WILL THEY FIND YOU? Raising your profile on the world’s biggest search engine NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 10 Tips for a Better Website Learning from award winning repair shops Security Gateway Modules Dealing with OE security protocols designed to keep Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40063170 some people out CANADIAN AUTO REPAIR & SERVICE MAGAZINE NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019 | VOL. 5 NO. 6 Boost Your Shop 15 Profits FEATURES Industry Trends: Google Pages 15 Want business to grow? Try leveraging the power of the world’s biggest search engine to increase your visibility in the market. Management: Five Tips to a Better Website 18 Lessons from award-winning auto repair shops that have created innovative and effective websites. Get this Product Feature: Accessories complete Shop 20 Retailers report stable or growing sales of accessories, dispelling fears of a “retailpocalypse.” Management Selling: Reaching the Chief Purchasing Officer Software 21 Women still do the bulk of household shopping – and that includes automotive service – so it pays to create an environment that makes them feel comfortable. • User friendly invoicing • Full accounting module Technical Feature: Closing the Gate Security gateway modules – designed to foil hackers – can be a repair roadblock • Free updates & support 22 if you don’t know how to navigate them. • Customer Retention Module (CRM) • Much, much more! COLUMNS 14 Service Notes The best customers are those who 5 commit to maintaining their vehicles. It’s Your Turn An open letter to aftermarket 14 part manufacturers. Greenwood’s Garage Do you see warning signs on 30 the horizon? 30 DEPARTMENTS Call us for a Letters ........................................... 6 Eye Spy ..........................................6 FREE In the News ..................................... 8 tryout at By the Numbers ............................. 12 1-800-268-4044 Baywatch ..................................... 25 Advertiser Index ............................ 29 www.vlcom.com ai15730544344_20907-5-Wix Trade Ad-PointAtoB-8.125x10.75_CARS copy.pdf 1 11/6/19 10:33 AM POINT “A” TO POINT “HIGHEST DESTINATION.” WE’LL GET YOU THERE. Your goals are important. We understand that. That’s why at WIX® Filters, our goal is to make high-quality, high-performance filters and support them with experience, ingenuity and countless hours, helping you keep your vehicles running, keep your stores selling, keep your business thriving and keep you on the path to success. wixfilters.com SERVICE NOTES CANADIAN AUTO REPAIR & SERVICE MAGAZINE EDITOR | Allan Janssen (416) 578-1586 [email protected] They can't handle the truth! CONTRIBUTORS | Bob Greenwood, Allan Haberman, Adam Malik, Katie Mares, Consumers say they’re looking for an 'honest mechanic’ but Bob Paff, Jacob Stoller what they really want is a cheap and delusional diagnosis. ART DIRECTION | Tim Norton/Elaine Borg By Allan Janssen (416) 614-5810 [email protected] DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT | Peter Bulmer I hate to admit it, but a friend of mine I explained that this is a trend in the (416) 605-5346 [email protected] would be a terrible customer for any industry, and a defensible one at that. QUEBEC & EASTERN CANADA repair shop. If you see him coming, flip If he experienced some kind of ignition SALES DIRECTOR | Denis Arsenault the sign in the window. “Sorry! We’re problem a week later or found that his (514) 947-7228 [email protected] closed.” You’ll be doing yourself a favour. brakes were metal-on-metal, he’d be ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER, He’s a great guy, but he’s always look- upset that they hadn’t pointed that out PRINT/DIGITAL | Rosemary de Freitas 416-510-6844 [email protected] ing for a deal. And as much as he needs when his car was in the shop. his car for a very demanding sales job, The inspection was intended to give | CIRCULATION MANAGER Lilianna Kantor he just hates to spend money on it. him a report on the current state of (416) 614-5815 [email protected] He takes it for service, only when his vehicle, and he could do with it CARS magazine is published six times a year by Newcom Media Inc., 5353 Dundas St W. Suite 400, Toronto, ON, M9B 6H8. The magazine absolutely necessary, to one of those what he liked. serves the Canadian automotive repair and service industry. small back-alley garages that has an What he liked, it turned out, was to Subscriptions are free to those who meet the criteria. For others: single copy price: $7.00 plus tax; one-year subscription in Canada: inch of grease on every surface. go back to his guy, who offered a cheaper $53.95 plus applicable tax; 2-year subscription in Canada: $84.95 plus applicable tax; one-year subscription in U.S: US$95.95; single copy It’s one of those “my guy” kind of sit- solution to the strut mount problem – price: US$10.00; one-year subscription in all other countries: US$97.95. Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. The contents of this uations. You know. “You should go see about half of what the other shop had publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, my guy,” he says. “My guy is really good. asked for. He scoffed at all the other without prior written consent of the publisher. The advertiser agrees Otold protect the publisher against legal action based upon libelous or And he’s cheap too.” work the shop had found, but he prom- versioninaccurate statements, unauthorized use of photographs, or other material in connection with advertisements placed in CARS. The Emphasis on the “cheap.” ised a better price on that work if my publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertising which in his opinion is misleading, scatological, or in poor taste. Postmaster: send Anyway, when my friend’s 2009 friend really wanted to have it done. No address changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Sebring was starting to make strange surprise, my friend stuck with his guy. Dept., CARS, 5353 Dundas St W. Suite 400, Toronto, ON, M9B 6H8. noises, I convinced him to take it to People always say they want to find what I called “a real shop.” See what an “honest mechanic.” I think the prob- they’d do, I said, and I recommended lem is that they don’t want honesty at MEDIA INC. a shop with a great reputation for qual- all. They would rather hear some delu- New ity repairs and excellent customer ser- sional diagnosis that saves them versionsVP, PUBLISHING | Melissa Summerfield VP, EDITORIAL | Rolf Lockwood vice. The real shop found that the money, than an honest assessment and PRESIDENT | Joe GlionnaMEDIA USA INC. Sebring desperately needed a strut a plan to restore the value of the vehi- CHAIRMAN | Jim Glionna mount and they quoted him on the job. cle. To paraphrase Colonel Jessup, they CORPORATE OFFICES But because they’d never dealt with can’t handle the truth! MÉDIA QUÉBEC INC. HEAD OFFICE him before and didn’t know his vehi- In the end, of course, proper main- 5353 Dundas Street West, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M9B 6H8 cle’s maintenance history, they took it tenance doesn’t cost more than neglect. Telephone: 416-614-2200 upon themselves to conduct a compli- My friend’s 10-year-old Sebring is on its Facsimile: 416-614-8861 mentary inspection. last legs. Replacing it will not be cheap. They presented him with results, But regular maintenance through the Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations Newcom Media – Publications at which were not atypical for a 10-year- years could have doubled its life... and 5353 Dundas Street West, Suite 400 Customer Number: 4006214 old vehicle. A lot of things needed atten- saved thousands of dollars. Publication Mail Agreement #40063170 Print edition ISSN 2368-9129 tion. If he’d authorized it all, it would This is the message we struggle as On-line edition ISSN 2368-9137 have come to over $1,700. That was far an industry to communicate. It is the more than buddy had anticipated. And consumers who “get it” that you really while he understood that he was under want as customers. no obligation to purchase the repairs, he found it a little presumptuous that they’d inspected his vehicle at all. He I want to hear what you think. You can hadn’t asked them to. reach me at [email protected]. www.autoserviceworld.com November / December 2019 5 LETTERS Trade teachers are getting Shop training is as scarce as students one thing, classroom My staff and I have discussed the labour situation training is another! in the automotive industry, (“Turning Talk into Having trained several Action,” Service Notes, October 2019) and we often apprentices over the years, come to the conclusion that education is the key I know what an advantage to giving people choices about what they will do it gives my shop to develop for a living. Young people need to have their eyes new talent. We currently opened about what they can accomplish if they are have an excellent young fel- given the opportunity. Unfortunately, finding teach- low, but we’re struggling to ers for some of these trade programs is becoming get him into to the class- very difficult. I don’t know where we’re heading in room training he needs. the auto trades, but we really need to do something Waiting a year and a half or to bring more people in. having to send him to Vancouver is Tim Leslie, Capital City Acrylic Repair, Carp, Ont. just not acceptable. He will have more than enough hours long The problem of finding new techs is the trade itself before he ever gets to write his Red When it comes to finding new apprentices, I don’t feel that a lot of what needs Seal exam.