NATURE

I suppose I could look into it but I feel that if the new car stores are doing it this way, it should be fine. My tech is happy with this arrangement and It's kind of a moot point as he only works 40 hours a week anyway. There may come a time when I'll have to look more closely but this is working for now.

I can't say I'm super versed in the law but I can say that most shops(including new car stores) are paying flat rate around here still, and they are not paying time and a half.

I pay flat rate with a punch time guarantee. Where I'm at, hourly employees get paid time and a half over 40 hours but flat rate employees can be paid just hourly rate times hours booked. This way the employee gets paid hourly with a "spiff" for booking over 40 and I don't have to pay time and a half.

I would have preferred a pressure system but I'm not willing to upgrade my compressor to have one. Right now my 24 CFM at 175 PSI is fine for a syphon system. I'll be ordering the Trinco Model 30 today and I'm sure it will be great for what I'll be using it for. I'll purchase a separate reclaimer to keep the dust down.

I haven't seen a negative comment about them anywhere. I have requested a quote for a Model 30 including shipping but I imagine it's going to end up around $2200. I could save about $500 and go with TP Tools Scat Blast which also seem pretty good but there smallest cabinet is 34". I'm a buy once guy.

That's too cheap:) I'm not looking for something that has to be heavily modified to become mediocre. Because it will only be used for small items, I'm looking for something less than 32" wide to save some space as most commercial units also have some sort of dust collection that will need to be accounted for in the footprint. As of right now the Trinco Model 24 is in the lead unless someone changes my mind.

I've decided I need a smallish sandblaster cabinet for cleaning brake caliper brackets. I just sold my brake lathe that never got used to make room for it. If any of you have any advice before I make a purchase, I would love to hear it as I've never even used one. I'm not looking to go too cheap, I want it to work well and not be messy.

I worked at dealers for many years and they always tried to max out every RO. It's very common for customers to come to me complaining that every time they bring a vehicle in for service somewhere else, the shop tries to hit them over the head with a giant upsell list. I do the job the customer asks for and only upsell safety items. I don't have a checklist and never will, though I do understand the thought process.

Snap On has an alignment machine that works with a two post lift. This would alleviate any of my concerns but I haven't heard any reviews on it and I would wait till Hunter came out with one anyway.

I'm closed on weekends and work on Saturdays and Sundays😁

Hi Joe. Congratulations on your initiative. What a great idea to draw upon the experience of an auto shop owners group, I don't think many others in your situation would have thought of it. Hopefully your high school has an automotive program as it's a great way to get introduced to the industry. In my senior year I worked half days at Sears in the automotive department and it gave me the experience to know that it was the right career for me. In my opinion, two years of experience is better than two years of schooling. You can get your ASE certs either way but these are only really needed to get certain jobs and have very little bearing on the practical knowledge required to work in a shop. A person with two years experience is far ahead of a person fresh out of a two year degree, provided the experience was gained at a shop with the right atmosphere. It is indeed a great time to get into this industry or any trade really.

I have a 2019 RAM 2500 and really like it. I had a 2010 Tundra before that and really liked it too, but I needed to switch to a 3/4 for the fifth wheel camper. I have always heard that RAM=comfort, Ford=chassis and GM=powertrain. If I was looking at 1/2 tons again, I would look at Tundra though I swore I would never buy anything turboed that wasn't diesel.

I got lucky and purchased the property in March of 2019, right before the craziness. After down payment, the loan amount was right around $350,000 for a 20 year. It's just a 3 bay shop but it used to be a used car lot, so plenty of parking and one of the best locations in the city. Of course when going this route you have to take taxes and down payment($30,000) into consideration, so I have to add another $700.00 in property tax a month to that $3000 mortgage payment but still it was an easy decision.

When I looked around for shops, the typical lease payment was $3000.00 a month. My mortgage payment is $3000.00 a month.

I think you just have to look at the other trades. The apprenticeship to journeyman path is much more stringent, with class study and on the job training coinciding and taking years. Compared to a master plumbers exam ASE is a joke and we're plumbers and electricians and HVAC specialists rolled into one. If we want the legitimacy according to the common man and pay scale of other trades, shouldn't we have similar prerequisites?

I was a tech at Sears right after that happened. Before the scandal they did everything from batteries to motor swaps. after the scandal all we did was batteries, brakes, suspension and exhaust. Their training was top notch and there were some good guys there but fear of future legal liabilities caused them to become one dimensional. At a dealership all of the money is made on the service side so it's possible well run service could have saved Sears in a time when brick and mortars are dying.

I must agree that I don't see the point. When I was at the dealers I saw many master certified apprentices that were great at quoting books but couldn't fix a car. There's just no substitute for experience and whether those apprentices made it or not had nothing to do with ASE testing in my opinion. I recertified twice and gave up. I thought recertification was supposed to be so we could be tested on current knowledge as technology changed, but I saw very little of that. Instead it just seemed like a cash grab every 5 years to keep ASE in business and it was a huge pain in the butt for what seemed like very generic tests. I myself have had very little transmission experience as nowadays I send that stuff to the tranny shop, and when I was at the dealers they had dedicated tranny guys, but I had no problem with the tests because they had nothing to do with how transmissions work but a lot to do with how electrical circuits work. I do feel like I'm being too negative first thing on a Monday morning but I've been contemplating a this question a lot lately and I'm glad it was asked so I could get my rant out of the way. I also have to admit that it's been some time since I've been to a test and things could have changed.

Snap On is my go to. If there is a PID or command missing I grab the Autel. Between the two I have very few gaps. I like the Snap On way better than any other tool I've used and I don't like the Autel very much but it is necessary sometimes.

When It's time to replace mine I'm going to go with a Quincy QP 7.5 MAX vertical single phase. When I was doing research this came up as a top contender, though that was awhile ago.

I'm at $99.00 in Southeastern Wisconsin. The average independent shop is at around $105.00, Places like Firestone are at $130.00 and the dealers are up to around $150.00. I have been considering raising my rate for a while.

When customers balk at a diagnostic fee, I just tell them the diagnosis is usually the most time consuming part of the job. I use the analogy that if the car was brought in for an evap leak and I spend the time to smoke test it and find a leaking gas cap, I still need to be paid for the diagnostic time not just the time it takes to replace the gas cap. I charge an hour for driveability and electrical diagnosis($99.00) and a half hour for other stuff. If someone doesn't want to pay the fee, they're probably going to be a pain in the butt about the repair cost as well.

3.5% is exorbitant. If you chose to go this way it would be better to charge a 2% credit card fee on the RO just like hazardous materials and shop supplies.

Sorry for the confusion. Total fees will never be lower than around 1.80% as you have to pay the mandatory interchange fee. The .05% we're talking about is the fee the processor charges on top of the interchange. I'm not sure if naming the company I'm now using breaks any forum rules but I wouldn't yet anyway. I haven't been using them a month yet and we'll see if reality stacks up to the sales pitch.

I think credit card processing is becoming highly competitive. Your situation sounds exactly like mine, I was paying 0.25% and I just signed up with a new processor at 0.05%. My new processor seems to be signing up everyone in town and I think there is a mad rush to be the first to sign people up at this new rate so that if they are making less per customer, at least they'll have more customers to offset this loss. One thing I will say is that I won't sign a contract. Obviously you have to sign up for the service but my rate is locked in as long as I stay with them and I can get out anytime without a penalty. Also, it may not matter to some people but I much prefer the PAX S80 to the VeriFone VX520.

Thanks for the replies. I just ordered some Pastelube 2400 from gwrauto.com and he's throwing in some Ceramlube 2800, which the Permatex stuff is based on.