My techs seem to be busy all day. Why are we barely keeping our heads above water?” If you’ve thought or said this out loud, you’re not alone. The rising costs associated with running an automotive shop these days are making it increasingly difficult to keep the doors open. But by regularly evaluating workflow practices, shops may find some ways to fight those shrinking profit margins.

As a shop owner, your goals include looking for ways to increase your business and, even more importantly, to secure repeat business. There is one way you can achieve both goals, of increasing and ensuring repeat business: add fleet vehicles to your customer base. What type of fleet vehicles? Well, how many businesses and organizations can you think of that have more than one vehicle? Limo companies, delivery vans and company service trucks are great examples. Other examples would include utilities like cable TV, plumbers, exterminators, non-profit organizations and courier services. And don’t forget taxi cab companies! All of those vehicles will need servicing at some point, including regular maintenance and repairs. Some organizations have their own shops to work on their vehicles but many rely on a good local shop. And that shop could be yours!

Remember when every go-fast part listed in a performance catalog was guaranteed to give you at least 10% – 15% more power? I used to think that if I could install just a few of those high-performance parts on my motor, I could boost my horsepower by 40% or more! So I did … but it didn’t work. I later discovered the reason why — only a matched combination of the right carburetor, headers, intake manifold and cam, would give me the increase in horsepower and torque I was expecting.

I was talking with the owner of a fairly successful shop in Boston the other day. He told me that, although his technicians’ productivity is above average, they still seem to have problems making flat rate on diagnostics. The shop has all the latest test equipment, plenty of diagnostic and repair information and well-trained techs. He asked, “What the heck are we missing?”

The new year is a time for reflection—what went right last year, what we want to change for this year, and just generally figuring out how to have a successful and satisfying year. For businesses, annual budgets are usually planned, discussed and finalized before the new year arrives. A key part of this planning process is evaluating your current tools and technologies, including your diagnostic and shop management resources, and determining what best fits your shop’s needs. If you haven’t started yet, now is a good time.

When your techs are on the clock and the customer is waiting for her car, they need answers and they need them NOW! ALLDATA^® Community^SM is the solution!

ALLDATA Community is an interactive, time-saving tool that puts your technician in touch with thousands of other repair professionals for answers to difficult diagnostic and repair questions. But that’s not all! A team of ALLDATA ASE Certified Master Technicians monitors Community and will jump in with answers to unresolved questions to help get that vehicle back on the road quickly.

Worried about your shop while you’re at SEMA or anywhere else outside of your shop? If you had ALLDATA Manage^® Online, you could keep tabs on what’s happening right from your laptop, no matter where you are. You thought you knew what a good shop management system was? Forget it! ALLDATA Manage Online puts you in control 24/7. ALLDATA Manage Online is browser based and can be accessed from anywhere, at any time to streamline workflow and increase shop productivity. ALLDATA Manage Online is designed with features to help you better manage the overall customer experience and enhance customer retention.

The way technology is evolving, it’s a good idea to stay informed of what the manufacturers are bringing to market each year. And for those hard-to-diagnose problems, give ALLDATA^® Community^SM a try. Select the Community link located on your ALLDATA^® Collision S3500^SM or ALLDATA Repair home page. A team of highly-skilled, in-house ASE Master Technicians and thousands of ALLDATA shops are there to help you make confident repairs and get vehicles back to their owners quickly. Here is just one of many helpful verified repairs…

Why should you care about statistics and business trends? Because you don’t want surprises! When trends indicate the economy may be slowing, you want to take steps to ensure your customers will keep coming back. Or, trends may alert you that it’s time to think about hiring another technician or to upgrade shop equipment. Well-informed shop owners who fully understand the industry are better equipped to handle economic swings, stay connected with customers and prepare for change.

The Jeep^® was a recognizable symbol of American fighting forces in World War II, just as the “Huey” helicopter was an iconic symbol of Vietnam.

Just about anyone who cares about machines on wheels – and that should include everyone reading this – has probably heard that the name Jeep was derived from the initials, G.P., initials for “general purpose.” That explanation has been repeated so many times that hardly anyone questions it.

Elk Grove, California – March 26, 2014 – ALLDATA LLC, the leading provider of manufacturers’ automotive repair information and solutions for the professional automotive service and collision repair industries, has enhanced its core products, ALLDATA Repair S3000 and ALLDATA Collision S3500 with a VIN Decoder.

Elk Grove, California – October 28, 2013 – ALLDATA LLC, the leading provider of manufacturers’ automotive repair information and solutions for professional automotive service and collision repair shops, has entered into a strategic agreement with MAM Software to launch ALLDATA^® Manage^® Online, an innovative cloud-based shop management system.

Some drivers have been leading their vehicles to the gas pump, but can’t seem to make the thirsty cars drink. Several 2004-2009 Chrysler^® Group models are known to be hard to fill with fuel. Sometimes the fuel nozzle shuts off repeatedly. This problem may have a number of different causes, the fuel tank being least likely. There’s no need to waste time exploring the issue, when a path to a solution may already be at hand. This technical service bulletin issued by Chrysler offers a diagnostic procedure to help quickly diagnose and repair the condition.

“ALLDATA Mobile is not a tablet enabled website,” commented Paul Marshall, Mobile Product Developer. “In other words, we’ve developed a true Mobile App. The only Mobile App for OE Repair Information in the industry.”

Diesels have historically had an image problem. They’ve been known to be smelly, slow, and polluters of the air. But when the smoke clears, the truth is that the modern diesel can be clean (and still be powerful). Cleaning up diesel’s act needed some help… help that came in the form of diesel exhaust aftertreatment systems.

Elk Grove, California – December 19, 2013 – ALLDATA LLC, the leading provider of manufacturers’ automotive repair information and solutions for professional automotive service and collision repair shops, has launched its cloud-based shop management system, ALLDATA^® Manage^TM Online.

There are a lot of older cars on the road, and you probably see your share of them in your shop. While you may expect to see leaky hoses on higher mileage vehicles, sometimes the cause

is not so obvious. Diagnosing a problem takes time – time that translates to money out of your customers’ wallets. That’s where OE repair procedures and technical service bulletins (TSBs) come in.

Say that you decide to restore a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham 365 Tri-Power with the special air suspension system, a rare car even in its day. Where would you get the information to repair this magnificent, tail-finned beast?

Keeping your technicians up-to-date with the latest technology is obviously a good investment. Well-trained techs mean fewer come-backs, faster repairs and happier customers and this means more cash in the register.  But what about your front counter? A lack of training here can create a silent erosion of your customer base and revenue you may not be aware of.