autorepairuniversity

I watched this happen to a fellow tech before I was an owner. We were working at a good year shop. This technician leaned a wheel against the building. The wheel then fell over (on its face) when he turned around. Of course this was an expensive aftermarket wheel. It scratched the finish, and the customer demanded a new wheel. The manager pulled the tech aside to talk with him. I later found out that they made him pay for this wheel (couple hundred dollars) and were docking his paycheck for it. I was furious. The tech was kind of a push over, and didn’t want to make waves so agreed to pay for it. I remember telling him : if we are taking all the risk, then we should be getting all of the reward. It gave me a bad attitude, and I wasn’t even the one taking the hit. As an owner, it is very frustrating watching $ go up in smoke for careless mistakes, but as long as I see some remorse from the technician, I try to shake it off and make money on the next one. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting post. My account told me something once that has always stuck with me. He said “in a way paying taxes is a blessing”. When I looked at him funny he laughed, and said this “if you’re not paying in a pile of money at the end of the year, it means one of two things. Either you’ve had a terrible year, or you are cooking the books”. That gave me new perspective on the way I think about taxes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great post. This drives me crazy. I have a couple of techs that are great parts swappers, but couldn’t diagnose problems that are more involved than a noisy wheel bearing.... I’ve encouraged them to learn more. Explained that the more they can do, the more valuable they will be $$$. Even offered them raises to complete some training. Nothing... I just cannot relate, as I am always trying to better myself and the things I do. So when they run into a sticky situation, I feel like I have to step in. If I don’t, it’s usually throw parts at it until something works. I guess they are content not making more money for a little extra effort.... I don’t know. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Very well put.... And so true. Thanks JimO! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thx for all the feedback. I spoke in depth with the dealership. According to their master tech, the radiator hose was installed backwards (“s” shaped hose). My tech claims to have not removed the hose, just removed the radiator end (makes sense). So, who had the radiator hose off last.... who knows. Anyway, I feel partially responsible since we didn’t catch this. After a lot of thinking, I offered to pay for the tow back. I also offered to split the motor swap. She was very grateful. All in this will probably cost me $2000 (or just over), so I decided just to eat it and not get insurance involved. If this were a more expensive vehicle, I agree getting insurance involved sounds like a good idea. Thx for the responses to this, so helpful to hear how others have handled similar instances. Another reason to strive to MAKE MONEY on every job we do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi, so yesterday a girl walks in and handed me some pictures of what looks to be a Black spot on her cooling fan like something has been rubbing on it. She explained that she was on a trip over the weekend and something it happened she lost all her coolant while driving. She had it towed to the local Subaru dealer. They told her the cooling fan had rubbed a spot through on the upper radiator hose causing the engine to loose it’s coolant, it overheated and now supposedly the engine is seized up. Guess who just replace the radiator about one month ago Yep we did. Luckily she’s a very nice girl but kind of sat there wondering what I would do for her. she said the dealer quoted her six grand for a new engine... of course that’s not gonna happen since has approximately 200,000 on her 05 Subaru Outback. Now the vehicle is approximately three hours away and she’s wondering what I can do for her. I talk to the dealership that the car is that they basically said whoever put the radiator in is at fault but they didn’t know why the hose started rubbing against the fan??? Anyway we were in that spot last so I feel like I’m responsible to do something. Wondering if anybody has any thoughts on how to handle this, or if anyone has had similar situations. Thanks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha. That’s a really good way to handle that!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here’s another question about tire rotations. Just wondering what others are charging for this service. I bumped mine up recently to $20. It’s a bit of a headache. Say a vehicle comes in for a oil change, then also requests a tire rotation. Now, instead of using our drive on hoist, we have to get the vehicle on a regular hoist. In Michigan we also are constantly battling “swollen” lug nuts, where you have to beat the socket on, then beat the lug nut back out of it. We have been replacing a lot of lug nuts lately, but that can get expensive (and a hard sell to the customer). Oh by the way mr. customer, we had to replace 12 lug nuts which ads another $60 to you bill. Now I feel like the bad guy when the customer is reluctantly handing over his or her credit card. All this headache for $20 bucks??? Wondering if I’m still not Charging enough? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

yes I also pay my guys hourly. The bonus program is pretty simple. I’ve been paying them $1 for every billed hour. After every month, we have a lunch meeting and go over numbers, I give them their folder with all the jobs they billed out that month. They can make around $150 (or more) if they have a decent month. I used to give them 100 bucks if we surpassed a certain gross sales per month. However this seems be working pretty well and the guys get a kick out of watching their numbers. It’s also help because I let them recommend their own labor times per job (so there extra mindful now if they think something is going to take longer)

Yup, that’s the one! Thank you for posting that. That post along with many others honestly transformed the way I view, and therefore run my businesses. I was basically making every decision for every repair in my shop. It’s been hard to let go, but also very freeing. I’m putting a whole lot more pressure on my techs to MAKE DECISIONS, but after all it is there job to make sure the vehicle they are working on is properly diagnosed and repaired. Not the owners! Let them do there job and hold them accountable. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s awesome, and 100% true. I sometimes almost find myself feeling guilty when I make good money on a job.... No more!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I stopped accepting personal checks about 1 1/2 years ago. Unless it's someone I feel comfortable taking a check from. After one really big delema, I learned that writing "bad checks" is almost a legal way of stealing. Most of the time it's not worth going to court over. Sad world we're living in. Sent from my Chromebook 11 Model 3180 using Tapatalk

I feel the need to say thank you! After reviewing the financials for this past year I was quite depressed. I did $100,000 more business than the year before, but hardly any more profit to show for it. I had personally been stressed out, buisy beyond belief, and just plain beat up this past year, and for what... a small profit??? Yes I did profit more than the year before, but put it this way - not impressive. One night I tuned to Auto Shop Owners for a little help and guidence. Threre was a TON of helpfull posts, and some real eye openers. The one post that was burned into my brain was a post about running a business vs. running a repair shop. I told myself it was time to run a BUSINESS not just a AUTO REPAIR SHOP. I had a BIG meeting with my guys, telling them its time they stepped up there game and helped me "bear" some of weight I was carrying around with this business. I raised prices $5 per hour. I started charging for diagnosis. I started tracking the techs billed hours (I pay hourly) and created a bonus program for them. I actually started "watching and analyzing the numbers" rather just going off of feel. The results.... Utterly amazing. This year (Jan and Feb) I have profited almost twice as much as last year. I know!!! that is crazy. Just goes to show what a little "thinking" can do. I remind myself everyday to treat my shop as a business, not a "repair shop". I hope this helps others, it sure helped me. Hopefully this trend continues for me, but again THANK YOU to my fellow shop owners for posting your knowlegde and advise!!! Sent from my Chromebook 11 Model 3180 using Tapatalk

I guess at least its keeping those "cheap" customers out of our shop - they can have them. I heard once that the people with the least amount of $ are always the biggest pain in the a**. Wow has that proven itself to be true for me. A lot of times, you're working on a piece of junk, with multiple problems, and you get blamed for stuff that is ridiculous. I just had a customer with an Honda Odyssey pos. 1000000000 miles on it. We did a timing belt, told them there motor mounts were hollible, they declined to fix them. Called a few days later and said that we MUST have screwed something up, because there engine has never clunked this loud before we worked on it. I put that fire out, then the next day he accused me of snapping off a rear lugnut (which I explained we never had the rear tires off). His response was that it must have happened when we hoisted the vehicle, and that we were still responsible. Haha! I guess you just have to laugh and let it roll.off your shoulder sometimes. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

I guess I mostly had in mind the entry level tech (or even a lube tech), who WANTS to learn, but may not have the mean to go to a tech school. I also agree with what you are saying, however Ive never been too impressed with "textbook" style teaching / learning. And I don't think Im alone there... wich is why I designed this course to be very practical, and cut right to the chase, also teaching them good work habbits 🤠. So far, I seem to be getting a lot of interest in this. We'll see... I just thought I would share it with you guys! Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

WOW. I'm finally launching my "winter project". I have created a fully online auto repair training course. I (as a shop owner) was amazed at the lack of training options that my employees could take while working full time. The course lays out the "basics" that I found myself teaching these guys every time I had a new hire with little experience. If you know anyone who could benefit from this, boy would I appreciate you sharing this! Or, if you as a shop need some training for new employees, maybe this could help you. I'm not trying to use this forum as a "sales platform", but I am very excited to see what hapens with this idea. Again, any help / feedback would be greatly appreciated. You guys are awesome to listen to! Here is the link: www.autorepairuniversity.com Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[emoji106] Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Auto repair Training WOW. I'm finally launching my "winter project". I have created a fully online auto repair training course. I (as a shop owner) was amazed at the lack of training options that my employees could take while working full time. The course lays out the "basics" that I found myself teaching these guys every time I had a new hire with little experience. If you know anyone who could benefit from this, boy would I appreciate you sharing this! Or, if you as a shop need some training for new employees, maybe this could help you. I'm not trying to use this forum as a "sales platform", but I am very excited to see what hapens with this idea. Again, any help / feedback would be greatly appreciated. You guys are awesome to listen to! Here is the link: www.autorepairuniversity.com Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Wow... I should come work for you! In my part of the country, I have found that techs make between $13-20 per hr depending on skill level. There is also a lot of shops paying flat rate. I prefer to pay hourly. That being said.. I know first hand how important it is to take care of your employees. Ive been blessed with great guys and would do almost anything to keep them! Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

My experience with 1800radiator hasn't been great. Ive had too many come backs, and always replace them with a better quality part. I stopped using them. Although its tempting with their super cheap prices. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

I totally agree. Its easy to get caught up in the day to day hustle and not look at the big picture. Sounds like I should spend some time examining the numbers, and possibly raise my prices a bit... I honestly feel like I have more work than I can handle most of the time. Thanks for the advice. I'll put some time / effort into this. Also probably have some more questions along the way. Thanks guys! Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

Great advice, its so nice to be able to talk to other shop owners, other than your neighbors (which are competion). Where I struggle, is that I know I could find more ways to charge more per job. But in the end it either feels like im charging a fair rate, or im charging too much. Example, if I charge $200 for a brake job, I feel like its a fair price. Say I were to mark up parts more and add more shop supplies, now Im charging $250 for the same job. I feel like that would be considered too high for my particular city / area. I can't think of any practical ways too save much more $. Any more advice. Again thank you! Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

This is interesting stuff. I'm new to this group (pretty excited to have found it). I've owned an auto repair shop for almost 6 years. I have 5 bays. This past year we grossed approx 500k, however barely made a profit this year when all said and done. Kind of frustrating because were ALWAYS busy and working our butts off. I am considering expanding to get a few more bays. However, there is also another great location (Building) for sale near me. I have thought about adding another location, then wonder if I've lost my mind!!!. I'm pretty young, so I don't mind upping the ante so to speak, if it would be a good long term move. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk