Hey everyone!
To kick off the conversation on KPIs, I put together a guide that breaks down the key metrics every shop should be tracking — what they are, how they’re calculated, and why they matter.
Whether you’re already deep into your numbers or just starting to figure out what to look at, this should give you a solid foundation.
It covers everything from GP% and Effective Labor Rate to stuff like Cycle Time and Close Rate that a lot of shops overlook.
The real power of these KPIs isn’t just tracking them — it’s using them to diagnose where your shop needs attention. For example:
• Front of house issues (service advisors, customer experience) → show up in Close Rate, , ARO, Parts Margin, and GP%
• Back of house issues (techs, production, workflow) → show up in AWRO, Hours Per RO, Cycle Time, and Technician Efficiency
• Marketing & branding issues (are you attracting the right customers?) → show up in Car Count, New Unique Customers
When you know which KPIs to look at together, you can pinpoint exactly what’s holding your shop back instead of guessing. We’ll get deeper into that in future posts.
Take a look: Shop Performance KPI Guide
Would love to hear what KPIs you guys are tracking in your shops and which ones have made the biggest difference for you. If there’s a metric you think should be in here that isn’t, let me know — this is a living document and I’m always adding to it.
—Dave