5 Star Auto Spa

We still take customers who supply their own parts. We let them know upfront there will be a 25% additional labor charge for the service and there is no warranty with the repair. We do always recommend to have the vehicle diagnosed by our technicians prior to installing the part. For the most part though, these customers make up about 1% of our customers so we don't really encounter them too often.

We recently purchased a Snap On Solus Ultra. We have an OTC Genisys with System 5.0 as well and the Snap On seems to have much more information than the Genisys. I don't think there are any aftermarket scan tools that don't have some holes in coverage though.....

We have the same issues as everyone else that has posted here. We have posted on Indeed.com with some success. We have tried the local paper, craigslist, tech school candidates, and the Internet at Indeed.

I totally agree with the preventative maintenance approach to servicing all fluids in the vehicle. Unfortunately like Joe has mentioned, a great deal the public as well as technicians believe that many fluids do not have to be changed regularly or at all in regards to life time fluids. We usually recommend our fluid services as follows: ATF - 50K Coolant - 30K Brake - 30K Differential/Transfer Case - 30K Power Steering - 30K

Oil changes is what brings a great deal of our new customers here at our shop. We always perform a complete vehicle inspection with all of our oil change services and always try to educate the customer on the value of preventative maintenance as well as any other repair related issues that we may come across. We find it difficult at times though because of the public perception that a FULL SERVICE oil change should be done in about 15 - 20 minutes based on quick lubes such as Jiffy Lube. It seems as though the general public does not have any distinction between getting a full service oil change done at a repair shop where the vehicle is inspected to a quick lube oil change at a place like Jiffy Lube. This makes it difficult as time is always against you and the customer has been trained in many ways to expect to leave as soon as they have come. What do you guys usually quote in term of time to a customer that comes in for a LOF?

Thanks for the comment bstewart. I don't think I may have done a good job of explaining how our business is completely setup. We are a full service car wash with a separate profit center as an auto repair facility. We have anywhere from 15 to 45 people working at the car wash side of the business everyday. They are there for that side of the business regardless of who comes in for oil changes or any auto repair service for that matter as those individuals are servicing the car wash customers. The tech only does the LOF and the customer receives a wash code to take to the car wash side to redeem their car wash and interior cleaning. The car wash employees are paid hourly just like any other car wash employees are paid throughout the country averaging around $8/hr. That is considerably lower than a technician is typically paid and because they are going to be there anyways, the "cost" of the labor to our business is considerably lower than if we had to dedicate automotive technicians to clean the cars. For our business, adding the free cleaning is something unique that no other repair facility in our area is setup to offer and sets us apart from the competition. It has increased our car counts considerably, which is what we were hoping for in the first place. I agree with what you are stating in regards to catering to lower end customers. For us, I think its been difficult to try and differentiate ourselves from an oil change facility to a full service repair facility in our customers perceptions of our business.

We don't sell tires currently. We do have a tire balance machine and a tire mounter though that is used for their respective service related needs.

So we have been doing call backs for recommendations that we make from our vehicle inspections from oil changes and have noticed that a lot of these customers indicate that they get their repairs done at another repair facility but come to us for their oil changes. We are in a unique situation as we are a repair facility that is attached to a car wash so a lot of customers come here for their oil changes because we offer a free interior and exterior cleaning of their vehicle with every full service oil change, or repair over $35. We would like to covert some of these oil change customers into repair and maintenance customers so they look at us for more than just oil changes on their vehicles. We were thinking about offering a discount for first time repair customers but wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do to entice first time customers to try us out with their repair or maintenance needs. Has anyone else experienced an issue similar to this and if so, how did you overcome this image/problem from your customers?

We use health insurance as a benefit for our current and future employees. I have noticed that older technicians value the health insurance much more so than younger technicians. We currently pay 100% of the health insurance costs. When competing with other repair shops, especially dealerships and chain shops, it helps differentiate us from other repair shops when trying to attract top talent. I have noticed that in our area, most dealerships pay a portion of the health insurance cost and the employee picks up the remaining balance.

We use a Reznor Waste Oil Furnace. It works GREAT to keep the shop warm during the winter. It does require maintenance, cleaning once a winter, but well worth it in my opinion.

Great article. All NON automotive repair shop owners need to read this article so they can understand why there is a charge for diagnostic work. Project M Spec, we have run across those type of customers at our shop as well. It seems as though some dealerships charge in this manner where if you agree to do the work with the dealership they waive the diagnostic fee. When customers hear this they think all shops are suppose to operate in this manner.......

Saturdays are typically our busiest days, open all day.

I've noticed the same thing here. Some items there is a considerable discount and many other items the prices are relatively the same as someone that comes off the street to purchase parts at the store. I would be very interested to see what types of discounts are considered the "norm" based on purchase totals.

I've heard GREAT things about the Hanatech Ultra Scan BUT as of January 1 2014, Hanatech will no longer be offering updates for their Ultrascan and Multi-scan units. FYI

Wow, Í don't think I've ever seen an oil change coupon for that cheap. Even at $19.99 it seems a bit too cheap. I appreciate everyone's comments/suggestions. Its nice to know that other shop owners feel the same way as we do in regards to these coupons. I do see the chains (Monroe, Good Year, etc.) pump out those coupons on a monthly basis and sometimes it makes you feel as though you should as well to compete with them but from our own experiences, this may not always be the case. As a business owner you don't want to miss out on any customers but as a lot of you have already stated in this thread, not all customers are good customers.

Hey MMOTLEY, what shop management software are you currently using to identify the answers to the questions you asked me above?

And here we thought we had it good just stocking 10 sets. Thanks a lot NCAUTOSHOP...haha...j/k. Might have to inquire about that with our rep!

We advertise in a number of different channels (Valpak, Radio, House Hold Savers Magazine, Internet, etc.) with coupons and specials we are running. For about 1 year we ran $19.99 Oil Change and $24.99 Oil Change Tire Rotation coupons. We saw increased car counts from these coupons but also noticed that we were getting customers that were not interested in hearing about anything wrong with their vehicle or preventative maintenance related. For the most part it seemed as though these types of customers were only interested in getting the "cheap" oil change and getting out as quickly as possible. For the last 2 months we have gotten rid of these types of coupons and added different coupons. We have noticed a drop in car counts related to this course of action. Just wondering how many of you all use these types of coupons and if you have any luck converting these customers?

We currently are in a stocking program for brake pads with Advance Auto Parts. We only have to stock 10 sets of brake pads though and all of the brake pads we purchase from them for any type of vehicle is a set price. For us, this makes it easier to have a set price for brake service for almost every make and model. I think if we were required to stock 100 sets, we would not have done it as that is way to many.

These types of situations are always tricky. It seems as though you got a "feel" for the customer even prior to performing the initial leak repair. Although what every shop owner on this forum has told you is true (you did not cause the repair), depending on the customer, a number of them will believe that when a repair shop tells them there is a leak at a certain place, they expect it to fix the leak even if you had previously told them that there could be other places where the vehicle is leaking. It sounds like this customer owns a vehicle that he does not have enough money to maintain the vehicle which always adds to the problem. Because this individual SEEMS like this type of customer (whether its based on financial reasons or whatever), if I were you, I would try and give him a discount on the labor portion for the new repair. I know that we all work to be compensated but in the customers mind it will help ease the blow of the new repair total cost. Obviously the discount amount is something that you feel would be appropriate.

This is a really crazy story. It just goes to show you how crazy some people truly are in this world. My gut tells me that you don't have anything to worry about.

I think in its purest form, Auto Zone is not a threat as there will always be do it yourselfers who need a place to purchase parts. Where it becomes an issue is where a lot of other shop owners have stated they overstep their technical skill level and try and interpret codes that are being read and telling customers what is wrong with their vehicle when they themselves do not fully know. In a lot of ways the advertising that Auto Zone portrays to the public is to come to their stores and have their code read and they will be able to "figure out" what is wrong with their car which is totally false and misleading. On the other topic, we are a shop that is open 7 days a week as well. I am totally envious of the shop owners who are only open Monday - Fridays! Unfortunately for us, Saturdays are our busiest day of the week. We have talked about closing on Sundays though as it is the slowest day of the week.

Hmm...not sure about how to contact the individual for your area. You are correct in that we already had a relationship with our regional sales manager as he stops by our shop once a month to check on things.

That's a very interesting way to do things. Its kinda a give and take. You give your techs holidays and wanted days with family off but they give to the business by working extra hours up to the holiday. I like it! We currently are closed on Christmas and New Years but operate normal hours every other day. Might give what you are doing a try......

We're currently testing out the maxiDAS. It definitely is the commercial side of Advance that is letting us test drive the scanner and the individual is the regional commercial sales manager (not the one from the local store).