MACS Service Reports - 2015 - NOV2

ranks of "bumper to bumper car care" in order to stay busy.
Factoring in the shortage of time and techs that some shops are
faced with might prevent them from getting that full $43K per
tech per year. But if you factor in even a modest percentage of
yields on the $43K, the figures are as exciting as any Christmas
bonus you've ever received or given!

and every technician should be excited with a financial number like that.

Who Will Do The Work?
You may be thinking, where is the time going to come from to
get that extra work accomplished if I could pull it into my bay
/ shop? If you are a shop that specializes in HVAC only, there
are plenty of days during the slower season where you are glad
to take on just about any job that comes in the door. Lets' face
it; some days are just slower than others for most repair shops.
Many mom and pop repair shops and especially franchises
work on tight margins which requires the business to be consistently super busy for the numbers to work. In today's tough
economy and competitive service environment, even highly
specialized franchises like Midas and AAMCO have joined the

Getting Even More Motivated: Migrating Towards
More PM
A lot of shops are already quite busy. Most report a ratio of
somewhere around 80/20 or 60/40 of broken vehicle repairs
vs. preventative maintenance work. You may be thinking,
I offer preventative maintenance already. Why should I try to
increase it if I'm already busy? Check out the box for a list of
reasons why. ■

PM increases Your Profits
1. PM parts & labor affords a higher mark-up: Coolant / Thermostat vs. Leaky Radiator. Replacement Battery vs. Faulty Alternator. Cabin
Air Filter vs. Broken Blend Door Motor. These are examples of PM vs. repair parts and labor. Most will concede PM poses a better profit
margin.
2. PM costs less to provide: When was the last time you wished you had a factory scan tool to install a cabin air filter / flush a cooling
system / rotate tires / replace shocks? PM service typically requires far less costly and specialized equipment. Also, if you are a shop owner,
you can put a B or C tech on the PM work in many cases saving your more expensive A tech for the more technical challenging work. LOF
(Lube / Oil / Filter) services may look like a losing proposition until you consider the opportunity they provide to perform multi point inspections that lead to far more profitable work.
3. PM helps smooth out the schedule: As mentioned previously, when your vehicle repairs are slow, PM pays the bills. Scheduling your
customer's vehicle in for a mysterious coolant or refrigerant leak is not the easiest thing to do accurately. Compare that to scheduling a PM
job with belts and hoses that are old but not broke / leaking yet. Your good customers' misfortunes of broken vehicles put you off balance in
scheduling those 'feast or famine' weeks' worth of work. When they break, we need to fix them ASAP. With PM, we can schedule in advance
the work that has not stopped the vehicle in its tracks (yet) with PM priority scheduling. The customer can also be enticed into your shop at
a very opportune slow time via a time sensitive coupon. What customer wouldn't want to save $100 on a big PM job that needs to be done
(think timing belt) in order to prevent a much more expensive repair? What shop owner wouldn't want the extra work that nets a few bucks
less when the shop is without work?
4. Times have changed - vehicles are more reliable (need fewer repairs): Vehicles in the 1970s required around $3K (in today's money)
in repairs to keep them moving down the road for 50K miles. Compare those old "Fix or Repair Daily" models to the new Toyotas, Fords
and Chevys of today that seem almost bullet proof for the first 50K miles. You are doing quite well to perform an average of $1K per vehicle
in repair work on today's vehicles. Increasing PM helps offset the "Maytag Repairman" syndrome of today's vehicles that have made big
increases in quality.
PM Reduces the "Crisis" Syndrome
5. Stress Reduction: Think about it. A customer that's towed in / needs a jump / has NO A/C or heat (on the hottest / coldest day of the year)
is in a tizzy. Worries like "can they fix my car?" or "how long will I be without my car?" are in most customers' minds.
6. Easier "How much / how soon answers": Most service providers are doing their best to answer those questions in a way that calms the
customer. If the vehicle is scheduled for PM prior to breaking, the pressure is off and customers and tech / shop owners share in the relief
from the stress of a crisis repair by performing work that is cut and dry regarding the "how much / how soon" dilemma.
7. PM Increases Car Counts - Take the OEM Dealers' Clue: Why has nearly every OEM new vehicle dealer adopted an express lube lane?
The same reason most every OEM dealer has at least one 'dealer level' aftermarket scan tool. They want / need an increased car count to
thrive and grow. If you are not growing, you more often than not are dying in the business world. Adding increased PM car counts to the PM
and broken car counts you already have is a prime method for getting the growth you need to stay in business.
8. PM Increases Customer Loyalty: Every shop has its lifelong customers. They brought you their cars when they were young. Now their
kids (sometimes even their grandkids) are trading with you. Those customers sometimes hang out at your place like it's Floyd's barbershop
in downtown Mayberry. Those customers don't need to be sold more maintenance. They're your friends. They usually want you doing ALL
of their vehicle's PM and repairs. We have to increase our loyal customer base to continue to thrive. The nature of today's increasingly
higher quality vehicles leads to sporadic visits by customers who only visit your business when something's broke. This is a case where absence does NOT make the heart grow fonder! Promote more PM, however, and watch the relationships that build 'lifer' customers flourish.
9. PM Increased Your Exposure to the Latest Technologies: If you're an OEM dealer, this does not apply to you. You train for and work on
new vehicles with the latest technologies. For the rest of us, however, we won't see the latest vehicle with a clutchless compressor or brakeby-wire system for several years after they hit the road unless we capture more of the PM market. Exposure to the latest technology on a
weekly basis with the mundane tasks like oil changes gets you ready to absorb technical training more effectively when it comes your way. It
also helps you maintain your edge as your customer's automotive SME (Subject Matter Expert).

November 2015

MACS Service Reports

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of MACS Service Reports - 2015