Controlling operational costs are an essential part of managing today's environment. Many of our customers are faced with filling up the tank or of performing needed vehicle maintenance. We all know filling up the tank will win over performing vehicle maintenance. Miles driven by our customers are declining causing additional reduction in repair order counts. Let's look at some ways to reduce and control operational costs at your dealerships. Uniform vendors have an interesting way to add on costs for dealerships. Pull out the uniform bill for your dealership and be prepared for a surprise. You might find items such as air fresheners for your restroom at $10 rental per week. Who among us would find a need to rent mop handles? Mats for high traffic walking areas are another source of revenue for uniform vendors. These mats can be purchased at most discount wholesale clubs for about the cost of three weeks rental. Many dealerships could use co- op funds to purchase Mats with the company's logo on them making a high customer impact. Fender covers are often rented instead of purchased as well adding still more cost to the dealerships uniform bill. Don't forget to watch shop rags that many times get billed each week for the inventoried amount instead of usage. I have personally found as much as $13,000 annually expensed for these wasteful rentals at one dealership. Shop supplies must be tracked by individual technician use with management reviewing at least on a monthly basis. When technicians understand shop supplies are being tracked with questions asked them on individual use you can expect a 20% reduction on these costs. There are many ways to reduce costs for every dealership that need reviewed including advertising. As a consultant for dealerships obviously hiring the right consulting firm will be a benefit far outweighing the cost.