Joe Marconi

Great choice! According to Hunter, they will not honor the warranty unless you have a pit. We installed a small septic tank for our drain. In the two and half years we have had it, we only had to pump it out once. It works fine. We never did a free check. We do a lot of alignments and we promoted the machine to other shops. We have nearly a dozen other shops that give us their alignments. You must have the new system with the tire clamps. That system is real nice. I want to see if they have an upgrade. We did not run any special either, but we do promote tire sales. I did run a contest with my techs to see if they could increase the number of alignments, which they did. I like the machine and I like Hunter as a company. We also do the steering wheel angle adjustments. I think that comes with the program, you might want to ask to make sure. Good luck!

Everyone should celebrate their Holidays the way the are meant to be celebrated. As a society we sometime fear that we may offend somone, I don't think that's the case. Merry Christmas!

Handling Customer Complaints It’s no secret that one of the keys to a successful business is delivering world class customer service. However, things will inevitably go wrong and how you handle a customer complaint can have either a positive or negative affect on your business. Unhappy customers are 11 times more likely to talk to others about their bad experience than happy customer will talk about their great experience. That’s human nature; we can’t ignore this fact, nor can we control it. What we can do is have a plan in place that addresses the customer’s complaint as soon as possible. Empower your staff to act quickly when someone is not happy. Do all you can to insure that the problem is resolved. Don’t worry about short term financial loss. The loss of a customer will hurt your business far more. Follow up with the customer in a few days just to make sure there aren’t any other concerns. Every complaint should be reviewed with service personnel to understand what happened and find ways to improve the level of service. This meeting must not be a “beat-up” session where we point blame. Reinforce that your shop is comprised of valued team members and that together your objective is to deliver outstanding customer service. We all hope that things will never go wrong, but that’s just wishful thinking. The important thing to remember is that you can salvage the customer relationship with the right plan in place.

The plan is legal, I checked with a labor lawyer. I want to know if it's fair. This question was just brought up to me only because recently 2 service advisors now prefer to work Saturdays and have off a day during the week. So in the past there was no issue. A holiday was a holiday and no one thought any different. Let's remember that everyone gets paid for all observed holidays: Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and July 4th. That is not the question. Everyone gets holiday pay. The question is this: If a service advisor normally has off on Mondays, should the service advisor be entitled to another day off in the same week, if a holiday falls on a Monday of a particular week? In other words, the pay is the same. The issue is the service advisor will have two days off during a holiday week because his regular day off fell on a holiday. There is no benefit either way with the company. The benefit will be to the employee. He or she will get paid regular salary and get 2 days off. But, if this is fair in the eyes of the employee, I need to know this.

I am curious to hear what other shop owners do for employee bonuses this time of year. I realize there is no one-size-fits all, mostly because we have shops of different sizes. I don't have any special formula. I do show my appreciation for my employees and give a bonus. The amount of bonus depends on how well the company did for the year, how long the employee is employed and how well the employee did for the year. Younger techs may get a tool gift certificate. I also take everyone out for dinner at a nice restaurant. Each employee can bring a guest.

A Great heartfelt story. We now see you another side of you. I enjoyed reading it. I remember one summer, when I first went opened my shop, my younger brother worked for me while he was still in college. It was a great experience and one that I will always treasure.

Increasing your retail business in either location is key to your success. I would suggest that you build a business model of both locations on what you want to achieve based on the amount of hours of operation and the amount of techs. In this way you can forecast your potential gross sales and determine your net profit. This will give you an indication of the potential income. I am not opposed to growth, but growth must always make financial sense. You asked for more info on Elite, here’s the web site: http://www.eliteworldwidestore.com/ If you need any specific questions answered about Elite, please ask. In addition to owning a repair shop in New York, I also work as a business consultant/Coach for Elite. It’s a great company and the owner Bob Cooper is the best of the best.

I understand your frustration fully; we go thru the same thing each day. We need to know what the dealers are doing; this is the only way to compete. I have built service packages for my customer that are of real value. These packages are seasonal (4 times a year) and include an oil change. We sell a ton of these packages. I guess when you call it an oil change, you reduce the service to a commodity and that's when people begin to compare; like comparing gas prices or a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. When you create a value package that is different and throw in an oil change, people realize that it has more value. The seasonal package sells for $69.95 and includes a multipoint inspection, BG oil and fuel additive, a tire rotation, battery test and an oil change.

That shop is small and I don't know how you can produce enough work unless you have extended hours and assign techs to work different shifts. The problem is staffing and management. Without an alignment rack, where would get your alignments done? 50% wholesale is another issue. You need to think about increasing a retail trade and increasing car counts. Who would primarliy be your customers at the Air Force Base location?

What Type of Person Do You Portray to Others? Did you ever wonder how others view you? How your employees perceive you? As shop owner and the leader of your company, your actions, moods and personality will dictate the overall mood of your company and can have a direct influence on the success or possible failure of your business. The energy you have, whether negative or positive will affect how others around you feel and they will respond to the type of energy you send off. If you are gloomy and walk around as if the world is coming to an end, it just might, because you have set the tone for destruction. If you are upbeat and positive, this will have a very positive affect on your business and even your home life. We all know that life brings challenges and that sometimes more things go wrong than right. And, as a shop owner for 31 years it’s sometime very hard to walk around with a smile on my face when payroll exceeds more than what I have in the bank. All I can tell you is that if you are a negative person (and you may not even know it) you will bring more negative consequences into your life. If you are a positive person, who sees the glass as half full, you stand a much better chance at success and happiness, both in your business and home life. It’s like the boy in little league who goes up to bat and tells himself over and over, “I’m going to strike out again, I never get a hit with this guy pitching, I know I am going to strike out”. And guess what happens? He strikes out. Life is too short, start each day with a positive attitude and enthusiasm. The people around (customers, friends, family and employees) will feed off of your positive energy and then great things will be possible.

This story would make a great TV comedy show, maybe a funny CSI show? Think about, a little break from the horror and gore and inject a little comedy. What if the driver was knocked unconscience? Can you imagine the trooper pulling up to the scene? Gonzo, do I sound too morbid?

As a second location, it looks a little more promising. I am concerned about the pricing, but if it is managed well, you can use this has an additional income stream. Because it's another location, any profit is a plus. You will need someone to manage it or you will need to bounce back and forth between locations, which can be an issue. How far are the locations from each other? Is it possible to speak to anyone who has done this in the past? You mentioned that the facility has 2 bay and 2 lifts, and you would want that many employees? Is it because of the amount of hours and days required? Can you clarify the amount of bays, the size of the facility and the amount of lifts? Does is have alignment equipment? I have two facilities, a 4-bay and a 6-bay. Both are opened 6 days, 56 hours In my 4 bay shop we have 3 techs (rotational) and 2 advisors. One advisor also doubles as the manager. Our car counts for this shop is 110 to 125 per week, and we do brakes, preventive maintenance, axles, tires, steering, suspension, LOF's, alignments. This shop does not do any large repair work. This is why I want to make sure of the number of lifts and bays, this will determine the potential and then we can figure the manpower needed.

A first time customer, referred to us by another customer, brought her 2003 Honda V6 Accord to us for a vibration problem felt through the steering wheel only at idle, in drive, with the car stopped. The vibration is more prominent when she begins to turn the steering wheel. The vibration is slight, but it’s there. We did find a broken engine mount and replaced it. The customer says it’s “slightly” better, but the problem is not solved. We have gone thru the car with a fine tooth comb and found nothing else wrong. The car only has 50k on the clock and is in pristine condition and well maintained (I saw her records). She said the problem started a year ago when the Dealer did a Power Steering flush and Transmission flush. Does anyone have any ideas or help? Has anyone seen any issues with a vibration in the steering wheel after a Power Steering flush service was performed? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First of all, Welcome to AutoShopOwner.com. I really don't have an easy answer for you. Working for the Air Force Base will mean you will be getting paid by the Government and having to place a bid always makes me a little uneasy. I think there is an opportunity; I just don't know what type of work and who you will work for. As far as $55,000 for a 2-bay shop, that can be attained, but it take some doing with high productivity. How many techs will you need? You said they are only doing tires, batteries and oil changes. Is there a chance to do more work? Work that is more profitable? This will not be your business, but will get paid a percentage of the sales? Maybe you should figure out an hourly rate for yourself and calculate what that would be in percentage. In other words, if you want to make $25.00 per hour per each tech, that would be the money you would need. I am new to this too and just trying to brainstorm an idea. Who sets the prices and who will be your customers. Maybe we need more information to get a better understand. One more thing, you would give up your business to do this?

Just wondering again what everyone is doing the day after Christmas; Open or Closed?

My service advisors, who are salaried paid, work 5 days a week and will rotate a Saturday off if they want to. They also have have sick days and vacation days. If they take 2 days off in a week and don't have any sick time or vacaction time, they need to make up the day the following week or lose that day in their pay, even though they are on salary. This is a policy that they are presented at time of employment.

I see your point, I want to fair to all, I will have to redo my pay package, thanks for the info!

Alex, you make great points. So, how would you handle the fact that a salaried employee will either get more time off or more pay than an hourly employee. Remember, holiday pay for a hourly employee makes up the difference to insure that employee gets his or her 40 hours. A salaried employee will always get his usual salary. Now, if a salaried employee has Monday as his normal day off and Memorial day falls on a Monday, the employee will get 2 days off that week. How will this look to the other hourly paid employees? I see your point and I think I need to revise my pay plan, I just want it to be fair to all, including the company.

Here is my pay plan for salaried employed service advisors. Service advisor are required to work 5 days per week and can choose to either have a day off during the week or rotate Saturdays. On weeks where there is a holiday, as in Thanksgiving, the day of the holiday becomes their day off, not the day they originally selected. If the company closes for two days, as in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, they would obviously get paid their usual salary and have both those days off. The issue with this plan is that if a service advisor chooses every Monday, for example, he will not have off Monday in a week where the holiday falls on another day, as in Thanksgiving week. And, if the holiday falls on his chosen day, Monday, as in Memorial Day, the service advisor feels that he as somewhat lost out because the shop was closed anyway. I would like your thoughts on my plan, is it fair? Should there be an additional consideration for holidays. All other full time hourly paid employees will get paid for a holiday if the holiday results in the employee not attaining his or her regular 40 hours. I hope I made this clear, and would like to hear from other shop owners.

You jogged my memory banks again! I think you’ll like this story. About 12 years ago a car appeared in my parking lot on a Monday morning and had no idea why the car was there or who owned the car. I waited the entire day but no one called or stopped by to claim the car. A week goes by and now I am getting a little concerned. I called the local police. They came down, walked around the car, wrote the license plate number down and told me they would check into it. From the plate we realized that this car was from another state, Maryland. A few days go by and nothing from the police either. Another few days go by. One morning I needed to get to the shop real early to meet a contractor about work on one of his trucks. I got to shop around 5:30am and what do I see? Someone getting out of the car that I thought was abandoned for two weeks. I ran over to the guy and said, “Hey buddy, who are you and what are you doing here?” He told me that he just got a job in the area but had no place to live so he decided her would park somewhere for the day, come back at night to sleep in his car and go back to work each morning. When I asked him how in the world he thought this would be ok, he just replied, “Well, I didn’t think I was hurting anyone”. He turned around, got into his car a drove away.

I am a Mechanic turned shop owner. I opened my business in 1980. From my perspective, being a mechanic hurt my business. For the first 10 to 12 years I felt that my business could not run unless I was the focal point in every aspect of the business. I had this notion that no one could do as good a job as I could, and the consequences of this attitude were not good. I nearly lost everything and just about went broke in the process. When I finally put away my tools (for the most part) and learned about the mechanics of business, things started to turn around. I had to have trust in other people, hire the right people, put policy and processes in place, watch my numbers and understand what it took to turn a profit. Little by little I dug myself out of the deep hole I was in and by the late 90’s I was well on my way to growing a nice business. Since the late 90’s I have expanded 3 times and now have 2 facilities and looking for another. One of reasons I cofounded AutoShoOwner.com is to share my experiences and help others like yourself. My advice to you: if you are going to do it, then do it right. One of key things that helped me was getting involved with a company called Elite (http://www.eliteworldwidestore.com/). Elite is a company that helps automotive shops become more successful through proper business training and coaching. I actually work now as a business coach for Elite helping other shops around the country. One more thing, you will need to become proficient in business and in the world of automotive, but your success is not dependent upon your mechanical skills. Your skills as a leader and management will be your greatest asset. Great post, hope to hear more from you and best of luck!

There are not a lot of details. We have no idea what the facts are. Was this a DIY, trying to install the battery himself? The article is so vague. Any part that is sold over the counter has the “propensity” of risk. I wish there were more details. What was the defect?

I was wondering what other shops are doing for the day after Thanksgiving, are you open or closed?

I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and want to thank all our members for making AutoShopOwner.com a valuable resource for the automotive repairs shops around the world. Enjoy the holiday with friends and family, Joe Marconi Cofounder, AutoShopowner.com