advise

[dunlapcarman]

are there any fellow shop owners willing to share info on what has been successful to help them get their shops profitable i have been open for 5 yrs have an ex 3 person shop staff and an office mgr/writer but am still struggling to make a profit as i believe in being honest w/customers and dont believe in selling them what they dont need most of my buss is word of mouth and i treat my cust as family because i wish to change the opinion of the public toward auto repair shops which has been negative for so long the temptation to "rip people off "is always there but i refuse to bow to the pressure even if it means i must close this is what seperates my shop from all the others i feel this is the right thing to do as taught to me by my dad who was the neighborhood mech in upstate ny when there were only pits in the ground and saw him repair cars for food and whatever hurting people could offer in payment, [email protected]

[GMMerlin]

One of the biggest proplems I have is my labor rate.
People don't understand the amount of capital it takes to run a business.
Friends, family and repeat customers expect a discount.
I use a variable rate. Maintenance, service and diagnostic.
Most of my work is diagnostic and I have expanded into offering my services to other dealers and independant shops.
Have you tried getting some fleet acounts?

[dunlapcarman]

thanks for the advise. do you offer a discounted labor rate for fleet accts or a discounted parts markup or should i push a quick turn around time? what formula do you use to mark up your parts in general? everyone ive talked to uses a diff method thanx,joe

[GMMerlin]

Originally Posted by dunlapcarman

thanks for the advise. do you offer a discounted labor rate for fleet accts or a discounted parts markup or should i push a quick turn around time? what formula do you use to mark up your parts in general? everyone ive talked to uses a diff method thanx,joe

When you resell parts, you get into all kind of tax laws and liabilities,,that is why I have a great accountant.
I sell parts at list..15-20% over cost.
Typically fleets are maintenance so the price of labor is always lower..they need and get quick turnaround.