Transcript
Aniz Lavji: Welcome everyone to another episode of the Shop and Tread Talk podcast. We've got a familiar face with the clock. Oh, the clock is back.
Frank Wiebe: The clock is there.
Aniz Lavji: We've got Mr. Frank from 3D Auto, the famous shop in Aylmer, Ontario.
Frank Wiebe: That's right. That's right.
Frank Wiebe: That's right. But you won't recognize me. got a sunburn today. like i got a sunburn yesterday. A little bit red. was at a car show all day.
Aniz Lavji: I... so I was going to mention to Frank, we should get Margarita on for today's, but i think she's out shaking hands because she's ready running for president, is it?
Frank Wiebe: yeah Yeah, yeah, she's going to be president one day.
Aniz Lavji: Just about.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, she's, uh, I think she's yabbing with her friend, but yeah, she is, uh, she is running for council, but, uh, I'm not, i don't know what I'm allowed to say, what I'm not allowed to say about that, but I do know that she's running for council and, uh,
Aniz Lavji: amazing.
Aniz Lavji: What? We'll leave it with the, if you want to make changes in your community, you know, start with yourself if you're able to. How's that?
Frank Wiebe: That's right. Yeah, absolutely.
Aniz Lavji: <unk> We'll leave it with that and then be the change.
Frank Wiebe: yeah Be the change. Be the change.
Aniz Lavji: And then when Frank and Margarita can talk more about it, we'd love to hear more about it. But yeah, like that.
Frank Wiebe: ah just
Aniz Lavji: Be the change.
Frank Wiebe: I just don't know squat about politics, right? Like there's so many politics about what they're allowed to do and not allowed to do when they're campaigning.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: And it's like, oh my gosh.
Aniz Lavji: So Frank and I were talking, you know, for a topic.
Frank Wiebe: Okay.
Aniz Lavji: And I mean, you know we can both gab and talk for hours at a time about nothing. But, you know, we had one one important topic, I think, today that I really want to talk about because maybe I even need a refresher.
Aniz Lavji: i mean, I've been using my software for a while, and sometimes I kind of fall off the boat when it comes to process. And, you without process, you got nothing. Um, so we're we were, want to kind of go over each of our process, kind of when our customer finds us online or if they're a referral, they phone us. And basically from the moment we talk to them till, um,
Aniz Lavji: you know, we, you know, we fixed their car, hopefully fixed their car and give them the key back in their hands. So I think it's, I think it's important because not everybody unfortunately has this process.
Frank Wiebe: that
Aniz Lavji: I mean, some, some people's process, maybe they get the phone call, And they say, yep, come on in. And, you know, they basically have the customer sitting there. And while the customer is sitting there, they go and check over the car, write down a piece of paper and say, yep, this is what's wrong with your vehicle. And again, the process for stuff like this, the way the the industry is now, everything's very automated, computerized and,
Aniz Lavji: Depending on your customer, you know they may want to actually see a proper estimate. They may want to know kind of what quality of parts you're putting in, not just, well, you know you need front brakes, it's going to be $250 for cheapies, or it's going to be $600 for premium. I mean, our customers, at least my customers, and I'm sure Frank's customers, they want to know kind of what's going on in their vehicle, what kind of parts you're putting in.
Aniz Lavji: you know The days of the white box $16 rotors and in my area, at least, those are gone. and People don't want that stuff.
Frank Wiebe: That used to be such a thing back in the day when I was working at the used car dealership, like everything got put on as a white box, like the the lowest brand.
Aniz Lavji: Yep. Okay.
Frank Wiebe: And then it then it evolved into that he was selling some of that stuff to the customers. And I'm like, why are you doing this to the customers? Well, they want a cheap part.
Frank Wiebe: I'm like, okay.
Aniz Lavji: But you're technically selling it to the customer anyways, because you're putting it on the used car.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, exactly. Right.
Aniz Lavji: Right?
Frank Wiebe: but
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: But then then that then his mentality always was, well, like,
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: as long as it gets it out the door and it's a cheap part and it works, then it's okay. Like, yeah, but what if they come back in six months? Yeah, but it's got a year warranty. Sure. But what if they come back in six months?
Frank Wiebe: Then I made that decision when we opened our shop. I'm like, we're not going to be putting inferior parts on. We, we tried one brand for a while cause it actually had good ratings, good reviews.
Frank Wiebe: And, um, And it it did well. Like, it was a good price point. It was okay. But then then the comeback started coming. It was, I think, just over a year.
Frank Wiebe: And we started to have comeback after comeback.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: So then I talked to the rep.
Aniz Lavji: And they're out of warranty.
Frank Wiebe: And I'm like like, what the heck is with these comebacks? And he's like, oh, i don't I don't know what you're talking about. so
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: So, like, they have two different lines, right? They have this line and this line. And he says, well, we sell... This much of this one and this much of this one, but percentage wise, the return is about 10% of each line.
Frank Wiebe: So it doesn't matter.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: Even though this one is 10 times higher than this one, it's a 10%. So they're okay with that. And I'm like, I'm not okay with that. So forget that. So we go to this one.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: But like customers, customers rarely ever ask us anymore. What about, what about a cheaper part? What about white blocks?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Because we've trained them. We've conditioned them and said, look, it's just not worth it.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: we don't want to see you We don't want to see you come back in a year to replace that exact same part again, even though it's got warranty.
Aniz Lavji: Well,
Aniz Lavji: yeah, it's like,
Frank Wiebe: We don't.
Aniz Lavji: It's not really, you know, a lot of times from from my experience now is they're not really asking, like, if it's a cheap part or not. It all comes down to the end number.
Aniz Lavji: Like, what is this whole process going to cost me?
Frank Wiebe: Yes.
Aniz Lavji: They're not asking whether you put a $19 rotor on there or a $97 rotor or $167 rotor for them. It doesn't matter. They just want to know like, okay, I need front brakes. What is the total?
Aniz Lavji: How much is it going to cost me?
Frank Wiebe: Right.
Aniz Lavji: Is it going to cost with me 650 bucks?
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. that
Aniz Lavji: And that's what you're saying. Okay. that Is that the best you can do or, and then they may, wonder or ask a few extra questions like why is it this much and then you can kind of tell them from there like hey you know what we're putting premium platinum rotors and the best pads and if you want something a little bit cheaper you're going to save 80 bucks and nine times out ten they're like you know what just put the good stuff on there because the labor is the same i tell my customers the labor is the same whether i put this 20 brake pad or 120 brake pad
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Labor doesn't change on the quality of the park.
Aniz Lavji: They go in this, well, I shouldn't say they go in the same because depending on where they're punched out of, they don't go in the same. But the labor to try and get the brake pad seated is the same.
Frank Wiebe: What kind of hardware they have in them.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, that's right.
Aniz Lavji: So, you know, you're better off. It's in your better interest, your best interest to put on a good part. And then you don't have see me as often for brakes.
Frank Wiebe: exactly
Aniz Lavji: It's good for you, bad for me to put on a good part.
Frank Wiebe: We had a customer come in today and he needed a muffler and he just said, he said the only request he had, well, he wanted to know how much it was going to be, but he didn't want a stainless steel muffler. So he already knew that a stainless steel muffler was going to cost him more money. So he must've, he must've done his research or whatever.
Frank Wiebe: So he just said, I'm like, okay, well, there's only one brand of muffler we can put on. So i had, I had the service writer look up this, whatever i muffler. And I always have to direct them on the exhaust because exhaust is a little bit peculiar that way.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: And I grew up in the muffler shop, so I understand it.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: So whenever it comes to exhaust, I just get her direct them a little bit and they're learning.
Aniz Lavji: yeah
Frank Wiebe: So they're getting better. But anyway, I just told her, like, just look up from this supplier, a muffler, and that's what you quote them. And then then once you had the quote, he was there. Yep. Go ahead and do it. Ordered it in, got it done.
Frank Wiebe: But that was a situation where, like, It's the same quality of muffler, essentially, but really one's going to last two years and one's going to last 10 years.
Frank Wiebe: So that's a choice he made. But I think that in the aspect of what his car was, he didn't want to spend the extra money for the 10-year. But, you know, that's what do you do.
Aniz Lavji: We go.
Frank Wiebe: So you can't change that.
Aniz Lavji: It's, No, it's tough. I mean, what we've been noticing, i was even telling you for the past couple of weeks, certain cars that we usually get approvals on every time because, you know, we're kind of the only place that'll fix this particular vehicle. And we're getting a lot of people declining. Like on Saturday, we had we had a Tesla come in with the lower lateral link.
Aniz Lavji: You can literally... with you Put your hand on it just pull on it. And the top of the ball joint in there was literally moving up and down with barely any pressure.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: And, you know.
Frank Wiebe: Well, it's getting harder out there for customers.
Aniz Lavji: All
Frank Wiebe: I tell customers and i maybe I shouldn't be so vocal about it, but I feel bad for them.
Aniz Lavji: right.
Frank Wiebe: I was with a friend of mine today and I said, if I was on the other side of the counter, i feel I'd feel heartened because I'd be like, I can't do this. I can't afford this.
Frank Wiebe: i And I understand that the times are tough and the money's tight and all that stuff. And if they're on the other side of that counter, it's tough. Hence why it's a good thing I'm not in the office because I'd have such a soft heart.
Frank Wiebe: and I'd be like, yeah, I'm okay giving a discount or something like that, but my pockets are only so deep, so I can't do that.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: So that's why I just stay in the shop and fix the cars and let the girls and David deal with the office so that they present it, present it professionally, give them the quote, say, this is what's wrong.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: This is what we found in that. So back to your, your thing about how the process is, right? Like,
Aniz Lavji: It's so important.
Frank Wiebe: it's a It's a very basic, simple process. Customer comes in with their complaint. They have either their call or they come in. And you, just like everyone else, you bring it in. Test drive. Test drive is important, especially if somebody, had a customer today ask me, so did you test drive it after you did the brakes and tires?
Frank Wiebe: I'm like, yes, of course I test drove your vehicle.
Aniz Lavji: Of course he did. Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Like I would never put brakes or tires on a vehicle. I would never have a tire off and put it back on. and not do a test drive. But especially since it was a vibration concern um in brakes and tires, yeah, I'm going test drive it after.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. if feel Especially if it's like a concern like that, it's getting test driven for sure.
Frank Wiebe: Oh, absolutely. So test drive test drive before, bring it in, verify the complaint, make a list, quote it.
Aniz Lavji: It's quality control.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. i've i've I've made the mistake, like a few times I've i've caught that I haven't test drove it after. And, and the texts, the guys, they, they're maybe not aware of a certain concern or whatever, even though it's written down in tech metric.
Frank Wiebe: I, I feel like it's a little bit off the rails here, but I feel like we're going to get to a point where I've heard a lot of guys talk about, I think Zeb was saying this in one of his podcasts. He's got one guy that does just DVIs.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, he does.
Frank Wiebe: So, okay. So, That's probably where I'm going to have to get to is where I just do the DVI, test drive it, inspect it, DVI, send it off for the repair.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: After the repair, I drive it again. right like like i see the I see the value in having one person do that.
Aniz Lavji: So. Huge value, man.
Frank Wiebe: One person that that diagnoses the complaint, sends it off for repair.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: Once it's repaired, drives it to verify the complaint. I see that and I think I would love to be able to get to that point or if I could train somebody to do that.
Aniz Lavji: Yep. So that's
Frank Wiebe: But the thing is, how do you train somebody to be, have that knack, right?
Aniz Lavji: you.
Frank Wiebe: To have that understanding of it. Like I'll get in the vehicle, I'll drive a vehicle and within 30 seconds, I'll be able to tell you if it's a if it's a tire breaker wheel bearing noise, right?
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: How's that? that
Frank Wiebe: i've had I had a customer that one day, the same one that we fixed today, actually, we diagnosed it last week. And he's like, oh, it can't be the tires. It can't be the tires because I put my winter tires on and it does the same thing.
Aniz Lavji: yeah. Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: And I said, okay, well, the problem is you have two different concerns that we have to deal with here. We have a brake vibration, ah a heavy pulsating of front and rear brakes, both.
Frank Wiebe: And you have a tire old vibration. I said, I would bet all the money in my wallet right now that that's a tire vibration. Well, he didn't take me up on it, but if he had, I would have been richer, right? Because of it.
Frank Wiebe: But anyways, his left front tire had a separated belt and the cords were showing. Like I knew that just driving it. But if you don't if you don't know that, you haven't learned that or you don't have that knack to understand that, that would make that hard.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. So I'm i am basically that guy when it comes to all the Tesla's. We've we fixed so many of them that, and I drive one, so I know how it should drive.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: So I'll drive pretty much
Frank Wiebe: Automatically how it should drive automatically. Let's just get that out there. We saw a guy the other day on the 401 Texting Cars driving I was so tempted I was so tempted to in front of him and hit the brakes just like that and the guy would have smacked his nose on the steering wheel I Would have laughed my ass off anyway back to your story
Aniz Lavji: automatically.
Aniz Lavji: Oh yeah. yeah oha
Aniz Lavji: But, but, you know, I drive most of them because, you know, I don't have a crazy amount of people working in the shop. Right. So David, our our tech that works on them all the time,
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: you know Basically, I'll go and drive the car and I'll be like, you know what, David, this one needs a left front upper control arm. You can hear it squeaking. And then I can hear noise going over bumps. Probably needs lateral links, compliance links, and wheelbarrow.
Aniz Lavji: And he'll put it up and be like, yep, yep, yep, peppp yep yep. And it also needs this and this. But... Again, I'm not a tech, but with those vehicles, i've I know enough to do at least some of the hard work.
Frank Wiebe: The preliminary.
Aniz Lavji: And I'm i'm using air quotes, hard work ah for my tech.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: So that way it's just less for him to get into. Because again, like the the the guys or women that are doing the hardest work are the techs. It ain't the people in the front office, in my opinion.
Aniz Lavji: you know
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: In the front office, we're sitting there in AC making work orders and on the phone. I mean, the techs are you know in the back wrenching. And if I can make their life a little bit easier by doing a test drive and kind of giving them the lowdown, like, hey, look, this is what I'm very positive is wrong with it.
Aniz Lavji: they can They can verify it. We can send off the estimate and they can go back to another vehicle while the customer is looking at it. Right. So it's it's workflow, right?
Frank Wiebe: uh yeah very often my day would be so so much easier if i had somebody that would just drive a vehicle in and out of the shop for me like if i could if i could hire a junior man that wasn't going to hit something with a car run into something and destroy something i would literally have him just bring a vehicle in
Aniz Lavji: Workflow.
Aniz Lavji: Racket.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Well, that that i rate that I usually get.
Aniz Lavji: Right this.
Frank Wiebe: I rarely bend down and put something hoist anymore. um but I drive it in. I'm like, put this on a hoist.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, but I'm saying, like, if black person if that person you're just talking about that came, you know, they drive it and then they racked it for you, it shook the rear of it, it's not falling off, you know, got it up in the air and say, okay, Frank, you know, hoist two is ready for you.
Frank Wiebe: That's the first thing I teach my co-op to Right.
Aniz Lavji: Bam. You go in, you check it it out.
Frank Wiebe: Right.
Aniz Lavji: And, you know, you can tell him, okay, you know, John Smith, go ahead pull the wheels on it. I'll be right back. And you go, because you've got another car that you can work on. And by the time you get back, he's like, okay, I pulled the wheels. By the way, there's, i noticed this, this, and this.
Aniz Lavji: And again, you didn't ask him, but since he noticed it, now it's in your mind, i better check it. So he's doing stuff for you without you even asking and saving you time, right?
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Because that's that's what we're trying to get more of every day.
Frank Wiebe: Well, then the beauty of it is that if you have TechMetric and everyone's logged into their different perspective, they can pull it up and add it into the DVI real quick and then it's already there.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Oh, for sure.
Frank Wiebe: So you don't even have to think about it afterwards.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: But that's that's a beauty. if i had If I had five bays or six bays or something like that, I'd be doing that. I'd line them up in, check it out, go fix that. Check it out, go fix that. Check it out, go fix that. right That's what I'd be doing.
Frank Wiebe: But I mean, that works that works in a perfect world.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. Like, a
Frank Wiebe: and and then And then you could like check it out and send it off to the ah advisor and then they could quote it, send the customer.
Aniz Lavji: yep.
Frank Wiebe: And when it comes back, then go to repair, right?
Aniz Lavji: Sure.
Frank Wiebe: Like, you know, get in that process going.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: But it doesn't always work out in this world, right? Like.
Aniz Lavji: No, my right now, you know, the process on my end, again, you know, I'm the one that writes all the service and everything. So, you the customer calls from wherever. And the first thing I asked them is, you know, how can we help? Right.
Aniz Lavji: And not, yeah, you want to bring it in now? It's like, no, how can we help? What do you need? What do you need us to help you with?
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Because at the end of the day, we're there to help. we're not We are there to make money and profits is not a dirty word. But you know I always try to say, how can we help? Because that's really what they're calling for. They're calling for help.
Aniz Lavji: So we, I mean, instead of saying, yeah, well like what like I've heard some people say, hey, yep.
Frank Wiebe: yeah you're Yeah, definitely.
Aniz Lavji: All right. Sorry. Yeah. What do you need? Jeez. I didn't call asking for a freaking lawnmower. Like my car is broken down.
Frank Wiebe: I'm always like, I'm like, what can we do for you today?
Aniz Lavji: Like need help.
Frank Wiebe: That's that's what I generally would say, yeah.
Aniz Lavji: That's perfect. but But when someone answers the phone, like if you called and you know you needed to get something fixed and the guy answers, hey, yeah, all right, yeah, what do you need?
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: what
Frank Wiebe: that's
Aniz Lavji: Click.
Frank Wiebe: That's like that's like when i when I call the shop, like if I'm on the road or something i call the shop and David answers, he's like, hey, what's up?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: And I'm like, I know he doesn't answer the phone like that when a customer calls, but it always throws me off when he says that to me. And I'm like, i like okay, i guess's it's cool or right whatever, but I have a very strict policy that they have to say, hello.
Frank Wiebe: What the heck did they say? Or like, yeah, hello, 3D Auto, this is Margarita speaking, or Jaden or David, right?
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: So they introduce themselves, so they know who who they're speaking to.
Aniz Lavji: That's important because when the guy calls back or the woman calls back, i was talking to Frank or was talking to a Margarita because you said...
Frank Wiebe: Oh, it's very in important.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Well, I had and someone the other day drop a vehicle off, and I was just ah happened to be out in the parking lot.
Aniz Lavji: me
Frank Wiebe: And if i'm if I'm walking through the parking lot, and customers come, and they're like, oh, here's the keys. And I'm like, nope. I don't touch keys. You have to bring them into the office.
Aniz Lavji: Just tell me you how to drive.
Frank Wiebe: Well, I was just talking you on the phone. I'm like, no, you weren't talking to me. You were talking to David.
Aniz Lavji: So say, Frank, just say you don't have a license.
Frank Wiebe: So,
Aniz Lavji: You only have a license to fix the cars, not to drive them.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, right. Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: All
Frank Wiebe: No, i i always tell them that I lose keys. I'm not allowed to have keys because I lose them. So it was funny the other day, a guy it in the in the driveway says, oh, here's the keys.
Aniz Lavji: right.
Frank Wiebe: I said, no, you have to give them to the office. So he goes in and talks to Margarita. And then I just happen to be walking in too, right? So he comes in this way. I come in the back way. And Margarita's like, oh here's the talk here's the keys. So she hands me the keys. And he's like, oh, you are allowed to take the keys. And I said, only after they have a tag on them.
Frank Wiebe: so So they brought in, gave it to her, checked in, right, because not everyone's checked in They know you're there, blah, blah.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: The key is tagged. Now we're all good.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: ah He chuckled about it. He thought it was funny. But I tell customers, I'm like, hey, look, I don't take i don't take keys in the parking lot. i used to, but I won't anymore.
Aniz Lavji: yeah It's.
Frank Wiebe: Customer comes in, nope.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: you You don't take keys in a parking lot. You go in the office. you You check in at the office. You announce that you're there. You let them know so they can start the process. They can tag your keys. they can They can check your information, make sure the DVI is started, make sure all that.
Frank Wiebe: Then they'll hand the keys. We'll usually hang them on the rack, and then we'll grab them from the rack and go from there, right? if we don't If we don't do those steps, something gets lost.
Aniz Lavji: Frank, in yep.
Frank Wiebe: Like the other day, that one step got missed. The customer, customer A, didn't come in.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: Pulled up in the front of the shop and just sat in their vehicle and waited. I'm doing my work. I'm doing my work. And all of a sudden, I'm like, when are we working on that vehicle? And Margarita's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, he's been sitting out there for 15 minutes. And she's like, i guess when he wants his car fixed, he'll come inside.
Aniz Lavji: Oh my God.
Frank Wiebe: i It was an older gentleman. He's got some health issues. So eventually I walked out and I'm like, okay, we're here. you know and then we took the service and did the job.
Frank Wiebe: But special clients get special privileges, I guess.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: Maybe that's one way to say it. Maybe that shouldn't be a thing, but.
Aniz Lavji: You know, one thing which I, you know, in now that I'm about to say it, I really need to implement it because I did learn it at the greatest um expo there is coming up in North Carolina, the ASDA expo.
Frank Wiebe: Let's go.
Aniz Lavji: So key tag, really simple. Do do you use key tag on tech metric?
Frank Wiebe: What?
Aniz Lavji: Okay, you might like this.
Frank Wiebe: I guess not.
Aniz Lavji: so So there's a key tag feature where it's such a good idea, and I don't know why the hell I don't use it. So, you know, sometimes you'll finish with one of your Chevy Cruises, and you've got, you know, 76 of them, right?
Frank Wiebe: I do actually.
Aniz Lavji: and you're and and And you're like, where is this car, right? Like, realistically, or any car, you're like, but where'd you park it? So on each vehicle, you go under key tag.
Aniz Lavji: It's right in the... uh, if you go into your RO and you go under the RO number, it'll say like time in, um, save parts, no marketing source, appointment, uh, option. Then it goes RO notes. When you click add, there's a spot that says key tag on there and you can actually enter in,
Aniz Lavji: um you know, front lot, left side, or front parking, or back parking, or side parking.
Frank Wiebe: Oh, like that. Okay.
Aniz Lavji: so So whenever that car is done, you can write like in would be like, okay, it was dropped off in the front parking, right?
Frank Wiebe: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: Because you can ask the customer, where'd you park your car in the front?
Frank Wiebe: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: and And then you can write on there slash out, and you can put back lot. So imagine if you never had to go look for a car, you look on the r RO and you know that that car coming in is parked, you know off to the left or, and when you're done with the vehicle, you know where, youre like after you're done parking it, you park it and you go back in the RO or you tell Margarita, like, Hey, you know, RO2659 is right.
Frank Wiebe: like I could see that being very beneficial if you have a large... like My friend was telling me he worked when he worked out a dealership, he said it would take sometimes 10 minutes to go and find a vehicle and bring it into the shop.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. But sometimes you do have quite a few cars on your a lot.
Frank Wiebe: and I'm like...
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, but it's all it's all within like an L-shaped role. You walk out in the parking lot and you do a 360 and you're pretty much going to find it. right
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Unless it's parked outside the gate, which... It happens every once in a while.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: But.
Aniz Lavji: I'm going to start using it more because like sometimes, like you've been in my shop, I've got the front parking and then I've got the side parking and then I've got like
Frank Wiebe: You
Aniz Lavji: 10 spots across from the garages. And then I've got another more space behind it where people sometimes park. So like it it's difficult.
Frank Wiebe: know, if you're going to go to that extreme, why don't you number each parking spot?
Aniz Lavji: I could. Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Like if you're going to, if you're going go to that extreme, if you, if you have lines, I don't know if, I can't remember if there's lines, but
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. They're kind of still there. Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: yeah, if you, if you had the lines painted at each number, each part spot numbered, that would be a fantastic idea.
Aniz Lavji: But you'd have to um you have to redo those lines very often, every year, every year, year and a half.
Frank Wiebe: No, I don't think so. If you get good quality paint, like look at the road. If you had the same yellow paint that they have on the yellow line on the road, that lasts for years.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. Got to get the right company.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, well, the crap that they spray on just in the parking lot is no good. But that, I mean, yeah, i if I had a large parking lot, I would 100% do that. every single Every single one would be numbered.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: And then then when you go park it, this is number 24. You could even write it on the T tag and then go ahead and they could enter it in. And then when they give it back to the customer, they could say, oh, your vehicle is parked in parking spot number 24 so they don't have to go and look for it.
Aniz Lavji: Exactly.
Frank Wiebe: Oh, hey, Anise Jr.
Aniz Lavji: Charlie. this is This is my, I guess my firstborn you can call it because he was here before all the kids.
Frank Wiebe: Ha, ha, ha.
Aniz Lavji: So for for anyone that's listening, I just got my dog with me. And he's a good boy.
Frank Wiebe: nice
Aniz Lavji: But, you know, a little things like that. Yeah, and I agree. If you have a big lot, and I'm not saying my lot's big, it's not. But the way that my place is kind of situated, it could come in handy even just the extra second to write down on the key tag that, you know, vehicles here, are vehicles there, right?
Frank Wiebe: yeah it's a little different yep right
Aniz Lavji: but But, you know, little little golden nuggets, I call them. This is what you learn at these trade shows. And, again, in Canada, you know, most of our shops and people that we know, they don't have these big old lots like they do in the States. You talk to all these guys that have, you know, how many cars can you fit on your place? Oh, you know, not many, 80. Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: wolf
Frank Wiebe: Eighty.
Aniz Lavji: yeah And they've got 10 bays and 15 bays and stuff like that. So it's it's geared...
Frank Wiebe: I've currently probably got I've probably got 30 cars in my lot right now. And room for a good 10 more.
Aniz Lavji: So, I mean, really you could use that key tag feature.
Frank Wiebe: So that's.
Aniz Lavji: Cause I mean, if, if they're mostly in the back lot, you could write first row, second row, third row. Right. And if you're trying to find that car quickly, if it's on the key tag, you're not going to be wasting time. Right.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Well, after next month, when we get rid of some cars, we got we got a few cars there that we're going to run through the demolition derby. So after they're after they're gone, we want to revamp our parking lot and change the layout of it.
Aniz Lavji: Oh, yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Crap, do you still need cars for that? Because I had a customer, i think they just got rid of their Corolla.
Frank Wiebe: Oh, that would been perfect car for it.
Aniz Lavji: Literally last week.
Frank Wiebe: Odd. Dude, anytime that you have something four-cylinder like that and somebody is is wanting to trade it in or something, like let me know. I'll come out and get it because those are perfect cards for them.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, he just got rid of it because it ah What did it need? I can't remember. It needed did something crazy. But yeah, I'll tell you next time for sure.
Frank Wiebe: Yep. Those are good. I've got Honda Fit, a Volkswagen Jetta, Two Chevy Impalas, as long as they're going to let me run. I think I run the V6 in the four-cylinder class.
Aniz Lavji: what When is this demolition derby?
Frank Wiebe: Two Chevy Impalas. second weekend in August, usually. So it'll be a friday Friday night when we're going to run in the banger race.
Aniz Lavji: In Elmer?
Frank Wiebe: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, to text me the details. ill I'll see if I can come out there. That'll we' be a lot of fun.
Frank Wiebe: That'd be cool. I've, I've got, like I said, I've got four, four cars. If, and then, you know, a caravan, if they'll let me run a caravan, you know, two. and then we still got our Honda from last year. So we might even have five or six cars if we can get them already.
Aniz Lavji: Wow.
Frank Wiebe: And, and then, uh, yeah, my, I got two junior guys at the shop.
Aniz Lavji: Wow.
Frank Wiebe: They'd love to run it. My, uh, our new service advisor, Jaden, she said she'd love to run one. So, uh,
Aniz Lavji: Nice.
Frank Wiebe: And then I might run one, so we'll see.
Aniz Lavji: How many people are you running now the shop?
Frank Wiebe: We've got
Aniz Lavji: Three service advisors now, right?
Frank Wiebe: one.
Aniz Lavji: Technically.
Frank Wiebe: one Yeah, so technically, like, we got one full-time, one part-time service advisor. And then Margarita is the bookkeeper slash customer service representative, I guess.
Frank Wiebe: So she, like,
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Customers need a ride, that kind of stuff.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Parts need to be picked up. That's her. Then we've got two full-time in the shop plus myself and one part-time in the shop.
Aniz Lavji: Okay. Yeah. Good stuff then.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Yeah, we're staffed pretty good. Now we just need more car count.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: it's it's I don't know. I've never seen a July as slow as this. like I guess it's usually a little bit slow, but this is crazy. But then we had crazy busy February, March. So it's kind of balancing out.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, this, ah I'm kind of excited because it's it's officially been a year since we've had TechMetric. So
Frank Wiebe: Okay, really.
Aniz Lavji: so so the funny and the funny reason I'm excited is because now I'm actually able to compare properly, like last July on the system compared to this.
Frank Wiebe: yeah.
Frank Wiebe: okay ye
Aniz Lavji: And like last July, we were just kind of learning the system, kind of figuring things out and i'm I'm looking at the numbers and I'm looking at the end of the month. I'm like, oh my God, like were we even open?
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, I'm doing month-to-month comparisons right now, and it's it's interesting to see how it changes month-to-month even.
Aniz Lavji: one little change here, one little change here and a little more, um I don't want to use.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: the wrong word, but, you know, just, just standing ground on, on certain aspects of your labor and your parts percentages makes such a huge difference at the end of the month.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. yep
Aniz Lavji: You know, sometimes you think, okay, know, I can't ask that much for this job, or, you know, I, let me cut down a little bit of labor on this. They might sign the job. They may you go for it. But you know, a lot of the times they're they're coming to your shop because it's you, because they know that you're going take care of them. So if even if your parts or your labor's padded an extra 0.5 or 0.7, whether it's an old car or whatever it is, nine times out of 10, they're not going to really fuss about and extra 50, 60 bucks. Because again, sometimes...
Aniz Lavji: you may spend an extra hour on the vehicle because of something's rusted or, or whatever. And you're not in, you know, you've already got 5.5 or 0.6 in it. You're probably just going to just take care of the customer if they're a good customer.
Aniz Lavji: Right.
Frank Wiebe: uh well and that's and that's key is taking care of the customers keys is is really what we're after and what we're like i know you said said earlier nerds it's everyone wants to make a profit and we do and that's the whole reason we open shop i'm to make money right but
Aniz Lavji: But you know,
Aniz Lavji: yeah.
Aniz Lavji: why you're in business to make a profit. Yep. It's not a dirty word.
Frank Wiebe: But the way you're going to make money, and here's the keys, the way you're going to make money is taking care of that customer.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: Because if you're if you're not taking care of the customer and you're just being like a, I say i would say fly by night, right?
Aniz Lavji: No. so
Frank Wiebe: One-stop shop, you know, one-time customer, all like that.
Aniz Lavji: yep
Frank Wiebe: that's not that's not That's not what you should be after. You should be after looking after the customer, retaining the customer, making sure that their vehicle is going to last as long as possible.
Aniz Lavji: yep
Frank Wiebe: and be efficient about it right and that's how you're going to make money yeah 100
Aniz Lavji: and And giving them right advice and and and telling them, you know, like giving them honest advice like, you know, mrs Mrs. Johnson, like if you were looking to purchase another vehicle, you know, this would be the time to start looking because this vehicle is getting to the point where it's beyond repair.
Aniz Lavji: Because a lot of places won't say that because they want to keep fixing the crap box and keep making money off it when that thing, you know, you could lean on it the wrong way and the damn frame would break.
Frank Wiebe: hundred percent
Frank Wiebe: Well, that's and that's exactly the Honda Fit that I mentioned that we're going in the derby with.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: It was exactly that. i sat her down one day and I said, look, this car, and you know it's rusty. I said, it's at the point now. You really need to consider that you're going to buy another car.
Frank Wiebe: And she's oh, okay, okay, okay.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Well, then it just so happened, I think it was three weeks later, i was driving through town and at one of the used car lots, I saw this car. beautiful looking Toyota Corolla, 19... 2005.
Frank Wiebe: That's what it was, 2005.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: An older Corolla. And I'm like, man, this would be like perfect for her. So anyways, that's what we ended up doing. So I ah helped her buy it.
Frank Wiebe: I helped arrange the details and get it for her. But it was it was exactly that. I'm like, I could have fixed your car. But honestly, you really need to just replace it.
Frank Wiebe: It's it's at that point. It's going to save you money to buy a new car. How about that?
Aniz Lavji: and and and And, you know, that's the right thing to do as an ethical shop owner and business that, hey, look, we've we've trucked this car along as far as we we can.
Frank Wiebe: that's If you have to sell it that way.
Frank Wiebe: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: From this point, I mean,
Frank Wiebe: No, no, that's not true. We can always go further.
Aniz Lavji: yes, we can, but we won't.
Frank Wiebe: We can always go further. But is it feasible? And is it is it beneficial?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, but it's... But sometimes these cars come to the point where we won't go any further than this because it is not right.
Frank Wiebe: Yes.
Aniz Lavji: And, you know, it's not easy to make a buck, but it's very easy to spend your bucks.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. That's the right word.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: So, you know, we've gotten to the point where we've told customers, I'm sorry, but we're, if you want it fixed beyond this, like we're not the right shop for this vehicle for you because i have to sleep at night, you know.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: um But, you know, going going back to processes, I'll just kind of touch on it quickly. i think it's extremely important but when you get the customer on the phone, you know try to try to address what their problem is on the RO notes.
Aniz Lavji: alright And if you're going to ask them too, too many questions, well, you know, have you had this done yet? Have you had this done yet? Have you had this done yet? A lot of times they just want you to fix what they're asking for.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, i don't I don't say asking, have you got this, have you got this, have you get this, but what I am...
Aniz Lavji: But, you know, like some advisors will try to try to hit them with seven more things because they'll look on the they'll look on the Carfax and, you know what I mean?
Frank Wiebe: No.
Aniz Lavji: And they'll say, oh, they haven't done this, this, this, and this. But the main thing is give them – don't
Frank Wiebe: No, I always say, like i heard heard this in one of the trainings, like, okay, somebody brings a vehicle in and this is their concern.
Aniz Lavji: know. know.
Frank Wiebe: Like that say that caravan with the pulsating. and we knew it needed brakes and tires. But let's say I had found an oil leak or something on it. The very first thing you do is you sell them the job that they came in for, the the concern that they have.
Aniz Lavji: Yep. Yep. Yep.
Frank Wiebe: Then after they have agreed to that concern and you say, okay, this is what it's going to take to fix your brakes and your tires and blah, blah, blah. Just so you know, we also found this. If you're wanting to do this, this is how much this would cost, right?
Frank Wiebe: That's how that's to me. I, when I heard that, I'm like, that's all it's how I've always done it, but that's the proper way to do it. Cause if you're like your customer brought in for tires and brakes and you say, Oh, by the way, like why you're giving them the quote, here's tires and brakes. And Oh, we found this oil leak and there's this quote and there's this quote and there's this quote.
Frank Wiebe: And now all of a sudden they're like overwhelmed. And they're like, I, that's not what I asked for. Right. And that's where you get the shady, i shady shop. from race like You beginning.
Aniz Lavji: But then again, if if they came up with tires and brakes and they did the tire and brakes, right? And then you're like, by the way, you know, you need this, this, this, this and this.
Aniz Lavji: Then they're going to the hell did you tell me to, you know, why didn't you tell me that in the beginning? Because I wouldn't have done the tire and brakes.
Frank Wiebe: oh You say, no... you tell em you tell him in a beginning you say no
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, it has to be in the beginning. Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: has to be in the beginning, but you you say, this is how much it's going to cost to fix your tires and brakes. Okay. And they say, oh yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Okay. Well, that's the price. So let's say it's a thousand dollars. It's going to cost a thousand dollars to fix tires and brakes.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: We also found this and that would cost you.
Aniz Lavji: Yes. As long as it's it's right, it's in the next breath.
Frank Wiebe: It's in the next breath, right? Once they've agreed to say, oh, that thousand dollars.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Okay. But we also found this and this would cost you another 500, right? Now, does it complement this?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Maybe not. But if it complements that, then you really have to be adamant about that. Because let's say you have an i-rod loose.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: yep
Frank Wiebe: You fix your brakes you fix your tires, but we can't put tires on unless you fix your tie rod and do an alignment because otherwise your tires are going wear up, right?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: You know, different scenarios, different processes that way.
Aniz Lavji: See, there's a lot of, there's tons of shops that'll, you know, go they'll do, you know, they'll sell them the the brakes and tires.
Frank Wiebe: But...
Aniz Lavji: And then when, you know, it's all done, they give the car back to them and say, oh, by the way, going to send you this other inspection that you need all of this work. And let me know if you want to get, then that customer is either going to like lose their mind or they're never never coming back.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, exactly. then then Then you have what I call a one-time customer because they came in one time and you just didn't treat them right and they'll go somewhere else, right?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. what What we do is that when the customer comes in, you know, with their concern, we'll, we'll tell them like, look, our process is we're going put it up. We're going to do a DVI digital vehicle inspection, and it's going to be this much. We're going to check your car and we are going to,
Aniz Lavji: quote you on your concern. Now, if there are any supplementary items that we find on top of this, we're going to quote you all of it, but we are going to focus on your concern that you came in for today. How does that sound? That's great.
Aniz Lavji: So, so when we, we do the DBI, we send it to them, we go over it.
Frank Wiebe: See you.
Aniz Lavji: I'm like, look, you know, we found that your, um, your lower control arm, ball joint, is completely out of it and the bushing is gone so you really need this.
Aniz Lavji: Also I want to make sure you're aware that you have no front brakes and one of your tires has a bulge in it. I know those other two things are not what you want to hear right now but my job as a shop owner And, you know, we want to make sure that we're informing you about it.
Aniz Lavji: I can, um I want to definitely quote you on those two items, but what you came in for today, here is the quote for that. And then from there, i let them talk and nine times out of 10, they're going to say, okay, let's take care of that.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: And either give me a quote for this, or you know what, I might be able to come back next week and then we can talk about it. but but i mean But I make sure that it's spoken in the same breath and not after they've already said, go ahead and do the control arm, and then you hit him with another 800 because then you're a jerk.
Frank Wiebe: That's how...
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Very much so.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Then you're a jerk. Yeah. That's that's how we've we've had to create that process for air conditioning.
Aniz Lavji: Right? Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: cause like Air conditioning is is a tricky subject because...
Aniz Lavji: Very, very.
Frank Wiebe: like like it's it's so hard to say the come system is empty and yeah how do you know the compressor is going to work right so like we have we have a very like we won't even we won't even touch the ac unless the customer agrees to a pressure test or leak test diagnosing so if it comes in and it has pressure
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: If the compressor isn't working, right, then we'll go further and then we sell an electrical test. But if it's got no pressure, they have to agree to a leak test so that we can find out where it's leaking.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Frank Wiebe: If they won't, we we just won't.
Aniz Lavji: Don't even start.
Frank Wiebe: Right.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: So we had a customer the other day and we we told them, like like, we just won't do anything to your AC system unless we find where that leak is.
Frank Wiebe: Oh, no, but you've you've topped it up in the past.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: We may have, but regardless, that's not our process anymore. We refused, right?
Aniz Lavji: You know,
Frank Wiebe: there's There's too many liabilities for that. There's too many concerns with that.
Aniz Lavji: yeah.
Frank Wiebe: So we won't. Unless we can find the leak, we don't touch it. And if you're not agreeing to that, then like this we're not the right shot for you.
Aniz Lavji: I, yeah.
Aniz Lavji: I even, I had a customer that came in and, and they were saying, my AC is kind of cool.
Frank Wiebe: And that's fine.
Aniz Lavji: but not very cold. Okay. So i was like, look, this is what we have to do for the first things. First, we have to evacuate the system. Like, okay. So we have to evacuate it And then we're going to do a nitrogen test on the system.
Aniz Lavji: We're going to test. We're going to make sure there's no leaks in there. And i hope it's just a recharge because it's cheaper for you. And it's, you know, everyone's happy, but if there is a leak, I cannot put whatever Freon or whatever that was in your compressor back in because there's a leak.
Aniz Lavji: Right. And they're like, well, what do you mean? That's my Freon. I'm like, yes, but we, we can't just put back the whatever ounces or whatever you had. So you could go for, from kind of cool to nothing.
Aniz Lavji: So they, well, that's not fair. I'm like,
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, but that's right. Am I am i right about that, Frank? or
Frank Wiebe: Well, I would, I do that a little differently because if the system has Freon already in it, like, and, and it's not efficiently cool. Um, I have a free on leak detector that was stupid expensive.
Frank Wiebe: And so then I will find, and and I found many, many leaks that way.
Aniz Lavji: But if they don't want to fix it, you see I'm saying?
Frank Wiebe: Oh, like that. Yeah, if they don't want to fix it, like that you you you agree to.
Aniz Lavji: That's what I'm saying.
Frank Wiebe: You're right.
Aniz Lavji: Right?
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: That's what I'm saying. if they If it's kind of cool, right, and then you you evacuate it, you do the nitrogen test, and let's say it's got leaking high-pressure low-pressure lines, and the compressors, you can just leak.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah. Well, you can't fill it back up again, for sure.
Aniz Lavji: so So, right, like, that's you can't put whatever was in there back in it because you're you're not allowed to, if I'm not mistaken, Right.
Frank Wiebe: It's true.
Aniz Lavji: That's what I'm trying to that's the point I'm trying to make. Most of the time they're going to want to fix it because you know, it's hot as crap outside. But we've had customers that like, well, it was kind of cool before. And now, now it's not, and you've tagged it that there's a leak. I'm like, yes, because we can't put that back in.
Frank Wiebe: I love the customer. I had one today come in and we had put a compressor on it recently and his wife complained that it wasn't getting cold enough. said all right well we'll check it out maybe we've got a defective compressor or something like that that brought it in checked it i got a little thermometer that i stick in the in the vent and within just like 30 seconds it was down to 30 degrees fahrenheit or 32 degrees fahrenheit i pulled it out and i showed him i said how much colder do you want it to be he's like
Aniz Lavji: Yep, it happens.
Aniz Lavji: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: Mm-hmm.
Frank Wiebe: I guess that answers the question. And that was it. We were done. I'm like, I don't know what to tell you. It is cold. It ain't going to get any colder and it's just going to freeze up.
Aniz Lavji: Yep. Yep.
Frank Wiebe: Like it's working out. He's perfect. He says, okay, I'll go home and tell her. The evidence was there. But I mean, yeah, if if it hadn't been working, like then then you have to make that decision.
Aniz Lavji: yeah
Frank Wiebe: Are you willing to invest into fixing this? This is what it potentially could cost. We don't know. This is step number one. And we always tell our customers, this is step number one to diagnose air conditioning.
Frank Wiebe: Once we have passed this step, then we go to step number two this is like a graduated licensing system right you can't jump to the end it's impossible if the first step fails we don't go to step two if it passes we go to step two if that fails we stop there right like there's a process and once we get to the end and everything is good you'll have cold air and then you'll be happy and you'll pay for it
Aniz Lavji: right
Aniz Lavji: And sometimes, you know, these customers don't realize that, you know, you've got, you have a lot of players in the game when it comes to AC components. You've got your compressor, you've got your condenser, you've got high pressure line, low pressure line.
Frank Wiebe: it yep
Aniz Lavji: um You know, you could have bad rear lines that are screwing everything up and leaking. And then to do those, you know, God help you. If you've got, what was that?
Frank Wiebe: you know oh yeah you got to take three differential loads change them yeah
Aniz Lavji: Ford Explorer rear lines or something like you know, it can be a nightmare.
Aniz Lavji: I think we, we had these things called shark bite. We had a couple customers that just wanted to just cancel out the, I think it was canceling out the AC for the rear.
Frank Wiebe: block off the rear lines yeah yeah
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. There's like a tool called shark bite or something. I think we, we used it a year or two ago and the customer was super happy because they, they used to care more when they had their kids with them. Now it's just them two.
Frank Wiebe: yeah it's it's a common practice to do that and and i have no problem doing that there's there's shops that will refuse to do that like oh unless we're fixing and replacing the lines it has to be a No, I have no problem doing that.
Aniz Lavji: yeah,
Aniz Lavji: Yep. Yep.
Frank Wiebe: If it has a dual system and you simply don't want the rear system to work anymore. We actually had a customer recently.
Aniz Lavji: I
Frank Wiebe: They asked us if we do that, is that reversible? And I said, no, if we do this as a permanent, it's it's like getting a vasectomy. It's permanent.
Frank Wiebe: It's not reversible.
Aniz Lavji: um i mean you're some doctor i mean, there's some doctors I'm sure that could...
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, we'll talk about that. But I said, but I said, like, the problem is that the rear system is now open to the atmosphere. And all that stuff in there is going to rot away.
Frank Wiebe: So if if a year from now you decided that, oh, we want to reconnect the lines and we want to put the lines in the back, now you have to do a condenser. light or Sorry, an evaporator core in the back, an expansion valve, all the lines.
Frank Wiebe: Like if you want to do it, do it now. If you don't want to do it, this is a permanent repair. It'll have front AC, not rear. And once they understand that, that's fine.
Aniz Lavji: Sorry, Frank. So what part of the vasectomy is the the cooler lines and i and which one is going to be beyond repairs?
Frank Wiebe: It's the line. it's the
Aniz Lavji: Just so you know our listeners can understand for the clip that you're going to make from this.
Frank Wiebe: it's It's the two lines that run from the from the from the feed point up to the use point.
Aniz Lavji: Oh, boy.
Frank Wiebe: of It's those two lines.
Aniz Lavji: Oh, boy.
Frank Wiebe: If you cut them off, that's permanent. Yep.
Aniz Lavji: Oh, boy.
Frank Wiebe: Wow. just
Aniz Lavji: Well, for anyone under underage listening to this, sorry for the crazy analogies. who Are still there?
Frank Wiebe: yep
Aniz Lavji: You still there? Okay. So, yeah. um So basically, I'll just finish off with basically once the vehicle is repaired, we want to make sure that before we even take a dime from the customer, we go over the complete repair order.
Aniz Lavji: And I'll, you know, Mr. Customer, Mrs. Customer, today we went ahead and took care of the front right lower control arm and and your right front outer tie rod. We did an alignment on there as well. And we let you know about your front brakes, which we took care of as well.
Aniz Lavji: And I know you've got the estimate, you've approved it. So this is your total. And what is the what is your preferred method of payment? So they'll pay. I'll text and email them the receipt and and tell them, like, if there's anything else I can do for you, you can text, call or email.
Aniz Lavji: We're happy to take care you. And that's it.
Frank Wiebe: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: you know You don't need any more fluff than that, really.
Frank Wiebe: No, it's it's it's when you start to it's when you start to make it sound elaborate and and over the hill, then customers start to be like, ah what's going on here?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: But if you're just straight up and truthful and honest and say, this is what it needs and this is what it's going to take and this how much it costs you. And yeah, we took care of it. it's It's all good.
Frank Wiebe: And that's, is you can stand behind your word and say, it's all good. It's not going to be a problem again.
Aniz Lavji: and
Frank Wiebe: That's what we need to do.
Aniz Lavji: And one thing we do tell customers, you know, sometimes we'll send, we'll resend for approval just because, you know, some customers, even if they've been to you for a long time and, you know, they know that their bill is going to be 540 bucks and, you know, you need, um if you're doing, let's say you're doing rear drums and shoes, you need a hardware kit, another 30, 40 bucks.
Aniz Lavji: And, you know, sometimes I'll be like, look, I'm just going to quickly resend the, the estimate, know, You know, some customers are like, oh, wow like that's thank you for doing that because a lot of other shops would have just thrown the 40 bucks on there.
Aniz Lavji: And then at the end of it, they would have just said, oh, by the way, now your bill's this much.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: it's it's So it's actually a little surprises that a lot of customers don't want to see.
Frank Wiebe: Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: but So, Frank, for for you, I know we're burning the midnight oil a bit here, but for your... for your process, basically once the customer gets the estimate for you, you know where does it go from there?
Frank Wiebe: After they get the estimate, as soon as it's approved, like like whether we text or email them they or call them the estimate, once it's approved, and it's pretty simple, get parts ordered.
Frank Wiebe: Whether it's on the rack waiting or if it's in the it's in the yard, then it gets in the queue, right? um But if it's in the rack, then you start tearing it down, waiting for parts.
Frank Wiebe: Try not to wait for parts, right? But once the parts get there, you stick it on. It's it's pretty simple. like We don't make it complicated. The customer approves the job, parts are ordered, it gets done.
Frank Wiebe: um
Aniz Lavji: Yep. Yep.
Frank Wiebe: After that, um
Frank Wiebe: then it's a matter of when the customer's coming to pick it up. But like you said, what what how are you going to pay? and And if they send an e-transfer, once the e-transfer is cleared,
Frank Wiebe: Okay, what do you want to do with the keys, right? you want us to leave the keys in the car? Do you want us to lock it in the lockbox? What do you want to do? Most of the time, customers like, oh, just leave the key in the cup holder with a bill in there, and away you go. No problem.
Frank Wiebe: As long as the e-transfer is cleared, right?
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: Oh, I'll send an e-transfer after 6 when I get home. That's okay.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, no.
Frank Wiebe: You can pick your car up tomorrow then. No problem.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah, exactly.
Frank Wiebe: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: i remember my late father-in-law, I think he had a sign, let's be friends, no credit.
Frank Wiebe: Yep. Yeah, really, that's the way to.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: And it's and it's it's not really friends that will ask you for credit. It's family.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Frank Wiebe: It's family and it's strangers. ah No, it's the weirdest thing. It's the weirdest thing. Some strange person will walk in and say, I'd like to do such and such and such. Sure.
Frank Wiebe: ah Yeah. um Can I make it on payments? Nope.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. know ye
Frank Wiebe: Why not? That's what you have a credit card for. well I don't have a credit card. Somebody taught me that years ago, right? If a customer comes in and asks if they can put it on credit, you go, sure, which credit card would you like to use?
Frank Wiebe: No, I don't have credit card.
Aniz Lavji: Yeah.
Frank Wiebe: I would just like credit here. no
Aniz Lavji: Yeah. No.
Frank Wiebe: We're not a bank facility. It is not our business is to do that.
Aniz Lavji: in In the U.S., they do have... um financing that you can kind of put into your shop management system and offer it.
Frank Wiebe: You can do that here too. You can do it here too.
Aniz Lavji: I've never really looked into it. I don't really get into that situation often at all.
Frank Wiebe: I mean, in general, like the parrot repairs that you and I do, it's it's not... Like if you were going to be doing an engine job or something like that and you're you're talking like $10,000, $15,000, I understand what somebody would need to finance that, right?
Aniz Lavji: if you're if you're like in ah doing a Zeb caliber repair,
Frank Wiebe: Yeah, exactly, right? Like that kind of stuff. But in general, I think the work that you and I do, it's... it's
Frank Wiebe: not necessary to get into financing.
Aniz Lavji: Nope. Nope.
Frank Wiebe: Yep.
Aniz Lavji: But, uh, all right, Frank, I know it's, uh, getting late. I'm getting a bit tired here as well, but, uh, yeah.
Frank Wiebe: You better go put what we said Charlie. you know Charlie better go put Charlie to bed.
Aniz Lavji: good I got to take him for a little walk outside and, uh, to have dinner. Did i have dinner? I think I did. Yeah.
Aniz Lavji: Yep. I'm going to probably have a snack and call it a night, buddy.
Frank Wiebe: All right.
Aniz Lavji: All right, Frank, we will talk to you later.
Frank Wiebe: Have a good one.
Aniz Lavji: Thank you everyone for listening and please tune in for the next episode as well. We are actually over 30 episodes in so far and you know, that's pretty exciting. So when we started this, we weren't sure kind of where it was going to go, but you know Frank and I, I think we're both having a good time. So thank you for everyone that's been listening. Follow us on the Shop and Chat Talk pat podcast on Facebook.
Aniz Lavji: And signing off. Thank you.
