Transmission Repair

I just discovered this topic from back in October and I see nobody has made a comment since. I didn't have very much luck with a shop foreman. The main cause, in my opinion, was twofold. If I hired one, right off the bat they wouldn't be productive. If I promoted one of my techs, they had no practical experience running a shop. Eventually, if not sooner, their productivity would also end up as nothing. Either way, I ended up losing one of my best techs. If I ran the shop, it would run the smoothest and most profitable. However, that meant I had to delegate the front counter responsibilities and phone answering. I had my greatest success doing this because it was a lot easier to find someone who fit that job description. I quickly learned from that experience that I had to write a job description for every position. Easier said than done. Over the course of a year, I was constantly editing and updating every job description until I was happy with the employees' outcomes. The old adage about 20/20 vision applies here. Looking back, I should have written a shop owner's job description and included that with all the employees' job descriptions so they would know what to expect from me instead of assuming.

Here's a good article from Ratchet & Wrench on how your shop's numbers compare to other shops in a recent survey. https://www.ratchetandwrench.com/running-a-shop/finance/article/55250653/numbers-how-does-your-shop-compare-in-annual-revenue-gross-and-net-profits

Speaking of shops experiencing an uptick in labor costs, has anybody allowed for bonuses? What about a holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) bonus? What do you consider if and when a bonus is warranted? Has anybody noticed the massive layoffs and businesses that are closing locations? I don't understand why shipping companies are laying off a lot of employees at the busiest time (holidays) of the year.

I would send the customer an email with the subject line "How Did We Do?" asking about choosing our shop. At the bottom of the email, I would provide a link to our Google Reviews page. It worked for me at the time until other rating companies crowded the market. Although unpopular in some parts of the country, Yelp slowly became just as important, if not more so.

Here's a list of the top 5 must-read business-related books as recommended by Elon Musk... Elon Musk's Top 5 Book Recommendations 🚀 We dive into the world of Elon Musk book recommendations, exploring the titles that have shaped the mind of one of the most innovative thinkers of our time. From science fiction to business strategy, these books offer a glimpse into the diverse interests and profound knowledge that drive Musk's success. Join us as we review the 5 books recommended by Elon Musk, uncovering the wisdom and inspiration behind each choice. 🔹 Book Recommendations: 1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy https://amzn.to/3WJfMCU 2. Structures: Or Why Things Don't Fall Down: https://amzn.to/3LJLNVp 3. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life: https://amzn.to/3ykEHU0 4. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies: https://amzn.to/3Ae69TT 5. Zero to One: https://amzn.to/3YlN0cU Video link... 4:14

Here's Carm Capriotti's list of business books he recommends for shop owners... https://remarkableresults.biz/books/

WARNING: Long post. I think ALL OF US have made bad hiring mistakes at least once. We are in a unique specialty industry of automatic transmission repair that isn't quite like General Repair. (GR) In fact, we don't do GR work at all. I have made wrong hiring mistakes more than once. I can tell several stories when comes to making a bad hire, but I will tell only the most egregious. I hired a transmission rebuilder from out of state. He was currently working for a transmission shop that was about 4-5 hours from us. I first did a couple of phone interviews for starters. He sounded very confident and knowledgeable over the phone. I set up the first face-to-face interview for a Saturday because we, as well as his current employer, were closed on Saturday and Sunday. The things that stood out for me were his demeanor, attitude, and knowledge of the transmission industry. Long story short, I ultimately decided to hire him. He also claimed that he could build any type of transmission that was set in front of him. Because we are in Utah, we have some car makes that are very common in our market, but not so much in other markets. One of those car makes that is very popular with us is the Honda/Acuras. Hardly a week goes by without at least one Honda transmission job. The first hint that I may have made a bad hiring decision was the very first Honda transmission he built didn't work. We couldn't even take it on a road test. We call those types of jobs "no-goes." He took longer to rebuild a transmission than most, but the rest of the transmissions for the week all worked OK. In the following weeks, most of his transmissions worked OK as well... except Hondas. The second month of his employment, it was all OK except for Hondas. The 3rd month he worked, we had 2 transmission jobs come back the same week for warranty repairs; they were Hondas as well. By this time, I had more than enough no-goes and comebacks to make me suspicious. I finally started keeping myself in the building room to see exactly what he was doing. I observed him making more than a few rookie mistakes. I finally was able to observe him building a Honda transmission and I couldn't believe my eyes. I equate Honda transmissions to being built like a Swiss watch. Hondas have a very narrow window for clearances. Domestic transmissions have, on average, a very wide window for clearances. Domestic transmission clearances are in the range of .005"-.080". However, Hondas' have most clearances in the range of .003"-.009". It all came to a head when on a Monday where we had 3 of his transmissions come back for warranty repairs, and they were 2 Hondas and 1 Acura. (Nearly identical transmissions except Acuras transmissions run counter-clockwise and Hondas run clockwise.) By this time, I was suspicious enough to call the other transmission shop he used to work for. He claimed to have worked there 4 years. That fact was indeed true, but every other thing he told me during the hiring process was bogus. To me, there's a big difference between embellishing facts and telling a lie. I asked the other shop if they had any problems with his Honda/Acura. The shop owner informed me that they only buy used or reman when it came to the Honda/Acura car makes. I also learned that during the 4 years he worked there I discovered his job was as a parts guy, not a transmission builder. Holy crap, I swallowed all his lies hook, line, & sinker! The following week, I spent all my time in the building room to keep an eye on our new transmission builder. As if making a bad hire wasn't enough, I gave him a 2-week notice of his employment termination to give him time to find a new job. During that period of time, he did his level best to sabotage our shop. Once I was made aware, I fired him immediately. I learned that he had put our tractor funnel used in our waste oil barrels, in the new clean solvent barrel, contaminating all the clean solvent. Back in the day, most of the technical information was on a CD that I kept in our office after downloading all the information onto our machine's hard drive. As his last act of sabotage, he re-formatted the shop's hard drive. Lucky for me, all I had to do was to download all the technical information from the CDs to the hard drive.

No, we did not have a traditional automotive business management program. However, over the years, we did have 2 programs specifically made for the transmission repair industry. They were Digitree and TransShop 1-2-3. I had those programs in the 1980s and 90s. What I learned during that time period was almost without exception, we needed accounting software in addition to the SMS. For us, 1995 was the biggest year of change, with the advent of the Internet, Windows 95, and the launch of our first website, all in the same year. Today, the Internet is ubiquitous. I have noticed the features of many of today's Shop Management System (SMS) programs. Tablets equipped with cameras, texting, and online appointments, to name a few. I don't have much to offer as it has been almost 10 years since we sold our shop. When it comes to technology, 10 years can seem to be eons. Back then, what I couldn't find was an SMS/accounting duo. That is why I ultimately ended up with QB. I found it easier to alter QB into being an SMS than to alter an SMS into being accounting software. Today, I see more SMS that interface with QB via importing/exporting data. Today, QB is the #1 small business software. Lastly, as a side note, investigators in the collapse of the FTX multi-billion-dollar scam, investigators were surprised to learn Sam Bankman-Fried used only QB for all of his accounting.

Thanks, Joe. I'm fully retired so it's easy for me to find the time. As time marches on, my ability to help diminishes every year. This summer will be the 10-year anniversary of selling our shop. It won't be long before I become totally irrelevant. Sad, but true.

I learned a lot by simply doing a YouTube search on "auto repairs cost more". Here's the best video I found, on CNBC. 13:43 Why Car Repairs Are Getting So Expensive In my opinion, the reason shops are struggling is that they aren't including Hidden Costs in their calculations. It has been my experience that most shops set their prices off of competing shops in the area, not off of their true costs. You can either do a Google search on "Job Costing" or read this article. I give credit to my dad who opened up my eyes to Job Costing and Hidden Costs. He had a saying that summed it all up pretty well... "How the hell do you know what to sell something for if you don't know what it costs you."

I haven't changed it recently because I'm retired, but I did change Shop Management 3 times in my career. At first, I had Digitree software in 1987. They were bought out by Mitchell in 1988, so I switched. In 1995, I changed to TransShop 1-2-3. Around 2000 I started playing around with QuickBooks and running in tandem with TransShop 1-2-3. After relocating the shop from Lindon, Utah to Draper, Utah, I went solely with QuickBooks Pro Desktop. It was many times more powerful than QuickBooks Online. The QuickBooks Pro Desktop version allowed me to make the software run the way our shop ran, not the other way around. It took me a very long learning curve on how to do that and I wouldn't recommend it to others unless you like to create software, like I did.

This is the best video I've seen about what to look for when buying a used vehicle. Some of the tools and techniques are new to me. (like the electronic paint thickness tool) This shop is super-popular in not only our market area, but the entire western U.S. He did a video on a customer's truck from Alaska. He has a similar location to our shop, but about 35 miles north of us on I-15—freeway frontage with massive traffic count numbers like we had. Read the information section below the video. The video title is... Do NOT Buy a Used Car Before Watching This Video! 7:36 Also, here's his shop tour video. 16:40

I couldn't find a place for book recommendations, so I started one. Here's a great list of "must-read" books for business. It's from Ratchet & Wrench magazine. https://www.ratchetandwrench.com/toolbox/educationtraining/article/55242667/strengthen-your-leadership-muscles-12-must-read-books-to-fuel-success-in-2025 https://www.ratchetandwrench.com/shop-life/columnists/article/33006771/bennett-10-must-read-books-for-auto-repair-shop-owners

In one of his books (E-myth or E-myth Revisited), Michael Gerber discusses Job Costing. While it seems easy enough on the surface, implementing it was much harder due to all the "hidden costs" involved. In addition, I felt it took up too much time. After a few months, I learned to streamline the Job Costing process. Originally, I used Job Costing to price out estimates—a big Mistake. Much later, I learned to use it to set our shop hourly rate and parts mark-up percentages. The biggest eye-opener for me was all the "hidden costs" like matching Social Security and building rent, but that wasn't all. Over a year or so, it did get easier because I got better at it. One of the big things I eventually learned was to perform Job Costing on a spreadsheet template I created. Check out Wikipedia Using Job Costing for a more detailed description of Job Costing. As time went on, I would eventually Job Cost on only a few invoices, not every one as I did in the beginning. I would change the basic Job Costing spreadsheet template as my costs would change. Believe it or not, after a while the drudgery of Job Costing became easy and fun. Check it out yourself, you'll be surprised.

Most shops have unrealistic expectations of a newly hired tech. That problem, combined with the new tech wanting to make a good impression during the hiring/interviewing process opens up the possibility of misunderstanding and miscues. We were a transmission shop specialist. Transmission, transfer cases, clutches, and differentials only. No General Repair. Before I became a shop owner, I had more than one shop wanting me to be a "Mr. Know-It-All". This was in the early & mid-1970s when all technical information was only printed in huge service manuals with tiny illustrations and fonts that few shops had current issues. I remember an older gentleman coming around once or twice a year with a trunk full of manuals for sale. I quickly learned that if I wanted a transmission manual, I would have to buy it because the shop owner wouldn't. The excuse he used was, "Manuals have a way of growing legs." because that's been his experience. Technical information was hard to come by in those days. Fast forward to today, everything is online, mostly by subscription. However, there are a lot of industry groups that cost little or nothing where you can both learn & share information & experiences. Our AutoShopOwner group is but one example. Today's technician should have an ample list of their online friends in the business. I can remember meeting several of my online friends for the first time in a face-to-face meeting at the Transmission Expo. It blew my mind because I had made up an image of what they would look and talk like in my mind. In reality, I wasn't even close. What worked the best for me was taking the time to write a Technician's Job Description that I heard about in a seminar I attended. It sounds a lot easier than it is. I don't expect to hire a Walking Oracle, but I do expect the tech to find the information he needs online. I edited the Technician's Job Description numerous times as things came up. It took me at least 6 months to settle on the final contents. We had a 90-day orientation period where both the shop and the new hire learned what to do, what was expected, and how to find information when you needed it. Within 90 days, both our shop and the new hire had a good feeling (or not) about things working out. Sadly, I finally settled on this winning formula later in my career, about 1995-2015. I hope this helps others in hiring a qualified Master Tech. As we all know, they are in very short supply.

I found this great article on WrenchWay's website. The Cost of Technician Turnover and How to Prevent It

Have you ever tried to get an extended warranty to cover a major transmission issue? Every step of the way, they find a reason to delay and tie up a lift. I shoot a short video on every transmission we do, whether it's for an extended warranty company or not. In the video, I make these important points: 1. Why did the transmission fail? 2. What we're going to do to fix it. 3. And most importantly, what are we going to do to keep it from happening again? I call videos like that the "Show-N-Tell" video. We have at least 2,100 Show-N-Tell customer videos on our YouTube channel. BTW, all of our transmissions come with a 5 yr/100K mile warranty. Retail customers are very happy with me sending YouTube video link and a .pdf of what it's going to cost to fix it. They either call me, or Email me, (50/50 split) with the O.K. and that's it. Not so with extended warranty companies. Unless it's a relatively minor mechanical issue, extended warranty companies are hard to deal with, second guess our diagnosis, and want to supply a used transmission. We have more than enough major transmission work to where we can be selective on who we choose to do business with. It took me the first half of my career to finally send those jobs to my nearest competitor who likes to do the work; they have the time. Problem solved. Here's one Show-N-Tell video as a sample to let you know how thorough we are. 3:41

Thanks, Matthew! We had a virtual shop tour on the landing page of our website for about 5 years, produced by a locally well-known investigative reporter for a local TV channel. In just about every TV market area, there is one TV news station that will go to bat for local consumers who feel they have been wronged by a business/company. In our Salt Lake City market, that investigative reporter is Bill Gephardt. Here's his self-produced video tour of our shop. --->3:21 https://youtu.be/U4oXYH8JFF8 That video sold a lot of major transmission work for us. Because we also used Call Tracking, we knew exactly the source of each phone call.

My biggest problem with extended warranty companies is they plug up the shop's production.

I disagree with shop owners who say word-of-mouth (WOM) isn't as effective as it used to be. Unless those same shop owners use Call Tracking to quantify that statement, they are shooting from the hip. They have no real data to base it on. They are making a false general assumption based on a "hunch" or a "feeling" that Google and/or social media is making WOM less effective. I believe that Google and social media, if handled correctly, ENHANCES WOM advertising.

During the last half of my career, I learned to not accept work for ANY extended warranty company for reasons too numerous to mention. I would typically steer the customer towards one of my competing shops that would accept extended warranties. Problem solved.

I find this topic very thought-provoking. I feel my shop's experience may not be the norm because we were a transmission repair specialty shop, not a General Repair shop. Here goes... I personally handled all our shop's advertising and marketing efforts. My favorite was Google AdWords because it allowed me to accurately measure my effectiveness, in real time. By default, Google AdWords would only come up in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) within a 5-mile radius of our location. However, I learned I could change that with only a few mouse clicks. If business was slow, I could increase the radius to whatever I felt was appropriate. Conversely, if we got really busy, I would either pick a smaller radius, or I would pause all AdWords advertising, depending on how far we were backed up. The key to any advertising effort is the use of Call Tracking, which is a subject unto itself. The last time I checked, the cost for a Call Tracking number was only $3 a month. The most I ever spent on Call Tracking was about $250/mo. for 100 Call Tracking numbers. That is way too many phone numbers for the average single-location shop. The 100 Call Tracking numbers were divided among 5 transmission shops. I will go in greater depth of Call Tracking in another post, for another time. Meanwhile, here's my call tracking data for only one day. (Make sure you scroll to the right to gain a perspective of how many fields are included.)

Here's another great sales video by Todd Hayes. I had to read the article twice because it had so much good information. Overcoming Sales Objections Article