Out of the Crisis.Org

[MattFMN]

I feel like we have a good topic going in Shop Management Topics forum under "Repair shop rescue from the kitchen?". The idea of researching your area for "holes" that your shop could fill came up. Now, how to go about it?

This is where I'm going with this:

Let's use my hometown of Red Wing, MN for example. Including the 3 domestic dealerships, there are 20 places to have repairs and services performed on your vehicle. Only 2 are dedicated "fast lubes" and one of those fast lubes does tires. There's one dedicated exhaust shop and one franchise shop. The rest are all independent repair facilities. Other than the dealerships, NONE of the repair shops service a limited line of vehicles. So basically whether you own a Chevy, Toyota, Kia, or BMW...all the shops will say they service them (I have serious issues with that). Other than the dealerships, only 2 shops own A factory scan tool. One has a Tech 2, the other has an NGS (no longer a true factory supported scan tool but the software it has is OE level). Say I want to resuscitate my business, or open a business. If I look at what I just typed, I'd be inclined to open an import specialty shop. I mean, there would be NO competition. But, I have some problems with that assumption. How do I find out what the market will support? I mean, should I just dive in and get factory tooling and training on Honda, Nissan, Toyota, VW, Kia? That's 4 brands right there. I see those cars being driven around...so, that would be a good move? What's stopping me from getting an SDS for M-B and a PTT and Autologic for BMW?

Now, here's where this forums collective experience and knowledge can help...so please don't hesitate to chime in. Is there a better way than just driving around and noting the nameplates on vehicles around town? How would you go about it? How much research can be done? Where would you go to study or get a study on what everyone is driving? Later, Matt.

_________________
Matt Fanslow
ASE CMAT/L1
Crag-Technologies, Inc
www.wavehook.com

[Bud]

Here is a start. Zip code 55066 has 839 business mailing addresses and 8,284 residential addresses. Total is 9,123 mailing addresses.

Say the average number of vehicles per address is 1.5, that means there are approximately 14,000 vehicles there. Probally more if you include surrounding areas.

What is the mix? If you knew the national average vehicle mix for a city of that size you could take a good guess. I don't have that info, maybe somebody else does.

But you don't need to work on 14,000 vehicles, each maybe 3 times a year, to make a good living. How many do you need???

hth

[Bud]

By the way, some States' DOT will sell you a list of owners by vehicle type: Hondas, Dodge, etc.

[Fred W]

Very good info unfortunately NJ does not

[Dave]

[Louis Altazan]

Hi Matt,

You have received a number of great replies, so I’ll address a few collateral issues. The things I considered when I built my present facility were these:

• I found people most often buy vehicle repair, either near where they live or near where they work. For me that was what I considered my primary market area. It’s not that they wont travel outside these areas for good reason, but getting them to do so goes against their nature, rather than with it.
  
  
• Neighborhoods change, I find on about a 20 year cycle. Pretty easy, it takes about twenty years to raise the kids. From their about twenty years to retire and so on. I decided to locate near a young family area, parents in there thirties, kids pre-teen. These folks are busy, approaching their prime earning years and will be here a while. As they move on their houses will still be new enough to attract an upper scale group of buyers?
  
  
• Within a one mile radius I have about twenty-five independents, fifteen-twenty franchises and about a dozen dealerships, not counting quick-lubes, etc. I have never seen competition as much of an issue, do business where business is being done. Look at a shopping mall for instance. Healthy competition keeps me on my toes.
  
  
• There are two primary ways to specialize, either along car lines or along service lines. For instance, a shop can specialize in Toyota and Honda or specialize in automatic transmissions or frame and alignment. I first chose to specialize along service lines. Become the very best there is at that and build the reputation for quality and dependability. From there, I found it quite easy to expand into other services as people trusted the name. Sort of like Honda moving from motor cycles to cars to small motors. It is quite easy to also specialize in certain vehicle lines at the same time.
  
  For instance we went from alignment/brake and chassis to cooling system/maintenance and electrical. From there we added A/C as we could do these on pretty much any vehicle that came in. This has the advantage of providing large numbers to get started. When we went to driveability, we limited it to GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda. We also service their affiliates, like Lexus, Acura and Mazda/Ford. This is about 75% of our total market. The other makes we still perform our other service for, just not drivablity.
  
  From there we added automatic transmissions, by buying and absorbing a transmission specialist. Currently we are adding diesel service on Cummins, Dura Max and Ford. Easy, because so many current clients own trucks to pull their travel trailers [maturing of the neighbor hood = maturing of our services.] We were already doing their alignments, tires, A/C, transmissions, etc. That’s enough for now, let me shut up and let others contribute.

_________________
Louis Altazan
Owner/Manager AGCO Automotive Corporation
Baton Rouge, LA

[Tom Ham]

[Bud]

Maybe it is just me, but I see market segmentation, which is what we really are discussing, more about the customer than about the car.

Medium income vs high, economical vs spendy, that sort of thing.

Around here the business to have is a muffler shop, that also does undercar repairs like brakes, alignment, whatever. No a/c, no driveability, nothing that requiers tons of factory scan tools (only generic), and no expensive master technicians (there is a great pool of less-skilled tech available).

They also stay busy doing alignments for all the small shops that don't have the equipment.

[MattFMN]

What are your areas like for Hybrid service? This seems to be a hot-bed issue on other sites as well as discussed during breaks at training seminars. Many shops are refusing to service them. How about you? I would say that a well equipped shop with some GOOD training already has the vast majority of pieces needed to tap this growing market. Later, Matt.

_________________
Matt Fanslow
ASE CMAT/L1
Crag-Technologies, Inc
www.wavehook.com

[Bud]

We don't see many hybrids in our shop, and our company sells the things.

So, how big of a market do you see it becoming in 5 years?

Good techs can learn anything, it is just a matter of benefit.

[MattFMN]

It is steadily growing now, and I don't see it ending. Whether people are trying to be "green" or save a little at the pump, they are becoming popular and the automakers are bringing out more and more. If you're not seeing them now, you will. Information, training, and equipment are extremely important. No one has been fatally injured to this date, but all it takes is slip of concentration and that could change. Don't fear them, don't fear them one bit...but respect them.

_________________
Matt Fanslow
ASE CMAT/L1
Crag-Technologies, Inc
www.wavehook.com