dean,

for the most part I agree with you, on repairs that require more then 500 in parts I usually ask for a deposit I do a lot of road work where we dont have the boat in our position and even if I did wouldnt insult my regular customers by asking, I know a lot of shops that wont touch a boat with out a credit card # on file.........

I have a customer now that had a 3800.00 bill 2500.00 in parts I got a 2000.00 dep now having a hard time collecting the balance......


at any given time I have between 5000 and 15,000 in receivables, Im a little guy thats alot for me to carry, but I dont want to insult my customers by asking for a cc # up front then charge it as I go



back to subject dean is right I believe it is in the valve train....

Joe ... Here's where I would not agree with you ...because of guys like this guy here ..... I will not give money up front ....I do see your side ...but I'm sick and tired of incompetent work ....

Ditto Joe.. Just like everyone else we need to get paid too. We are strict, but back it up with the service in return. Boats are fixed, no bs or sugar coating the problems, boat is returned as clean or cleaner than how it came in. The customer can acutually use the boat.. O yeah we try to do it all in a timeley fashion too..

I do agree that when the burglars out there take good money for shoddy work it hurts all of us.. Thats a good reason for the legit competent shops to protect themselves..

My suggestion is if not happy with work etc. etc. etc.. Find a different shop.. There are good shop owners & wrench's out there you have to look & trust a little.

BTW.. What is your oil psi? what weight oil are you running? Just curious.. Jamie..

Joe,

Your comments are interesting. I used to be a mechanic, a long, long time ago, I was not a real good one, more of a parts changer than a tech, but it helped me get through college. That background helped me when I started my CPA firm, auto and boat repair shops make up 50% of my client base, and we are REAL involved with them. We set their price, do all the taxes, investments, payroll, financial statements, manage banking relationships, help them collect receivables, all that stuff. Anyway I say that as a reference point...

We generally have clients file mechanic liens when they can not get paid, granted it is MUCH easier on a car cause the car is on the lot. You just do not let it leave until paid, however I think you could do this with a off site boat. Generally I would recommend not working away from the shop because of these problems, however if you work on large boats of course that would not be an option.

We find having the shop owner devote 30 to 45 minutes on Tuesday or Thursday morning between 9:00 and 10:00 to make calls to "?good?" customers with an outstanding balance to be the most effective way to collect receivables.

I question if they are good customers if you are having to call to get paid, if it is because you did not explain you expect payment at time service is rendered then it could be your fault, but if you did and are still having to make calls, we would disagree if they are "good" customers.

With a dead beat it will get painful, but it is already painful so turn up the heat VERY quickly, that will set a tone and collect more money than anything else.

The hardest thing for a small shop to realize is they need to run off customers who will not work with you and pay on time. I estimate 1/3 of the population are customers you should not be working for. Learning how to see them BEFORE you work for them is critical to YOU having a life as well as a business. One of the critical things to do is create an environment where it becomes harder for that customer to get through the door.

You may try (if you were a client I would tell you to do this and not give you an option on not doing it, but you are not so I will kindly offer for your consideration)...

On your tickets have printed in the lower part of the ticket - "PAYMENT REQUIRED WHEN SERVICES RENDERED - To give personal service we maintain a small shop, servicing only the BEST customer with GREAT service. Being small means we can not carry receivables, your help with payment when services are rendered is much appreciated and ensures you get our highest level of attention".

Generally that will cause some things to happen, first the customer who drags out payment will drift away from you, and your customers who simply do not know will now know and will make payment immediately. Over time it will help line out your client list. Your better customer will feel special, they will make referrals, but when they do the conversation will go something like:

"Joe is AWESOME, he only works for really good clients, but he is AMAZING, always takes care of everything, I never have to think twice about it, but he does not work for just anyone, if you want him to work for you you have to treat him good and pay on time, but man, it is well worth it"

Get enough referral's like that and your whole business changes....

Anyway, just trying to be helpful...... if you are already doing this kind of thing then maybe it will be helpful for someone else...


P.S. - once this standard is set you have to live up to it, but you can charge $5/more per hour than ANYONE in town, and price becomes an irrelevant part of the equasion. In this field in particular the shop who wins is the one who has the best customers...

I called the mechanic yesterday, he still maintains the motors needed the valve job and I was not going to argue about it, so I told him I was dissapointed with paying the money and still having the tick, so he says he will put in the lifters this week for Parts plus 4 hours labor @$50=$200 in labor. I said I will drop the boat off and hopefully this will be the end of it .......

Dean,Think thats great advice and will start implimenting it...Thank you

95...did he say why the heads needed the valve job when they had good compression all the way around...did he do a leak down test ??????


personally 200 in labor isnt bad but hes redoing work R&R intake, R&R pushrods and adjust ..... he just did all this if he did it right he wouldnt be doing it again


just my 2 cents

Glad to be of help, feel free to call if you ever want to bounce this stuff around...

GOODT, I think that you may have missed this.

With this I can understand pulling the heads. Lifter may not have shown until after but should have been noticed on the seatrial after the repair. Maybe it should have been caught before the boat was returned to the customer but I can understand how it was missed during the initial repair.

Good luck

said he took it to him for "ticking" lifter should of been first thought, I did miss the part about compression numbers all over the place

you are right,


I am sorry

I dont know why I thought he said compression was good all the way around



when Im wrong I do admit it, I must of read it wrong as far as that goes but he was complaining about the tick from the get go, so for the 100.00 that a set of lifters cost they sould of been done then

I agree, the lifters should have been replaced. But a bent/stuck valve can also sound like a collapsed lifter.

Still should have shown at the time of sea trial and been fixed before it was returned to customer.