This is made to help any mobile mechanic or Mechanic that wants to offer services to better position themselves and their business and get the attention they deserve from new and existing clients. I will include the Steps that are made to get success for this business model. If there are any questions, please let me know so I can help you grow your business.
Whenever I see a post on Facebook, or an AD on Google for a Mobile mechanic, it always hurts a little bit to see how they are basically BEGGING for customers to call them, message them or give them the time of day to try and earn their business. Most of them out there just want a seat at the table for mobile mechanics. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of services out there that have a “fleet system” where you sign up as a mechanic and they either provide you a minimum amount of vehicles to fix, or a base pay per week. I know this because I worked for one that promised pay of 1k a week, and I was basically at beck and call for any repair all over the city.
After working for him for a couple of months, I finally thought I was doing great, but seeing my actual earnings showed me how wrong I was. I was making 1000 a week, but I had a quota of selling 500 bucks worth of labor every day and I was driving for 8 hours a day at least, with an 08 Silverado averaging 15 MPG. Turns out 300 a week for gas was making my take home actually 700, take into account saving about a third for the tax man and reality smacked me right in the face with a smaller paycheck than what I made as a tech at a shop.
Looking at the 2500 I was basically giving to the owner of the company I knew that I was on the wrong side of this. So, I said my goodbyes, and started advertising for myself, looking through local pages to see who’s car had broken down every day, hunting and hoping for someone to need anything that I could fix on the ground and not need to do an alignment (though I had gotten pretty good at making sure they didn’t need one after repair). I managed to do okay, and finally found a groove where I was making about the same per week, and only had to drive when there was actual work.
I still wasn’t happy with the amount of work and Pay that I was getting. I had customers that had issue after issue and since they had the ability to call me and I could go to them, the convenience began to take a toll on me. I started to change how I did things.
First- I stopped hunting for clients and customers in the “wanted ads” of Facebook. These are clients that need help, but don’t know where to go and though I did make some exceptions, as you may choose to as well, they are more in a mindset of just needing that 1 thing. It’s most likely something that a major shop has advised needs replaced or fixed, and let it go to the point where it now needs an actual fix. Most of the time, they want to cheapest fix and don’t see the actual value in your repair, think of it this way, If they didn’t see the value in the Shop’s advice, where there is a big banner, a brick and mortar location and signage everywhere, a Mobile Mechanic they barely met has no weight in their mind.
I began to shape how I wanted to be seen in the eyes of Clients and customers, I created my Facebook business page, worked on my About Us service and began taking Photos of things I replaced on cars before and after and even a few videos to post when I was posting in Groups or “craigslist” pages. I would load up everything I could do in EVERY post, making sure I noted that I could rewire brake lights, replace bulbs and a bunch of other mundane and small tasks. Needless to say my posts looked like a mess of keywords and lists of things I could do.
This isn’t to say that I didn’t get get responses, and messages from people that needed repairs. But it seemed like I was getting less people than I was getting by hunting them and with a lot more stress of possibly not getting anyone at all. I was beating myself up trying to figure out why my old boss was getting so many customers, and I realized he was using Google Ads, so I focused on building my Google business profile to see if I could do the same. I loaded up pictures and this made me realize that I needed a logo. I didn’t hire anyone of course, I googled free logo maker and found one that would allow me to make a simple logo, and I took it. I also came across a company that I will always put out to help new businesses and entrepreneurs which was 4over4.com, they provide free business cards (200) with custom design to have something for my clients to hand out to their friends or family.
So, there I was with my New business cards, new Facebook page, new Google Page for my business and went to work, always trying to get more customers because at that point, I felt that if I could work on more cars, I would make more money. I was following the customers logic of not seeing the value of my work or my business. The next step I took and why made the world of difference…
I remember pulling up to the apartment complex where my mindset shifted, I was just going to do a diagnosis on a vehicle that wouldn’t turn on (I charged for the diag fee just to come out). I let the guy know he had a broken bolt in his block and it would take at least 3 hours to take apart and pull it plus the repair of the water pump and though he wasn’t happy he understood that unless he wanted to pay for a tow truck, then an additional shop diagnosis fee plus the repair, then I was his best option. Of course, it was scheduled for another day a couple of weeks away because he didn’t have the funds right then. I packed my tools, only to be snatched in the parking lot by another resident, I thought my truck was in the way and almost started apologizing until he said “hey, I was watching and I see that you care about the work you do, can I pay you to look at my brakes?” I was dumbfounded and of course I said yes, after I let him know he only had 2 MM of brake left and telling him how much I would charge him to swap them out he immediately said, “Can I call Autozone and pay them so you can pick up the parts before you get here whenever YOU have time?”
I was put in the position where I was the one who chose when to fix the car, how to fix it and the customer made the conscious effort to have parts ready for me to just pick up and make my job as simple as possible. I was hooked, I needed this from every customer and they had to do what I required to make every fix as simple as possible.
My posts immediately changed, I shortened them up, I listed the basic services that took the least amount of time and I decided that any additional repairs would almost never be done the same day. Say, if I had a customer that messaged about brakes and when I arrived they had questions about a tune-up I would immediately say ” let me put it on my schedule for x day, then I would call Autozone request the correct parts and collect payment for them at MSRP to have them ready for the day that I was to come back. I realized that I could actually partner with shops to piece out things like Alignments, Engine swaps, and major overhauls that was in reality inconvenient for me and I would still set up a bird dog for those services and fees.
My workload lightened to the point where I could do the Jobs I really wanted to do and was able to divert customers to a shop that had the resources and manpower to do a fix more efficiently. I did however only partner with shops that I trusted enough that I would have let them fix my own vehicles, so make sure if you do that you hold the same standards.
My posts looked like this:
Demonz Auto
Mobile Auto Repair
10+ Years experience
Brakes, Headlight Restoration, Tune-ups, Suspension work and more…
$XX Diagnosis Fee
A/C Recharge and Repair
Radiator Replacement
Message for additional services and to book an appointment.
That was It, no more fluff than needed, no extra services that nobody wanted to read through. I made it simple for customers to see what I did and to be honest if they wanted to know if I did more work or offered other services they messaged. I would include a couple of photos of previous work, but never more than 3 or 4 at most. Honestly, the less you provide in photos, the better, 1 photo of a new rotor and pad set is more than enough for customers to want that repair done for them. I also made sure to take the information of what I had most worked on in my area and highlighted the most common repairs to make sure I was seen as a specialist in those areas.
Let me walk you through how our customers think, just for example since most mechanics find it hard to see through a clients eyes, we wouldn’t put off a major repair because in OUR minds it makes sense to fix it right away. They think if it still runs, run it, if I can turn up my radio and not hear my brakes, they’re not that bad. They can’t justify paying YOU x amount of money to fix the issue they can just keep the money or eventually go to a major shop because they don’t trust the guy who they messaged on Facebook and came to them. I’m going to show you how to BEST position yourself to them and show them that you aren’t just a mechanic, but you run a successful business that is their best option for the repair that you want to do.
So, you have a Facebook page, a Google page, Business cards, your tools in your vehicle and an old shop uniform (if you don’t have one, get a Dickies one at Wal-mart, believe me you’ll be 100 times more reputable) what are you missing that will cement into their minds that you’re not just some Shade-tree mechanic? Payment options, these will show them that you are a reputable business, I used Square when I started, it was simple, allowed for simple invoices and let me setup recurring invoices…more on that later.
I made sure to adjust my posts to include that I accepted cash, venmo, cashapp, zelle and Debit/Credit. I even got a nifty sticker to put on my truck and a card adapter for my phone.
The customers were rolling in constantly, I would have 2 or 3 weeks booked out with Diagnosis, brakes, struts, motor mounts and everything else I deemed worthy of my time and attention. The best part, I had bundles to pick up every morning I worked (by the way I found Wednesday through Sunday worked best) Parts were paid ahead of time and I just showed up, fixed the cars, did the test drive to verify the repair and I would be done with an average of 500 dollars in Profit every day. Now, when I say profit, I mean actual profit, after the gas, lunch, “shop cost” and anything else that would normally come out of my pocket.
The question would still roll through my mind…what had really changed? After breaking everything down and researching how Facebook and even customers work, I had my answer. I was no longer just a mechanic, my Business had become an actual Value to them, they no longer had to sit in uncomfortable waiting rooms, they knew they could trust the work I did because I set the standards, not them. I wasn’t on their time, they had to fight for a piece of mine. I required them to pay for the parts ahead of time, and I didn’t question my choice in that NEEDING to be done. My hourly rates were still 60 an hour when I began, and when I changed them to 80 customers didn’t question or blink. I was the one making the choices, I was the one offering them the help they needed and honesty they wanted. I was no longer a service for them, I started getting calls not only from the Posts and ads, but from family members, I looked at my Google page one day to find Reviews, all 5 stars, boasting that I actually stayed true to my promise and made the repair as clear as possible.
This guide is meant to help you take your business to that level, to be seen as the industry expert and know that clients will actually let YOU do the repair, with no question as long as you keep your word and do the repair the right way. All of my methods can be cloned and put to work, you just need to have the patience to build it right, and learn from my mistakes not to feed customers too much or they will just scroll past and ignore what you have to give.
As always, if you have any questions or even if you don’t have the technical aptitude to put this into effect and need help with it, We can help, reach out to me at jromo@fierosmm.com I can help or guide however necessary to maximize your profit and take you from hunting and hoping to leading and growing your business and make more profit than you ever thought you could.
