Who's unemployed or facing unemployment...

[Hylander_1314]

Had to close the mobile auto a/c business down back in May. The cost of gasoline rising 2 and a half times what it was six years ago, and a 30lb bottle of R-134a went from a wholesale price of 48 bucks to 300 bucks, and the fact that 95% of my business was autobody and repair shops, which entailed dealing with insurance companies, who don't want to pay for anything............... To have those kinds of increases, and all I was allowed to increase my price per ticket was 20 bucks, because the insurance companies tell you what you will charge or they won't let the shops use your service, so it pretty well sealed it for me. And my average ticket price per car was 120 bucks. But I wasn't allowed to charge a service call, or diagnostic inspection, nor was I allowed to charge for pre-repair recommendations, and post-repair inspections. But if the system failed, I was supposed to figure out why and fix it at no extra charge. And this included new model year vehicles where I had no shop manuals, or schematics. I had to figure it out as I went along. And the newer the car, the more complex it got.

Funny thing is , I got a call, and went to meeting with about 20 of my old shop owner customers who complained about having to pay to have cars towed to the repair shop at 100 bucks each way, and then got hit with a 220 dollar a/c recovery, and recharge bill. So they went from 120 to 420 a car overnight. All I said was, welcome to 2008 boys! I said I would get back into the business again, but it would cost 350 bucks per car. That saves them 70 dollars a ticket, and I can pay all the taxes and wage requirements and insurance for the business, and then actually have a real paycheck. Nothing extravagent, but at least I could make my bills and put food on the table, but i didn't have any takers.

So now I'm still looking for work, but it's hard to come by.