GeeZ

Clients like this is nothing but trouble whether you are established or new. Do what you like but you won't do another.

Send her somewhere else. Just asking for trouble. You can't win.

Anyone know of a site that sells employee policies that pertain to the auto repair industry? I am using Jian's "Employee Manual Builder" for general policies but nothing particular to the industry. I have written many policy and procedure but not in this industry. Thanks in advance.

If the techs want to buy their stuff it's ok by me. Plus these vendors have items that won't be found anywhere else. I just think that the vendors need to follow some guidelines that don't use up the shop's time. Thanks for the advice. I would like to hear from a Snap-on or Matco salesman for their prospective.

The trucks come every week and take up 10-20 minutes of all of the techs time. Three techs waste up to 1 hour total time. Sometimes more. This is new for me. How are other owners handling this?

These shows create unrealistic expectations with some of our customers. Some think we should only work on their cars until it is finished. They will come every couple of days to see the progress, but difficult to find when we need money from them.

Let me understand this: All of the profit from this part of the business stays with you. Define profit. You have to pay the overhead of rent, electricity, taxes, and especially water, then you get what is left? What is the owner of the business getting? Good will? The ability to have this access to this service? New customers? This makes no sense to me. No offense, but detailers are a dime a dozen. Unless you are bringing a lot of new customers that the garage owner can possibly get repair business from, this model is doomed to fail. Keep your current job.

Cordone refurbs many imports also.

GE credit is exiting consumer lending as reported by WSJ on 8/30/13. Also, most consumers that need this type of lending are usually not credit worthy so they get turned down.

You don't want the state interfering with your business anymore than it is now. With licensure comes lots of strings, that you won't like, like continuous education and fees that are pretty much out of your hands. What happened with ASE certification. Please explain how flat rate almost force you out of business.

Problem: Entering customers name as prompted causes first name to listed as last name..... Joe Smith ends up as Joe, Smith. How do we get hold of you?

Since you are a sole proprietor you need to look at your personal expenses. If you need to bring in 5k (including taxes) then your break even would be 5K plus your business expenses. A 20% margin is dependent on how much you spend. But this breaking even talk is just to get by when business is slow. If you can only break even, maybe it is time to get a job working for a dealership.

First of all, the term is break even. Do you include a salary for yourself when you attempt to break even? If you are only referring to paying the bills then you are having a problem. You have been in biz for 13 years then you should be able to analyze your business to see what part is off. If you have good volume then your prices maybe too low. If your charges allow for a good margin then you don't have enough volume. When you analyze your business look close at the type of business you are getting. I don't think a CPA can tell you about breaking even because he does not know your business. I think if you are still confused then you should try finding someone in you community in your type of business that would not feel threaten helping you. Good Luck

I hope it is better than their auto manufacturing. UK is almost as bad as a 3rd world country, when it comes to manufacturing. Getting back to scissor lifts, I found a BendPak sold thru Northern tools, but it as expensive as two post lift. I have never used a scissor jack but it seems to me that it is inherently more dangerous (less stability) than a two post.

Merry Christmas. I got out of my way to reply Merry Christmas when someone wishes me a happy holiday.

"I don't mind paying more for a good quality one and I don't want Chinese crap with unrealistic safety or weight ratings." Who knows what is made in China or USA. I once looked for a chassis dyno. I found one Chinese company that referred me to their U.S. distributor. Turned out to be Mustang dyno.

Personally, I believe it is a lot about nothing.

I agree with xrac. Also, if the customer decides to fix the car anyway, I have a policy that we do not finance a customers build or project. You need to get money up front and partial payments along the way such that the final bill will be $1000 or less. If you are not familiar with the Benz you may not be able to get a close estimate, but do the best you can. Sometimes a customer may have you start a project and decide that this is too costly and never comes back. You then have a project car that you may have thousands of dollars in and maybe over the cost of the car.

I think the majority are emergency fixes that the owners forgot about. Out of sight out of mind.

When manufacturers make a new model, I think they also look at parts sale. If they used mostly interchangeable parts, then they would be inviting generic parts sales since many parts are generic. Look how many parts are available only from the dealer. Follow the money!

If you have been in business for awhile, you know what your net profit margin is, so I would use this as my guide. Depending what your type of business formation, you can save fica, futa, suta fees by taking anything over your set salary as dividends. You must use a salary that is similar to someone in your position (manager). You must be a LLC or Corporation (S or C corp). Example: your net profit is $150K and a shop manager in your area makes about $50K. You set your salary at 50K and at the end of the year, you take a 100K dividend. You only pay FICA, SUTA, FUTA based on the 50K and save the the other fees. Also, giving yourself a regular salary doesn't necessary make you more money, but it gives you a more accurate picture of your business. Are you really making more money by being self-employed or are you just buying yourself a job with a lot of headaches. Not sure if this answers any of your questions.

The only way to accomplish this is to format a check off form that list all the things you need to complete their employee and payroll file in manila folders. You always need to C.Y.A. in regards to unemployment, IRS, Workers Comp., and others. This checklist incorporates information that is required in your particular state.

Our other vendors which are all high performance vendors are basically C.I.A. (cash in advance) with credit cards. I don't know why you have to fill out a credit app when we are paying with a credit card. The main problem with these vendors is they check your credit anyway and ding your credit score. Then, when you ask the credit cards for a higher line, they say we had too much checking of our credit. It is a vicious circle. We were running out of credit line with the old credit card and had to up the line to 20K. But even at this line we are constantly paying down on the balance. Also, I occasionally put some items on my personal AMEX card. Lots of creative financing to increase cash flow. I think i am going to ask Mr. Obama for a loan on Tea Party letterhead.

Your parts store doesn't give open credit? Even when we were a new shop, we opened accounts with O'Reilly's and CarQuest. Need to check on this.

Sat, is one of our busier days. I can't imagine being closed on Sat, unless it is a holiday.