Why you shouldn't own a dealership & auto Repair shop together
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- Here are 3 reasons why you should NEVER own an auto repair shop if you also own a car dealership!
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Take the Auto Experts sign down, and only repair your cars which bring you a lot more money. Problem solved.
The repair business can keep you afloat when,not if, people can't afford to buy a better car. The average age of cars on the roads keep going up as the middle class is eviscerated by government policies.
rent 1 of the bays out to a guy who wants to run a repair shop and run the 2nd bay for your own stuff with your own tech.
Yes. this is a very great idea!!
That's a pretty good idea. Help out another guy I guess as well
AutoTechWorld it’s hard to find trustworthy people to access your property. If they don’t do good work then the customer writes a bad review on the location
You know, I've debated doing that too!
Vet that oerson carefully, so they don't steal your tools or otherwise steal you blind. Or wreck your equipment or building or your lifts.
Don’t take any more customers, just work on your own ( flying wheels) cars. You have the right to reject unwanted customers.
You said what I was thinking.
you call it by appointment only repair and change the sign. essentially is only repairs when your techs need work
@@D4x4Bronc exactly. If he made appointments more appropriately, he wouldn't have had to forfeit his sale inventory of vehicles to repair.
You have a pricing problem, my friend.
Sounds to me your main cash flow and what you enjoy most is selling cars and fixing outside cust cars is a huge headache with very little profit. Your answering your own question in the video. Close the repair shop to the outside customer and only fix the cars you buy for resale. No exception not even a family member. It will be cutting into your profits. Focus on what's making you the most money.
You would have to have 3 techs for the three bays and a parts runner to make sure all the part come in correct and on time. Not worth the effort and overhead.
Good Luck
Agree
Exactly.
Craig knows that, he may have done this video just for confirmation or to make interesting content (which it was).
nothing like getting tax payers to fix yor car and then complain disgusting
Calling a customer's car a POS on social media, all day to fix a parking brake, and more...
Yep, there's a problem.
we’ll if it’s a POS, wtf do you call it?
It was,probably road dogs car
Road dog sounds like a POS 😂
Close the repair shop to the public. Concentrate on the ROI that loves you most.
You can't count say $150(cable,telephone, internet, electric )overhead on every car that rolls through the day....your overhead is that amount ($150) per day...it's not $150 on this car, and $150 on this car...it costs the same to keep the lights on if you get 1 car, 10 cars or no cars in....same for the internet, phone, cable, etc....
I also own a car dealership and I truly believe it’s better to have a repair shop in the same location so you as the owner can also get underneath the car for your piece of mind. If not you have to have full trust in another mechanic at another location to do your cars. And that’s the problem, you don’t know if there telling the truth unless you stand there and go under the car as well. Or if they even missed something important which is the issues I’ve ran into.
he needs to scale up his business, or just decide to turn down the service/repair customers, or raise the price to compensate.
You've defined your issue well. If you don't actually calendar and schedule the repairs on vehicles you need to sell, that won't happen. Schedule them as if they were customer repairs, and when outside customers want to have their cars fixed, schedule them around what you already have scheduled. It's bad management to schedule based on whoever walks in whenever. You're in demand, you determine the schedule. Set certain days aside just for your own projects. Set certain days as outside customer work days. Inform customers up front that there's a backlog and they'll be serviced in order of the other cars ahead of them. Set boundaries. Hold them gracefully. Your customers have to deal with that in every other area of their lives, it's appropriate and understandable, even in a small town.
Excellent post, but the question remains is what to do when the unexpected but inevitable customer job/inside job conflict comes up. Do you always bump the customer, or the inside job?
@@rontiemens2553 Having well defined, clear boundaries and a written down order of priorities helps with that. Does the walk-in unexpected customer have a strong need to have the car done ASAP? Is it a matter of true need, or just convenience? Having a loaner available *only* for customers whose sole transportation is that vehicle *and* who actually have a need that can't be served through their own resources (most can really get rides from friends/family/neighbors if they ask) can help mitigate the tyranny of the urgent. Being up front and telling them a realistic timeline of when their car will be worked on, rather than telling them you're bumping them to the head of the line, which disrespects every other person you're providing service to (including yourself), is reasonable and polite.
You are not charging enough for your repairs. Also it sounds like you need to say no more often. Super interesting video though.
I agree. His rates must be too low if he's getting bombarded with that much work at once OR maybe even not but it could indeed be that he is not saying NO enough OR schedule the work farther out if they are willing to wait.
Sounds like ur at the point of diminishing returns on local goodwill!
I don't believe his numbers, and if hes taking cost of parts out of his own profits it's not very smart
Where's Alissa??
I love that you’re giving us your experiences to learn from that’s truly amazing ... thank you man.
I live in Massachusetts, I'm a mechanic, I know about the rust problems, No Repairs to the public, just fix and flip your own stuff. We did it year's ago and never looked back.
Thank you Craig for the advice, you latterly saved me from a lot of headaches.
My name is Mark I own a small dealership in Florida and I started doing auto repair on the side to increase my revenue, but I immediately knew something was wrong, because I was working twice harder and had to deal with hiring a keeping new mechanic, all for the customer to comback few weeks later and complain about everything. After I saw your video I immediately stopped auto repair, I only work on my cars, and it has been a blessing. No more headaches, no more, wasting time, and a whole lot more money. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your videos.
I bet Scotty Kilmer would fix that e break in a half of second
lol
🤣
raymundo marte lol
Rev up your engines ;-)
Love Scotty
Maybe set 1 day a week for working on your inventory.
E Meyer Schedule blocks of time for your sales repairs. Most consumers and auto repairs do not need to be completed on the same day. This is a Repair Shop Myth. Schedule the F-150 preventative maintenance out, honoring your Sales Repair block. If the customer insists that they must have their vehicle done today, then add a surcharge. Of course the advantage of the repair shop is the synergy and knowledge it brings to the Sales side when purchasing the vehicles. You learn the pattern failures that certain cars have and know the repair tricks or pitfalls. This makes you a much more savvy purchaser.
I will have my dealers licence this week. I have asked several folks about this and none of them could give me a clear answer. Im a 20 year master diagnostic tech but I prefer fixing cars and selling cars. I still have a fairly decent customer base for auto repairs. But im getting overwhelmed with customer work. I want a tax break for fixing my own cars and didnt know if i should open a shop to as its own entity. Thanks for explaining the headaches of doing both! Selling them is more profitable and enjoyable to me.
The solution is clear. Keep the store. Keep the shop. Raise the rates on the shop. No flat rate nothing. 90$ an hour goes to 110$ or 115$ an hour. Biz 101. Yes you will lose some biz but you will make mo moneys on what you do keep. AND you will free up time to fix the stuff you need to sell.
Your welcome
Really it's so simple. Don't prioritize the walk ins. Do one inspection a day. Someone shows up, tell them you're backed up for a day. Brakes come in... Unless an emergency... Tell them you're backed up a few days.
Dedicate one bay to your cars and the other to customer repairs 🤔
Make a decision, expand or move the shop to another location
I've spent some time in different types of dealers, the shop is steady reliable money, it pays the bills. Sales department was for profit. But with your shop size and parts inadequacy I'd close it to the public or find a larger shop location near the parts place.
I'm a life long entrepreneur. 53 retired living in the Philippines now. Love hearing about your business. I bought over 200 scrap vehicles in 2008 in Knoxville Tn.. it was my passion. I moved the family to Arizona for better schools and got out of it. I'm tempted to come out of retirement and go back into the car business.
Sir do you have any advice for a us young guys just starting out in the car business?
I love your videos! You show all the things people don’t consider when they think of an auto repair shop
Craig BUSINESS IS BUSINESS and if it's more cost effective for your techs to work on the cars you sell, then you have to shut down the repair shop to the general public! Or, as others said, have one bay for outside business and one bay for your own business. I know it's a hassle but that's why the automotive business is so profitable, my family owned a dealership so I know first hand there is no more profitable business! Not even close. And if you think car sales/repairs are a shitty business, try working in corporate America. Great video with great content, I wish you well.
Buy a two car steel metal garage (the ones that look like hangars, make sure they're tall enough to fit lifts) and put it right beside your building. Hire two (one at a time) technicians that have good characteristics (honest, good work ethic and polite) - they don't necessarily have to be skilled mechanics. Let them do the easy jobs such as inspections, fluid changes and the like while training them for the bigger jobs. But to your point, yeah auto shops are a pain, for both parties.
Terrible advice.
@@recyclespinning9839 Your right , he lost me at "don't have to be skilled".
Video makes perfect sense. I work on cars out of my garage all the time and because of that i get lots of neighbors wanting work done. I have ALWAYS said no. Even though theres no overhead, its just not worth it to me.
Exactly, engine and trans swaps are the only thing I will do for anyone else.......nothing else worthwhile for me
@@delonthompson2527 i had a Neighbor wanted me to swap an intake manifold gasket. Plastic manifold on an old car with rusty bolts. No thank you. Plus i was pretty sure it was already cracked, which wouldve been my fault if i took a single bolt out.
I’ve gone to car dealerships with broken cars on the side/back that instantly makes me think that all cars there needed some type of repair.
lol,
I have the same set up, repair and tire shop and have recently added in a much smaller, but legitimate used car sales so I could tell what you were going to say before you said it.
I’ll be your profiting more from those repair jobs than you make it sound. True, some don’t go well, but most do.
I get it too because you need to expand in bays and techs but deep down you have a good thing going and don’t want to f@$! It up.
Bottom line is you need both so make it work.
Also don’t bad mouth you customers repair jobs on a video or you likely regret that
Well said. The way he describes the whole thing makes it sound like people are bothering him by bringing him business and trusting him to do the work on their cars. Fine line between sharing unpleasant truth and complaining. There was no expression of appreciation for the customers plus you showed their cars (and some of their plates)...did they give permission for that?
I ran a 4 location buy here pay here. We had 1 in house tech and another "master tech" that rented one of our bays out. We traded repair on lot cars to cover his rent. We had an agreement that lot cars first , customers of his second. Our 1 tech did all our little repairs. You need to focus only on being a dealer. You dont have the infrastructure in place to be open to the public
I'm not a car dealer, but have been around small car dealers and mechanics most of my life. I feel like every car lot needs a shop, not just to repair the cars that come in, but outside cars as well. One very good reason for it. You stated that after overhead, you're making $80 here or $150 there. And if you just think about the profit, then no, it's not profitable. But at the same time you can think about what that saves you as well. If you had no shop, then you'd either be outsourcing the work for your cars, or have a mechanic there and pay him for nothing when you have no cars to work on. I think there just needs to be prioritization. Schedule the car lots vehicles first, then allow outside customers to either make appointments, or fit then in when you can. Similarly to getting a haircut. You can walk in and get your haircut, but there could be 5 people ahead of you, or make an appointment and show up.
I’m a mechanic and i work in a parts shop. There is sometimes more than 1 part listed for what you need. The ONLY way to be 100% efficient with your parts is to either buy all of the possible options and return the ones you didn’t need, OR take the old ones off and match up when you’re in the parts shop or do your own homework and tell your parts guy which part number you need.
4x brake jobs in 1 day would make me $400-$600 profit. A tech would be lucky to get paid $200 for the full day. If you’re getting paid more by selling your cars then maybe consider hiring someone to run the repairs side of the business to free up your time to get more important things done.
I think it's quite obvious you need to expand. Hire a new guy and hire him under commission. Get another lift for the side with a carport or another metal building. Invite a guy to sell bar b q in the corner parking lot and charge rent if you own the property or if landlord and insurance allow. That will bring potential customers to you also. Are you running these on Ebay and on autotrader? Only other thing I can think is start doing in house financing and buy a tow truck for repos.
Tow trucks alway third party. Too much exposure and liability.
I feel your pain. We have two mechanics we use for our lot here in Snellville, GA, and they can't keep up. We are looking to move to a larger lot next summer with more bays just so we can keep selling cars. Keep grinding. Love the videos.
A small town can be hard to say no to. Small town gossip etcetc. The best way to say no is raising the rates for repair work. Start slow, 5-10 $ hr labor. Increase the markup on parts 2%. See how the workload changes. If it still is too heavy after a month or two, increase again. Creep up into that zone where you have things to do but aren't covered up. You'll have better customers and better bank accounts. Thanks for sharing
Great insight!
Small town problem. No VA 24 bays and always booked. Starting as car sales after 6 months figured was in wrong business. Retired at 45 and my 2 boys now able to provide for their families and 28 employees
That's great! Congrats
It’s like I’m listening to my inner voice! Thank you, now I feel normal again. In a perfect world both the workshop and dealership would be running more efficiently and in turn making better money. The real problem is that there is only one of you so you are always in reaction mode. Perhaps you need to consider a partnership so together everyone achieves more.
More Haters? Really!
Wow... such a helpful insight.
More Haters? Really!
Craig is being truthful. That’s what makes his channel interesting. I can relate, our businesses are similar. I don’t watch Flying Wheels because he’s making stacks of money. There are plenty of you tubers claiming to be doing that. I watch him because it’s an honest representation. Watch it again and try a little harder to understand the point he’s making. Then perhaps offer a constructive suggestion. All the best. 👍🏻
More Haters? Really!
Whatever. 👌
I would recommend finding another location to run your shop separately or build another building if possible to do the repairs. OR just not do outside auto repairs. I'm a mechanic by trade. Trust me, I understand where you're coming from. This video helps me GREATLY to think of which direction to take my business in. Thank you!
Remember how u got started and that is your customers always customers are always right.
Customer service is key. I have some great customers that I have built personal relationships with and I think they continue to come back for that reason. I am honest with them, and price repairs out fairly. With that being said, I cant always say the customer is right though. Not in todays world. That is a great way to be taken advantage of. Some customers you just dont want or need.
@@FlyingWheels EXACTLY!! Can't Afford to Chase Every Dollar. REPEAT Customers Are The Objective.. * Seeing These Videos; I Would Be Comfortable Buying From You as You Are Straight Forward!! (I'm Sure Others Would Agree)
Service only the cars you buy for resale and only the cars you sell for a limited time. Consider selling extended warranties with each car sale. Or only service the cars you offer for sale and use your bays for yourself only. Or do tires and batteries only, where anyone can do the work. Then you just have the real mechanics working on your cars. Good luck.
Car lots sometimes rnt sustanable by them selves. The auto repair keeps ur techs moving which is important
Start taking out ads and getting the word out "Starting Dec1st,2019. We will only be doing State Inspections." "We will no longer be doing Auto Repairs for the Public" "We apologize for any inconvenience" BTW, you are the only used car dealer I know of that has a shop and works on cars for the public.
Also, maybe dont complain about customers publicly on the internet who enjoy and appreciate a service you offered them.
Sounds like you need to schedule your own vehicles into the shop along with the customer vehicles for repair. You'll never fix the problem with the auto parts stores getting things wrong...I've worked at a shop before and wrong parts is always so frustrating!!
You’re taking in more than you can handle for your size shop and amount of employees. Either make appointments and get deposits to order the parts for it to be there when the customer comes or tell them you can’t fix their car right now.
I have similar business and run through the same
Problems
Your videos are addicting. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!!!!!
Never turn away a customer just do what I do charge more if your job is 650 move it up to 850. Then you can finish your cars they when you have no cars do the job for 650
Plate ??? your plate has no expectation of privacy. If you are out in public, there is not an expectation of privacy. Try to tell the Gov. that they cant photograph your plate. I'm not a lawyer, just a humble Mechanic, but the plate thing just sounds absurd to me.
Rarely in life are you just benefiting. There is a give/take balance that exists. The customers that are sucking up that precious repair time are also telling their neighbors you are the go to on their next new to them car to buy. You may want to up the prices on repairs, not a ton but make it more worth your while.
In regards to the customer that wants you to repair the scratched door-A percent of your customers will have unrealistic expectations, are financially desperate, or just plain dishonest. Unfortunately it just comes with the territory. Occasionally it will be necessary for you to fire a customer after the fact and that's OK.
a great video. i manage a battery business in maryland , and i understand your frustration i sell a battery and a customer comes back to me and tells me it { the battery} caught his car on fire or burn ed out his alternator or some ridiculous story . its not that customers don t know anything its that everything they know is wrong. god bless keep going
Charge enough that you are making a good profit . I ran a truck rental and auto service and dealt with the same bs for 20 years . Dedicate a tech to your sales business
By not paying an outside shop to work on your inventory cars you're converting tens of thousands of dollars in costs into profits. Also, every satisfied customer at your repair shop is at least casually viewing your inventory whenever they drop off or pick up their car. They trust you as a mechanic, which means they also trust the mechanical quality of flying wheels' inventory. Lots of benefits that go along with those headaches.
I don’t see a problem. I see an opportunity dude
What he also needs to understand is that nothing say the Tundra going to sell before doing 10 of those small jobs
My thoughts are to buy adjacent property and build a new building for your repair/inspections. Take the repair business out of your car lot. Keep is strictly for car sales. Add a couple of techs. You are providing a valuable service to your community. Advertise.
You have the drive to make this work! I know all of the headaches involved: Land not available, too expensive, etc. No techs, big investment. Take a chance, I think the rewards will be great!
Sounds like you need another tech. Grow resources as business grows. Also set expectations further out so there's a buffer.
Hey Craig, too many service customers taking away too much time to work on your cars? Use an old trick I used to increase my profits in the roofing business and yet have fewer customers. How? Start raising your rates for repair work. Keep raising your rates periodically until you start seeing the results you're after. This will put more money in your pocket and cut back on the number of customers you have to deal with in order to make the same or more profits. An added bonus is that I've found that people with more discretionary income are actually a nicer crowd. I think ir has something to do with the fact that they aren't under pressure to make sure they have their bills paid every month. I added a quarter million annually to my business income, had fewer customers to deal with and have better relationships with those customers.
Love it! Thanks
HIRE 2ND MECHANIC OR STOP CRYING, NEXT THOUGHT CLOSE SHOP..............
100% agree on what you say fix the cars yourself ppl, at least what your capabilities will let you. Saves you 1000s and gets you educated on common problems with models and makes, keep the informational videos coming flying wheels we love the content
and dont forget when you flip some cars you make good money fast and they come from the customers that you are talking about doing there breaks for 40 bucks so its all about how you manage the 2 shops
Add more bays to the shop so you can meet demand, or close the shop earlier and use that time for your own cars.
Your not streamlined enough to turn those small jobs fast enough to make a profit and your not charging enough for repairs.
Setting your self up for failure.
Ask your customers to make appointments so you can potentially order parts in advance. If your vendor continually sends you incorrect parts, find a more reliable vendor who pays attention to detail. Charge more. Can you outsource the simple jobs to someone else? Dedicate one day a week to fixing your own cars for sale.
This is one of the best videos you've posted
Build a separate garage elsewhere and have the shop at the car lot dedicated to car lot cars. Lease the other ships bays out to mechanics.
The only reason you have an auto repair shop is because you needed a place to get state inspections done. It’s a wise investment in the end
This is true
Got you 100% on this. We are Alfa Fiat specialist. After the 1hr chat they want handing in and the 2 or 3hrs we can't charge for fighting seized bolts etc some jobs just don't make sense. Vs the 159 we get from auction , wash check over spend 2hrs on and flip 2 days later for £900 profit on £1000 investment.
Most techs are not qualified enough to be profitable. Used cars and auto repair are to different things. Auto repair is the bottom of the barrel of the industry but the hardest to do.
Read up on th 80/20 rule.
If you enjoy selling more then repairing either charge more or be honest with your customers and charge an express rate that negates the loss of value of repairing one that is for sale. So like $125 an hour for same day and $75 to be on a wait list.
Great idea!
You are in a position to kill it my friend. You need good help, prioritize, delegate! You nail it in your next video. Good help is the hardest part, ask any business owner.
Wow good video. I learned I do not want to own an auto repair shop. I am a 2nd year auto mechanic apprentice but not in the nursing as anymore. I didn’t enjoy doing repairs all day.
I agree for the most part. You left out the time and risk of finding and buying whatever car you sold in 30 minutes.
a pessimist sees the folly, an opportunist sees fortune. Change your business model - true separation. and hire 2 more mechanics and make the old dude the manager - most of all don't interfere on the mechanics side. Within the shop, create a charge book and don't give your sales any breaks. Make it clear when selling the cars that your shop is a different business. Sub out to another shop when the onsite shop has too much work.
Simple business solution: scale up the repair shop!. Your ongoing costs won't increase in the same rate as your repair shop capacity increases. You can do some simple statistics around the daily number of walk in customers and the amount of work they need based on historical data, receipts etc..this will give you an idea how bigger your repair shop should be
Awww mannn you crack me up 😂 customers pissed you off all week 😂
Go to your local high school shop teacher. Get his recommendation on a 16 or 17 year old student who has transportation and wants part time work. You will be amazed how much the right 16 year old knows. Of course it depends on the laws of your state but in mine... a 16 year old is considered the same as an adult in labor regulations.
Funny you said that. That's the 1st person I call when I'm looking for a new tech
I own an auto repair shop in Arizona and this video nailed what we go through on a daily basis. I feel you man lol
One word: prioritize.
Dont do work for nonprofits , do not let cars sit on your lot .
The auto repair business does suck sometimes
Very interesting video. I work for an online auto auction and am always trying to learn more about what you independent dealers have to deal with in your day to day. Thanks!
Thanks for watching
Time to put a end to the threats ! Tell him go ahead and put up a bad review and you will get your atty to sue him for defamation of character . The burden of proof is on him . Dont keep bending over to these people or you will be overrun with scumbags who want to take advantage of you . I would call the non profit that is paying for his repairs and get him shut down .
I spoke with you on the phone and I own a mechanic shop but my passion is buying and selling cars and I can never focus on my passion because of the mechanic shop I feel your pain
Pain it is
Don't put any car on the lift without the parts on site
Aren't there some problems you need the lift to find?
Craig: I've been watching your videos and I'm learning so much about your business. As a teacher, I'm seriously considering flipping cars part time very soon. Your thorough videos are certainly pointing me in the right direction. Thank you, and God bless!!!
SUGGESTION: get a 3rd year college student majoring in business to work for you as an intern. It may make a difference in time management.
Preach! 👏
I would say just keep the repair shop for your cars that you personally flip sense your making more money on the flipping side. Eventually you wanna do what you love and make money, this apparently isn’t it. So you can shut off the repair shop just to test the waters and see if it works out for you. This decision is gonna have negative effects which is you’re gonna lose the customers in case you reopened. But you wanna do what’s more profitable for you so it would say taking the chance is worth it. Good luck
Separate the repair shop. If you have 3 bays, use 2 bays for customer drop-offs and the single-bay for your dealer car fixes. Once you are caught up, which will never happen due to your hunger for more cars to sell, you can use the single-bay to get more customers in and out.
Use the shop as a Liability, so all the profit you make with fwheels can be written off. Get a good accountant to help you out.
I’ve been in the business for over 15 years and I’ve had my own buy here pay here car dealership for three years now. It’s the car business if it was easy everybody would be doing it. But thank God we don’t have rust ugh. It takes way longer to work on
There is a reason Walmart only does tires oil changes and batteries...…. Provide these services to the public and focus on your own stuff. They will still show up for the oil change and they will look at your lot.
very good ,... i agree of what u saying from X dealer in OHIO ... its soo hard to have both in the same location that u are welcoming customers for car sales and for maintenance !!
this is crazt
I suggest scheduling your dealer cars as if the dealer is a regular customer. Anyone off the street gets in line and you get to them when it's their turn. Be upfront on the wait time. If they want to go elsewhere that's ok.
Do a full inspection before you send a car out. Sell a warranty with the car for major jobs you make your money back.
Use only OEM dealer parts. More expensive but they work the first time.
You need a sign that says we are not responsible for your vehicle once it has left this shop or make them sign a waiver when they pick up said vehicle.
man i can relate same situation i gave up repair and went sales only much less stress!
schedule your repairs first ............put customers in a schedule 12 hrs per week no more
I got 35 years in business service mgr an used car mgr an now shared license hire another tech busy is good