DUFRESNES

Some of our ASE certified technicians have in excess of $50K. When it comes to specialty tools, it depends if we will use it again or not. We have a small box to keep shop tools in if they are not owned by the technician. What happens if that tech moves on, he thinks they are his. In Oregon, not all shops, but if the person in charge of PP tax has now decided we have to pay tax on their tools. I have argued we don't own them. Their reasoning is but you make money off of them. I asked if all the dealerships pay PP tax on the tech's tools. No only if we find out. What does that mean?

I need to correct my 39% up for the year should have said up $39,000 Sorry. I should proof read what I write.

Just to show you this morning when I got here, there was only five vehicles on the schedule. We made an email blast and sent it out immediately to fill the bays. Always have to be ready for slow time.

Definitely. We do a colored newsletter every month. Most of our marketing is for our own customers

Well, I am old, been in business 55 years. What I have found and continue to do. You know what has worked in the past, because you always monitor it. If it doesn't work, get rid of it. We are on the west coast. As of today, we are up 39% for the year. That includes being shut down a whole week for a storm. I will say it has slowed down to the effect of we were making appointments out a whole week, now we are working on the current week. A couple things I will say is, know when it might be slow and do what it takes. For us it is our rebate check $39.23 mailed out in 3 groups, February, March and April. Our new snail mail to new customers 3 times over 6 weeks. Probably the best thing we have done is have the phones forwarded to either my daughter or me. We have Log me In on our home computers and can make appointments on the week-end. We have almost every month something going on from coat drives to Free brakes with donations for the food bank. Loaners were are biggest thing, especially after Covid. No more rides. We have a really small parking lot. We encourage our customers to pick up as soon as possible . No care leaves without paying.

Good morning. February was a record month. The Service writer kept saying February stinks, had to eat his words. March we are full for the day and after, but don't have the long term waiting appointments. Still a good month. We send out rebate letters in 3 mailings Feb, Mar and April. That helps us ins the winter months easing into summer .

The only thing I know for sure is YOU DON'T PLAY AROUND WITH PAYROLL. You do it the right way always. It will come back to bite you really bad.

We always have the hunter rep

Over 10 years ago, we paid $65,000 for our hunter. Does it pay for itself, doubtful. Takes up a whole bay. Yes we needed it to be a complete shop for the customer's full needs.

This is my last remark on CC fees. If you take all the fees divide by total sales will give you your actual percentage. It all depends on what kind of cc your customers have on the expense. Ours totaled for November 2%

How can that be on 1.5 million . We pay 2500 -3000 a month

I got an idea. Get your work done in January and pay by December Just a thot

Our rule is no car leaves our lot without being paid. It saves a lot of headaches. If customer says I have to go home to get my check book or credit card. Car doesn't leave without being paid. Employees can say I can't let it go. They can always blame it on the boss or owner or ???

1st of all, we all get the phone calls daily. Our newest answer has declined immensely the calls is "We don't take Credit cards" I still have a hard time charging the customer for the fees. We do approx $110,000 a month in credit cards. The merchant we have now is Heartland. We had him and then Key bank came in and promised us much lower fees. So fired the Heartland and went with key bank. Well, it wasn't what they promised by the time you added all the fees extra. I called my Heartland guy again and said I wanted to come back to Heartland. He did. I did. You have to take into consideration Customer Service and the total bill including all the fees and extras.

Thank you for the rental agreement. Our Loaners are free, except they have to replace the gas. It comes to them full and they just replace what they use. Our agreement is just 1 page.

We haven't given rides home since the pandemic. We have loaner cars. It is the best advertising. It hasn't hurt our bottom line. We don't pickup or deliver as that takes man power. We try to give the best service without doing things that cost us dearly. There are exceptions to all. We have a customer that we do pickup and deliver due to his health, but he is the exception, not the norm. What ever works for you is the right thing to do. Have a great Thanksgiving.

I'll have to check and see what we have. Do you think the D-Tek is that much better or do you use both

First do you own your tank and are using it for an exchange only? This might be the difference, if you are renting it.

No, They don't charge anything except the exchange tank. I take in the empty and get a new one. This one was 103.47. Each place charges a different amount, doesn't seem to be a set price.

We just called around. We are in Portland Oregon. Some Air Gas shops have it and some do not. A lot will get it for you. So for us I call and ask for a 3 ft tank (which is 80 cu, I didn't know) of 5% hydrogen and 95% nitrogen for $103.47 exchange. The other thing, make sure you test the tank when you get it, ours was empty. They are going to deliver us another tank. Our 1st tank, we did 75 A/C jobs. at about $1.38 each. Hope this helps

We used to have many comebacks and warranties on Air Condition Evac and Recharges. Since the new process we are using, we DO NOT have returns. Believe me I hated doing Air Conditioning. It was always warrantied for a year and having to redo it. Here is our new procedure: We use the H2 tracer gas leak detector service kit LD9TG kit by Robinair This kit includes service port adapters for both R134A and R1234 YF systems. The kit also includes a leak detector LD9-TGX and a regulator. You will need to source a bottle of tracer gas that is 95% nitrogen and 5% hydrogen. After we recover the refrigerant, using a recover/recharge machine, we charge the system with tracer gas through the regulator and the service port adapter into the high side service port of the car’s A/C system. I start my inspection by placing the HVAC system on the defrost setting and the lowest fan speed. I use the leak detector along the defrost vent. Hydrogen is the smallest & lightest known molecule and will travel upward through the defrost vent if your evaporator is leaking. I then trace over the rest of the car’s A/C system with the leak detector. The LD9-TG leak detector has two options of user interface. One is a typical bar graph and audible alarm. The number of bars on the screen correlates with the size of leak detected over time. This is a great option while tracing over you’re A/C system as you can easily pinpoint the source of any leak. We have a tank that has done 75 charges. This has been figured out to cost $1.36 each Please let me know if this has value to you as it has fixed our problems a great deal. Thanks to our Master Tech for writing it up and our CSR gal to type it. Called delegating.

So far, I've sent out emails and looked at resumes. Just a real shortage of automotive technicians. I talked to Car People yesterday and they haven't seen any people applying for technicians. They are placing Service Writer, Parts people etc. They did say to write about your business and have them call, instead of filling out a resume. See how that works

It depends on which program you decide on. We have 250 look at resumes this month. We can see when a applicant puts his or her resume on the 1st day. You have a choice to look at ones say that posted 1-10 days or any. The more you pay, the more things you get. If it works, I'll let you know.

I did sign up with Zip, Indeed didn't return a call. Yes it costs a lot over @2700 to do it all. We shall see if it helps. I had a lot of help along the way to do the add and pick the right spots. Last year when I did it, I didn't do it all, just hit and miss with using the smallest amount invested

Absolutely come in legal or don't come, that simple.. It is not a free handout, it has to be earned. Some of these people get more than our veterans. Its a shame. Absolutely shameful.