Digital vehicle inspections (DVIs) are central to providing a 21st-century experience to your customers. Just as streaming revolutionized the entertainment industry, digital communication has drastically transformed all consumer service industries. Within auto repair, DVIs enable shops to upgrade their business to the next level. While shifting from paper to digital records can seem daunting in…
Most auto repair shop owners feel like they’ve been through some of the toughest years ever. We faced COVID as an essential service provider. We faced extreme challenges to our parts availability and increased pricing on everything we need to do the job right. We face continuing issues with the shortage of technicians and the…
Compared to labor, selling parts in the automotive industry is straightforward because it’s logical. During repairs, we often find a vehicle that needs a part replaced, we order the part from one of our vendors, we enter what we paid for it into our parts matrix, the system tells us what to sell it for,…
Are you keeping up with the times? Shop owners have seen a slew of hardships in the last twelve to eighteen months related to rising costs. All the stories we hear of rising housing costs, groceries, fuel, and other items are bound to have a ripple effect on our industry. If you haven’t reevaluated where…
Unlike parts, labor margins (what you make on the labor you sell) can swing dramatically based on a number of factors. So if you feel like your technicians in your automotive repair shop are busy but don’t see the dollars on the bottom line, here are some things to look for to increase your labor…
In the book Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, he calls your business “an out-of-control cash-eating monster.” Unfortunately, that is all too true for most automotive repair shop owners. Time and time again, we see business owners come to ATI not because they have a failing business but the opposite — they have an outwardly successful…
What a great feeling it is to have the highest topline sales year we’ve ever had! The success should make us reflect to acknowledge what got us here. Being fully staffed, training for service advisors that got around customers’ “No’s,” cutting discounts in half, and other tactics are some of what made this happen. Of…
There is a very long list of items an automotive repair shop includes in the category of shop supplies. For example, Acetylene, Protective Materials, Gasket Materials, Bench Lubricants, Special Adhesive, Chassis Grease, Gasket Sealer Comp., Gloves, Bearing Grease, Wheel Weights, Drill Bits, Sandpaper, Welding Rods, Minor Hardware (bolts, washers, etc.), Lubricant Paste, Wiping Cloths, Glass…
John and Sue are busier than ever! Their parking lot is packed; their techs have one car after the other in their bays. The phone is ringing off the hook—being an auto repair shop owner is looking great! But wait—Sue goes to pay the parts bills and there’s barely enough in the account to cover…
If your reaction to this question is, “Of course, I’m striving to be the best,” let’s do a quick reality check to see if this is true. As a result of Covid-19 last year, a lot of us were scrambling to invent new marketing processes to keep cars coming in, to make sure we were…