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Legal Disclaimer: This article is written for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional financial advice. Please reference section179.org and a professional accountant for advice on financial planning and filing taxes.  

As 2020 comes to an end, you might be thinking about all of this year's expenses and wondering what you might be able to write off on your taxes. You may even be considering whether or not to make a big purchase, weighing the tax deductions you could get if you bought it this year versus next.

Is it worth buying that new lift before the year ends? Or should you put it off until 2021?

What is Section 179?

Section 179 of the IRS tax code allows business owners to write off the entire cost of a piece of equipment, renovations, or other assets in the first year instead of writing off an asset a little bit at a time over a five, seven, fifteen, or thirty-nine year period. To give an example, if a shop owner buys a new tire machine, they could either write off the taxes over a seven-year period, or they can use Section 179 to get the entire deduction in the first year.

What Type of Costs Qualify for Section 179?

• Tangible business property, including machinery and equipment
• Leasehold improvements
• Computer software*

*Is Tekmetric Eligible for Section 179?

Generally speaking, off-the-shelf computer software that has been purchased outright is eligible for Section 179. Because Tekmetric is a web-based software and does not make users sign a contract, it is not eligible for section 179, but it does qualify for a standard tax deduction.

Smart partnerships can change your business for the better. They can streamline processes, reduce costs, boost profits, bring your auto repair shop to a wider audience, and help you grow by leaps and bounds. On the other hand, not all partnerships are worth pursuing.

If your partnership is not a two-way street, you may be getting taken advantage of.

Generally, there are three types of partnership situations:

1. Mutually beneficial: everybody wins
2. Lopsided: One partner wins, the other loses
3. Mutually harmful: Both partners are worse off

A mutually beneficial partnership is the only one worth pursuing and keeping. But sometimes it can be challenging to know exactly what kind of arrangement you might find yourself in with any given partnership. The best way to mitigate any risk of entering or staying in a harmful partnership is to consider all sides of the arrangement and assess the partnership as a whole.

To assess all aspects of your current partnerships, or to determine whether or not a partnership you’re considering will be mutually beneficial, Tekmetric has put together an Auto Repair Partnership Accountability Self Assessment.

Here's how to use this assessment:

The assessment questions are in bold text below. They are thought-provoking questions you may want to ask yourself about the partnership.

Below the questions, we included typical answers or responses you may have. Remember, some questions are more open-ended than others, so the answers might not always be a clear “yes” or “no”.

The "Guidance" section provides helpful tips and deeper thoughts to help you think through certain aspects of your partnership.

We hope these guiding questions help you grow your business and enter strong, sustainable relationships with accountable and trustworthy partners.

Partnership Self Assessment

1. What type of partnership are you assessing?

• Shop Management System Vendor
• Parts Supplier Program
• Marketing Partner
• Another shop
• Non-profit
• Investors / Finance
• Legal Partner
• Technology Partner
• Other

Guidance: Assess the scope of your partnership. Some partnerships are limited, focusing on a very specific aspect of a product or service. Others, such as a merger or acquisition, can dramatically change your business.

Tek-Tip: Date before you marry.

If a partnership has the potential to be a major game-changer, take the time to enter it properly, form a stable foundation, and build it up from there. If you start on the same page with mutual trust, you can grow at a pace that is healthy for everyone.

If you don’t see the partnership growing beyond a limited scope, you may want to reassess the relationship and ask yourself whether or not it is worth it.

2. Is the partnership essential? If so, what makes it essential? Does it improve a process, help sell to customers, decrease workload, cut costs, bring needed financing, etc.?

Yes or No

Guidance: If the partnership is essential to your business, it’s that much more important to make sure it’s mutually beneficial. Otherwise, you may find yourself dependent on a partnership that may not always be there for you and need to pursue other options.

If the partnership isn’t essential, consider why you would keep the partnership or enter it in the first place.

If the partnership hinders your ability to do something essential, reevaluate how you can either adjust the relationship, end it, or replace it.

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, to what extent do you trust your potential partner? Does the partnership help address a weakness or enhance a strength?

1 = No Trust 10 = Full Trust

Guidance: You really should be able to mark a 10 without hesitation if at all possible. There’s no such thing as partial trust. Either your partner is committed to your success or they are not a good fit.

4. Does the partnership help address a weakness or enhance a strength?

Areas of strengths or weaknesses may include: Organization, speed, outreach, sales, cash flow, accounting, human resources, management, measurement, data analysis, process, network, assets, brand image, technical ability, ethics, revenue, lead generation, morale, product diversity, risk, etc.

Guidance: If the partnership helps you make up for a weakness or further bolsters a strength, then the partnership may be beneficial.

Tek-Tip: Keep an eye on your metrics!

Partnerships should grow your ARO, Car Count, GP$ and other essential bottom line statistics.

5. Are you free to choose your preferred tools and software under the partnership?

Yes or No

It’s important to not be limited by a partnership. If your partner is forcing you to use a specific tool that you don’t want to use or to buy something that you don’t need, the partnership may be parasitic and to the detriment of your business.

Tek-Tip: Negotiate, if needed.

You don’t have to accept a partnership offer at face value. If you’re offered something that looks good save for a limiting aspect or two, try asking for a compromise. A good partner will usually accommodate you.

6. How well does your partner communicate?

Consider all options below.

My partner is:

• Proactive (reaches out to me before I have to call them)
• Responsive when there is a problem or issue
• Inquisitive and asks questions that clarify or help get to the bottom of a challenge
• Thoughtful and honors my time
• Flexible and willing to communicate on my preferred channels or adapt to my schedule.

Guidance: Communication is key to a healthy, mutually beneficial partnership. Clear, open communication builds trust, keeps projects on task, ensures completion of goals, and maximizes everybody’s strengths.

Tek-Tip: Set up a good process and cadence for communication.

Getting on the same page when it comes to when and how different stakeholders communicate can help unify all members of the partnership so that they can act as one single team.

Consider setting up:

• Regular standing meetings
• Preferred communication channels tailored to specific needs and goals
• Project management systems and processes

7. Do you and your potential partner have shared goals related to customer success, innovation, growth, margins, etc.?

Think about your shared goals. It would be even better if you jot them down.

Guidance: You can only measure a goal if it is clearly outlined. For instance, "Increase customers per month by 30% in the next 12 months".

Tek-Tip: Use SMART goals.

Make sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based.  (For more info, read Peter Druck’s "The Practice of Management").

8. Is your contract overly restrictive or overly lax?

What limitations are placed on your business due to the contract?

What parts of the contract seem too abstract, open-ended, or loose to protect you?

Guidance: Have your mentor, accountant, and/or lawyer look over the contract.

Tek-Tip: Get assurances.

An accountant or other financial partner should be able to look you in the eye and say they are confident that the partnership will make you money.

A legal partner should be able to look you in the eye and say that they would be confident defending from your side of the contract in court. Get their blessings before signing.

9. All things considered, do you feel like this partnership is mutually beneficial or benefits one partner more than the other?

Consider the following.

This partnership is:

• Mutually beneficial
• Disadvantageous for my business
• Disadvantageous for my partner

Guidance: Your partnership should be mutually beneficial. If this assessment has called into question whether the partnership may be disadvantageous or hurt either you or your partner, it may be time for a serious conversation about altering or ending the relationship.

Summary

Be wise with your partnership choices. We’re always looking for ways to both help our partners and discover new capabilities through partnerships with other companies. Our partnerships have led us to offer shop owners more through integrations with marketing companies, parts suppliers, labor guides, and other trustworthy auto repair solutions.

To see some of our partners and integrations, check out our Integrations Page.

Are you looking for a shop management system partner? We’d love to work with you towards a mutually beneficial relationship with your auto repair shop business.

‍Standing on the grid of the Indy 500 with 250,000 people around you and 33 cars on the grid—there’s nothing like it.

At the age of 13 I was working on semi-trucks. And when I turned 18, I opened up my first shop in the U.K. It was mobile; just me and a set of tools. 

In 1996, I got a call from Newport Beach, California that said “we need you to be a crew chief for the Indy Lights Team.” 

With no hesitation, I said yes. I was the crew chief for a two-car team for about a year. 

After moving from the U.K. to the U.S., I hopped around a bit. I lived in Oregon, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. I went from being a crew chief to replacing rear tires and fixing exotics. 

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In 1999, I worked my first Indy 500 race. And let me tell you: standing on the grid of the Indy 500 with 250,000 people around you and 33 cars on the grid—there’s nothing like it. 

As you’re waiting for the car to drive up, your adrenaline will start pumping. Everyone is in their position, and you’re in charge of changing the outside rear tire.

Formula One guys can do it in 2 to 2.5 seconds because they have a group of 20 individuals, but when you’re the only one on a tire, and everyone’s counting on you, you do it in 5 to 7 seconds.

I remember they put a heart rate monitor on me when I was changing tires at the Long Beach Grand Prix. My heart rate went from 180 to 230 during that wheel change. 

Judi Haglin runs Haglin Automotive alongside her husband, Dana.

And whether they’re in the shop or out of the shop, they’re always looking for ways they can give back.

One of their favorite efforts is volunteering with Pilots N Paws®, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that rescues puppies by flying them to be adopted.

Over the years, they've saved over 200 puppies.

Judi: Dana got his private pilot license when he was in school.

And after we got married, we were looking at buying a second house. We decided to build our home in the hangar, and eventually Dana got his airplane.

Giving back to the community is extremely important to us. Through the years, we’ve donated several vehicles to Justice High School for the highest achiever, and each Spring have sponsored an Erie High School student to participate in the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Camp.

Naturally, Dana started to look for additional volunteer opportunities. 

Tekmetric is a huge improvement over a traditional paper process for sure. Estimates are easy to draft, orders are easy to create, and work flows easily through the platform as cars move through your shop.

That's because there’s always a better way! Canned jobs in Tekmetric are particularly powerful, saving service writers time by simplifying the process of building job estimates. Less clicks means more time to focus on the customer and offer amazing service while selling even more amazing BG Products.

When you have the right tool that helps simplify your work, why not use them? You wouldn’t use an open-ended wrench when a ratcheting socket wrench cuts the time in half and saves your knuckles.

In our effort to keep growing Tekmetric so running your shop is even easier, our latest update to canned jobs now includes even more canned jobs for BG Products and services right in Tekmetric. Just enable the canned jobs you want to use, and start selling even more BG services right away! 

What are canned jobs?

Canned jobs are pre-saved job templates in Tekmetric that include labor and parts associated with common repair work done.

Instead of recreating jobs you perform on a regular basis, shops can create as many canned-jobs as they like to build estimates in just seconds. Just apply the right canned job and you're ready to send for approval.

In fact, shops find canned jobs so helpful, one shop running on Tekmetric has created over 2,000 customer canned jobs, and even uses at least one canned job per RO. 

The value of canned jobs is clear: making it easier for repair teams to provide customers with the best of the best. 

Simple, efficient, and reliable processes lead to more completed work and happier customers. And as we know, happier customers leads to even more customer retention, and better customer retention increases shop profitability.

In essence, canned jobs can even help you pay for Tekmetric. The profit generated from saving time, closing more repair orders and selling better service can cover the cost of the platform, and then some. 

Just why are canned jobs so powerful for your shop? That's easy:

• Make your jobs easier by simplifying your workflows for common repair orders into just a few clicks
• Shorten the time it takes to operate, get estimates built and approved sooner and move cars faster.
• BG Canned Jobs, using BG products in particular, enable your shop to offer more specialized service options for improved vehicle performance

A lot of shop owners, and business owners in general, get so busy with running their business. If we’re not careful, I think we can tend to forget our staff and our team members without even realizing it.

I have a routine where, every single day when I get to the shop, I walk around, and I talk with every single technician.

I don't care how busy I am, or if my phone is ringing, I make the time to talk with every single technician before I even set my stuff down.

I take care of my employees first, and then I take care of our customers.

The reason I put it in that order is because I believe if you take care of your employees and help them love where they work, then they will naturally take care of your customers; you cherish your employees to carry your customers.

When I first started my shop,  I was turning wrenches with my team, selling at the front counter, and running the place. But, no matter how busy I was, I would always walk around the counter and sit on the couch next to our customers. I would talk with them, not only about their cars, but I would also find out what’s going on in their lives.

I did this because I care about the customers just as much as I care about their safety when they’re driving on the road. And I teach my team to genuinely care, too.

When it’s time for them to present an estimate, and a customer is sitting over on a couch, they don’t call that customer over to the counter. Instead, they walk around and go over to that customer.

‍

Doing the presentation side-by-side creates a bond and a level of being equal.

The biggest secret that I have for shop owners is to hire a coaching company. I wish I could go back in time and do this earlier, but I hired a coaching company back in 2017.

There are so many coaching companies that are out there, and they really push that customers are numbers. But I wanted to find a coach that values their employees and customers the way I do, someone who builds a relationship with people, because me building a relationship is what got me where I'm at.

My passion for auto repair started off in my garage. It was the coolest garage in the neighborhood. I had pull-down air-hoses, and it was kind of like a little dream shop. All I did was have car hobbies and help friends work on their vehicles.

There were so many of my friends that went and talked to my wife and said, "He's got to open up a real shop one day, and you've got to encourage him to do it.”  

Before joining the auto repair industry, I was in the restaurant industry, but I always worked on cars as a hobby in my spare time. Being in the restaurant industry was very time consuming. I was working more than 100 hours a week.

I thoroughly enjoyed the restaurant industry when I had the time for it, but then my son was born. When my son was 6 months old, I was kissing him goodbye when he was in his crib, and I realized I hadn't seen him while he was awake in almost 6 months.

Eventually my wife said to me, and I’ll never forget this, she said, “Mike, you need to open up a shop. You have the passion for it. Working on cars is what you love, and I can tell you’re happy doing it.”

So I did it. I opened up my own auto repair shop. It wasn’t easy though. I worked more than I had ever worked before. That was 22 years ago now.  

When my husband Dana and I started Haglin Automotive, our loyal customers found us from The Yellow Pages.

Things have drastically changed since then thanks to all the technology advancements. Online reviews and Google play a big part in whether a customer will set foot in your shop or return for future repairs. 

At Haglin Auto, we always adjust to meet customers, and whether they’re a return customer or a new customer, we prioritize how they feel.

It’s important to meet your customers where they are. We even offer customers free vehicle pick-up and delivery service, free shuttle services, and free loaner vehicles.

But, more importantly, we make sure they understand their repairs and can see everything that’s going on with their cars.

Build Trust with Digital Vehicle Inspections (DVIs)

Haglin Auto has been around for 41 years in the Boulder area, and twice a year 30,000 people come in and out because of Boulder University of Colorado, so we’ve always had an influx of students.

And in order to cater to our college students, we started implementing DVIs. 

The reason we made the change in the first place was because our service writers would call a local college student and say, “You car is doing this, this, and that,” and a lot of the times a student would respond with, “I don’t understand,” “I’m not the one paying,” or “Let me call my mom or dad.”

From there, the student would make a phone call home, they would ask questions, and then the student would call back with questions. 

Traditionally, there are four pillars to an auto repair shop that all support one another: the shop owner, technicians, customers, and service advisors.

The integrity of the shop depends on each of these pillars in different ways. The shop owner needs to make the right calls and put the right systems in place for technicians and service advisors to do their jobs. Technicians must stay focused on repairs. And loyal customers keep the lights on.

By effectively leading your team, service advisors can support the other three pillars of the shop—and in turn, achieve balance and improve the quality of your job. Getting started in your Service Advisor career, or looking for some tips? Here’s how to lead your team with intention.

Haglin Automotive Owner Judi Haglin is committed to the auto repair industry. Not only has she helped out locally with Colorado’s Automotive Service Association (ASA), but she’s currently on the board for ASA National.

‍Judi took some time with us to outline her vision, discuss her experience as a woman-owned shop, and paint a picture of the future of the auto repair industry.

I believe that we should make the world a better place by leaving it better than how we found it. 

Growing up, my dad would always say to me, “If you borrow your neighbor's shovel, make sure that it's clean and in better condition when you give it back.” That’s always stuck with me. 

I take that same mindset and apply it to the automotive industry. If I’m asked to join an organization, I will leave it in a better position than when I got there. I can take organizations that are struggling and figure out how to make them more profitable. 

‍“I believe that we should make the world a better place by leaving it better than how we found it.” 

When I was asked to assist with ASA Colorado, the first thing I did was look at the training events, schools, instructors, and students.

I looked at what was working and what wasn’t. Once I shed light on the benefits of working with vendors and getting the word out to local independent auto repair businesses, we ended up having 600 people attend a training event we put on. I was able to help put ASA Colorado on the map. 

Shop owner Judi Haglin runs Haglin Automotive by strategically monitoring her shop’s automotive metrics.

I have an Elementary Education degree from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU), and my husband, Dana, has a Saxophone Performance degree. I know, random combination, right? Well, once my husband and I graduated and we got married, I worked at a kitchen in a retirement home. After that, I got a job for a few years managing a McDonald’s.

Both of those jobs really taught me about policies and procedures, but they also helped me a ton when it comes to numbers. They helped me gain the ability to put all of that together and learn how to run my own business.  

I operate Haglin Automotive by the numbers. Knowing how the business is doing on a daily basis is great. And it’s amazing when you share the things that you gain. I share my knowledge of numbers with other shops through 20 Groups so they can run their business by the numbers, too. I believe that when you get to a point and you're successful at one thing, whatever that one thing is that you do really well, share it. Share it with the world. 

8 Metrics and Reports That Judi Haglin Uses To Run Her Shop  

I could go on and on about how metrics and reports have helped me run our business. I could also go on and on about which specific reports have helped us get to where we are. But there are a select few that I will make a point to check weekly, if not daily. 

1. Effective Labor Rate from Tekmetric’s End of Day Report 

2. Labor Hour Inventory   

3. Gross Profit from Tekmetric’s Profit Details Report  

4. Realtime Service Writer Report

5. Customer Lead Source

6. Lifetime Visits from Tekmetric’s Customer List Report 

7. One Time Visit Ratio

And finally…

‍8. The “Closing The Back Door” Report

We have a policy in our shop called “Closing The Back Door.”

Here’s how it works: if you have 500 new customers that have come into your shop and you’ve serviced 1,000 repeat customers, in reality you should have serviced a total of 1,500 customers for that year.

But a lot of the time it’s not 1,500 because a lot of your previous customers didn’t come back.