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MAACO
I am considering a MAACO franchise in Florida, all I can find on them so far has been relatively positive. does anyone have recent experience either positive or negative with starting a new MAACO franchise?
- forums:
maaco is horrible
maaco bases everything on that i've been in business 20yrs crap. the problem is for folks buying now. their system fails and maaco's poor operations support just points at the 20yr guy and says it works for them so any problems must be the newbie's fault. do this 20yr man don't just give sonny boy your shop, sell it to him at fair market value if he even qualifies as a buyer, pay maaco their 30% premium, rent him the building at fair market value and really retire. even then he has a leg up because of your reputation but if you did the math as an actual sale today you would see it doesn't work.
maaco currently has active lawsuits against 3percent of its franchisees. add to that all the meineke lawsuits and it is an astronomical number compared to good franchisors. maaco's failure rate is also huge. the argument "the only problem with maaco's system is they are really bad at choosing who owns their franchises" is pathetic.
I've owned a Maaco shop for
I've owned a Maaco shop for 20 years. I am getting ready to retire and my son is taking
over the shop. I left the corporate world and did not know anything about the body shop
business. Maaco is the greatest thing I have done in my life for my family.
The business is what you make it. You cannot go home at noon or be an absentee owner.
You have to work it. Maaco is hard work and worth it.
Wow there sure is a ton of cry babies in this world.
I am an owner of Maaco. If
I am an owner of Maaco. If you work for your self in the front office , Do good work and have exceptional customer service.If will make money as self employed. It all depends on what is your break evens are and the location of the shop if you have lot of trade and retail customers yes you are for sure going to make money.It takes two years to turn around the bad reputation of an existing run Maaco.
Should be willing to invest in high end equipment which derives quality.
Thank you for your comment
Thank you for your comment maaco franchise sales. The 1,200 franchisees you've churned through
in the past 20yrs, for net-zero growth, were just lazy cry-babies.
maaco = financial suicide
maaco = financial suicide
http://investing.businessweek
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=33331604
Business week 09/09/2011
Driven Brands Reportedly Mulls Sale
09/9/2011
"Driven Brands, Inc. has appointed Credit Suisse to manage a sale process, three industry bankers told mergermarket."
Less than 3 years into their "commitment" to ownership of Maaco their flagship company. Churn through a bunch of franchisees then sell. Is this company committed to building a successful brand? Their commitment is not to franchisees only their own bottom line.
Sale = more debt to parent company = new parent squeezing franchisees harder = even more franchisee failures.
Wait this one out before becoming involved with Driven Brands / Maaco / New ownership.
Why do franchisees pay maaco 100s of thousands?
Tom Monaghan, Maaco's Vice President of Operations, testified that Maaco believed its process of starting and running a franchise to be a trade secret. However, Monaghan and Maaco have not identified any aspect of the Maaco System that meets the requirement of substantial secrecy, since information was available to customers of Maaco and the public at large about the aspects of the Maaco System that Maaco claims to be proprietary.
"MAACO FRANCHISING, INC. v. PIERRE PHILIPPE AUGUSTIN, Dist. Court, ED Pennsylvania 2010
MAACO FRANCHISING, INC., Plaintiff, v. PIERRE PHILIPPE AUGUSTIN, et al., Defendants.
Civil Action No. 09-4548. United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania. April 20, 2010."
W. Michael Garner. “What was remarkable was the court’s denial of the motion to prevent the former franchisee from using Maaco’s confidential system. The court held that there was nothing in the system that was confidential— it was all in the public domain. Franchisors Frequently claim that their systems contain confidential and proprietary information, which franchisees rely on when deciding to purchase. If, in fact, there’s no confidential information in the system, then there is less of an incentive to become a franchisee.”
"Franchise Times — May 2011" - http://www.onlinedigitalpubs.com/display_article.php?id=716464
maaco / meineke / driven brands
these folks are absolute thieves do not buy a maaco franchise or any of the driven brands group
Drivel
That's it? That's your complete reasoning and facts? You'll have to do much better. You need evidence of what kind of investment this is. Data. Anonymous writer, you'll need to provide hyperlinks to credible sources since you are an unknown guest and so no one can trust that what you write is true.
I assume that you are a competitor who is bored at your computer because franchise sales aren't pouring in. You want your competitors to feel the same misery that you are feeling. However, it doesn't work that way. The post above will have absolutely no impact.
At least you can feel like you've done something with your time.
Ever consider poster is a
Ever consider poster is a current employee or current franchisee trying to provide good information without exposing themselves to reprisals? Is it possible poster is trying to give advice but is unable to give true guidance because of their current situation? Buyer be very aware of Driven Brands / Maaco they do not supply enough information to allow you to make an informed decision. Seek out the failures there are many of them.
could be a compeditor, disgruntled ex employee,
anti franchising pundit, or failed franchisee. What matters is the facts that ack up such a point. Anyone can say anything andfor a number of reasons.
no no no
Do not buy any franchise that does not grant an exclusive and defined area of operation. Maaco has no barriers to entry and no recourse for franchisees. That means any of the run down warehouses, garages, shops around you can get a little blue and white paint and a couple of signs and abracadabra there is another maaco 3 miles from the maaco you just opened. Your non-compete clause with maaco 10miles. maaco's non-compete clause with you - NONE!
maaco do not buy
do not buy into maaco franchising. you will regret it.
Liars and Theives. maaco does
Liars and Theives. maaco does bad work and has a bad reputation because maaco corporate forces shops to cut corners. maaco's plan is far from industry standard and it is reflected in their reputation.
Before you give maaco a dime
ask maaco what the exit plan is should your maaco not perform. find maaco shop owners who have recently closed and ask them how maaco helped them get out of the business. what you will find is once you are in, maaco acts as though their franchise agreement has you enslaved for 15 years. they act as though they own you and any problems fall on the shoulders of the individual owners.
Maaco does not deliver
Read all the complaints about Maaco individual shops online. The only way to pay Maaco Corporate is to short-cut. Their process is flawed and folks who go into business to put out a quality product do not make enough to pay fees to Maaco - Good Maaco's go away. Bad Maaco's make money. If you are still considering buying visit as many Maaco's you can find that have gross revenue less than $1mil and who have been in business less than 5 years. Better yet find a couple of the many owners Maaco has put in failed businesses in the past few years. The percentages say you will fail. Buyer beware.
Do not buy
Your expenses will be double what they disclose to you in their UFOC. You fool yourself into thinking you can absorb the costs Maaco is in the business of helping people be successful right? Wrong! They are in the business of selling franchises and paying themselves. They no longer have good operations support. If you watch TV very little of the advertising is spent on advertising. If anything advertising is Maaco corporate advertising to get more people to buy Maaco's not to bring customers to shops. Do yourself a favor, do something else with your money.
Maaco out of business??
Here are some stats you won't get from Maaco when you consider buying a franchise from them.
In the past 5 years they have churned through about 300 people/shops.
They currently have fewer than 450 shops open.
They are at about a 70% turnover rate and they are losing ground.
Maaco Corporate makes their money by taking your life savings in up-front franchise fees. Then they take your advertising budget and put it to their bottom line.
Please do not buy. They are riding their success from 10+ years ago. They have the franchise sales people in their pockets for now. If you look at the franchising magazines the published statistics are from 2-3 years ago. If you wait 2-3 years Maaco will be with the other Driven Brands franchises as worst to buy.
If you are considering Maaco
If you are considering Maaco weigh your options. Plan A Maaco. Plan B quit your job take your life-savings and party it away gambling, drinking, family vacations whatever you enjoy, sell your home get divorced declare bankruptcy. Then go back to work. You will lose everything anyway at least with Plan B you will have some fun doing it.
you ain't joking
thats the truth
Should you buy Maaco?
Quotes from BodyShop Business Executive Interview: Maaco President Talks David Lapps President and COO 04/20/2010 - full article: http://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/Article/72965/executive_interview_maaco_president_talks_marketing_lean_and_drps.aspx
Lapps - "my daughter called me and asked, “Dad, do you guys do collision work?” She has been in and out of Maaco shops her whole life and didn’t know that we do collision repairs."
This quote is funny because you will be paying this company franchise fees and advertising every week, no matter how bad a job they do for you. Remember the above when you are losing your life savings, house, marriage etc. Funny anecdote by ineffective leadership. Oh, by the way Mr. Lapps' wife is in charge of advertising for Maaco.
Lapps - "We currently have over 20 shops that are fully certified DRP shops"
20 out of approximately 475 shops or about 4-5% preferred vendors for insurance companies - When you sign up for Maaco they will tell you about all the opportunities they bring but don't kid yourself, you will be so buried in fees you will not have the time or money for the outside training you will need to become successful.
Lapps - "One of the major issues we encountered concerned our contamination control"
Maaco has trash in their paint as acknowledged by the President of Maaco, and cited thousands of times by consumer complaints. This is not an industry standard but is acceptable for Maaco.
Go figure, Maaco is a marketing scheme and it will be up to you to do industry comparable work at hugely discounted prices if you want to survive. Good Luck, the math does not work and poor leadership and lacking advertising get paid every week by the franchisee no matter how poor a job Maaco does for you.
Better
This is much better. An anonymous commentator provides a hyperlink to an interview with Maaco's president. That provides credibility and evidence to what they are posting about. He/she then uses the president's own words as a launching point for her/his own commentary -- that something isn't quite right.
Do not buy Maaco has changed
Do not buy Maaco has changed ownership. The new owners own Meineke one of the 25 worst franchises. Look around the web there are ten Maaco's for sale in California all at deep discounts. Owners are running away from these places.
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