Tires Too

I know it's difficult to not get worked up when this happens. We recently had the same situation happen with our local NAPA sore where the customer could buy the part cheaper on line than we could. We are a NAPA Autocare center so I was livid when it happened. The part that they could buy cheaper was a third line ball joint that we do not sell and NAPA corporate had put it out as an online special. The "customer" asked if we would install the parts if he purchased them from NAPA because we are a NAPA Autocare, we refused. I have kicked around the thought of changing my labor rate to around $140 per hour and lower my parts matrix to around 20%. We might not have the same conversations with customers who want to bring in their own parts, because we would be charging close to what they can buy the parts for at the parts stores.

In my opinion, the fact that Repair Pal garages go through a certification process is a good thing. Full disclosure, we were a Repair Pal shop. The certification process means that the shops are equipt and trained to do the repairs they are quoting on. Repair Pals estimator gives real world ranges for repairs. I've never had a time where our price for a repair was not within Repair Pals range. Having said this, we cancelled our monthly subscription with Repair Pal because there was no ROI. Another platform out there is Open Bay. They take a cut out of any job you do for a customer that connects through them. I've quoted a few different jobs with them and have never received a customer through their service. Although I have no problem giving a customer a quote on a job, by focusing and starting out a relationship based on price, we (reputable shop owners) lose. Our prices will not be the lowest. We will have a hard time "winning" a bidding contest. You may get some business from lower end shops, but your customers may not be happy with the quality of work performed. If that happens, you will have a hard time sustaining this business model. How can you deliver quality prospects to reputable shops in a manner that makes both parties happy? That would be something that we could help you support.

Craig, I'm not sure how well received you will be here. Your product appears to be similar to "Repair Pal". The theory behind your product, "To make car repair more transparent" (my words, not yours) is one I support, but your demo makes it seem to the car owner that simply pulling codes tells us everything that is wrong with the car and will pinpoint the repair. From this information we should be able to give an accurate estimate to repair the car, this is not the case in realty. The DTC's are just a start. In many cases we need to perform multiple tests to confirm the problem. By reinforcing the myth that pulling codes is a "Diagnosis", you make our job harder. I wish that I could magically diagnose cars by just plugging a blue-tooth connecter into the ODB port, that would make our lives much easier. If you our looking for our support, your product should be informing the customer about the realities of diagnosing car repairs. Russ

The shop can tell AAA that they are able to handle "Priority Service Tows" or not. If you tell AAA that you can handle "Priority Service" it means you will triage those cars within an hour to let the customer know what amount of time you will need to diagnose or fix the vehicle. You can tell AAA that you can not handle any priority tows at any time of the day or any day of the week. At first glance the new requirements may seem onerous on a shop, but we have not found that to be true. We have had a good relationship with AAA and these new requirements help to make the AAR program stronger and more exclusive. In Northern NE, AAA does not operate repair shops and has told us that they will open repair facilities.

We charge 10% of the retail price of the tire for Road Hazard protection.

Jake's, The wholesale distributor level is really being dominated by the BIG National Distributors (American Tire Dist, Carroll Tire, Max Finkelstien, TCI etc). I don't think you can compete with them. We are a Michelin Dealer through American Tire Distributor. Their BIB 1 Level requires you sell 500 Michelin and/or BFGoodrich Tires per year. The incentives when reaching those numbers are pretty significant. They also have other programs for other brands, but you need to be selling 25 to 30 tires per week to qualify for many of these programs. You probably need to contact one of these distributors and not the manufacturers directly.

Tire sales are the most profitable work, per hour, that you can do in your shop. Using your figure of $30 markup, plus $14.95 plus a shop charge of $5 - $10 you end up with about $50 per tire profit. When you sell 4 tires, you make $200 gross profit per hour(assuming it take about 1 hour to install 4 tires). Assuming a labor rate of $100 with an additional $100 part sale(at 50% gross profit) you make $150 in gross profit on repairs in 1 hour. We can look further at what you costs for labor are for a tire tech vs an "A" or "B" level tech, the additional sales that you get with tires(Alignments, ball joints, tie rods, brakes, etc), the fact that a tire customer will be back for rotations, alignment checks etc, but I think this shows that tire sales are very profitable.

When we do not have a loaner available, we do use Enterprise Rental. We sometimes will pay for the rental or sometimes just coordinate getting the rental set up and dropped off for the customer.

OES Scan Tools. I looked at the wiTECH a number of years ago. I remember at being some serious cash to get set up. What is the cost for it now?

Joe, it is very cool technology. I did look into it, but I just did not see enough potential for me in southern NH. I have not had a customer with a battery failure that was out of warranty yet. Also there is now some aftermarket availability on these batteries.

We have a Champion Evolution http://www.championpneumatic.com/ We purchased it 3 years ago and are very happy with it. It's as quiet as a screw compressor without the downsides of a screw compressor.

First Landing - Very well said! Even though I am an ATI member, I will promote Elite for Joe. Every interaction I've had with Elite has been just that - Elite. As first Landing said "Bottom line, don't go it alone. Get some help somewhere." If you have questions about ATI, I would be happy to talk with you on the phone. Russ

We are with ATI and I have to say it was the best thing we did for our business. Worldpac does offer some great classes, but it is not as in depth as either ATI or Elite would be. Elite has some excellent training available on their web site for very short money. I did purchase some hiring and sales training packages from Elite which I like very much. I don't think you can go wrong with either one of those companies training packages. Both ATI and Elite are significant investments of time and money, but can help you to drive your business to the next level. ATI does 1 day classes that will help you to start to look at the business differently and I would recommend you checking out that 1 day class. They will try to sell you into their program, so be aware of that going in. If you are working 55-65 hours per week and are not making any money, then you need to raise your prices.

Scott, You are correct except for the NAPA sign.

Scott, NAPA, O'Reilly's, Advanced etc do have quality parts available. Some of these companies I will not buy from because they advertise a low cost part to the DIYer's and put a perception in the mind of many consumers as to what a starter/alternator etc might cost. We are a NAPA Auto Care and sell mostly their first line products, we back them with a 3 year, 36000 mile warranty. We have very few comebacks or warranty claims. If you want to purchase second or third line products - then good luck with an extended warranty. Having said that - there are some components that we will only source from the OE manufacturer- either dealer or the company that makes it for the dealer. We do need to demand better quality, but the parts manufacturers and part dealers will have to be able to make money selling those parts. Russ

LOL, for sure, but I hear it works well. We don't use it. Our tablets take great pictures.

Mudder® Mini LED Light Portable Pocket Spotlight for iPhone, iPad, iPod, Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC, Nokia, Cell Phones and Tablets Camera Video Light (Black) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KSUSMWK Here is a link to it on Amazon. About $20.

We use the Asus tablets with built in flash, the pictures are very sharp. Auto Vitals posted about a new external flash that plugs into the headphone jack on a tablet. http://www.autovitals.com/blog/

I know that finding good techs is a problem, but there are many techs in the workforce. Why can't you attract new tech? Is your benefit package below what other shops are offering? Is your shop busy? Is it know as a good place to work? The technician you want to work for you is employed somewhere else right now. If your shop isn't competitive with how other shops treat their employees, you will have a hard time filling positions.

We do have a wholesale account with Tire Rack that we use when they have something that is not available elsewhere. We do buy some wheels from them because they have a huge selection. I do "use" them to help sell tires. When a customer gives us the "I'm going to check around for prices." objection, we will pull up the local competitors web sites and Tire Rack's web site. We then compare the price from Tire Rack, adding shipping and installation charges. We are generally within $5 per tire of the total cost from Tire Rack. If the customer does not want to pay us the additional $5 for the convenience of getting the tires today and knowing that we will be here to take care of any potential adjustment issues, then they are not customers I want to have.

That's what you need to figure out. I may not have the same problem that another shop may have. Information is the most valuable commodity. What information do you have that might help a shop owner?

Thumbs up for thinking outside the box. I'm looking for vendors/partners that can solve a problem for me, not sell me something cheaper. I'm numb to salesmen telling me they can save me money on this or make me money on that. Learn something about my business before you walk in the door. Drop off some info and ask for an appointment to follow up on your product/services. Don't go into a hard sell mode because it tunes me out from whatever you are selling.

AVI out of Ft Meyers Florida has a number of DVD and/or on-line training courses for both techs and service advisers. Check with the local parts suppliers for training they might have available locally. NAPA provides a very comprehensive on line library for their Auto Care Centers.

mspec, yes for the first question. AV will also track techs time. Sort of for the second. Depending on the canned jobs you have, AV will populate into the SMS. This integration has been enhanced significantly over the last few months and AV continues to make "Smart Flow" a truly useful tool for shop management.

Our experience has been overwhelmingly positive with Auto Vitals. Since we started using them in May our ARO is up $59.09. Our customer's love the reports, the techs are doing more consistent inspections - quicker than paper inspections. The service advisers have all the info they need right on their computer at the front desk. Moving to Auto Vitals has been one of the best investments we've made for our business. I was try to get the OK from ATI to have Auto Vitals present at our next 20 group meeting. Do you have any interest in that? If anyone has questions about Auto Vitals, give me a call at 603-434-2730. And No, I am not selling for them. I just feel very strongly that this type of an inspection program can leapfrog your business substantially past the competition. I know Bolt-On does an excellent job and there are several others out there that may work for your individual shop, but I strongly recommend that you guys check out this technology. Russ