In my personal experience most of my breakdowns have occured on the weekends and or late at night (then again maybe they just stand out in my mind due to the difficulties they create). I’m surprised that at least in bigger cities (say 300,000 plus or so) that there are not at least a few twenty four hour auto repair/auto parts places. Here’s some advantages I see for such a concept and other relevent points in regard to the concept:
a. Since no one else is running a 24 hour/ seven days a week shop you would get virtually all of the repair business that occured during “off hours”. In other words you would probably get repairs from “the other side of town” that you would never see during regular hours. In addition, even people that normally went to a particular “shop” might choose to bring you their car instead, knowing that you could get started (or at least tell them what was wrong) immediately. This amounts to a virtual monopoly on repair business at least during late hours and weekends.
b. It would make sense to also sell auto parts since you would want to have a 24 hour supply of parts for your mechanics. Note that places like Pep Boys already sell auto parts so this isn’t something brand new. However, it makes added sense given the dynamics of a 24 hour operation. Consider as well that many “do it yourself” type mechanics often work at night when other auto parts stores are closed. Thus, you could tap this market in addition to those needing repair services for their vehicles.
c. Running two or three shifts (you could either run two 12 hour shifts like most hospitals or three eight hour shifts like many industrial plants or even a combination of the two shifts to accomodate those who preferred an eight or twelve hour shift) should also improve your “turn around time” on all of your repair jobs. Thus, in addition to the 24 hour business you would be creating an additional reason for people to use your shop even during daytime hours.
d. Since, almost no place else does this you would have a monopoly on those mechanics who prefer to work nights. As a student nurse I have run across many other nurses who say they prefer night shift work in hospitals (the extra $2.00 per hour or so may also be a factor in this case). Also, if you ran the twelve hour shifts many mechanics might like the three day work week that it creates (as do many nurses).
Do these places already exist in some locations? If not is their some intrinsic flaw in the concept that I am over looking?
We have at least one in my hometown (Hamilton, Ontario Canada).
Funny thing is, I honestly intend to drop off the car for things like oil changes and tire rotations, but never seem to remember they’re open all night. Thanks for the reminder!
We once had an AutoZone here inChicago that stayed open 24/7. This went on for about a year before they went to a 12 hr per day ( 6 days a week) operetion.
It helps to understand that the demand for auto repair and maintenance service exceeds the supply of well qualified auto service technicians ( = mechanics) to provide it. Thus the shortfall is filled by partly qualified or poorly qualified personnel, which contributes significantly to the problems people experience in getting their cars serviced.
a.) Much of the “off hours” business is not desirable business. A great percentage of it is from folks who are unwilling to arrange to be without their cars during traditional business hours. They tend to be long on expectation and short on understanding.
b.) Running a parts store and running a repair shop are two quite different enterprises. Places that do both usually don’t do either as well as places that do just one. And no parts store can have everything, so often situations arise that require outsourcing (usually from a warehouse or a dealership) from stores that are not open beyond traditional hours, thus resulting in bottlenecks waiting for parts.
c.) Auto service jobs don’t easily pass from one mechanic to another. It’s generally detrimental to not have one individual do the job from start to finish. If a job can’t be finished on one person’s shift, you’re back to the car sitting there until the next day – unless you want to chance the high probability of something going awry due to miscommunication, misunderstanding, differences in individual’s work procedures, etc. The results can be disastrous, and it’s not worth the risk.
d.) There are very few high quality mechanics who want to work nights. They want their evenings and weekends free to be with their families and friends. 12-hour days are problematic – good auto service requires mental acuity that’s hard to maintain throughout that long a day.
Essentially, extended hours have been tried with minimal success. There’s not enough business to compensate for the extra overhead involved. There’s limited – or no – availability of supplemental resources (parts, information, machining, specialty repairs, etc.) that are sometimes needed. The great majority of the really good personnel are not interested in participating, and that includes competent mangagement, which again can be difficult to translate between shifts. If it were feasible, it would be common.