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Why Training and Networking Matter in Auto Repair | Bret Fadely
Why Training and Networking Matter in Auto Repair | Bret Fadely
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About this episode
Bret Fadely joins the Jaded Mechanic Podcast to discuss the importance of training and networking in the auto repair industry. He shares insights about the upcoming Tools event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, aimed at providing valuable training for technicians and shop owners. The conversation highlights the need for continuous education, the benefits of networking with industry peers, and the challenges faced by shop owners. Bret emphasizes that investing in training not only enhances skills but also improves customer service and business growth, making it essential for success in a rapidly evolving industry.
Topics:
training events
networking
shop management
customer service
business growth
industry challenges
investment in education
tools event
auto repair industry
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In this episode, Jeff Compton is joined by Brett T. Fadley to discuss the upcoming TOOLS training event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Brett shares how TOOLS got started and how far it's come, but then gets into the challenges the auto repair industry has today. To get where the industry needs to be, events like TOOLS are critical.
00:00 Understanding Financial Struggles of Shop Owners
05:46 In-Person Networking's Hidden Value
12:37 Business Challenges and Implementing Processes
19:56 Improving Shop Efficiency Discussions
23:38 Rust Advisory for Ontario Car Sales
29:48 Mechanics' Career Transition Paths
34:50 Car Repair Recommendations Debate
39:44 Changing Industry Perceptions Needed
47:55 Exit Scheduling Success in Auto Services
51:37 "Networking: Reducing the 'Suck' Factor"
54:46 Grateful for Career Purpose
59:28 Engine Installation Decisions in Shops
01:08:17 Limited Podcast Space Allocation
01:12:26 Summer Event Invitation
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Jeep Grand
"...roups. Yes. I mean for instance, we just had a 21 Jeep Grand Cherokee that we've been chasing evap problems. W..."
Car
Dodge Ram
"...s. I'm not a Ford truck guy. Just gotta say I'm a Dodge Ram kind of guy. If I'm gonna buy a truck, they. Keep..."
Car
Honda Civic
"...e light on an older Honda. I think it was a Honda Civic or something. And you could tell it was. I mean, ..."
Understanding Financial Struggles of Shop Owners
In-Person Networking's Hidden Value
Business Challenges and Implementing Processes
Improving Shop Efficiency Discussions
Rust Advisory for Ontario Car Sales
Mechanics' Career Transition Paths
Car Repair Recommendations Debate
Changing Industry Perceptions Needed
Exit Scheduling Success in Auto Services
"Networking: Reducing the 'Suck' Factor"
Grateful for Career Purpose
Engine Installation Decisions in Shops
Limited Podcast Space Allocation
Summer Event Invitation
Select text to request an explanation
We still have to break some of the molds that we still have for our industry. There are certain shops that just keep the industry down, and we. How do we. How do we get rid of them? Eventually they're not going to be around much because they can't keep up with the technology.
Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting episode of the Jade Mechanic podcast here with a good friend of mine, Mr. Brett T. Fadley. And Mr. Brett T. Fadler is here with me today because he's got a little event coming up, and we thought we should talk about it because I think it's a pretty important event to talk about. Take away. Brett, how are you, man?
Good, buddy. How are you? Good seeing you.
Yeah.
Happy Easter to you.
Yeah, it's. Happy Easter. Thanks for inviting me to come on your show and talk about the Tools event here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
I appreciate you having me on. For people that are only listening and aren't seeing the video, Brett is an absolute fashion icon. And he's sitting there, a beautiful red jacket that is kind of a. A tip of the hat to Mr. Jimmy Lee. Jimmy was the one that started the. So Brett and I are both huge Jimmy Lee fans and huge fans of his fashion sense. So he's got a very flashy jacket on.
So if you're listening and have the chance to go over and check out YouTube or tick tock at some point when these clips come on and check the jacket out, it's very worthwhile checking out. He said earlier you had one on today, Brett. It kind of looked like an Easter egg, which is kind of very appropriate. It does, because we're recording this on Easter Sunday, everybody. So. Yes. Fantastic.
That's the one I had on at Vision that Jimmy gave me.
Yeah.
So, Jim, we're. I have a jacket that Jimmy gave me as well, so. But I don't really wear it too much because it's the Tommy boy thing. It's a fat guy in the little coat. I'll blow this.
You got to bring it to Tools.
Yeah, I'll return it to Tools and I'll have a one that. I'll get one up here that fits, but.
Yeah.
So, Brett, tell us a little bit about the. Not just what is tools, but why did you start Tools?
Well, I didn't start was a training event with our association at the time, the AASPPA alliance of Automotive Service Providers. It was kind of an event that was starting to die.
Right.
For one reason or another. And our executive director resigned in beginning of 23.
Okay.
It was thrown on the board's lap that we had to have this event. We were contracted and I think I've said this before on some of the other podcasts, but none of us ever did an event right. We had no clue we needed to get through 23. We got through 23 and people were excited about what we did in six months. Turned around and started did it in May of last year, six months after we had it in October.
Yeah.
And it's starting to get a lot of buzz. The goal for tools, which is technicians and owners on obtaining lessons learned. The goal is for tools to grow into become one of the major training events for the states up here in the Northeast, like ASTA has become in the Southeast, vision in the, in the Midwest and there's ones in Northwest area as well. I know Texas has some stuff, but we want to grow tools to become a big training venue and event that you got to attend. And if you don't attend these events anywhere, if you there, there are plenty of events to go to. I highly recommend. You can't afford not to go.
You and I were just talking about that. And it's the same, you know, I keep saying, and I understand, like I have to, I have to specify, since my journey on here, I've become much more aligned and understanding about the challenges financially of so many shop owners out there. Right. Like, and I, you start to see, Brett, you know it too. You network with a lot of them. You know that sometimes there's like barely enough to cover what you need to cover, right? So then when somebody says, hey, you're going to be gone and travel for three days and be away from the shop and everything else, and somebody says just, there's no way. But you and I have seen the value for so many people when they make that investment. I'm not going to say it's a small investment.
We've seen the results. Right, Brett? Like, it just is, you know, it's life changing.
And I know owners don't like to close their shop. They look at it as losing revenue. Yes, you do lose revenue. And it is expensive. If you're going to take your entire staff to a training event, it's going to cost you a few thousand dollars depending on how many staff you have. But it's an investment in not only their future growth, but in your business to grow. And if you post out there to your customer base, your client base, like, hey, we are closed today to attend a training event to better serve you. What does that perspective look like from the, the consumer Side.
Huge, huge. Hey, these guys are going to get better so they can help me better.
Yeah.
And networking is the biggest key to this. I wouldn't got to know you, I wouldn't have got to know Jimmy Lee, David and Lucas, anybody if I didn't attend these events and make that commitment and investment to do it.
And it's so much like we can talk about, you know, we do, we do the little like we all network online in the Facebook groups and, and you know, on whatever we're talking, you get to know somebody. But like they say the magic of these events is when you sit down, you know, later on at the pub or wherever, at the bar, at dinner, around dinner, and you start just sharing situations and scenarios from your business. I had a technician that I had to do this with. I, you know, I had a distributor that, a vendor that. All these problems get solved in a much, I don't want to say more efficient, but you can be open, you can be a lot more forthcoming and say like I may not post that in a group but with people that I trust or people that I know for sure have been there and done that. I will pose the question, I'll ask. It's. I've seen it firsthand just sitting there and I don't like I'm not a business owner so I don't sit there and ask a lot of questions.
But I mean I've seen the people, the light bulb go off and I've seen the people all of a sudden feel so much better because the question that they had to ask and weren't sure how, they suddenly asked it and they got the answer that they wanted. And that's the powerful, that's the take home from these groups. Yes.
I mean for instance, we just had a 21 Jeep Grand Cherokee that we've been chasing evap problems. We put factory ESIM in it.
Yeah.
Purge valve and it kept coming back. Now we were leaning towards the fuel tank pressure sensor.
Right.
The data wasn't there to prove it. And Brandon Steckler, data don't lie. We didn't have the data to prove our theory.
Yeah.
I tried to call Andrew Fisher. He didn't answer. So I called Brian Pollock. Brian. My tech started talking to Brian and no sooner did my tech start talking, Brian said, let me guess, it's this, Is it doing this? He said, yes, it. Of fuel tank pressure.
Yeah.
I wouldn't have got to know to be able to make them calls without getting to network and getting offline and meeting you guys in person. Is where it's at.
Oh, 100%. Because, I mean, and I'm trying to be. I'm trying to be a better person, a friendlier person, you know, online than when I come across. But it's just the way I type. You know, people for years have said.
To me, you people hide behind a keyboard. You can't. You can't relate to emotion on a keyboard.
Yeah.
And it's not that I lack emotion. It's just. It's the way I type is very blunt and. And to the point. And, you know, probably AI in the future will get better and it won't sound like such a jerk, but it's just the way I write it out. So sometimes people comes across, but I'm just in my head, I'm processing, like, okay, like, did you do this? Did you do this? Did you do this? No, no, no. Why? Why? Why? That's just how my brain is going at the speed, and I'm going like this.
Yeah.
People think, oh, my God. He's like, he. I'm not that way at all. But it's just the way my brain processes what you're putting down to me and how I'm answering back. Right. If we're having a conversation like this, you see it.
Yeah.
Just in the written word. It's not there. And that's been the beauty of it for me. From interviewing so many people and getting to know them at the events is it's just like I realize, wow, they were cool people just to talk to this way. But once you sit down with them and you realize you're like, Eric and Lola, for instance, are just like some of the funniest, coolest people that you want to be around. You kind of get that vibe when you're. But you don't really get it until you meet them and then you're like, I mean, I just adore the both of them.
They're just the people I've met in this industry. And it. When you go to these events, they talk about. It's Only the top 1% that usually attend these events, that number needs to change. It needs to be the top 95% that attend these events. But they are. When you get around these people and whether it's at the bar, whether it's at the restaurant, or sitting in the lobby just having a chat, this is some of the smartest people in our industry. And when you get there, you can see how valuable our industry is and the people that are involved in it.
It's. It's huge.
Yeah.
And the thing is, like going back to your. Your fuel tank pressure sensor as an example, like, that's a relatively new part. Like, I don't want to say new part, but Chrysler, for a lot of evap systems, does not have a sensor. A fuel tank pressure sensor. Didn't use one. Some systems did, some systems didn't.
Yeah.
And It's. We're talking 21. For a lot of us in the aftermarket, that's a very new car for us. Right. We're used to working on. I see probably more 2011s still.
Yeah.
And then I see. Then I see 21s. So there isn't necessarily a bulletin set up like that yet. There isn't a, you know, identifix may not have anything. It's not like the old days where the guys where you could call up to the dealer and they would talk to you. That doesn't happen as much anymore. From the parts side of it or from talking to a technician, there's just no. The people don't have the time.
So when you can network to the level that we've been able to network, where it can be like, hey, I need to talk to Brandon Steckler. I need to talk to Brian Pollock. Like these. These brilliant minds within the industry, or I want to reach out and talk to one of the business brilliant minds. We're so fortunate to be able to do that. And that's how those relationships get started, is by meeting at an event like this.
Yep, it is.
I. I still remember meeting, you know, meeting Brian for the first time, meeting Paul for the first time, meeting Lucas. Lucas and I were friends for a decade before we met in person. You know what I mean? Like, it's just. It's not the same. It's not the same. I tell everybody, you know, there.
There are days I love this industry. There are days I don't like it, but the people that are in it, the camaraderie that I've built up, I love it.
So, Brett, what's the. What's. The days that you don't love it? What, What's. What's that encompass?
It's just, you know, the everyday grind of being in the auto repair. You know, you never know what you're going to run into, and I struggle with it. Actually, I was just talking to Lucas a couple weeks ago. I mean, I've been a real. I've been as a business owner, I've been in a real funk the last couple months. I get in there with an idea and an agenda in my head, this is what I need to do. And I, within 30 minutes, that agenda is completely out the window. And I just feel myself spinning, spinning the wheels.
And it takes talking to my business coach, talking to other people like Lucas and stuff that are feeling the same problems you were having. And you don't see that from when what they portray, like with Lucas on the podcast or seeing him around, but we all struggle with it. And that's where the networking is like, hey, you got a problem? You said, reach out to somebody, they're having the same issues as you are. How did we get through it?
Yeah, he reached out to me, Lucas, a couple weeks ago when he had a 45 minute rant at me about the struggles that he's got going on in his business. And how does he. And it's not like, I don't mean to say a rant like in the sense that he was getting on there saying like, I was ready to light fire everything and fire everybody. And it wasn't like that. But he, it's like, you think. And he thinks, and I think the way to get this is, you know, everybody sees the term SOPs and processes, right? You want to start implementing this stuff, but there's so many obstacles to get a simple process to be implemented. And it's because we're humans. It takes, you know, some things are very simple, but then there's other things that, like if we have to break a habit to start a new habit, think about how long it took to make the old habit a habit and.
How long it's taken to break that habit.
Yeah.
I'll tell you what I did. And this is coming from my business coach when I was on the week before. I've been in a funk. My service advisor quit at the end of January. I had another lady, my CSR part time service advisor advisor. She was working her way there. She quit right when I thought the business was running without me, right? And then I start seeing mistakes because I finally started doing the audits and all that and looking in and it's like, why? Why are you doing this? Why? And they quit. So I've been in a funk sense.
And my coach said, what would it take you to get out of your funk? I said, probably shut down a whole week and. But I can't afford to do that. So I took a day last week, not just past week or the week before. I shut down on a Thursday. Now we're only open Monday through Thursday. I shut down a productive day and announced that I'm going to be closed for in house training. And we went through simple processes of things I wanted to do. It relieved me and I, and the staff, they're getting paid to be there.
But then they came to me at the end of the day like we need to do this more often. I said, well, I'm not going to shut down every time but we'll come back in on a Friday for a couple hours when we're off and go over some more processes. So it was a, it was a team building and get everybody on the same page idea.
Yeah, I think that's key because I know my last employer I went in on because I was, I wasn't struggling, but I was just the way they wanted the DVI done and then the way I thought I was doing the DVI were not the same thing. So it literally took me going in on a, on a. It was either a Friday morning because or Saturday morning, I can't remember. Just him and I and we went through it until it was like we brought a vehicle in and looked at it. What he looked at, what I looked at, what I saw, what he saw, how I wrote it down, how. And then we came to. He understood better some of the snags. I was in that process and I understood better why he wanted it written a certain way or done a certain way to help the other people.
Because as technicians we're very focused.
Oh yeah.
On, on, on speed. So it was like I'm writing down, you know, coolant level and he's writing down coolant level low suggest further inspection and diag of where coolant loss is occurring from. To me we're saying the same thing, right? To him he's like, when I hand that off to the advisor though, to me what I seem is like instinctual. You should know to do that next he's saying sometimes you have to write it down. So it's just more effective communication. Right. But it took that morning of him and I, at the end of the day I didn't, you know, I didn't, he didn't pay me for it. I didn't expect to get paid.
It's like, hey, let's work towards this better. Now I'm not, I'm not advocating that everybody do a bunch of stuff for free, but at the same time it made us such more effective as a team.
Exactly.
Communication, you know, doing.
We went over DVI as well because everybody was doing it differently. And if we, we marked the DVI the previous time and we don't mark it Again the second time. So we reevaluated the dvi. So everybody's doing it the same way.
Yeah.
If the car's been in, look at the previous inspection and if we add notes there, make sure you're looking at that. And if it was fixed, make sure you note it, hey, this was fixed. Let's take it off. So stuff like that. And it takes some simple communication within the shop. So everybody's on the same page.
I find that so. Oh, that's, that's still where it would like. It would, it would really grind my gears when it's like. Because to me, from a technician standpoint, when I was at the dealer, we could see all the history that ever been done on the car. Right. From my, my computer. I didn't have to go out to the office and use a different like. And I know the service, you know, softwares out there have that same function now, but sometimes I don't have time to look at it.
Right. So it would drive me nuts when it was like, there's all this stuff recommended last time and it's just in for another oil change. And I'm like, why am I filling this out? Like, either the customer has to be on board about, like getting it addressed because. Or else it's just like you said. Technician A doesn't call that, you know, fluid seepage. He doesn't put it down in red, puts it down in yellow. Last customer put it down in red. Or, excuse me, last technician, different technician puts it down in red last time to the customer.
That's not consistent. Now we have to keep it consistent. So, and not only that, we have to be all aware. I feel if we're really going to start to utilize the DVI properly and why we're following the 300% rule is the customer has to be aware when they're booking the appointment. In that we were, we remember what was recommended last time. Right. We're, we're, we're going to advocate that we look at it again, that we maybe think about, you know, resolving the issue that the car has and, and we go forward. If we're not doing that, then all our DVI is just wasted.
It's just, to me, it's then just go back to doing oil change. That's it.
That was some of the reason that both my service advisor had quit. They weren't estimating everything as the tech was putting on the dvi.
Yeah.
So if you don't estimate it, it's. It didn't happen.
Yeah.
So there's no record. So that's the biggest thing I'm, as a business owner. I want you to estimate everything because it makes the tech feel good that, hey, I'm not being ignored 100%.
Yeah.
The service advisor needs to estimate everything that the tech sees. You address the customer's concern. Number one, anything that the tech saw that might be a safety related issue, that's a concern. Anything that we see starting to go bad that maybe we want to look at down the road, like breaks or four or fives and then any maintenance. Estimate everything like that. Present it to the customer in a way that they understand and give them the benefit of that when you're talking to them.
Yeah.
And the reason that you should do it.
Yeah, I just, I had my conversation and just came out with Ben from 3T's. I had him block there for a minute on my bees, keeping the name straight. And we talked about how so many shops are when the numbers come along, they're like, they're. They need to find another hour on every ticket. Right. As a hypothetical number, there's so many times that if we actually looked at those shops that are still saying, I, I need to find that one more hour, a lot of them are not doing a very good DVI and they're certainly not doing a good 300%. Advocates advocacy for the work they find. Think about just the little things that it's like.
I'll give you an example. Since I started, my boss is selling way more rear wiper blades than. Than he has previous. Why? Because every car that I walk out to, when I walk into the parking spot, it's the first thing I look at. I lift the blade up and I look so that I look at that and if it's already hanging off, yes, I got to turn it on to make sure that the motor works. But at the same time, I'm already there. There's a wiper blade that needs to be done. That's another 20 bucks on an RO.
Right. If we just start to think about little things like that. Like if I walk around and I'm like, headlights are cloudy, there's another possible hour sold in labor on a. Buffing the headlights up. Like, there's. There's so many things that we. Oh, I need car count, I need car count. I need car count.
No, we need to slow down and really pick these cars apart.
Make your car.
Yes. Not to say you got to do it all or else I don't want you here as a customer. That's not what we're Trying to say, but I don't need another 10 oil changes in to do 10 more DVIs. If I actually slow down on the 10 that I've got and make them aware of everything that has been noted, it doesn't mean you've got to do it today, but it should be the next appointment. We wrote up a CV boot last week. You know, three months later you're back in for next oil change. Let's get that CV axle changed it for it.
Yeah, it's. The consumer is going to have to get. We, as an industry, we need to educate the consumer. It's not upselling, we're not selling you anything that it doesn't need.
That's right.
It's the conversation you have with them and explain the benefit. I've been using like your personal health as a way to describe it to the customer of, hey, if we don't maintain this in your vehicle, it's kind of like ignoring and not maintaining your body. It will go to waste and it's going to cause problems down the road. And I tell every customer that I talk to, like, look, I'm going to give you the entire estimate. This is stuff that we saw and I address it. As I just said, I'm not saying you have to do it today. Our job is to inform you of everything that we see on your vehicle. Let you know the reason we saw it, the reason we're recommending and the benefit to you by doing it.
It is your job to make an informed decision on what you want to spend.
Yeah.
The other thing that I found lately is that like Ontario went to a new way of doing safety inspections up here. So now there's a whole lot more. Everything that almost is documented in the safety inspection needs a picture of which before you only had to click yes or no that it was and that was it. There was no, there was no pictures. Now everything wants a picture, which is good. But what we're starting to see doing is we're having a lot of customers come in and it's like they're thinking about maybe selling the car hypothetically, or they're thinking about giving the car to somebody else.
Still there.
Yeah.
But here's the two scenarios is that if you give it to somebody else or you want to go and sell it, you either sell it as is or you sell it safety certified, which is what has to be done. In a province of Ontario. We have a lot of cars now that like the customer isn't aware of how rusted it is underneath. And then they go, I'm thinking about selling this. And you kind of put it up in the air and show it to them and, like, see how the rockers are starting to go from the inside, or the floor pan back here is a little punky. It ain't worth anything to sell, because unless the customer wants to spend four grand on some bodywork, your low mileage, never undercoated car isn't really worth squat any. So the other thing I'm learning to advocate for is to tell the customers the condition of this car is either we're at a point now where you're in it forever. You're in it, you know, for the foreseeable future until it stops running and it goes to the junkyard because it's too rusted now to fix, or now is the time to think about getting rid of it or fixing it.
You know, it's past the point of bothering to spray undercoating on it, is what I'm trying to say. So that's a big thing now. And that's. It's just, again, it's one more level of being that advocate for that customer and that advocate of that vehicle to say, I don't do undercoating. But you. If you plan to keep a car 10 years, you really should be undercoating, because it will not last 10 years in my climate up here without doing that. And I don't know what's rust like? Is it as. Is it as big a deal? Brett?
Oh, yeah, we're in the rust belt. We get. We get a lot of rust. We just had one the other day that I basically, it came in for something else, and I told the lady. I was like, look, you're. You're right. Right there where the. The suspension was.
Was rotted out and coming apart. I'm like, you're. And it was an older Buick low mileage, like you're saying, but that left rear where that suspension and shock and all that was mounted was rusted out with holes in it. And I'm like, I don't know anybody really doing that kind of rust repair on the frame rail.
Nope.
I said, you're at a point now. It's, you know, find somebody that can either a fix it and the rocker panels, the rockers underneath were starting to rust through, or you're going to be, like you said, you're going to be getting to the point you have to get rid of this car. I can't legally put a sticker on it. It is not safe.
Yeah, we had a 20. I want to say it was 2011 or 2012. Malibu didn't even have 60,000 kilometers on it. So guys, do the math there for converting to, you know, communist units to America measurements low. We're talking low. Mod's car ran beautiful. It had come in the month before for a check. Engine light on for an EVOP fault.
Smoke it. It's a filler neck now. It was a struggle to even find a filler neck for one. The dealer had to order it in because the dealer doesn't work on 2012 Malibu too often anymore. But then like going through the car with the customer going, the fuller neck's rotted. Guess what? That's not the first thing to rot on those cars. There's hardly any fuel tank straps. There's hardly any like, same thing you said.
Every suspension member that has a attachment point doesn't look really good. This customer had let a very low mileage, what should be a very still usable, valuable car, deteriorate to a point where it was like, this thing is, you know, just about scrap. Unless you really want to now because you can't trade it. I mean, you can trade it in, but you'll get 400, 500 bucks worth.
Yeah, you're not getting your, you're not getting your value out of it. I had a customer call me with an older E350 van. He's like, I want to, I want to detail the engine bay and all this because I'm thinking to sell. I was like, dude, I said, it's not going to raise the value of that van.
No, no.
Just sell it as is the way it is. Be done with it. Don't put any money in it. It's not going to raise the value of your vehicle.
So I gotta. Let's steer the question now that you're trying to. I assume that you're trying to find another service writer.
Absolutely not. My lead tech that has been with me 13, 14 years, I brought him up in December to start showing him the that side of the business because he has the interest to be my successor.
Nice.
So he is going to be the service writer. He's still learning. So my hours per ticket have dropped a lot. We've also run into some things lately with the economy and all this going on. People are saying, no, I don't have the money for that right now. But we have been able to bring them back on another schedule, but it's not helping the day to day, every day. So he's learning and actually he's interviewing coaches right now. Because I'm, as a business owner, I'm going to make the investment to give him a service advisor coach.
Very cool.
So I'm making him, he, he interviewed, I think four and he's got to make his decision this week of who he wants to go with. So as an owner, yeah, it's an expense out of my bottom line, but I'm making that investment for his growth and to see if he has what it takes to be my successor.
Brett, that's awesome. That is awesome.
Because if, if he doesn't, then in 10 years with my plan, I'm out. In 10 years, I'm not hesitating. I'm out. Done.
Yeah.
Because both my parents died in the business and I don't want to be them.
Right.
So I'll either sell it or if he is the guy and he has the, the passion, the drive and the knowledge to do this, we're going to come up with a plan. By the time that 10 year goal comes around, he don't have to go get a business loan who already paid me for the business.
That's super. That's fantastic. I, when I'm there at Tools and okay, so people. Yes, I'm gonna go to Tools. If everybody's sitting there wondering if Jeff's gonna be there. Yeah, I'm gonna be at Tools in Pennsylvania, Lancaster. I'd like to meet this guy Brad, if I could and talk to him.
I will definitely introduce you.
Yeah, for sure. Because I think that's, that's always like, for so many of us, like aging mechanics like myself, we either see the, the path out as like you spoke of, as either buying something as a, as a business and, and you know, some level of succession or transferring into the admin side of the job versus the yank on a wrench type side of the job because like you get to a point you just can't yank on the wrench anymore, you know, becomes harder and harder. So what, you're going to be without a tech, Brett?
Absolutely. I did not. I had three techs owner. I already had three on the floor. So when I did have the service advisor, I actually had four. I didn't have enough car flow for four. And my goal was to eventually I wanted him to start coming up here and learning this side and then kind of working on him and growing him. But I was a little overstaffed.
Okay.
So it sucked. It happened the way it did, but it was a blessing. So I'm making do with what I currently have. I hired another front desk or csr and that's where I tell my coach, I said, I'm a little different. My service advisor is not my front desk person. They're not the ones taking all the phone calls, handling all the customers. They're just handling the customers and the text. I have a CSR for everything else.
Yeah.
What the goal is, the CSR will turn into another service advisor down the road.
Yeah. It's a good way to learn it. Right. It's a good way to learn what the customer tends to be making the phone calls for.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
So I, I, I want to keep, I, I have a hard time always be recruiting. So I, I am always trying to grow.
Yeah.
I want to, I want to invest in my team. I want them to, to grow for their own individuality which will help them in a job. Whether it's with me. I'm hoping it's with me long term.
Yeah.
But if it will help me in the immediate when I, when they do get better at their job because it helps the business, it helps the customer. It just is an overall improvement of what our industry is. We still have to break some of the molds that we, we still have for our industry. There are certain shops that just keep the industry down and we, how do we, how do we get rid of them? Eventually they're not going to be around much because they can't keep up with the technology.
That's what I've been, I've been saying that for 20 years and now I'm finally seeing it. You know, I'm seeing it 100%. The and I just had an interesting conversation with check engine Chuck this morning. Not really a complete conversation, just a couple comments back and forth. And it's like, because he talked about somebody just jammed a module in this car and it didn't fix it. Right. So then they're lucky because they can return the module and all that kind of stuff. And I said, I can't wait till every part store out there has a 100%, no exceptions.
If it's electrical and it's dropped off, you own it. No returns. Because I feel like as long as we still have loopholes like that, people are going to be trying it. I'm going to try to fix your karma. And listen, nobody's perfect. I'm not perfect. Brett, you're not perfect. No shop owner or technician that I've ever met is perfect.
But I, I don't like the try attitude. I don't like the try method. I like The Yes, I'm 100% going to look at your car, diagnose your car and fix it, or no, I'm not. Simple as that. I don't want the sell Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid. There is no try, do or there is don't, you know.
Are you imprint sure?
Yeah, I. Because it just frustrates me, you know, like, I mean, because we keep saying that's going to be the, the technology is going to be the whole. Is going to be the, the, you know, the gatekeeping way of keeping the different level out. And man, I wish I. It's been 20 years, man, and they're still hanging on.
They're like, they're like barnacles.
Yeah.
They're the parts hangers.
Yeah.
And that's, that's where we have to set ourselves up to say why we are better, why we're charging what we are charging.
Yeah.
And here's the value of that. It's all about putting the value in it, you know, I know, like in our area. And you probably have it up there. There's some guys. And that'll advertise on Facebook, hey, I'll come to your house and fix your car. A, they got no overhead.
Yeah.
B, what kind of qualifications do they have? And C, what insurance do they have if they mess your car up? You come into my shop and I mess something up, guess what? My insurance is going to have to pay for that, depending on how bad it was. But I will own everything that we goes out of my door.
Yeah, well, it scares me because, like, for instance, I'll see in a local neighborhood group, somebody will say, I need a recommendation where, you know, my car needs breaks. Where do I. Where should I go? And you'll see like four people recommend the same four shops. And then you'll see 10 names that people recommend of people that don't work at a shop that will put the brakes on the car. When I have gotten so much flack for saying you shouldn't be able to walk into an AutoZone and buy a set of brake pads and everybody goes, that's. That's just stupid thinking. And, you know, you're gatekeeping. Nobody's been able to still explain it to me how this helps the industry at any more than just a brake pad sale.
If we allow anybody to buy whatever the heck they want and put on whatever the heck they want with no inspection at all. I mean, it's ludicrous to me that you need some certification to be able to buy refrigerant, to put it in a Car. But you don't need certification to buy brake pads, ball joints, tie rods.
I was just getting ready to say that because Pennsylvania, you need. You need a license to cut hair.
Yeah.
You need a license to work on nails, your fingernails, and you need a license for this. But you don't need a license to work on the second largest investment that you will make and the safety of your family and everybody else in the road. You don't need a license to work on it. I agree 100%, Jeff. And something needs to be changed with that.
And so you. You probably saw Dutch, and I haven't had a chance to look into everything that Dutch was talking about with his, you know, his initiative going forward. And Dutch is one of those people like that. Him and I don't see eye to eye on. On my theory that you shouldn't be able to buy brake pads. He is very much like he looks at it as. It's the freedom of it. I totally get what he's saying.
Totally understand. I'm all about freedom, too. But it scares me. It scares me the amount of people that don't appreciate the difference between a professional doing a brake job and just somebody doing a set of brakes on a car. They don't understand the difference of what we're trying to do and how it's done and why it will last longer. And they don't care.
No, but some people do care. They don't clean the rust off the brake caliper slide and all this. Or if they get a Honda, they don't know how to work on the electronic parking brake back here, and they screw it up. Next thing you know, they got. They come to us and we gotta. Hey, you gotta. You need 600 worth of calipers. You just messed it up.
Yeah.
And then they go, oh, my God, I can't believe you're trying to rip me off. Like, are you sure that that's what it is?
Why can't buy that caliper for 150 bucks.
It doesn't. It doesn't come with the electrical part that, you know, Uncle Pookie screwed up. Right. Like, it doesn't come with that. First of all, when you're looking at the part, you don't even know what you're looking at. Secondly. But I always. That just drives me crazy.
Because it's like, let's think about this for a minute. Your car worked good until somebody worked on it. And now you're at my facility because it doesn't work right. And you're asking me Was it what they did? Let's think about that for a minute. Now, your car is either experiencing, you know, the weirdest things in the world that are uncompletely unrelated and it's just a. Whatever. It's just a fluke, the moon phase, or. Yes.
It's cause and effect. Somebody went in there that didn't know what they were doing and they've messed your stuff up. I hate to be the barrier. Bad news. You didn't value what I do. You didn't value what my brothers and sisters in the industry do. And now we're in a pickle. So let's get out of the pickle jar and think about what are we moving forward? Moving forward.
We're gonna have to put more money into this thing. Yep. And I. People get mad at me. That, to me, is a life lesson that teaches people lessons. It sucks. It's expensive lessons.
Because now we. You as a. As a shop, as a tech, you have to go back to try and figure out what was done for the initial complaint.
Yeah.
Plus what. What calls did that have on the new complaint? So you're almost doing double the work. So where this is, Instead of a two or $300 diag time, now you're at $500.
Yeah.
Brian. Brian Pollack and I talk about it all the time. You go in there and it's like I have to look at what the other shop did. Oh, it's got a module check engine, Chuck this morning. It's got a Dorman module in it. That doesn't mean that Dorman's bad. And I'm not trying to say that Dorman's bad all the time. That's not what I'm trying to say.
And in the end, it didn't need a module. So the Dorman module wasn't the problem, and the module that was in the truck wasn't the problem. But when somebody else has been working on it that doesn't know what they're doing or isn't applying a process to this. Yeah. You're adding more layers of the onion to the person that is going to fix your stuff for you.
Yep.
I wish people would just leave it alone.
That's because they. They've googled the out of it. They've youtubed the shit out of it.
Yeah.
So it. I don't know why they still look at our industry the way they do. It's a shame. And it's going to take. It's going to take a lot of effort for us. I mean, we've been trying to change this industry for 50, 60 years and it still has the same perception in the majority of people's. Like in Pennsylvania, they want to do away with the state inspection program and the emissions program. The first time they do away with the state inspection program.
Most people, the common people will get their cars fixed.
Yeah.
But you're still going to have that other percentage of people that just, they don't care. Now the problem is now they're on the roads with an unsafe vehicle. So not only are they at risk, they're putting everybody else at risk. I do agree with safety inspection programs.
Yeah, 100%.
I mean in my shop at least once a year they have to come in at least once a year.
Yeah.
Now on, we're not to the point in Ontario. I think it's going to happen. That's the rumor that's coming down the pipe is that we're going to see when people renew their license every two years that they're probably gonna have to do a safety inspection on their car. Now everything political can change.
Oh absolutely. They're working on emissions going five year exemption.
Right.
On new vehicles. And I'm like I'm fine with the five year exemption on your vehicle. Put a mileage exemption on it. You have it currently 5,000 miles in a 12 month period. If you're going to go to a five year, put a mileage exemption on it because somebody can drive that car 100 plus thousand miles in five years and I guarantee you're gonna have problems.
We all see cars with way less than 100,000 miles on them that have failed emissions components. Think about how many Ford purge valves or, or, or you know, purge solenoids or evap pressure sensors on Fords, the newest ones that are failing way before 100,000 miles. All kinds of them, right Jeff?
I'm a Ford truck guy, but Ford keeps me in business.
I'm not a Ford truck guy. Just gotta say I'm a Dodge Ram kind of guy. If I'm gonna buy a truck, they.
Keep me in business too. So I'm all right with that.
I. It's sad, isn't it Brett, that when we talk now about the domestic pickups, how poor the quality has gotten for the price. They're $100,000 pickup trucks.
That's why I still drive a 99 Chevy Suburban with 260, 000 miles on it. It's not rusting out yet, but it won't pass.
Nobody can do, nobody can put a valve train in a domestic truck. Anymore and have it stay together.
I feel bad when customers ask me about what would I recommend buying. And I tell them every day, 100%. Honda, Toyota, if you are looking for cost of ownership over the longevity of your vehicle, yes, you're going to have some maintenance. Honda, Toyota, right now are the top two. I just that you. I don't see a ton of problems with them.
No.
Compared to the other models, I.
We hardly see any Toyota pickup trucks up here. Like, they just don't sell. Or if they are selling, the dealer is doing a fantastic job of retaining them at the dealership because we don't see them. Nissan's the same. We do not see them as pickup trucks. Right. We don't even see. That's not that we don't see, but like the.
If you're gonna see a truck in most of the bays that come into the shop as an aftermarket bay, right up here, it's Ford all the time. They still sell so many trucks compared to everyone else. Crazy.
And somebody did put that. To me, it's like, yeah, Ford has problems, but they probably are the number one selling brand in trucks. So there's so many more Ford trucks on the road than. Compared to the other ones. I don't. I know Chevy, gm, you know, and the Dodges, there's plenty of them out there, too. But, you know, when you put it in perspective, if there's a lot more on the road, there's going to be a lot more in the shops.
Yeah, yeah.
There's some truth to that. I just. That. That EcoBoost Twin Turbo V6, I hate junk. I mean, they never got the manifolds right on the Tritons, and then they go ahead and stuff a turbo on it and it's like, guess what? I understand Ford and gym.
Or they're smart as hell, but dumb as.
Yeah. And I understand we're putting manifolds on everything. I get it. I totally get it. That's. That's a different thing of what metal we're using for our climate. Totally cool. But it just frustrates me now when it's like a simple manifold job has got a turbo bolt to it.
And it isn't a simple manifold job anymore. It's a. It's another level of. Do I get these lines? Do I get the fittings so that the lines don't leak?
You.
We all know those. If you, if you touch that line the wrong way on those EcoBoost turbos, you're changing that fitting so that the line will stay, you know, not Leaking like, it just. They come back constantly. And then turbos. Like, look at that. Who's buying an aftermarket turbo and having any success? There's no hands going up. Right.
Right.
What's going back to it? What's a good day at your shop? And I don't mean a financial thing. What is it like when. What makes you feel really happy when you've had a great day at your shop? What is it that happened?
So a good day would be. We had plenty of cars that day.
Okay.
We got them all in. On in a timely fashion and got the reports back to the customers in time and not wait till late in the day.
Yeah.
We sell some of the work and then we turn around and we complete everything by the end of the day. That's the ideal day.
Let's say. Ideal day.
Would I like to sell 100% of the jobs on every car? Absolutely. Every shop owner would be. Every tech would love to do that. It doesn't happen. But if you could sell at least 50% of the work you recommend and still turn around and get your busy schedule done that day and back to the customers where there's no layover, where there's, you know, we're not waiting on parts where this and that. Like, if we had 12 cars in, we sold $10,000 worth of work that day, and we turn around and get it done by the end of the day. That's a good day.
That's a good day.
Yeah.
You don't have to worry about loaners. And.
And now I have. I have four loaner cars. So they are constantly out. They are out. So we have to plan our schedule around. I am one of the few shop owners that still will do a waiter or two, but only in the morning.
Okay.
I'm only doing one or two. I'm trying to eliminate that 100%. I don't know if I can because I still have some clients in my base that. That they only will wait. Older people. They don't want to drive a car.
Right. I can get that.
I don't have. Yeah. I don't have staff to run them home, so I don't have a porter. I'm not. I don't. I'm not there yet. I'd love to get there. So that's an ideal day.
And we actually had one or one of them days this past week where we did about $9,000 in revenue in one day. And every car was repaired in a timely fashion. We did everything on time. Got it out back, out the door. And rescheduled for some of the services the next time. Those are good days.
Yeah, that's. That's when you feel like you're winning a. Like it didn't.
Yeah, yeah.
What. Is there anything that a customer comes in for that you won't have as a waiter.
That, that they won't wait.
Or that you, you have to say, like you would draw the line to San and go, you can't wait for them.
The only thing I will let them wait for is if they come in for an oil service or a state inspection emission test. Anything else they're dropping off.
Okay.
Especially if it's, I got check engine light, I want to wait. Nope. I need your car at least two hours.
Okay.
And I'll. I'll put you in a loaner car. I'll take you to work if I have to. But oil service, kind of hard to say no to that because they can go down the street to a Jiffy Lube or something like that. State inspection, any mission test. We're hoping to get some more out of that. Same with the oil service. You're hoping to get more out of it.
Problem is, I understand the waiting and it's always been that way. You, they're there, they went in, they went out. There's not a lot of time to talk to them and try and explain some of the things we find. But the ones that are there waiting for that, and I do go out and talk to them. Now, is it me talking to them or is it somebody else talking to them? And how you explain it that before they leave, we already have another appointment, at least for something of what I talked to them about. I've been big on exit scheduling for 15, 16 years. I've been doing exit scheduling mostly on oil changes or if I see their inspections coming up, I'll set the next schedule and I get 70% of them to return, they forget about it. Yeah, but you get the reminder, like, I don't remember setting this up.
Now, we had set that up the last time you were here. Is it still good for you? Oh, yeah. And my car does need it, so. Okay. See you here.
That goes back to what I was talking about. Just making that extra little bit of effort while the car is here.
Yeah.
You know, to make another hour, another 0.5 or something like that. That's something that for years in the dealer I didn't even think about was the exit. Not exit strategy, but like you said, the exit scheduling of, you know, next. Your next appointment is going to be three Months, four months, six months, Whatever the interval, we're going to set it up as is going to be that way. And it's so effective. It really is.
I tell you how I've. How I. When I first implemented, it took me a couple tries to get the customer base to buy in. I actually went and bought toothbrushes.
Okay.
And I would hand them a toothbrush with the. The reservation card and like, what's this? I said, you go to the dentist twice a year. Here's your reminder. You're coming here for twice a year.
That's brilliant. That really is.
Now I did. I didn't go as far to get them branded. I just. They were generic toothbrushes that I would just hand them a toothbrush.
Yeah, that is.
I'm surprised. Lola. Lola Schmidt, if you're listening, when you listen to this, there's a little tip for you. That and Brian and Kim Walker, too, because, I mean, they're. The marketing thing is huge. But something like that is just brilliant, you know, because you think about, like, by the time this toothbrush head is worn out, you should be coming in for your next service. That's fantastic.
Yeah.
And I think I got it from a class by attending a training event like tools.
We can't. You know, we're telling jokes here, people. But what Brett and I are really is we're. We're serious about this. Like, it is. And it's. Listen, I'm just. I'm not just, you know, selling it to sell it because I'm going it.
I can't stress enough how much it's changed my life to be able to attend these events and what it makes me. People that have known me for a while now know where I was when I first started to network with people through these events and where I am now about the attitude of this industry. It will change your outlook on where you think you are when you start to meet so many more people like Brett, because Brett's putting the show on for sure. But he's just a shop owner, just like so many other of us owns. And he's been through the same obstacles and trials and the frustrations and like, he's just shared that. That everybody goes through and is going through. Lucas is going through it. David goes through it.
Like we all go through it. It is just. I wish I could. I didn't have to say it's part of the business, but it is part of the business, but this is how.
We part of everyday life. Yeah. Whether it's a business or not.
Yeah, but this is how we make it not be a 10 on the scale of 1 to 10 of suck. This is how we keep it down to a four. Yeah, right. It's because we talked. We have a network of people can reach out to and say, hey, how do I handle of this? You know, and the groups have been phenomenal for that. But when you sit down and you meet these people and they share stories about this, this technician I had, or I'm going back to, you see how much more effective it is, the conversation, the confidence that you go away. Because it's one thing to read it on the screen, it's another for somebody to make it a connection with somebody they know about a problem you're having. Brett's looking at me like he's nodding his head.
And to be able to check up on that person a month later and go, so how did it go with that person that was causing you this thing that we spoke about? And then you go, we talked it out and it's perfect. Or I had to let them go. Or you know, I don't use that vendor anymore. Stuff like that. Like, it's just, you know, it's so powerful guys.
So can't, you can't stress it enough, unfortunately. What's the adage? You can't lead a horse. You can lead a horse to water, you can't make them drink it. Yeah, but you could only preach it. And I'll preach it from the mountaintops till the day I'm out of this business. And even when I'm probably not in the business, I'll pro, you know, I will still be part of the community to spread my knowledge what might only be worth a penny. But you know, I'm here to, I'm here to advocate for anybody that's in this business. That's what we're here for.
And like you said, the camaraderie that we. You can build by, you can be on the computer going to the Facebook groups and all that. But you mentioned it earlier in this discussion. They can't see what your expression is on the typewriter on the keyboard. Coming to these events and getting to meet them face to face. Now you're getting that. You can see the expression, you can see what you're talking about. You can feel the passion that you have.
I've told this I think a long time ago and I think was on one of the other podcasts is like I had, this was my, this was not my dream to be a shop owner. This was my parents business not mine. Yeah, my dream was the military. I wanted to be 100 military. And I would say, you know, this wasn't my dream. This is my parents dream. However, after being in this business almost 40 years now. Yeah, I'm old.
It is, I come to realize after sitting it down at the summit in Florida with the institute, there was something that I think Cecil said that resonated with me. It's like, you know what this is? This is my dream. It has been my dream for a long time. I just never woke up that aspect in that voice in my head. So I'm going to advocate for anybody that's in this position. This is a dream, it's a dream job. It does come with its struggles and every aspect of life comes with its struggles. It's how you get through it.
And why we get through it is we get to communicate with other people that have been through it.
I'm, I'm very blessed in the sense that I know that I can do nothing else. That I am exactly where the good Lord intended me to be in this industry. Now it doesn't necessarily mean the employer that I have at the time, but I mean I know for sure that I am doing exactly what I was intended for me to do. I am out there to fix cars and meet people and help them get the best investment out of their vehicle. Out of that experience, I know that is at my core, that is what I'm about 100% and that is a big lift off my shoulders because I know people in their 40s that are like, looking back, going, I never wanted to do this and I never felt satisfaction from it. I felt so much satisfaction from my, my career already and I'm not even done yet that it's like I'm, I'm blessed to be where I am.
Satisfaction. Before we get to your last thought as a technician, like you said, if that job has been other shops now you got the job, you, you diag it, you fix it. Same as a shop owner. They, you know, if we take it in and my, our staff turns around and we've repaired their vehicle and the customer's happy, that's satisfaction. You can't, you can't put a price tag on huge.
Yeah.
And I don't, I was just talking with another shop owner friend of mine this morning. I'm not advocating that we go down a bunch of rabbit holes on some diags. Right. Because it's just, it's Foolish Paul's video that just dropped yesterday. It's one of the ones that he walked away from and then you know, he's able to do a follow up in the comments about it ended up going to the dealer and somehow the dealer was able to get the ethanol percentage to reset so that the car would stop being flooded. It was a 2011 Jeep Pentastar flooded way out. 60 milliseconds engines. 60 milliseconds of on time, injector time, right.
Was flooding the engine out and like so there's so many nuggets. It's a two part video on, on. There's so much nuggets there of, of effective, efficient diag and what's causing it and all that kind of stuff. Like it's just brilliant. But it's one of the ones that he was not able to have his hand in the final fix. It left the shop that he was. It was at. At lures, left lures, it wound up back of the dealer.
The dealer didn't really tell anybody what they did. The customer has not answered phone calls. Like it's just one of those things. He is good at his, at this point in his career with understanding that like he doesn't need his ego stroked to see every fix. And that's what I keep saying. And it's the same thing I was talking about with Ben from 3T's. I don't need to fix every car out there and I don't want to fix every car out there and it's not a case of it's like they don't meet my standards as a business or a technician. I just don't like, you know, I want to stay in my lane.
I want to do what I'm competent at, what I'm comfortable with, what I can effectively do for my customer. And I want to stay there and grow a little. That's it. You know, I don't want to overextend myself where I have to. I have to say yes to everything. That's I think the biggest threat, the biggest pitfall we have in this industry is we're all, so many of us are sitting a point where we have to take in things that we probably don't even really want to do.
And as a shop owner, you're saying yes to that when your business dips and the car flow is not there. So you will say yes to everything. I still do not do that. I know my limitations, I know my staff's limitations, you know, and I just will absolutely refuse to take a job that's going to put more stress on, on the whole staff.
Yeah, Brett, can you.
I will ask them first if they can. If they want it.
I was just gonna ask.
I, I let it go.
That takes some guts though on your end to be able to that open of communication with your staff. Right?
I trust my staff. They, they are involved in 99% of the decisions I make in my business. I, I get their, their input on everything.
Yeah, that's so key because I mean, I'm not trying to say that every technician or owner out there can't go out there and get the job done in the bay. If the, if the staff was to say, heck no, you're going to be like, take a hard line and go, okay, well then I'll effing do it. Will you get it done? Yeah. Is it the right thing to do? No. Like just, you know, it's, it's not. I don't think those things are worth it unless you're trying to make a point. And then I guess you made the point. But was it foolish? Might have been.
That's, that's how I see some of those jobs going in some shops right now is it's like I, I got to the bottom of it. I. We did it. You know, we put an engine and you guys didn't want to do it. I hear that all the time and I can see it when the, when the shop owner is writing the post it. We put an engine in it. I'm sure there was somebody in the back going, that thing ain't worth doing that. Yeah, well I need to do it, so I'm gonna do it.
Okay, here you go. And then it's like. Right. Like it took longer. It was a nightmare. Who was it? Somebody said they put a used engine and it still didn't run right. And then they had to. Oh, it was something I saw on Tick Tock.
It's like. So it needs new spark plugs now in this used, used 4.7 that they put in a Durango and, and like there's bolts. The exhaust manifolds are, you know, bolts are trying to break off the used engine. And there's welding above. Yeah, I get it. The aftermarket warranty company wants that done. Doesn't have to be done in your shop. My point.
Yeah. There's certain things that if the. I will, I will bow to the extent of warranty companies as far as if they want to remanufactured or if used motor that's fine. But it's not going out of my shop just by slapping that thing in. It's going to get new spark plugs. It's going to get this and that, New gaskets and all that. And if you're not paying it, the customer is well aware that they are paying the balance of that bill.
Yeah.
Huge. Because they're going to come back. And they don't know. They don't know whether when they get a used engine, whether the old manifold stays on or whether it gets a new one. They don't know. They don't know the pieces like we do. So everything that becomes after the fact, when it has a problem, after they put a big engine in, it is always assumed that we did something wrong.
It's our ever since syndrome.
Yeah.
Ever since. Ever since you changed my oil, my radio don't work.
Yeah. I had one. What did I have? Years ago, I had one where I did a brake job on a caravan. And the next day it came in and the battery didn't work. And it was flagged as a comeback and start. You know, dispatch to me and I'm like, how did the brakes. Cause the radio network. They're like, we know, but she's upset and we just need to get it in the shop.
Can you look at it?
Yeah, that's. I just had. We had a customer kind of give us flack for doing a dvi. She came in for a check engine light on an older Honda. I think it was a Honda Civic or something. And you could tell it was. I mean, the DVI list was a laundry list. And Cody did his job and she just shut him off right at the beginning.
All I wanted was a check engine light checked out. It needed spark plugs and one coil.
Yeah.
But we were trying to tell her all she wanted was a check engine light. So when I went up, when she came in, she was giving me a rash like, I'm paying. I said, no. The DVI is a courtesy. We do it with every vehicle comes in our shop. It's an evaluation and we let you know. But the tie rod was loose. And this.
There was some other safety issue. So she left pissed off. I was. I'm still kind of waiting on that one star review. Because all she wanted was a check engine light because her boyfriend could do the job. Well, yeah, apparently somebody's doing the job because your car looks like crap and it's. It's a safety issue. So the dv, the dvi.
I didn't tell her this, but the DVI is also be a CYA for us to prevent the ever since syndrome that, hey, I just had my car in There. And now my tire fell off because you didn't tell me the tie rod was loose.
Yeah.
So when we pass her on the side of the highway next week and the. And the Honda will be lean way.
I'll go buy her like we told you about it right there.
Yeah. How do you like that DVI now. But. And it sounds so like we could. Thank God we can joke about it. But Brett, think about how many times in this industry we have like the technicians notes have shown and nobody's told anybody about it.
Back to my original point, why the cert My service advisors quit. They weren't talking to the customer about it.
Yeah.
If you don't tell them or estimate it, it never happened. And it makes us look bad.
It makes us look incompetent.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I, I don't know. And we could go down that rabbit hole all the time. But you, you had mentioned Paul, Paul Danner. And actually he will be at Tools with.
I was just going to ask you, please share with us. The people that you know for sure are, are coming to Tools to, to hang out, to teach, to be there.
We have some of the best in the industry. I mean Steckler's coming. The institute's going to be there. Andrew Fisher will be there. Brian Pollock, Jim Kocanis, Keith Perkins, Liz Perkins, Isaac Rudell's coming in. We got a ton of people coming in for Euro. Tommy, Tommy Olive is coming in.
Nice.
Josh Weaver will be there. I mean the list goes on and on and on. If you want management side, the Institute, Rick White, Kim Arnheimer. We got some of the best in the business coming in for Tools, which makes me happy. I was actually turning people away this year. I had no more class space. And that's a big change from when we took this event over. People now want to come in to attend and, and be a part of this event.
So if you are looking to come, Paul and Kristen Danner will be coming with SD Charities.
Yeah.
And I will be putting out a video with them here hopefully this week about what we're going to do there. We're going to do an online auction as a fundraiser for SD Charities where they, they're going to share in this video some of the products they've already been donated. And we're talking some pretty nice stuff from what Paul's telling me.
That's awesome.
And the online auction will be available for those who are attending the event May 29 to June 1 in Lancaster. There'll be. We're going. I got to figure out all the details. Like you said, I'm not a techie guy either. But we're going to figure this out that you're going to be an online auction and it's a Saturday. During the dinner keynote we will announce the winners of those auctions that they could take those items home.
That's fantastic. That's amazing.
But yeah, I mean Josh Purnell is going to be our keynote speaker Saturday night and he's, he's going, he's going to put on one heck of a keynote.
Yeah.
Josh from the limited limit.
Limitless. The bearded leader.
That's right.
I mean I, I don't have one. I, I, I just got a little, little gray spot there.
I got enough for several people.
You Brian Pollock?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's. So if you haven't registered yet and you're still on the fence about it, make the investment in yourself or your business and your staff. Bring your entire team because we have training for everyone in the house. Front of house to the back of the house. All, all skill levels too.
Yeah.
Mid Atlantic aca.org tools and you can go there and you can see all the registrations. If you are an exhibitor and you want to be part of the trade show on Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon you can go there. We're 60. We have 17500 square foot of trade show floor. Hopefully having 60, 61 vendors plus in there of 10, 10 foot booths. And there's still sponsorship opportunities available. I need sponsor for the Thursday night kickoff pool party.
I don't know if that's going to be warm enough to be at the pool.
It should be warm enough. I'm hoping the weather's holds off that we don't have to move it inside. But if not, if you want to bring your family and you have small children, there's an amusement park right across the road called Dutch Wonderland.
Oh my goodness.
There are Tanger outlets. Amish Lancaster's Amish country. If you want shoo flat pie, whoopie pie, good home food cooking. Lancaster is your place. So there's plenty of outlets. Tanger outlets is connected to the parking lot. If you're a Golfer, there's an 18 hole golf course attached to the hotel.
Wow.
This is an all in one. This is an all in one event venue and I'm looking forward to having it.
Very cool. I'm, I'm looking forward to making the trip down. I know Lucas and David are coming. Brian Pollock, like we said, he's bringing Carm and Tracy are riding on with Brian.
Yep. Coming up. So they're going to be there doing a podcast with you guys.
Braxton will be there. So I mean it's, it's going to be.
He didn't tell me for sure.
I think he's coming. That's the last I heard. Is that. I think he's coming now. Maybe he can't make it. Maybe that's been changed. But, you know, I was under the impression that he would be there. So that's.
I've had a lot of people say, hey, are you going to have a podcast or sort of like an Apex Sema said. First off, I'm not Apex Sema. That's. We have one area that we can do podcasting. So unfortunately you all are going to have to share that area and I think you guys already worked that out. Yeah, yeah, we'll we every space in their training areas. We have all the training rooms and the boardrooms booked. That's how much we have.
The only thing I did not book is their theater.
Yeah.
Which hopefully next year I can book the theater.
Yeah.
Like, I see. No, I see not nothing but growth out of this show. I really think that this kind of show is what's really needed in this corner of the northeast.
Yeah.
Yep. In the northeast area of this and that.
We're.
That's the whole idea.
Yeah.
Like I'm, I'm making the drive. I'm not even going to fly because it's only a six hour drive for me. So it's really like, it's, it's, you know. And do I love being in the car for six hours? No, but I mean, it's like, it's not, it's a two hour drive just to get to the airport. So I might as well just drive the other little bit and be.
You gotta get a flight, you gotta rent a car. I just say we go down to Asta and my staff's like, it's a seven hour drive down to North Carolina, but do I buy everybody flights? The hotel and I gotta rent a car? Yeah, we'll drive. Yeah, we'll take the day drive down.
Brad, I'm, I'm excited that you're bringing me, man. I really am.
And I'm, I'm happy you're coming, buddy.
I can't wait. I can't wait to be there. It's been, it's been too long since you and I got to hang out. So, I mean it's, it's going to be a lot of fun. And like I said, you're asta.
You guys are usually in your podcasting areas. I don't get to see y'all too much down at the institute in Florida. I didn't see David or Lucas, but for 10 minutes. Yeah, but I need at least 100 more registered people. I'm at 230. I'd like to get to 330. 400 would be very, very good.
Okay, well, and people, you're hearing that, so, you know, reach out to Brett and. And if you want to go, figure out how to get there. And I challenged. I mean, we were. Brett and I were talking yesterday through text. Some of the people that I know that are big names in the industry are not that far from Pennsylvania. So, you know, and we talked about. Paul And Kristen are three hours away.
You know, some of these people, like Mr. Ivan from Pine Hollow and, you know, Mr. Mr. O from, you know, South Maine. Check engine, Chuck. If you guys are listening to this and you can think about, could you make it down even for a day, right. Make the trip. You don't have to necessarily, like, catch everything if you can't commit, but come down, meet the people, right? See what the events are.
And. And you're gonna feel it. You're gonna feel the kind of like what we were talking about, what these events do for you, for your. For your outlook and your. Your attitude and your networking. And I guarantee you're gonna get something out of it. It will make the trip worthwhile. So I wouldn't be making the trip if I didn't think it was going to be something really important to attend, because I don't make a ton of events.
You know, my time schedule doesn't. But it was like when I knew that this one was this close and who was going to be there. Yeah, for sure. I'm gonna. I'm gonna have to take time away from work, you know, to make the trip, and I'm more than happy to do that.
So now you. We have a Thursday all day package, but you can go and get that if you register for the entire weekend or the Friday only package. So we do have a Friday only. We have a Saturday Sunday. And the reason we did Saturday Sunday is because of initially, when we set it up, the trade show was only going to be one day Saturday. And I didn't want to interfere with the trade show with. With classes. But we've since negotiated the contract.
Now the trade shows open Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. So Saturday afternoon still dedicated time. So I had to run classes to Sunday morning. So you get Your at least four training sessions for the whole weekend.
Very cool. Very cool. Well, I'm looking forward to it. Everybody, like, I, I, I, I plead with you to think about if you want to get, you know, kick off your summer in a good way, this is a way to do it. If you're in, if you can make the trip, if you're not that far away, make the commitment, come down, meet us all, see us there, enjoy it. It's going to be a lot of fun. I've never, it's not that I've never been to Pennsylvania, but it's been like, a long time and I'm looking forward to it. So, you know, anything closing.
Brett, you want to say?
I, I appreciate you having me on. Great conversation. I, I'm passionate about this industry and we get to talk about it. It's just it that thinking has changed in the last couple years with me. I, you know, come to tools, get the tools. If you're not in this area, get to a training event. That's all I can say is advocate for yourself, your business and your staff, make the investment, and let's keep moving this industry the way it should be. Let's, let's, let's change the industry.
As David and Lucas say.
Yeah, it can be done, people. It's already happening.
As the jacket says, we all need to rise up and stand out.
That's right. That's right. Well, everybody, thank you for listening. Brett, I'm sorry it took so long to have you on.
Oh, that's fine.
But, I mean, you'll be on again in the future for sure. And I look forward to seeing you in just over, just over a month, I guess.
Over a month. And we'll have some beer that I'm going to be brewing with Justin Allen, so.
Oh, sweet. There we go. All right, everybody, thank you. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and, like, comment on and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that 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.
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