Finding Road Service

[Ryans24/7]

Good Morning,
My name is Melissa and I am doing some research for my company Ryan's Hauling and 24/7 Truck Repair out of St. Clair Missouri. We have been doing Mobile Service since September 2016 providing tires, welding, computer diagnostics, and all the other issues that happen out there. We've even changed a few radiators lol We currently have 3 employees but will hopefully have a shop and a few more employees before the end of the year.

I've read through some posts of some experiences you all have had with repair shops and thought you would be the perfect group to give me honest feedback I'm looking for. My first question is: What process do you go through when you break down to find a repair service and ultimately what would make you choose one company over the other? Prices, reviews, insured? I know NTTS is a big search engine used but any others you guys have had good luck with finding service?

Also for any of you that travel through Missouri what is the average you're paying for Labor? We currently charge $65 an hour and seem to be way less than the other competitors around here. We find a huge complaint from drivers about other repair companies is the wait time and they feel like they are being charged entirely too much for services. Could you share some of your complaints that you may have had in the past?

Thank you all for your time! We hope your feedback will help us in the growth of our family business.

 

[Mike]

Labor rate is meaningless. I will pay $120/hour to a quality shop. That said, my shop in Northwest Arkansas charges somewhere around $85 and they stand behind their work.

My biggest process is to do everything possible to not get on the road with anything that might cause me problems. Often, road repairs are due to things being overlooked.

I try to seek out shops that have a good rep built up. It's not an easy process.

When I call a shop, I want to hear how you can help me, not excuses before I even get there about how long it will take. Shops/mechanics that want to cater to the OTR market need to be willing to go the extra mile to take care of the trucks as quickly as possible. This is why I avoid any and all dealerships. I've yet to see a dealership that gives a damn how long you sit.

Lastly, I will pay a pretty significant tow bill to get my truck home to my shop of it's a major breakdown.

 

[Ryans24/7]

That's great you have a shop you can trust at home! Hopefully our shop will be open this year and our customers will feel the same about us as you do about your shop.

We don't want the low labor cost making anyone feel like we have a low quality of service. I will look into advertising a little more about our qualifications online. We have 2 dump trucks of our own, so knowing the cost of repairs we are trying are best to make it affordable for these smaller fleets traveling who get shut down at the scales. We provide warranties on all our parts and labor.

We usually have a 15-60 minute response time to calls in the 30 mile radius we cover.

We are constantly looking for feedback and currently have a 5 star rating on google. I didn't know if that made a difference when drivers are looking for service but when I'm looking for something I check the reviews of companies first.

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!!

 

[mndriver]

We don't want the low labor cost making anyone feel like we have a low quality of service

It's a mixed bag....

But word of mouth, paying attention to your Google user comments and stuff like on Google maps will matter.

There are also groups on Facebook that can spread good and bad reviews about you rather quickly also.

And being know for quality inexpensive service is where it's at.

 

[Mike]

To add to this, those at the scale house calling you over for out of service repairs are going to be ones you want to watch out for. Some of these guys are going to already be convinced that you are in a scam with the DOT and thinking you are ripping them off.

 

[Bored Insane]

I value good and honest estimate/ opinion on repairs. Tell the drivers what you see and what you recommend for repairs before doing anything. Good service will get the word of mouth to spread quickly. Standing behind your work is also big as well IMO.