Free Auto Repair Management Tips Blog

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Lack of employee motivation, poor inventory strategies, and accounting snafus might not seem like they have much in common. However, they can all be silent thieves in your auto repair shop. By that, we mean that they can all lead to big problems when they’re not managed properly.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to recover from these three silent thieves in your auto repair shop so that you can keep your business running smoothly.

Thieves Identified #1: Lack of Employee Motivation

One of the most common silent thieves in auto repair shops is employee motivation. When employees aren’t motivated, it can lead to all sorts of problems. Poor performance, low morale, and high turnover are all examples.

If you want to recover from this silent thief, there are a few things you can do:

First, try to get to the root of the problem. Why aren’t your employees motivated? Perhaps you have not challenged them enough. Is it because they don’t feel like their work is meaningful, or is it something else entirely? Once you know the problem, then you can start addressing it.

Second, try to create a more motivating workplace environment. This might mean providing more employee training and development opportunities, or offering incentives for meeting certain goals. Whatever you do, make sure you’re proactive about addressing employee motivation; otherwise, it will continue to be a silent thief in your shop.

Thief #2: Poor Inventory Strategies

Another common silent thief in auto repair shops is loss due to poor inventory strategies. You may have a bad handle on your inventory. If you’re overstocking certain items, or understocking others, it can eventually lead to big financial losses.

Start your recovery by closely examining your inventory strategies. Are there any areas where you could improve? Are there any changes you could make to reduce losses? Once you’ve identified some potential improvements, implement them as soon as possible.

#3: Simple Accounting Issues

The third and final silent thief we’ll discuss is simple accounting issues. Believe it or not, even a small error in your monthly financial statements can lead to big problems for your business.

To recover from this thief, review your financial statements carefully each month and correct any errors immediately. You should also consider automation tools that can help reduce errors and save time (and money) in the long run. 

These are just a few of the most common silent thieves in auto repair shops, but they’re certainly not the only ones out there. To protect your business from these thieves (and many others), it’s important to be aware of them and take steps to prevent them from causing damage.

Let’s talk about auto repair ethics. Picture this: you’re an auto repair service advisor. You present a necessary service to a customer. They tell you that they can’t afford it. Do you let them go without fixing the issue, potentially risking more harm to their vehicle? What about the other issues you haven’t gotten to writing up for them yet?

Automotive Service Writers have a professional obligation to tell customers about needed repairs, just like doctors are obligated to tell patients about illnesses they may not know about. In this video, Brian talks with shop owners in our You Net Results group about that obligation. Don’t let your worries about your client’s money troubles get in the way of your ethics. Word gets around!

What Are Your Auto Repair Ethics?

Brian started this clip by stressing the importance of personal integrity. Professional behavior is important to any auto repair employee, since you want to keep your prospects open with other shops. Nobody wants to hire a Technician or Service Writer with a bad reputation from other shops.

Karen defines auto repair ethics as being 100% honest with customers. When we practice this, we win their loyalty for life.

Bryce adds that all staff members, especially mechanics, should only use polite language. Whether you realize it or not, your customers are listening.

Jared’s bottom line on auto repair ethics? We should always provide our clients with safe, reliable vehicles.

Brian then brought the discussion home. He reminded us of our obligation to share all vehicle problems with customers. Even when clients mention money problems, we still need to let them know what is wrong. A doctor would not withhold their test results from patients, so we must be thorough, too.

Gary Gunn, AAM shares some examples of flexible auto repair hiring processes and how they can benefit automotive repair shops. Would you consider changing to four day work weeks, or even hiring only technicians who hunt or have farms? Gary provides examples of shops who did – and, believe it or not – these hiring practices for employees were huge successes for decades!

How could being more flexible in your hiring practices benefit your mechanics and service writers? What about you? Couldn’t you use less stress in your daily life as an auto repair shop owner? Can you think of any other benefits to attract quality mechanics and front of house staff? Don’t miss this video – it could save your automotive shop!

Hiring Process Discussion Recap

When this Working On It Tuesday clip opens, Gary quizzes Brian Pickens on what he’s learned from the class. Brian listed several areas of his automotive business that needed work. He admits he is currently understaffed and his people are burnt out. His previous hiring process proved ineffective and he needs to become more flexible in order to attract the right people.

When Gary polled the class about whether changing hours to help employees’ work-life balance would help, they agreed. Perhaps they should poll staff to see what would work for them. Brian added that he needed to put his foot down, because the current work environment was leading to squabbles between coworkers and grumpy customers.

Hypothetical Candidate Interview

Gary then paints a picture of an interview with a potential new technician. The candidate required a four day work week before he would accept the position, and that is unprecedented in your shop. Otherwise, he is the perfect candidate, and you need him. The next step is gathering your staff and making that four day work week possible. Gary and the callers all provided examples of how to make that happen, including many nurses’ three day work week working 12-hour days.

Flexible work schedules in auto repair are not a new phenomenon! Gary told a story about a shop he used to sell lifts to in Texas. They implemented a four day work week, and employed staff who only liked to hunt. Hunting was an important part of the culture in that area. Since the staff knew they wouldn’t have to work on certain days, they could all relax and bond over their common interest. Some of you reading may think that’s chaotic, and it gives employees too much power. That hiring process worked out fine for the owner of that shop, who sold it after 27 successful years in business!

If you’re watching this video, the odds are that you are an automotive shop owner. One of the ten knowledge principles we at You Net Results teach is to know your True Cost of Doing Business. What does that mean? You need to ask yourself how much it takes to build an automotive repair shop that is financially healthy.

There are so many pitfalls and mistakes that repair shop owners can make. It’s up to you to make the effort to understand your profit and losses, as well as regularly review your score sheets. Only then can you stack up cash and set yourself up for success long term.

True Cost of Doing Business Discussion Recap

Gary Gunn, AAM opens up this clip, in which he is detailing the ten financial knowledge principles. Knowing the true cost of business means knowing what it takes to be financially healthy in the automotive repair industry. Knowing your numbers, as well as how to read them, is essential for any auto repair shop owner.

He went on to tell a story of an owner in his class years ago. This owner declared that he planned to slash repair prices because he had paid off his shop’s building. Gary literally asked him to leave the class. This kind of thinking doesn’t come from a smart business mentality. Rather than subtracting from his monthly income, he should have invested the money he previously put toward his building expense. Stacking up cash today could mean weathering a major storm in your future, or even retiring early!

Educate yourself. Look at your scorecard daily, weekly, monthly, and annually. If you estimate your true cost of doing business too high, then you are putting undue pressure on yourself and your team.