mchan68 Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 How many of you guys get only the warranty work, while the small "garages" get the retail work. I had one truck that was "fluffed off" to us from a "garage". As soon as I quoted eight injectors RETAIL, due to being filled with gasoline, the "garage" came and took the truck. Just now, I heard that they are STILL in the process of replacing the eight injectors!!! I heard that they are doing it by REMOVING the engine (on an '06 E-350)ROFLMAO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony302600 Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 Sadly, our one diesel tech did huge damage to our Long term customers. If you talk to him, you will be like... what the hell is talking about, how the hell is he even allowed to touch a car let alone work on it. He worked as the main diesel tech for 11yr's and now is a used car tech because they cant fire him. He's ignorant, unwilling to learn type of person that throws parts and doesnt want to understand how it works. He comes asks u a question, then turns around and said he figured it out. We lost 10 accounts that had customer pay work. Now we finally got one of the companies to come in for CP 7.3L diag and repair. We usually only get CP work when no1 else knows what to do, the owner doesnt understand, or just diag, then take it to a independent shop, which ends up at our door after they "fuck it up" as the customer states. I will say, we have been getting a good amount of customers coming in more and more for CP over 100K work. A lot of fleet companies have their own mechanics and shops. Anything over their heads they send to us. Then they tell us "we dont care how much just do it" and we never abuse it, Thanks to Jims long long long "make you think" posts, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchan68 Posted September 22, 2007 Author Share Posted September 22, 2007 The reason for this post was just because I'm starting to get fed up with all these outside "garages" asking for free "information" from me, and then turning around and making our parts department a profit because of ME, while I starve. Just got an '05 F-550 in today with 220,000, blowing white smoke. I quoted EGR & oil coolers (still original), along with an EGR valve (failed IDS EGR test), only to get the NO GO. So much for trying to make a living!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 Mike, we see stuff like that all the time... every other shop in town wants to spend hours on the phone with me or one of my diesel techs... and they want to borrow tools, too (I do have a you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours with one shop)... None of them will invest in training or tools... none of the techs will venture in to places like TDS or such looking for clues.... I try to get the receptionist and the service desk to screen my calls (or at least to take messages) and have even givien them a list of "who may I say is calling?)s... never lasts long and I can get called to the phone for nuisance calls more than a dozen times a day... We often get vehicles (gas and diesel) that other shops just don't have the resources for... but not before they get most of the customers money and ALL of his patience... In most cases, the repair would have been reasonable in price and time if he'd come to us first (but customers rarely equate proficiency when making that decision between the 100 buck shop and the 70 buck shop).... We've even had sublet work... this bothers me a little since I pray that the owner knows where his truck is and what is happening - I hate being the middleman... And, we always get the "the other shop said" or the "I don't think that".... One right now in the shop.... every last pin in the fuse box is spread. Tech calls a new fuse panel, customer "knows" better.... All we have to do is tweak the pins on every last fuse and they'll be good to go. My answer is that we perform the repairs that WE feel comfortable with.... if you want a hack job, visit a hack shop.... "This" is our price.... feel free to take your truck elsewhere.... but please don't argue about it.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DwayneGorniak Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 I have my calls screened as well, Jim. But out of frustration and being severely annoyed I prey on the ones that do make it through to me. Just had one a weak ago where the local indy shop phoned me for advise on injector ckt codes on every cylinder of an 04' sick litre. I play dumb and tell them that it sounds like the pcm is confused and that they should change it. They guy says, yeah that's what I thought. Last I heard, they had one on order. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Bedford Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 We are on the edge of the oil/gas/coal fields here. The companies contract their maintenance to the independant shops. Anything warranty is brought to us, whether it it can be driven or flat bedded, by the indie shop. They charge the company a fee. Most rigs show up with new filters or fluid which usually destroys any clues you might have gotten from the old parts. If you look the rig over and find needed repairs that aren't warranty, it goes away to the other shop. I have learned to do the warranty fix and kick it routine. The indie shops are just filling a need since most of these rigs come 100+ miles to get here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 It sounds like there are some shops out there that need to "cultivate" their retail customers.... Too often, I see shops that have this "we have them for the next three years" attitude that keeps them from seeing any real possibility of profits of a healthy nature.... The really bad thing is that this attitude often permeates the workplace.... with every level of the food chain doing just enough to "get by".... In our neighbourhood, we are roughly $30 per hour higher than any independant.... the customer should get something in return to prove that we are worth the extra bucks... better treatment - knowledgeable people - techs that know their resources.... The aftermarket are usually "all make" shops... with todays technology, you can't be good at "everything".... Not without a bazilliod dollars worth of dedicated tools, all the factory documents to go along with them and the people that will learn the systems they are working on.... Word to the wise... if you don't know how it works, how the hell are you going to fix it? We are left with this desparate need to earn the trust and respect of our customers... to be their first choice in things automotive (remember the "job thing" and the "career thing"?). Even good shops don't make as much net profit as many think... and we need to keep that in mind... If you are in a shop that isn't building for the future.... there is a good chance that they are keeping you from building for yours.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G. Bedford Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 We have retail work......if you can fit them in the schedule. Unless management starts turning away some of this warranty 6.0l work we just don't have the time allowed. The fleets have realized we have enough techs to turn the work so they bypass other smaller points to come here. This past week I did a 6.4l radiator with sale tags from another local dealer. This fleet drove 50 miles past us to buy the truck and 100 miles past us the other way to use it. Now at 1200 miles it is in my stall for a repair. No wonder we are under audit. Last month Ford CAC called to tell us a RV'er (6.0) was broken down 100 miles away at another dealer. The dealer there couldn't get it in for three weeks(yeah.... right) and would we take it if it was towed to us. Ford would graciously only pay the standard maximum for the tow bill and wondered if we would pay the difference(almost twice what Ford was willing to pay) to get the job. What a bunch of maroons!!! When I started here years ago a 250/350 was a truck, but lately everything is 450/550 and most of that flat beds and buckets. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Kaylor Posted September 22, 2007 Share Posted September 22, 2007 In our neighbourhood, we are roughly $30 per hour higher than any independant.... the customer should get something in return to prove that we are worth the extra bucks... better treatment - knowledgeable people - techs that know their resources.... we are in the same price range, yet instead of having tooling and ability to repair one make, we have OE tooling on 9. with support available for over 100. it costs like a bitch, but its part of our business model of helping our customers, no matter what they own. Originally Posted By: Jim Warman The aftermarket are usually "all make" shops... with todays technology, you can't be good at "everything".... Not without a bazilliod dollars worth of dedicated tools, all the factory documents to go along with them and the people that will learn the systems they are working on.... Word to the wise... if you don't know how it works, how the hell are you going to fix it? there are some shops that invest in training and tooling, unfortunately for the public they are generally as overloaded as the dealer is, and for some odd reason the general public has no clue that if a shop is slow, it generally means they dont have the resources to fix what they think they do. its like a doctor: if you go to a specialist, and your appt. is 3 months away, you kind of feel good that someone that knows what they are doing is checking you out. Originally Posted By: Jim Warman We are left with this desparate need to earn the trust and respect of our customers... to be their first choice in things automotive (remember the "job thing" and the "career thing"?). Even good shops don't make as much net profit as many think... and we need to keep that in mind... If you are in a shop that isn't building for the future.... there is a good chance that they are keeping you from building for yours.... damn right. its a never ending battle to stay near the top, not even on top of the current technology and tooling. all most people see is the labor rate, and what the techs make. they dont understand what the overhead is to keep them doors open. Originally Posted By: Jim Warman I try to get the receptionist and the service desk to screen my calls (or at least to take messages) and have even givien them a list of "who may I say is calling?)s... never lasts long and I can get called to the phone for nuisance calls more than a dozen times a day... ditto. unfortunately, it is either me or my wife that answers the phone, and i get the immediate moron that is asking questions. they have slowed down considerably, after i threatened to beat profusely one person that kept on calling. they now bring them in, pay the diag fee, and then either have me fix it right, or they do it and then the customer is back to us having it done right. either way, we profit somewhat on the job. the first thing i ask someone when they are on the phone asking for advice or info is their billing address. if they give it to me, i give advice or info, and send a bill for .5 diag time. after a time or two, they get it. Originally Posted By: mchan68 How many of you guys get only the warranty work, while the small "garages" get the retail work. I had one truck that was "fluffed off" to us from a "garage". As soon as I quoted eight injectors RETAIL, due to being filled with gasoline, the "garage" came and took the truck. Just now, I heard that they are STILL in the process of replacing the eight injectors!!! I heard that they are doing it by REMOVING the engine (on an '06 E-350)ROFLMAO damn. what a bunch of tards! even if they only have ALLDATA, it clearly states the removal process in the E vans! even showing the idiots how to attach a cherry picker to the engine to raise it to remove the motor mounts. its even easier to read in Bruce's book, but its basically the same process. no wonder dealer techs think the way they do of indy's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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