New to everything

[Dave M]

I know you guys do!!

[puka pau]

I used to carry eight injectors but I've slowed down since I turned sixty and at this point I use five. I walk the lots at all my accounts. If ever I got to an account and found the damaged vehicles all lined up and standing at attention waiting for me I'd either have a heart attack or think I'd died and gone to heaven. The trucks in the fleet account I mentioned are spread out and require walking about three-tenths of a mile from one end of the lot to the other (I measured it) which means over a half mile round trip - the other accounts are more compact. If I wouldn't have included the twenty minutes I spent for the errand I obviously would have made more money per repair and per hour. Years ago I did several time studies on my performance and counted only the time I spent on repairs; I deducted drive time between accounts, and the time spent surveying, getting authorization (although presently I have only three accounts that require authorization) invoicing, etc and found that in the course of an eight hour day I spent but two to two and a half hours actually doing repairs depending on how much driving I did. So using yesterday's example I spent about 35 minutes at one bus company, about 50 minutes at the second, about 40 minutes at the car dealer and about 60 minutes at the truck fleet for a total of 185 minutes on site surveying and doing work - technically you could deduct 10 or so minutes for surveying and walking. I drove about thirty miles enroute. As I didn't have to get authorization anywhere or submit an invoice or even talk to anybody (I was in a bit of a hurry as I had a meeting later on in the day and didn't have time to schmooze), I was more efficient. My apologies for being a bit opaque with the statistics. I hope this clarifies.

Cheers;

Puka Pau

[Dave M]

Yes, it certainly did clarify things for me...thank you.

[screenman]

I work the same style large fleets and dealers, however I charge a lot more than those numbers quoted. Yes I do have the cheaper guys around here they are just not very good at the job, many skip the important parts like drying out.

I do not like the idea of devaluing my skills and I prefer to work clever not hard, 1/2 as much work for the same amount of money seems a good idea to me. But if rushing about is your preferred method charging way less than people were paying 25 years ago, then so be it nothing I would say could change your style, at this rate of devaluing we may find in another 25 years we are paying the customer to do repairs for them.

[t4k]

I am having the same problem with "cheap workers" right now . There are guys doing $25 repairs and $25 headlight restorations. I have not lost any accounts but I will be glad when they move on.

On Friday I will be doing a HLR on a Benz that these guys did as a demo. It looks really bad and it will take some time to remove their mess. I think these guys use their lower prices as a "crutch" because their repairs, in both WSR & HLR are below the industry standard. Pricing is what gets them in the door.

[puka pau]

Allow me to add some perspective:

Since Screenman indicated in another thread awhile ago that Belron was charging (if I correctly recall) somewhere in the area of the equivalent of $130-160 per repair U.S., I would certainly expect that he would charge more than $25. At $80 he'd be at 50% of Belron! Unfortunately for me, being that my stomping grounds are almost 180 degrees from the Greenwich Meridian, I have to charge what my market will bear - and my market will bear a lot less than $130 per repair.

Actually, Screenman and others may be surprised that at $25 I am not the "low cost provider". Quite the contrary. In my neck of the woods my competition at car dealers is the $15 per car guy and the replacement guy that offers to do repairs free (that's right, FREE) if the dealer brings the vehicle to his shop.

When I started in the late '80s, WSR had been around for about fifteen years and there weren't a whole lot of guys doing it. At that time I was getting $25 for the first and $10 for each additional. Now, twenty-two years down the road, I get what I get. I've raised my prices for fleets but not in the past eight years. Both the economy and the competition affect pricing power. Yes, I sell price, service and product, but I find that more recently price is the primary consideration. So in order to maintain a reasonable profit margin I have had to get way more efficient and expedient.

So while T4K and Screenman may bemoan $25 dollar competition (and believe me, I feel their pain) it may be advantageous to keep in mind that the vicissitudes of life are in general way more relative than empirical.

Cheers;

Puka Pau

[screenman]

Good reply, yes we have Belron quoting those prices but like you we also have the £15 guy. I just sell mainly on the fact that our repairs will in the end save more money than the cheaper guys. I suppose that fact is your hourly or daily rate can sometimes be far more important than the per job rate. No good being the most expensive if you have no work to do. Nice thing about our trade is that there is lots of ways to get a good living and enjoy doing so.

[screenman]

Leading on from this, how much business would somebody lose if they increased their prices by 10%?

[mend master]

Leading on from this, how much business would somebody lose if they increased their prices by 10%?

There is an old business axiom/formula that states that your offering, be it product or service, must be within 5% of the average market value for like products or services. Everything else being equal, some people will pay a little more if they like you, you are more convenient, or you are perceived to have some type of value added proposition. The key here is the qualifier, "everything else being equal". In too many of our customer's minds a windshield repair is a windshield repair. This is especially true on the used car dealer lots where they'll literally do anything to save a buck. Since the economy tanked, my experience is similar to t4k. Bottom feeders and hacks galore, all offering the same thing-price. Fortunately, some of my customers realize and appreciate the difference, but others have "sold out" or are simply doing without some services altogether.
We still have over 10% unemployment in my area. Gas (petrol) prices are rising nearly every day. We are currently paying $1.00 more/gallon this year than the same time last year. These two issues alone have stifled business of many kinds. Throw in our current administration and their business hating mentality, and what you're left with is doing your level best to hang onto what you have without rocking the boat. I NEVER have tried to be the least expensive, nor do I want to be the most expensive. I simply want to offer a fair service for a fair price. Raising prices is out of the question. The answer, at least for my situation, has been to work on cultivating a different mix of business, which has involved developing more fleet business like municipalities, HVAC repair & service, electrical and plumbing repairs, etc. and reducing my dependence on car dealerships.

[t4k]

Leading on from this, how much business would somebody lose if they increased their prices by 10%?

There is an old business axiom/formula that states that your offering, be it product or service, must be within 5% of the average market value for like products or services. Everything else being equal, some people will pay a little more if they like you, you are more convenient, or you are perceived to have some type of value added proposition. The key here is the qualifier, "everything else being equal". In too many of our customer's minds a windshield repair is a windshield repair. This is especially true on the used car dealer lots where they'll literally do anything to save a buck. Since the economy tanked, my experience is similar to t4k. Bottom feeders and hacks galore, all offering the same thing-price. Fortunately, some of my customers realize and appreciate the difference, but others have "sold out" or are simply doing without some services altogether.
We still have over 10% unemployment in my area. Gas (petrol) prices are rising nearly every day. We are currently paying $1.00 more/gallon this year than the same time last year. These two issues alone have stifled business of many kinds. Throw in our current administration and their business hating mentality, and what you're left with is doing your level best to hang onto what you have without rocking the boat. I NEVER have tried to be the least expensive, nor do I want to be the most expensive. I simply want to offer a fair service for a fair price. Raising prices is out of the question. The answer, at least for my situation, has been to work on cultivating a different mix of business, which has involved developing more fleet business like municipalities, HVAC repair & service, electrical and plumbing repairs, etc. and reducing my dependence on car dealerships.

AMEN to all of the above!