Tag: Newsletter

Challenges of the Auto Repair Business: Marketing Challenges
 We start this portion of this series with marketing, as this is usually a job within itself that medium sized firms must hire or outsource someone for. A smaller auto repair business might not be able to afford a marketing person and needs a plan in place to be noticed.
  The most effective definition of marketing is simply, “Marketing is the process of teaching consumers why they should choose your product or service over your competitors”.The only way to teach consumers why they should choose your product is by having a good website, an active social media presence, a good process for your customers (ie; good auto repair software like CAR), and an advertising channel that brings it all home. Advertising is covered in our next edition.  Having a good web team is a lot like finding a good mechanic, hard to come by and the best usually comes from referrals. But all of them are relative to price, much like the rest of the world. However, you don’t need a crazy expensive website to draw people in. Your website needs the basics. A legible, clean and clear main page that should highlight what your auto business is about. Things like your phone number(s), address, services, and customer testimonials (if you have any) are a great start. Refer to this template for starters. Don’t be daunted by all the things there, cut out all the noise.
When you first start you need the basics! The basics all revolve around these questions:
 

Where am I located?

 

What is my phone number?

 

Do you want people to be able to email you from your website? (PS, it’s highly recommended that they can contact you. It’s a trust thing even though you won’t get many requests from there at first.)

 

What kind of vehicles do I want customers to know I work on or specialize in?

 

What services do I perform on those vehicles?

 

What are my hours of operation?

 

What social media profiles do I want to let people know I actively participate in? ( Personally, we only recommend starting with Facebook, Google Business and Yext.)

 
Want to find out more? Click the button below to learn about how to market your auto repair business. 

Find Out MoreThe Water Cooler
Denver Uber Users Now Have the Ability to Buy Train and Bus TicketsUber has been under some serious heat over the past few years, especially from public transit in cities as they are taking a lot of their potential clients. The clear decline in public transportation usage has garnered the company a ton of criticism but they believe that they have come up with a happy medium to lessen the bad chatter.  
 Thanks to their partnership with Masabi, a mobile ticketing software Uber has given Denver Uber users the ability to purchase train and bus tickets along with a variety of passes for public transportation as well. These will be available in the “Transit Tickets” section of the app along with real time schedules of the bus and train as well. Pending the success of this relationship, anticipate this feature to become available on a larger scale in the months to come. TRIVIA
How much did Ford’s Model T (one of the first mass produced cars in history) cost factoring inflation?
 Read to the end to find out the answer. Around the Industry: Porsche’s Most Popular Car to Become Electric
One of the most popular trends in the automotive industry is the transition from running on gasoline to being fully electric. Porsche the other day announced that will be taking their most popular model, the Macan, and transitioning it to be fully electric over the next few years. In a statement to CNN Porsche said that the production of the “fully electric” model would begin production “early in the next decade” in their plant in Leipzig, Germany. The company however failed to comment on if they would simultaneously continue to sell gasoline powered versions of the model. Porsche’s parent company, Volkswagen, is just one of many companies that are making the big push towards the electric car market spending around $50 billion to get their piece of the pie. With their fellow competitors in their country, BMW and Mercedes, also going all in on electric vehicles as well it will be interesting to see how the automotive market reacts to this shift in focus.  Trivia Answer
$22,000- One of the first vehicle’s ever mass produced in an assembly line in the world was Ford’s Model-T. The car cost about $850 which would be $22,000 today factoring inflation.

Challenges of the Auto Repair Business
The race to capture and retain customers is getting as heated as they come, especially in the automotive aftermarket.  Between nationwide franchises, rapidly evolving vehicle technology and the newly required tools and procedures; it is becoming much more challenging to compete in the auto repair business. For an industry that has been traditionally very slow to adapt to technology, there has been a consistent and rapid amount of change that is putting a ton of pressure on shop owners. Our software was born out the technology needs identified several years ago, since then we have been building a platform to help level the playing field between large and small businesses. However there are small things that you can do with your business, both in the shop and in the office, that can help you stay competitive in this new turn of the auto repair industry. 
 
Taking into account the difficulty to keep up with what can keep your shop competitive in this new digital age, we at Complete Auto Reports felt the importance to write unbiased articles to make sure that you and your business are maximizing your opportunities. Over the next few weeks we will be sharing some important information to make your business standout in this new generation of competition in business so make sure that you keep an eye out!
Find Out MoreRecent UpdatesWe are constantly striving to improve our product to give our users exactly what they need to keep their businesses moving at the pace they want them to be moving. Over the past few weeks we have finalized two new features to present to our consumers, Plate to Vehicle Information & Diagnostic Charges Option. Since these two features have been added we have been able to make our system even smoother and save our users even more time! 
Plate to Vehicle Information- Quickly and seamlessly get all of the vehicle information simply by entering their license plate into the vehicle profile, whether from your computer or mobile device. This allows you to pull down all of the vehicle information you are working on without skipping a beat. Expediting this process allows mechanics to review the information, verify it, and correct it if necessary.  Bad data costs US businesses $3.1 trillion a year.  While it may be hard to realize in the moment, a system designed to keep everyone informed and up to date, shaves minutes per service.  All of which will add to days saved per year.
 Diagnostic Charges Option- Has anyone ever brought in their vehicle for an oil change and ask you to take a look at something else for them? After testing and identifying their concern/problem, you likely quote the customer and add it to the job request. What do you do when they decline the work?  You should charge the customer for the time you spent looking into the problem, at their request. With CAR’s diagnostic charges option, you are reminded to add diagnostic charges for rejected services. Seamlessly bill your customers for the testing that was requested, without having to go back in and edit a service request.The Water Cooler
Red Sox Top First Power Rankings as MLB is Back in Full Swing 
This past week marked the return of America’s past time, baseball. As the long journey to October begins it is always fun to start speculating who is going to win the World Series while the flowers are still blooming. Let’s take a look at who the five favorites are going into the season as we get things going. 
 
1. Red Sox: The reigning World Series Champions still have a power house roster and are primed to make another deep run in the playoffs. 
 
2. Yankees: The young stars on the Yankees have continued to get experience over the past couple of seasons and this season they have the right blend of veterans and young play makers to build on their great season last year. You will definitely find me at Yankee Stadium frequently this summer cheering on the Bronx Bombers. 
 
3. Houston Astros: A perennial powerhouse ever since their World Series run in the 2017 season, the Astro’s combination of big bats and a solid bullpen forces you to respect their chances at making another run at the big prize.
 
4. LA Dodgers: A team that seems to always be deep in the post season over the past decade didn’t make much noise over the winter, something you would think they would do after coming just short two seasons in a row. Nonetheless don’t count out the Dodger’s this year, they still have plenty of depth to make it back to the Fall Classic yet again.
 
5. Chicago Cubs: Another team that was extremely quiet in the off-season. They still have a ton of players on their roster from their team that broke the century long drought of winning a title but hopefully that is enough especially with their division rivals the Brewers picking up steam. TRIVIA
What was the first hybrid vehicle ever to be mass produced?
 Read to the end to find out the answer. Around the Industry: Volvo to use Cameras in Vehicles Protect Drivers. Is This Over Stepping Boundaries?

On March 20th Volvo announced that they will begin to install cameras in all of the vehicles they sell to ensure the safety of not only their customers but the people they share the road with as well. By early 2020 Volvo will be able to monitor their drivers eye movement to see if they are distracted or acting intoxicated. If it appears the driver is distracted or acting suspicious a Volvo representative will call into the vehicle to make sure the driver is okay, if they fail to respond the representative has the ability to slow the vehicle all the way down and park the vehicle safely to ensure that the distracted or drunk driver is not putting their or their fellow commuter’s lives at risk. Though Volvo prides itself on making the safest vehicle possible for it’s customers this feature is not getting praise from everybody.  
 
While this is new installation in their vehicles is not meant to be their just to spy on you but rather part of Volvo’s Vision 2020 initiative which aims to have zero accident fatalities in any of their vehicles many feel this is a violation of a driver’s privacy. Just like someone else cannot set up a camera to monitor you in your bedroom, or bathroom people find that this is overstepping some boundaries in regards to the vehicle users privacy. People are already concerned about their phones spying on them now this is leading to even more alarm over the idea of big companies watching their customers. As I mentioned earlier this is made with the intention make creating a safer road environment for everyone, not just Volvo customers but does raise questions about customer privacy. Do you think this is a great idea or a violation of people’s privacy?Trivia Answer
Toyota Prius- In 1997 in Japan the Toyota Prius became the first hybrid car to be mass produced in the world, followed shortly after by the Honda Insight in 1999. 

We’re Going to Tech Day!!!
TechDay is one of the biggest startup events in the United States. This event allows some of the most promising and exciting up and coming companies in the technological field to show off what they can contribute to their respective industries. Complete Auto Reports will be attending to show people our innovative software that will help businesses in the auto repair industry standout from their competitors. 
 Come meet us at the Jacob K. Javits Center, home to some of the largest and most successful trade shows in the world, on May 2nd. To find out more about us and the event TechDay itself click on the button below.  
Find Out MoreImprove Your Shops Reputation
A great reputation is the most important thing that any business owner wants to have, period. No matter what type of business you run you want your customers to say good things about you so that it can potentially lead to new customers. New customers means more business. More business means more success. Whether it’s customer service, prices, or something as simple as decor. If you stand out from all the other businesses in your field, your customers will talk about you. So give them something good to talk about. Did you know that word of mouth influences 59-91% of all purchases, yet NOBODY has a specific strategy for it.. Word of mouth has been and will always be the most effective marketing any good business owner can ask for. If you run a good and honest business people will talk about it, and those same people will talk about it if you aren’t up to par.
Though it is important to get as many customers through your door as possible, it is even more important that you get those same customers to return. The only way that will happen, especially in the Auto Repair field, is if your business has a good, solid reputation. Click on the link below to find out a few key things you can do to not only maintain your reputation but build on it as well. 
Find Out MoreThe Water Cooler
Amazon Testing Self-Driving Robots In a suburb of Seattle, Amazon packages are being delivered to peoples doorsteps but there are no deliverymen making the stops.  Amazon is testing out their new self-driving robot delivery system that will have the ability to make delivery rounds all by themselves. 
Amazon has began giving these robots routes in Snohomish County, Washington while they are accompanied by another Amazon employee. The robot, known as Scout, is the size of a Labrador retriever and brandishes the famous Amazon smile logo on it’s side.  Amazon says the compact sized bot can maneuver around pets and pedestrians in order to get the their set destination. While Amazon failed to give anymore details on the testing, don’t be surprised if you see one of these things at your doorstep sometime soon. TRIVIA
What were the top 5 selling cars/trucks of 2018?
 Read to the end to find out the answer. Around the Industry: Brexit Could Crush the German Automotive Industry
As Britain prepares to exit the European Union the remaining countries have yet to come up with any sort of deal that will help ease the shake-up this departure will cause. If they fail to reach any sort of resolution before they leave it could harshly effect the auto industry and more than 100,000 jobs in Germany. According to economists from the Halle Institure for Economic Research the automotive industry would feel the exit the most in Germany. Two of the hardest hit regions of the Brexit are predicted to be the city of Wolfsburg, where Volkswagen has its headquarters and the Dingolfing-Landua region of Bavaria where BMW has manufacturing facilities. 
 
Failure to reach a deal with Britain would lead to 10% import duties on car and car parts. This means there would be more problems with trade which would lead to increased prices for imported goods. On March 29, Britain is planning on leaving the European Union which is going to send trade in Europe in a spiral. The global auto industry sits on the edge of their seats waiting to see if a deal can be reached before the the clock strikes midnight. Trivia Answer
1.Ford F-Series 2.Chevrolet Silverado 3.Dodge Ram 4.Nissan Rogue 5.Toyota RAV4

Download Our App!Did you know that Complete Auto Reports is the only auto repair software that can be used on any PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and/or Android device. With our mobile app you are not only able to instantly switch what you are doing from your computer to your mobile device but you also then have the ability to keep in constant contact with your customers, removing liability from you and your business.
Mobility is the future of the automotive industry and offers the opportunity for shop owners to add extra levels of depth to their businesses. Download our free app today on the Apple Store or Google Play Store. To learn more about the benefits of making your shop mobile click link below.
Find Out MoreWhat’s New in CARComplete Auto Reports is constantly evolving and improving our product. A few new features we have added are our “stock ordering”, “Tag system”, and “on the lot” all of which are designed to help make running your shop a little smoother and a more efficient experience.
 
Stock Ordering
 
The stock ordering feature allows you to view what you have in the shop already and allows you to order more of what you are running low on,  right from your CAR account. Not only can you order these items manually but you can also set your CAR account to automatically order these stock orders on a specific date so you never run out!Inventory Tagging
 
With our new tags feature we make staying organized extremely simple and efficient. As parts come in you can tag them and make note of where they are in your shop so you can not only locate them, but locate them quickly. You can get jobs done faster than ever before and open yourself up to the ability to accomplish more tasks throughout the day. 
 
On The Lot
 
Our last new feature is our “on the lot” feature which gives you the peace of mind of being able to quickly identify the vehicles you have on your lot. Whether that vehicles work has not been started, being currently worked on, or is waiting for customer pick up. This feature offers your shop an extra layer of assurance so that you know which vehicles are physically on your lot.  The Water CoolerNick Foles Goes to go Into Free Agency This SummerAfter a historical run with the Philadelphia Eagles last post-season and almost repeating history again this season, before falling just short to the New Orleans Saints, Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles have decided to officially part ways. The Eagles organization has decided to go with their young star Carson Wentz moving forward. They are saying goodbye to the long time NFL journeymen Nick Foles, the man who brought the city of Philadelphia their first Super Bowl. 
 
Many teams this off-season will be looking to make room on their roster this summer for the ex-Superbowl MVP. A few potential landing spots for Foles are the Jacksonville Jaguars (whose success has been stunted because of the inconsistency of Blake Bortles), Miami Dolphins (who can’t seem to keep Ryan Tannehill healthy), and the Denver Broncos (who were wildly underwhelmed by Case Keenum’s performace this past season). Foles joins an extremely talented group of free agents this off-season, one that is primed to change the landscape of the NFL in the fall. TRIVIAWhen was the first year in which Dodge released the first Ram truck?
 Read to the end to find out the answer. Around the Industry: Cyber-security Firms Concerned Self Driving Cars Can Easily be HackedOne of the hot trends in the auto industry is the prospect of creating cars that can drive themselves. While many people wait, drooling at the prospect of this kind of leap forward in both the auto and tech fields, some people warn us that this milestone isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. 84% of security professionals and auto engineers are actually concerned that automakers aren’t keeping up with the rapidly evolving security threats which can leave people’s high tech vehicles’ WiFi and cellular connections vulnerable to hackers. 
 
This crisis has made many in the industry cry for a call in action to bring in more people into these automotive giants, who are trying to build these “smart cars” the fastest. They are trying bring in more people with technological backgrounds to keep them on pace with the rest of the cyber world. Though these cars are being made to make your commute easier, and help you manage your life on the go; doing these things without proper preparation and procedures can lead to millions of vehicles getting hacked, costing the auto industry millions upon millions to repave their missteps.Trivia Answer
1981- While Dodge has been making trucks since 1917 the first truck named the Ram was introduced to consumers in the year 1981