When you think about what makes the holidays a wonderful time of the year, perhaps images of spending time with loved ones, playing in the snow, and sipping hot chocolate come to mind.
Those activities are all part of the holiday spirit. But goodwill and charity also make the holidays a wonderful time of the year. And as an auto repair shop owner, you’re in a unique position to give back to your community.
There are different ways you can pay it forward—and if you end up liking how things go, you can make giving back a year-round activity, rather than just something you do during the holidays.
Partner With an Organization Like Brakes for Breasts
Brakes for Breasts is an organization that Tekmetric supports with ongoing efforts. This past October, Tekmetric donated a portion of sales to Brakes for Breasts to accelerate breast cancer research.
Brakes for Breasts specifically works with independent auto repair shops across the United States. If you sign up, a portion of your shop’s brake service proceeds will go to The Cleveland Clinic Breast Cancer Vaccine Research Fund. Partnering with an organization like Brakes for Breasts makes giving back super easy.
Help Put People on the Road
Fix it Forward Ministry is a non-profit in Minnesota that gives free cars and auto repair work to those who are homeless or at-risk. To sustain their non-profit, Fix It Forward Ministry has a business wing, Fix It Forward Auto Care. Other Tekmetric users like Turbo Tim’s Anything Automotive have non-profit branches, too.
While your auto repair shop might not have a non-profit arm, you can still join forces with a local charity to help get those in need on the road by providing free or reduced car repair services. You could even start your own internal program to help low-income individuals or people who were recently let go or furloughed from their jobs.
Give Discounts to Essential Workers
This holiday season is a great time to give back to essential workers who’ve kept communities afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. By giving doctors, nurses, teachers, grocery store cashiers, delivery drivers, and other essential workers a discount, you can spread cheer and make their lives a little easier during the holidays.
You could take a certain amount, such as 15 percent, off of the total for every frontline worker and educator who comes to your shop. Or, you could offer a specific service, such as oil changes, for free or at a discount.
Start a Holiday Donation Drive
Your shop’s way of giving back doesn’t have to be just through car repairs. You could start a holiday donation drive at your shop and encourage your team members, customers, and broader community members to get involved.
Maybe you want to focus on canned goods to give to a food bank, pet food to give to an animal shelter, or toys to give to a children’s charity. You can get your whole community involved by volunteering your shop as a drop-off center for items (but be sure to stay safe by taking appropriate social distancing measures).
If you prefer a more personalized approach to giving, you could look into “Adopt-A-Family” programs that will match your shop to a family. You and your staff will then get the family’s holiday wish list so that you can make their holiday wishes come true.
Match Donations from Staff and Customers
By matching donations, you can boost participation and give back even more. For example, if you host a holiday donation drive, you can say that for every can of food people donate, the shop will donate three.
Or, you could tell your team members and customers that they can donate to a charity of their choice from a pre-set list made by you. This way, you’ll give people an opportunity to support one of the causes they are most passionate about.
How Tekmetric is Giving Back This Month
At Tekmetric, we’re growing out our mustaches and raising money for Movember, a movement for men’s health that funds research and awareness efforts for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health.
Adjusting your pricing on parts to make a profit is pretty straightforward. But when it comes to labor times for auto repair shops…that’s where things can get a bit tricky. Yes, you need competitive labor rates, but you also need to keep those rates reasonable so you don’t scare off your customers with sky-high prices.
3 ways your shop can make more money on labor:
By using a labor matrix
By creating custom labor rates
By applying a labor guide markup
Before we dive into the differences between these three methods for setting the best labor times at your shop, here’s a quick refresher on the one thing these methods have in common: the labor guide.
What is a Labor Guide?
A labor guide is like the gospel of labor times for auto repair shops. It tells you how long, on average, it takes to complete different types of repair work. Remember that the times listed in auto repair labor guides are averages, so it’s best to treat them as a starting point.
Factors That Can Affect Labor Times for Auto Repair Shops
Let’s take a look at some of the factors to consider when determining how much to mark up (or mark down) your shop’s labor rates.
Age of Vehicle
Older vehicles are often trickier to fix, especially because finding parts for them can require a time-consuming hunt across parts suppliers. You can make up for the time spent hunting down uncommon parts by charging more for all repairs involving vehicles over a certain age.
Geographic Location
Some areas lead to different types of repair challenges that can affect the time it takes for repairs. For example, shops in Syracuse, New York—the snowiest city in America—might find themselves working with cars that have rust, which can significantly add to the time it takes to remove or even clean certain parts.
Experience of Technician
Chances are, you’re already paying experienced technicians a higher base salary or hourly rate. However, certain situations might call for cranking up those numbers, like if you really need to put their skills to the test for a tricky repair for a client who wants it done ASAP.
Customer Needs
You can offer customers who need their cars back fast a “Pro Tech” rate, where your tech wraps up the job in record time. When you’re asking techs to complete a job faster than the time on the labor guide, and still do a good job, the customer is getting special service. Be sure to let customers know that speediness comes with a surcharge.
Relationship With Customers
It’s a good idea to consider giving loyal customers a special rate as a token of appreciation. With that said, industry leaders advise sticking to your labor rates as much as possible, because if it becomes a habit, you risk financially harming your business.
How to Choose a Reliable Labor Guide
A reliable auto repair labor guide is foundational for your shop when you’re setting labor rates, so you’ll want to use a labor guide that stays up-to-date with the latest labor times in the industry. Just like many people use online directories instead of the Yellow Pages, many auto repair shops use digital labor guides that are constantly updated with the latest labor times.
When seeking out a digital labor guide, look for one that:
Offers consistent, comprehensive data on labor times from industry leaders, so you can set accurate labor rates that will keep your shop profitable
Adds labor times for new vehicles and jobs periodically, so your shop’s pricing can stay competitive
Integrates with your auto repair shop management software, so you don’t have to dig through multiple systems
An auto repair estimate template, otherwise commonly referred to as a car repair estimate template, can be a great communication tool for your shop—or it can leave your team spinning their wheels in the dirt.
While it’s easy to assume that any old auto repair estimate template will lead to a faster repair order process, unfortunately, not all templates are created equal.
The most effective templates provide a standardized framework for the estimate and repair process and lay everything out for your team and customers in a digestible format. The least effective templates cause more work for your team and eat up extra time that could (and should) be spent taking care of the customers.
A Modern Approach For Your Shop
Nowadays, there’s a whole spectrum of template options to choose from, including pen and paper forms, downloadable PDFs, and full-service shop management systems with a built-in RO program.
Finding the right fit for your shop might feel like a challenge, but the effort you put into looking for an auto repair estimate template says you care a lot about your team’s time and value their autonomy.
Upgrading your estimate process helps your team maximize its potential by giving them the power to focus on what they do best—getting customers back on the road.
Auto repair shops might bulk order carbon copies, or you might find a template online and print as many copies as your shop needs. Or, if your shop uses digital templates, you might have to deal with time-consuming digital file management.
Filling out the forms over and over, be it by handwriting or typing, can become tedious. And both options are less than ideal for record-keeping.
Paper can get lost, and digital files can become overwritten or corrupted. Both approaches are inconvenient and ultimately slow things down at your shop. And the impression you give during the payment process can determine whether those customers return or not.
Here are four reasons why a shop management system is better than an auto repair invoice template approach for your business.
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