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I opened a used car lot some years after establishing my two repair shops and nearly destroyed them in the process. It gave me a deep appreciation of the motivation of the used car market and taught me to stay away from them as customers. There is a reason each of those cars is floating around the used market and the dealer's motivation is completely at odds with the typical customer who wants their car to be safe and reliable and can be persuaded to spend that extra dollar that benefits them in the long run. The dealer just wants to move that can of worms of the lot as profitably as possible. But the "you touched it - you own it" principle applies to both. It's a lot easier to live with that principle of you were allowed to do your best work to start with. Do you want your brand associated with a business that is trying to market marginal vehicles at the highest profit? Concentrate all of your effort on building a good loyal clientele and earning the public's trust.

I did used cars for about five years. It helps if you're properly capitalized to own your inventory, otherwise you'll be at the mercy of a floor plan company like NextGear. I used them and never had a problem, but floor plans add a whole new level of complexity to managing your inventory. It's like a chess game - you can't fall in love with a car, thinking you're sure you'll find a buyer at your target price. You have to remember where you are in the wholesale food chain. Dealers get the pick of the used car crop with big outfits like Carmax coming close behind. Hard to compete with them for great cars, so you end up at the wholesale auction, which can be a brutal environment. You have to remember that every one of those cars is in the auction for a reason. Sometimes it's apparent, other times it's not and those were the ones that scared me. Replacing a cat on a car you bought at auction a week ago is a big hit on your margin. The auctions offer methods to limit your risk, but that jacks up the wholesale cost. If you don't have experience at the wholesale auctions, get ready for an education. It's competitive and chaotic. If I had it to do over, I would place more emphasis on buy here pay here. but do it right - GPS on every car and assume you're going to have to send recovery guys after some percentage of cars. I sold some cars three or more times. On the up side, when you build up a sizeable number of clients, it can be a great long-term stream of income. BHPH probably makes used car dealers look like villains, but you're providing transportation for folks that would have no other way to get it. ALWAYS get a dealer title for any car you buy - that way you can always get a duplicate from DMV. If you lose the paperwork for a car that has a long chain of signatures on the title, powers of attorney etc. you've got a big problem.

The ongoing "special session" of the Virginia legislature can best be described as "the inmates are in charge of the asylum." A couple of weeks ago HB5130 was introduced as follows: following the declaration by the Governor of a state of emergency pursuant to § 44-146.17 that includes or is followed by any additional executive order in furtherance of such declaration that includes a stay at home or shelter in place order, employers shall (i) compensate its essential workers at a rate not less than one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay for any hours worked during the closure order. We were originally overjoyed that our trade was considered essential, but this bill, if passed could be the death knell for business as we know it. I responded to our legislators with this: I strongly urge you to vote AGAINST HB5130. My family and I own and operate a business defined as essential during the pandemic. For six months we have struggled to keep our trained, experienced staff employed and paid in an uncertain market. Labor is the largest expense we incur and every labor dollar paid to the employee costs $1.25 when you account for additional expenses for taxes, insurance, etc. Employers can not absorb increases in labor costs and survive, rather, they pass them on to the consumer, but the consumer has no one to pass these costs to. Instead, at some point they stop purchasing goods and services that have been priced out of their reach. The essential employees that this bill hopes to help could soon find themselves unemployed in a market that can no longer afford their services. Researching the background of the eight sponsors for this bill (all D), I found that it doesn't appear that any of them has ever held a real job, much less owned and operated a business with employees. Almost all of them began their political ascent by first being elected to local school boards, then city council and on to state legislature. I am guilty of never having paid much attention to school board races because my kids have long since been grown up and gainfully employed. Believe me, I will research future races and eye each candidate as a potential legislator and beyond. If any of you live in Virginia, I urge you to contact our legislators and tell them how you feel about this Here are key email addresses: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Thanks, Mark Anderton First Landing Autocare Virginia Beach

In the process of switching our two shops from ROwriter to Protractor. Short-term pain for, we hope, long-term gain.

The Virginia Department of Labor and industry has issued a regulation requiring use of masks among staff based on a vaguely defined level of risk, basically described as the ability of employees to stay 6 feet apart during the conduct of business. It's up to each employer to determine what level of risk applies. That sounds great, but they have created a cadre of inspectors to perform inspections with no advanced notice, so it's yet another opportunity for the state to levy fines arbitrarily. The Virginia Automotive Association formally requested an exemption for tire and auto shops citing separation of employees in bays with only intermittent closer contact for consultation/assistance. It was turned down. We closed our waiting rooms at the beginning of the pandemic and went to a process that is contactless as possible. The majority of our jobs are by appointment and either drop-off or we pick up and deliver. We have a tent in front of our reception where customers can wait if they insist. We have a standard vehicle disinfection process and we use seat and steering wheel covers in each car. This new paradigm is working so well I think it will be our mode of operation going forward regardless of pandemic.

The Virginia Inspection process is summarized here, The irony of this thing is that last year we fought and won a battle to have the inspection fee raised from $16 to $20 signed off by the same governor who proposed eliminating the program this year. $20 is pretty meager compensation for a job that takes the tech about 40 minutes per car. Then the service writer has to compile the digital inspection, prepare an estimate and then spend "quality time" with the vehicle's owner. No question it brings in vehicles and gives us a chance to make them lifelong customers. It also makes for a busy first and last week of the month. We can do them by appointment now which makes it a lot less hectic.

The Virginia legislature ended its 2020 session last night, wisely voting to keep the annual inspection program. It was touch and go throughout the session with a lot of sentiment for getting rid of the program, a compromise proposal for inspecting every two years and a final vote to leave the program as-is . The Virginia Automotive Association is entirely responsible for saving this program which benefits every citizen living in and passing through Virginia. New proposals will come up next year to eliminate inspections and the battle will begin again.

Thanks for the input, particularly about TX. VAA is using the UT study in our defense effort. Mark

Virginia's Governor in his 2020 budget proposal has included elimination of the state's vehicle safety inspection program. In addition, a state legislator has introduced a bill doing the same. I serve on the board of the Virginia Automotive Association, a group of over 200 independent shops who have banded together to lobby in the interests of our industry. VAA has ponied up a a $25000 increase in the lobbying budget to fight the move. As a shop owner, I have mixed emotions on the subject, but if I were gambling I would bet that the program will go away. On one hand, it's kind of nice that the state's motorists are forced to bring their cars to a shop once a year, giving us an opportunity to make them life-long customers. Also, it has created a cadre of technicians in the state who have been vetted and background checked by the state police. On the other hand, there are a litany of negatives inluding customer resentment, anger when their vehicle fails, uneven management by the state police who oversee the program due to limited resources. Some shops are "by the book" while others are "sticker mills" who will pass anything. Unfortunately, VAA and others have been unable to produce hard statistics that show that the program .makes a difference in highway safety. The big studies I have found blame driver error for the majority of accidents. What is ironic is that just this year VAA won a long battle to get the inspection fee raised from 16 to 20 dollars. The legislature convenes in January to enact laws that will take effect in June. I would like to hear how other Virginia shop owners feel and I would like to hear from other states that have witnessed termination of these programs. Mark Anderton

We have two shops, the larger of which has a three-car bay that has two large window units in the wall. During our current heat wave (90-plus temp and 90-plus humidity) they have kept the work space relatively comfortable. One drawback - the guys set the units to 60 degrees, thinking the lower they set it, the better it will cool. Well, on a hot day they can't bring the bay down to less than about 80, but at night or on the weekend they turn the place into an icebox. We don't work weekends, so I'm not sure what that costs me. It's a training issue. We are all competing for a diminishing pool of talented people to work on cars and AC is a way to help bring them in, as is the five day work week. Our other shop is an old (circa 1964) Shell gas station with three bays which is not air conditioned. July has been tough on my guys who work there, but we are looking at ways to cool things off. Swamp fans DO NOT WORK in a high humidity environment like Tidewater Virginia, so AC is the only practical answer. You don't need to maintain 72 degrees like a typical office building. You just need to knock the temp and humidity down to bearable levels. The bay doors go up and down continuously, anyway, so there is little hope of maintaining a stable temperature. I watch the talented, loyal guys working out in my service station and just hope they will hang in there until I come up with a practical, affordable solution.

We love it and do it all the time.

Virginia's Governor Northam signed a bill into law that increases the fee shops can charge for the annual safety inspection from $16 to $20. This was made possible through a lot of hard work and lobbying by the Virginia Automotive Association. You can learn more about VAA at vaauto.org. Done properly, Virginia's inspection process takes about 45 minutes per car, so shops are still running a deficit, but it's a long-awaited improvement.

The VAA convention is being held April 12-14 at The Main in Norfolk Virginia. This is always a great show and includes great speakers, great food, and a big automotive trade show. Everyone is welcome - you don't have to be a member to join in the fun. Visit vaauto.org for details and registration. Join VAA and you get one free registration to the show! 2019 Convention Brochure.pdf

We have used the RAP for about a year and it has eliminated our issues with flash capabilities. The scheduling has not been a problem and they have been pretty accommodating about doing multiple modules when it's necessary. We don't do a bunch of euro, so we haven't hit the wall there yet.

Apart from the VAA's political activism on behalf of our industry, there is also a powerful social aspect to VAA membership. Every year we hold a convention attended by about 400 folks from independent repair shops and vendors all over Virginia. In April of 2015 the convention will once again be held at the Homestead, an amazing resort that is one of our state's treasures. The convention provides an opportunity to obtain training, and inspiration from industry experts and fellow shop owners (and amazing food). There is also a trade show that, in itself, is an amazing social and informational affair. If you join now, your membership is covered through 2018. New members receive two free convention registrations and if, at the end of 2018, you don't feel your membership was of any benefit, VAA will refund your membership fee. CLICK HERE to join. Shop not in Virginia? You are still welcome to attend the convention, enjoy the beautiful Homestead, and find out how a successful statewide industry alliance functions.

Autovitals Workflow lets us see exactly how our techs are loaded and what the real-time status is on each job. We have a touchscreen display in each shop that lets managers pull up the RO on any job in the shop. You can also pull up all of the photos techs have taken during the digital visual inspection.

I have WP sites for some of my business ventures and can attest to the fact that they can be hacked. Do some homework and pay attention to security. One of my sites was hacked and a bunch of tacky soft porn web pages were attached to my site that made Google blacklist the site. I basically had to rebuild the site from scratch to solve the problem. WP's ease of use is the same thing that makes it vulnerable.

Absolutely. Even though I caused myself and others some stress with my business ad-ventures, I don't regret any of it. Did the same thing with my used car lot, really putting a strain on my nerves and my wallet, but now I'm on pretty firm footing. That's the last one, though. No. Really, I mean it.

I'm almost embarrassed to reply to this. When my shop became moderately successful with lots of help from family and ATI, I had an opportunity to take over a failed shop - just the facility - no staff or equipment. They had even removed the air fittings when they left. It was a lease on a back street with no through traffic, but a nice five bay with office space. It took three years, a bunch of debt and hard work, but now that shop is neck and neck with shop one. I really had no plan going in, but that's how I roll and I don't recommend it. I am lucky to have a family who supports, no, puts up with my reckless approach and makes the most of it. Wait until the numbers at your first shop scream at you that it is time to expand.

You turn it on through your dashboard one month at a time. Last time I looked, I think it was $30/month.

Our experience with Vonage over our Verizon FIOS network has been great. One outage earlier this year when there was a denial of service attack that made national news. We just started using their call recording function to monitor the quality of our employees' phone "presence." You can turn it on and off on a monthly basis. It's always an eye-opener.

We just went through Virginia's process to take title to a beater Honda that we were stuck with. Just signed the title over to a junior tech with a new family. Feels god.

Strongly advise you get professionals involved. It's a legal document with tentacles into wage/hour, EEO, ADA. In Virginia, membership in the Virginia Automotive Association gets you free counseling from SESCO. ATI offers the same as I'm sure a number of organizations do. SESCO will give you a framework to bulid your manual on, or they will do it for you. I used their framework and I'm sure it doubled the size of the document I had developed. SESCO is also a great ally in wage/hour disputes, disputed terminations, etc.