The Jaded Mechanic Podcast Oct 14, 2025

The Sherwood's from !! ROYALTY AUTO SERVICE !! Talk the Future of the Industry

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92:54

Part

oil seal

An oil seal is a part that stops oil from leaking out of the engine. If it fails, it can cause oil to drip, which is not good for the car.

Part

coolant temperature sensor

The coolant temperature sensor checks how hot the engine's coolant is. If it doesn't work right, it can cause problems like the engine overheating.

Brand

Chrysler

Chrysler is a car brand from the United States that makes different types of vehicles, including cars and SUVs. They have been around for a long time and are well-known in the automotive industry.

Part

power steering pressure switch

The power steering pressure switch helps control how easy it is to steer the car. It checks the pressure in the steering system and tells the car's computer how much help to give you when turning the wheel.

Car

Volkswagen Buses

The Volkswagen Bus is a famous van known for its boxy shape and spacious interior. Many people used it for camping or as a family vehicle.

Part

speedometer cable

The speedometer cable is a wire that helps the speedometer show how fast the car is going. In older cars, it was a physical cable that turned to give the speed reading.

Car

Honda Odyssey

The Honda Odyssey is a type of family car called a minivan. The 2008 version is known for being roomy and having features that help families travel comfortably.

Car

Ram 1500

The Ram 1500 is a big truck that can carry heavy loads and is often used for work or towing. The 2017 version has a lot of features that make it comfortable to drive.

Part

spark plugs

Spark plugs help start the engine by creating a small spark that ignites the fuel. If they wear out, the engine may not run well.

Part

ignition coil boots

Ignition coil boots are like protective covers that connect the coils to the spark plugs. They help keep everything working smoothly and prevent problems.

Part

ignition coils

Ignition coils help create the spark that starts the engine. Without them, the engine won't run properly.

Car

Volkswagen Rabbit

The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that is easy to drive and has a lot of space inside for passengers and cargo. It's known for being reliable and fun to use, making it a popular choice for many drivers.

Term

VIN

A VIN is like a car's fingerprint. It's a special number that helps you know exactly what kind of car it is and where it was made.

Term

vehicle identification number

A VIN is like a social security number for cars. It helps to identify each vehicle uniquely and can tell you important details about it.

Term

3.8

When someone mentions '3.8', they are talking about the size of the engine in liters. A larger engine usually means more power, but it can also use more fuel.

Car

Dodge Ram

The Dodge Ram is a big truck that people often use for work or towing things. It's known for being tough and reliable.

Brand

Ford

Ford is a well-known car company in the United States that makes many types of vehicles, like trucks and cars.

Car

AMC Eagle

The AMC Eagle is a car that was made by a company called AMC. It was unique because it mixed features of regular cars and SUVs, making it good for different types of driving.

Brand

AMC

AMC was a car company that made popular cars in the U.S. a long time ago. They were known for being different and creative with their designs.

Brand

Eagle

Eagle was a brand of cars made by Chrysler that was around in the late 1980s and 1990s. They made cars that were fun to drive and practical.

Part

EGR valve

The EGR valve helps your car produce fewer harmful gases by sending some of the exhaust back into the engine to be burned again. This makes the car cleaner and better for the environment.

Brand

Subaru

Subaru is a car company from Japan that makes vehicles known for their ability to handle tough weather and terrain. They are popular for models like the WRX, which is great for racing and off-road driving.

Car

Renault Modus

The Renault Modus is a small family car that has a lot of room inside for passengers and their things. It's designed to be easy to drive around town and is great for families who need a bit more space without getting a big car.

Car

Chevrolet C8

The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast sports car that many people love because it looks cool and drives really well. The latest version, called the C8, is special because its engine is located in the middle of the car, which helps it perform better on the road.

LIVE

Hey, it's Jeff here.

Let me tell you about something that's changing the game in our industry.

Promotive, automotive recruiting.

Every shop says they're the best, right?

But here's the deal.

Good isn't good enough anymore.

That's where Promotive comes in.

They're not just recruiters, they're matchmakers,

and I've seen firsthand how they're shaking things up.

For techs like us, they're the real deal.

Actually listening to what we need

and helping us find shops where we're valued, supported, and can grow.

And for shops, they just don't throw resumes at the wall to see what sticks.

They dig deep to understand the shop's culture, story, and goals.

Then help build teams that actually work.

Promotive is bridging the gaps

and making this industry feel exciting again.

They're helping shops shine

and they're making sure technicians thrive.

It's not just about finding a job or filling positions.

It's about creating something better for all of us.

Let Promotive match you with the perfect shop

or, if you're an owner,

use Promotive to find the best tech for your shop.

Hit up the link in the show notes below

or go to gopromotive.com backslash Jeff.

We don't need them to walk on a tool truck

and spend $700 on a set of wrenches.

We can provide them with a nice tool set.

The shop owner can do that.

They're in debt from day one.

Who wants that?

And honestly, the tool dealers should like this too

because I'm wondering where the most of their delinquent payments come from.

I'm sure it's from guys that got in the business,

bought a few, you know, a couple things from them

and then said, I don't like doing this on left.

Ladies and gentlemen,

welcome back to another exciting episode of the Jade Mechanic podcast.

We're sitting at Asta 2025

and I'm very, very blessed,

very lucky to be sitting here with some people that I have.

An amazing, I'm a huge fan.

I'm kind of fanboying it right now.

I'm sitting here with the professor, Mr. Sherwood Cook,

the second and the man behind the camera,

the magician of it all, Sherwood Cook, the third.

So gentlemen, this was the whole point for me coming to this

was to try and get down and have a conversation with you guys.

And I just, I can't thank you enough for being here today.

I appreciate you having us on.

Yeah, we were just finished lunch, everybody,

and we kind of, you know, like,

we get a chance to talk about how great I think it is,

what they're doing for the industry and not just,

you know, we talk about the recent, you know,

the GoFundMe that raised all that money for that young lady.

Well, that's literally life-changing stuff, you know.

And I mean, and I'm not gonna get,

I'm gonna try to get too emotional because like,

That's how I get with it.

Yeah, it's not the first time that something

like that has been done in this industry.

But what amazed me was like,

of all the footage that came out of that,

you guys never for once like made it about yourself.

You know what I mean?

We didn't do it.

No, we didn't raise any money.

It was literally almost 4,000 of our followers that did that.

Right?

We just put the word out.

Yeah.

So no, that's people.

So can we kind of, how did she come about?

Like, was she a, had been,

she been a customer or I want to understand

was a first-time customer?

She came in first time.

She had been to another shop.

They told her she needed an engine.

Yeah.

What year was that?

2013?

2013, I believe.

Yeah.

And she just wanted a second opinion.

She doesn't have any money.

Right?

Right.

So she brought it in.

I wasn't going to look at the vehicle.

I don't, I'm not day-to-day like doing that.

Right.

And so, but the guys were in the weeds a little bit.

They were a little bit behind.

We're like, sure.

We're like, maybe we can grab a couple cars

and potentially do a video, but you know, help them out.

And he grabbed that car.

And so that happens.

You know, that does happen.

What doesn't normally happen is me calling the client.

And in this particular case, looked the car over,

got some preliminary, started doing a video on it.

And I said, I need to call her.

I need to get some more information

about what's happening.

Got on the phone with her.

And I'm like, you know, she never asked for anything.

Right.

She was like, okay, so I'm going to have to pay you

a $189.

I got to figure out how I'm going to do that.

And I could just, you know, you just get a feeling.

Right.

And,

anyway, I said, I said, we're going to take care of you.

You don't be worried about having to pay us anything

right now.

We just, we just need to figure out a game plan for you.

And I got off the phone.

I told Sherwood, I said, we got to do something.

I said, I don't know what we can do,

but we've got to do something.

So first of all, we're going to take care of this thing.

We're going to forget what we even started with.

We put, you remember better than I do.

I know we put.

Oh, well, it had safety problems.

Yeah, we had to put,

we ended up having to put two wheel hubs in it.

And we had to put tires on it, alignment.

Yeah.

And I mean, it was one of those things where I was like,

well, anytime I see something that says,

if your client was told they need an engine.

Yes.

It's usually something that, you know,

we can diagnose and do a video on it at the same time.

So it caught my eye.

And then, yeah, the rest was history.

I just think it was cool how it all played out.

Well, and what I loved is about the fact that we were just

talking over lunch, how you guys make it the priority.

We talk about an oil seal leak as an example, right?

And how the priority is still that the car is safe.

You know, it's not going to, if the customer is in convenience

a little bit by having to add some oil to a car,

that's still a better scenario at the end of the day

than a customer that's driving around

and something that's unsafe.

You know?

Yeah.

And that's what I love about because what was taught to me

by, since I started this platform,

is truly to be what it is to be an advocate

for our customers and an advocate for the industry.

And so when I talk to other shop owners

and other mechanics that are true advocates

for the customer and the car, I immediately,

I feel bonded with it, right?

Because it's what I'm about.

And I didn't understand it early part of my career

what it actually meant to truly advocate for the customer.

Now, and I want to advocate for the technician as well,

that's my whole platform.

But it's so cool to see how that has come to the level

that we can now see it, where you can change

that young lady's life with way more money than just a car.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I think it's also good for people

to see that there's good people in this industry, right?

So not to put ourselves on a platform,

but for all the exposure that this got

was a good thing for the industry.

Because as you said before, people do this all the time.

But a lot of people don't know that shops are doing this.

And so when the outside, the clients and all the people

that aren't involved in the industry see something like this,

it brings a positive impact to the industry,

which I thought was really cool.

Yeah.

And we were talking at lunch how I can't remember a channel

that has had the trajectory that your channel has had.

And I don't want to say short period of time,

but in the greater scheme of the internet on YouTube,

it is a very short period of time.

We've seen channels that have been around 10 years

haven't hit the kind of marker and had the effect that you guys have.

And that has to go back to the quality of content

and the personality that you guys bring to it every day.

Yeah, your professionals.

You know what I mean?

And that's what we, again, coming back to,

I want to always make this industry look better

to the public and to the next generation

of young techs that's coming in.

And that's how hats off to you guys

for how you conduct yourselves

because it's really, really refreshing to see

with so much that's out there now,

we're inundated with different automotive content

all the time.

You can pick podcasts that were every third word is F this.

Oh, yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

And or misinformation on the internet.

Oh, yeah.

That's a terrible thing, too, right?

Well, we did a video on that recently, too.

I felt was misinformation.

Of course, the comments were, you know, what they were.

But yeah, I mean, there's a lot of great content.

There's a lot of great content.

There's a lot of great creators out there and technician.

I mean, I say creators, I mean, they're, you know,

techs and shop owners that are putting stuff out.

But how does anybody pick out the, you know,

the good from the bad?

That's what's difficult, you know?

Yeah, that's really.

And with us, I mean, listen, I'm not perfect

by any stretch of the imagination.

And I've learned a lot from it, even in the comments

from people responding to our, to our videos.

We just found an issue because of one of the comments

on a video.

We got a tortilla video, right?

Tortilla bolts because I'm a big thing

about you need, those are one time use.

Yes.

And then people were putting that there's torque

to angle, right?

Right.

And that really hadn't come across my radar.

I think I've heard of it, you know, but I don't

remember it coming across my radar like that.

I need to do some research on that.

Because if that bolt's reusable, then sure,

we need to do it.

But most of the stuff we work on are

torque to yield.

But that doesn't mean that things always change.

Yes.

How can you, you can't know everything.

No.

And the good thing about, I mean, we're

blessed to know that we've got so many people that

watch our channel that leave comments that we read

that like, oh wait, hold on.

That's, that's a something that we need to look

into.

It says, then we can pass that information along,

right?

How about that Jeep too?

With the coolant temp sensor?

With the coolant temp sensor.

I could have swore I looked at that

Jeep coolant temp sensor.

And the water, I thought we did have one

with the, they said somebody told me

needed an engine.

Yes.

That seems to be the go to thing right now.

Need an engine?

Industry standard.

Need an engine and transmission.

We've had a lot of engine,

need an engine and transmission.

We had three of those in like a month and a half.

That came from a dealer world, right?

And I said, why, why are they doing that?

But anyway, the, this one, they were told

needed an engine, had a cam sensor code.

Yeah.

And got into it, found a connector with

water intrusion.

Yeah.

The weather pack seals on it were

destroyed.

And I thought, well, that's, that's where

the water is getting in.

Most automotive conferences, unfortunately,

only focus on one side of the shop.

But Tectonic 2026, presented by Tectmetric,

is different.

It's built for the whole shop.

Owners, advisors and technicians all

have sessions designed for the work

they actually do day to day.

It's three days in Houston, packed with

workshops, panels, and over a thousand

people from the industry are set to

attend.

You don't need to be a Tectmetric

customer to qualify.

Hit up the link in the show notes

below and check out Tectonic 2026.

to get the early bird pricing.

Somebody put a comment that they

needed to look at, we needed to look

at the cool attempt sensor because

it could be coming out.

And I had that cool attempt sensor

disconnected.

I had that whole little mini harness on

a bench and clearly I didn't look in

that cool attempt sensor good enough

because it came back to have the airbag

light looked at and was let's look at

that cool attempt sensor pulled and

sure enough.

And it's wicking coolant up into the

which is a Chrysler

slot for I mean I can remember back

in my dealership days we were

seeing it with the power steering

pressure switch would wick all the

way up into the ECM connector.

I mean back in the day remember

the knee I don't know if you're

old enough but I don't remember the

Nissan that would leak in the

floorboard on the passenger side from

the transmission fluid all the way

into the into the engine model.

So yeah but here's the thing is like

how would I wouldn't I didn't know I

can't know everything about every car

these comments are fantastic.

There's some smart people out there

because then we can make the video

and then so many people will see that

and that are gonna you know we love

seeing that people see our videos

and then they tell us you know

hey you helped me solve this

problem quicker you know and it's

like that's the kind of stuff we

want to put out there where people

can you know solve it solve issues

quicker and that's that's always been

my whole thing like I my background

was being able to before I had a

podcast and before there was I ever

anybody was I was on YouTube I wasn't

but I would share Paul Daner's videos

in the Facebook groups right and I

would share Bernie Thompson and

way back when the gentleman Daniel

Sullivan with the low pro I would

share his videos like Ivan from

Pine Hollow I would share because

there's so many texts like me that

we're either at a dealer and never

worked on any other brand and we're

just nerds about what how does this

brand fail and how does that brand

fail and all that kind of stuff or

guys that work in a shop sure would

and like that don't get training oh

yeah so I mean I'm an old head as

well where it's like I can remember

before there was Facebook I would

hang out in IATN and I would just

work and like you can remember the

name I was a lurker right and the

name of the album or and and

and you know all these names of

gosh now you're bringing me back

what was the guy I talked to him

actually he loved trains he passed

away he was right in Gainesville

Florida he was right down the road

from us continental imports

see you I can't remember shop names

or anything but I can't remember his

name but yeah he was a nice guy he

was very very smart on Europeans but

yeah leave a comment if you know the

name yeah thank you and so I would

be sharing these these when I started

to run a Facebook group I would just

share videos for guys that couldn't get

training because it started out as

people I just want a bullet to fix this

car and that would frustrate me to

know when because as a dealer technician

where I was under the flat rate thing

if somebody came over and said I got a

car in my bay that I I'm struggling

like here I was flat rate mentality

where it's like okay leave it and

I'll get to it I didn't necessarily

always want to help the person

right I was a gatekeeper I admit it

and so when people would get on a

Facebook group and go I just need to

know how to fix a smith I know what's

wrong yeah and I'd be like pulling my

hero because it's a misfire dude it

could be a hundred different things

what have you tested I've tested this

how did you test it would be the

nice question I was always answering

a question with another question and

it drove people crazy but so I found

that if I shared the video you could

share the method better of what

somebody's process Paul Daner's

process Ivan's process Eric O's process

right they're all slightly different

but they're all comes back to

fundamentals and this is where I started

to find that there was a real

lacking of fundamental ability in

technicians and that's why so when I

see your content now

like you're you're you're a sharp sharp

technician and then there's some people

that are way smarter than I am sure

there is but you know what I mean but

it's like it's it's not every shop

owner will be at your level but in

a perfect world we wish they were

yeah and I mean or at least

somebody in the show doesn't have to be

the owner

just somebody that can help well like

my guys when they come to me

just like you answered questions with

questions yeah

they know over time they know okay you

know if I say they say oh I just need

some help what have you done

okay why did you do that yeah

what was it what was the path that

you got from that what were you

expecting to see yeah you know and

now they know they need to have

those answers because I'm not

the the it doesn't do any good I mean

it's the old thing you know you can

teach a man to fish or give him a fish

right it's like it the silver bullet

thing it's like identification right

identification gets a very bad rap huge

and it really doesn't deserve it no

it it's it's a it's a fantastic

resource when used correctly yeah it's

just like a power probe that's a

fantastic tool when used correctly

it is a WMD when not used correctly

and identification can be a parts

canon when not used correctly right

and I think that but here's the thing

is like do we blame text that were

set that were told here's

identification use it to help you

fix cars but weren't taught how to use

it weren't taught how to test things

right and don't look at the bottom

where all the fixes are look at the

middle that they they literally give

you this really succinct you know

testing procedure usually right and

but you how do we blame text when they're

not when they're not given the

information right now once they're given

the information they continue to do it

okay that's a different story all along

but but you just said a lot of text

don't get training no it just don't

and that and that's huge for me

because like I always as a tech that

didn't get training if I was going to

learn something I had to go home and

learn it myself so I got on YouTube

and I just learned right because I I

would struggle at work with with

fundamentals I was a guy that thought

I was pretty sharp in the dealer and I

stepped out in the aftermarket world

where I had to fix other brands and I

realized like I was not what I thought I

was I was still good I had enough

fundamentals from my pre dealership

days some mentors that just taught me

how to fix anything but I had a lot

of bad habits to unlearn I had a lot

of to slow down smoothest fast yeah

you know yeah sometimes you gotta

slow down to speed up yeah what is so

can we kind of have a little bit of

your background and you know the

background is it's father and son

here but I mean how did you get into

this industry we did a video on that

yeah I was actually I was 13 years

old my mom owned a cab company she

moved us from Virginia Beach down to

st. Mary's Georgia from from the city

to at that time a very very small

town and she opened up a cab company

she had a Volkswagen buses okay as

cabs and so that's what I started on I

started on a cold Volkswagen's

way back in the day and you know I just

doing speedometer cables and most

most people that listen to this have no

clue that you know that they used to

have the old meters that had they were

physical right the speedometer cable

went into them and when they broke all

the time so I started replacing

speedometer cables and and then just

you know getting around any time I

could get in front of the guys that

were fixing the cars I wanted to

be there I want to know how just

how my mind worked yeah and then

eventually I went to work for a guy that

was working on some of our cars and

that's basically where it started I

started with him still know him to this

day love him to this day and he's

still around and he is the person who

I eventually got the shop from because

he moved off into a used car world

and I and then he didn't want the

shop anymore at that point I was

basically running the shop for him and

so that was 29 years ago as of July 26th

the day after my birthday we also moved

from Virginia Beach to St. Mary's on July 26th

so that was a evidently a pivotal day in

my life yeah and yeah so then I got the

shop and I really the reason that I

wanted the shop was because I didn't

want to do Saturdays and Sundays

I could see the riding on the wall

the the chains were already doing Saturdays

I could see Sundays were coming and I'm

like you know what I'm a single dad I said

I don't want to be the song cats on the

cradle always you know I don't want to

be that guy and so yeah I said we're

going to do this I didn't have any money

right the first money I put in the

bank for the shop was the first car

we fixed and he used to sleep on a

couple of chairs that would be in the

way because he was little and you

know we just and listen there were

some trials and tribulations along the

way I mean now that first building I

lost that first building

couldn't couldn't do it moved one two

three four four five times yeah yeah and

then and then yeah now then we bought

this you know bought the one that we

have in St. Mary's the the one in

Kingsland we have a long-term lease

on but yeah it's just been it's

honestly just been trying to figure out

what to you know both on the technical

side I don't have any formal training

in the automotive world right um I've

got trial and error and learning at the

house I can remember sitting with a

scope on my floor in my trailer hooked

up to a little board and yes you know

making things happen and um you know

these are these are times that you

have in this you have to give time

to a profession this isn't a job no

and so you got to spend time training

well if you can't get to training

there's so it's so easy to get the

training now if you find the right

stuff online

when I was back in the day they used to

ask me it's like you know do what do you

want for Christmas

I want training tapes right I wanted

the old VHS training tapes and that was

DVD training you know things they

used to think I was crazy it's like

no I love this I want to get better

at this and then it then becoming a

shop owner we kind of touched on it

a little bit on the way over here

it's like you know I went through a

lot of consulting firms over the years

each one giving me something

right not going to ever say anything

bad about any of them right

they all gave me something to get me

to the next step right

and and now we're 29 years later

now something that has always been

I thought was really cool

and I can remember hearing you talk

a little bit about it and you talk

a little bit about your thing

is so you grew up in the shop

and and and yet you know you kind

of joked how you worked with your

father a little bit

trying to learn how to fix cars and

all kind of stuff

but you said he just didn't have it

and I thought like that was

so can you kind of touch on that like

not I don't want to like I'm not trying

to call you out you understand what

I'm saying yeah I wasn't that I

didn't have it necessarily my fault

I had no desire to do it okay right

so it was you know I

I don't mind doing a break job or

anything like that like I'm I actually

kind of find it satisfying and I do

enjoy the diagnostic side of the

business especially now you think about

it like I not only am there when he's

diagnosed in the cars but I'm also

editing the videos so I'm I'm training

every time I'm editing a video which

is nice I like learning that stuff I

like and tell when you're when you're

there with your dad and you're talking

that you know what you're talking

about like you kind of you know you

know what you're talking about when

we're doing the videos to like a lot

of times people are like why you

know why are you interrupting why

are you asking that I'm trying to

ask the question that a normal

everyday person might might be asking

themselves and I can identify more

with that kind of person so you know

we have two different kinds of brains

and I don't I'm not as good with my

hands and stuff like that I do like

learning it though and it's not like

you know my son Micah yes he's we see

him in the shop now and it it's the

coolest thing let me tell you about

this boy I'm gonna brag on my grandson

oh the Lego thing are you ready for

this yeah this blew me away and I

know he's mechanically inclined you

can see it in his in his eyes when he

sees something he is looking inside of

it and he's trying to figure out how

it's working right and that's kind of

always what I've always taught is like

you know how something works you can

fix it you don't know how it works

you're guessing right so you can see that

in him I bought him this Lego set he

said he wanted this Lego set it was

it was this Pac-Man video game Lego

set I think it was in a was in a

picture or something that we do yeah

we did and we took a shot so it's

a pretty intricate it was 27 2800

pieces 18 plus he is how old seven

seven right like okay so he got this

thing put together in less than 24 hours

and it's like gears and all this stuff

because it crank you crank it on the

outside is a crank and turns gears

inside which you have to put together

and then it turns all the little the

little guys and they all move on the

screen yep okay so okay he put it

together he's all happy he shows it

to me we're good and then he it

falls off the table so he has to put

it back together so he does that all

right then he I think he wanted to

fall off the table I think he wanted a

reason to put it back together under

percent pretty sure pretty sure that's

accurate

so he was not upset that it fell off the

table at all

but uh they FaceTiming last Friday

and uh it's like hey Michael wants to

show you something and so I'm looking

at showing me the screen and these

characters are like going crazy moving

and I'm like what what is I mean it

looks digital at this point it's

not you know it's snake things

right

and I'm like what the heck and then

Michael kind of puts the thing in front

and it's a controller it's a remote

control and I'm like that thing came

with a remote control to do that so no

Michael takes the back off of it he

pull turns around opens the backup

Michael has taken his remote control

car apart and taken the motor and put

it on the gears taking the thing put

it on the gears so he can do the

game with a remote control now that

I want to tell you right now man

that's beyond me it was pretty cool

when he showed me I immediately was like

we're calling my dad

Elon Musk might be knocking on your

door in no time saying they will ever

fruit your grandson that is awesome

that's so so he was talking about you

know like he was always wanting to see

people doing things and wanted to watch

like that's how Mike is that's not

how I was right you know but it took

me a long time to be able to to

find where I was you know where I

fit in and your spot and that's you

know when I eventually convinced him

after I think nine months of trying

to convince him to let me go up

front and I loved it and now and now

he brags about you all the time how

you are you're essentially you train

every service advisor in your

facility now right yeah yeah and we've

come up with the class that we have the

you know how to create a five-star

experience as a service advisor

which we do together I'm sorry I

enjoy that class a lot but

yeah it's it's really I remember doing

my actually selling the first job

it was like on my 20 2008 Honda

Odyssey or something and it was all the

flushes and everything on it and I know

I just started controversy right there

flushes but uh yeah you did I was so

nervous doing that I was so nervous

calling that client but after that it

was pretty much just like I love this

this is fun and I'll tell you that

he like Micah is with you know building

things and stuff that's what he is

with people yeah he I will put him

up against anybody as far as service

advising go and the reason is because

he cares about people yeah right and

that's something that we need to

realize in this in this industry is

yeah we fix cars right but that's

really not what we do

what we do is we make people's lives

easier right because yes you know we

take care of something that people

must have and instead of you know

trying to

it's just it's hard to instead of

trying to maximize the dollar we try

to maximize the effect and experience

is how I want to look at it right you

know and and something we were talking

about earlier and and it's something

that is I think contra it is

controversial it shouldn't be but

everybody has their own opinion and

everybody has their own way of doing

things we talked about that right

um if it's not unethical I think do

what works for you right if it's

unethical now we got a different

in a different day yes but for me

we want to look the whole vehicle over

a complete inspection it doesn't matter

if the it's a client can't afford it to

fix it those are the people you really

need to do the complete inspection on

if nothing else they really need you to

do it yes because they need to be

budgeting for it yes or potentially

looking for a replacement and I think

a lot of shops feel like I just want

to get whatever money I can from

people right and and then if they

can't afford the rest of it oh well

I want you know we want to present

everything to them if that could be

six thousand eight thousand ten thousand

it could be twenty thousand dollars yep

hey you need twenty that does that mean

you need it today no no but I want you

to know that to get this vehicle up

to par is going to cost you x right

now we can talk based on your situation

it doesn't have to all be done today

let's break it down right and safety

and reliability long-term yeah and

let's put a plan together yeah and

that plan could be I'm gonna replace the

vehicle and that's perfectly okay yeah

right you what I don't like is and you

know there was a survey done a few

years ago of service advisors I think

it was done at a dealerships level but

but and there was a what they called a

comfort number for service advisors did

you ever hear about that something

about that yes and the comfort number

was sixteen hundred dollars meaning

that that's the service advisors would

be comfortable presenting sixteen hundred

dollars I've done that survey you

know in some classes that I've done for

service advisors just asking them what

what are you comfortable giving that you

don't you know it could be a lot but

you're okay with it you know it's a

comfort number yeah and it's still

sitting about sixteen hundred sixteen

to two thousand and so my problem is

if somebody comes in an inspection is

done so the tax you know again we're

trying to take care of make people's

lives easier including our tax including

our vendors including our service

advisors right yeah so okay vehicle

comes in

tax don't want to do courtesy inspections

and a lot of it and a lot of a lot of

shops because they don't get anything

for them right and and the service

advisors don't don't present everything

right well what the tech says well why

do I need to do this full inspection I

know that they're not going to present

it all right and that is a problem

that we have because some service

advisors it'll get they'll get a six

thousand dollar ticket I can't do

that yeah and they'll present two

thousand right right and then the

client will say okay well it needs two

thousand you know okay that's a lot but

let's get it done okay cool that's why it's

a comfort number because that's about

the response you're going to get right

most people then they come back in six

months for another oil service what are

they going to be presented with

another another two thousand dollars

right and then this is going to go

like this

well uh man we just did two thousand

last time

okay needs two thousand more okay all

right

well I mean I got two thousand invested

in it let's let's go ahead and do it

yes okay I mean this is a conversation

real

now the techs don't like it because

they're not getting the whole job

they're just getting pieces they're

just getting pieces yeah

and so it's not good for the client

either we're going to get to that the

next one

yeah so they come back in six more

months

now this is where the conversation goes

way bad

what do they get presented with

another two thousand dollars right

and this is the next words that are

going to come out of that client's

mouth

every time I come in there it's two

thousand dollars right yeah no it was

six thousand dollars yeah 18 months ago

yep

we just weren't ethical enough to present

that six thousand because we thought

you might walk away with not would

not do anything with us

right

for us it's an ethical thing to say

here's everything it needs

now let's make a decision based on what

you're going to and if your decision

is you're going to trade trade the

car in

that's that's your decision to make

and that's okay

right and I think that from a

tax point of view

if they know the service advisors are

doing this and doing it

right right

and presenting them correct everything

to them and doing it a correct way

uh those texts are going to be fine

if they know the bigger picture is

I'm here to take care of that that

vehicle owner I'm here to take care

of that client

I've done my job

service advisor did their job

client just decided they didn't want to

do anything fine

but you know what really happens

people fix the cars

because cars are expensive

and if they don't do everything the

the best part of it is that

you've given them everything that they

need

and then what I would do is I would

give them the list of what was left

you know let's just say they decided

that we gave them six thousand they

decided to do

thirty two hundred of it

right

well let's just go with a bigger

number let's say it's nine thousand

ten thousand dollars with the work

but they know they want to keep the

car right

and they do you know thirty five

hundred dollars with the work right

then

well then they know everything else

and the easiest thing as a service

advisor is when

they come back in with your list

and they say hey

I know I do need my old service or

they call you I know I need my old

service I want to go ahead and knock

out these three other things on the

list right I know we're still got this

other stuff down here but I want to

knock out these three things in the

list

you know everybody's about numbers and

and I want to I want to get an

extra sale and on the old change and

stuff like that

just do it that way

and then they're going to get the

clients going to come in telling you

what they want to add to it

right off the get

they will work down the list

and they'll do everything that the

car needs

and how much how much less stressful

is that for the client

to be able to do it in their time

when they can

and they know the order and how they

should do it

and it's it's less stressful for the

client but it's also less stressful

like people have heard me

the the dvi thing and the inspection

thing is a great thing

but it also is like if nobody is doing

the follow-up

or presenting it all and tabulate

tap tabulating it

and and showing a priority

when they come in for a next oil

service again and they're not coming

in remembering that

there is other work that needs to

be done on the car every time when

it comes in for all change and

and

then

I go through the whole process of

doing the dvi again

presenting it to them

and they wait for the customer to say

we have to have longer conversation

with

the customer as an advisor

we have to have longer conversation

slow down

advocate more for them like I keep

saying so the

they have a plan of attack

or in a

a vested

idea about where

how committed am I to this car

if I'm in emotionally attached to this

10 year old whatever

I'm going to put some money

if I'm of the point where it's

10 years old and

and you know I haven't had a

payment for five

and maybe it's time to replace

this

we do that

because up in Canada where I am

where you are

yeah

10 year

10 year old cars

you wouldn't believe the amount of 10

year old cars we get

that when they come in to

where I work now

and we're evaluating to see if we're

going to sell them out

to use car lot or not

a lot of them go to auction

because the rust is too much of a

factor

right so it's

you know

trying to advocate one more level up

for these customers is like listen

I know you bought this car

and it's only five years old

but go get it rust

proofed

now

or in two years we're going to

be talking about fuel lines

brake lines and

and a fuel tank

on a

ram I had a ram

a 2017 Ram the other day

it has 35,000 kilometers

not miles 35,000

it is broke

it's not even broken

but it needs

it's got seized up calipers from

sitting

the brakes are all rotten all the way

around from sitting

you know the whole thing

and I'm like

this is a great car

that dad gave you

but here's reality now

if we don't undercoat this

next week

you might as well walk away from

this car

because it is going to get

inherently worse

just going to rust out from

on yeah

and that's sad to see

it's a waste of a vehicle

right

but when we when we don't

advocate for the customer

in the sense of like

I'm invested in your plan

for what this vehicle is

how do you want to see yourself

in three years

driving this still

okay that's a different plan

than I don't want to see myself

driving this six months or not

completely different conversation

completely different

we have to always present

everything that we find

so this being

it's a difference between a

service advisor

and a service writer

yes

I mean

because what a lot of people

are saying is just

you know get in there

get the sale

get it done

that's a service writer

you're writing an estimate

and you're saying hey

it's it's it's you know

$2,000 a seat you go

right

or you're going to be an advisor

and do what you just described

look out for the best interest

of interest of the client

and advise them

of what they should do

yes

it based on their situation

here's the analogy I always use

because we're big about

service advisors

and clients

and there's and I know a lot of

people will laugh and say

oh it's just words sure

with what words matter

right

the words we use

make our brains think a certain way

and a client

a customer somebody

you sell something to

right

a client is somebody

that you advise

and let's

let's think about it for a second

lawyers

lawyers don't have customers

they have clients

and for those of you that

have ever had to use a lawyer

lawyers do not

give you the answer

what they say is

okay

here's the situation

here's what we can do

and it's usually

we can go down this path

and you know

the potential outcome is this

we can go down this path

potential outcome is that

this path that

right

what would you like to do

because at the end of the day

they know

that you're the one

making the decision

not them

now you might say

what's what do you think

what do you which one

would you think is the best

what's the potential

you know

okay well isn't that what we

should be doing

right

okay here is

everything the vehicle needs

right here is

your safety concerns

here is your longevity concerns

here is your

maintenance right

yeah

okay

shouldn't we be putting

these packages together

presenting that all

then breaking it into packages

and then saying

what would you like to do

and then them asking questions

like well what

what do you think about this

what if

but you know what

in order to do that

you got to create a

relationship

yes

with your

your your attorney

has a relationship with you

kind of knows who you are

kind of knows your life

where you're at in life

right

what you're going through

and helps you make decisions

based on that point in your life

shouldn't we be doing that

you know

yeah but you know what

you know why people don't do that

time

because it's all about

get it done

right

it's all about speed

let's slow down

to speed up

let's slow down

let's get to know people

right

let's try to make their life

easier

I know I say that a lot

but I mean that's what we do

in our shops right

and in order to do that

let's get to know

let's be

I'm not saying we're going to

go out and have Thanksgiving dinner

right

but you can still get to know

somebody

right

you can still get to know

who their kids are

and what they

they have soccer practice

hockey

right

all right

I got to get them over to the

you know

I mean

okay

how many kids you have

okay you're going here near here

wouldn't I want to know that

so that I can then go

okay well they probably need a

vehicle

they're not going to be

that

need to be without this vehicle

very long

or it might be somebody

that says

I've got four cars

Sherwood

right

how you know they have four cars

right

are you only caring that they

have four cars because you want to

service four cars

or do you care they have four cars

because

now maybe they can be without this

car

and and we can have it for a little

while

right

and yeah

and their life's not disrupted

right

100%

you got to

get a relationship

but that

you know

and the speed is the one thing

right

but I know when we talk in this

industry about

commission

incentivized

and all that kind of stuff right

we talked about at lunch

how some people would look at a

job and you table a break job

to a customer

a four-corner break job

could be $2,000

dollars

and somebody is sitting there

and and they think oh that's a lot of

money

and while they're sitting there maybe

they

they they they hit google on their phone

or something and all of a sudden

somebody says

repair pal

we'll do it for 1800 bucks

yeah

we'll do it for 15

and all of a sudden it comes back

to why are you doing for that

why are you charging $2,000

and and and the other person's

doing 1500

our good friend just made a very

point you have to the next

question isn't immediately

oh okay well I can do it for 15

I just have to change this

gift explain to them why yours is

$2,000 and theirs is it's only 1500

what's the warranty that they given

oh they're not giving you any word

what's the parts

I didn't even ask

they're all focused on price

you know we were talking to Chris

I love what he said

oh man I love what he said

instead of

instead of because

I gotta be careful with this

and write automotive by the way

yes on instagram

yes yes

our good friend of the of the

podcast chris and right

he had a great thing to say

and what he said was

what are they I would ask them

well what are they not doing

that I'm doing right

and instead of the thing I need to

be careful of is mentioning

something that says

immediately discounting it

right

and my thing is

is when I was told recently by

somebody I would just immediately

discounted it's like well what I

would do is go to my service

advisors

and I'd be like hey

yes I think we failed here

yeah because

why did this person feel like

they needed to call around on

price

we should have already been

building a relationship

knowing their situation

knowing what they were going

through

now I'm not saying that our price

is always going to be

acceptable to somebody right

but you know if it's not

they should at least know why

we're more

and I would much rather

that person come over go

hey I called around

I got a lower price

I know you guys got a way

better warranty

I know you guys use the best

parts yeah

you know

I don't know what they're

using I know their warranties

way less they already told me

that they really couldn't tell

them what kind of parts

I just can't I just can't do

this much right now

I'm probably gonna have to go

to them right

now we've got two different

past we can go down now

right now we might say well

listen

we want to help you out

want to take care

we might just say listen

I mean sometimes we just get

things away

sometimes just like I get a

feeling like with you know

our net

like let's just take care of

this a net not our net

a net

but you know sometimes it's

well I'll tell you what

let me see what I can do

let's try to you know

I'm not

certainly not going to say

don't go to them

but let me see what I can do

maybe I can help you out

I can't do the same job

for the same price

you know the price is the price

and then sometimes we'll do that

but a lot of times what we'll do

is and I know people are gonna

at this in the next 10 seconds

on this podcast

where you're about to get

a lot of comments

we will 100% refer them

to another shop

another shop that I know

that will do it cheaper

that will not give all the

amenities that we do

right

but I know they won't take

advantage of right

right I know the

people there right

and I've known them for a long time

there's a couple shops

and I know that

the work they do will be good

and they won't take advantage

of the client right

as opposed to some places

that they might go into

and that yeah they got

$800 quote over the phone

then they walk in there

and they're walking out at

you know $1,600 right

but now like we talked about

where the wheels are off now

and you know the capture

I have them

I've caught the fish

fish is in the net

I'm just deciding

if I'm gonna throw it back

overboard

or if it's going in the live

all that I should have to go home

right

like that's kind of

my fishing analogy

but yeah

and I always had a problem

with discounting from the

standpoint of

if I turn around

and I say to you it's a thousand

bucks

and then you go

God that's a lot

it's like okay well I can do it

for $800

yeah

the real price then

to me

in my consumer brain

was really $800

and the $200 was

a spiff

an upsell

a profit

gravy

you're just making more money

than you already are

like you know

which people think

is bad words

you know

the idea of an upsell

is always a key trigger word

for me

because it's like

I'm not upselling you

but you come in

knowing about one thing

on your car

that you're here to address

and I tell you

about four other things

it comes back to advocacy

I'm not trying to upsell you

but I would be not

doing the best service to you

if I didn't make you aware

of the other things

I didn't

I should have said that

when we were talking

about doing the full inspection

right

the reason that

we're doing the full inspection

is not to get

a bunch of money

I always use this analogy

if you went to the doctor

your elbow hurt

yeah

and they took a

x-ray of your

you know

upper body

yeah

and he found a lump on your

shoulder

you want to know about the lump

of course I'd wonder

yeah

if the doctor said

you know Jeff

I don't I don't know

I don't know

does he have insurance

I don't know

does he have any

I don't know

man

I feel like

he's driving an old

clunker I saw him pull up

I don't know if he's got

any money

I'm just

I'm not gonna let him

know about that

yeah

you'd never go back to that

doctor again

guess what we are guys

professionals

we should be held to the same

standard as that doctor

and when the doctor

tells you that you

have that they're not gonna

nobody's gonna say

the doctor's trying to

upsell me

exactly

right but

we're we've always been

held to a different

kind of

of standard

you know what I mean

and that's always been

the frustrating thing

for me because

people have known me a

long long long time

it took me a lot

to really start to

advocate for the customer

and not advocate for

just myself

or my beaming

or my technician

the other because

I mean the industry

did it to me

where I was just about

I was a production

number

I was a cog in a wheel

you know

I was just

I'm a revenue generator

you're a replaceable

I'm a replaceable

revenue generator

for my boss

and you know

that's a tough thing

to to move past

but it took me a long

but I feel like

I'm there

but it's that

it's that

attitude that still comes

back of all the

comments I see on your

your videos

or Paul's videos

every once was

it was like

you don't need to do

maintenance on a car

that's just ripping them

off or

I get really triggered

still by the dealer

ship

comments

the dealer technician

comments

they're terrible

they're this and that

and it's like

oh it's either

one way or the other

they're either the best

ever or they're the worst

and I keep trying to

have the conversation

with you don't know

if you've never worked

with what they've had

to do

the kind of pressure

cooker environment

the kind of where

you're not paid for

dyke

if they're not paid

why do you expect

them to even be able

to diagnose your car

would you go to work

well I wouldn't go

but that's just the point

I paid X amount of dollars

for this car

I deserve to get it fixed

you do

but the more I keep

advocating and talking

about how

dealership technicians

are actually being

treated now

and paid

is why we're seeing

more people start

to back off

and understand

and go in

and have a better

experience

when they're trying to

get there

I'm not saying

it's gonna be perfect

right

we talk

we're talking about

the jeeps

that they've been told

you know

you love to

trash the pen and stars

right

and I drive one

I think

I love it

but I mean it's

don't trash anything

no but you know what I mean

the world we live in

it's they do have

they just present themselves

they have inherent flaws

and it's kind of

not great design

and all that kind of jazz

totally cool

they suck

yeah

but the customer

like from

I know from my dealer

experience

I had to kind of like

you know

I was expected to hear

a certain number

but it was also like

if I knew that

I'm gonna go in there

and I'm gonna do

your oil cooler

while I'm there

on your pen and star

it's probably not a bad idea

to put some spark plugs

in that thing

and some maybe

some ignition coil boots

or some coils

because I know

that they're common

right

there's all kinds of things

well all of a sudden

it's like

listen

I just want the car fixed

I don't want the upsell

or I just want

you know

or if it's under warranty

and they did this

and then that happened

after the facts

and they didn't take care of it

there's such a

there aren't

such tight restraints

right now

but what's it again

that's the service advisor

not great relationship

but here's the thing

when we talked about this

I did a video on this

because

this is something

I worked at a dealership

for six months

very early in my career

right

God bless you

if you can do that

I mean that's a

that's a

political nightmare

I mean

when I was there

I was low man on the total

Paul

I didn't know who I worked for

yeah

I didn't know if I worked for the

used car guy

the new car guy

the service department

the owner come out

I mean

you know

but

that my problem

with the way

dealership texts get paid

and we had some comments

that said some of them don't

now we all know

well I know

you know

that there are some

dealership texts

that are

loved in the dealership

and then there's some

dealership texts

that are there

to just get as much work done

as they possibly can

right

yeah

and they're treated

differently

yeah

but the

my biggest

beef

with the way dealership texts

get paid

is warranty

yeah

I think it is the

and I'm not saying this

in a negative way

towards a dealership tech

it is just a fact

of the hierarchy

of a manufacturer

the dealership tech

is a low man

on the totem pole

I get it

there's GSS

and there's

I get you know

porters

I'm talking about

the hierarchy

of this repair process

right

the tech is the low man

on totem pole

the manufacturer is a high

right

the low man on the totem pole

is subsidizing the high

mm-hmm

at half labor

yeah

and and then okay

texts

forever

would just get really

fast at doing it

right

and so they would

were able to turn

a lot of work

because

they were

it's a numbers game

they were doing

like you talked about

you know doing the same

rack and pinion

over and over and over

so of course

you're going to get quicker

at it

yeah

and then I'll

then they brought in

the time clock

okay where you're going to

clock in and out of it

well you were physically

clocking in and out of it

on a piece of paper

right back in the day

and you used to stick it

on the paper right

well of course

texts

none of us are stupid

right

so I was like okay

well I'm going to

clock into that one

get it done

not clock out

go clock into

car B

yes

do it halfway through car B

oh let me go back over

and clock out of car

you know A

okay well now everything's

digital

they can't do it anymore

so you can't game the

system quote unquote

right right

so what are the

what do the manufacturers do

oh they're getting

really fast at it

they start lowering

the time down

yeah

it's like so you set

time of just

being a numbers

three hours to replace

something

I'm talking about

full boat

right customer pay

you can pay the tech

an hour and a half

tech gets really good

really fast

does dozens of them

you can do it in 0.75

you're going to lower

down to 0.75

who wants to play that game

I mean that

of all

and I haven't lived in that

world

I was there six months

I wasn't

I was an old change guy

right yeah

but I could see the other

guys

I could see the hierarchy

the way it worked

we had one guy that was

that was the golden child

of that dealership

I mean he turned

70 hours a week

right

he has a guy that

that I think

taught me a lot

because he was one that

told me he's like

sure what if you don't have

a three hour water pump

and do a 0.3 oil change

do 10 of them

just turn

just you know

so that's

this was way back now

right

and then we had other guys

only wanted to do engines

right

and then they were always

behind the eight ball

they never got paid

you know they were always

asking for next week's

pay right

yeah because they never

finished the job

but the reality was

that guy that the

the one they really liked

he was always going to

make good money

yeah

you know because

he did do a lot of

good work and

took care of them too

but the other ones

they just kind of got

what they got

yeah you know

and and then you throw

on top of that

the warranty thing

it's like man I just

and I remind people

all the time

when they get so frustrated

and they just take

any automotive

channel

video whatever

to spout off

kindly

try to be kindly

remind them

that

it's not always that

they can't fix your car

or don't want to fix

your car

it's that if they can't pay

get paid

under warranty to try

and fix your car

they're not going to

invest the time to do it

and that's not just

on the technician

that he may very well

want to fix your car

but

even if he says

I'm

I'm willing to

you know

spend some time

that I'm not going to pay for

because I just got to know

well there's dealerships out

there that just

come to him and say

John

put that car outside

I've got 10 more

that I need looked at

right and that's

that's not just a

dealership thing

that happens in

in our industry

on the aftermarket side

all day long

I'm not I'm not

charging for Diag

so you know

go to Identifix

grab the first bullet

that's what I'm

putting into the car

I've got nine more

waiting outside

get them done

well

this is not again

when we when we talk

about

technicians or this

technicians are part

of a team

that sometimes

we're not using

our team members properly

in this industry

and unfortunately

the customer suffers

because of it

Oh absolutely

but it's

when you

when you get on there

and you say

mechanics suck

because of this

that's where it really

it tears up my heart

because

I know

I was put here

for this job

I know I was

it found me in high school

and it hasn't let go of me

but it's

it's been always about

I'm just trying to understand

how to do it better

and how

to make it easier

for the next person

that comes in behind me

because I know

what I had to go through

and I don't want

anyone else to go through

that as well

so that's just a situation

of it's like

I'm not the sharpest guy

in the world

I have a process

that I can get through

the repair

I can diagnose some cars

but I'm not

I shouldn't be out there

like sure

with teaching people

lab-scoped stuff

and all that kind of stuff

I fix cars

but sure I'm not

like I go down

more rabbit holes

than anybody should

there's not you know

and that doesn't mean

it doesn't make me

a bad spokesperson

but it makes me

somebody that's like

I can show you that

as much as you think

I wasted some time

the layman out there

can't even begin to

understand why I would

pick that way

so they

I feel like it's

it's

don't disrespect me

and I'll not disrespect you

I will tell you this

about a lot of content online

we show a lot of mistakes

I make a lot of mistakes

I am not perfect

the

I feel like it's important

to show those mistakes

because unfortunately

a lot of technicians

watch guys

that are

incredibly smart

yeah

online

and they go through this

process

and they just get to these

massively hard problems

right

and then they try to get it

on a day-to-day basis

try to fix a car

and they just feel like

like you just said

I just go down

so many rabbit holes

well guess what

so does a lot of other

people

anybody else

it's just a matter of

can you recover quickly

and then get to the right problem

it's very rare on a

I mean

it's actually very common

to just get to the problem

right I mean

most problems that we deal

with or not

you know

I was talking about case study

classes

I love case study classes

the problem is case study

classes

those are the crazy hard

problems right

and then

then the techs go to case

study classes

and then they go back to the

shop and I think

every car is a case study

it's like

no I mean

there's a lot of

instructors that will pay

good money for a good

a good documented case study

right

because they don't see them a lot

right

so no

not every car is a case study

but

not every single person that you

see

getting to a problem

very quickly

actually got to that

problem very quickly

they want to show you

how they got to it

right

because

quite honestly some videos

if you showed everything

would be

hours long

look at your Nissan hood latch

oh that was luck

that's pure luck

I've had somebody

already mentioned that to me

oh man I was a good find

oh no

that was luck

that car would have gone

to the junkyard

I would have

hold my ground on anybody

nobody would have fixed that car

by diagnosing it

we went down

a million rabbit holes on that one

it was pure luck that

that thing was just sitting there

when I was going to put it

back together

and thanks to Adam Robertson

for just backing me up

and saying

hey go down the path of

it not starting

not the path of it not turning off

and then I had to put it back

together

to do that

yeah

and start over

yeah right

and then the hood latch was there

and then bam

right

but

those are

that's a

that's a one car in my lifetime

that's literally

a one car in my lifetime

the other one was an

Amazon part two

and it was the

number two hardest car

right Amazon part wrong

you know

those are difficult ones

but there's also

I mean there's

there's vehicles

that are

that we do videos on

that are

they're difficult

right they take time

and

you know kind of going back

to what we were talking about

earlier when

when I got into the service

advisor role

you know I said

I want to try to change

the way that this industries

looked at

and I find it to be such a

blessing that

we're able to

do it on this

bigger level at the

you know when that started

it was just

I'm going to do this

on a local level

and you know I never really

we were screwing around

one day

and then we started doing

videos

and never thought

it would ever

get to what it is today

yeah

but it's really cool

to be able to look back

at that and say

wow I'm being given

that opportunity now

to really

you know

change the way the

industries looked at

you talk about

you know more difficult

dyagues

it's not just important

for a newer technician

that's coming into the

industry

because of course we

don't want them to just

get demoralized

because they think that

they're struggling

and everybody else

doing it perfect on YouTube

but also for the

everyday person

because

they need to see the struggle

they need to see

what's involved in

diagnosing these cars

because

you know we

I'll tell you

it's crazy

we get people that come in

and they don't care

about how much it is

they do not care

they're not

they're not questioning

diagnostics

they're not questioning

any of it

we have

when people come in

and they've been throwing

parts at it

and it starts at

what's called a level too

typically

right

and that can be anywhere

from $450 to $650

to diagnose

to start with

diagnosing the vehicle

and they don't hesitate

everybody's scared

to charge for diagnostics

if we can show people

what's involved

and bring the value

to the everyday person

that's bringing

their vehicle into the shop

then they'll respect us

more for what we're doing

they don't question

the doctor

and how much they're gonna do

just going back

to that again

they need to see

what we're doing

they need to be able

there needs to be

transparency

and that's what we're trying

to you know

to bring in here

document everything

and Scott Nichols

I was telling you about him

that has the ADDI

he's got this

this great idea

for how to document everything

in a very

concise

concise way

he's just trying to work

through the intricacies

of making us

be able to get it there

and because

it's concise once it's done

he just has got to work

through some bugs on

on that software

right

and the building of it

but once he's got that

that's gonna be really good

because then we're gonna

be able to just

literally

you screenshot

and it's like

boom it's up on the

it's up into your spot

where you need it

on a cloud

and then you just

go grab

and it will literally

grab the VIN number

put everything together

in one spot

and you can put it on a ticket

VIN dad

right

the VIN

what did I say

there was a comment earlier

and you said VIN number

in a video

well it is vehicle

identification number

it is

it's a VIN number

okay so it's a

vehicle identification number

number

every little stupid thing

like it just drives me

crazy

you know what I mean

I remember when the guys

used to say

it's got a 3.8

what motor's in that 3.8

somebody used to go

it's an engine

it's not a motor

it's motor oil

that's right

yeah

you don't buy engine oil

you buy motor oil

now somebody will say

no you can't buy engine oil

he calls a ram

I call Dodge Ram

I still do

I can't help it

don't do that online

I still

oh they kill me for that

they said oh this guy

doesn't know what he's talking about

they they haven't made a

Dodge hasn't made a ram

in 15 years like

you know how old I am man

yeah

yeah he said you

I can remember

I'm old enough

to remember the first

when they brought the ram back

and it was on a TV show

and the whole thing

like I can remember

because when we were in the 80s

up where I was

you never saw a Dodge pickup

older than

like newer than 85

until 95

there was like a 10 year window

where you never saw a Dodge pickup

really

did dad either drove a Ford

or a Chevy

because like Dodge has started

to not really sell

very well

and then when that first

Jen Ram came out

it completely changed

the the landscape

the way it looked

and then when the Hamid came out

that changed everything

that put everything on its ear

they had so much

when they had the truck

with the actual ram

on the hood owner of it

yeah

my buddy mine had that

but

I've

let's go back to you

I remember Eagle by the way

do you remember Eagle

yes I did

one of the first guys

when I walked into

Capital Dodge

way back when

I had a

Roli Gratton

a gentleman from Quebec

was my

shop form and service manager

at night

and Roli still drove an AMC Eagle

every day

and Roli had been

when there was AMC dealers

and Eagle dealers

in Ottawa

he was their guy

he was one of the fastest

best techs they'd ever seen

and

and I can remember

I didn't appreciate him

and I didn't work long enough

with him

before I moved

or he retired

but he used to always

somebody would come in

and they'd say

this car's not

or the tech would go to them at night

and say the car's just not

running right

I don't turn around

and Roli would say

just put an EGR valve on it

and and and he was

he was he was

identification

and and

exactly 100%

and they put the EGR valve

on which cost $14

you know

back then

and and it would fix the car

and like the

and Roli didn't then go

this is why

it was just good

we got the car fixed

because we just tuned it up

and it's still

stalling

and Ms. Fierner

doing the exact same thing

let's just

you know

I was very fortunate to

to have a couple of really

key mentors

that

didn't always share with me

the why

but the how to survive thing

which was key as well

and somebody was just talking

to me the other day about

we need to teach a course on how

to get technicians to survive

flat rate

and how to survive the dealer

network

and I said

I'm not sure if we can ever

write a book

or have a course on that

would it be a good idea

I want to go back to the

kind of the beginning

for you guys

because we joked about a

launch

some of the earliest

videos I think

that really kicked off

and people remembered

for you guys

was the icon wrench thing

and and the

snap all

oh my god

Sherwood's got a snap

on belt

and it was the joke was like

you know

he's got 30 more years

and he'll pay it off

as well you know

and and

you know your snap on dealer

which was a

obviously you have a great guy

great relationship

with him everything else

but everybody was just

the fanboys came out

and drove's about

I've been buying snap on tools

for 20 years

and there's nothing

that even competes

you've been buying snap

on tools for 30

some years

I bought my first snap

on tools

from my current

dealers

dad

from his step dad

right

Norman

and

I don't even think

that Norman was supposed

to do it

I mean I was a teenager

right

so I mean

that had to be

something 85

yeah

they mean

I've been buying them

a long time too

mm-hmm

and we spoke about this

when I came in this business

you had the option of snap on

you had mac

and mac was really mac back then

yeah

they weren't as

they weren't everywhere

right

you had snap on

mac

and you had craftsman

yeah

and there was a big difference

between snap on and everybody else

yeah they had the flank drive

I mean

the warranty

the quality

the warranty was

what craftsman

you could go

take it and do it

but for us

where I lived

that was an hour drive

yeah one way

yeah

now

we have so many other options

so let's think about this

we're short on text

right

I don't care what anybody says

we're short on technicians

we're short on blue collar

period

right

yes

and I don't see where that's

going to get

any better anytime soon

but

maybe it will

but

we need to entice people

to come into the business

all right

we don't need them to walk on a

tool truck

and spend $700 on a set of

wrenches

we can provide them with a

nice tool set

we talked about it for like

$1,100

the shop owner can do that

right yeah

think about this from a

shop owner standpoint

I'd rather spend $1,100

get us a nice set of tools

in front of it

from you know

when I say nice

it'll do the job we're

asking them to do

what are we asking them

to do

all services

maybe we

graduate them

tires off

yeah tires

we graduate them to some breaks

maybe they start doing some

tire you know

doing some alignment

we gradually bring them up

right

but

the whole time that

we're doing that

if we're asking them to buy

their own tools

they're in

debt

from day one

who wants that

you know

and honestly the tool

dealers

should

should like this too

because

I'm wondering where the most

of their

delinquent payments come from

I'm sure it's from guys

that got in the business

bought a few

you know

a couple things from them

you know

had a few hundred dollars

whatever

right five six hundred bucks

right

and then said

I don't like doing this on left

they're never seeing them again

they're not in the business

my own snap on wrench set

is a

is a repo set

okay

yeah

because that was like

and

we talked about it before lunch

you know

when I did buy that set

I bought it for

four hundred bucks

that's going back

eight years now

and it was still listing at

six hundred brand new

so I paid four hundred

like we talked about it's a

seven hundred dollar set of

wrenches

right

now

I'm old enough to remember

that

all the first wrenches

I'd ever had

I could buy them

Canadian

was mastercraft

out of Canadian tire

you guys

a few

a few trips up to Canadian

tire

do you know

Canadian

yeah

so used to be able to buy them

they were a chrome

12 point

you know

combination wrench

sure

from

eight mil up to 19

used to be able to buy them

for

nineteen ninety nine a set

and they were lifetime warranty

yeah

and I worked with guys

talking about guys in the

tools in a bucket

okay

we were walked into that

I got really serious about

working in was a truck shop

and we used to do roadside

service

and my

my owner

my boss

would go out

and he would take that

nineteen ninety nine

set of wrenches in the rack

right out

and he put it in his bucket

and he would go fix

just about

anything

on the side of the road

with that wrench set

and a hammer

and some vice grips

slip joint pliers

you know

make it a

screwdriver

he could fix it all

fantastic

I use those wrenches

until

2014

and they

were fine

because again

I wasn't putting the open end

on on a faster

and trying to break the faster

loose

you know what I mean

like it was

that's what I loved about that

whole thing

that was showing you

well here's a test of

who

who in the right mind

is going to risk their

knuckles to put it between

it and

in a

whatever

and push on the open end

to try and

break the faster and loose

that's just not what we do

every day

well

the

the test that we did

originally on that

was snap on's test

yes

right

and it's the nylon nut

that I have seen

for ever

yeah

and you know

it was to show

the flank drive

was better

than

of regular wrench

which it is

yeah

but I guess you're not allowed

to use that

when it's a flank drive

against a flank drive

that's now

I guess technically

even

well it's not been stolen

because the patents

up is

right

yeah

but

when that thing

slipped

I was like

because I did not

you didn't expect it

to do that

I was

I was taken aback

by that

I was like

this is crazy

I mean we

literally did it

several times

you know

and it

kept doing the same thing

but

then it became this

this

I joked about it

on one of the videos

I must keep testing

until snap on wins

right

yeah

because we were getting

called out

by so many people

doing the test

strong

and

I mean

I don't know how

I don't know how else

to turn a wrench

other than you put it

on a nut

or a bolt

and you turn it

yeah

you know

I mean there's

different type of

wrenches obviously

but

I'm talking about

a combination wrench

right

and yes

we are friends

with Mr. Subaru

so yes

yes we absolutely are

we're not talking

about him at all

we think he arrives tomorrow

that guy

I'm going to tell you

right now

when it comes to tools

that dude

is smart

he knows

who makes what

when

where

how

what factory

I mean I'm surprised

he doesn't know

the person on the

assembly line

putting it together

he might actually

know that person

he might have

that may be where

his in is

right

but he is smart

no I don't have

any issue with him

whatsoever

you know

I'm talking about

all these other people

that are like

oh they just kept

saying snap on

snap on

okay well

eventually

the snap on

did win

yeah right

but like you said

I had to push it

to the absolute

limit

where I would never

ever

be doing that

in a

regular

working

job position

right

we pushed it

to the point

where it finally

you know

the the icon

gave

and the

snap on didn't

but

there would

nobody in their

right mind

would use it

in that way

it's not real world

and my point

my whole point was

here's

at that point on sale

you know

normally a hundred and thirty

dollar set of wrenches

on sale for seventy bucks

against a seven hundred

dollars set of wrenches

right

my whole point was

how far do we have to push it

to get it to fail

right

can they be not have this

as a viable set

for somebody coming into this

business

and and

use it

right

and get going

and then if they want to

buy a snap on set later

when they make money

yeah go for it

like I did

yeah

but we have options

and now there's

tecton

yes

there's

what's the other one

I mean

Milwaukee

Milwaukee's got stuff

you know

them's got stuff

gear wrench

gear wrench has got

I mean I love their

their new ratchet is my

favorite

yeah

the bill

I got the swivel head

little

that you have you seen the

head on that ratchet

how small it is

I know

I love that ratchet

yeah

well I think it's funny

because when we went to SEMA

there was all these

different

you know tool companies there

and he didn't know any of

them

people are like

how do you not know about this

because this dude literally

only went on the snap one

truck

like he didn't

he didn't know any of

the stuff because

that's what he's been doing

to the point where I had to

go out there

and grab him out of the

truck all the time

because I told him

he stopped spending money

yeah

and I would snap on

the snap on

Harbor Freight thing

was the best thing

to ever happen to me

so how did that

how did that relationship

kind of start

did they reach out to you

Sherwood

or did you guys

reach out to them

for

for Harbor Freight

yes

no we

I don't even know

how we went and

got that wrench

we just

Sherwood just like

hey let's try to do this

but when we've seen all

the other tools show up

and all that kind of stuff

like I'm not

I'm not trying to ask

to disclose what they

not what they gifted you

but like

oh no

you know obviously

there's

obviously they

you've

you rippled

big enough

that they

they figured out who

Sherwood

and the professor were

I will tell you

Harbor Freight

is a very

straightforward company

they don't sponsor

anybody

they don't

and we don't do that

anyway

we don't take money

from people to

to do stuff

the stuff you see on our

channel is the stuff that

I use

or it's stuff that

maybe somebody sent me

and I thought

maybe other people will

use it

and we'll try it out

right

so Harbor Freight does

not pay

anybody anything

but they will

happily send you tools

right

so they've sent us

they mean they sent me

a whole icon box

for crying out loud

right

and and a bunch of stuff

and they just

here's what they tell you

use it

you put it in a video

great

if you don't put in a video

okay

if it's good

good good great

if it's not good

please let us know

yes

and so

because we want to make

changes yeah

right

and they will do that

I get they get it

I get to understand where they

people say they

steal stuff and all this stuff

I you know

but

well

let's

let's be real about

some of the scan tool

that's some

some of everybody's favorites

scan tool

is is

re-engineered

back in the day

it was like factory

yeah um

you know

you can remember the

old old old launches

whether it was a

dyke book

or extra

x431

or something like that

yeah like I mean

they were incredible

what they were

the all tells

yes

I mean the dog on all tells

you could program

keys

on anything

back in the day

right

I mean it was just

I mean

I want to use words

but you know

yeah

you understand

but everybody loves them

yeah

stealing thing is like

whereas

and I listen

not

the only scan tool

I've ever owned

is a snap on

I have an old brick

I have an old

the first gen

vantage

I have

got a brick huh

I have a solus

and ours

yeah I have a solus

and now I have a Zeus

I don't have a Zeus plus

because that's all I ever

bought because before

there was no other players

right

and there was there was OTC

which

when the brick

was out

and the OTC was actually

I think a better tool

so I had a Mac

task master

or not task master

Mac mentor

I think is what

that was

I think that was later

okay

I'm talking about when the brick

yeah there was this

there was this OTC one

but it was not

user friendly

right

where the

where the brick was user

I mean that's

snap on this kind of thing

right they just made it

very easy for people to use

right

yeah and then you had the

the Genesis

so that that's

the Genesis

and it was a wheelchalk

it was garbage trash

yeah

but what snap on has always

been their defense

is listen

we don't steal

what we put in the tool

we have to pay for it

right

which people are always

like that's good

now I think

if anybody from snap on

is listening

the price has gone too far

and I mean

the industry has not

to where it's like

I have my Zeus

and I regret

buying it now

I bought it

in the case of where I

worked

they weren't going to

upgrade the scan tool

but they were going to

hand me a 21

a 22 to look at

and we had a

solace that had been phased

out by 15

that wasn't doing me

any good on the transit

so we're in my fleet

so I had to do something

I either had to get

my butt chewed

about not being able to

fix every day by the boss

or I went and bought a

used Zeus

and that's what I did

that's what I always

done no big deal

not regretting it

but I'm looking at

the prices going now

the depreciation

I'm buying this tool

used

is crazy

the fact that we

snap on has built on

you need a $20,000

scan tool

and we're gonna

I'll make it obsolete

in five years

I'm not good with that

anymore

I'll tell you that

again

much like the

other snap on

stuff

I bought

a new

the new scan

or whatever it was

every time it came out

yeah

you know

modus

whatever kept it

updated all along

Zeus came out

kept it updated along

Zeus plus came out

kept

you know

and

then

just by

I mean

being blessed

by everything that's

happening

on our social media

yeah

a lot of companies

want to send us stuff

right

and some of it

you never see

because

it's

not

worth

showing

right

but

some of it

like topped on

you know

I'd be honest

I bought my first

topped on

I was at

Mike Christofferson

do you know Mike

he does a lot of

e-prom work

and stuff

I've heard the name

but if you showed me

a picture

I wouldn't be able to

pick him out

he's here this week

oh is he

yes

super nice guy

very smart

with like

e-prom

you know

cloning

and stuff like that

and

so I was at

one of his things

I did it

one

I did it twice

I did it once

at Jarhead

Diagnostics

he had it in North Carolina

and then I did it once

in Atlanta

I don't remember

where we were in a hotel

and in Atlanta

when they had the

topped on stuff

and I'm like

well you know what

you know

getting into this

let's try it

right

so I bought a few things

now I have the

the one you see in the

videos a lot

is the

Phoenix

Max

yeah

I love that

and I've been a

snap on guy

that my whole

my whole life

with with

scanners right

yep

this thing just

I mean it works

now

I'm gonna footnote this

every scan tool

has its holes

and

you gotta know

what

again

just like when we're testing

something

what do I expect to happen

you can push a button

this is where snap on

I would say

somewhat stronger

usually if you push the

button on the snap on

it says it's gonna do

something it

generally is going to do it

yes

right

it doesn't just throw it

in there and

it's just there for show

right

that's not always the case

there are times when it

doesn't do it right

and these are the ones that

will send you down a rabbit hole

it's the same thing with

all the other ones

I don't care who it is

top down

all tell

what was the other one

you just named

launch

which is

most of them

are all using

the same back end anyway

right yes

you know

when you push that

button on some of them

it may not be

actually doing the thing

that you think it's doing

and you better understand

okay do I have

another way of

checking that

so if your only

option is an aftermarket

scan tool

I would highly recommend

having at least

two and having two different

back end brands

right

but then the factory one

I mean that's what

you know sometimes

you just got to have that

yeah you know

and so that you know

when you hit the button

that's more than likely

going to be doing it

and then I know

to show you the name

some of us make this

over more complicated

needs because

like you as somebody

that's you know

followed Bernie forever

oh yeah

look at what Bernie

goes out and fixes

with generic data

and and and

absolutely amazing

refined process

you need to talk to

about talk to people

about the e-scan dad

that is the whole

the thing with that class

that chris was telling us

about yeah

one of my guys is in a class

and they uh

is brandon's

secular class

and he brought up

the e-scan stuff

and like two guys

or my two guys

when he said

who's got the e-scan

like two guys

that is a powerful

yes

I call it

the generic scan tool

on steroids

right it is a powerful tool

but yeah

Bernie is out there

fixing cars

and it's very rare

that you see a factory tool

in his hands

yeah

right it's a very rare

you see anything other than

the e-scan

of course it's his product

so he wants to show it

right and and

he he is uh

one of the things

that he's always told me is

I don't care

what the badge is

on the front of the car

I just want to fix the car

right right

and he does it

in a very logical manner

and and now

Bernie is a different

you know

well you get to people

like Bernie

John Thornton

yeah

Scott Manna

yeah

we're we're we're you know

Keith

right

we're at a little different level

right they're they're they're

they're you know

they're super smart

right

but

but you can use

the things that they put out

right

and you can

you can learn from what they're

doing

and now

like Bernie will tell you

how a scope works

yeah

right you know

all the intricacies

are the internals of it right

how it works

and it's like

the first time I took a scope

class

I'm like this is my brain

melted in the first hour

I didn't even

we hadn't even touched the scope yet

as far as on a car

and

you know

it's it's

we don't necessarily

have to be at that level

but it's okay to watch that

it's okay to learn that

because then we can start thinking

how do they think

yeah right

they think like engineers

yeah

you know

I mean

all four of them

think like engineers

and there's

I'm sure I'm missing

people out there

right

but but plenty of other ones

right

but if we can think like them

if we can at least see

okay well that's their thought

process

maybe we don't have the

you know

in depth of that

it still helps us fix cars

right

and in the end of the day

what I'm trying to do

is fix cars

yeah

I'm trying to teach people

how can we fix this car

as quickly and efficiently as

possible

I don't care how you get paid

right

you know

your pay

we can talk about that till we're

blue in the face

you still need to fix the car

right

we still don't want to spend

six hours on something we can

do in two

yeah

so how can we do that

how do we make that happen

it's by following

a logical diagnostic path

does not mean that you're always

going to come to the answer

on that straight narrow path

you're going to be going off

on forks on the road

sometimes you got to back up

just know when you got to back up

you just get to the answer

now you know

sitting at lunch

I asked you if

because you know

you alluded to a couple times

you were looking to hire a tech

and and we talked about the

shortage

and you guys have got

two new ones coming on

which is awesome

but sure wouldn't you both

like how do we fix

this shortage that

that's in the industry

because like

do you guys see a bigger

obstacle for the industry right

now than the shortage

like information

you can always going to be

able to access maybe

but do you see a bigger

obstacle to the industry

than the fact that nobody

is is seeming to come in

and I think

I think parts

parts

I think parts

and I think

I think the

like I think the shortage

of tax

but I think those two are

really really close to each other

how do we fix the shortage

it's a tough one

it is uh

when I was

in high school

we had shop

I didn't take shop personally

you know

but we had shop

that's one

we also need to

somehow

get people to understand

when I was in school

it was it was

oh if you're not smart

you do shop

right right

yep

and it still has that

stigma

that stigma

right

and guess what

it ain't that anymore

right we need smart

people in this business

and we

and we need a

combination smart

we need

hands-on smart

can you

mechanically

have you got that aptitude

like your grandson

yes

and then we need

brain smart

can you read

and comprehend what you're

reading

because what do we do most of

the time

what we're doing is

description and operation

how does something actually

function by reading

right

and we tend to be as text

what I found is

visual learners

right that's why

that's why YouTube is so good

that's why you know

because

that's why scopes are so good

they're pictures

and we need people though

that can

that can read something

comprehend it

put it into

into use

how do we do that

we need to get them to

know that that's what

they're doing

right like we need to get

them to know that it's not

just all greasy hands and

yeah

you know

getting down and dirty

although that's part of it

but that

the diagnostic side of it

is an opportunity for people

and it's going to get

more and more complex

so we need people that

are interested in

computers

and things like that

that would

maybe go into that industry

but they can say

well

maybe I'd go automotive

because it's basically

working on computers

you know all the time

well look at your grandson

Micah

who

and your son

right who has

taken a part in RC car

at eight years old

seven

seven excuse me

I alluded to

Elon

but I mean

that's an EV

to him

that's going to be

what he's going to be

working on by the time

you know

a lot of what he gets there

is going to be a lot more

of that kind of technology

and how awesome

is that that already

at that age

he is like

understanding it

experimenting with it

rarity though

it's a rarity

because we do a thing

it's called junior technician

I've seen that night

yeah

so that happens once a year

on Chris the day

the school that's out

for Christmas break

and we bring in

I started with 30 something

kids

I don't know how many we had

last year

it's getting up there

close to 100

yeah

and these kids

they love it

they love taking stuff apart

they love getting their hands

dirty

right

I think that a lot of kids

have it naturally

I think that it is

taught out of them

right

it said

you need to go to college

you need to

you know

it's literally

they they

they love it

and then it's like

oh you don't want to do that

that's you know

we need to break that

you know

and I think that we're

transitioning a little bit

with that too

you know like

so I think what you said

about

getting it into the school

and getting these kids to be

you know to

be interested in it

at that age

I think even

you could even go lower

than high school

get into middle school

you know as well

yeah

and also

you know one thing

we've talked about

is something we could control

is doing like

a homeschool thing too

my kids are homeschooled

okay

so you know

you could we could

you could bring homeschool

kids into the shop

have a shop day

with them

get them interested

you know

a lot of parents

that are homeschooling

their children

have C8

high value in trades

and so that could

bring more of those

those kids into it

so I

I can't do anything

with the school system

I don't really have a say in that

but what we could do

is we could try to find

a place where we may have

an advantage

we may have parents

that are more

interested in their kids

going into that field

and we could try to

bring some of those kids in

my good friend Lucas

homeschooled

you know what I mean

and yet a phenomenal

technician

so he

he missed out

on shop class

in high school

and he did find

yeah

you know what I mean

then Micah comes there

now he's coming on Wednesdays

that's what he's doing

it's coming on Wednesday

and he's taking

he's taking a motor apart now

we got an engine out there

he's taking it apart

if he puts that back together

I don't know what's going to

happen

it's three six by the way

we know he needs to know

how to take that part

he's got to learn

how to take that one apart

what if he fixes it

what if we read

anyway

so I'm sure he can

I mean there's all kinds

of information out there now

if he can buy a camshaft

or because they're like

I'm wondering if he can

redesign it some

I think this will be

better if we do this

and then he goes to Chrysler

I'll say I mean we got to

fix 40 a millionaire

by the time he's 18

because I come up with

what to fix

or all done

honestly if we didn't have

so much time involved

in doing the channel

like I haven't even

talked to you about this

but I thought like

man it would be so cool

to do like a

kids automotive channel

you know like

I wish we could

we had the time to do that

but like

they need that

we need to get the kids

interested

not when they're teenagers

but when they're

seven eight nine years old

and if somebody wants

to take that challenge on

and go ahead

and I was just thinking

we're so

so here you are

sitting there talking

right how do we fix it

and so you have my

brain going

it's like okay

okay you know

I don't know how many

homeschool kids

it's getting to be

more and more

but there's a lot of times

right in the US now

but there's summer

yeah

now how hard would it be

for shops

to say hey

we're gonna do

a summer camp

right good dog

I mean there's

there's what is it

NASA what uh

yeah they do that

astronaut cat

all kind of camps

or stuff right

why can't we do an

automotive camp

come on in let's

let's you know

I know I'm gonna hear

a million oh insurance

and you know what

they've said that to us

with the junior tech

they sure as he sure has

well and like as

I've seen it where

I've had a former employer

and they bring in

what we call co-op students

which is like

seniors in high schools or

you know

for me it was

grade 11 grade 12

and they would start

to bring them in

they put them in a shop

because they showed

maybe some interest

when they were in

high school

yeah taking shop class

they had a little bit

of natural there's a

get him in a shop

sometimes they can

fast track them

right through the industry

do what we have in Canada

the apprenticeship

that gets them some hours

according to that

accrued towards that

but then some places

the employers drop the ball

where it's like

they have them

and it's just here

take out the trash

yeah go wash

the floor

they might do a couple

oil changes

by the time they're done

but they never

and a couple of tires

but they never really

got exposed to

and they don't really

cool stuff

which is like

I would grab one and go

here's a scan tool

watch what I

when I unplug this

watch what happens to the

oh look the car doesn't

start with it unplugged

what do you think is

actually going on there

and you see the gears

start to turn

and they're like

that's the really cool

stuff that I want to do

and that's the thing is like

as they get older

so like the younger kids

the little kids

when we're doing the

junior tech night

love taking stuff apart

sure

guess what they don't love

putting about

they don't love the scope

okay

they couldn't care less

I've had the whole scope

going up

at one year

I try to figure out

if I could make something

blow up

I try to make

a I try to figure out

if I could make a

spark plug

you know ignite

and without killing

somebody right

I just couldn't make it

happen

just like the video

on the fly

it's on the fly

so we're not like

super planned out

but

you know

the younger they are

they want to

work with their hands

they want to figure stuff out

they like it dirty

right

then as they

if we could do

like a camp or something

we're going to do this

the summer camp

right

and they start getting

you know

okay we bring the little

kids in

we have that mechanical stuff

remembering a little bit

older kids in

we showed them some scan

tools

we show them some

bi-directional controls

you know

I mean for us

like clicking a button

turning the fan on

nothing

to them it's like

oh my gosh

what we can make the car

do stuff

that's right

right

yeah

and then we could

gradually move them up

I think that's a

that's something

that we could definitely do

we've got to get

and listen

that the average age

I think the last time

I checked

the average age

of the automotive tech

you might correct me on this

I think it was in its 50s

I'm

average age

that's pretty old

that's average

yeah

thanks brother

so I'll be

I'll be 50 next month

and the gentleman

that works in the shop

with me is 60

I'm 57

so yeah

if the average age

is something over 50

think about that

that's average

yeah

that means you got guys

in their 70s and 80s

where's the young ones

because it can't be that many

70s and 80s

you know

I mean everybody's in a bunch

in the middle right there

you know 40 to 50

and that's kind of what we see

and we shouldn't be an industry

that people look at

as I'm going to need to work

till I'm 70 or 80

and just work till I die

basically

yeah

that's another thing

that's sad

that's a whole another

rabbit trail

but that's

that's another thing

and they should want to come

into this industry

knowing that they'll be able to

you know

have a good retirement

and all the different things

to go with

and that's

that's like

we can do a part two on that

maybe have David Roman

in where he talks

about like

how they

technicians

actually have to manage

money better

because

they didn't go out

you know

you just

pulling your dad off the

snap-on truck

you know

every week

saying quit spending

their money

like I could appreciate that

because it's like

that's what you made

your living with

but like

I can see both sides

well a lot of times too

Tex

you know there's only so many

lights that you need though

do you like lights

but they do stick to cars

yeah

sometimes they forget to get the

back

I do a lot of lights

but you know the

a lot of times also

Tex

come in

and they do start making a lot of

money

it is an industry

that you can come in

and start making some really

good money

really quick

quick right

yeah

and then they buy toys

yeah

you know

and shop owners do the same

thing

and there's always a race car

involved

right so we can go down

a whole another deal of

you know

and I'm not saying I'm the best

I mean I don't have toys

I like golf

that's my toy

but yeah

maybe we'll do a part two

on that in SEMA

I like that

I'll be at SEMA

so that would be definitely

we'll see how this one goes

and see how the people like

they might say

tell me I gotta shut up

I have a feeling this is

gonna be

this is gonna go over really

well

I'm gonna wrap it up for you

guys

but where

what's the next

kind of give me like a

one-year goal

and a five-year goal

for you guys

for a social media part of it

any part of this

just the business

like Sherwood

do you have a day

on when you kind of want to be

able to

to step away

and be on the golf course more

I was willing my way

to doing that

and then this guy

walked up with a camera

one day and said

hey dad

what are you doing

and now all of a sudden

I've got another job

you know

I do spend a lot of time

on the golf course

I will say that

I mean we do work hard

and we do

but I

my time is pretty

pretty good

we have a lot of ideas

a lot of things

we want to do training

yeah

our big one

that we're

we thought was going to be

easier than what it is

and we are

diligently

making progress

I would say

slowly

is a training website

not a

not a normal training website

I'm talking about

how do you rock a car

how do you remove a tire

how do you install a tire

how do you mount and bounce tire

how do you patch a tire

how do you do an oil service

right

from that

all the way up

and my grandiose plan is to

show every scope

that I can get my hands on

how do you do a

relative compression test

how do you do

you know

how do you check

injectors

blah blah

you know

with every different kind of scope

and

these are the things

we're trying to work

yeah

so that somebody can

then go

oh I've got an

all-till scope

or I've got a

you know

an e-scope

or I've got a pico

or you know

and I'm actually

going to see somebody today

that is going to

let's begin today

I don't know

he hasn't texted me

Justin

you know Justin Morgan

oh yeah

yeah

Justin is

he's going to sit with me

and go over some

I got a pico come in

that's mine

Matt

Matt Fanzo sent me

an eight channel

yes

and so I've been playing

with his for a while

and now

I've got one ordered

but uh

Justin's going to sit down

with me

but yeah I want

you know

again

I'm not

yeah I love Bernie

Bernie's a great guy

right

and

yeah I want his business to

prosper

but if there's something out

there that can do something

that's gives

that gives text options

I want to do that too

I want to show everything

that we possibly can

so our our goal is to

put a website together

it's kind of

that's been a big thing

the whole thing with it is to

to be able to

really the goal is for a

a shop owner

to have this site

so that

every aspect of their shop

right can they

they can basically bring

somebody in

and say hey

here you go

start with this part right here

right

whether it's a lube tech

or whatever it is

start with

you know

racking up the car

and everything like that

and then more experience

to like hey

here you go

we're getting into some

electrical stuff like that

but

with what we've got

you know

between the both of us is

we can also get into the

advisors

because we've got the

advisor class

and we've got

also the experience

on the business side of

things

and so we want it to be

kind of an

an all-encompassing

thing

that a shop owner can use

you know

we love the coach as well

but we also

there's only so much time

with two of us here

and you know

you know what you don't

realize I found this out

last week

I was at a

another conference

for a huge company

they have that

they have a

training site

yeah

that

how you rock a car up

we already had these

had this in the works

right

and I went to that

and I just

you know

and a great company

but I

can't name the name but

but yeah

they they had this whole

thing set up

it helps there

when they bring a shop in

right when they acquire

a shop or you know

hey

you can use this to train your

tech

we need to have that

in the independent world

100%

and and and

and you guys are going to be

you've got a leg up

on getting the exposure

out there

right

what I love is the idea

like when

when we start to tackle

things like

if you guys could

continue to handle the

comment threads

the way you have been

it will be successful

because like

how to do a break job

right like

you're going to get

10 different opinions

on how that's supposed

to be done

all those kind of stuff

you guys have been

like I said

going back to the beginning

you know

I think that

I can't remember

somebody that's come along

that's just started

at the level that

you guys have

and just continued

to rock it up

and I mean

I'm excited

I'm

I'm so blessed

to be able to get to

meet you guys today

and and get to know you

and and talk

because I'm just a huge fan

you know what I mean

like this is

this is

I truly enjoy

being able to showcase

the talents

that you guys are

and I think it is so cool

that you're putting out

there

we need a shop that's like

as a reality TV series

and and now

that's for what you guys

are

for a lot of us

and you know

Valley Forge

is the tires thing

on Netflix

that TV show

that some people watch

like that's

that's

we all

like that's a comedy

but you guys are

showing what's going on

every day

in a lot of shops

and I mean

I can't thank you enough

for that

because

it's

the professionalism

that you bring

is what we need

to be really

really bringing

more and more

so I want to thank you

both for being here

absolutely

I appreciate you

I thank you

for coming to ASTA

it was

when I heard you guys

were going to attend

I was like

there'll be nothing

that'll stop me

if I have to walk

from Canada

to shake your both hands

and and

and meet you

I was going to do it

everybody

as always

you know

I love you all

thank you for being here

and we'll talk to you again

soon okay

thank you guys

right

hey

if you could do me a favor

real quick

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you'll please

join us again

next week

on this journey of change

thank you to

my partners

in the ASA group

and to the changing

the industry podcast

remember

what I always say

in this industry

you get what you pay for

here's hoping everyone

finds their missing

10 millimeter

and we'll see you

all again next time

you

About this episode

A dynamic conversation unfolds as Jeff sits down with Sherwood Cook II and III from Royalty Auto Service at Asta 2025. They delve into the evolving automotive industry, discussing the importance of recruitment and advocacy for both technicians and customers. Sherwood Cook II shares a heartwarming story about a customer in need, highlighting the positive impact of community support. The trio also explores the challenges of attracting new talent to the trade, emphasizing the need for hands-on learning and breaking down industry stigmas. Their insights into the future of automotive service are both enlightening and inspiring.

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Chevrolet Corvette Dodge Ram Honda Odyssey Ram 1500 Renault Modus Volkswagen Bus Volkswagen Rabbit

Original notes

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In this episode, Jeff welcomes Sherwood Cook II and Sherwood Cook III of Royalty Auto for an in-depth conversation at ASTA 2025. The trio highlights the importance of advocacy in the automotive industry, emphasizing honest communication and putting the customer’s safety and best interests first. They discuss the current challenges facing independent shops, from the technician shortage to the escalating costs of tools and access to training, and explore ways to attract and retain the next generation of technicians.

Timestamps:
00:00 "Safety Over Inconvenience Prioritized"

05:41 "Rapid Channel Success Explained"

11:12 "Sharing Training for Struggling Techs"

18:27 "Passion for Lifelong Training"

22:16 Micah's Creative Remote Control Hack

30:24 Streamlined Auto Service Conversations

35:31 "Assessing Vehicle Needs Insightfully"

39:45 The Dilemma of Discounting

43:11 "Practical Repairs Over Perfection"

48:44 Passionate Mechanic's Reflection

57:09 "Mentors, Survival, and Tool Humor"

01:00:51 "First Tools and Truck Shop"

01:04:14 Budget Tools vs Premium Quality

01:08:34 Bought Used Scanner, Regret Depreciation

01:14:47 Tech Industry Workforce Shortage

01:22:30 Hands-On Summer Skills Camp

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The Jaded Mechanic Podcast

Jeff Compton

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