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Shop View: Don's Auto Repair
Room For Growth
When space became tight in their shop, Don and Chad Schnitzler, owners of Don’s Auto Repair in Blue Ash, Ohio, bought an old repair shop space just down the street from them to act as an addition to their pre-existing business.
“We’re like a split store,” Don explains.
This allowed them to gain access to six additional bays for their techs, and increase their ability to bring in more customers without having to completely relocate.
Busy Bays
Due to the limited space in their main shop, some of the bays overlap. This can make navigating a high volume of repairs in and out difficult, but Don’s has a procedure in place.
All of the diagnostics are run right away in the morning so that techs can organize necessary repairs and determine how long they will take. By afternoon, it is time to get started on fixing the vehicles.
The more intensive and time-consuming repairs are parked in the overlapping bays toward the middle of the shop floor. Repairs that are quick and easy are strategically placed closer to the doors so that they don’t have to move all of the cars around once each repair is completed.
The Parking Lot Waltz
One issue that has followed Don’s Auto Repair from their main shop to their additional space? Customer parking.
Their lots are small, and there is not much street parking available. The way they combat this is simply trying to get through repairs in as timely of a manner as possible and promptly calling customers so that cars don’t sit around after they are worked on.
“It’s like a dance,” Don says.
It requires their techs to be efficient and willing to constantly be flexible when it comes to moving vehicles and moving bays depending on the repair job.
Techy Technicians
Since the business is stretched out between two buildings, clear and consistent communication is essential.
This includes every single employee, from the service writers who operate in opposite buildings, to the technicians who switch locations often.
Each technician uses a tablet to stay organized on daily repairs in addition to the DVI services that the shop already implements.
The use of technology streamlines the shop’s tasks and ensures that each member of the team is on the same page, which ultimately leads to better customer satisfaction.
“We definitely stay up on technology,” says Don. “I think a lot of people appreciate that.”