road block

[Wright Fix]

I have only been in business for 3 months. I am in a market where people will do cash sales for $20.00. I charge $35 and $10 and can almost always get the sale. The key is professionalism and refusing to accept anything but a quality repair. I was blessed in that I have a very good mentor and am in a non-related profession that draws respect.

People will notice that you offer quality repairs and when you develope trust they will show loyalty. If someone knows you will treat their wife with dignity and respect they will pay double the competitions price.

You sell yourself and then do a repair that shows you care about quality and you are set. Word of mouth alone with flood you with business.

Just my $.02
blessings,
Heath

[texas jim]

My experience is limited in wsr. I'm not great but i do good. no complaints yet. but i do have 14 years experience in a dodge, Chrysler , jeep and Plymouth dealership as a service manager. and i can tell you that the best way i thank to work a dealer is to come in with the lowest price at first. thay only see money at first. see you will be paid in most cases from a PO. then a check would be sent to you. used car manegers contact the service manager and have a internal repair order written. in which will have a 30% mark up as it go,s Thur service. just the way its done. that 30% mark up is the price the used sales manager will here. service manager makes money one way or the other so he,s not batting for any one. but the good news is once your in with most of the dealers and you come in on time ( lets say once a week) thay get to know you. you become a convenience to them and if your price gos up well its really not noticed that much. unless the dealer has a change of managers then it starts all over. some say thay have no loyalty and thats true but thay do like convenience. i know i did. and will stick with you as long as your reasonable. and the other benefit is you can get referred by that dealer to other dealers. get to know their names and talk their language. i have been working independent used car Lott's here in Houston and i have found i would work for the dealer before one of them. i had one yesterday who fills his ws with super glue. if you can get into the dealer circle you can get alot of business just have to start out at a lower price then the other guy. hope this helps.

[DaveC]

As well, while you are at a dealership, get to know the service writers. These folks can/will provide some retail referral work for you if'n you are nice to them.

[mafsu]

If he says he's getting it for $20, he's probably getting it for $25. Remember your dealing with a used car salesman and this is the way most of them think. Always fishing for a better deal.

The best way I have found to counteract this behavior is to stand firm with your price($50 is too high for a large dealer, I'd go with $30 given the $20 he quoted you) and show confidence that it would be in his best interest to pay the extra money to improve the image of his used cars. Like Yvan said "You get what you pay for".

Be persistent, go back and see him in two weeks. Find out what day his guy comes by. If it's "Tuesday" go by on "Thursday". Check his used car lot before you go in. If there are any repairs let him know you can repair them for him since you are in the area on "Thursday". A lot of dealers will use two or even three guys to make sure they get the repairs done. Until they have one who does excellent repairs and shows up on the same day every week. As some one else said they want convenience. They want to know that on Saturday their cars are in tip top shape.

Don't be afraid of the small independent lots. Just have them pay you in cash, until you get to know they can be trusted to pay you. Most of them will expect to pay at the time of service. They will have a higher percentage of their cars that need repairs than the large dealership will. Be prepared to haggle price with them.

[GlassStarz]

obviosly experience makes things go quicker my example is for ideal situations he should know what to expect. 70k is realistic yearly income if you can get in the door with fleet and dealer work and round it of with some retail. Once a dealer knows your work you can increase you price a little. By the way north of the border $40 is a little under $28 green money. As far as fleet pricing the most expensive guy around who also does the lions share of dealership work around here gets $35 per car regardless of number of chips. This year I have done 35k at dealerships he used to service almost half my total yup hold on to your pricing cause when a guy shows up who does a equal quality job for less your customer wont switch ;>) With dealerships quality is important but price is a close second. I find the flat rate works best for me it doesnt give them a per car price to shop anyone who doesnt get that has a red nose

[repare-brise]

Aslight correction of Glasstarz, the exchange rate is better these last months $40 cdn = $33us, 5 bucks is 5 bucks!

Merci

[GFD77]

I did it...I went back to one of the fleet accounts whom I quoted a $50 price and told him I overpriced my work for fleet accounts, he agreed, then asked if I had time to do a repair for the price of $30 i agreed to the price, I told him to come back outside in 20-25 minutes, bullseye chip size of a nickel filled in first try went through the whole cycle, initially his partner came out to take a look and could not find it since he did not have any prior knowledge of where the chip was, that made me feel good, when the other owner came out he saw it and said and I quote" great job you have my business" i was happy as a pig in mud on a hot summer day......thanks to all for your great advice!!!!

[sunshine wr]

Nothing like persistance!

[jonnyques]

Here in the Falls (Ontario) I get $25 dealer and $40 retail. If I could get $300 for 7 jobs Id give up PDR LOL. Every area is different. Call around and find out what the retail price is. Use that as a bases to deturmine a wholesale price. Some dealers want quality, some want price. I try to give both! I charge ALL dealers the same price. That way when they are talking at the auction etc no one gets Pi$$ed at you because you charge him $5 more. Sure some will argue that quality should count for more. For me if I dont work I dont eat. Id rather do 4 repairs in an hour and put $100 in my pocket than pass on them because I want $40. How many people do you know can say they make $100 an hour? I just keep it in perspective... beats when I had to really work for a living! So back to you... if $20 is the price then charge $20 and show why your repairs are better than your competition. It might just win you the dealer. Great chance for you to get alot of NEEDED practice AND GET PAID! IF you screw one up...Learn from it... its a lot car that will go down the road. This will help you to NOT screw up that $50 retail job where if it, goes bad, the guy has your card! JMO

[maxryde]

W T G GFD77!! Your off and running with the dealers. Be sure to observe every thing that go's on around you on the lot's. Their is a lot to learn there when it comes to people.