Bonus Episode - Handling Customer Complaints and Raising Industry Standards in Auto Repair

0:02Hey folks, David here, and I'd like to thank you for joining us for the Changing the Industry podcast. Lucas and I started this podcast with the goal of capturing the frank and open conversations you typically have at industry events. Those conversations cover the challenges we face in our business and lives, as well as difficult repairs, new products and services, and everything in between.

0:26We hoped that these recordings would spur our listeners to enact the change they'd like to see in their own lives and businesses. That's also why we've partnered with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. My first management class was with Cecil Bullard, and his genuine passion for helping others in an honest and ethical manner permeates his entire organization. And if you need some of the Institute's help, they have a special offer for our listeners.

1:00Click the link in the show notes and get signed up for a free business analysis. They'll go over your current situation and give you advice on your next steps. And they have everything from free resources and online classes to peer groups, one-on-one coaching, and specific help for MSOs. So don't miss out on this great offer. Click the link in the show notes.

1:26And now on to the podcast. That would get us canceled for sure. Yes, yes. Okay, so here's the context. Okay, I want you to tell me how you would handle this. Okay, um, client comes in and he approves diagnostic testing. For a check engine light and a state inspection. The process was explained to the customer in person, and he agreed to the testing.

1:56Later, on a recorded phone call, he approves multiple repairs for a total of $3,200, which he repeated twice and agreed to. He was also told that he would— that we would not install his supplied wiper motor because he wanted to bring his own wiper motor in, and they said no. Which he acknowledged. The next day he comes over with the wiper motor and wants us to install it, and then declined all the work on his car when they refused to install his wiper.

2:24He was upset that we still charged him for all the testing, which had already been done, and it was a check engine light and the coolant pressure test for a leak. And then he claimed that he was going to take the shop to court over it because he was upset that he got charged for it. Okay, and this is his review, the 1 star.

2:44Told them exactly what's wrong with my car and asked how much to fix everything, and they charged me $446 just for them to tell me what I have already told them and didn't fix anything. I had to edit that because this was a mess. I did not recommend they charge whatever they want to. I do not recommend they charge whatever they want to.

3:08I don't know. What is— have you seen the TikTok video of the kid going up to the students? These are 18-year-old students, 17 and 18-year-old students who are about to graduate high school at a Philadelphia charter school. Have you seen this? He gives them a sentence and it's something like, uh, her silhouette, her dress created a silhouette that was extraordinary and gauche.

3:34It was something like that, right? And he had it like written out. And he gave them the card. And these kids, 17 and 18-year-old kids, could not read the sentence. They couldn't read silhouette. Like it was too difficult. Extraordinary was too difficult of a word. They couldn't even get to gauche. That wasn't even like, that's a weird word, right? That doesn't get very— Yeah, it's not a— Silhouette and extraordinary.

3:59Like those are pretty common words. They couldn't read it. These are 17 and 18-year-olds are about to graduate. Cannot read. Cannot read. So he's going around student to student. He does two videos like this where these kids cannot read the sentence. They're like, uh, uh, uh, and then they kind of blow the guy off and they're like, who's this for? Like, why are you making me read this?

4:20Like, I don't know what this says. Like, I don't know what it means. They couldn't read it. He then makes another video going up to the different employees in this charter school. And asks them to spell words like embarrass. I would probably mess that up, right? I, I, under pressure, I can't, like, my brain doesn't work that way under pressure. He even went to the principal who was apparently like, he had credentials and a degree and yada, and he was misspelling words, so simple words that are commonly misspelled online especially.

5:00See, like, and this is a perfect example of this. There's no sentence structure here. Like, I, I'm okay with casual, like you kind of want to write it out like you're saying something, so you write it in a very casual manner, but it's illegible. There's no, there's no commas, there's no punctuation. There's like, it doesn't make any sense. Uh, it's word vomit is what it is.

5:25He just kind of vomited this onto Google, and then hit enter and send, and then that's it. So here's how the, uh, the shop replied. We understand that vehicle repairs and diagnostic costs can be frustrating. However, at the start of this appointment, diagnostic testing and inspection for the check engine light were approved. After our technician completed testing and identified the issues present, additional repairs were also approved.

5:52So obviously he was fine with the process to begin with, right? Which included further testing to determine the source of a coolant leak. We, um, later in the process, after we declined to install a customer-supplied part for a separate concern, you chose not to move forward with any further repairs. At that point, you were only charged for the diagnostic work and testing which had already been completed, not for the additional repairs that have been previously, uh, that had previously been approved.

6:21While fault codes were provided to us beforehand, so he just came in with some codes that he probably got from AutoZone or O'Reilly or whatever. Diagnostic codes alone do not confirm the exact failed component. Our technicians performed additional testing to verify the issue was the sensor itself and not related wiring or the vehicle's computer system. Proper testing is necessary to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary parts replacement.

6:47All testing procedures and associated charges were discussed and authorized prior to work being performed, both in person and on the repair order. We stand behind our diagnostic process and the professional time required to accurately diagnose modern vehicles. I told him that he didn't leave enough snark in his response, but here's the frustrating part. Okay, I'm good with the response. The guy is unhinged.

7:13Obviously he can't even like type out a complete sentence. So this guy's retarded. And then on top of that, like now he's mad that he had to pay $446 to be told what he thought was already the problem. But like this confirmed it. Obviously everything was done fine by the shop. The shop didn't have any issues. The response from other shop owners though were what frustrated me.

7:37Okay. One guy asked, $446 for a check engine light diagnosis and coolant pressure testing? Am I missing something? Yes, you're missing that your prices are too low, apparently. Well, because if you're not charging $446, and apparently the only thing additional in there was state inspection. Yeah, the, the state inspection. So, but, but here's the thing, right? How many shop owners do we talk to that in, in the infancy of it feel like they're being the hero.

8:11They, they look at other shops like they're ripping them off. Dude, I just went through this. I just got a 1-star. Now part of the reason we got a 1-star is because we weren't going to negotiate with the terrorist. My shop says that they'll charge this much, and what about this, and what about that, and what about this, and could— how about— how much is that part, how much is this, and how much is that?

8:27And they, they feel like they're like a social justice— Lucas and I have been telling you about PartsTech for a while now. And how it gives you access to unlimited parts and tire vendors and direct integration with over 35 shop management systems. And now they've just launched a new referral program. All you have to do is open your PartsTech account, go to My Shop, and click on the Rewards tab.

8:50There you'll find your referral URL, which you can share via email, text message, or on your social media. If your referral signs up for a new account and places 5 orders in the first 30 days, PartsTech will send you a $100 gift card. That's it. Nothing else is needed. Your referrals can get you $100 just for using PartsTech, which by the way is absolutely free to get started with.

9:15So if you're using PartsTech already, start sharing that referral link. And if you haven't signed up for PartsTech yet, what are you waiting for? Click on the link in the description or go to partstech.com/podcast. That's partstech.com/podcast. Hey, one more thing. If you find out that your shop management system doesn't integrate with PartsTech, it's time to upgrade. David and I use what we believe to be the very best system on the market, Shopware.

9:44With unmatched features like Parts GP Optimizer and DVX, which is their digital vehicle experience, Shopware really is way more than just a shop management software. With it, you'll be able to create an immersive and interactive experience for your client. Setting you apart from everyone else using run-of-the-mill software. Are you ready to upgrade? Click the link in the show notes to get started.

10:03Justice Warrior, right? They genuinely believe that they are somehow like informed and educated and they know what they're talking about, right? And so I'm an informed consumer. I know how much that part cost. Okay, great. Like, do you understand that there's a McDonald's down the street and there's a Ruth's Chris across the street, and they're both still in business, and they both do the same thing.

10:28They sell food. They sell very different food. They sell a very different experience. Okay? And so shop owners have to get it out of their head, because the, the reason that I got the 1-star is this other shop says, I can do that job for $290. Sure you can. I can go buy cheap-ass parts. I cannot change the coolant while I'm in there.

10:47I cannot re-pressure test the system when I get done. I can provide you a shit product if that's what you're looking for, if that's what you want. And see, the shop owners that act that way and behave that way, they just don't understand they're offering a shit product. I'll never forget, I had an epiphany at one point, right? I had a real-life epiphany when I realized I had two choices.

11:11I had two choices. I had one choice, which was to ensure the car was properly repaired and the client was paying for it. And the other choice was, is that I was going to either eat the entire bill for testing because I felt bad for the client, or I was going to do a shit job, right? Like, those were the two choices.

11:30Either I was going to, to, you know, subsidize the repair costs to make them feel good about it, or I was going to do a lower quality product. Now, I couldn't, I couldn't do the lower quality product. I did. I knew it wasn't right. I knew it wasn't what was right for the client. And the truth of the matter was I was poor.

11:47I was broke. I didn't have the money to subsidize it for him anymore because I've been doing it for so long. I didn't have any money, right? And so what was I going to do? I wanted to offer a quality product. I had to raise my prices. I had to charge what I needed to charge. But see, these other folks who are out here teaching this other method— like, how do you think the industry ended up so devalued?

12:10Yeah, and I, I think what And I made this point forever, a million years ago, but I think at the end of the day, I don't care what your costs are per se. Uh, I think we were talking to a Euroshop and they were saying that they were able to do chains on a Benz at like 70% of the cost that the dealer was going to charge.

12:36Now the dealership has got a lot of overhead. They've got a big building. They've got more bays, they've got the coffee machine, warm cookies, they have more loaners, they have more staff, they have a leperder, cleaner, like they've got overhead they've got to cover. So the, the costs of the repairs are going to be higher. But the problem is in the consumer's mind, that higher costs is because it's a higher quality.

13:02And they're like, well, if I want the best, I'm just going to go to the dealer. And pay the outrageous price, but I'm okay with a lesser quality repair. So I'm going to go to this independent repair shop and the repair shop in their minds going, well, I'm going to be at like 65% GP if I do it for $7,500 instead of $12,000.

13:24But the— I don't care that it was like you're at 65% GP at, at $7,500. The cost of the repair should be $12,000. Yeah, I just— because the dealer needs $12,000 to cover their cost, they're going to charge that. That sets the market price for that repair. Do you see what I'm saying? I can see that. I can see that. But, but here's the thing, you look at a Discount Tire, their entire model, and, and you think back about what Michael Smith was talking about with mergers and acquisitions in the funeral home market is that I could buy that casket for $100, they were paying $2,000 for it.

14:05And so I could make the same margin, and then they would cut their price, and I could just keep cutting my price, and I was still making 4 and 5 times the amount of money that they were making. They could not compete with me no matter what they did. They could not compete with me. I can wipe them out if I wanted to.

14:20You think of the Discount Tire model, right? You think of, of some of these other coaching companies, like, that's the model that they run. Is like, hey, hold on, there's the difference though, is that they are selling you on convenience. I agree. You're gonna walk into— tires are really difficult because tires are a commodity. At the end of the price, at the end of the day, it's like, can I get a Michelin from Walmart for $60 a pop, or I can go to Discount and get my Michelin for $60 a pop, or I can go to my independent repair shop and pay $150?

14:54A pop for a Michelin tire. Now they don't realize it's the competitive advantage, right? But, but see, here, here's my thing. I think you're right, and I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying, but, but to me, the argument still comes back to the McDonald's and the Ruth's Chris. Some people want— no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Some people want Ruth's Chris.

15:14Some people are willing to pay for that experience, and that's the experience they want. But that, that's, that's what I'm saying though. Is that Ruth's Chris is going to charge $75 for that strip steak. Okay. And they've got their whole shindig that they do to sell you on the value of that $75 strip steak. But if I'm across the street and I'm selling steak as well, I'm going to charge $75 for a strip steak too.

15:43Now my experience is going to be slightly different. I'm going to cook it a little bit differently, but I'm going to put, because my overhead is not Ruth Chris' overhead, because they've got 15 people like hovering all over you to clear your table and clean off the table and make sure everything's like perfect. I don't have that overhead, but that doesn't mean that just because I can get prime for the same pro— for, I can get prime just like Ruth Chris can, right?

16:11And I've got the ovens, but I'm not going to lower my price just because, oh, I can get the same margin and sell that strip steak for $49. That strip steak value, prime strip, is $79. I'm going to charge $79. And I don't have a problem with that, but the person— I'm just going to make the margin. But hold up here. But the person that comes to you versus the person that goes to Ruth's Chris.

16:38It's the difference in the product that they want. They came to you because they wanted your product, right? See, in auto repair, it's very different. They look at all these shops and they can't differentiate the shop from shop to shop to shop. They look at the reviews, they see the website, they see the building, they talk to their friends, they ask online, right?

16:57They don't understand auto repair, right? And so it's our job when that consumer walks through the door to determine, is this the client that is buying what I'm selling? And if not, why did I let them in the shop? Now see, it's very hard to do that, and especially with a new advisor, because that's what happened here in my opinion. Jade says it's not, but I think we ended up with the wrong person in the shop, and that got us a 1-star review.

17:21They weren't buying what we were selling. We didn't ask the questions to find out, hey, what type of auto repair experience are you looking for? You looking for the cheapest price? Do you know how many people I've stood on this front counter And they've come in and said, how much is this? And how do I do this? And how do I do that?

17:36Hey, Bob, let me ask you a question. It sounds like price is your primary motivating factor in making this purchase. Now, Bob, I'm going to be completely honest with you. I'm probably the most expensive shop in town. Now, I offer a killer set of amenities. I offer a 36-month warranty. I give you free loaner cars. I'm going to go above and beyond.

17:53I am next level. I believe I am the best, but I am not the cheapest, Bob. I just need you to be honest with me. If you were looking for the cheapest price right now, I am more than happy to refund any parts deposit you have, or I'm more than happy to recommend you to A, B, C, or D shop. They offer a different experience, and if that's what you're looking for, I think they would be better serving you in that way, right?

18:15Because I'm not like— and I've had advisors, the service manager that I hired that was from the dealer, dude, he looked at me like I was smoking crack. That was money. That money ran out the door. No, I'm not interested in the stress and the drama that that brings into the shop. About a year and a half ago, we had a gentleman who had a BMW and he came in.

18:34Dude, I picked up the phone because he was being such a jerk to my staff. And I pick up the phone, I said, listen, I want to be completely honest with you. I don't feel like we're a good fit. You've made a parts deposit. I'm happy to refund your entire parts deposit and everything else. I'm happy to refund the entire visit. You can come pick up the car free and clear.

18:53Now, if we're going to do this, we're going to do this the right way, and here's my steps for doing it. Here's how I'm going to take care of your car. But it does not seem like we're a good fit for you. And if you don't like the way this experience is going, this is what we offer. I'm happy to make a referral to somebody else and give them the lowdown, give them our diag and everything.

19:12He said, oh man, no, I love this experience. This is great, all this stuff. He leaves and leaves us a 1-star review. Said I was a great salesman and that my efforts to get him to go somewhere else were an effort to sell him something. No, I was telling him to go somewhere else, and I should have been more aggressive and said, hey, I'm sorry, you're not a good fit, take it and go.

19:29Yeah, but people backpedal really quickly when you're like, hey, it sounds like price is your biggest, and we're not going to be the cheapest. But here's the thing, like, if the, if the shop can't articulate why it is that they are charging what they're charging Because I can, you know, I'll tell the customer, hey, the dealership's $12,000 to do chains, I'm $14,000.

19:52And they're going to go, well, why are you more expensive than the dealership? Well, one, I've got a longer warranty, but two, I have a complete repair process and none of my guys are on commission. My guys are charged, are paid whether they do it fast or they don't do it fast. So we prioritize quality over everything else. And so our repair process is far more complete than the shop that is paying their guy by the, by the job, and they incentivize that technician doing it as quickly as possible.

20:25But then here's the problem with that though, is you go say that and then you have a failure and they're like, what the, what the fuck, dude? Yeah, but like, I can't— the, the other All I did was lower the chance of failure. They— you get a guarantee at the other shop. I understand that, but what is the consumer perception? What, what at that point, right?

20:47Well, you know, you always put the caveat in there. It's like, well, we're not, I'm not saying that we're perfect. I'm not saying we get everything 100%, but I'm going to be here after the service. Yeah. We're going to be here. We're going to make sure we take care of you and we minimize the likelihood of potential failures because of our complete repair process.

21:07We replace the coolant, everything gets cleaned and scraped off. We take extra steps to clean. We've got a machine here that, that uses a bioactive cleanser to eat away at the oily gunk. And it's not just some brake clean. Uh, we use scuff pads that don't bite into the aluminum. Like we use the little white discs. So let me ask you this.

21:30We take extra steps to ensure that the repair holds, okay, longer than the original. I tell that to people all the time, like, longer than the original. I love it. Okay, so hold up, devil's advocate here. A while back I got a message from a man. He said, look, I'm not going to disagree. He said, I've been doing this for a long time.

21:50He said, here's my P&L because I know you're going to ask about it. It's got net 30 at the bottom of it. I don't pay my technicians as much as you pay your technicians. I don't offer as many benefits as you offer. I pay them flat rate. I don't use the highest quality parts. I don't care about the warranty. I just tell them straight up, it's 12 months, here's what I offer.

22:10I don't care about any of this other stuff. I'm looking to be a cheaper provider. I want to move the cars in and out as quickly as I can. I don't care about how happy the technicians are. I don't care about how happy the service advisors are. I'm in business to make money, and the model that I'm using is less expensive. So I'm not, I'm not you know, committing to all this huge overhead and all this other stuff.

22:33I am making more money than you're making, or the same amount of money that you're making, and I'm just not offering any of that. I'm not going to the stress to offer that, and I'm charging less than you are. What do you say to them? And basically what he said was, you're taking my repair too seriously. It doesn't matter. The consumer doesn't care.

22:51They just want a car that runs and drives. No, no, let's see, that's the— the consumer does care. The consumer doesn't know. Okay, they can't tell how we turn that corner because it seems like it's just one customer at a time. I can't do anything about that. We're finally getting into a good roll and here comes Lucas interrupting the episode. Folks, now you know exactly why I hire Shop Marketing Pros to do my shop marketing.

23:14It's that I am spastic and all over the place and I lack consistency. But here's the thing, that doesn't work in marketing. You see, marketing takes 30, 60, sometimes 90 days to be effective, and I was all over the place with my marketing. There was no consistency at all. Caused these waves in my business because I was so inconsistent. And that's why I am so happy to refer Shop Marketing Pros.

23:41They bring consistency. They are true professionals. I'm going to encourage you, go down to the link below and get your free digital marketing inspection. Just like we do digital vehicle evaluations for automobiles, they're doing the same thing about your marketing, and they will help you get your business turned around. That, that's the problem. Look, I didn't get into— I didn't open a repair shop because I wanted, I wanted net 30 and open 7 days a week and run through my guys, and as long as they have 3, 3% or less warranty return, we're good, and paying out huge bonuses and buying shotguns and all that bull— like, I'm the— I didn't get into this for

24:25any of that. I wanted the car that was next to me to be in good shape and me not worry about that wheel coming off because they took it to Hacky Joe's repair shop down the street because I used to sell parts to that Hacky Joe's and I know the kind of work that they did and I know the customers had no idea that they were getting shit work.

24:47I didn't want to do shit work. At least the cars that left my shop, if the work was approved, the work was going to be of the highest quality in the area, bar none. And I tell customers all the time, I have the best work, I have the best technicians, we have the most thorough repair process. I don't care what other shops been around, I don't care what they claim, they're all full of shit, all of them.

25:11I have the best. Now, if you don't want to pay for that, that's fine. That's cool. Take it down to Hacky Joe's and Hacky Joe's will do a good enough job. 80% of the time it'll hold. And the customers might be like, oh, okay, well, great. I want to save $250 and go down the street. Or they can come to me and get a better repair process and a better repair and know that their vehicle is taken care of.

25:35And I, I take pride that I have customers bringing in their vehicles, $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, and I've seen the vehicle since it had 40,000 miles on it. And the vehicle's still well taken care of. It's not falling apart because they have done a good job of maintaining the vehicle. And we've been watching it the whole time. That's what I take— that's why I'm in business.

25:59Like, if I wanted— if I— what did Michael Smith say? There are much easier ways to make money than automotive repair. I didn't know that when I opened the shop. Otherwise, I wouldn't have opened the shop. But I didn't because I loved it. I, I opened the shop with the intent of having higher quality repair getting put out into the market one car at a time.

26:21And that's all I can do. And that's why I sleep at night, just not worried about the work that's leaving my shop. If I were that other guy, yeah, I mean, you could take solace in that 30 net 30, but guess what? That car that you, that, that kid that you just hired that was inexperienced. But, you know, he had the right attitude.

26:41He had a go-get-'em attitude, but he didn't know what the fuck he's doing. His, his shit repair is the car behind you and the other shit repair is the car in front of you. And you've got your family in the car and you are going to feel, you're going to say you're 100% cool with it. You're like, oh yeah, no problem. I have no problem putting my family in that shit repair that my guys just did.

27:04They're going to say the probability of that is so low. That you still got to sleep at night with it. I'm just telling you, it's 100% cope. I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm saying that's what these people are saying. Yeah, it's 100% cope is all it is. Like, but at the same time, dude, they could be selling fucking fentanyl and they wouldn't give two fucks.

27:27I'm just telling you, they'd be like, well, it was a medication meant to help people. I'm sorry that some of it got laced into some marijuana and it killed a 17-year-old. Like, it's not my problem. It's like, Dude, those people still sleep at night sitting in their McMansions with their BMWs outside and their $250,000 a year bonuses because they sold a whole lot of fentanyl, but they were the ones that brought it to market and look at the, look at the chaos they created.

27:58Yeah. 100,000 kids dead every year or people dead every year from it. And they were like, meh, it's whatever. It helped a few more. Okay, well, I mean, that, that's been my whole point all along, right? And that all this flack I'm getting in the videos— my, my video content has like shifted over the years and it's upsetting more and more people because like I'm getting frustrated because it's like, dude, this is— I, I didn't sign up to get views.

28:26I didn't sign up to like make money from content. I signed up because I feel like our industry needs to move in a better direction. Right? I feel like we have to push this in a different direction than what we're going. And, and the technicians are complaining, the service advisors are complaining, everybody hates this, talks about how bad it is. Now, now the complainers are the ones we hear from, right?

28:46The people who are happy aren't out saying anything. And so like the, the guys that are in really good shops, they're like, I'm not getting ready to comment in that, I don't want my boss to see all this and like me be engaged with this type of stuff, I'm not gonna— like, I don't, I don't You know, I was talking to a friend of mine this morning about relationships, and I was saying like, hey, the people you surround yourself with are the people you're going to end up with.

29:09And if you want to be successful and you want a home and you want all these great things in life, you need to surround yourself with successful people. Because if you're going to go find a relationship and you're going to be with somebody, you want to be with somebody that's at least trying to go in a successful direction. You don't want another loser, right?

29:25Like, surround yourself with successful people. And so I think that the good techs have surrounded themselves with successful people. The techs who are pissed off and hate the effing world are surrounded by poor performers and a crap culture and a crap dealership or whatever it is. But if we want to move this industry in a better direction, it takes all of us moving in a better direction.

29:44What pisses me off is that then you have these coaches who are like, hey, you really shouldn't care about the price and you really shouldn't care about the experience. You really shouldn't care about any of that. The thing you need to do is sell these people on whatever you can sell them. It doesn't have to be honest. It It doesn't have to be quality, it doesn't have to be anything.

30:02It has to make money because money is everything, right? You're going to have a problem. They can make a lot of money right here, right now, and it can be all well, great and good, but they're destroying the industry in the process because that's how the fuck we ended up here. 100% agree. But there's a small percentage of people that don't give two fucks.

30:19They just, they want the boat. Okay, then how do we reach more people? Because 1% watch the— I mean, not even 1% of the automotive population watches our show. Not 1% watches Carm's show. Not 1%. I mean, they watch Mike Allen's because they're evil and scumbags. So he gets like 10% of the shitbags that watch his show. They watch, they watch his reels while they're shitting on the toilet.

30:41That's what they're doing. Anyway, the, the, there's, you're going to have a percentage of people that are just frustrated and they're like, dude, I'm not making any money. And this guy told me that if I just sell the ball joints and don't give two fucks about the tire that's about to come apart. We're just going to sell the ball joint and get the car out the door and I'll make $400 and we turn the bay and I'll make good GP per hour, like, and I'll make money at the end of the day.

31:05And I just, I want to pay the bills. I just want to pay the bills. There is a level of frustration that sets in when you just hit your head up against the wall over and over and over and over and over. And I get that. I get that. But if we're not, if we don't have enough of us, like sounding the alarm and at least, at least look, we had a comment on one of our, um, on one of our podcast episodes on Spotify where the guy thought it was goofy that we had said that efficiency is more important than quality.

31:42And our point with that we were making back at Apex, one, it was towards the end of the year and you know, it's our slow time. So all of a sudden we can't pay the bills and we're getting a little stressed out. So we were like, follow our, our content follows what we're going to do online. Yeah. It's like, we're like, oil quality is the most important thing.

32:01It's because we're making money. And when all of a sudden we're not making money, it's like, fuck it. Just get the car out the door. I gotta pay the bills somehow. But our point was, if you just want to make money, then quality becomes secondary. And it's just efficiency. It's just how fast can you get the cars through the bay. And that's all that matters.

32:18And there has to be enough of us that go, no, no. No, we have to care about the repair process. We have to take care of our people. We have to be— we have to have the right environment. We have to have the right people in place. And if we take care of the technicians in our shop and allow them— I think in my heart of hearts, I think most technicians care about quality over all things.

32:45They care about the repair process. I know because I've had so many technicians get pissed off. What do you mean they're not going to approve X but they're going to do Y? They want to fix the whole car. They always want to fix the whole car, though. It's broken, it needs fixing, they want to fix the whole thing. And they get frustrated when they're like, hey, we only got $1,000 approved, so this is what we're not doing.

33:10And then they look at you weird. They're like, what? Huh? They don't understand it. It's like, yeah, dude, all of this would cost you $1,000 to do everything because you're doing your work yourself on a Saturday and it's your own car and stuff like that, but this whole thing costs $5,000 for the customer and they don't have $5,000, they're going to spend $1,000 today and they'll come back for more later.

33:30The technicians just want to fix the cars and they want to fix them properly to the best of their abilities. Okay, some people are just— they don't know what they're doing, but to the best of their abilities, they want to fix the cars. If we cultivate that environment, we cultivate that, that innate desire already in our shops Everybody will benefit. The customer ends up benefiting.

33:52We can charge a higher price because we're putting out a better quality product. And that's what was my point about the Ruth's Chris. At the end of the day, I don't care that Ruth's Chris is $79 and they're providing this experience. My steak is still better. And it could be because I change up the seasoning or I change up the way I, I have a wood fire oven at 1500 degrees and that creates that smoky flavor on the, on the meat where they don't have that because it's gas, whatever, whatever my differentiator is, it's still not the same thing as what Ruth Chris— if you want a Ruth Chris, you go to Ruth Chris.

34:28Like if you want a dealership shit timing job, you go to the dealership for that. If you want the same price or more, but you want a better experience, a better repair, I should say, a better repair with a longer warranty. Backed up to the nth degree by us, they're going to come to me. And I'm going to tell you that not only are we going to go further than they will with the repair process, but I'm going to choose my parts more carefully.

34:56I'm not buying whatever from the parts store, listing it as an OE part, marking it up like it's an OE part, but not selling you an OE part. Cause you know, the dealerships are doing that. Oh yeah, I'm not, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to put in the highest quality part because I want this thing to last longer than the original one did.

35:19And with that mindset, and again, tapping into that innate desire that the technicians already have, everybody will end up benefiting if we just get more shops to buy into that. So I've got a, I've got a friend who owns a restaurant. And he was talking about this couple that always comes to the restaurant. And he said, over the years, he said, they've been coming here for 30 years.

35:41And he said, that relationship has become more and more taxing. They expect more and more. They become more and more engaged with the staff. They have higher expectations. Every time we've ever made a mistake, these people remember that mistake. And they're really nice. They're kind. It's not that they're not. It's that that relationship, because we do have this longstanding relationship, we believe we need to honor that.

36:05Take care of them. We need to— but it's become heavy, right? It's become a lot to please these people and keep these people. It's like their expectations get higher and higher, and we're trying to grow the business, and the business is not as once— you know, it once was like a very customized experience for each person, and now, like, to grow it and get it to where it's profitable, and things have become tighter, and food cost has gone up.

36:28And every time they come in, they talk about, man, I remember when that steak was like $19 and now it's $57. And like, it's always something. Right. And I think about that in my business and I think about how some of these shop owners can fall victim to these long-term experiences or long-term, long-term relationships is probably a better way to put it.

36:48They've got the long-term relationships. It's the constant Google reviews. It's the constant price shopper, the person who comes in and complains about the experience. It's the constant trying to find the good technician and it's one problem after another. It's, and, and, and my point to say all this is To run a business that does what you and I do and does what you and I believe in doing and trying to move this industry in that direction is hard.

37:15It's not easy. It's a lot harder than running a shithole shop that doesn't care, right? I've got a friend of mine, I was making the ads and it was the Grouchy Bob's Automotive ads and they were so popular and people came in, but it upset so many other local shops. I had 4 shops call me and say, You made that ad about me.

37:36And I'm like, I didn't have anything to do with you. But the one person who knew like where I was going with it is a good friend of mine. And he's like, goddamn it. Like, that does sound like me. Like, dang, man. And so he— but I've talked to him. He's like, dude, I've been doing this for 40 years. He's like, I'm tired.

37:55And he's like, I don't have time for the drama and their BS. I don't need to know what their dog did last night or why the car's in the condition it's in or why it's nasty. Bring me your effing car and I'll fix it. I don't have time to make you an estimate. I don't want to do any of that other stuff.

38:08I want to fix the car, right? And I can see how shop owners, technicians, service advisors fall victim to that mentality over the years and years and years of this wearing on them. Every review I get hits me right in the feels, dude. Like, and I'm not even in the shop every single day. It hits me in the feels. And we got a rash of bad reviews, and I know exactly what happened.

38:29I know how it all played out. I know what went wrong. It's the first time it's ever happened in the history of this organization. And I, I like the other side of that is, is like, hey, I've pulled myself out of the shop a little bit. I worked really hard to create a very unique experience, and my consumers, my clients, the people who came here were used to that experience.

38:50Well, guess what? Lucas isn't here every day, and Lucas isn't here to, to protect and police and, and inspect that experience every single day. And I can't provide that experience because even if I train my staff an extremely high level, dude, you don't know how many hours I poured into making that experience what it was. Every single repair order I reviewed, every single repair order I went over line by line by line, I checked the prices and I checked the write-up.

39:20Something wasn't right, it went back to the tech. No, I want this test done and this write-up is not right and this needs to be done like this. Guess what? You can't replicate that. And so over time that becomes heavy because it's like, hey, this is the experience I want to offer, but how do I offer that? It has to be scalable to a degree.

39:39Now everybody always told me that, but it's hard to scale that. And so yeah, at some point, well, that's just a learning curve for you. Like, yeah, for sure. And that, that's why I did not center my The price is around quote unquote experience and the flowers and the, hey, I'm going to give you a cookie and all that BS. All that stuff is so fleeting.

40:05And then a lot of it is centered around personalities and it's like, what can, what, what can I still have regardless of who's there? And it's the technology, the transparency, the note-taking. And then impressing on the repair process because that can be consistent regardless of the technician, regardless of the service advisor, regardless of the shop manager. It doesn't matter. Like we're still going to use the same highest quality products.

40:34We're going to go through the whole repair process the way it's supposed to go. We're going to follow OE procedure every single time. We're not going to give people options of doing ADAS and no ADAS and none of that BS. Like we're going to do the whole thing and we're going to do it right. Every single time, and we're going to make sure we communicate that to the customer to the best of our ability.

40:53And, and then that's it. And then the rest of it is just ancillary BS. Like, is it nice to have some of that stuff? Of course. But the minute that, like, everybody loves Bob— well, Bob quit. Now what? Now we're screwed. You know what I'm saying? I can't do that. Absolutely do. But, but so here's my question then, okay? Like, we want to move the industry in a better direction.

41:15Right? Like, that's why we started the show. We didn't start the show for sponsors. We didn't start the show for any of that. We started the show so we could have real-life conversations with people who were where we were, because like, it can be heavy sometimes and it's good to talk about it. We started the show because we recognized the industry was in trouble in a lot of ways and it needed to move in a better direction.

41:33So how do we reach those people? How do we share this narrative? How do we get it moving in a better direction? I think we've made an impact, right? And, and like the work that Jeff's done on the technician side, right? We're starting to see a change in the way that technicians believe. They're saying, hey, I'm not going to perform shit work, sorry.

41:52Like, I'm just going to stand up. I'm not going to offer that. You're not— I'm not going to be just another cog in your machine. I want to work somewhere that they treat me like a human being, that I want to be part of like what we're doing, where we're going. I want to be like improving things. And so I think that between all the shows we're making a difference.

42:09I think things are getting better, but we're reaching a very, very small percentage of people. Now obviously, if everybody would like, subscribe, share the videos, you know, leave us a review on— that would help the podcast platforms, right? Like, that would make a difference. But like, how— what do we have to do different to start moving things in that direction? I mean, look at Carm.

42:30Carm's been doing this for what, almost 20 years now? And he's got the messaging and he's coming out with it. He's got classes and all this stuff, but we're still reaching less than like 5% of the industry as a whole. How do we change that? Um, like, share, subscribe. Yeah, that's all I know to do, right? And like, get other people to talk about it.

42:49It can't just be us talking about it. It can't just be Carm. It can't just be Jeff. It can't just be like— we have to get the people within the industry to begin to talk about what's wrong with this industry so we can start fixing it. They don't need to just complain about it. They need to say like, hey, there are some strategies that are making this better.

43:07We need to be seen as professionals. We're not a commodity. If there's one thing that Dutch always said that I align with, man, we're not a commodity. We're a profession. We're professionals. We offer a service. We don't just offer the thing you come in and buy. We're not selling a pack of effing crackers. This requires professional ability, and that's valuable. Now there's somebody in my comment, um, John, in my comments, and he's always— I'm talking about, uh, carpenters and plumbers and electricians.

43:36He's like, right, the difference being is that you only call a plumber once every 5 years. You're in an auto repair shop once every year, 2 times every year with a single car. And so it's a different experience. It's why consumers see it differently. And, and I'm going to tell you, I think one of the problems we have is that from shop to shop to shop, it's a completely different experience.

43:59The consistency's not there. We talk trash about each other. The dude that left me a 1-star review the other day is all because some shop, Cabarrus Euro whatever, is talking smack about us without— and, and we were going to do a coolant exchange on the car while we had the cooling system open. The shop says they've never heard of that. They're effing lying, dude, right?

44:20Like, you're telling me that you don't know anything about changing the coolant in a car? Great, that really gives me a ton of confidence in your auto repair shop, right? Like, why are we talking crap about each other? Why don't you call and ask me what I'm recommending and why? Oh, you charge more than me? Great, maybe I offer a different experience.

44:40Don't go throw me under the bus and tell the client that I'm ripping them off because I'm more expensive than you. But see, all of them— dude, I'm gonna lose my temper here. All of these technicians, I can't believe you're charging that, ripping people off. Look how much they charge to do that. No wonder they can't get approvals. I need a bigger paycheck.

45:02Why are you not paying me more? Do you— are you that fucking stupid? Like, do you not under— like, you have no goddamn understanding of the fucking money? Like, do you not see? Like, evidently other shops aren't showing the P&L. Other shops aren't like laying it out and saying, here's how much money it costs to run an auto repair shop. I guess that's what it is.

45:23They don't know. That's the problem. Uh, dude, it drives me nuts. It drives me nuts. I want the industry to be better. I want to be paid more. This sucks. All this experience of being an automotive technician or an automotive shop owner or an automotive service advisor sucks. Okay, you also shouldn't charge that much. You realize it takes money to make it better.

45:42Come on now. I don't know. Anyway. Thank you for listening to the Changing the Industry podcast. If you enjoy the show, do us a favor and leave us a review on your favorite podcast player. And don't forget to set it to automatically download the latest episode. Our efforts with this podcast, the YouTube channel, and the Facebook group wouldn't be possible without the support of our awesome sponsors.

46:07So please take a moment, check them out by clicking on the links in the show notes.