When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
When I took over my job 2.5 years ago, the shop was a total mess. Dark, ugly, neglected.....
I told the crew that I inherited that we were going to fix the place up. That the goal was a "Toyota dealership", in appearance, professionalism, and service. Two of them quit and I fired another. I hired new guys, the others came around and we've come a long way. How far have we come? Well.....let me tell you. We cruised right on by Toyotas. That's right. We're taking care of Ferrari's now.
How about a 1960 LWB 250 Spider? ....with actual racing heritage (first owner...note the unfiltered, cold air intake)?
I mean, I think it looks pretty good in the bay next to it's Italian Prinoth brother! Yep...so we're going to change the mission statement; "Like a Ferrari dealership"!
The car is super cool; 4 wheel disc brakes (in 1960), knock offs, it's got a solid rear axle with leaf springs, but also has trailing arms to help locate. All tube steel, fabricated frame and front suspension, 3.0L V-12...Mmmm-MM!
Crazy to have that thing in my shop. What do you say? 3 million? 6 million?
Oh....I drove my Corvette to work today. These guys weren't willing to trade straight across.
Dang Tom, doesnt look like the same shop. The "clean" one looks like a professenal shop with high values. Good job.
Thanks! It's come a long way, but needs more. Still on my list is to
*media blast the concrete walls to brighten them up,
*re-surface the floors,
*paint the ceilings white, and the rest of the I-beams (above the safety yellow), Snowbird blue.
*Paint the "Snowbird" on the wall, Snowbird blue.
Hard to move the rock when you're so busy working on Ferrari's but we'll get it all eventually!
At one of the machine shops I worked at years ago, we would clean the floors every night because of cutting oil. Kerosene and oil dry. A squirt bottle to squirt the kerosene down, then oil dry on top of it. By morning we would come in, sweep up the oil dry and the concrete would be clean and "white" (well as white as concrete can be) again.
They wouldn't clean the dang windows though.
That place really looks great. It gives the impression of "professionalism".
Looks like quite an improvement inside. Does business insurance jump up with an increase in value of the vehicles you work on similar to the way our car insurance goes up if you move up from a Vette to a Ferrari ?
We look at amazing transformations of Corvettes all the time on this site.
It's a nice change of pace to look at transformation of a shop which I'm sure also infused the business.
Well done Tom!
Does business insurance jump up with an increase in value of the vehicles you work on similar to the way our car insurance goes up if you move up from a Vette to a Ferrari ?
Insurance will cover a claim up to and not exceeding the limits written into a policy, just like your car or house insurance. The policy states what is covered. If a claim exceeds the policy limits, then a trip to court is next. You have to make sure that the risk is assessed correctly (yes for a time of my life I was licensed and wrote for Grange, Progressive and a bunch of other P&C, that is Property and Casualty, and Life and Health companies).
Businesses (as well as individuals) need to be cognizant of the limits of their coverage and have the amounts increased if they are exposed to additional risk. If a person is trying to cheap out and only carry state minimums, if you hit and total out a new (expensive) vehicle, you, as an individual are on the hook for the remainder over the amount your carrier pays. So if you own anything of value, it will soon cease to be owned.
So then to answer your question, yes, increased exposure costs more. There is the professional liability part of it, plus the physical damage part of it while it is in the care of the company. An inept mechanic that causes provable damage to a car like that is one type of liability, having the lift fail and dump it off onto the concrete is another.
Tom, in cleaning up the shop, improving the personnel, making sure the equipment is up to snuff, is reducing the risk to the carrier and would get a better rate, just like the person with no moving violations or chargeable accidents (even if you get hit in a parking lot by a hit and run, unless certain steps are taken and you claim it on your insurance) it becomes a chargeable accident to you and your insurance can be affected.
I'm sure your insurance agent would have freaked out!!
*I* was freaked out. When the guy was driving it onto the lift, I was pointing him. I'd point, then say/give the "a little" signal. Then he'd steer a lot! Yikes. I kept thinking to myself..."What if a thing...ANYthing happens to this car, while it's inside this building?!"
Originally Posted by yd328
I think you need a bigger lift for the Ferrari
Right? It's typically for the snow cats but we end up using it for everything. I need to find money for a two post, for the rubber tire'd vehicles.
I'm guessing there's a story untold here. How did this little car end up in your shop?
Yep. There are a bunch of folks here yesterday and today who have classic Ferrari's. They are driving the Alpine loop today, then taking the cars down to Moab. There are about 20 of them. They all have racing history, and apparently one of them actually won Le Mans. There are Ferrari mechanics along to keep all the cars running well, and one of them needed a clutch adjustment. They asked us if they could put it up to adjust the clutch. Hell yeah they can! The mechanics were super cool to talk with. IDK how the owners are, but they're loaded. One of them FLEW his car over from Europe just for this drive. This isn't' my shop, but here are some of them....
09-24-2018, 05:13 PM
Raising the bar at work...
Yep...so we're going to change the mission statement; "Like a Ferrari dealership"!
It's typically for the snow cats but we end up using it for everything. I need to find money for a two post, for the rubber tire'd vehicles. 
