1. There’s something to be said for the off-season
When’s the best time of year to purchase patio furniture? BBQ grills? Camping gear?Early Fall when it’s steeply discounted to rid excess Summer inventory. If you haven’t noticed, that’s the same time of year we also run our steepest labor discounts/specials. In the off-season you’ll often find discounted labor rates as well as quicker turn-around times. These savings are especially found in jobs that are particularly large or restorative in nature. Winter is obviously our off-season, so we attempt to secure as many jobs as early into the year as possible to keep the flow of business steady. Plus, we like to provide incentive to get these larger jobs done during our slow season so that we can bust out more basic maintenance items (tires, batteries, oil changes) quicker when busy season hits.
2. Don’t try DIY
Remember our article a while back called “Self-Diagnosing: Stop It, Right Now“? The essence of it was that we continuously see customers do extensive damage trying to self-diagnose their issues and/or tackle a DIY repair that is beyond their mechanical aptitude. The mistakes made can create time and expense costs far greater than the original issue. A suspected minor engine noise that you google/diagnose/attempt to repair on your own as a valve adjustment but oops! you just dropped a nut in the engine so now we have to split the cases open to remove it and you still have your original noise which turns out to be a loose bolt on your exhaust’s heat shield that we would have never even charged you to fix as a problem by itself. Whoooosh! See? Stop it. Right now.
3. If you’re comfortable with it, ask for house-brand parts
You know how right next to your favorite cereal there’s an off-brand cereal in a slightly duller-looking box called something really unoriginal like Fruit-Y Circles or Krisp Rice? Or how sometimes you might purchase the store’s brand of milk versus the “name” brand? These purchases are what are considered house-brand items, and often offer the consumer steep savings over their branded counterparts. Batteries, tubes, chains, brake pads, and apparel are all available from quality house-brand labels that we always point to when we have a savings-conscious consumer in the shop. Many, but not all, are produced by the name-brand companies and sold at a discount in house-brand packaging.
4. Take advantage of our monthly sales / specials
There’s a select group of you that watches our monthly specials like a hawk and takes advantage of them for some serious savings. Some of you are less conscious and tend to come in only the month after our tire special for tires. We often recycle our more popular specials, and some of you may be surprised to learn that we’ve offered free labor on oil changes for one month every Spring for several years now. We put forth effort to try to align specials based on when you will most likely be able to take advantage of them (free labor on oil changes early Spring, discounted tire change labor early Summer, a percentage savings on ordered items for that special someone around Christmas time). We try our best to get the word out about our monthly specials- they’re included in each monthly newsletter, on Facebook page (here), and on our website’s “Specials” page here– but you can always feel free to simply give us a call to see what special we’re currently running in the shop. Save some moolah by staying in the loop!
5. Look / ask for consumer rebates
We most commonly see consumer rebates offered on tire purchases, but we’ve also seen them offered on winches, snow plows, etc. In our opinion, the tire rebates are both the best and the most readily available early in the riding season, the tire manufacturer’s attempt to lure riders onto the road sooner rather than later. We often find them for anywhere from $50-$100 savings per set, which definitely warrants double-checking what rebates are currently being offered before purchasing.
6. Just like your own health, preventative care is key!
If you suspect your brake pads need replaced, don’t wait until you damage your calipers. If you see excessive slack in your chain, don’t wait until it breaks and cracks your engine case. If your tread is looking sketchy and scarce, don’t wait until your tire blows out and you seriously damage your bike when you lay it down. We know this all sounds like common sense but boy, if we had a dollar…
As always, feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions or if we can help clarify!
