THE CAR COUNT MYTH (PART I)

Is your car count growing or shrinking? Why?

The truth is that car count as an average is shrinking across our independent repair industry.  Competition from the dealers and chains…higher quality automobile construction…longer manufacturer-recommended service intervals…cautious, dissatisfied, uneducated drivers.  Each are taking a toll on independent shops at an unprecedented level.

While industry averages show a steady decline in car count over at least the last 15 years, some independent shops have experienced significant increases in their car count.  Their shops are growing while everyone else’s seem to be shrinking. What gives? What do they know that so many other shop owners seem to be missing?

It’s all about accountability and empowerment

Independent shop owners who successfully grow and maintain higher car counts are almost always the same shop owners who have moved away from accepting 100% of the responsibility for growing car count in their shops. These are shop owners who have spread most of that accountability and empowerment to their team members. Their employees no longer have the excuse of thinking “it’s the boss’s problem if we aren’t busy.”

In these shops, increasing car count isn’t just about the owner building a good advertising plan with a lot of dollars behind it. No longer is it entirely up to the boss to make the shop busy.

Get your team members involved

Even though a few shop owners recognize that this is more effective than relying completely on advertising for cars, very few service writers, techs and other team members accept any responsibility for dropping car counts in their shops.  Changing that attitude is the key to growing while everyone else is dying.

In fact, not only is car count not the owner’s sole responsibility, I believe that 60%-80% of car count is the responsibility of the team.

In my shop Keller Bros. Auto in Littleton, Colorado, there is no way I would continue to fund a significant advertising budget if my team wasn’t doing their part. In fact it would be financial suicide to keep throwing money at car count if they were not doing their job.

So what should the team be held accountable for?

Stay tuned for the next installment, when I’ll cover what your team should be doing to control your shop’s car count, fix your internals, and how you can make sure your team succeeds!

This blog is also posted on Motor Age