AUTO REPAIR SHOPS
Why Your Garage Is Busy but Not Making Money
Four cars are in the bays and two more are waiting outside. By evening three cars are unfinished because a part has not arrived. One customer is calling about an estimate that was never confirmed. You are busy, but the day does not add up.
We help garage owners run the shop by the job card: estimate approval, bay time, parts ordering, mechanic roles and a daily pending-vehicle list. We do not advise on mechanical diagnosis, vehicle safety or warranty terms. Your technicians and the vehicle maker decide those.
Discuss your priorities ↗COMMON CHALLENGES
The pressures
we often see.
- 01Estimates are given verbally and approved by phone, so disputes at delivery over what was agreed are common and the shop usually absorbs the difference.
- 02Vehicles occupy bays for days waiting on a part or a customer reply, and the owner counts them as work in hand when the bay earns nothing.
- 03Senior mechanics take on the difficult jobs and the helpers are idle or rushed, so the bay hours are used unevenly across the team.
- 04Parts are bought from the nearest supplier at whatever price is quoted, and markup is not set, so margins differ between similar jobs.
- 05Customers are not told when their vehicle will be ready, so the front desk spends the day on calls instead of on checking jobs.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01Job card contents: complaint, estimate, approval date and who approved, parts, labour and delivery promise
- 02Bay-hours used versus bay-hours available per day, and how many vehicles waited on parts or approvals
- 03Parts markup policy by category, and supplier price comparison for the ten most common parts
- 04Labour rate by job type, checked against the actual hours a mechanic took
- 05Mechanic roles and pay structure, and who handles first diagnosis, repair and final check
- 06Vehicles pending more than two days, with the reason and the call to the customer
- 07Return jobs, where a vehicle came back for the same complaint, and what the cause was
- 08Weekly numbers: vehicles delivered, revenue per bay and parts cost as a share of billing
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- At the end of today, list every vehicle on the premises with the reason it is not delivered. Group the reasons into waiting for parts, approvals, mechanic time and payment. Do the same tomorrow.
- Hypothetical example: on one day, 8 vehicles occupy 5 bays. Three are waiting on parts, two on customer approval. Only three bays earned money. Calling the approvals first frees two bays by evening.
- Pick the ten parts you buy most often. Ask two suppliers for their price on each and compare it with what you paid last month.
A PRACTICAL ENGAGEMENT
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
We begin by understanding how your business runs today, find the gaps, and agree the scope in writing. Recommendations are shaped around your team, your resources and your goals.
- A job card format with written estimate approval and delivery promise fields
- A daily pending-vehicle board and a morning ten-minute stand-up routine
- A parts markup sheet and supplier comparison for common jobs
- A role chart for mechanics, helpers and the front desk, plus a weekly one-page owner review
Not the right fit when: Skip this for now if you face a vehicle safety dispute, a warranty claim against the maker or a labour case. A lawyer or specialist should handle those.
Explore a business audit ↗LET’S MOVE YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
