Hey everyone — looking for some honest advice from other shop owners and mobile techs who've been through this.
I run a mobile fleet maintenance and repair operation in the South Puget Sound area (Puyallup, WA). Small outfit — we do commercial truck PM, DOT inspections, and repairs on-site at customer yards. We're mobile-first, so no shop overhead, which keeps our rates competitive. Good work, responsive, we know our customers by name.
This year I've lost three of my biggest fleet accounts to national service providers. In each case, the customer told me it came down to corporate pushing for more automation and layoffs of yard and fleet management staff. I have also let staff go because I can't guarantee hours like I used to.
It will take finding 15+ smaller customers to replace the ones I lost, and I don't know if that amount of customers even exists in the area. I just don't know how a family owned business can compete anymore.
Is anyone else having similar problems?