Tips to Get Your Automotive Repair Shop Above 100% Efficiency
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- Опубліковано 21 січ 2025
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I own a repair shop, I’ve been a professional tech 20+ years I’ve worked new and used dealers, indy shops, euro shops was a foreman for the last 7 years before opening my shop a few years ago. My shop is small it’s 3 bays and we’re always busy so being productive is key. I stock my shop with all the little things that no shops ever have to avoid a car sitting on a lift for something stupid. I have All kinds of stuff like every push clip, speed nuts, every different o-ring kit I can find, every style a/c seal, one time use clamps, roll pins, a/c caps, a/c line repair tool kit, spring kits, every size helicoil, time serts, every electrical connector possible, box of 10 different sizes of flex pipes, every tube nut, tpms sensors and the list goes on and on. I also am buying tools and equipment all the time like timing belt and chain tool kits I’m always thinking about an engine that is common in a car that I don’t have a kit for and I buy it, many generic tools like that too all just to make work easier and faster. Any tech that’s in the top 10% that can really diagnose vehicles, can do engine and transmission work not just replacing an engine or transmission but repairing internal parts likes how I have my shop set up because I have it set up to make work as easy as possible. Like I even have an ultrasonic cleaner, I have a power washer to clean the bottom of a car off that was leaking bad, 2 transmission jacks so if one guy is doing a transmission and another is dropping a gas tank they aren’t waiting to use a jack, I have a sand blaster with whatever media you want, 2 smoke machines, bunch of different scan tools, super fast laptop that i modded to be super fast for programming, a 14in shop saw for cutting exhaust pipe, a truck creeper so ur comfortable working on a truck, shit even every rechargeable battery so u don’t have to buy batteries, a ton of rechargeable headlights (lights that go on ur head), a huge nut and bolt bin with everything that’s labeled I have all the clips and weird engine bolts and fittings that are in labeled bins that I keep from engine jobs, every size lug nut and stud, a few boxes of wirings harnesses for pigtails or pins, 2 boxes of ignition coils so u can test a misfire super fast. There is a Chevy dealership next to me that I do a lot of business with and they have came here to borrow a tool or parts. Because I have the stuff we need I am able to make the most of a smaller shop and don’t need to be open from 7am to 6pm 6 days a week I’m open 9-5 m-f and we’re slammed all day every day but we get everything done.
Wish my shop stocked all that. Damn that would be helpful
Nice setup
I'm assuming you also have drain plugs too? Nothing more annoying then one of the plastic ones, or a drain plug the previous person just shoved back in, then waiting for a small plug to fill it with oil.......
Edit: of course my shop does have a drain plug storage by we also charge to replace them too
Car count can be a double edged sword. We've had several occasions where we end up with too many cars on the property. Gotta move 3-4 cars to get the one you looked at yesterday, no spots in the lot so customers and vendors are parked up blocking doors or blocking other cars etc... I've had it take me 20-30 minutes just to get a car in the shop.
Step one- don't have a dysfunctional shop
Step two - get back to me when you get past step one
My biggest complaint it to just leave me alone and let me work. The more times you pull me off a job to go to oil changes, alignments, and other stuff, puts what I'm working on even further behind schedule
It's always "hey, can you knock this out real quick ".
Most shops give away the labor round these parts, don’t charge for diagnosing (free) don’t charge for hooking up the scanner(free) don’t charge for coincidental’s like bolts that break and now you hv to extract it (free) how can the tech win if the front desk is giving it all away.pre inspections is always best even if you do it for free so you can cover your self and yes a quick pre drive to make sure there no hidden issues
I see more efficiency issues in the front of the house than anywhere else. Started my morning off that way, guy calls about having a clutch done, gets quoted over the phone. Truck shows up and it's got a big dumb lift kit in the way of doing the job (bracing bolted to the transmission crossmember, other parts right under the bellhousing) yet he's been quoted standard book time because none of us got to see the truck before he was given a price.
@@JMKady76 I wouldn’t reject that job
Sux bad for older guys who primarily focus on elect diag & eng performance. Svc writer to scared/lazy to communicate with the cutomer when more time needed.
I 100% agree with everything here I am very efficient I couldn’t tell you what percentage but I moved to a different location where techs write up and wait while there’s more to do 😱.I moved in and I’ve turned around the numbers I run circles around others until they realize I’m making money in a shop they think is impossible. I do have to give you credit I use your advice and it works well for me.
keep it up man! we shop owners need techs like yourself
Some tickets are written in a fashion that makes productivity suffer. For example, right now on a 2018 Grand Cherokee: Air filter, Cabin filter, Oil change, tire rotation, differential service and overall vehicle inspection = 1.5 hours.
But when waiting on fuel tank parts for an 89 Mustang, we do what we must. lol
1.5 for all that is insane
I worked on race cars, for 18 yeas! I'm the best, I'll work circles around ya'
Some great points here. The absolute worst for me is places that don't charge enough diag time or try to throw a bulb, wipers, noise complaint or whatever onto another service.
I couldn't begin to calculate how much time I spent trying to duplicate vtec issues when I worked on hondas
Excellent points here couldn't agree more thanks for the video Mike.
We have a spreed sheet that all the techs can see for warranty parts. This states the ro# , hours and reason why the warranty. It has worked awesome to identify the problem products
It seems to be getting harder and harder to get customers to show up on time for appts, the younger they are the more unreliable they tend to be about showing up when they are supposed to,defenently makes scheduling a challenge at times
Hmm I get charged a fee when im late for my doctors appointment. I get charged if I dont cannel appoints with in 48,hours. Want people to pick up their cars , charge storage
Lots of labor guides are awful at listing “after removal of X”
Torch time , not enough shops charge for it. There is one chain store up here that charges torch time by “flow time”
Great video mike as always and I agree 120%!!!! Have a great week.
There’s a difference between productivity and efficiency…
So all parts are in house, tech has 4 tickets, 3 small jobs and 1 larger. Do you start with the smaller and knock them out first of start with the large one ? I always try to get the small out so if I have a problem only 1 job rolls over night.
Depends on the job, motor job, normally tore down then the other three.
Paying techs is a problem many shops have, if they have a free testing policy that's their hit, not the techs. Where did all they good techs go? Anywhere but there.
If the car is booked for a basic oil change do you do the oil change and write up the inspection report or do you only do the inspection and change the oil in the afternoon?
I used to work with a guy who would add 10٪ to 20% extra labour on jobs depending how old the car was because of rust and grime build up around fasteners
I do that also. I call it the old car tax and I tell the customer I'm going to do that before hand. I don't give a shit what they say, go to the next shop if you don't like it.
Wish my shop I work at do that I usually hit 50 to 55 a week I'm hourly with a bonus. I do motor trans heads and timing every week wish I had my part or write ups were right and do it again because of warranties or wrong diagnose which I don't do because I'm fast wish I did
Very helpful as always thanks.
I'm a tool repair technician on salary who runs my own small workshop but despite the different size and organization of my shop I've been able to adapt many of your processes to improve my efficiency.
What's your opinion on tearing down jobs for the purpose of diagnosis? Do you have your techs try to minimize disassembly during inspections so they don't have to tear something down twice?
Yes there is always minimal ,
Plus after time your skills for “prediction” come into play.
The vehicles with old school parking brake shoes and cables we “pre estimate” that before we take the rotors off so there are no surprises for the customer. Its better to prepare them and not need to do it than call them back after disassembly. Like that with several things.
@@Mac-mu9cs Yes ok that's a skill I'm still developing. At my shop we require payment up front and it's the worst feeling having a call back the customer to request additional funds for a repair.
Recently I had a two stroke concrete saw come in with apparent fuel delivery issues. I quoted for a basic service including a carburetor clean, then needed to requote the carburetor gaskets. The machine still didn't run after gaskets and so I've now had to replace the carburetor and intake manifold, plus check fuel lines, tank ventilation and engine block for leaks and blockages. By not anticipating possible issues with the entire fuel delivery process I've wasted time and parts which I'm not unsure how to quote the customer for.
I guess that it's a skill that will come with experience as I become more familiar with different machines, knowing what failure points to look out for any how to maximize diagnosis accuracy while minimizing disassembly.
@@samfletcher5023 yup you should have a flat fee inspection that includes , checking fuel, delivery. I hate to say it but you “guessed” snd it burnt you. 98% of the time your probably right.
Develop a system for a “no start” diag. That includes the basics and fundamentals.
It will pay for itself in the long run
@@Mac-mu9cs thanks I will put together a checklist or flowchart that I can use in general for two stroke machines in addition to the specific information in the service manuals.
Appreciate the support mate 👍
Side question, independent shop owner here. Where can I send my techs to get training besides the o reillys training willing to pay for them to get trained
I'd assume any vocational tech school in your area that has a tech course.
Hourly pay employees are lube technicians in my city. I've worked for probably fifteen shops at this point and no tech was hourly....only general service guys.
The Parts Department’s Inability Too Keep Up With Me Is Why My Efficiency Is Pegged at 125% 😩😎😬
Shit this explains why they have been humming up on my street/track car. I’ll be using pure silcone from now on thanks for the psa
The "Courtesy Inspection" or a "Free brake check" kills me. With a repair I can see it but 30 min to drive it, rack it and shake it down for free??? Crazy
Screw that... Why work for free.
A big problem in the shop that I worked was management undermining efficiency by having us perform free complete inspections, parts and labor quotes and waiting for the service advisor to add everything up and explain it to the customer sitting in the waiting room. So many times the same customer would come in with his/her car which they were the third or fourth owner who had no more money to pay than the highly discounted oil change and free car wash. I guess that is common when the service managers, directors and advisors grow up in the dealership as high school kids washing cars and becoming too old for the job. Eff being a dealership mechanic! You are wasting your life working for nothing but the tool truck and your lunch. This occupation is a D.E.A.D. Road.
The dead bay and “shred it , parts are on the way” kill me. World pack screws us on delivery and wrong parts all the time
In retrospect, I wonder if this vid rubbed someone in Management the wrong way and is what led to your firing.
What if it's the texts fault that breaks somethis it on the customer or the shop When the Tech has his impact going forwards instead of reverse and breaks 3 wheel studs whose fault is that And who should pay for it
Damn, sounds like the techs name is Simple Jack....
Have the writers put the filter in the car as they written up
Not a bad idea if the writer gets some sort of extra pay for it
You have to use the force(pencil whipping) and shotgun parts at the issue , it’s called unforeseen escalation of diagnosis
Let me ask this. I am not a tech but I do contract work, software. I work with multiple teams. One problem I see a lot of is territorialism. Why did you touch my ticket? Who authorized you to change that? Etc. When you are in a mission critical environment a lot of times you need shit moving because the ticket has red flag, Show stopper. If the guy is out or busy, we can't wait for him/her to "get" to it. I wonder how much of that happens in a shop. Tech is free, grab the next one, with permission, but not flack from the diag guy. Hell, I had a guy tell me I am not smart enough to touch his code lol. Hell the corps doesn't give a shit dude, get it done now.
This video makes sense but it pisses me off just reflecting on the previous dumbass things my advisors and managers have told me that cost me time and money and they just say “oh my bad”….
I’m a freightliner dealer tech, we have to be above 100%. They want us to be between 110%-125%.
Caterpillar & peterbilt are the same you below 100% for 3 months in a row you gone , don’t matter if your the guy doing inframes in motor homes all the time 😮
Tell em about all the new arrivals into our country! (All eager to work) Cause thats all that will be left if the good ones have had enough & split.
never worked for a shop that 100% efficiency. now that im older and have gained knowledge in things i shouldn't. its all word play and psychology/game manipulation. the only individual techs i've seen and guessed by amount of work they done with those numbers over the years..."technically have been FED or SPOONED all their hours". many of them ebing senior level techs. some being junior. YOU HAVE TO GET ALL HONEST PEOPLE AND GET RID THOSE WHO ARN'T TO ACHIEVE THIS COMPLETELY AND CONSISTENTLY. there are a few other variables that are slightly smaller but it as to start here
Says the guy that can't hold a job
It hurts me to know things like "billing for time test driving", "pay for warranty work", or "if it breaks it's not the techs fault" are actually something that exist in automotive repair.