Autothority - Sad Tale

[asphaltgambler]

I have been interviewing with several local shops as lead tech. Many of you may have remembered my posting about my former business partner (auto shop) cheating me out of the business profits.
I have since moved on. One of the shops that I had a face-to-face was Autothority.

The shop is but a shadow of it's former self that I knew in the 80's. My wheelhouses are BMW/ Audi/VW then Porsche and that's the experience they were looking for. As the manager showed me around he pointed to a BMW M-5 (E34) that they had turbo-charged and promptly blew up. So now they were in the process of rebuilding. As a side note BMW engines are pretty stout so you really have to be an idiot tuner when leaning on one

The shop only had 4 cars inside and 1 beat 944 (no tags) in the lot

He offered me the position and asked what hourly rate I needed. I replied $36/flat rate hour. He then strolls over to this display and retrieved this flyer where they won second place in a magazine horsepower shoot-out. He says that the tech that this car was paid "only" $30/frh.

I say that the article was 8yrs old. He says the same tech did the Turbo installation on the E34. I said you mean the one that blew up? I asked him what the customer rate was he replied $110
.......

I said thanks. ................

but no thanks

[Zeke]

The ratio of 30 to 110 doesn't sound too bad. But, he should have hired you and raised the shop rate to 120.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Sad. Autothority used to be great. I didn't realize they'd fallen so far.

The newest name on the scene for 944/951 tuning is Vitesse - their stuff is extremely good and they stand behind it 100%. (no affiliation, just experience).

[s_morrison57]

asphalt
Glad you walked, whoring yourself out for cheap never works out, You want good people then you have to pay them good

[Superman]

I am in the construction industry and have noticed a pattern. There are two distinct classes of construction contractors. There are efficient contractors who focus a great deal of attention and energy on planning and managing projects. These people create a tight but realistic construction schedule that considers ALL the details of material delivery, staging, storing and scheduling subcontractor work to occur at the best possible time, making sure the work that needs to preceded that subcontractor's work is sure to be completed by that time. "A thousand details" understates the challenge, which they rise to meet and exceed. When it comes to hiring construction workers, these companies insist on fully-skilled and motivated workers. The hourly rate they pay is, in their view, inconsequential.

Then there are the other contractors. Those guys want to pay a lesser wage to the workers, and hope for the best. They attempt to be a low-cost alternative to the companies described above, and they fail. These guys are not less expensive. They're cheaper, but more expensive.

[asphaltgambler]

For those not familiar with auto shop pay plans is that rate of pay is per commissioned hour (piece work) this as most shops there is no guarantee or base pay. In the Northern VA area a good Euro tech w/references is $36/frh market rate + $110 customer rate is on the higher side for a GOOD shop

[Rick Lee]

I didn't know those guys were still around. Never heard of anyone in the Dorkiphus gang going to them in the last 7-8 yrs. Have you checked out German Auto Group? Taylor there is the most trusted Porsche wrench in the DC area.

asphaltgambler,

I used to get work done by Funktion Auto in Dulles when I lived out that way. They have an amazing shop, run by Walid Aachi. Don't know how he is to work for, but the work they did was always very good and I liked Tim, the tech who did the work on my car. Might try them.

Good luck.

[asphaltgambler]

I've decided to accept an offer from a independent shop with a very good reputation both inside as well as customer end. They want to expand fully into the Euro market

[Rick Lee]

Let us know where when you can.

[asphaltgambler]

Thanks all - I did speak to Funktion auto - but they were looking for a veteran P-car tech with other Euro experience secondary. My professional experience is 180°

[Rick Lee]

Funktion has a nice shop. Curry's is around the corner from them. Have you considered HBL? One of the Dorkiphus gang is their facilities mgr.

[asphaltgambler]

Rick - all dealers now regardless of manufacturer do @80% warranty workload. Warranty work pays half or less time-wise than COD. I used to work with both owner and general manager at Curry's sometime ago. They have the absolute worst reputation on the inside. Not too good on the customer side as well

[Rick Lee]

Oh, I've heard stories about all of them in the DC area. I didn't know how Curry's was viewed inside the biz, but I have heard some stories on the customer side. Though they usually gave top notch service if they knew you were a PCA guy. Honestly, just about every shop has some stories. Even the best ones have an occasional angry customer who tells everyone he knows. I've seen some work before where I simply would not have believed this or that shop had done it if the owner hadn't shown me the receipt.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by Superman

I am in the construction industry and have noticed a pattern. There are two distinct classes of construction contractors. There are efficient contractors who focus a great deal of attention and energy on planning and managing projects. These people create a tight but realistic construction schedule that considers ALL the details of material delivery, staging, storing and scheduling subcontractor work to occur at the best possible time, making sure the work that needs to preceded that subcontractor's work is sure to be completed by that time. "A thousand details" understates the challenge, which they rise to meet and exceed. When it comes to hiring construction workers, these companies insist on fully-skilled and motivated workers. The hourly rate they pay is, in their view, inconsequential.

Then there are the other contractors. Those guys want to pay a lesser wage to the workers, and hope for the best. They attempt to be a low-cost alternative to the companies described above, and they fail. These guys are not less expensive. They're cheaper, but more expensive.

In my professional experience as an architect, this sums it up nicely.

A+

All-too-often when you get bids back it's a formality. The client ends up paying the same in the end for the high bidder as the low bidder plus umpteen-bajillion pesos in change orders.

The real difference is in how many extra gray hairs and days taken off peoples' lives due to stress, not the dollars.

I like to cite what I call the "Seven P Rule":

Proper
Prior
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

Too true.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Superman

I am in the construction industry and have noticed a pattern. There are two distinct classes of construction contractors. There are efficient contractors who focus a great deal of attention and energy on planning and managing projects. These people create a tight but realistic construction schedule that considers ALL the details of material delivery, staging, storing and scheduling subcontractor work to occur at the best possible time, making sure the work that needs to preceded that subcontractor's work is sure to be completed by that time. "A thousand details" understates the challenge, which they rise to meet and exceed. When it comes to hiring construction workers, these companies insist on fully-skilled and motivated workers. The hourly rate they pay is, in their view, inconsequential.

Then there are the other contractors. Those guys want to pay a lesser wage to the workers, and hope for the best. They attempt to be a low-cost alternative to the companies described above, and they fail. These guys are not less expensive. They're cheaper, but more expensive.

Well, Supe, that was sort of a hijack and I wasn't going to respond. But since POP responded, I will too.

Obviously both of you work in the large scale sector. On the small scale, that statement isn't necessarily so. I preach day in and day out for homeowners to hire and work with owner-operator contractors. That is to say, the contractor who is on the job every day with his tools belted on.

I have never seen such a contractor do or accept poor work unless he himself wasn't qualified to begin with. You guys are making a generalization that isn't true in some sectors.

[g8keapor]

Not to revive an old dead thread but I think when you talked to Autothority Minh had already died. With him Autothority died. My understanding is that they have closed their doors for good within the past few months and that there was a for sale sign on the building at some point. I haven't seen it for my own eyes but it wouldn't surprise me. His wife tried to keep things running after he died but with no automotive background and getting advice from the people she was getting it from I didn't see how it was going to stay afloat.

Anyway the only reason I revived it is because the tale of Autothority finally had an ending. A sad one as they ended with their doors closed.

I had a lot of fun working for Minh there and back when he owned Pitstop. Sad to see his life's work come to an end. I mean his first automotive job was in Autothority back when they were in Fairfax and he ended up owning them.

[asphaltgambler]

I worked next door to them in Fairfax off of Pickett Rd in the mid 80's when that place was in full swing. I think Minh started about then or shortly after at the bottom as what I understand. At one time that shop had P-cars trucked to them for work from all over. Then greed and other business mistakes started a gradual downfall. One of which is when they started to tap into the 'ricer' crowd at a time when other P-car shops were up and coming.

THAT............ is in my opinion, a downward move from which there is no return. People, especially Porsche people want a higher level of service and quality, or more to the point - exclusivity. When your high-end personalized P-car shop's lot is now filled with Honda's and the like - it's like a fly in your gourmet chicken soup. They lost credibility and street cred with that ***** - and so the business.

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by Superman

I am in the construction industry and have noticed a pattern. There are two distinct classes of construction contractors. There are efficient contractors who focus a great deal of attention and energy on planning and managing projects. These people create a tight but realistic construction schedule that considers ALL the details of material delivery, staging, storing and scheduling subcontractor work to occur at the best possible time, making sure the work that needs to preceded that subcontractor's work is sure to be completed by that time. "A thousand details" understates the challenge, which they rise to meet and exceed. When it comes to hiring construction workers, these companies insist on fully-skilled and motivated workers. The hourly rate they pay is, in their view, inconsequential.

Then there are the other contractors. Those guys want to pay a lesser wage to the workers, and hope for the best. They attempt to be a low-cost alternative to the companies described above, and they fail. These guys are not less expensive. They're cheaper, but more expensive.

This exists in all businesses. Including mine.

[g8keapor]

You won't get any disagreement from me there. I believe the main period of downfall you are referring to was during the Joel years. That guy turned Autothority into a muddy smelly substance of which I couldn't find the smiley for. The reputation was starting to rebound after Minh bought the name, equipment, and inventory mostly thanks to his own shops reputation filling the void. However, once he died a couple people that he had ran off came back to advise his wife and well back in the toilet.

I never did understand why he ever tried to keep the name after he bought the stuff from Joel. With so many horror stories of Joel's reign it just would have been better to have taken the product and ran with it under your own name. Not like in the end it really mattered though.