Hi,
my elderly parents have a farm which has about 10-12 vehicles (jeeps, pickup trucks, tractors, ATVs).
They have hired a management firm to run the farm. The management firm also maintains the vehicles.
Lately I have been reviewing the bills my parents receive from the management company.
Some of the labor costs for the repairs seems excessive (i.e. 11 hours to change a muffler, 20 hours to change a timing belt).
I realize part of the cost is because the mechanic comes to the farm (and then drives to the auto parts store to buy the parts) but it still seems high to me.
I've been considering hiring a mechanic I know personally (and who I consider a good mechanic) to work at the farm 1-2 days/month to maintain the vehicles.
Do you think this is a good idea? Or do you have some other fleet maintenance ideas?
Thanks so much,
GypsyDoodle
Go for the mechanic, the firm might be scamming you. If you like your mechanic go for it!.
Before making any decisions you need to have the bill itemized more in detail. For each job there should be the parts list, then the labor to install said part and also any travel time in order to do/complete this particular job. Doing this will give you a crash course of what the costs are so that you can see where your money is going. In a sense you can start to compare for the same job if their is a difference in costs to do the same job they did for the cost they do now. You probably will see some discrepancies but its about HOW much was the difference. If their are you can call them on the carpet on those charges and see their reaction...and their explanation. If this happens..they will be less prone to guesstimate but to accurately estimate your billing. Of course hiring a inhouse mechanic should be done on the same method as described above. When it comes to money its always best to keep it honest so all the parties can operate on the straight and narrow.
It's all up to you in the end.
I love familes, I love farms and I love family farms so I hope my comment helps..
Dion nailed your first action in comment above - trust them but question, understand and verify everything.
1. As Dion said, start by reviewing their itemized invoice or request this if it wasn't provided. Will be interesting to see what they have to say about these unusual bills and its best to be curious objective and critical while giving benefit of doubt.
2. Next, take a look at the service contract and agreement to get grounded in it the terms and rates.
3. Prepare a succinct and comprehensive email with your questions that arise from this analysis. Send the email, give them 24-hours to respond and followup with an email resend and a phone call if they don't reply within 24-hours.
3a. If they call you to discuss your email, instruct them to respond by email with any questions they have, answers and clarifications.
3b. This approach will remove any chance for misunderstandings later and provide a transparent reference for you. The answers might be simple and short and its optimal for you to have this in writing from them. Their manner of responding to this inquiry will start to reveal a lot in their character as well as give you an undrestanding of what service was done and why it costs what it did in time and rates.
4. There are pros and cons to both service options you presented - ultimately you want maximum value - to have competent, responsive and highly effective service at competitive and justifiable rates.
4a. Best to list out all of your requirements and then evaluate both the service and the mechanic against that prioritized list.
4b. Do you have a clear working agreement based on a service estimate and proposal from the current service? If not, Put a request for service proposal together that will give whichever vendor or vendors you choose, the opportunity to review exactly your needs, requirements and expectations as well as share their ideas, plans and proposals for servicing the fleet.
4c. I won't bore you with all aspects of the RFP I design for my construction company's fleet, forklift and trailer service, however, you are welcome to reach out to me and am happy to chat and disuss.
4d. Service Agreement: here are a couple key pieces: 1 - their plan and schedule for servicing the vehicles along with a proposal for immediate and scheduled maintenance they see from reviewing each vehicle closely forecasted for 1-year. Or you can do some of this planning yourself and manage them more closely. 2 - their billing rates and terms for how they track and bill labor - 3. a detailed breakdown of billable items 4 - an agreement for how they handle questions and disputes.
5. Whether you keep the current Fleet Management serivce or go with the local Mechanic, it would be good to have the other, as a backup option, or another as a backup option if the current Firm is full of it - in the event that one of them fails or can't service in a time of need.
5a. That would be my biggest concern with the individual mechanic - his time constraints as an individual however, that is up to him and you to evaluate feasibility. No matter what you want to build in continuity plans since out of service equipment is or can be costly.
5b. Take control of this from the stand point of being fully aware of the fleets condition, service and maintenance history and requirements so you can collaborate with the service you choose. Its a partnershp and your business is precious - you will be better off for being knowledgable and directing these activities - youmight be served best by outsourcing the activity and technical expertise and keeping the management and strategic planning in house, or at leaset being close to it. You're off to a great start with this question and you'll learn a lot by asking the right questions and getting a comprehensive plan in place to help your parents' beautiful business.
Feel free to text me if you want to expand on any of this, clarify or further evaluate the vendors and build a proactive and bulletproof plan to set your parents and your service providers up for success. HOpefully this is helpful in some way. - Chris
personal info removed.
the management firm won't scrutinize the bills like you do, because it's not their property.
If you trust this mechanic, then yeah I think you will probably get more honest service from him.
mountainmanjoe,
thx for the quick response!