Recommendations for running a car service centre
Discipline, control, record keeping – the three fundamentals of a stable profitable business. If you want to get to the top of the best car repair shops in the city or even the country, you should always understand the information behind the three questions:
Discipline, control, accounting – the three fundamentals of sustainable profitability.
- what is going on?
- what will happen?
- when will it happen?
That is, you should always have a plan of tasks and those responsible for them. And you should understand the time frame for each task, the effort and resources involved.
Example: 8 cars come in for repair every day. It will take about 20 minutes to inspect the car and discuss upcoming routine work with the customer. In a day this would amount to 2 hrs. 40 min. With an eight-hour shift, the remaining 5 hours. 20 minutes can be devoted to other tasks.
If you want to maximise the occupancy of the workshop, spare the technician from other tasks. To calculate the maximum daily workload of the technician, subtract the possible downtime (e.g. 15%) from the working day and divide by the average customer contact time.
0.85 x 8 hrs./0.33 hrs. ≈ 20 vehicles
From the result of this calculation we conclude that if the master-receiver services 20 cars daily, he should not be assigned any other duties.
This way you can calculate the workload for any subordinate who is not directly involved in repairing and diagnosing cars.
So you can calculate the workload for any subordinate who is not directly involved in repairing and diagnosing cars.
Mechanic timekeeping rules
Priorities for calculations – efficiency and productivity of the service.
Allow you to calculate the workload for any subordinates who are not directly involved in vehicle repair and diagnostics.
Labour Efficiency – is the degree of labour efficiency at the lowest labour cost.
Productivity (or workload) – is a qualitative measure of a mechanic's use of labour time. To calculate it, divide the time spent working on orders by the mechanic's on-the-job time (excluding lunch breaks).
Productivity (or load) – is a qualitative measure of a mechanic's time utilisation.
This brings us to the first question: «What is going on? In our case, it involves controlling the productivity and efficiency of the mechanics.
The first question is what is happening?
If you haven't collected statistics yet, try to do so by calculating the necessary labour rates obtained over a short period of time, such as a month. Then you can build on the data and start to make adjustments.
If you haven't collected statistics yet, try doing so by calculating the necessary labour rates over a short period of time, such as a month.
The average productivity rate for an auto body shop is assumed to be around 65–75%, with a maximum of 110%.
When you have the figures you need, you can calculate the pay for your workforce and monitor its appropriateness.
After you have the figures you need, you can calculate the pay for your workforce and monitor its appropriateness.
Stability in this area of business depends not on the brands of cars served, but on the attachment of their owners to your car service. That's why service technicians who have a long list of loyal customers deserve financial rewards. Satisfying their personal ambitions will have a positive effect on your income.
General financial calculations
To predict the real financial condition of the enterprise, it is necessary to understand the values of fixed and variable costs.
Fixed costs – these are costs, the amount of which is fixed and does not depend on the volume of work performed (deductions for the rent of premises, amortisation of equipment, insurance, etc.).
Variable costs include those costs that vary depending on the increase/decrease in production (electricity, transport costs, etc.).
To effectively run a car service centre, you will need to know:
Variable costs- total costs (a combination of variable and fixed costs, the maximum ratio of which is 40/60);
- the cost of an hour of work of the service station.
To avoid downtime and long queues in the remzone, it is necessary to provide a car service station with a sufficient number of staff. In addition to the staff of car locksmiths, hire an administrator, a master-receiver, responsible for the selection and issuance of auto parts, sales assistant and cashier (if the service station has a sale of units, components, accessories and consumables for car maintenance). Naturally, before hiring, calculate the cost of maintaining this number of subordinates (salaries, incentives, etc.). If you don't invest in the budget, consider what positions a single staff member can combine and, based on that, build a team of specialists.
Quality Management
In this section of the article, we'll talk about tools to influence the production process and how to get feedback.
Among the influencing factors on the success or failure of a business we should emphasise «human» and secondly – not to forget about «technical».
- Organise a quality contact centre or person in charge of telephone communications. From the speed of response to the call and the content of the telephone conversation between the representative of the car service with a potential customer depends on his cooperation with you in the future. In order to keep records of the calls received and to understand their effectiveness, conversations should be recorded on audio tape or electronic media. Thanks to the subsequent analysis you can influence the number of real customers of your car service, eliminating errors and shortcomings of the relevant performers.
Another way to influence the efficiency of the car service centre is to survey customers after receiving repair and diagnostic work. For this purpose you can appoint a person responsible for distribution and processing of questionnaires (printed or electronic). It is better to submit a list of questions in a structured form with suggested answer options and a box for individual responses.
- In today's world, the usual newspaper adverts for car repairs will not be able to get a large customer base. Your car repair shop needs to be recognisable both visually and audibly. Conclusion: you need a well thought-out corporate identity – from the signboard, logo and slogan to overalls working staff. In its development, first of all, it is necessary to determine the target audience: age, occupation and other distinctive features.
In terms of advertising – billboards, partner recommendations of famous companies and showbiz persons, audio/video spots, promotions, branded cars will work well. Of course, when choosing a way to promote your car service centre, you should take into account its location, specifics and budget.
To ensure that your efforts and finances are successful, entrust the promotion of your car service to professional marketers, designers and PR specialists.
Don't be lazy to order a third-party audit of your car service 2-3 times a year. This way you will know the weaknesses of your business and will be able to address them in a timely manner, improving the quality of customer service and your own profits.
By doing so, you will be able to improve the quality of service you provide to your customers and your profits.
In order to provide quality services, we advise you to buy only quality equipment for shock absorber repair and other workshop equipment.
