Fellow bike shop Service Managers, a Q for ya

Anyone running a paperless Repair Order system?

We are considering it and would like to get some input on pitfalls / challenges / how it all works for you.

Thanks!

 

When presented with the option, our techs and customers both prefer a paper printout of what needs to be/was done. I personally would prefer a paperless system for customers (e.g. "We've emailed you a copy of your invoice...") but for techs I feel it's better to hand them a paper ticket with a VIN, model, color, jobs, etc.

 

Being a customer i dont want a fing email hate giving out info like that. Bad enough you camt trust anyone with a credit or debt card.

Paper please!

 

Yeah I've got the BMW dealer blocked. They have to call me for info and give me everything in writing when I'm there.

 

Last time I was at the Ford dealer, everything was electronic until I paid the bill. He had an tablet or laptop to show me the work estimate, I signed electronically. When they called me to pay, they printed the full invoice for a receipt.

Ya'll working on Corky's mental health?

 

So far I am thinking a hybrid system would be best - agree that techs need a hard copy, without a workstation in their area it would be unrealistic and counterproductive to expect otherwise. That will be a future expansion as I've tapped a lot of funds in getting a new reception area in the last few weeks.

I also appreciate the responders wanting a paper receipt at time of delivery; I am the same way when going to the Ford dealer. A lot of our customer base want the same, however a bunch of the younger customers simply do not care too much for paperwork.

My main objective is trimming down the substantial amount of RO's waiting to be deployed. They take up a lot of room and are an eyesore.

As far as Corky's mental health I only fight battles I think I can win (ha ha) Corky is gold - love that guy and all that <- a Corky-ism right there. Actually I moved to a dealer 20 miles or so up the road about three years ago.

 

I work in the forklift industry , some of our competitors have gone to it. Crown and Raymond. We are a large company with about 100 road techs. I don't see us going to it anytime soon.

 

Different business, but my HVAC service company is paperless and it's one of the best moves we've made. There are fewer errors in processing, recording, payment, time clock, and tracking. The technicians use tablets for everything and the customer records stay updated in real time.

It may not be necessary in a business where the techs aren't working off site, but it was the answer for us.

All of the objections made here were made when we switched, but none of them materialized when the system was actually implemented.

 

As a mid 30's customer, if you can email me the RO, that would be great. No paper for me to keep and I can easily search for it, if I ever needed too. The BMW dealer I think does a hybrid system too. When I got the car back, there was a printout given.

 

We have some elderly customers who don't even have a computer, much less an email address. We just created one gmail account for all of them. We enter that into the email field and anytime there's an invoice in that inbox, the office knows they have to print it and mail it to that customer.

If your customers want a printed invoice, they're already in your store. How hard is it to just print it out and give it to them?

 

This!!!

 

This. We're working at going paperless. Digital files are much easier to keep track of and quicker to access. For both the customer and the shop. If a customer wants a printed copy, it's just as easy to do that.

 

I own a forklift company I bought in 2005. I bought out a competitor at the end of 2014 that has an electronic system with tablets for W/O's jobs performed in the field. That was one of the reasons I wanted to buy them. Well.....after living with the system for the past 2 years, the jury is still out. It takes so long and so many steps to do things. I had a lady that did most of it, and I stupidly didn't learn it until she gave her 2 week notice, the week before Laguna Seca WSBK. I didn't go and sent my son with his girlfriend.

I think with time I may like it more, it just takes so many steps to create the work-order and then finally turn it into an invoice. Then after all of that, I still have to export the items and invoices to Quick Books. In my original company we can crank out invoices so much quicker, but we don't have real inventory control in QB.

 

I talk to the crown and Raymond guys , half love it for looking up parts the other half hate it. If you don't check in on it when you arrive at a customer it's a pain to correct they say. We have trackers on our vans, if a customer thinks you overbilled on time, we can give them a printout emailed or faxed that shows how long we are on site.

 

So you guys don't bill travel time? Do you just do a service charge instead? What about when you leave one day and come back another to finish the job, do you bill travel then? What is the hourly rate in Chicago?

 

Rob , we charge travel on repairs not PM's . It's a 1 hour charge for travel plus a $65 fee. Our hourly rate is $120. If we have to go back to finish a repair we charge actual driving time on return trip. We aren't the highest labor rate in our area crown charges $130. The Hyster and yale guys are giving units away. They did a lease full maintenance deal with Menards , I just got a call to change a drive wheel as Menards get those from their fleet center. The manager called me as he stated they were getting billed for all repairs even though they are full maint. Pretty funny shit.

 

Wow. It amazes me the rates are lower out here, and the cost of living is higher.

My first company, Active Forklift charges travel time and repair time, but no service call fee and we bill at $91 per hour. We also don't charge travel on PM's. The place I just bought, Boman Forklift, charges a $76 service call fee, but no travel time, and then bills at $98 per hour. Also no travel charge on PM's. Last I checked the big boys are between $105-125 per hour.

When the economy tanked in 08, lots of guys lost their jobs and bought vans to become independent. I still run into guys charging $45-55 per hour.

I'm surprised they can get away with that, charging full maintenance and still billing for stuff.

 

It's amazing Rob , give the truck away and screw them on the service. They claim a lift chain adjustment is abuse. LOL We don't have many independent guys in the area that I'm aware of I have heard of a few but never seen them anywhere. Our company plans on hiring 10 new techs each year for the next 4 years. All the talk in my area is every company is hiring but the quality of mechanics they get suck. The new guys we get keep the experienced guys busy with phone calls and rework. Our place bends over backwards for customers it blows my mind how far we go sometimes to make them happy.