How to Heat Up the Winter Freeze

Posted 12/11/2008
By Jon E. Vance

Winter months historically produce the lowest repair order counts of the year for mechanical shops. In yearly averages since 2003, February is at the bottom, with December second and November right behind.

With volume down, how do mechanical shop managers fill their bays, make the most of their mechanics' time, and keep the repair order volume profitable? By concentrating service and repair business on those vehicles that produce the greatest repair value.

Looking back over the past two years, the top five vehicle repairs were on pickup trucks.

But these repairs weren't the most valuable, in terms of average repair order dollars.

Key performance indicators, provided as a benefit to ASA members, let shop owners see at a glance which vehicles return the top dollar, and which ones are being repaired in their local area.

Using these comparisons, shop owners can target vehicles by year/make/model (YMM) that return larger average repair order value and capture a greater percentage of holiday profits.

Stat Corner is written by Jon E. Vance, PMP, project manager with Mitchell 1. Mitchell 1 is a longtime associate member of ASA as well as a sponsored benefit provider.