WARNING: Rayco Eurospec Motorcars - Kingston, Pennsylvania
12-01-2010, 12:26 PM
#76
Administrator - "Tyson"
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
Lifetime Rennlist
Member
12-01-2010, 12:45 PM
#78
Rest in Peace
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Bird lover in Sharpsburg
Posts: 9,903
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
One of the really bad mistakes I made was quoting a guy for a trans swap on a MB, turns out he, and two other shops had worked on the car before I got it, the trans was in the back of a pickup, the wrong trans, which meant that I had to buy a TCM and a vlave body, plus switch cases.
He got out lucky at 4 grand and I lost money, to this day he thinks I cheated him.
He got out lucky at 4 grand and I lost money, to this day he thinks I cheated him.
12-01-2010, 03:07 PM
#79
Pro
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: 3rd Rock From The Sun
Posts: 511
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I see that communism had a deeper impact than I realized. I would have thought that the desire to make a profit would have resisted any attempts to weed it out !
You are very correct in that I have no experience in retail management. I am not attempting to teach anyone how to run their business. I simply like to see the justifications for what, to me, seems a misleading practice. Once again, I obviously have a different opinion as to the role of a mechanic. I can live with that.
On an off note - usually I only get around to watching the triple crown. I really should watch some more of the stake races though.
You are very correct in that I have no experience in retail management. I am not attempting to teach anyone how to run their business. I simply like to see the justifications for what, to me, seems a misleading practice. Once again, I obviously have a different opinion as to the role of a mechanic. I can live with that.
Thanks, but I sold it 5 years after I founded it. I'm retired now, after a lifetime career in sales management, and have taught sales and retail management in an undergrad biz school as well. In my time I had to deal with many retail sales people who did not understand that a 30 to 40 percent margin might only mean 5 percent profit, and that in a good year. Nothing compared to teaching my sales team in Moscow that the purpose of sales was to actually SELL something, not just hold on to it, as they believed that if you actually sold a thing, and therefore no longer had it in your possession, then your importance disappeared (not to mention that reselling had been a crime in Soviet Russia for decades). In other words, with all respect, I doubt you have ever done this (retail management), or you would not be trying to teach granny to suck eggs. But in any case disagreement makes for horse races, and I don't mind it at all - sometimes even learn something, at my advanced age. Thanks for your contribution.
12-01-2010, 04:07 PM
#80
Three Wheelin'
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Washington "Dc"
Posts: 1,810
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Some things are insanely cheap. I just bought a non contact voltage tester from China for $2.74 shipped, its amazing.
Auto repair is not one of the cheap things. Trying to make it a cheap thing will not go well.
Find a good mechanic and keep them happy.
Learn to do what you can for yourself, but know your limits.
Buying parts requires some knowledge, and has some serious hazards, if you aren't sure and don't want to risk a bad part, use a trusted vendor.
Auto repair is not one of the cheap things. Trying to make it a cheap thing will not go well.
Find a good mechanic and keep them happy.
Learn to do what you can for yourself, but know your limits.
Buying parts requires some knowledge, and has some serious hazards, if you aren't sure and don't want to risk a bad part, use a trusted vendor.
Sometimes you just have to pay the piper. This torque tube job looks to be on the edge of my personal limitations at this time for this car (particularly since I have no lift access.)
12-01-2010, 04:40 PM
#81
Rennlist Member
I see that communism had a deeper impact than I realized. I would have thought that the desire to make a profit would have resisted any attempts to weed it out !
You are very correct in that I have no experience in retail management. I am not attempting to teach anyone how to run their business. I simply like to see the justifications for what, to me, seems a misleading practice. Once again, I obviously have a different opinion as to the role of a mechanic. I can live with that.
On an off note - usually I only get around to watching the triple crown. I really should watch some more of the stake races though.
You are very correct in that I have no experience in retail management. I am not attempting to teach anyone how to run their business. I simply like to see the justifications for what, to me, seems a misleading practice. Once again, I obviously have a different opinion as to the role of a mechanic. I can live with that.
On an off note - usually I only get around to watching the triple crown. I really should watch some more of the stake races though.
12-01-2010, 04:51 PM
#82
Rennlist Member
How do you feel about restaurants marking up the price of a bottle of wine? All they do is open and pour it into a glass, but they usually charge three times the price you could buy it for in a store. Mechanic price markups are a bargain by comparison.
I see that communism had a deeper impact than I realized. I would have thought that the desire to make a profit would have resisted any attempts to weed it out !
You are very correct in that I have no experience in retail management. I am not attempting to teach anyone how to run their business. I simply like to see the justifications for what, to me, seems a misleading practice. Once again, I obviously have a different opinion as to the role of a mechanic. I can live with that.
On an off note - usually I only get around to watching the triple crown. I really should watch some more of the stake races though.
You are very correct in that I have no experience in retail management. I am not attempting to teach anyone how to run their business. I simply like to see the justifications for what, to me, seems a misleading practice. Once again, I obviously have a different opinion as to the role of a mechanic. I can live with that.
On an off note - usually I only get around to watching the triple crown. I really should watch some more of the stake races though.
Last edited by EspritS4s; 12-01-2010 at 09:03 PM.
12-01-2010, 05:56 PM
#83
Rennlist Member
Btw. Maybe I missed this being posted earlier, but repair shops usually purchase parts at wholesale or business to business prices. They then charge the customer a markup, which is loosely what the customer would pay through a retail outlet. The customer isn't paying anything extra. I guess this has changed with customers being able to buy parts at wholesale prices directly, primarily through the internet. That doesn't mean that shops should be expected to change the business model which has become standard practice.
12-01-2010, 08:03 PM
#84
Pro
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Magnolia TX, just north of Houston, Red 1984 S
Posts: 654
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
12-02-2010, 05:10 AM
#85
Nordschleife Master
The cost to a restaurant before it can pour a drop of booze isn't small, Los Angeles a liquor license is something like $10k/year.
12-02-2010, 07:10 AM
#86
Rennlist Member
Seems like the underlying issues might be customer selection and/or customer management.
Is self-supply of parts simply the indicator of an all-around low margin or over-involved high maintenance customer?
Is self-supply of parts simply the indicator of an all-around low margin or over-involved high maintenance customer?
12-02-2010, 03:04 PM
#87
Pro
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: 3rd Rock From The Sun
Posts: 511
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
12-02-2010, 11:09 PM
#88
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Gone. On the Open Road
Posts: 16,447
Received 1,612 Likes
on
1,052 Posts
Would some of the mechanics on here care to clarify this for me? I understand the need/desire to make money, but why not simply increase the labor rate? It makes some sense when you stock the parts (to cover overhead, etc), but when they are ordered in why is there a need to profit off them?
At only a 10% markup I'd bet that every pro here would discover that they are actually loosing money on supplying parts if they did a very thorough analysis of the time involved.
Do you wanna know what the dealer markup on Porsche parts is....? No less than 50% up here in Yankee Land.
And as to your question: sure, you could up the labor rate to cover. What would actually be fair though would be if the tech working on your car charged the actual time he spent chasing down your parts.
Now, all of those apply to the average independent shop with a few bays and a couple of techs. The numbers work out differently when you've got 20 bays and 20 techs and can get benefits of scale by hiring someone who makes less than a tech to chase parts, and sweep the floor, and answer the phone, and vacuum trunks. Hmmm... that makes you a dealer-scale shop. What did I write above about 50%?
12-02-2010, 11:09 PM
#89
Addict
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Gone. On the Open Road
Posts: 16,447
Received 1,612 Likes
on
1,052 Posts
