IHADAV8.com - Turbo Buick Tech, and Nonsense
General => Bitch/Whine/Moan => Topic started by: Pyro6 on August 13 2013, 05:42:29 PM
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Once more another major adjustment is gonna be made. One of my techs gave his 2 week. I'm OK with it, but at 56 it's getting sorta old. Thomas is gonna fill the void, but there is a huge adjustment between a rookie and a veteran. I think Matt's biggest reasons were: pay and the aggravation of the job. I really don't think that the average person understands what it takes to repair a car. If we continue to see taking a vehicle to a repair shop as a community service instead of a business, guys like me are doomed. I see the comments on the boards about the cost of parts and sorta see red. Are the parts sales also a community service? Gouging? Sometimes. Making an honest living. Usually. I pay my tax, insurance, software, tool, and day to day bills and evaluate where it all comes from. Than I have customers bitch cause I charge too much and an employee bitch cause I don't pay enough and wonder why it takes so much for my feet to hit the floor in the morning. Anyway, one of the reasons I like this board, other than it's the best Turbo Buick board, I can vent. I will bang my head against the wall and Mark will let me say: shit, fuck, damn, asshole, ..... thanks Mark :atbeer:
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I agree 100%.
We are fast approaching the day when we cannot find a qualified person in any of the service fields...does not matter if we are speaking of mechanics or plumbers...peo ple do not understand the value of the service. Pretty soon we shall be a plug and play society and it will not be cheap
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One of the things I don't get though is how the bulk of the dealerships can charge $100 plus, cheat the poor bastards on flat rate and get away with it. We have part of the people that can't afford an independant and everybody else getting screwed by the dealers, the so called specialists, the quicklubes, and the rest of the worthless chains that hire any BODY off the street.
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One of the things I refuse to do is try to talk someone down off of a price. Well I may make an offer to a private seller if I can't justify or afford the asking price but I understand when they can't if they can't. When it comes to vendors I get my price breaks by buying from the vendors in person at shows and avoid having to pay shipping. They'll usually have show prices that are better than regular price and thats the deal. Never do I approach a vendor and say can you knock another $$$$ off? They are already competing with each other and have to cater to the customer. What sense is it to knock them so deep into their cost that it becomes not worth it to continue servicing our market? Now I do expect the full support of the vendor should a warranty or information or installation instruction be needed. I feel thats built into the price and if you low ball them then you are cutting into these services. What vendor wants to be tied to your needs after the sale when they only broke even on the sale? It works both ways.
Because I do my own work with the exception of WELDING, this really doesn't appy to service but if I needed it I would handle it the same way. Actually even more so because its the labor that you are buying. I didn't ask for a single discount from my machinist when he built my engine.....I expected him not to cut any corners either.
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You hit on a nerve Clay. People don't seem to get the point where a service is done at a fair price and than I become their bitch. Call me anytime, I'll bail your ass out. I can't do that if I'm wondering how I am gonna pay my tax bill. I have a special place for tow ins at my shop just for when a customer has an unexpected break down, accident, or just not knowing where to go. I think maybe I should change my name to "Your Car Bitch".
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No one wants to pay a fair price for any form of quality anymore. People want the walmart version of everything. When I went to trade school for cars it was a lot of young guys my age and as I went through the different years it seemed like the guys got more and more jaded. I work for a fleet company so our whole system is complete different then retail. When I went to trade school for truck and coach it was all older car guys trying to get into fleet jobs with highway tractor companies to get away from most of the customer and their bullshit. After having been at a fleet company for 10 years now I don't think I'd want to deal with what you guys have to put up with in retail. I know my own company if we get overloaded we send stuff out as needed, and they try to squeeze the crap out of everyone. 90 days to pay, and we want you to work for less then door rate.
No one wants to do a trade, everyone my age (30) wanted to go to school for business or engineering or computers. Nice clean office jobs. It feels like in 20 years there won't be anyone actually left that can do things with their hands anymore, cause who would want to. it's bs.
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Good point 343. If the younger crowd like yourself realizes whats going on, we might have a small chance at change :cheers:
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I don't think people realize that shops depend on the parts margin to stay in the black at the end of the month. If one compares prices to rockauto directly then it does seem "gougish" but there is no way to change the overall pricing model now.
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I also think with the likes of Google and YouTube it doesn't help matters. people that can never change light bulbs all the sudden have become handy. they see a three minute video of how to change a alternator and think that's all it takes.so therefore the price you're asking for the jobis crazy just because it could be done in 3 minutes on youtube. I guess it's like any other tool in the wrong hands it can be dangerous.. I know how.much I hate to be beat down on prices so I never do it. And if its a nice clean job I actually give tips. Now a days its tough to.run a hands on business with the internet etc showing people how to do things. Its always the people.with a little bit of knowledge that are dangerous!.
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One of the biggest problems is management. :013: I've worked or independents as well as corporate's and 99% of the money goes to the management staff. I'm still working as an independent right now in the dirt and a fairly simple clutch job on a 95 ferd 2.3 ranger will cost the owner over $500 in parts and labor. $350 of it is going in my pocket and I've got very little overhead. :cheers: Before this I was working for a very large tractor trailer corp and I got screwed every chance they got. :068: Lost money and time and with the way they scheduled things I was working as much as 20 hours a day. :O And that wasn't enough for them. :rolleyes; Unless you get involved in a nitch business these days you're going to be screwed out of money. Still looking for that nitch so I can make a decent pay check. :D
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Had to get my blood boiling Gary didn't you!! All these god damn repair shops and there outrageous prices!! Let me explain... I wish I could go into a body shop or a repair shop and just give me what your going to charge me for the job. I don't need all this labor break down or part price Bs. Went recently to a body shop to find out a price on getting my rear bumper filler painted and some surface rust removed from the trunk lid. Between $1100 to $900 at three different places. I know businesses have over head but when you hear that R&R on the rear bumper is going to be one hour and and paint is going to take 4-5 labor hours I kinda get insulted. Far as the repair aspect I had a Turd F150 yrs ago. Started running rough and stalling. Took it to a shop to fix guy told me I needed new fuel pump and I had a short in one of the wires. Well close to $800 later the truck turned on and died about 30 minutes late after leaving. Not one dime was coming back to me from that shop owner all about how much labor he put in cry cry cry!! I would of had to sue the bitch!! Took it to the dealership, wire found wire fixed new coil installed almost same price as the shop. It's almost the same adage if you go into a store and they tell you it's an extra $.50 if your paying by credit card!! Then just charge more for the products to compensate over head. Now stop complaining Gary, get your feet on floor and get to work and pay your TAX Bill!!
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Next time I'm gonna send the Ghetto people out to get your ass!! :cheers: I think what alot of people don't understand is the cost of doing business, plus they act like it's a sin to make a profit. Like I said earlier. the techs want more money which means it has to be passed onto the customer.
Your F150 example is just pure incompetence which is running rampant in auto repair. We spend tons of time in classes available to us, it always seems to be the same shops over and over. I bring up the sore subject of ASE testing because people think they are a waste of time. I would bet your F150 guy couldn't pass an ASE test if he had to. I firmly believe in their testing, have been doing it since 1977 plus recert 4 times L1.
Back to costs: my fall property taxes alone are 6K, I just layed out 30K for a mandated sewer project, my air compressor took a shit, 6k for a partial new roof and that's just the surprise stuff. Add in software alone: two scan tools, Alldata, Identifix, Aligner, shop management and there is roughly 500 each month. This month Thomas and I have to recertify for emissions for the gazillionth time at 90 bucks a whack and an evening missing supper
Not bitching Stefan, you may or may not be kidding, but even the IRS should get that there is still freedom of speech, isn't that what boards like this are for? I appreciate Mark for having us.
So anyway, I still think small business in general has a long road ahead and people will look back and wonder where the personal service has gone, pride in workmanship, honesty, and good work ethics.
Thanks for the bumperettes Stefan.
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i just looked into alldata and saw how much a month. holy shit. i know its worth it but its an overhead,an expensive monthly one
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That clown that worked on my truck way back when was the owner of the business. I should have known better that his wife was the only other employee there working the desk. As far as professions fellas it seems being a lawyer is where it's at!! They seem to have a law degree that allows them to screw as many people as possible and get paid for it with a thank you at the end!!
I've always said that it takes a lot of balls to be a small business owner. Unfortunately I have to deal with a lot of dead beats that for the past five years have been declaring a loss on their returns. My biggest thing with them is who operates a business year after year when your not making any money??? Lie through their teeth no employees no money no need to file a return. Then you look up there living cost and ask how have you been paying your bills
And affording the house you live in??
Gives everybody that wakes up in the morning and goes to work ,earns a living and has to pay Uncle Sam at the end of the day a bad taste in their mouth.
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gary, i feel your frustration in this. we're in different businesses but its the same shit all the time. speaking of which... i got to pay my insurance..... :068:
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I have alot of friends that are truckers. Private and co. Private sides gotta be brutal: fuel. truck maint. taxes, weather, and insurance. Plus dealing with the morons on the road that shouldn't be driving. Good side though, you get to see the good old USA :cheers:
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It doesn't seem to matter what type of business your in people people just have to grind you down.
I recently sent pricing to a customer heard through my manufacture they had gone to my competition for pricing, I don't have a problem with that if the other guy can do it for less let him have it.
What I did have a problem with was the customer still grinding me when my price was the lowest.......
I basically told him get the other guy to do it, obviously my pencil was sharp when I first sent him my number.
I even offered cost savings with alternate product what he wants is premium product for the same price as the cheap shit.
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I try not to even give estimates over the phone, too many shoppers. You're right though, don't get caught up in the price war deal.
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On electrical work I tell them it will be minimum of 30 minutes @ $50 and hour. If they listen after that I tell them it may take the minimum or could take as long as $50 and hour X hours X 7 days. Most of them start sputtering at this point. :rofl:
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gary, what i've found is that if you keep up on the maint. it makes life a lot easier. with that said i'm setting myself up for a lot of shit. i've been ignoring a lot of stuff. the insurance.... its god awful. the excuse i get from my broker is "well.. you are in a AAA insurance company, anyone will take you on". :rolleyes; fuel.. it is what it is. i have a problem with the damn DOT. to date this year, i've been stopped 5 times with 3 inspections. 2 of those inspections were by the same trooper!
we also have to deal witht he price wars. infact, i'm in one now. its always a nightmare. ALWAYS. normally is not worth the stress and hassle.
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These stories are some of the reason.why I havent started a side business working on.cars. I really cant see it being worth it. I might just do.it.to.see but its tough running a business big or small,especially when.you have to deal w jon q public
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wonder why it takes so much for my feet to hit the floor in the morning.
My dad taught me long ago, that if you aren't going to make some money there is no sense in going to work. You have plenty of stuff to do at the house.
As far as rock auto and the like, I doubt your sign makes any reference to being rockauto. You don't bring eggs to the diner for them to cook, therefore you don't bring your own parts to a repair shop.
If you are so proficient with the interwebz, look up the repair on youtube and fix it yourself with your rockauto parts. See how that works out for you.
Auto repair isn't for the faint of heart. Most get it apart and cant understand how to reassemble it back to where it works.
You might need to 'fire' some of your customers. If you are not collecting the money you are not running a business, you are conducting a charity. It is usually a good thing as you have his parts and service and he has your money. You just have to get together and make the transaction.