Repair Shop Advice

For auto repair shops, most financial opportunity lies in out-of-warranty vehicles still on the roads.  That means that it’s important to consider what that mix of vehicles looks like (and what it’s going to look like in the coming years) when you’re making investments in your shop.  Here are two things that are changing – and two that aren’t – with current US automobile trends.

Changing: Increasing number of imports on the road

The percentage of imports on the road has reached 50% nationwide, and is moving towards 55% in the coming years.  Unfortunately, diagnostic scanners and software for foreign nameplates can be expensive, and there’s plenty of them out there.  As the market ownership continues to diversify, this could increase costs for repair shops trying to serve a large group of the auto-owning public.

Changing: Telematics pushing people to dealerships for repair

More and more vehicles have telematics systems, which “phone home” to the vehicle’s first dealership and tell them about any problems the vehicle may be having.  This means that the dealership’s service department gets to talk to the customer before anyone else, and potentially sell them on a repair before they even notice it’s needed.  Although lobbyists for independent repair shops are making progress on gaining the right to access this telematic information, it’s still going to lead to a shift toward dealer repairs for the newer, and higher-end, vehicles with these features.

Not Changing: Vehicles use gas

For all the publicity that Tesla is getting, gas is the way people are getting around in the US.  In fact, the percentage of hybrid cars being sold in the US has dropped from 3% to 2% since 2013, as oil became cheaper due to fracking.  Electric vehicles new sale volume has quadrupled over that time – from 0.1% to 0.4%.  And while manufacturers have promised dozens of electric vehicles over the next decade, time will tell if people actually buy them, or if they get manufactured at all.

Not Changing: People are keeping their cars for a long time

There really hasn’t been any killer feature that vehicles have gotten in the last few years that’s pushing old vehicles off the road.  In fact, the average age of a vehicle on the road is at its highest level ever, at over 11.5 years old.  Older vehicles aren’t in warranty and need maintenance to keep up and running, both of which represent a growing opportunity for repair shops.  They also don’t require new technology to service, and technicians don’t have to be trained on any new skillsets to service a vehicle that’s over a decade old, both of which lower costs.

To learn how Repair Shop Websites can help your auto shop earn more business, call us at 866-665-1605 or email us at Team_RSW@RepairShopWebsites.com.

One of the biggest impacts a shop owner can make as a leader is to provide a great work environment – one that allows their employees to happily provide for themselves and their family, instead of making them miserable.  But it’s not just the right thing to do – it’s essential to keep technicians from leaving in this extremely tight labor market.  Here are three ways to improve auto repair shop employee morale that cost little or nothing.

Get to Know Your Employees Personally

In corporate America (dealerships and national chains) it’s easy to feel like headquarters has an earnings-per-share goal and your purpose in life is to help them reach it.  While that does come with some perks – their physical work environments look great, and they have great equipment – it’s hard to feel like you are anything other than a small cog in a very large machine.

Independent shops should not feel like this.  Employees should feel important – like their work determines the success of everyone around them – because that’s exactly the case.  Employees will care about the people they work with if the shop owner and/or manager sets the tone of caring in the shop.  Employees will notice if their managers take the time to learn about them personally as well as professionally.  Take the time to get to know your employees and learn what motivates them. Provide that motivation and you’ll reap long-term rewards from your efforts.

Provide Appropriate Positive and Negative Feedback

Every manager knows that, when an employee is failing to live up to expectations, you have to talk with them about it.  Avoiding these conversations allows bad habits to set, and those habits will become entrenched over time.  The problem will get worse, and it will bother people more and more until it boils over, potentially leading to a dismissal that didn’t need to happen if it was only addressed earlier.

There’s two sides to this coin, however.  When a manager is genuinely impressed with great work, great effort, or great displays of moral character, they shouldn’t miss the opportunity to show their approval.  These signals of appreciation can really motivate people, and help them drive through the tough times.

Share Shop Success with Your Employees

How can a profit-sharing plan cost little or nothing?  If a profit sharing plan is well constructed, your shop should earn more by giving money away to your employees than by keeping it all.  Profit sharing plans allow employees a window into what makes a shop profitable, reward hard work, and tie your team together in a tangible (financial) way.

These plans should not be taken lightly – if designed poorly, they can both demoralize employees and reduce shop earnings.  But consulting with a coach or mentor that has successfully implemented a profit-sharing plan, and implementing a well-considered version of that plan, could be one of the best morale-boosting financial decisions you ever make.

To learn how Repair Shop Websites can help grow your business, call us at 866.665.1605 or email us at Team_RSW@RepairShopWebsites.com.