Opening a Meineke was the single worst mistake I ever made in my life, and it isn't even close. Now all I do is work to keep from having to declare bankruptcy wile my wife supports us. I am broken both spiritually and financially and even tried to commit suicide last year.
Not much, but on the occasional good morning or good afternoon, (there are never good entire days), it can be fun with the crew, and on rare occasions you do get to help someone out.
How much time do you have? Mechanics are impossible to find, and even harder to manage. They have the upper hand, and they know it, so they'll work when they feel like it. reprimand them and they'll walk right out the door. Customers all think they are getting ripped off and will abuse you and accuse you of being a crook, scumbag, liar, cheat, thief every single day. They will yell at you, argue with you, expect you to diagnose their car's issues for free, and generally make you hate your life and all other people. You work 70+ hours a week, try to take a vacation and two people will not show up for work the first day you are gone, you won't ever turn a profit because insurance, wages, & parts are all increasing at an unsustainable rate, and people can't afford $1,500 repairs, which is about the minimum for ac work, $400 for anything else. Even the customers that like you would rather not see you. You will get sued by an employee, a customer, your landlord, or the government, it's just a matter of time. Do you like arguing? Conflict? Defending your integrity? You will do so every single day. Everything that has to go right in order for you to deliver a satisfactory experience to your customer is out of your control. Vendors send the wrong parts every day. Mechanics no-show no-call once a week. AND electric cars are coming to wipe out this industry almost completely. Invest tens of thousands in EV training and tools every year or go out of business. And good luck finding an EV mechanic. You'll find a white buffalo first.
How about anything? Something? They give you almost no training and zero guidance once you open. Our "Field Operations Coach" has over 80 other shops to support, there isn't enough time for him to support single owner shops, the multi-center owners get priority, single shop owners like me are totally thrown to the wolves. ALL they care about is franchise fees, that's it. I go weeks and months without any interaction with the 25 or so people inside the corporate offices. Although publicly traded, Meineke's parent company is owned mostly by a VC firm, and they wring every cent out of the franchisees and do nothing to help them. One day when they've run the company dry, they'll just sell out.