A few of you may know, I run my own auto/ diesel repair shop. I have never been on the retail side of the counter for auto repair, or parts. I am wondering, what makes you choose the shop you do, and what you think I could maybe to to help open myself up to the retail side.
I have been going at it on my own for 4 yrs now, but with the current state of things people are wanting things ever cheaper, and I have cut it down to where I barely make profits on a single repair order, even then people still want it cheaper, i'm lost, any advice and insight welcome.

 

i take mine into the shop when i'm crunched for time or space. but offering people quality work is always the best place to start. Another option is to branch out and make it know that you welcome modified rigs with out BS. We've all had run in with shop owners with a modded rig that gave us a hard time about this or that.

 

I have always modified vehicles for customers needs.... I have always been as honest as I can, even swallowing some huge things, that might not have even been my fault, but it seems the honest shops suffer...

 

i meant being modded rig friendly there are a lot of jeep and truck guys in Fla get on some forums and post up that you welcome them in your shop for any and all services.

whats your main customer base now

 

well I am on a border now, but it was heavy truck/ blue collar vehicles. Now I have no heavy truck since I moved, and I get a lot of low, low class, some high class, and most of my blue collars still.

 

I myself have a shop I use, ....Ray ( my mechanic ) treats me very fair, doesn't talk down to me because I'm a woman, he does very good work and makes himself available when I need something done, He knows his way around a jeep and I trust him! he explains things in laymans terms and doesn't get all technical knowing I wouldn't understand, I know I can count on him and trust him and that keeps me going back more then anything. I take all my vehicles to only him. Also he doesn't pad his charges after the work is done, If something else needs to be done he always asks and gives me a quote first and only proceeds after getting permission. I know this is wordy, but just remember you'll have more women customers then men since they tend to do they're own work when they can, so treat them right and they'll keep coming back....a good mechanic is worth his weight in gold for a woman.....Trust me on this!
I wish you the best of luck and hope it all works out for you....

 

My mom will only go to the dealership to get her car worked on and for certain reasons. Its a nice friendly atmosphere, if she has a questin then they will offer to take her back and show her whats going on and what they are going to do. When they do take her back, she notices that the shop is incredably clean, organized and thus safe and professional. Professionalism, courtyesness and making few mistakes seems to be what takes her there. She knows even though she is paying more, that they know %100 what they are doing and will do so in an expert, clean and courtyous fassion.
I know i misspelled stuff so please try to read through the fog. I perfer to do it myself on my Jeep because too many low prce shops ive been too tend to make mistakes i have to fix anyway.

 

Normal labor rates are anywhere between $40-80 an hour here.

 

I have been told I do this by quite a few women actually. I even try to call customers back after a couple weeks to check on everything. I got one of my fleet customers permanantly because he drove by the shop at 3 am and I was still working on his truck he needed asap... it was done the next day (engine job) in a van no less. It's just soo damned hard to make a profit. I am a 1 man shop, but 1 man doesn't pay the bills most of the time, even though it seems ive made it work for little over 4 yrs. Dec and Jan hit me haaard though. Making me behind on a couple bills and trying to recover from that seems impossible.

To give you an example of what I deal with everyday here 2. First, Had a guy come in, very intermittent missfire on a 05 Expedition. Ford told him $1000 to fix it (all coils, new plugs, fuel filter). I told him $68 to diagnose the problem, he was hesitant on that, saying some shops take off their charges for it, I told him I don't. Well, after driving for 1/2 hr and monitoring mode 6 data finally got a failure for #4 missfire. At the shop swapped 4 and 5 coils and drove again, missifre moved to 5. Told him a coil, and a set of plugs and a fuel filter with diag $550, he said it's too high, paid his diag fee and left

Next one comes in overheat in city, cooling fan drawing too many amps burnt connector to motor and blew fuse, gave the guy a price. He went and bought just a fan, and wanted me to install it, gave him my labor price, and he got mad saying I should be able to haggle, and I aint never heard of needing a connector... sometimes I wanna give up and just work for someone!

My labor rate is $68, Jeep dealer is $110, at least last time I checked, Ford is $90, most independents here are 65-75

 

If I was in Florida, I'd let ya work on mine

 

Too cold where you are!!

 

Well hang in there dude. Their is nothing you could have done to get those two customers... You came in at half the price of Ford and that's about what the local shop would get around here.
The economy sucks, people want something for nothing. I plow and I had people trying to set their own price on their driveway... even after they told me I'm already cheaper with my price than the last guy. My truck rarely leaves for less than $30 unless it's a friend or neighbor so all those people get a "Find someone else" as an answer.

 

it is tuff.im in the samw boat.it is getting a little better but its about making people happy but not working for free

 

Already this morning have a guy that needs a fuel pump, well, his buddy has a used one. He wants me to put it in and garuntee the work..... I swear. It wouldnt be sooo bad except december hit us haaard. I've been doing this for 15 yrs now and never seen it like it did this year!

 

If you give 'em an inch they'll take a mile if you let 'em. The dealers seem to have plenty of work at $120.00 bucks an hour. If you keep a clean shop, do quality work, and charge fair prices you'll have work. If someone is in sniveling about prices you don't want their business. If someone wants you to install a used fuel pump and stand behind it tell 'em to take it somewhere else. JMNSHO.