customer to let them know, and they can make up their mind if its worth more money, or to live with it. (95% ok more time) . Not all diagnosis are the same, as is no dental procedure is the same or no doctor visit is the same. Educate our customers to this and life is a lot easier. Being proactive instead of reactive in our industry is a great tool. It really burns me though that my local parts supplier ( who wants ALL my business and to be 100% loyal to him) reads SES codes for free!!! Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. I know most of his customers are the do-it-yourself type of customers, but it is really hard to explain to my customers why we charge for diagnostics. Dia charges have always been a battle in our area, there is a local shop that is advertising on the radio "free diagnostics" "no charge to look at your car" in our area right now. I think he is on the ropes big time, and he is spending a lot of advertising dollars to promote free work???? I just dont get it. I guess that is why there are professional shops and the shade tree shops. I'll stick to my guns on diagnostic charges, if we lower are standards then we are no different than the other 75% of the shops out there.

I like both your stories and how they were both handled, Joe, If a customer is given a detailed estimate and the work is performed in a timely matter and all was ok'd by the customer, then I stand very firm when a complaint on pricing occurs. These customers are not the ones we desire as business owners, they help pay the bills but......are usually more of a pain to deal with than they are worth. I feel the blower guy was handled correctly also, I will swallow a little dia time to rid myself of a cronic complainer. I think your service manager made the best decision for your company. Its a good thing there are enough good customers to keep our businesses afloat, dealing with the price checkers and the complainers constantly would put me to an early grave.

12 for me, cool test

Another vote for mitchell, we have used manager for 13 years. Its a very stable software, very easy to navigate through and the learning curve is not bad at all. You can generate just about any report you will ever need for accounting purposes also. Cost would be well below 500/ month even if you have a multiuser agreement.

We see a handful of them but also, only for basic maintenance. I had the opportunity to try to dia a no charge complaint on a Civic this last summer, was kind of cool but scary all in the same token. Turned out to be a problem with the stator in between the transmission and the engine, the customer decided to ditch the car. The hybrid customer in my area is about the same as yours, mostly tree huggers trying to do what society has told them is "right". I think the hybrid will be a short lived concept on the road to finding the perfect path for transportation. They just dont pencil out well, and god forbid when you need a battery you will have to resharpen that pencil.

You definately need to educate your existing customers that you now offer complete auto repair, otherwise the "I didnt know you did that" mentality will stay in their minds. Being know as a glass shop and not a repair shop may be a hard reputation to overcome. Word of mouth is always your best advertising so get your current customers talking. Signage on a busy street is also good, just make sure its highly visible and your business name sounds like it is qualified to fix cars as well as replace glass.

ND here, and we are put in group plans by blue cross blue shield but I'd like to know if there are choices.

To stay competitive in our area and to retain employees we offer 50% payment for health insurance policies. We also offer 401k and match up to 3%

What type of cleaning fluid does it use? If its a water based cleaner I wouldnt pay much for it, I sold one for 50$, if it uses a chemical type cleaner it would be worth more to me, but I still wouldnt pay over 150$

percentage wise I'd say 80% comes from auctions, (fargo, ND and minneapolis, MN) 10% from the private sector and the other 10% from trades. The trades and private are the nicest as you can drive them, ck them out at the shop and you can barter with the customer, where at the auctions you are at the mercy of other buyers, misrepresented cars, auction fees, transport fees...... the list is long.

Sales are up 7% over 2008, not great but a nice increase We have never opened on Saturdays and I would never consider it unless I was facing going out of business. I opened a shop to avoid all the Saturdays that I had to work at a dealership. I wont go back down that road again. Plus I enjoy the outdoors and my family and most of the time 2 days does not seem like enough!!!!

Joe I'd like to hear how it goes, we are in our 3rd year of selling used cars, this last year has been tough though, cars are still selling but margins are way down, buying cars has been the real hard part, prices are way up at auctions in our part of the country. As a result margins go down, its a pretty simple concept, new car dealers are selling less, resulting in less used inventory for them, as a result they bring fewer autos to the auctions.

4 bays + 1 alignment rack 4.5 techs 322 is our average monthly car count for 2009 4 "a" techs M-F 8-5:30

Joe, I recently read "you're fired". Your article really hit home with me as I just went through this situation with my service advisor. Starting out as a technician in my own shop 15 years ago, I have had to let a "few" go, it never is easy and some, especially this one, leave a scar that takes some time to heal. My situation has never been better, I have 4 technicians, 1 service advisor and 1 tech/service advisor so basically all my bases are covered. The shop runs smooth if I am there or not, its a great feeling to have come so far. Turnover has been nothing, my newest employee is or "was" 3 1/2 years in the running, so I havent had to fire anyone for quite some time. So my service advisor has a habit of calling in sick a few times a year, and its always on mondays and usually lasts till wednesday, then all is good for a few weeks. Well I have had talks with him since his 1st year as an employee that anything over his 2 week time off limit would not be tolerated. He has consistently taken 3 weeks every year since he was hired, I just dont pay him for the extra week. Eventually I started to notice my shop moral and attitude towards this situation was going in a bad direction, so jan 1 of 2009 I told my advisor that any day over 2 weeks this year would result in termination. Well here we are in the end of October and he has used his 10 days and I am just wondering if the magic day will come that he gets sick. Low and behold last week he did get sick and this time he was really sick, SO WHAT NOW, he missed 2 days due to this and when he returned I fired him. It was a really crappy feeling as he did a great job for me, BUT I had to stick to my guns, I had to show my employees that the rules we make we must follow. I fought with this decision in my head for the last few days wondering if I did the "right thing". My conclusion is I did the right thing for my business and the wrong thing for my freedom from the shop. Your column is very good, and the last 4 paragraphs are very wise advise for any shop owner. Joe keep up the good work!!!