weighit

Ya know as we all get older and look back at some of the decisions we have made over the years we find we made a lot of mistakes, some were very costly and others we learned from and kept going. I would have to say now, if I was starting a business that relied on visuals like huge signs and traffic, I would opt for a expensive location. But if I was going to open another stripping business, larger size and cheap rent would win out. Will be interesting to hear other opinions on this topic.

My first body shop gave me the same delemia, spend the big bucks for a great location, or save that expense and go to a lesser exposed location. Talked to an established business owner who I thought knew more than me and I asked go to the best location or on a back road? He said that "IF" you are really good at what you do, priced fairly and run a honest business, folks/customers will search you out. I went the off the main road route and did exceptionaly well. He was right, at least in my case that the money we saved rent wise went into equipment and the best materials I could obtain. We were as new as anything, but after every customer we got more, and allowed us to grow at a nice pace. Might not work for all businesses, but just look at the amount of small businesses on side roads, they all can't be doing poorly. And in many cases, I search them out like folks did for me.

When I owned a stripping business that was low pressure blasting one of the local body shops burnt down and all the techs tools were roasted. The insurance company refused to help any of the guys with their losses. I offered and did blast clean all the tools we could clean for free to help them out. Many of the tools cleaned up like new, others were toast. But the shop owner was very dissapointed in his coverage to learn nothing of the employees was covered.

Exactly, saw way too many times an excellent tech was promoted to management, and that was NOT his strong suit, fixing broken things was where he excelled, not dealing with people. then we would see another good tech call it quits and leave the employment becasue of the way they were treated.

I was mostly on the body shop side of dealers and bodyshop managers tended to stay a few years then move to different dealer. That reason was almost always pay based or not getting along with the ownership somehow. And in many cases the Bodyshop techs would if they liked the managers style and attitude, would leave and follow that manager. Was not uncommon to see 3 or 4 techs up and leave with the out going manager. That normally told you that manager treated those fellows well, respected them and they him. When a dealer went through 4 or 5 bodyshop managers in 4 or 5 years that told you is was pretty unlikely that that dealer found 4 or 5 poor managers, but that the dealer principle was poor in his management style. Things have changer over the years with employees, but I think all of us/them still require some level of respect for us to want to continue working for that person/manager/ corporation or business. Money is not always the factor keeping someone working for you. Just my opinon.

My cabinets were 48X60 pressure cabinets. One shot plastic media and walnut shell, the other shot flower size glass bead. Trick to having a cabinet for any kind of production is air pressure volumn, not the high pressure. I had a 800cfm compressor that ran the shop booths and the two cabinets. So all four guys could be working a the same time. A pressure cabinet will out produce a siphon cabinet about 4 to one in time on a job. But for a small use system, a siphon using higher pressure and a course media will work fine. The dust collectors are OK and normally will collect all the air born dust, where a pressure production system will really capture all the dust, but the costs really go up. Find a good used pressure cabinet and have a blast...

This is so true, many will not tell the owner or person in charge of any short fall, but will tell others. I was in a Wendy's eating a lunch one day and watched a Buick pull in and park and an older fellow with his wife get out. They ordered and sat down across from me. Another fellow walked up and said to them, I see you own a Buick. Just in case you ever need body repair do not go to so and so collision shop. They are terrible and say they are Buick experts. Just wanted you to know and he proceeded to leave and get into his Buick and drive away. You have to wonder how poorly he was treated to stop just anyone and vent his frustration. Did he let the so and so shop know? don't know but that always stuck with me that bad treatment and bad work travels to areas you have no idea about as a shop owner. I always asked my customers if they were happy and if there was anything we could do to improve what they experianced. Sometimes we did get a suggestion and we took it to heart.

When I was running a shop I needed a replacment tech and found a fellow working at another shop I knew of. In the interview he said he had been at that shop for 5 years and made X per year. I said working here for me you should make at least 15% maybe 20% more the first year, so he came to work with us. At the end of that first year he was well over 30% more than he had been earning, I asked what he felt was the reason he made more with us? He said I'm actually getting paid for what I do. The estimates are much more accurate and even though you expect more from me than the last shop management did, I feel I'm able to give you my best, and make much more money for my family. It was how we estimated and priced the work that we did, trying to make each job pay what it should. Giving away labor or time was not how we advanced.

When I had employees I paid them $2.00 more per hour than any of the competition paid their guys. One, I knew they all worked hard for me and deserved what I was able to pay. Two, I didn't want the the competition to try to steal them away from me. I knew what I made every year working for a dealership, and when I opened my shop I knew what I needed to do to attract good help, pay them well and say thanks often. While I made more, they made more. I suppose by now with the way things have changed they would all be in the mid 30's to low 40's per hour. By the same token, I would be earning mre too.

One of my guys when I owned a body shop did side work for cash doing roofing for a friend of his. I get a call on a Saturday from him in the hospital, he fell off the roof. Wanted to have me tell the workmans comp and insurance that he was working for me in the shop and tripped and fell. He broke bones in his neck, and was going to be out of work for a while. Are you kidding? No way, working for cash has drawbacks and this is just one of them. Some folks can get away with under the table, but when it crashes, it can hurt in more ways than one.

All that can so is come back and bite you hard. If that guy was to ever need to collect workmans comp for an injury, guess who he tosses under the bus trying to get his full money. I gave cash bonus money for Christmas but all paychecks and hours worked was by the book, and checks. issued.

That is a good point, one I didn't need to worry about. I suppose if our season was say just summer and we were slow the rest of the year I probably would have had to change my vacation times. Shutting down and paying the guys worked for us. It will be interesting to hear what others do.

I had my shop in a smaller town outside of Detroit, and had 5 guys. I shut the shop for my vacation the last two weeks of Aug and first week of Sept. I paid the guys by check in the mail 40 hours pay every Friday while we shut. That was my vacation, they got 2 weeks vacation on their anniversary and could take it when they wanted. Or, just not take that time and get the pay. Since we shut for those 3 weeks in the summer most never took any other time off and collected the money. We were very busy all the time and if I didn't take the time I wanted we would be working all year. Thats how we worked time off.

A body shop near my old shop was hit with lightning and burnt to the ground. The owner was sure he carried enough insurance, he didn't. Plus all the employees tools were not covered either. As I had a stripping blasting business, I had each employee bring the tools that were still identifiable for me to clean and make servicable again at no cost. A lot of shops started asking their insurance providers what was covered and what wasn't., Me included.

I have in the past been a service advisor for a very large Cadillac dealer and I was one of 5 advisors. We all got paid the same, a flat weekly salary and then the commission. The weekly pay was barely enough to say we got a check every week, back then it was $300 per week. Maybe at that time is was good but seemed low. Commissions were paid the second week check of the month for the previous month. As I recall it was 1% for the first $10,000 is parts and labor, not including any warranty sales, 2% for the next $10,000, 3% for the next $5,000 and 4% for the next $5,000 and 5% there after for the months sales. Way back then we were each writting anywhere from $45 to 60 grand a month is sales, again not inclulding warranty or sales taxes on the repair orders. Then there was "spiffs" added if a sale incorporated any of the few items on the list that month, tire rotation & balance, transmission flush, detail cleaning and waxing. That kind of extras. It was a flat $$ figure per sale added to the commission check. Owner was very concerened we didn't sell things that were not nor even needed. No funny business to add to your checks. This was back in 1975 or so, a long time ago, but all of us advisors were pleased at that time with our incomes. Times have changed and I'm sure pay has changed upward a lot.

I don't think the service side sees as much control the insurance companys do to the body shop side. Owning my own shop and then running them for various dealers it was a constant battle with them as to who actually was running the shop. Them saying this is what your hourly rate is, and us saying no, this is the rate we work with. Always a fight. Then they come through and have surveys to all the shops in a given area to get the average labor rates and then they say well, your not conforming to the rates others charge. or forcing the car owner to only go to one shop that is the 'Prefered" shop they work with. Wanting to supply the parts to the shop as to cut out our profit, or demanding LKQ parts, or off shore parts when the shop never used those, only correct factory parts. Sometimes making the customer feel like we the shop was trying to rip them or someone off. By not doing the insurance companies requests. All we wanted was the proper repairs to the damage and get paid a fair rate. Like I said, always a battle. I'm sure now, all these years later, it has to be worst.

Wow, reading about the retirement life you have, nothing like what I did. Sold the business, bought a large truck and 5th wheel a few months before the sale and once the money was in the bank, hit the road. Lived 8 years traveling around the USA exploring what this country has out there. While traveling found another business I started weighing rv's by wheel position, tire safety was the reason. What air pressure was needed to be safe, so that not only kept us busy, but brought in a bit of money to further the life style. I was 53 and my wife was 51 when we hit the road. We found a foreclosed home in 2010 we just could not pass up and ended up stopping our full time travel adventure. Still travel about 5 months a year in a motorhome now. Life it all you want it to be, but sometimes you actually have to go look for the fun.

It has to have been 35 years ago I worked for Avis Rent A Car and had the opportunity to attend a management class. I learned then that yes a good income was a factor in hiring and keeping employees, but this class was a workshop on building a repore with each employee, to let them know they were part of a winning team. If all the team had a goal of making our/their customers feel like they were happy to be employed with a good company it would help keep employees and customers. Looks like not much has changed. This class stuck with me through out my working career and I always made it a point to let each employee know that without them being part we could not have the great company we have.

When I was a service writer, we used to have a China marker in our pocket, when first talking with the owner, we would invite the owner to walk around the car with us,pointing out any chips, dings or issues in the body, as we used the marker on the paint. Did two things, allowed us to make sure it was going to leave with the same amount of damage it came in with, gave us a bit of time to discuss the car, look at the tires, check the mileage and lights on the dash and overall condition, before it ever got into the repair shop. Once the car was finsihed being written up, then the camera came out and photos taken. Since each writter was making a commission on total ticket sales, we were tuned in on really looking at the car.

Why would a EV owner ever want to go to a auto repair shop to have the EV charger bought and installed? Many places either on line or through the vehicle manufacturer sell wall charger units, and can either be plugged into the dryer plug or contact any local electrician to hard wire. I got mine through Tesla and found a electician to install in my garage. I paid $500 for the wall unit and $350 to install. So my electric rate at home is .11 cents per KW, and I spend roughly $35 a month to drive my car in electric charges. I have so far 23,000 trouble free miles driven, except one trip to the tire store to remove a nail. I expect to buy tires sometime later in the year and do not miss one bit the gas stations nor service shops with my old ICE cars. The small shops making a killing are the vehicle wrap places that are changing colors or adding window tints. Unless you are a trained EV guy and can open a EV only shop, where you would be able to get out of warranty vehicles, I don't see any other way to break into that market.

I don't know now if that pay structure could/would work for the employee and the owner any more. But with some constructive discussion it might?

Oh yes, very few ever actually collected the guaranteed hours, but it was there as a security for the guys that really took the time to ensure quality work and not be penalized for the hard job or that one that kicks your butt. It made that whole service department seem to click like a well oiled machine. I liked working there.

I was a service writer at a Mercedes dealer years ago, the pay plan there was the light line techs were given a 40 hour pay, even if they failed to flag that amount of hours, the next tier was set a 45 and the heavy techs were set at 50 hours pay. The owner was a nice fellow and wanted each employee to want to come to work, but also wanted zero, none, no comebacks. His thoughts were if your sure your going to at least flag 40 hours there was no reason for any short cuts, rushed jobs and the possiblily to cause a comeback. that just ticked off the customer and made the dealer look bad. I have to say the entire service department worked extremely well and everyone seemed interested in doing a good job. And that was back when labor rates were in the mid $60 per hour range. None of the other dealers in the "Motor Mall" did that and seemed a lot of the techs in those other dealers were always coming in applying for a job. We rarely had any turnover in our techs.

When I ran a Ford body shop and the paint reps wanted to put on a new paint product show they would offfer any shop in the given area to send their painters to my shop for the show. It was always held after hours during the week. They got to see first hand how that new product would help the shops make money. Problem was my shop was equipt with the best of equipment, supplies well run and clean. The other smaller shops didn't or would not upgrade to our level, so sending one of their painters into our shop was the kiss of death. They were really afraid I was going to take one or more to work with us, or the employee would go back to where they worked and complain that they didn't have the best of equipment to do the job. Attendance to the seminars was spotty, even though the paint company put out a really nice meal and gave all kinds of free items to the folks who came.

Had a customer that was a private OSHA inspector, traded some of what she owed me for the job I did for a inspection. Oh My, glad she was not there in her official capacity. Stuff she found or pointed out was astounding. Have to say after she left, I did start to try to correct some of the obvious things and worked on the harder to spot things over the year. Never did get to all the items, some I felt were pretty petty but I guess if it have been an official inspection I would have been in some real trouble. Believe me they can sniff out things you never ever think about.