Date: Fri, 21 Dec 2012 18:35:47 -0600
Reply-To: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Tom Hargrave <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
Subject: Re: Automotive Shop Rate Question
In-Reply-To: <CAB2RwfjQ1w+EFKE3pgG4qjPHU8rhKYQXmpm7u9Y98NaYB8eCXQ@mail.gmail.com>
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My best guess is the original rates were way too low. I own my own business
and I fell into the same trap.
People not experienced with business or who like me, refused to believe
their Accountant friend's "inflated rates" assume that their costs will be
far lower than reality. This "assumption" killed my on-line www.kegkits.com
business three years ago & I was only able to restart because I have other
incomes to leverage.
I've learned since then that if you want to make enough to make business
worth the effort you need to charge 3X the hourly rate you want to keep. So,
if you want to make 70K a year you have to figure out how to charge 210K a
year. And then you'll meet your goals, only if you manage your costs down to
the penny.
Thanks, Tom Hargrave
www.stir-plate.com
www.towercooler.com
www.kegkits.com
www.grow-sun.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
neil n
Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 5:10 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Automotive Shop Rate Question
Hi all.
I don't use a pro mechanic that often so could be totally off base on this.
But.....
My first visit to a new shop in Sept., hourly rate: $75. The rate then went
up to $85 in Nov, and $90 in Dec.
The shop location is relatively new, but the business has been around for at
least 2 years. Likely it's been around longer than that.
Initially the shop rate seemed a little low. Like too good to be true.
Has anyone experienced a situation similar to this?
I hope I'm wrong, as the shop has shown attention to detail, done good work
AFAIK, and been good to work with, but I feel like they got me "in the door"
with a lower rate then bumped it up hoping I wouldn't notice. In fact this
worked to some degree as I didn't notice the increase to $85/hour.
Yes it's the owners prerogative to raise shop rates, but this seems
suspicious. Also, when I asked about the rate increase, the answer of "well,
people were saying we were the lowest price in town" seemed like a load of
horse pucky.
Neil.
--
Neil n
65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp
'88 Slate Blue Westy to be named.
'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco" http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
Vanagon VAG Gas I4/VR Swap Google Group:
http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engine
s
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