Emergency Truckmount Repair Center and 24 Hour Phone Support

[Leslie Judson Jones]

I would like to ask you guys a question. How many of your suppliers run an emergency room style truckmount repair service and 24 hour phone support like Judson does?

The reason I am asking this question is we are planning on launching the truckmount depot centers througout the United States that will offer this same type of service.

Truck Mount Depots are a distribution and service center that is scaled down to strip mall type locations with a 2 - 3 man team. They will consist of a supply showroom with limited inventory with only proven supplies, equipment, and chemical. The chemicals will consist of Masterblend, CTI, Judson, and Harvard. Because of the low overhead of these facilities, each state will have 2 - 4 locations.

An emergency truckmount repair would be for when a custormer drives up without calling for an appointment first and we drop what we're doing to get the customer back in business as soon as possible. This is how I run my service center here in Greenville. We don't do this every time, but most of the time we do, depending on workload.

There are several local Greenville members of Mikeys Board now and they can testify to my emergency truckmount repair services that they have used. I feel like the industry needs something like this. What do you guys think?

 

[Eric Valentine]

Too bad you are in SC, and not here in Las Vegas

 

[bugadab]

Wow,

That looks Professional, not to EZ at all.

Brent

 

[Art Kelley]

It would be wonderful for those rare (maybe once every 4 or 5 years) times a truckmount breaks down, but there are not enough cleaners to support it to make it financially viable. But by all means, come to Metro Detroit to open a facility, I would love to check it out. Plus with all the newly unemployed auto workers you could have quite a market for your machines for guys looking to start a business.

 

[Shane T]

I love the idea but you would know better if it is a finacially viable buisness. Make Milwaukee first on your list.

 

[Sticky]

I highly doubt that you could add 2-4 more supply stores in each state and make a profit. there are just not enough cleaners to support so many stores...I think it would be a money pit...IMO

 

[Shane T]

You would have almost no competition in the Milwaukee area. I think there would be a number of similar cities that could use this service. It would also give cleaners TM options besides the big two maufactures.

 

[hogjowl]

It's a great idea, Les. I know of no supplier in Alabama that offers this service.

 

[cu]

and nobody knows of any good cleaners in alabama

 

[dealtimeman]

you might want to open a couple of centers in the bigger market before you just go all out and open several in alot of states.

 

[hogjowl]

Probably the reason there are no good suppliers.

 

[TimP]

you might want to open a couple of centers in the bigger market before you just go all out and open several in alot of states.

I have to agree. There is a reason there isn't a jon-don in every state. I'd go with large population areas first and get a feel of what it's going to do.

 

[Bob Foster]

EZ world headquarters and service depot.

 

[Able 1]

I agree with starting one in Milwaukee, Wi. and then go from there.. :wink:

 

[Greenie]

I highly doubt that you could add 2-4 more supply stores in each state and make a profit. there are just not enough cleaners to support so many stores...I think it would be a money pit...IMO

I'll let you know how it goes this time next year, I'm gonna hire Coop to be my phone bitch cause of his communication skills and Nick my lead mechanic for his obvious talents, and Rob for his sales skills.

 

[ascrubabove]

Les we need one in Jacksonville or Wilmington NC, the show room and chems would be great to have near by, plus it's the next state up!

 

[FB7777]

sure why not, ZOOTS was gonna take over the restoration industry a couple years back


I doubt this industry could support 2-4 more locations in each state, nor will this business model displace those that exist presently

 

[Noidios]

Does this center in Greenville service only machines that you made/sold, or do you do work on off brands too? I've only been in the business about a year now and I bought a used offbrand because I didn't know anything at the time, but when this one dies, I'll certainly be looking at Judson's.

 

[John Olson]

While appointments are preffered if you show up we'll get you back on the road ASAP. We have 3 full time Mechanics on Staff just for this reason. Sure it cost me a considerable amount of money to have 3 when 70-80% of the time 2 could probably handle it but we didn't start this with Money being the top priority.

As for 24 hour service all of my cards have my cell number on it as is our mission statement "Our only Buisness is YOUR buisness"

You see we are not in the supply buisness we are in the people buisness. While we might not net as much as those companies that sell, sell, sell no matter what, the friendships we have and the lives we help change are worth more then a few thousand $ more per year.

As for your Idea les the biggest Hurdle you'll face is man power. If they are smart enough to run your store then they are smart enough to own their own unless you pay them a ton of money and we both know their just isn't a ton of money in this, well their isn't for the ones that are honest...

I wish you the best of Luck though if you deicide to run with it.

 

[Leslie Judson Jones]

John Olson" data-source="" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

While appointments are preffered if you show up we'll get you back on the road ASAP. We have 3 full time Mechanics on Staff just for this reason. Sure it cost me a considerable amount of money to have 3 when 70-80% of the time 2 could probably handle it but we didn't start this with Money being the top priority.

As for 24 hour service all of my cards have my cell number on it as is our mission statement "Our only Buisness is YOUR buisness"

You see we are not in the supply buisness we are in the people buisness. While we might not net as much as those companies that sell, sell, sell no matter what, the friendships we have and the lives we help change are worth more then a few thousand $ more per year.

As for your Idea les the biggest Hurdle you'll face is man power. If they are smart enough to run your store then they are smart enough to own their own unless you pay them a ton of money and we both know their just isn't a ton of money in this, well their isn't for the ones that are honest...

I wish you the best of Luck though if you deicide to run with it.

John, Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Leslie Judson Jones]

Does this center in Greenville service only machines that you made/sold, or do you do work on off brands too? I've only been in the business about a year now and I bought a used offbrand because I didn't know anything at the time, but when this one dies, I'll certainly be looking at Judson's.

Yes, we work on all brands of truckmounts. One of our specialties here in Greenville is that we reengineer truckmounts to be more reliable and have increased performance. There are several truckmounts out now that are fairly dangerous units to operate. I'm not sure which unit you bought, but I will be happy to evaluate your unit and explain in detail any issues that may need to be corrected. Just come by or give me a call sometime.

 

[Louis]

I wish we had something in my area. The only guy that worked on truckmounts is moving soon. I have to go at least 70 miles and a lot of traffic for help. Buliding my own tm now so it can be very simple to fix. The next machine I will purchase will be a Judsons.

 

[Greenie]

Does this center in Greenville service only machines that you made/sold, or do you do work on off brands too? I've only been in the business about a year now and I bought a used offbrand because I didn't know anything at the time, but when this one dies, I'll certainly be looking at Judson's.

Are there really suppliers who ONLY service the brand(s) they sell?

This seems assinine to me, a real shot in the foot.

It's not that hard to get name brand parts if you have a personality and treat people in the industry well.

I was just looking at a chemtex machine today :roll: , but i guarantee there is nothing there that can't be repaired or replaced by any supplier in the nation.
btw: who was the genius that put heat exchangers above the exhaust manifold so that when they leak they will fill the engine cylinders with water? How long these things been advertised in the back of cleanfax?