When prices are going up then I find that the gap opens between rich and the poor's disposable income. So this question will effect garage owners in different areas. My garage is in a poor area with many immigrant families who drive cars. So this means we have to be more flexible with pricing. Finding out if your customer can afford that service ! For this reason we devised a three tier service pricing structure. This has also the effect of not loosing your profit margins. 

The lowest price should include an oil and filter change and a general vehicle check over. This way we find the customer will perhaps be able to afford a service and your profit margins wont drop. This is just one small idea that we carry out! What do you guys do in these times of high inflation ? 

In my mind, when gas hits $3/gallon is the time to raise prices, which in Texas is a pretty recent event.   It happened, but there was little overall noise, so I sheepishly waited.   Thursday night I go to bed, thinking nothing of this.  Friday I wake up, watching the news and it dawned on me that the news cycle was all about inflation.  It was the RIGHT TIME to act!!!   (In truth, it likely was the wrong time because the right time was long ago, but I digress).    So, I did an area pricing survey and found that I was priced in the bottom 40% of the field.  I was actually late to act.   Starting on Saturday, we've raised our prices about 25%.    I know some of the other shops are also planning price increases, but we are now priced in the top 20% instead of the bottom 40%.

We've not had anyone walk out due to pricing.   We've had but 1 grumble so far.   We will get some pushback eventually, but I was really surprised that it was not immediate.  Shame on me for not acting sooner.

Now, back in August 2021, we did raise prices on our European Oils and received almost zero pushback.   But, this was expected.  They are thrilled to get such a bargain compared to the dealer.    In some instances, I'm actually higher than the dealer.  In most cases we are maybe 25-40% less.

I remain nervous because we might see silent pushback... that is, they pay this time, but seek someone else for next time.   I do believe that the rest of the market will be moving soon, so the search for yesterday's prices might be futile.

We've been working on a number of older cars, and I've taken the approach that it's a time and materials job.   If it takes me 3 hours to remove the stuck drums off of your old car, then your brake job will cost more.  If I above-normal spend time looking for parts, then this is billable time too.    We shouldn't absorb the added difficulty of rust, age, etc.   Maybe I'm approaching this incorrectly.   I took in a 1984 project car on Friday... non-standard engine, but newer, bubba's electrical wiring mess, etc, but overall in good shape.    We started with 5 hours of labor to assess and possibly fix.   It's partly a test to see if he's serious on fixing the car.  

P.S.  I live in Plano, but my shop is in McKinney.    In my previous life, I worked not far from your shop. 

I remember reading somewhere that if you don't have enough complaints of your price is too high, then you are priced too low.    There is a balance in pricing.   On one hand, we have price leaders nearby (, with prices so low that they would go broke quickly if they were honest) that will rob the price shoppers blind when they visit as well as other reputable shops with various pricing levels.   

I operate a combo lube and repair shop.     My repair labor rate is a premium to the area and we have talented technicians that rate this premium.    I'm at a small premium on the Lube, but believe it should be higher and .    

After having a chuckle on today's email, I figured it would make for a good conversation.   What is the right Price-is-too-high-complaint rate?  1% 5% 10%?     We might get a 0.5-0.3% abandon rate at the counter over pricing.  I'm sure that there is a silent minority that just doesn't come back, yet makes no noise.

We do #2 and #4 regularly, with a little #1 and no unprepared negotiations (#3).   When we are negotiating, it's always out on the shop floor so that it can be a private conversation.  They always seem to feel better when they "get a deal"!

Any better methods or practices?

Just an example below:

Brakes 70%

Struts 30%

Shocks 50%

Tires 15-30%

Maintenance, etc ,etc

The reason I ask is because even a standard parts pricing matrix can blow certain items out of reasonable sale price. I am aware that less expensive items can net larger profits, which also makes up for more expensive items but I am trying to see a base line of what parts markup looks like with these categories.

Thanks

Because of that, my margins are low- always hovering around 50%. I want to get it consistently 60% and higher.

I am thinking about implementing a parts matrix I saw on R+W. Using their numbers, I think my customers will have sticker shock! But I just changed my system over. Looks like they want me to mark up over 300% for lower cost items but for the most part marking up 225% range (multiply by 2.25). Huge difference. In the past, I've been careful to not charge more than what the auto part store charged in store retail.

Thoughts on parts markup? Should I continue with implementing the parts matrix?

First off, love the new look of the website! Well done, I might have to hire the company that did it for our new website.

Just had a quick question if anyone here has any feedback for offering discounts for military, teacher, police, student, etc and if so, do you mind sharing? We have a university and hospital not too far from us and would like to recruit more customers and figured this might be a possibility. 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions.

Nick 

I am the owner in my auto repair shop and also the service writer as well. At times I feel guilty in a way charging for the small things such as labor to install air filters or cabin filters, or to install batteries or to not charge an inspection fee especially if the customer is a previous customer.

I know we must charge diagnostics fees and those sure to get charged as well, dont get me wrong.

To what exact are you guys charging for every little thing? I know it is our right to, but is there a line drawn?

Thanks in advance

Is it a matrix?

Is it suggested list from your supplier(s)?

Is there a certain % that you want on every part?

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Do you provide "Price sheets/menus" for customers? We are constantly providing pricing to customers, writing them down on tickets/business cards. We thought it would be a good idea to create some sort of price sheet with our most popular services- oil changes, fluid flushes, tire services, etc just as a reference for customers instead of taking the time to write out one by one. This would not include actual repairs such as tune ups, brakes, etc.

Any thoughts or additional ideas? We understand that pricing varies from vehicle to vehicle as well as fluid capacity and type, though we would make some kind of notation **.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions!

I just opened a shop about 2 months ago. Business was really slow at first, but it's starting to pick up a bit.

My question is, what book or service are you guys using to quote hours on a job. We've been just taking a guess so far, but my mechanic wants to get this service that tells you what amount of hours a job takes, and it's like $500 a month. I just can't afford it right now, since we are not breaking even yet. Would love to know what you would suggest.

Dwayne

Of course, with the bigger building comes bigger expenses and overhead. Can anyone give me some good ideas on how to properly set my prices to not kill myself financially.