Shop Tools – Not buying Needs/Replacements

[James O’Hara]

We need our hvac machine serviced the vacuum pump makes a horrible noise and leaks a small amount of refrig every time it recycles or vacuums down a system. We don’t have a xfer pump at all to xfer oil, floor cleaner, and/or fuel. We are missing half of our hvac flush kit the pump/strainer and the dry nitrogen tank adapter. I had to buy a amflo air gun to fix our air jack because they refused to buy one which rendered the jack unusable and its the only air jack and big rigs ain’t light so manuals take a lot out of ya and are slow. Our lighting is downright terrible god knows the last time the reflectors were cleaned or the skylights. It is not bad when you can open the doors but, it is winter time now so…. They refuse to buy a 3/4in impact to be able to remove lugnuts and the entire shop uses one techs gun. The tech’s shared shop printer hasn’t had toner in over 6 months. It makes doing any kind of electrical work where you need a wiring schematic 6x as fun.

I am just wondering if it is like that in other dealerships/shops or is it just mine? Also I don’t understand how things that will speed up the shop in general are not bought.

Topic

[Mike]

It ain’t just you. You’re pretty much describing my shop. Our tire machine, torch set, wheel balancer, tranny jacks, floor jacks, pole jacks, and hydraulic press are broken in some way. They still “work” though, so it’s fine! I just give the manager a really hard time about it anytime there is a issue just to try and make it hard for them too. I do also make an effort to phrase my complaints in a way that focuses more on how it costs the shop money rather than me personally losing money.

The great thing is that I have more invested in tools than the shop does, so I’m the opposite of a hypocrite when I’m giving them shit about it. I’ve given every variation of the speech of “how can this whole business be cheaper than one guy”

Just one success story though. We’ve let out Solus Pro scanner get out of date and a needed to deal with a 2012 VW/Dodge Routan (which we shouldn’t even be selling) that was too new for our software version. It was a post-delivery comeback with some trans codes and needed to be driven while reading live data to diagnose. Nobody wanted to hear that it couldn’t be done, and the boss was telling me to tell the scanner the car is older than it is with a different powertrain to try and look at it that way.

At that point I was getting pissed and stopped him and said in so many words “We both know that sales made enough profit of selling this damn POS to pay for this scanner to be fully updated. You don’t want to pay for it? Charge sales! It is their wildly irresponsible selling of these kinds of cars we shouldn’t be selling that puts us in this position at all.” Low and behold, he didn’t just update the scan tool, he traded it in for a brand new fully updated Solus Ultra. Ahh, the victory of coming up with logic that can’t be denied.

[James O’Hara]

This is what I thought I am just glad I am not the only one. I know sometimes things get put on the back burner and it is out of my boss’ hands and out of the hands of the guy above him so… It is just aggravating especially when you flush an a/c system the old way and have it spew oil, flush, dye and desiccant all over ya. Upside is I now glow in the dark or at leas my whole left side does.

[Greg L]

Ick, it really sucks when management/ownership does not tend to their responsibilities. Most shops with any age will have something that breaks or wears out, that’s a given in the business. It’s not acceptable to have the ownership/managers not reinvesting into the business. If things break, fix it. If things need updating, get it done. When I worked for midas, it became a chronic issue to get the scan tools updated. One franchise insisted on using OTC. Been there, done that, good for old OBD I vehicles, but not worth the hassle of modern cars and trucks. Last midas franchise I worked for, had SO Modis scan tools in the shops. They were all 2-3 years out of date and missing keys needed for various models. I grew tired of waiting and bought my own Solus. Then they finally updated them, lol. What’s sad, is the guys they hired, used it as a code reader for the most part. It grew old fixing their comebacks, so I moved on. Just a few months ago, I took a position as a shop foreman at a small independent in town. He was trying to turn his business around and get rid of his problems. Had a drunk for a master tech that was tipping beers back in the shop at 11am. Typical car returns 3x before it may get fixed. The staff consisted of an owner with no automotive knowledge, his daughter in law to handle marketing, and 4 entry level techs. Shop was a filthy mess of oil and floor dry on the floor. 4-6 engines laying around, and that many trannys as well. Half the lifts were not operational, the other half were questionable at best. 2 leaked fluid badly, one had a switch wired wrong, so you had to disconnect the 220v connector when you wanted the lift to stop. Bathroom was disgusting. Hadn’t been cleaned in months, soap about an inch thing on the sink and walls. Worked there for 3 weeks, making these guys learn to clean, and spending most of my time babysitting them and fixing all the comebacks. After the owner hired a wizbanger parts guy from autozone to service write, and he was claiming to customers he was a master mechanic, I was done. Saw him diagnosing from the counter, and selling stuff not needed. For the first time, I found another job and walked out as soon as I received my first paycheck. If the shop is ran that bad, its not worth the misery of staying and encouraging it. There are better shops out there, just have to find one that is interested in keeping the doors open.

[zero]

I think you’re going to find some degree of this problem anywhere, big or small. In small shops it’s one person being scrooge, in Bigger shops it’s either a systematic problem, or people just aren’t clearly relaying that x is broken and needs replacement. It kinda sounds like you’re working somewhere they don’t care about you. You’re also lucky you don’t live where I do because you need a ticket to do A/C work and all the refrigerant has to be accounted for.

[Author]

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