After 7 years of loyal service...

[TheDan]

won numerous back to back chronicle awards for most honest shop in Austin

he literally adds time to another customers bill

wow...

 

[deemus]

Sounds like fraud to me. Our tax dollars.

I have the IG contact info since someone tried to get a PPP loan in my name. I'll dig it out if you want it.

Not fraud. Anyone who had a business could get those loans. And as long as you could prove the funds were used for rent, utilities and payroll, it was all forgiven.

 

[oldag]

Hope you find a much better place to work.

 

[oldag]

Not fraud. Anyone who had a business could get those loans. And as long as you could prove the funds were used for rent, utilities and payroll, it was all forgiven.

Not so sure about that. Some companies are being pursued for fraud related to these loans.

 

[baboon]

Sounds like fraud to me. Our tax dollars.

Government Covid money for businesses was basically free for filing the paperwork. And I'm talking crazy money.

I would go on further to say big corporation scored so much the taxpayers would revolt if only they knew.

 

[deemus]

Not so sure about that. Some companies are being pursued for fraud related to these loans.

There may be some fraud related to it. But it was amazingly easy to have them forgiven.

 

[popper]

Gee, must have been the wife of one of my bosses. Scum exist.

 

[TexMex247]

When I was calling around to get a flatbed to move my larger boxes more than one had commented on the owners lack of character to put it nicely. Their reputation does precede them in the local market already. For a second I thought where did she come up with $1k a day but then I remembered that's what I bring in daily in labor. I made them about 1 million dollars in labor profit alone within my first 5 years there.

When another lead tech quit, they shut down that location and even expected all the laid off employees to move all the heavy equipment out and clean out the building in their last 2 weeks of employment. They didn't even rotate staff to keep it going. Just pulled the rug on everyone. The younger guys at the shop are oblivious to the fact that if they did this to me why wouldn't they do it all to you? Toxic workplace and the most poorly managed shop I've ever been at.

I give em' a few months before they lease it out and move to Colorado to their new house they bought with their COVID money. A manager even mentioned that they pulled over $200k from the shop bank account a month or so ago, no doubt trying to get more of daddy Bidens handouts.

 

[leVieux]

You need your OWN SHOP.

People search for folks like you.

A Friend went solo a couple years back & does much better.

leVieux

 

[Hoji]

So this probably belongs under rants and raves but it's pretty hometown relevant. I've been fixing cars in Austin for 25 years now. I have seen it all in those years and when I chose my most recent employer I did it based on their reputation as an "honest" shop having won numerous back to back chronicle awards for most honest shop in Austin in the early 2000s.

I should have known better when after a few months the owners wife told me "I know too much" during a meeting where I disagreed with the manager telling me he would make up for short changing me on a job on my next one. So he literally adds time to another customers bill to compensate me. I had mentioned to them that every other shop I worked at simply "ate" the time. It really wasn't much. I didn't huff and puff about it but it irked me and I was always hesitant to send friends or family there.

Through 7 years of grinding I was literally the most productive and efficient employee they had in the entire history of the company spanning over 20 years. The last 2 were rough considering I endured 50 cent raises in consecutive years during which they not only raised their labor rate by $35 but also received almost $250k in COVID PPP money. Naturally when COVID hit they disappeared to their lake house along with part of the shop supply of nitrile gloves. During this same period we broke records for revenue as everyone worked on.

The COVID money thing baffled me. When I found an article in the el paso times about the money they received I thought how did they qualify while making more money than ever before? Now it's clear they must have claimed their children as employees too since they simply never had their reported number of staff.

But it gets better...I finally put in my 2 weeks after dealing with the owners wife not paying my earned PTO, over a month after I took it. Then when I submitted a tx payday law claim she edits a document she submitted to show I have no YTD accrued vacation but paid me anyways. I cited the numbers from our Intuit payroll portal in the filing. So I finally get paid those days only to find my PTO edited the next week in the payroll portal. Literally removing almost a week of earned PTO in spite of only getting paid for 2 vacation days and one sick day.

I wanted to quit right then but our employee manual only shows end of year payouts for unused PTO. I decided to ride it out til January first then I finally submit my 2 weeks. Even come in the Monday after to finish a job I started on an APD vehicle. So Monday I start packing, talked to the owner and he tells me, no hurry understanding that I have 4 tool boxes, 2 of which require a tow truck to move. Tuesday I head in and the manager says hey you need to be out by Thursday. I thought ok I'll get it done.

Then today as I'm cleaning and packing the manager tells me the owners wife said if my tool boxes aren't out today she will charge me a thousand dollars a day for storage! When I call towing companies most won't do it, others need a day to make the right driver and flatbed available. At the end of the day I get it done. Shout out to Damien with K&S towing but I couldn't help but tell the owners wife that's the most unprofessional treatment I have received in my 25 years.

And before you ask, yes they are liberals who voted for Biden. I'd tell her she lost the respect of every employee there today but the reality is she never had it. I talk to people all the time about how Austin has changed but this is an entirely new experience.

File more complaints with the state. Sue in small claims court for expense of last minute movers after being told you had to end of week. Make the process the punishment

 

[deemus]

Not a horrible idea. I have a small shop I use that does great business. Good work, fair prices. I rarely do anything to my own car anymore.

 

[mroper]

There must be a fruad and Abuse line for the City as well if they are defrauding APD.

 

[karlac]

There must be a fruad and Abuse line for the City as well if they are defrauding APD.

Austin, right? Ha!
Wanna bet there was a some stinky stuff going on both ways in that relationship.

 

[leVieux]

How are you on JEEPS ?

 

[Tnhawk]

Austin, right? Ha!
Wanna bet there was a some stinky stuff going on both ways in that relationship.

Follow the money.

 

[Zapp]

Good luck with it. I used to work in the auto industry, and have seen plenty of shops run with those sorts of questionable practices. You will do better on your own, just make sure you get someone skilled to help out with all of the bookkeeping and taxes.

Send a link when you are running. Is your background general repair? custom work/fab? Any specific makes? I usually do most of my own maintenance work, but I can pass it around.

 

[Sasquatch]

Man, sadly I've heard this story more than once. Did the towing thing for about 16 years before moving to Texas. I've moved a bunch of tool boxes for laid off / fired techs. One dude, I moved his tool box half a dozen times in two years. Good mechanic, just not one to put up with bullshit like you described. He finally gave up on wrenching for other shops.

The busiest shops I knew of were small one and two man outfits that were started by guys burned by shops - both master level technicians with dealerships who just made too much money and wound up getting shoved out the door, because they were hiring a bunch of dumbass kids fresh out of the community college auto tech program for $8-10 / hr, versus the 35-50 these guys commanded with 20+ years of experience. Even with come backs & warranty work, they shop made bank billing 70-100 / hr.

If you've got the means, I'd certainly look into opening your own place up - even if it starts by wrenching out of your own garage. Two dudes I knew built honest to god shops on their property, with lifts, compressors, etc. The CC companies finally got their heads out of their asses and started using mobile payment processes like SquareUp did - lower fees, no more equipment rentals or minimum transactions - so getting paid is pretty easy. Garage Keepers insurance is the biggest thing - just go to an insurance agent who knows WTF they're doing and writes commercial policies exclusively. When I was shopping around for our garage keepers policy to try and get better rates - too many agents I ran into got glazed over eyes and said "what's that?"

I'm sure you'd have a ton of loyal customers right off the batt once word got around that you're wrenching for yourself.

 

[TexMex247]

Well I had a couple jobs last week for friends and family. Better money than I'd make in a week at the shop. So much paperwork and procedural Bs to deal with moving forward. Got to have this before that and on and on. I won't have my sales tax permit til mid February so I'm not marking up any parts right now. Single invoice works and just has me paying all tax upfront which I'm fine with.

I'd say my specialty is Asian and Domestic but I've had my hands on just about everything out there. I've fixed tons of old jeeps as well as newer ones. I pretty much grew up with the jeep line working on 2.5s and the 4.0 until they were replaced with the 3.6. I have a feeling I'll always be working on newer jeeps since their plastic oil coolers fail with regularity beneath the intake manifold. I've done several rack and pinions eps pumps and timing covers on grand Cherokees too.

I'm really hoping to line up timing belts/chains on Toyota, Subaru, Honda and others. Definitely one of my strong suits and usually a same day turnover for me. Of course brakes, axles, shocks and struts are mostly easy money too. At that last shop most of the guys were scared of timing belts and chains so I did a couple every week. I'll post my website after I put a little more time into it.

 

[robertc1024]

I wish you were closer. I've done all the wrenching on our cars for years - except for the weird happenings I wasn't equipped for. If I had someone I trusted, I'd send a lot of business their way. You ever see the youboober RainmanRay? I've watched his channel for a while and a couple of months ago, he went through the same thing you experienced. Told the boss to stick it, started his own shop.

 

[leVieux]

File more complaints with the state. Sue in small claims court for expense of last minute movers after being told you had to end of week. Make the process the punishment

One dastardly but effective tactic is to talk to the IRS about this.