Joe Marconi

I had another customer the other day call me about her oil service light on her new Honda Accord. She has over 8,000 miles and has not had an oil change yet. She is wondering if she should follow the service light or come in earlier for her first oil change. I explained to her that 8,000 mile is a long time for that particular car, there are other issues to consider too, especially for the fact that she owns the car and wants to keep it long-term. With extended oil services becoming the norm, how are other shops marketing the oil change service. Some car makers are promoting 10,000 mile intervals and more. Will we see the day when we create a 5K service with NO Oil Change? Thoughts…..

I am interested in knowing how shops feel about time clocks and tracking technician hours. Some say that with the management programs we have today, a time clock is not has necessary as it once was. What are your thoughts?

We all have too many Waldo stories. The most difficult is explaining what happened to the customer, which is never easy and maybe nearly impossible for the average consumer to comprehend. Sometimes we fix, “A” problem, but not “THE” problem. But, how do explain this to the customer? It’s amazing all the variables we deal with on a regular basis.

Internet Reviews: The Good, the Bad and the UGLY! I strongly recommend periodically checking internet reviews; from Google reviews, Yelp and as many others as you can. Get to know what others are saying about you and your business. Most are probably good, some may be bad and you just might find that there may be an ugly review that may portray your business in a negative manner. Recently I found an ugly, nasty review of my business that shocked me after reading it. After a little work on my part I contacted the person who wrote the review, sat down with her and was able to understand her frustrations with us and convinced to her to give me an opportunity to rectify the situation. The customer initially came to us for a check engine light and rough idle complaint. We found a dead oxygen sensor and fouled spark plugs. The customer came back a week later saying that the check engine light never came back on, but the car is bucking at times. After a few tests we found nothing. The customer still had the problem at times and felt that we sold her a repair she did not need, did not care and was angry, hence the ugly internet review. When I got the car back, it did indeed buck intermittently and further testing found a faulty spark plug. We installed a new set of plugs, which solved the problem. The customer was very happy that we solved the problem and removed the review. So, pay attention to what people are saying about you online. If you get a bad review, do all you can to contact that person and work to solve the problem. Also, always listen to the customer, make sure you communicate properly and perform follow up calls to catch problems before they escalate.

More Information, TIA Web Site, lots of info and video: http://www.tireindustry.org/training.asp

In all the years I have been in business, by the third week in January and much thru February, business slows down to a crawl. Here we are heading toward the end of January and business is quite steady. I wonder if it is due to the lack of any major storms. In past years we had to close the shop at least once a week thru January and February. Whatever the reason, I hope it lasts.

First I would like to know what “Upholstery University” this guy went to. The nerve of this guy! The public needs to realize that he overwhelming majority of people in our industry have passion and take great pride in what we do. And, we always put people first, profit second. I know this to be true, because smart guys like you Gonzo are multi-talented and could probably do anything you set your mind to.

Mitchell 1 to hold management system training workshop in Atlantic City Mitchell 1 recently announced it will hold its first Shop Management System Training Workshop April 19-21 in Atlantic City, N.J., at the Resorts Casino Hotel. For more information click on link below: http://www.fenderbender.com/FenderBender/January-2012/Mitchell-1-to-hold-management-system-training-workshop-in-Atlantic-City/

Source ABC News Dec 30, 2011 10:27am Sears Discloses List of Store Closings Sears Holdings today released a list of 79 stores that will be closing under its plan to shutter up to 120 stores. Most of the outlets to be closed are in the South and Midwest. Employment varies by store and format and at this time we cannot provide the total number of impacted associates. However, a typical store that is being closed employs between 40 and 80 associates,” the company said in a statement. That means the closings will lead to between 4,000 and 9,600 job losses. FORMAT STREET ADDRESS CITY STATE ZIP Sears Hardlines Only 1916 19th Ave Lewiston ID 83501 Sears Hardlines Only Us Hwy 25e – Ste B2 Middlesboro KY 40965 Grand/Essentials 5451 Halls Mill Rd Ste 14 Mobile – Halls Mill AL 36619 Grand/Essentials 101 E Interntn’l Speedway Deland FL 32724 Grand/Essentials 12080 Carmel Mountain Rd San Diego – Carmel CA 92128 Grand/Essentials 3020 Se Federal Hwy Stuart FL 34997 Grand/Essentials 4560 Forest Hill Blvd W Palm Beach FL 33406 Sears Hardlines Only 1916 19th Ave Lewiston ID 83501 Sears Hardlines Only Us Hwy 25e – Ste B2 Middlesboro KY 40965 Grand/Essentials 5451 Halls Mill Rd Ste 14 Mobile – Halls Mill AL 36619 Grand/Essentials 101 E Interntn’l Speedway Deland FL 32724 Grand/Essentials 12080 Carmel Mountain Rd San Diego – Carmel CA 92128 Grand/Essentials 3020 Se Federal Hwy Stuart FL 34997 Grand/Essentials 4560 Forest Hill Blvd W Palm Beach FL 33406 Grand/Essentials 3610 Peck Rd El Monte CA 91732 Grand/Essentials 7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd San Diego – Clarmnt CA 92111 Grand/Essentials 375 Amherst St Bldg 1 Nashua NH 03063 Grand/Essentials 480 West Street Keene NH 03431 Grand/Essentials 1363 Nw St Lucie W Blvd Port St Lucie FL 34986 Grand/Essentials 9200 Baltimore Nat Pike Ellicott City MD 21042 Grand/Essentials 8375 E Grand River Brighton MI 48116 Grand/Essentials 601 North M-291 Lee’s Summit MO 64063 Grand/Essentials 625 Highway 136 West Baraboo WI 53913 Sears Full-Line 1400 Metrocenter Jackson MS 39209 Sears Full-Line 150 S 69th St Upper Darby PA 19082 Sears Full-Line 18000 Vernier Ave Harper Woods MI 48225 Sears Full-Line 15 Crestwood Plz St Louis-Crstwd MO 63126 Sears Full-Line 5244 Hickory Hollow Pkwy Antioch TN 37013 Sears Full-Line 3661 Eisenhower Pkwy Macon GA 31206 Sears Full-Line 880 N Military Hwy Ste 1086 Norfolk VA 44221 Sears Full-Line 921 Eastchester Dr Ste 1002 High Point NC 27262 Sears Full-Line 2121 N Monroe St Space 300 Monroe MI 38671 Sears Full-Line 1722 Veterans Blvd Mccomb MS 39648 Sears Full-Line 1404 Old Aberdeen Rd Columbus MS 39705 Sears Full-Line 2109 S Scatterfield Rd Anderson IN 46016 Sears Full-Line 1357 S Main St Adrian MI 49221 Sears Full-Line 5167 Hwy 70 Cypress Plaza; Ste. 90 Morehead NC 28557 Sears Full-Line 2727 Iowa St Lawrence KS 66046 Sears Full-Line 1400 Nw Garden Valley Blvd #1 Roseburg OR 97470 Sears Full-Line 200 Paul Huff Pkwy Nw Cleveland TN 37312 Sears Full-Line 1057 Broad St Sumter SC 29150 Sears Full-Line 363 S Illinois Ave Oak Ridge TN 37830 Sears Full-Line 1250 S Hover Rd Longmont CO 80501 Sears Full-Line 351 W Schuylkill Rd Pottstown PA 19465 Sears Full-Line 1801 Nw Us Highway 19 Crystal River FL 34428 Sears Full-Line 1631 W Rose St Ste 2 Walla Walla WA 99362 Sears Full-Line 1100 N Wesleyan Blvd Rocky Mount NC 27804 Sears Full-Line 1689 E Broad St Statesville NC 28677 Kmart 17625 Chillicothe Rd Chagrin Falls OH 44023 Kmart 951 By-Pass Rd Winchester KY 40391 Kmart 2601 S Main St Rice Lake WI 54868 Kmart 2960 Derr Road Springfield – N’land OH 45503 Kmart 51027 Highway #6 Glenwood Springs CO 81601 Kmart 1605 Buford Highway Buford GA 30518 Kmart 101 Town & Country Lane Hazard KY 41701 Kmart 1525 Sadler Road Fernandina Beach FL 32034 Kmart 225 S Tyndall Pkwy Callaway FL 32404 Kmart 66011 Van Dyke Washington Twp. MI 48095 Kmart 9550 Wicker St. John IN 46373 Kmart 1724 State Road 44 New Smyrna Beach FL 32069

Please read the article below. I am interested in everyone's feedback..... Jury Awards $14.4 Million for Wrongful Deaths A San Diego jury awarded three young sons $14.4 million Tuesday in a wrongful-death lawsuit for an automobile accident that killed their parents. On July 31, 2006, Casey Barber was driving with his wife Melanie on Highway 98 near Page, Ariz., when their Ford E350 Sportsmobile van lost control and rolled over. Right-rear tire tread separation was determined as the cause of the deadly accident. Plantiffs’ attorney Adam Shea accused the defendant Mossy Ford of improperly fixing the tire in Aug. 2005 when the tire should have been pulled from use. According to a published obituary, the sons were ages 3, 5 and 8 at the time of their parents' deaths. The two sides reached a post-verdict settlement that, including a pre-verdict settlement with other defendants, will award the sons $19 million total, the plantiffs’ attorney said. As part of the post-verdict settlement, Mossy Ford agreed to immediately follow industry guidelines for tire repair and implement a technician training program to improve consumer safety, according to a Businesswire release. "Our goal was more than just obtaining a monetary recovery," plantiffs' counsel Robert Buccola said in the release. "Here, we were able to evoke real change and get the word out to other tire repair facilities of the importance of following tire repair rules to a tee.” Source: Jury Awards $14.4 Million for Wrongful Deaths | NBC San Diego

I strongly recommend not getting in the practice of allowing people to pay their bills over time. You are in the auto repair and service business, not the banking business. If a customer can't pay their bill, there is a problem. I know people fall on hard times, but you can't make their problems your problem. We all have fleet accounts, that pay on account, but that's different. I have extended myself in the past and got burned! There are companies like GE Capital that will give your customer 90 days or longer to pay the bill, no interest. Use these companies. If a customer cannot get credit by one of these companies, WHY WOULD YOU EXTEND CREDIT??? As shop owners, what makes us great is our compassion for our customers. We treat them like family. But, you are still in business and must adhere to sensible business practices. You have enough to worry about on a daily basis; don’t add to it by engaging in the banking business.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 From AAIA Capital Report The Motor Vehicle Owners Right to Repair Act (A 352) was reintroduced in the state of New Jersey on Jan. 10 by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D). Similar to legislation that had been considered by the state in previous years, the bill would require car companies to make the same service information and tools available to the independent repair industry that they make available to their new car dealers. A right to repair bill also sponsored by Assemblyman Gusciora passed the State Assembly in 2008 by a 49-22 vote, but stalled in the Senate due to strong opposition from new car dealers, unions and the vehicle manufacturers. The introduction in New Jersey coincides with an ongoing lobbying effort in Massachusetts, where a ballot measure on Right to Repair has been certified by the Secretary of State. That ballot measure will soon be introduced in the Massachusetts legislature, which will have until May 2 to act on it and therefore preclude the need for it to appear on the ballot in November.

The customer is always right…..right? Well, not always. For those of you who read my tips, you know how I feel about the importance to your business in creating world-class customer service. I will do just about anything when it comes to customer satisfaction. But there are things that transcend business. In the end, people are people and mutual respect between people must be observed and upheld. In the thirty one years I have been in business there have been times when I had to tell someone to please leave and never come back. Those were the times when people crossed the line with either verbal abuse, asking me to commit fraud or perform a repair (or not perform a repair) that would jeopardize the safety of others. Last summer I walked in the customer waiting room to find a first-time customer verbally abusing one of my service advisors. His car just failed the NY State safety inspection because of a cracked windshield. He was yelling and cursing because he stated that the windshield had been cracked for years and no other shop failed the inspection before. I quietly walked over to him, introduced myself as the owner, gave him my business card, and said, “You owe my nothing for today’s service, leave now and please don’t ever come back”. He did leave in a huff, and my service advisor just shook his head. Commit your business to world-class customer service. Be the best you can be and train you staff the same way. However, if you encounter a customer that crosses the line, it’s often best to part ways.

Great story again Gonzo, and you’re right, we all have customers like Charlie. It reminds of my own customer, “Transmission Trouble” Tony. Tony worries about everything and listens to everyone, but not the people he should be listening to. Tony brought his car to us a few years back with a transmission problem. After countless hours of road tests and diag time, we found nothing. On a road test he would yell out, “You see, you see, it’s doing it”. I would be driving his car attentively and say to him, “Sorry, I don’t feel anything”. After months of this he ends up at the dealer….oh they found something alright. Poor Tony drove out of the dealership with a new transmission! I will never know if there was really anything wrong or not, but I have to believe that the Charlie’s and Tony’s of world just maybe need to have this type of drama in the lives.

Wow, you hit the nail on the head! At this moment I have a customer who tried to do his own alternator, only to break the bracket (bolt was seized). He already bought the alternator from a parts store. The sad thing is, IT'S NOT THE ALTERNATOR, HE HAS A DRAW THAT'S KILLING BATTERY OVER NIGHT! Another customer came to OUR shop last week with a reman starter and asked us to install it. Again, the starter was not the problem, the battery connections were bad. We had the fight of our lives trying to convince him beforehand that we did not want to just installl his starter and that we would charge him a diag charge first. Good thing; the end result, he paid us for the diag and the battery connection repair......A LOT LESS THAN CHANGING THE STARTER FOR NO REASON.

Excatly, good point...

Training and education is great, we all need it. Can't you make a deal, since you work for them?

What a business charges per hour has no bearing on why others make 8-12 dollars per hour. I do agree that it's really hard when you make only a little above min wage, especially if you have bills and a family. The fact is that most shops charge a fair and honest price; some don't charge enough and are struggling. What happens too often is that the shop owners do not generate enough income to pay their techs a decent wage. Techs work hard and deserve a decent wage. That can only be accomplished by understanding what profits need to be earned when performing services and repairs. Let's face it, the typical auto shop owner is not a Wall Street Executive, not too many of us have a home in the Hamptons and get picked up in a limo each morning to take us for our mocha late and then drive us to the office. We are, however, among the hardest working group of people in the world. I do appreciate your opinions, thanks for taking the time to post your point of view.

Years back, with only a few workers, it was easy. Now, with more than 15 people, I need to explore a more effective way to handle pay raises. How do other shop owners handle this, what other polices do you have concerning pay raises.

Perhaps the biggest benifit are the marketing programs. Most shop do not have the time to prepare seasonal marketing programs, or even know where to start. TECH NET offers year-round programs that helps build customer retention and consumer confidence.

I appreciate your input and your view. You bring up interesting points. I guess what really bothers me and many other shop owners is the fact that shops owners like myself do not agree with marketing that attract a certain sector of the population into thinking they can get the same job or service at a part store. You are right, people who look for the easy way out think they are saving money and may not see the real value of bring their car to a reputable shop to have it properly diagnosed. But, I don’t want to start promoting cut-rate services or products for the sake of making a sale. That’s not who I am. I sell what the customer needs, not what I happen to have in stock. Also, it’s not that I laughed you off, I just have an issue when someone arrives at my service counter carrying in an alternator and a starter and says, “I bought these parts around the corner and they sent me here. They said you can install it for me”. How would you feel if you owned a steak house and someone walked into your restaurant and said, “I just bought this wonderful porter house from Omaha Beef, can you cook it up for me and just charge me for that”. (And yes, it is the same: Income = The proft from your cost of goods sold + labor profit minus expenses). There is plenty of work out there for me; My 10 bays are always full and I rather stick to what has been a success for me for the past 31 years.

My 2012 Predictions I am going to have a little fun here and post my predictions for 2012. Please feel free to add your own predictions. Next year we can look back and see who the best prophet is. • Mitt Romney will win the republican nomination, but Obama will win the election • The world will not end • Gas prices will rise sharply in the near future but fall next summer, in time for the election • New car sales will slightly increase, largely due to the fact that people have held on to their cars for too long • New house sales will increase but we will not see any uptick on existing home values • The stock market will remain flat in the short run, but will rise in time for the presidential election • Home mortgage rates will not increase until 2014 • The employment rate will not go below 8% • China will begin to show signs of economic struggle • Recent major oil finds in the North America will have no impact on world supply • Independent repair shops, in general, will benefit from the rebounding economy • Mobile marketing and e-stores will be the demise for many brick and motor traditional retail stores • AutoShopOwner.com will continue its growth of attaining the best shop owners around the world What are your predictions?

You know, I have seen this strange anomoly.....

I never thought about that, thanks for the info. I still thinks it's dead wrong....