extended hours

[X476]

Our shop currently works Monday thru Friday 7:30 o 5:30. Both parts and service are closed Saturday and Sunday. We are looking at extending our hours to 12 hour days (7:00 to 7:00), Monday thru Saturday. I currently have 16 techs with 4 service advisors and a stand alone lube center. Does anyone have a system in place that works really well and rotates the Saturdays so one group doesn't work them all?

[PHoskins]

Is your business that good that you need to be open additional hours?

[btk]

I would strongly consider 4 10 schedule -rotating. 3 different schedules- 1-mon-thur
2-mon,tues,fri,sat. 3- wed-sat -have everyone rotate thru those schedules, that leaves you with roughly 9 techs plus 1 every day of the week that you are open-you could do something similiar with the advisors.

[sp7128]

If your service business is not where you want it to be.....drive by a instant oil change place or tire center on Saturday...you will NOT think twice about openning your service dept on Saturdays....We have been open on Sat since 1987 and it is always one of, if not our busiest day of the week....we do not schedule warranty or heavy repair, just light duty and express oil changes...we run 80 to 100 ROs on Saturday alone...I know some areas do not allow this or if you are a U shop....but most people 25 yrs olds and under so understand Saturday is a working day and leave your "primadonnas" to the m-f warranty and heavy repair. Being open on Saturday also gives your sales dept ammo to advertise you as a Saturday service facilty. (you are paying rent/utilities/benefits for Saturday anyways)

[X476]

We have been working on customer retention for years and have developed a very large, loyal customer base. In addition, we have a great staff who understands the value of our customers and they are committed to treating them well. Our business has always remained steady (again we are very fortunate)and is up over last year. Several independant facilities are moving into our area and we choose to stay competitive with our operating hours as not to inconvenience any of our customers. Thanks BTK for your opinion.