The most progressive independent shops across the country have become very focused on their knowledge base within their operation. With the shortage of competent technicians within the industry, we have to acknowledge that a shop’s skill level that has been achieved is expressed through its labor rate. No shop has the right to charge top rates to the public if they are incompetent in terms of automotive maintenance/repair knowledge; conversely, too many shops do not charge enough for the skill level they have acquired. Skilled shops must charge the right dollar for their skill level. It makes no sense to sit there and look around the market at everyone’s pricing to determine the door rate because every shop is not the same in their depth of knowledge capabilities.
For 15 years now we have been talking about the necessity of a minimum of two door rates. One is obvious; the basic mechanical rate used for mechanical work such as brakes and suspension, and the second is a diagnostic rate representing the skill required to diagnose a drive-ability problem or interpretation of information. If your shop is still stuck on one “catch-all” rate, then I would recommend getting into a proper business class to learn how to and the benefit of implementing multiple door rates as our future demands it. Vehicle complexity requires a broader depth of knowledge and to maintain the right skill level in terms of technician capabilities to handle the technology, the right dollars must flow into a shop to support its capabilities. Drivability and analysis problems require a diagnostic rate. Those shop owners who ignore this business strategy and stick with one catch-all rate have found each year getting more difficult. They are not changing their business model required to stay up with the times in our industry. Inertia in this business is a road to bankruptcy.
The basic mechanical door rate is established for “remove, replace and repair.” The second door rate is established for electrical diagnostics and is usually referred to as the shop’s “diagnostic rate.” This labor rate is used for interpretation or analyzation of numbers, graphs, electrical, and codes. This rate is critical in a shop today in order to bring in the right dollars if a shop wants to sustain the right skill level. In this category, more training, more equipment and more one on one time with the client is required to sustain shop credibility, consequently, the lower mechanical door rate is not sufficient.
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Time to introduce your clients to a third door rate required today
We now need a third door rate within the shop today. The importance of understanding this logic to this point is to realize that a shop must acquire specific skills over a period of time in order to complete the loop of knowledge to serve a client professionally. The critical business philosophy to understand is that a client is not paying a shop “to fix a problem now.” The client is paying the shop for “the knowledge obtained to this point in time.” To gain this knowledge a shop has and does incur costs, and future knowledge will incur additional costs if the shop wants to remain on top of their game. Rates will be adjusted as these future costs and investments are continually evaluated.
The client today requires the “right service” backed up with the business philosophy of: “We will not let you down.” Free service is not the right service; yet, many shops still run their business model this way. The right service simply means applying the right skill level in the shop to deal with the task that is required to be solved. Obviously, skill levels vary dramatically within a shop and it is important for management to deploy the right skill level on a job with the end result being a totally satisfied client leaving the building.
This new third door rate represents a skill level that is often overlooked. Our clients have shown that it can represent in the range of an additional $20,000 to $30,000 per year today in a 6- to 8-bay operation when executed properly. Over the next five years, this third-rate income will grow substantially for all the shops who are on top of their knowledge base. With this much money involved, it is definitely worth consideration. This third door rate is called the re-flash rate. It represents the skills and processes required to reset the vehicle’s computer from an OEM website with a vehicle computer update and or where a basic reset of the vehicle’s computer is required. The OEM websites for the re-flash subscriptions and process can be found on the NASTF website at www.nastf.org.
There are mathematical formulas and procedures to establish and implement all the various labor rate levels and that must be learned in a business class, however, the important point is to now acknowledge that the consumer has not been properly educated as to what the labor rate in a shop stands for. The important point for management to understand here is to ensure the implementation and execution of the philosophy to the client will be “we will never let you down” and “this is what we require to do it right.”
About the Author

Bob Greenwood
Robert (Bob) Greenwood, AMAM (Accredited Master Automotive Manager) was the President and C.E.O. of Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Centre Ltd. (AAEC). AAEC is a company focused on providing Business Management Resources and Development for the Independent Sector of the aftermarket industry utilizing the Internet environment. AAEC content and technology is recognized as part of the curriculum of the Fixed Operations Diploma and the Aftermarket Degree courses taken at the Automotive Business School of Canada in Georgian College located in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. This school is the leader and only college in Canada that offers an automotive business education. AAEC is also recognized by the Automotive Management Institute (AMI), located in Colleyville, Texas USA, allowing 80 credits for successful completion of the AAEC E-Learning portion of the site towards the 120 credits required to obtain the reputable Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) designation. The Automotive Management Institute’s Accredited Automotive Manager designation is the first business management accreditation exclusively for the automotive service professional. To date, AMI various programs have attracted more than 212,000 enrolments throughout North America.
Greenwood died on Sept. 9 in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, from a heart attack. He was a regular contributor to Motor Age magazine and will be greatly missed. See some of his recent work here:
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