**Seeking Your Thoughts on Home-Based Vehicle Repair Shops**

[networkalignment]

Ive owned my shop for 30 years. I think you're missing the point of his original post. I think he's not talking about the guy that built a shop at his house and is doing quality work. I think he might be talking about the next door neighbor who says I can knock that out for 500 bucks. I own an alignment shop and those are the guys when they bring it back to my shop for an alignment and ask me if I can make sure everything is torqued properly or even greased properly I tell them no. I cant compete with the guy working out of his backyard. I pay my guys wel,l pay for their health insurance, pay for my building hell I pay for the toilet paper in the bathrooms and the free coffee. I cannot and will not compete with your neighbor who will do it for 500 bucks and a twelve pack. There are many guys on this forum that can do what we do but there are also many guys who will gladly pay for my shop's 30 years of experience, insurance, and trained techs. I guess its up to you who you choose to work on your stuff. I struggled with this same issues for years but then I decided to just do great work at a fair price and let it work itself out. Worked for me so far and if I lived in yuma I'd be bringing my shit to rzrwerks when me and my techs are too busy to get to it before dune season hits.

 

[Marlboroman]

A few clarifications with regards to @Marlboroman original post. We are talking about UTV’s and home garage shops, and not necessarily home garage shops working on your Toyota Camry or Ford F150. IMO this is a big difference. One’s a recreational toy, and the other is daily transportation driving down the highway.

It also sounds like Marlboromans issues stems from the region he’s in. He confirmed in Yuma price has become more important than quality & service. Not sure how you fix that if it’s a demographic issue? Yuma is considered a lower wage city, and is way under the national average for incomes. This is probably in direct correlation as to why price is more important vs quality or service to the people living there.

Also Marlboroman mentioned your employees are Gold certified Polaris & Can Am. Where did they learn & get those certifications? Just curious because I don’t know? How do they keep that Gold status and continue learn the new machines working for an independent shop, and not an authorized Polaris & Can Am dealer? Do the manufacturers offer training and certification for non dealer mechanics? If so could anyone get that certification?

And does Liberty Motorsports in Yuma or Coyne in El Centro which are both authorized sales & service dealers who work directly with the manufacturers, and sells new vehicles stock only OEM parts, and have certified techs. Do they think of you & your independent UTV shop, like you are thinking of the guy with a 1000sqft shop behind his house doing the same general maintenance and repairs that your doing and that the factory authorized dealers is also doing? Isn’t your independent, non factory authorized shop taking money & business away from the factory authorized dealers? Just like you feel the guy working out of a backyard garage space is taking from your business?

Also could using the word RZR in your company name possibly misleading customers thinking your an authorized Polaris service center? I would think a name like UTV Werks or SXS Werks might open you up to more customers. Or better yet Powersport Werks as that could also help bring in the water craft customers, which I would think would be huge in the summer time when like you said, no ones riding a UTV in 118 heat.

I'll try to answer a few of your questions/comments.

Polaris and Can-Am offer a Learning University. My certified mechanics are former dealership employees. We offer bonuses for each completed course. I used the word "gold", but the proper terminology is "Master Technician Certification". A Master Technician Certification can only be held by a tech/mechanic who currently works at a dealership. They have completed the courses and were once Master Technician Certified but can no longer carry that title due to them working for an independent repair facility. As far as "taking business from the dealerships". I am fair and legal competition. I buy all OEM parts from a dealership that I have had a 10+ year relationship with. I don't buy at the same price as a dealership, but I definitely get a better price than the average Joe. Factory warranty in most cases is 6 months. At that point the customers convert over to an aftermarket warranty. We are a direct authorized repair facility for most major aftermarket warranty companies. We have most of the same diagnostics software as the dealerships. And the leaning university is for everyone. I believe there are a few courses that are only allowed for dealership techs, but I am unsure. The RZR Trademark is owned by Polaris in Font and in certain types of types of classes. But that does not mean I cannot use "RZR", as I do not use their logo. We have considered a name change, but I haven't come up with something that I love yet.

 

[Marlboroman]

Certifications for the most part are bullshit.

You'd be hard pressed to find a guy in an import dealer with ASE certs. Waste of time and money.

The dealerships require their techs to complete ongoing education. It really helps when a new vehicle comes out. While I somewhat agree about certifications being bs sometimes, they definitely help my techs and myself when we get a new platform in.