5 Ways Your Shop Can Give Back During the Holidays

|

|

Read time: 3 min

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

5 Ways Your Auto Shop Can Give Back During the Holidays

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

5 Ways Your Auto Shop Can Give Back During the Holidays

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.

5 Ways Your Auto Shop Can Give Back During the Holidays

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

5 Ways Your Auto Shop Can Give Back During the Holidays

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.

👉 Ready to grow your automotive business? [Book a personalized Tekmetric Demo Here]

FAQ

More articles

Tekmetric is pleased to announce that our co-founder Sunil Patel has been selected by Houston Business Journal as one of Houston’s Fifty Most Admired CEOs of 2020.

“I want to thank Houston Business Journal’s Publisher Bob Charlet, Editor-in-Chief Giselle Greenwood, and the entire HBJ staff for including me on this year’s list,” says Sunil.

Most of all, I want to thank my awesome team at Tekmetric. A CEO can’t be successful without the feedback and support of their team. Our team works hard every day to meet the needs of thousands of shop owners across North America. Our mission is to empower shop owners to make their business successful for them, their teams, and their guests. Shop owners deserve to be admired CEOs, too.

Visit Houston Business Journal to see a full list of 2020’s Most Admired CEO Finalists

No items found.
Tekmetric Makes Top CEO List

March 17, 2022

Read time: 3 min

read more

Tekmetric has remained committed to 2024 as a year filled with product innovation, providing updates that included feedback from our customers to demonstrate our commitment to a customer-centric approach as we continue to grow. From product updates and attending industry events to elevating our approach to data security, the second quarter has built on the first quarter’s momentum, leading to a vibrant first half of 2024.

Supporting Shops by Enhancing Efficiency

Tekmetric is systematically seeking opportunities to better understand the needs of shop owners and how our product can help shops run more efficiently. Building on our commitment to enhancing shop effectiveness, we focused Q2 on implementing updates that significantly bolster operational efficiency across the board.

Having the right technical team is essential, and with our latest update, shops can now assign multiple technicians to a single job, ensuring greater collaboration and efficiency. This update allows more experienced technicians to supervise staff technicians regarding more complex jobs, giving staff technicians an opportunity to experience hands-on learning. Overall, having multiple technicians on a single job improves efficiency by allowing you to align and prioritize your technician resources.

In addition to the multiple technician updates, we also released the Inventory Activity Feed. To ensure smooth operations and profitability, it's crucial to understand the flow of money. Inventory plays a necessary role in this process and with this update, shop owners now have an extra eye to spot inconsistencies in pricing and quantity. This new feature allows shops to monitor key changes made to parts inventory, identify and rectify errors and enhance operational efficiency and employee training initiatives.

As we move into Q3, we continue to strive for further updates that increase productivity within internal operations or streamline the customer experience from the first touchpoint until repair completion and beyond.

Commitment to Education and Learning Opportunities in the Industry

In an industry as complex as auto repair, there is no shortage of learning opportunities to improve your shop or learn how to incorporate customer feedback into our ongoing improvements.

At Tekmetric, we value a commitment to growing our knowledge base and sharing that with our peers at various events, whether it be in-person conferences or through webinars. Our dynamic duo John Phelps and P.J. Leslie attended WorldPac STX in Nashville, Tennessee in late April to share with repair shops key strategies to boost profits through enhanced customer experiences. Their presentation included leveraging digital tools and enhancing the digital buying experience, transforming buyer trends into revenue drivers and customer retention through excellent experiences.

From there, P.J. had two additional speaking opportunities at Thoroughbred Diesel in Winchester, Kentucky and AASPA Tools in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in the month of May where he presented on How Customer Experience Can Change An Industry. At both events, he shared his expertise regarding digital purchasing experiences, leveraging trends for revenue growth, mastering customer retention strategies, and surpassing expectations of the CX generation. Additionally, John Phelps, made an appearance on the Changing the Industry podcast where he discussed Career Shifts and Setting Industry Standards. At Tekmetric, we believe that the desire to give and improve the lives of our customers is ultimately what will drive your business to reach its full potential.

We participated in the ASI & ASTA Summer Social in Apex, North Carolina which provided an opportunity to network and connect with shop owners and tire dealers from the area. Our participation at these events helps us better understand your needs, fueling our commitment to product innovation and excellence in customer experience.

Tekmetric also aims to support our shop owners in sharing their own insights and lessons about measuring up in today’s industry through the webinars that we host. This quarter, we hosted a webinar entitled “Confessions of A Shop Owner,” which included Travis Troy, owner of Honest Wrenches, along with Ward Myers, VP of Training and eServices at Advance Auto Parts, Gregg Rainville, SVP at Steer, and Ian Miller, Partner Manager at Tekmetric. The key points were all about defining and developing shop culture and leveraging technology to be more efficient in the auto repair space.

Prioritizing Data Security

We recently increased our benchmark in data security by earning SOC 2 Type II compliance. Tekmetric meets the five principles that are required which include: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy. With SOC 2 Type II compliance, we are able to keep any information that you put into Tekmetric secure, from your shop’s data to your customers’ information. This gives us more confidence that as we continue to improve the quality of Tekmetric, we are also ensuring the security of everything that is entrusted to us.

Keeping Our Foot on the Gas

As we close out the first half of the year, Tekmetric aims to use our customer-centric approach as the fuel that ignites our product innovation. Through our commitment to attending industry events and listening to customer feedback, Tekmetric meets its customers where they are, with constant plans to keep innovating and improving. We head into Q3 with our customer-obsessed mentality to continue improving and streamlining shop operations with Tekmetric.

In the Driver’s Seat: Steering Our Way to Q2 Success

August 16, 2024

Read time: 3 min

read more

Mechanic interviews are challenging for both the employer and candidate because the right candidate has to be a fit in personality and technical ability. Plus, the numerous certification types, manufacturer nuances, and shop needs make it even more challenging to become a mechanic.

This guide can be used to help repair shops/dealerships ask the right questions and also help technicians be prepared for questions they will likely encounter. Below you will find the most common car mechanic interview questions broken down by mechanic and service advisor level plus tips to ace your next interview.

Top mechanic job interview questions

While every auto repair shop differs in how they run their job interview process, these are some of the most common questions you can expect. Ranging from technical questions to customer service, be prepared to answer these common questions before your next interview.

An image highlighting the top job interview questions for mechanics.

General interview questions for car mechanics

These common questions cover basic automotive repair experience and relevant work history.

  • Tell me about yourself and your experience as an automotive technician.
  • Why do you want to work for our company/shop?
  • How do you stay up to date with new automotive technologies and repair techniques?
  • What certifications do you currently hold (ASE, manufacturer-specific, etc.)?
  • Are you comfortable working weekends, evenings, or overtime if needed?

Technical interview questions for mechanics

These technical interview questions cover more specific hand-on experience and tools/equipment.

  • Which repairs are you best at?
  • How much would you estimate your tool inventory to be worth?
  • What steps do you take when diagnosing a check engine light?
  • What tools and diagnostic equipment are you most familiar with?
  • Have you worked with hybrid or electric vehicles?
  • Do you believe in factory recommended vehicle maintenance intervals?
  • How comfortable are you with OEM scan/diagnostic tools?

Experience & situational questions for mechanics

These questions help employers understand how you would handle various shop situations and also helps them understand your communication skills.

  • Can you describe a time when you had to work under a tight deadline?
  • How do you deal with angry customers?
  • How do you prioritize tasks when you have multiple vehicles to work on?
  • What would you do if you made a mistake on a repair? How do you handle accountability?
  • What do you do if you encounter a vehicle with an issue you've never seen before?

Additional questions to expect

  • Are you comfortable serving those in need once a month?
  • Are you comfortable doing a DVI on the majority of vehicles you touch?
  • How do you handle a high-pressure environment when the shop is busy?
  • How do you handle a situation where you're unsure about how to fix a problem?
  • Tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer?

Top interview questions for service advisors

While the interview questions for service advisors will be similar to mechanics, there will be small differences. Typically, service advisors will be more customer facing and shops will tailor their questions to focus more on customer service and communication style.

General interview questions for service advisors

  • Are you comfortable selling repair services?
  • Are you comfortable working on a commission based salary structure?
  • Who do you believe has the best after market products?
  • Which shop management software is your favorite?
  • How do you deal with a customer saying that you are more expensive than their last shop?
  • How do you win back angry customers?
  • How do you handle over the phone quotes?

Technical interview questions for service advisors

  • What are your greatest strengths as a service advisor?
  • Who do you trust for moving electrical parts?
  • How do you handle working in a fast-paced environment?
  • Are you comfortable meeting sales goals and upselling services?
  • How do you stay up to date with new automotive technology and service trends?
  • How do you handle stress during busy hours?

Experience & situational questions for service advisors

  • How do you explain complex vehicle repairs to a customer who doesn’t understand cars?
  • What steps do you take to build trust with customers?
  • Have you ever had to deal with a miscommunication between a technician and a customer? How did you resolve it?
  • Can you describe a time when you turned a dissatisfied customer into a repeat customer?
  • How do you handle multiple customers needing assistance at the same time?

Additional questions to expect

  • How do you explain the importance of routine maintenance to a customer?
  • What experience do you have with automotive service software or point-of-sale systems?
  • How do you prioritize repair orders and schedule work efficiently?
  • How do you explain repair estimates to customers?
  • How would you respond to 1-star reviews?

Job interview tips for mechanics

  • Research: Not all shops are created equal so make sure to research before applying to make sure they are a good fit. You can also look at online reviews to see what their customers are saying.
  • Preparation: Use the commonly used questions above to help you prepare for the interview. Practice how you would answer each question and ways you can present yourself well.
  • Attire: You have 7 seconds to make your first impression and attire is a big part of that. Dress to showcase your professionalism and experience.
  • Highlight your experience/certifications: Showcasing your certifications and experience can go a long way to in making sure you land the job.
  • Ask thoughtful questions: Some interviewers will allow you to ask questions during the conversation. Make sure you have a few questions to ask that help you learn more about the shop.
  • Follow up: if you haven’t heard back from the shop and you are still interested, give them a call and remind them of your interest in the position.

Final thoughts

Interviews are challenging in any industry but mechanic interviews can be even more challenging with the shortage of talent available. This guide will help you either prepare for your next interview or provide you with common questions to ask your next hire. Lastly, always hire for culture fit and talent second. Culture problems are a lot harder to correct than technical car knowledge.

Top Interview Questions for Automotive Mechanics

March 25, 2025

Read time: 3 min

read more
×
Book your free demo with Tekmetric