A shop management system is the computer software a repair shop uses to keep track of work. It helps with things like scheduling jobs, writing estimates, and sending invoices.
Kukui is a marketing tool for businesses. The pitch is that it helps turn website visitors into customers, sends follow-up automatically, and shows how well marketing is working.
Website conversions are the “good actions” people take on your website, like signing up or requesting service. More conversions usually means more potential customers.
Automated follow-up means the system sends messages to people automatically after they show interest. It helps you reach them quickly instead of waiting for someone to remember.
Real-time ROI tracking means you can see how much money your marketing is bringing in while it’s happening. ROI is basically a “did this spend pay off?” score.
Napa AutoCare is a NAPA program that supports auto repair shops and technicians. The episode is basically saying NAPA offers more than just parts—it also supports how repairs are done.
Auto tech training is learning for mechanics—how to diagnose problems and fix cars correctly. The episode is highlighting that training as part of the bigger NAPA/industry push.
Extended reality (XR) is a way to use digital tech to make what you see feel more immersive—like adding computer graphics to the real world. In car training, it can help people understand repairs or systems more clearly.
Augmented reality (AR) adds helpful computer graphics on top of what you’re already looking at. For mechanics, it can show instructions or parts information while they work.
The Buick Century is a mid-size car that was made by Buick. It was designed mainly for comfortable everyday driving, like commuting and family trips. People might mention it when talking about older cars and how cars used to be built and used.
A “team tool rebate” is basically a deal where a shop gets money back at the end of the year. That money can be used to buy tools and motivate the mechanics who work there.
A “recruitment tool” is anything a business uses to bring in new workers. In this case, the shop uses the rebate to offer better tools and incentives so technicians want to join and stay.
They mention Carlisle as the company running a new program. The key idea is that it’s a parts-industry promotion tied to how rewards or funds get handled.
They’re describing the challenge of coordinating the program across many participating stores. It’s about making sure each store’s sales and rewards are tracked correctly.
Brand
Venom Green
Venom Green sounds like a specific branded look/color they saw on the tools. They’re describing how noticeable the rewards were in the photos.
Milwaukee is a tool brand. They’re saying the rebate helped shops get Milwaukee tools that teams could use and show off.
Concept
communications in all the layers
They’re talking about making sure the rebate message reaches people at every level in the shop. It’s not just one email or one person—it’s getting the info through the whole team.
A PicoScope is a diagnostic tool that “shows” electrical signals from the car. Instead of just reading codes, it helps a mechanic see what the sensors and wiring are doing.
They’re talking about making an auto repair shop run more smoothly. That means organizing the work better so jobs get done efficiently and the shop can make more money.
A learning management system is a digital training platform. It helps a company assign training to different employees and keep track of what they’ve completed.
Mobile-first means the website is built to be easy to use on a phone first. That matters because many people look up and book car service from their phones.
Term
industry average
They’re comparing their results to what most other shops usually get. It’s a way of saying “we do better than the typical average.”
CRM is software that helps a shop keep track of customers. It can also send follow-up messages automatically so customers don’t fall through the cracks.
Online booking lets customers schedule their car service on the internet. It can mean fewer phone calls and more appointments because customers can book whenever they want.
Predictable revenue means the shop can expect more steady income. If customers keep coming back, the business isn’t starting from scratch every month.
Topic
shop's on board
They’re saying the whole shop is agreeing to follow the new process. Once everyone is on the same page, it’s easier to track spending and talk about how to improve.
They’re talking about the mechanics/repair techs in the shop. The idea is that when techs get the right parts and tools, they’re more motivated and more invested in the work.
They mention two shop roles: the service writer who handles the paperwork and customer requests, and the service manager who runs the shop day-to-day. The point here is that these roles influence what gets bought and how the shop operates.
“Front of shop, back of shop” means the customer side of the business versus the mechanic side. They’re talking about how the two areas need to work together.
Term
pull and a push
They’re describing a two-way workflow. One part brings needs forward (“pull”), and the other part sends work or updates along (“push”) so the shop runs smoothly.
They’re talking about how the program counts its year. Instead of January–December, it runs from October to September, so the rebate rules depend on those dates.
A tool credit is like a store credit or voucher for tools. Instead of technicians paying everything out of pocket, the shop gives them credit they can use through a ticket system.
Concept
ticket format
They’re saying the credit is handled using a ticket or voucher. That makes it easier to track who gets what and to let certain vendors redeem it.
Concept
tool trucks
Tool trucks are sales vans that come to shops with tools for people to buy. Here, they’re also the places where technicians can use their credit to get tools.
They’re talking about warranties, meaning the promise that a product or repair will be covered if something goes wrong. The discussion suggests the program helps shops buy items that are warranty-backed.
These are job roles at a car repair shop. One person usually handles customer requests and paperwork for repairs, and another oversees how the shop runs so the work gets done.
The alternator keeps your car’s battery charged and powers the electrical stuff while you drive. If it goes bad, the battery can run down and the car may stall.
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Get industry leading customer support with Kukui.
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Welcome back, Jason Rainey's here with me.
Hello VP, Napa AutoCare and a million other things
that you said yes to of late.
Yeah.
Auto tech training.
Yeah, tracks.
I know.
Major counts.
Major counts.
AAA.
And we had this great episode in here with Robin Madd.
You know what, I would have loved to have been a fly
on the water there, or on the wall.
Yeah, you'll be able to listen to him.
Robin is a lot, isn't he?
No, no, no, no, no.
Robin is the most excitable guy.
Robin's never frowns.
He's got this perpetual smile.
I've never seen someone who loves what he does.
It's awesome.
And so it's all about this whole new rebirth,
intelligent, forward-moving, thinking,
extended reality, augmented reality, all this stuff.
He even brought that glasses with him.
And I'm telling you, whoever came up with this entire concept
of moving into truly the 22nd century
by involving the level of education
through technology like you are, brilliant.
The thing that I think is so cool about it is,
you know, we've been talking to this next generation
for years, right?
Cars are technical sensors, rolling computers.
And now you're actually taking the technology
that they grew up with and applying it to a skill set
that can last the next 40 years.
100%.
Like you're bringing it together,
and Robin does a really good job of it.
Scary good, scary good.
Everything about him is like contagious.
Like you can't help but not get on board with him.
So yeah.
He's cool.
Lauren Briggs is here.
The director of sales and marketing.
It's the team tool rebate that we're going to talk about.
Well, we were at Napa now in Las Vegas.
You guys came in and talked about it.
Yes, we're doing this really cool thing
with the team tool rebate.
And actually, you went through the end of the year
and all the good stuff churned.
Shops end up getting money that they can do things with
to buy tools, to engage in and reward their people.
You've got the stories to tell.
I don't.
You're here so that you can tell us
what's going on with the team tool rebate.
Yeah.
I mean, it was amazing getting to see
what a lot of our shop owners were able to do
for their current technicians that are in their shop
and they're using it as a recruitment tool
to going into 2026.
So yeah, we had a lot of success with it.
What's the word?
An allowance?
Yes and no.
Think about that.
I mean, yeah, I know you don't get the team tool rebate
till the end of the year,
but now that you've gotten it
and say it's an insane number,
like you're gonna talk about in a minute,
but say it was like five or six grand,
you got three or four people.
It's not hard to say,
as long as we keep our numbers up with Napa,
which would be crazy not to,
and you continue to grow,
that stash of cash is gonna be there.
Yeah, it really solidifies that we're in this
for more than just selling parts.
I mean, obviously that's what Napa does,
but this is a partnership
and we're willing to invest in your team to help you.
You sell tools.
You need tools to do the job.
Since we launched it,
back at the Napa Now conference
and then having the first year under our belt.
So let's explain a little bit about the program, right?
So the idea really came by us of trying to really,
one, build on culture
because we know culture is so important.
And obviously the biggest painstake is,
for these technicians is,
is the investment they need to make in these tools.
With us having the ability
to be a full line tool and equipment distributor,
and the launch of this new Carlisle program
and all of that,
like why would we not figure that out?
That was kind of the vision and the strategy.
Now I will say this and look at the end of the day,
people only wanna see what comes out of the chimney,
you know, when it's done.
It was a ton of work.
I mean, for Lauren and the auto care team, it's new.
Nobody's ever done it before.
So how do you distribute the funds?
How do you communicate the funds?
How do you work through all of our sellers?
Like it was a lot.
I can, I'm happy.
And so in having been around a while,
you know, we are always a little bit slow
in our first year of launching anything.
But now that we have that year under our belt,
like we know exactly what we need to improve on.
We know exactly what different communication things
we need to build on.
But I will tell you the coolest part about it was
is as we started distributing the funds,
and this was just a timing thing, right?
So we released these funds in October
and shops were using it as part of their Christmas parties
or their holiday season, the pictures.
And I mean, it looked-
They were like rewarding tools?
Oh my gosh, yeah, yeah.
And I mean, like big team photos
and just Carlisle, Venom Green everywhere,
Milwaukee tools, the wall tool.
I mean, it was just-
Diage equipment, like I mean, it was just exciting.
And so we know exactly what we need to improve on
for next year.
But now we also have shops saying, okay,
the disappointing piece of it was
is we had a few shops are like,
how did I even get this?
That's where we need to build on this.
Cause it's like, we didn't really change behavior.
Now we know how we can apply to that.
These are communications in all the layers,
the toughest thing.
Oh my gosh.
And you think you've got it nailed down?
We felt like we did a really good job communicating
and we found out there was so much room to grow.
So that's what we're building on this year is,
okay, letting you know throughout the year,
this is what you've earned so far.
You got 18,000 auto cares out there.
And I'm sure all the information's on the website
and it's in the brain of your salespeople.
And I don't know how many you have out there,
but let's just say it's a four figure number
and facing all of your clients.
And still what's this?
I'm going to twist this whole thing.
I'm texting Pete.
Pete's going to do a walk in for us.
And he's going to tell you how he used it.
Cause I had dinner with him last night.
You connected with him?
Yeah.
Okay. This is really cool.
As much as this feels unrehearsed,
this is truly live because we were really looking
for a fourth guest to tell you what he did
with his team tool rebate,
which Jason says he found out about last night.
So he's going to come in.
He's going to come in.
So we're back.
And if you're watching on YouTube or any video,
you see, we found a guest.
It's amazing when the door is knock and you say,
oh, it must be in an emergency.
Maybe mom's calling from home and then you open the door
and it's Pete McNeil.
Oh my God.
And he has no idea why the hell he's here.
It's Pete McNeil's auto care, Sandy and Riverton, Utah.
I was speaking with him last night,
Jason and Lauren came in.
And before we even, we're going to turn on the microphones.
Jason says, oh, I got him.
He called me back.
He says, but we need to invite him in here
and not even tell him why he's here.
So if you've been listening to the show up so far,
you know what our topic is, but Pete doesn't.
That's a cool thing.
And I'll give it back to you, Jason.
All right. So Pete, the topic is the team tool rebate.
We kind of set the stage on why we were doing it.
What we wanted to...
What our goals were.
What our goal, our purpose was with it.
So last night, Pete and I had dinner together with his team.
And so they actually took me through how they spent it.
So I wanted Pete to share that story
because it is 100% the thought process behind
what we wanted to accomplish with it.
I'm going to turn it over to him
so that he can take you through it.
But Jake brought it up on his phone,
a spreadsheet with every one of the guys and all of that.
So I'm not going to tell the story.
That's why he's here.
Talk to us, baby.
Well, here we go.
Yeah.
You know, I think that's something
that Jake and I have talked about for many, many years, right?
Like we know so much of the decision making for parts
happens on the front side,
but the influence is on the backside.
When we found out that there was going to be
some type of incentive, we were ecstatic, super excited.
Our rep came in from our distribution center
and let us know that the reward program indeed took place.
They started at mid-year.
It was a sizable amount of money.
And without hesitation, I let Jake know
and he said, how are we going to do this?
And in doing so, we decided to come up with a plan
that we felt would, number one,
be just a great experience for our technicians.
And we decided to take 100%
and divided amongst all of our technicians.
We gave a certificate
because we wanted them to feel like they'd earned something,
which I feel these guys work so hard
that it's time they receive something good.
So not only did we give them a certificate
and the amount, we gave them the catalogs
and access to everything.
And we asked them to put a wish list together
of what they think would help them.
Now, Jake also took it hard.
What can these guys use, right?
What would best help them at this stage in their career?
So we collaborated and we ended up doing
like a presentation ceremony.
We waited for all the tools to show up.
We did a separate celebration at each location
and we literally put everything out on display
and we called each technician up
and let them know here's what you ordered.
Here was the excitement and...
I gotta get this clarification.
So I gave you my wish list.
This is why he's here.
Lorne and I can't tell this story.
This is real.
I gotta understand, they gave you a wish list,
but what they didn't know is you bought it.
They didn't know.
And so when they showed up at whatever point in time,
all of a sudden their wish list came true.
He clicked Santa.
Yeah.
I do think this is important.
It was around that time of year.
We purposely did not do it as a Christmas gift.
This was earned.
This was something that we wanted to be a true benefit
of their hard work, their commitment, their dedication.
So we did Christmas.
That was a separate deal, right?
We do our gifts.
We do something that benefits them then,
but this was in and of itself.
Listen, I love that.
I'm great no matter how chefs wanna do it.
I've been to one of his Christmas parties
and it is off the chain.
What they do for their team is incredible.
And I got a really sweet jacket out of it too.
So thank you.
But I'm glad to hear you say that
because you wanted to make sure
that this was completely separate.
This was not part of your holiday party that you do.
Yeah, we didn't want this to feel
that we were tying it into something else
and manipulated to look like it was different
than what it was.
This was earned.
Okay.
Tell me about the reactions of your people.
Oh, I'm telling you, especially the tenure technicians,
their season, they've got a very large arsenal, right?
But there's always that one item
that yeah, if I had a little extra, I would get it.
But I'll tell you what, the ones,
the apprentices that we've graduated
that are five years in, six years in,
they're still assembling and as they're learning
and Jake's saying, hey,
this really would make your job a lot easier.
One bought a pico scope.
Yeah.
And those are the game changers, right?
And I'll tell you, I think they were surprised
because it was all done together.
I think there was a, ah, maybe I'm going to get a couple
of these items and they'll show up two months later.
And, you know, this was expedited quick.
We received everything in about a two week period.
But we waited until, and guys, we created an email
after we did the presentation
that they had this allocated money available.
And we asked them to email their requests.
So we had everything in writing.
We kept a list and...
I love that idea.
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What I want to know is how did you manage the formula
or the split of the money between the team?
Great question, you know what?
It didn't take that long for me to determine and again,
I made sure Jake and I were both aligned.
But we took all of our technicians that are full-time
and we divided it evenly amongst every technician.
Unbelievable.
100%.
Brand new people got a percentage of that.
Anybody that was a full-time technician.
What about somebody with your six months,
did they get anything?
We actually, if somebody for that year
had been with the six months, we gave them 50% of that.
50% of that normal amount.
And you kept working it back till you spent all that money.
You wouldn't care at all to tell us how much it was.
Would you Pete?
I mean, that may be a breach of confidentiality.
I don't mind.
Was it substantial?
At your level, you're more than happy to,
it was your money you earned it.
So if you're comfortable sharing it.
It sounds confidential to me.
It shows the size of business Pete runs.
But if someone could be listening to this to say,
wow, Pete earned that?
Maybe I can and look what I could do.
So before he shares the number,
let me just kind of give you how it works, right?
So we give a certain percentage
for all of our NAPA Auto Care Centers
that they're eligible to earn.
But because Pete is a NAPA Auto Care Gold Certified Shop,
he gets an additional rebate towards it.
A higher percentage.
A higher percentage.
So share the number, because I think it's phenomenal.
Yeah, it was just shy at $13,000.
She is.
That's a lot of tools.
13 grand that he was able to give back to his technicians
to support their skill set.
This is the reason why we did it.
This is what we wanted.
And so last night, when we were talking about at dinner,
now everybody on the shop's on board
because now the process is in place, right?
So they're constantly like, okay,
what's our NAPA bill?
Where are we at?
How much are we doing with NAPA?
And it creates the opportunities, right?
Like maybe if we're underperforming in whatever area
or where the category line,
we can have those conversations.
Cause now Pete can come back to us and say,
hey, this is impacting my team to a rebate.
Right.
Or the service advisor second guessing before Erica,
second guessing before she hits that order.
No doubt our technician team, knowing what they received
is absolutely going to impact their support and commitment,
both on the part side and on the tool side, right?
We've got Carlisle trying to commit.
There's a lot of good things going on,
but the synergy now is with the technician, right?
Where it should have been anyway, right?
For a long time.
And the fact that it's gone this way, I couldn't be happy.
We've had this conversation for years, right?
So Pete and I, Lauren, we're all very close.
We're connected.
But the reality of it is, is the parts purchases
and the decisions that are made in the shop
are done by the technicians,
the service writers and the service managers.
You're running the business, right?
Your assumption is this is my partner
and that's what's happening.
But sometimes things happen.
Absolutely.
And now for the first time that I can think of,
we have actually created a program
that benefits all people working in the shop.
Exactly.
Everyone.
And so I have a question when you say all.
I don't know if it was Peter, you Jason said,
front of shop, back of shop.
Okay, the connectivity there
and why it's important that there's a pull and a push.
Are any of your service writers in this?
It's only technicians, I think I heard you say.
Yeah, we purposely made sure
it was to support the technicians.
Hey, listen, salespeople have a lot of opportunity.
There are other.
Okay, so they're in on some other kind of incentive.
But to the point, if it's a two and team tool rebate,
our people need tools.
This is how they make their living.
But here's the cool thing,
what Laurence Group has put together.
And I say Laurence Group because honestly,
and I said it before, it's a lot of work.
We built this thing to be as flexible
as it possibly could be, right?
To be able to serve the appetite
of whatever the shop needs, right?
Some folks gave it to service managers.
Some folks used it to buy a piece of equipment
to benefit the entire shop.
We had a BDG that actually bought a piece of equipment
and gave it to their local Votek School.
Nice. On behalf of all of that.
So it's completely flexible for however each shop owner
wants to distribute the food.
Which is extremely hard in our network
of 18,000 plus independent shop owners.
It would be so cool though,
to maybe reach out to the Carlisle team
or the BDG groups and say,
we want these stories to be told.
Send them up.
Check out the Q2 of Insight Magazine.
You're gonna read two different stories.
One about that business development group
and one about our former shop of the year,
Larry and Cara Rose and what they did for their team.
Which is similar to what Pete, what you did.
I'm interviewing them in a couple of weeks.
Cool.
Insight quarter one came just before I was leaving.
So I had a chance to read it.
Yep, that highlights the Vols Automotive
their shop of the year.
And just blanked on his name, Artek of the Year.
Yeah.
There's an article in there from me, Carm's Corner.
Yes.
Yeah.
Thank you for letting me do that.
I love to do that.
I just look at the pictures.
I know.
It's like a picture of Carl.
Ever since I was a kid.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pete, this is fabulous.
You got Wrangle to come in here to tell you.
Hey, I love it.
To tell you.
It is a great story.
And I would hope that if you're listening
and you're an app AutoCare and you just said,
oh, this is nice, send us that.
And you didn't think about what else you could do
that would impact the souls that work in your business.
It's going to be even bigger this year.
Like I mentioned, we're doing more on the communication side
so that you know all year what you're building towards.
Your teams know what they're building towards.
But then we're working more closely
with our tools and equipment suppliers
to really bring some cool promotions and good stuff
for you guys to make the money go even further for your team.
I really am excited that we finally have something
that is a give back to the technicians.
I mean, it's so hard to give them recognition.
It's so hard to do something that's positive.
They're working so hard and so diligent in this space
that I thought it was honestly one of the best things
that the industry's done in a long, long time.
So this is why I was so adamant about it.
They don't have it be us, right?
Like when Pete was sharing it, like we can't do justice
to what he did.
I'm so glad.
So Pete is a great example of what we're talking about.
We need in this industry of mentorship
and being just a good human, right?
This was our way of being able to help him with that.
And he gets full credit for it.
But when he's actually attracting new talent
to come into his business,
he can use this and say,
because of my partnership with Napa,
I'm able to do X, Y, and Z.
And this is how it benefits everyone on the team.
That's taking the ball and running with it,
which was exactly what we envisioned with it.
And honestly, and I go back to like October and November
when it was just so daunting on this team, right?
When you hear this.
It makes it all worth it.
We already knew it was worth it,
but then it just really solidifies.
Like, yeah, this was the right move.
So I have this wild idea,
because my brain never sleeps.
There we go.
Yeah, I know.
And I know that there's an awful lot of shop owners out there
that have two allowances and or something for their people.
It may be monthly, something on this truck or that truck.
Here's the idea.
The idea is double.
Meaning I got this rebate coming in
because I supported Napa and it's a grand.
And when everybody didn't know what we're gonna do with it,
but you know what?
I'm moving some of the monies that we're spending
in other places on tools and equipment for the company.
And I'm going to take that eight and make it 16.
Yeah.
We had some shop owners do that.
Really? Yeah.
Wow.
That's why what we were saying earlier,
we were able to actually build this to be flexible,
to be whatever you want it to be.
It's your gig.
When we first rolled out with this,
it was tech tool rebate.
And our council said, well, what if,
to the point we were making earlier,
what if we have got service writers
that also work on their cars
and they want to get some tools or, you know,
their toy would go on back to the back of the house.
And so we changed it to team tool rebate
for that exact reason.
So to really enhance the flexibility.
Okay. Is it October to October?
So year one, we rolled it back to January.
So it was January through September.
And then for year two and on,
it'll be October through September.
They paid an October.
It's nice because the owner needs to get it
and know what it is and figure out what to do with it.
And I love Pete's idea.
Don't make it a Christmas gift.
It's part of the culture of why you're here.
That's what I love about the flexibility
because for some shops, that's a really nice way.
That is, absolutely.
I'm not saying not to, but I love the fact
that if you're a great Christmas player already,
don't miss the power that team tool rebate could be
by including it in Christmas.
100%.
Yeah.
You know, guys, we do do a tool credit for our technicians,
you know, we do it in a ticket format
and we have a couple of tool trucks
that they're allowed to redeem that.
That's still going to go on.
We didn't want this to be the,
but this is going to be the celebrated reward.
Right.
And I think that's the difference.
Damn.
Okay.
There's a couple of tools I think I need.
Hire me.
Come on over.
So your warranties are going to go through the road.
So I have this really wild thought.
Anybody on their wish list, buy something for home
because you can buy a tool to bring home a,
you know, a gun, a rapid things that you'd want to have.
Maybe a, I don't know,
does Carlisle have leaf blowers or stuff like that?
No, they do.
Yeah, they have it all.
Yeah, that's what I have.
That's one of the reasons why we were able to do this
because we are a full line tool and equipment distributor.
Yeah, yeah.
And that's why even with some shops
that elected to have service managers, service writers to it,
they did use that as a way to buy Christmas presents for dad.
Yeah.
Or whatever.
I love it.
Milwaukee, Carlisle, like that's the benefit.
Imagine this, somebody's listening to this and saying,
okay, I got to get off my top dead center
and really do something with this
because imagine getting a Carlisle catalog
and walking around the shop, shaking people's hands
and saying, here, we're working toward this.
You may want to start looking at that.
What we did last year
and what our program is to give you something this year,
let's assume it's not going to be any less.
So why don't you start looking?
Yeah.
So awesome.
Well, so here, I'm going to share this one thing
because this is what it reminded me of
and I'm going to show my age.
So sorry.
When I was a kid, toys are us.
You've never heard of them.
You've never heard of them.
Oh, yeah.
We're not that young.
They did a Christmas spree
where you could spend five minutes in the store
and you could load up your cart with everything you wanted
in five minutes and then you just got it for free.
That's kind of what the team tool rebate reminds me of.
Like, these texts are working in the bay
and then all of a sudden somebody drops a car
and I'll look in front of them.
A spree.
Yeah.
And just like, hey, you have 800 bucks or whatever it is.
Like go shopping.
Yeah.
So fun.
It's so fun.
Yeah.
If I was a technician and Pete or Jake just walk around
and say, hey, guys, I just want to tell you,
like, here's how much you get and let's face it in our world.
Tools are so cool.
Yeah.
Like there's nothing sexy about a starter and alternator,
right? Text like, OK, I got to have it.
Yeah.
But you dropped the latest and greatest Carlisle,
Wichita or Milwaukee tool.
They go bananas over it.
And so that's what's so fun.
It's the tools are us shopping.
Yes.
It's the tools are us shopping.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I love it.
If anyone was behind the scenes to figure out what it took
to bring on Pete and do this episode,
I'm so glad we worked it out so that you could be here.
Oh, it's going to cost me because as soon as we get out,
it's going to be, I'm so pissed at you.
Your dad kept me sitting right there, waiting for it.
Oh, purple and purple.
But thank you so much for being here.
This was a joy to hear.
And I think it's all about the creativity of what you can do
with your supplier.
And every once in a while, I think we look at things as black
and white and they're really colorful.
And you need to do things with stuff like that.
Yeah, I agree.
Lauren Briggs, Jason Rainey, Pete McNeil.
Thanks for being here, man.
Thank you.
Thanks, Napa.
Thanks for being on board to listen and learn from the Premier
Automotive Repair Business Podcast, Remarkable Results Radio.
Get your episodic education on the ARPN listening app
at AutomotiveRepairPodcastNetwork.com.
Also enjoy the podcast on our Carm Capriato YouTube channel.
Carm is all for advancing the professional automotive
service industry.
Until next time.
About this episode
A NAPA Team Tool Rebate conversation turns into a practical look at how shops used the money to support technicians, strengthen culture, and even recruit for the future. One shop owner explains splitting the rebate across the team, treating it as earned rather than a holiday gift, and letting technicians choose tools that would make their jobs easier. The hosts also reflect on the first-year rollout, noting both the excitement and the communication lessons they want to improve next year.
Thanks to our Partners, NAPA TRACS, Today's Class, KUKUI, and Pit Crew LoyaltyWatch Full Video Episode
Recorded live at the VISION 2026, host Carm Capriotto sits down with shop owner Pete McNeil and NAPA Auto Care leaders Jason Rainey and Lauren Briggs to break down the impact of the NAPA Team Tool Rebate program. Listen to a powerful real-world example of how the program can energize a team, strengthen culture, and reward performance in meaningful ways.
What You’ll Learn
How the NAPA Team Tool Rebate program helps offset the high cost of technician tools while building a stronger shop culture
How Pete McNeil turned a $13,000 rebate into a memorable, morale-boosting experience
Why the shift from “tech tool rebate” to “team tool rebate” gives owners flexibility to reward the entire team, not just technicians
Creative ways shops can use rebate funds, from individual tool purchases to shared equipment, and even community support like vocational schools
How the program aligns the front and back of the shop, encouraging team-wide support of purchasing decisions
What’s ahead for the program, including improved tracking, communication, and enhanced buying power through supplier partnerships
The NAPA Team Tool Rebate program is more than a financial incentive; it’s a strategic tool for building culture, driving alignment, and showing appreciation in a tangible way. When used intentionally, as demonstrated by Pete McNeil, it can transform routine business spending into a powerful investment in people, boosting morale, loyalty, and long-term shop success.
VISION Hi-Tech Training and Expo: https://visionkc.com/
Lauren Briggs, Sales & Marketing Director. NAPA Auto Care. Lauren’s previous episodes HERE
Jason Rainey, Vice President NAPA Auto Care. Jason’s previous episodes HERE
Thanks to our Partner, NAPA TRACS
NAPA TRACS will move your shop into the SMS fast lane with onsite training and six days a week of support and local representation. Find NAPA TRACS on the Web at http://napatracs.com/Thanks to our Partner, Today's Class
Optimize training with Today's Class: In just 5 minutes daily, boost knowledge retention and improve team performance. Find Today's Class on the web at https://www.todaysclass.com/Thanks to our Partner, KUKUI
Stop juggling multiple marketing tools. KUKUI’s integrated platform delivers 4x better website conversions, automated follow-up, and real-time ROI tracking. Get industry-leading customer support with KUKUI at https://www.kukui.com/Thanks to our Partner, Pit Crew Loyalty
You’re probably tired of chasing new customers who never return. We understand. Pit Crew Loyalty ends the one-and-done cycle, turning first visits into lasting, reliable revenue at https://www.pitcrewloyalty.com/Connect with the...
