Fight to save Tators Dodge Video

I watched every minute of it, very insightful, very sad. I would assume they are still in business as an independent garage.
 
i had an order in with him,a pre-production VIN#, after i heard the concept was going into production. he was as excited as i was! when i found one later closer to home he was gracious enough to forgive the order and pass it on to someone else and he understood as i did later, the first group of trucks were alloted to texas dealers. sad situation:(
 
It's now Tators Garage....

Hope they get there dealership back
 
Makes one glad that they have the simplest and barest of essentials.....

God help us.......

D
 
FATJACK said:
I would assume they are still in business as an independent garage.
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Yes sir! It's now Tator's Garage. I called there not long ago, spoke to Tator himself (The Viper Wizard) to set up a date to drop my truck off to him.:D
 
Curious as to what Tator Dodge looses when he bacame Tators Garage?

I assume he looses being able to do warranty work which pays him a descent hourly wage by Dodge.

Selling parts which he makes probably 30% or more on.

But what else is he loosing out on by not being affiliated with/by having the Dodge name??

Any dealers here know exactly what this all means?

Thanks for the explanation.

SHU
 
it means when people come in and they say " we charge 90 per hour" they cant finish by saying "because we are a dealership".
 
SHU-DOG said:
Curious as to what Tator Dodge looses when he bacame Tators Garage?

I assume he looses being able to do warranty work which pays him a descent hourly wage by Dodge.

Selling parts which he makes probably 30% or more on.

But what else is he loosing out on by not being affiliated with/by having the Dodge name??

Any dealers here know exactly what this all means?

Thanks for the explanation.

SHU
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New Vehicles?
 
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Chuck & his staff are good people. They did my header/cat install. Chuck also gave me the tour of the 7-8 vipers and viper trucks he had in the shop working his magic on. With or without the dodge affiliation, this guys reputation ensures a constant stream of viper faIthful.
 
scoobert said:
it means when people come in and they say " we charge 90 per hour" they cant finish by saying "because we are a dealership".
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Lets see how hourly rates are calculated in a typical business. Im not sure what hourly rate a dealer uses but lets say avg $35. In my business ( construction ) it's done like this. This assuming union shop.

Base rate $35.00
Labor burden (36.3%)
FICA 14.4%
Medicaire 1.45%
Fed .8%
State 9.4%
Work Comp 6.66%
Liability 2.61%
$ 12.70

Fringes $ 22.00

Tool rental 1.0% .47



Total labor Rate $70.17

SO $70.17 IS THE DEALERS COST WITHOUT PROFIT FOR EACH MANHOUR

Whats overhead 10-15%? $10.50


So dealer must charge $80.67 per hour and still hasn't made any profit!

So 90-100 per hour is not unreasonable
 
FastSRT19 said:
Yes sir! It's now Tator's Garage. I called there not long ago, spoke to Tator himself (The Viper Wizard) to set up a date to drop my truck off to him.:D
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What's in going in for? Whatever it is you WILL NOT be dissapointed.
 
scoobert said:
why do i know of 3 shops that charge $40 per hour and make more money then they even need....
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Because they probably have guys working off the books and are not paying income tax just for starters. Also you have to compare apples to apples. You cannot compare a Joes garage type thing with a Dealership!!! I can think of lots more reasons.
 
thats what i said originally. dealership is just a name. a name that lets them charge more for the same product.
last time i had work done at a $40 per hour shop the job was done wrong. he didn't bitch, complain moan or groan, he went right back tore the engine back out and did it again. (he was doing me a favor, he is a ford mechanic) i only wish i would have gone back to him for the engine swap.
all said and done it cost me $360 with parts. honda wanted $1400. for the same job.
 
scoobert said:
thats what i said originally. dealership is just a name. a name that lets them charge more for the same product.
last time i had work done at a $40 per hour shop the job was done wrong. he didn't bitch, complain moan or groan, he went right back tore the engine back out and did it again. (he was doing me a favor, he is a ford mechanic) i only wish i would have gone back to him for the engine swap.
all said and done it cost me $360 with parts. honda wanted $1400. for the same job.
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Yes it is a name . But whats behind the name? Consumer trust and confidence ? I dunno... factory specific trained techs?. Im sure there are lots of dealerships who are worthless but the majority are not and the money they or any other buisness charge for their time is just a function of HOW THEY do business
 
i allways wanted to open a shop here in town called $45 per hour. i could have made a killing. most stealers here are charging over 100 now days. PLUS they charge list price on parts. the markup on parts is about 300%. so when you say they need to add all that shit to get to 90 per hour cost, you probally dont take the list priced parts into account.

i like repair shops to be honest, the shop i mentioned before was straight up with me, they told me they charge for parts what i would pay when i walk in, that is to say retail, they might get 10% off at most.

its a matter of honesty. not saying this dealer was dishonest, but most dealerships i have found are.
 
scoobert said:
thats what i said originally. dealership is just a name. a name that lets them charge more for the same product.
last time i had work done at a $40 per hour shop the job was done wrong. he didn't bitch, complain moan or groan, he went right back tore the engine back out and did it again. (he was doing me a favor, he is a ford mechanic) i only wish i would have gone back to him for the engine swap.
all said and done it cost me $360 with parts. honda wanted $1400. for the same job.
Click to expand...


Cheaper isn't always better, you kinda get what you pay for in most cases. Like you said, he did it wrong and rebuilt it BECAUSE HE DID YOU A FAVOR. In most cases, things done wrong don't work this way and probably never will


Based on what I saw in the video, Tators seemed to be more than just a mechanic that charged at dealer rates....

Tators appeared to be part of a community and a respected part of the community at that. Gave as they could and respected by most. I was a bit surprised when he said he sold 30 cars a year. Most dealers need to do that in a week or less. I was also surprised when he said he did no or very little advertising, most if not all of his business was by word of mounth. That is success, in a big way. It's just a shame that they lose out on the warranty work.


I wish Tators the best of luck in there endevor and hope they win against Chrysler and any outside influence that is probably part of this issue

J
 
Bad management and crappy and unsellable product. Surprise chrysler has stayed around as long as it has.

German's even thru in the towel on them.
 
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