The Dealer Alternative Advantage in Today’s Auto Repair Industry [THA 482]

0:00This is the Automotive Repair Podcast Network. Hey everybody, Carm Capriato, Remarkable Results Radio, our 11th year. We're into— we, I think we just crossed the 11th year milestone. Good to have you here. It's another Town Hall Academy. I have Carrie and, uh, Lara Rose from Larry's Automotive. There, you're gonna meet them here in a minute. We're gonna talk about a whole bunch of really cool things going on at their shop, Larry's Automotive.

0:28In Newburgh, Indiana. But thank you so much for letting us be part of you. You know, our purpose is always to advance the automotive repair, professional repair automotive service industry with this great content and your participation as a listener and people that constantly give me ideas to bring on and talk about. Also, we have worked so hard in the last year on our Automotive Repair Podcast Network app.

0:54Oh boy, it's for your smartphone. You can read show notes, link with our sponsor partners, get all the shows in our network, all 7 we produce each and every week from all our great, great talent that we produce shows for you. So don't forget automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com/app. And thank you so much to our great sponsors, Napa Tracks, Today's Class, Kakui, and Pit Crew Loyalty.

1:21Hey, did you know that NapaTrax has on-site training plus 6-day-a-week support? Well, it all starts when a local representative meets with you to learn about your business and how you run it. After all, it's your shop, so it's your choice. Let us prove to you that Trax is the single best shop management system in the business. Find NapaTrax on the web at napatrax.com.

1:41Ready to optimize with today's class? Boy, listen to an episode we did with David Boyes. Great program. Roll out a training plan for your automotive shop in just 5 minutes boost knowledge retention and improve team performance. Start seeing results today. Join your peers at today'sclass.com. Shop owners, stop juggling multiple marketing tools. Kukui's integrated platform— they deliver 4 times better website conversions, automated follow-up, and real-time ROI tracking.

2:13Get industry-leading customer support with Kukui. That's kukui.com. You're probably tired of chasing new customers who never return. We understand. Pit Crew Loyalty ends the one-and-done cycle, turning first visits into lasting, reliable revenue. On the web at pitcrewloyalty.com. Hey, welcome back everyone. Larry Rose, how are you, Larry? Good, how are you? I'm great. I love that logo. It is just bad. Thank you.

2:46Who made that? Did Kara make that? Well, I came up with the idea and Kara helped make that. Yes. I love it. Kara, putting it in the background like you have it is just a great thing. Glad you're so here. There's a lot to talk about here. You guys were named the NAPA 2025 Auto Care Center of the Year. Huge, huge honor and award and milestone for you guys.

3:11So when you got the phone call from, maybe it was what, Jason Rainey? How'd you feel? What'd you think? So we got the call from David Cosby, our local store owner, and he said he needed to set up a meeting with us. And I kind of thought maybe that was going to be what it was. And then my wife, you know, had to rein me in and say, well, you know, there's several awards.

3:32We could have just gotten a local award. The anticipation was great. And then when you found out, Kara? So we had all of our employees to come together for a dinner that evening. And Cosby and his team was here and Jason was on the video talking to us and everything. And he went through the whole thing of why it's important to be Shop of the Year and how they have different shops throughout the United States and the Midwest region.

4:00We'd won the Midwest region and how great that was and explaining all the benefits and everything and congratulating us. And he went one step further and said, well, not only did you win that, but you also One shop of the year and all of our employees got so excited and started yelling. And it was great to see the enthusiasm of everybody on the team.

4:23What a cool idea to bring your team together for dinner, realize that you not only won the Midwest, but the national. I'm getting goosebumps just listening to how you did that. You guys are involved in SkillsUSA and because the silver tsunami exists in our industry where so many people say, I'd like to retire, I'd like to sell, I'd like to do some kind of succession.

4:43And a lot of them just don't know how, who, when, where. There's a lot of doubt going on in our industry about this, but you guys have come up with a plan. We don't want to hear all of it, but we'd love to hear a high level of how you're doing it. And I want to find out how you keep your floor so white and shiny.

5:03Well, I can start with the floors. So I've got a couple floor scrubbers that I have the guys use daily. And we also have an apprentice that helps keep them clean. So, my theory is when you bring a customer back to see their car, see what they're, you know, we're doing to it and they see the floor, it's like if you're taking care of your shop, you're taking care of your floor, you're gonna take care of their cars as well.

5:31You know, so that's why I want my people to dress nice, wear good clean uniforms, and a nice white floor. And it not only helps show the customer how, you know, we take care of the car, but it's also easy to see, easy to find stuff when you drop. So it just makes life better. Please go to Larry's Automotive Repair, Newburgh, Indiana.

5:51Look at some of the gallery pictures and put your sunglasses on when you look at the shop floor. I mean, and you're right, the pride You know, I always think of us as in the medical field, me getting rolled into an operating room and looking around. It's clean. I mean, you don't see a whole lot. You're usually laying down, but there's hardly a speck out of place because they realize the importance of that.

6:13Right. Ordered uniforms. I wanted white uniforms just like doctors, but the uniform companies told us they wouldn't be able to get them clean. So we stuck with red. We'll have to charge you more. Yes, they'd have to replace them more often for sure. So I think one of the key things in why you're on not only is to pay homage to the Auto Care Center of the Year, which is such an incredible honor, and I've interviewed everyone, say, for the last 8 or 9 years, this, the whole family succession thing.

6:44You've got family inside, you've got a great team. You guys aren't afraid to be perpetual students and to, to bring the kind of education that you know your family's going to need to have, but the rest of your team. How much has continuing education played a role in your succession? Well, first of all, you kind of touched on our succession plan, and our plan is to have our children take over our business in the near future, not immediately, but in the near future.

7:15And our son came back about 6 months ago to the area and has joined us. He used to work here in high school and college, you know, doing brakes and oil changes, the basic things in back. So we felt it was real important for him to learn the front counter. So now he's up there. Then eventually he'll continue to work with our general manager and really learn how to run the business.

7:39Then eventually our goal is that he would take over one day. In the back of the house, we're lucky to have our future son-in-law back there, and he joined us a year ago. And our long-term goal for him is to actually learn how to be a shop foreman. The good thing is we have both of those positions filled with really strong people that are going to be around for a few years.

8:03And so we have many years for our family to learn from the people that are really running our business for us right now. Does that team know of your plans? Yes. Yes, they do. And let me add a little bit to what Kara said. Our son wanted to step right in and not go to college and work for me. And I was all for it.

8:24And she says, well, you can, Tells him, you could do that someday, but you're gonna go to college, you're gonna get a degree and learn your own way. And if you wanna come back someday, you can. So he went out and got a college degree in electromechanical engineering and an MBA in business. So he's touched all the points. So he's ready to step into it.

8:43I hate to say, but she was right when she had him do that. He's way more mature now, leaving and working for other people along the way and coming back. Well, high five to you both for sending your son to school like that. Now you said two very important words, engineering and an MBA. That whole car is an engineering marvel and it will continue to be.

9:05Yes. And with that base of knowledge, at least having gone through some formal training and discipline and then having the business background, whew, I can't imagine how big Larry's is gonna get someday. Yeah. And our daughter has learned how to do payroll and she helps with advertising and all the marketing. She's been doing that for a couple years along with her full-time career also.

9:28So we're kind of, you know, getting them all involved early on. You think you're lucky that you could be where you are? We're blessed. Blessed. Okay. I love that word. Yeah. Excellent word. We've both worked, but Larry has worked many hours to get us to where we're at. It did not happen overnight. And he's worked many long hours out in his garage behind the house and then growing the business.

9:56And, you know, I work— yeah, building the business. And it's just given us the opportunity to make it what it is today. You know, it's such a great point. And so many in our industry, Kara and Larry, are struggling that they're struggling. You guys, great story. Larry worked out in the garage in the back of the house, right? But there was a point in time, Larry, where you said it's time to step up.

10:20And I don't know what that means to you, but it means certain things to certain people. Then you opened a business, but there's also another time where you stopped saying, I'm not gonna be a hobbyist anymore. I'm gonna be a true professional business person. Take us back to that moment because there's not enough people realizing that, that jump that's so necessary. It wasn't just a more of a hobbyist.

10:43I was working at a dealership as a technician, and around '08 when the economy went bad, I started working at home a lot and building transmissions and fixing cars there. It was basically two full-time jobs. I was getting off at 5, 5:30 at the dealer, and I was working out in my shop till midnight, 1 o'clock in the morning. And it just got so busy where there are cars in my driveway all the time, which my wife said that was absolutely not gonna happen.

11:11So to keep those cars out of the driveway, they had to be in the garage. So I had to get them in and out fast. So I just got so busy that I couldn't take on two jobs anymore. So I quit the dealer full-time. I worked in the full-time in my shop for 6 years. I got so busy and I realized I had a great business, but it was only worth as much as my house was worth.

11:34So I convinced my wife that we had to build a shop elsewhere to get the clients away from our house. So if we ever want to move or sell our house or do whatever, we had a business. So, you know, grew from there. In 2020, we expanded, made a— built a shop around the corner twice the size. It was a little bit slower during COVID so I was my own contractor.

11:57So again, I was working day and night, a lot of my own building in my new shop. So When she said I built my business, I literally built my business. So you get this thing, you walk into this beautiful operation, you need to hire people. But when did you stop and say, I need to learn to be a professional entrepreneur? I don't think I really stopped to do that.

12:18I was just on the go all the time. And I, you know, working at the dealership, I knew a lot of people, so I would just add techs as the business grew. And, you know, not every tech is cut out for our shop. You know, I want people— we've got an ethic, we've got a morale here. I tell everyone in meetings, I want you to come to work happy and I want you to go home happy.

12:41If you're not happy, I don't want you working here. We'd out them people that come to work in a bad mood every day because all that does is bring down the rest of your shop. So culture seems to be a great culture, very clean operation, right attitude. Did it evolve from you asking your people, what kind of place do we want to create here?

13:02Was it just the way you and Kara, you're just fun, exciting, elixir-type people? Well, again, I've worked at dealerships and I see what to do and what not to do. I've worked with some bad eggs that will turn the whole shop upside down. You know, you get one grouchy guy and he starts pointing out everything, and then everybody thinks it's a bad place to work.

13:24But Larry, I got to stop you from there. There's too many people right now in our industry that let that go and they live in that. I guess the message is, is how do we convince people? Stop. That's a very hard thing to do. I've let some very good technicians walk because of their attitude. It's very tough and you put up with it for so long and then when they leave, you just feel like the weights just come off of your shoulders.

13:50It's like, you know, at first you're like, how am I going to replace that person? He was really good. But I think back to when I was at the dealer, they lost me and they're still in business. So, you know, I thought I was the greatest thing since sliced bread and they lost me and they didn't go out of business. So the same thing's going to happen to me.

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16:37You know, most shop owners feel trapped spending on ads while half their first-time customers never come back. It's frustrating. It's exhausting. And it's not your fault. The industry average is 54% one-and-dones. We understand how discouraging that can be. Well, Pit Crew Loyalty changes the story. Our clients cut that rate by up to 38%, raising lifetime value by more than 50%. Loyalty members visit nearly 3 times more often, creating predictable revenue without extra ad spend.

17:08Pit Crew Loyalty, where customers stay and shops thrive. On the web at pitcrewloyalty.com. Kara, as you were watching all this happen and very much a part of it, were you excited to see where the business was headed? Oh, it's definitely been exciting, but I'd have to honestly say I'm more of a cautious person than Larry. And so I'm always the one of, are you sure we can do this?

17:34Are we going to be okay? But he's always come through. So, but it's been definitely exciting and it's been, I mean, it's not just him, it's everybody that works for us. You can use that word, Kara. You said I came through, but you can say he was right. He was right. Tell her, Kara, tell her she can say it. All right, Kara.

17:53Yeah, yeah, he was right. Kara Podcast, you can, you could be as honest as you want. What a great team. It's like Larry's the visionary risk-taker and Kara, you're saying, ah, think that through, Larry, wait a few minutes. And Larry, was that healthy for you to slow you down a moment before you jumped? Probably so, because Kara had her own career and she come from the corporate world.

18:16So she knew, you know, all the employee side of it. You know, we needed a handbook. I knew nothing about. The business side of it. I knew fixing cars, making invoices, making people happy, but she knew the other part of payroll and, you know, needing a handbook and all the legalities of owning a business. So that was a great help. Where would you be without Kara right now?

18:41Probably still in my garage. I'd probably still be at the dealer, actually, to be honest with you. I'd still be working at a dealer. And that's a great admission And part of what I love to talk about on the show is how do we get people out of being— and I don't mean to be a hobbyist, but really, truly a specialist technician in the bays, loving to do that and not paying attention to HR and banking and all that stuff.

19:07Point of sale software. Right now, you'd probably just have you and a couple other people if you didn't have, again, Cara coming in saying, You know, Laird, I got this corporate America background and I know what we're doing over here. We've got to jump through some hoops to get there. And did you say anoint her, God bless her, holy oil and go?

19:29Well, to be honest with you, when we first decided that we were going to build a place and have employees, we went to talk to our accountant and he told me what it costs to own an employee or pay an employee. You know, all the added things, you know, all their benefits, their taxes, you know, everything that comes along with it, not just their hourly pay.

19:52I walked out of there and thought, I don't know if we can do this. And Kara was the same way, but our accountant has talked her into things that I couldn't too. So he's been a big help also. Those are humbling yet breakthrough moments to think back to. And to say that if we didn't turn that switch, step forward one step, swallow hard, realizing the risk we were taking, you guys wouldn't be where you are today.

20:21That's exactly right. It's a big risk. And I thank Kara for that quite often, that if she didn't have a good job, I might not have taken the risk back then. We were able to survive on her pay. So if I failed, we were still going to be okay. So that was a big help. It made it a lot easier. Do the kids know the risk you guys, you know, swallowed back then, the risk you took?

20:46I think they're starting to see that now that they're in the business. They didn't understand it back then. They had no idea. But every time we see a video or, you know, like one of your podcasts or Dem's podcasts, we'll send it to them and they watch it and they're like, wow, you know, they're starting to understand. The key is, is it's almost like shaking the, the leaves or the, the branches of the tree every once in a while.

21:11You need a windstorm in order to make things grow. Good for you. Great to have heard about your succession plan. And I know there's an awful lot of shop owners out there that do have family, but they're ignoring some really tough, big decisions that you have to sit down and talk about. That's the best thing to do is talk. Most parents don't talk to the kids about what it could be, the kind of money that can be made there, and where the younger generation can take it on further.

21:41You know, our son's coming up with new ideas, bringing in AI and some of the things that, you know, we wouldn't think of. So it's nice to have younger generations to come and see, and that's the best thing to do is have the shop owners, their parents talk to the kids so the kids understand the business more. And understand the commitment. Like, we sat down with our kids and we said, you know, is this something you want?

22:10And are you committed? We've put in the time and the effort up to now, and we'll still be here with you, but you have to put in the time and effort too. It's not just something where you get the key to the building and off you go. Like Larry said, our son, he went to Vision training a couple weeks ago. And he came back with a lot of great ideas.

22:32He put together a PowerPoint. He had a meeting at 6:30 in the morning with the whole team. And, you know, we're in the process of looking at doing some different rollouts and changing a few things that he learned about just within his few days at Vision. What's really great about the whole process is we're still going to be here while he starts implementing ideas and trying to help make our business better.

22:57So if it's good, we can support him and do it the right way. And if it's not good, we're still here so we can say, hey, let's look at this another way. We've already tried that and it didn't work or whatever. Or you let him do it even though you may see some risk in it and let him on his own basis, you know, come to you and says, Mom, Dad, I think I should have yanged and maybe I yanged.

23:19And you say, son, We've been through all of these. It's, it's that huge learning curve that we have. That doesn't mean that what you did was wrong. It's just that you didn't attack it correctly. And let's just regroup. I love that learning part of being an owner and entrepreneur leader. I wanna talk about the corporate America thing that, you know, Kara, you brought and Larry, you know, right?

23:43This happened because of where Kara was, but what if they, there isn't a spouse, a friend, a partner, a significant other that doesn't have this kind of background. The point is that I always try to make on our shows is there's companies like RSOT, there's all kinds of coaching companies that can come in and help. And so many times, well, I know what I'm doing.

24:05I know what I'm doing. And we do shows about all this time and owners come up and say, I had to get my ego and put it on the shelf so that I realized that I needed a mentor. I needed an accountability partner. Did that ever come into play for you guys? I don't think the ego side of it came into play at all with Larry.

24:22He recognized from the very beginning that he didn't understand the business side of everything as much as he did working on cars. So, when we got connected with Repair Shops, it really was a way for him to learn more about the business and understand the part we were missing. So, I don't think there's— been a problem with him personally, with that whole relationship.

24:46But I do think that we have benefited tenfold from Repair Shop. All of the connections, not just with our own coach, Ron, but all the connections that we have through Repair Shop. You know, you said, well, what do— I think your question was going to kind of lead to, what do these people do if they don't know what to do? And I think using a coach has been a great thing for us.

25:11I also think that using the things that NAPA has as a gold shop, they have a lot of different people that you can get in contact with and learn from. So I think shops really need to look down that avenue too and utilize what they offer you. A lot of it's free and it just really helps you do a lot of different things.

25:34That you might not know as a technician. That's a great point, Cara. And it's to both of you, as a NAPA Gold Shop, there's a lot of additional benefits that the program has. And one of them that I have been really paying attention to is the team tool rebate and the extra you earn as a Gold Shop. What did you do with your team tool rebate this year?

25:56We, uh, split it between our technicians. We have a couple apprentices that could use some tools, and I mean, who can't use tools, whether you're young and just starting out or you've been doing it forever. So we passed around the catalog and had everyone pick out tools and it equaled about $1,000 per technician that they all got in tools. I bought one item for the shop for everybody to use to, you know, it's an engine table, transmission table that drops everything out the bottom that makes the job easier.

26:28And then the rest all got split up between the technicians. That is a really good program. Everybody loved it. You know, I got to do an episode from shops like yours that have come up with the ideas to incorporate what Team Tool Rebate means at the end of the year. And you just gave me this wild idea about— and again, we've done an episode at Vision, by the way, with Pete McNeil on how he used his, and Jason was in the room and so was Matt Crumpton.

26:54It's a great episode, is coming out soon. Great ideas. Well, one of the thoughts that I had is if we're in a continuing education mode in our shop, our culture is the being a perpetual student and we're mounting up, be it leader-led, be it online, so many hours of training. Those hours of training can apply toward how we split the team tool rebate up.

27:17They train, they get tools. Yep. That's a good idea. So that's my— that's part of my job in this industry. Is to toss these great ideas up. Apprentice program, you told me in our discovery call that your son-in-law went through it. The apprentice program, as you probably know, is a 2-year program. And as I said, he joined us a year ago and he just completed his apprentice program.

27:40So he actually did it in 1 year and he's already passed a few of his ASC tests and he's registered to take a few more. So he really has put 100% into the program. Not only him, but we also, we have one other employee that was a graduate from the program, and then we have another one that is in the program right now.

28:05And we did have one that was not successful in the program, but it really allowed him the opportunity to figure out that being a technician was not for him. In the whole scheme of life. And it gave Larry the chance to sit down with him and talk through that and realize that, you know, this wasn't the career for him. So he was able to exit our shop and exit the career and go on and find something else to do.

28:36Those are tough conversations, Larry, aren't they? Very tough. It's the first one I've had at my shop. But when I was working at the dealer, they had an apprentice that I had to tell him he was not cut out for this work and he needed to find something else to do. And I think they know that already. You can tell by what the effort that they put into their job.

28:58It's— they don't know what to do. Their parents tell them they have to find something to do and they've gotten their license and they like cars and they like tinkering with them. So they think that they can work on cars. In reality, It's not for everyone, and you just gotta be blunt and tell them. There's nothing worse than seeing somebody struggle in life, no matter what it is, you know, whether it's everyday life or in their job.

29:23So, you know, I have to tell them, I have to be the bad guy sometimes. Some people look back and will probably walk in the door in 5 or 6 years and say, "Larry, thank you for letting me go." And I had, it was the best thing happened to my life and my career. Because sometimes people are way too close to their problem that you can see different and better than them.

29:44Yep, you're exactly right. Okay, you got loaner vehicles. Are they doing you well? Absolutely. The people love the loaner cars, and because we're open at 7:30, it allows the people to come and drop their cars off, get a loaner car, and still get to work by 8. Or they can— we've got a lockbox that they can drop off their cars we lock their keys up, they can pick up after hours, they drop their loaner car off after hours.

30:10It was a great move. And you know, I've gotten a lot of these ideas from me working the dealers. You know, we have worked at a dealer that had rental car program and there was a lot of people needing to rent cars. There wasn't enough cars to go around. When I first built, opened up my shop, I said, we're gonna have loaner cars.

30:29We're not gonna charge for 'em. All we require is them to put the gas back in it that they've used. And Yeah, everyone loves him. What a great move. Another thing that I noticed on your website, and, and in fact you've discussed it quite a lot here, the dealer alternative. You mentioned all of that great training that you had and the exposure that you had to the dealer world.

30:52That was that an impact on you calling yourself the dealer alternative, or do you just know you're so much better? In a lot of ways, I think we're better than a dealer. But the reason I say that is because the dealers and the manufacturers are trying to push it to the customers when they buy a car that they are required to bring their car back to the dealer for their warranty to be valid.

31:19They think if they go somewhere else for an oil change that it voids their warranty. A lot of people, just like with recalls, you know, we hear, was that a recall? Everybody really doesn't know what a recall means and what it is, just like they think that they have to take it to the dealer for their warranty to be good. So I say we're an alternative to the dealer because you don't really have to take it to the dealer.

31:42We can do anything that the dealer can, and in most cases better, with a better experience. Kara, are you all bought into that? Most definitely. I saw a lot of things at the dealership while Larry worked there over the years, and When he started his business, he was like, they did a lot of things wrong and didn't treat people the right way.

32:05And he goes, I want to treat people the right way. And so it's definitely has been the right thing and kind of the right mentality for our team here to talk about that. Let's talk about your counter. I am just convinced the importance of training for our specialists, technicians in the bays, but that I almost rate the counter trusting, developing relationships, personalities at our counter just slightly higher because it is one of the toughest jobs in our industry.

32:41How you guys bringing that kind of training? You're exactly right, Carm. So when we got this NAPA award, when we found out we could apply for it or put people towards winning that award. There's a Shop of the Year and there's a Technician of the Year. And I reached out to Jason Rainey and I says, you know, why don't we have a Service Advisor Award?

33:03The service advisor is the face of your company. When the person comes into that front door, that person needs to greet them. They need to have a smile. They need to make them feel welcome. And that is a big part of our company. We need to have a Service Advisor Award. And, you know, he said, "Well, nobody's ever brought that to the table.

33:23Never thought about that, but you're exactly right." And that's going on to what you just said, you know, they have to know what they're talking about, what they're doing. They've got a lot to learn and a lot to know as a service advisor. We do a lot of training with them too. It's kind of a little different. It looks a little different than it does necessarily with the technicians.

33:45Our local NAPA distributor, he does a fantastic job along with our BDG group of bringing in training opportunities for the front desk people. But then we've also started the Today's Class, and we've been doing that for about a year now. And every single person in our building from our GM all the way down to our oil changers, including our front desk, they all get a question., and they answer their questions a day and they learn from that.

34:16And it's really helped that front desk to be able to understand mechanical side of their job, but then also just the customer service side and giving the best experience we can to every customer. Well, you just mentioned, uh, Today's Class, David Boyce. Uh, he's a great friend, a great partner and sponsor of the show, and they just do a marvelous, marvelous job.

34:38What a unique and very precious idea. Let's talk about some community stuff. I noticed the 2024 Evansville Choice Award Platinum winner. I don't think you can get bigger than platinum. How cool is that? Tell me about that. We actually won it again for 2025. Yeah. So 2 years in a row. It's pretty exciting. It's the customers. It's all the people in the tri-state area that vote for their favorite company in whatever category.

35:11So ours was the auto repair. So that was pretty exciting to win that locally. Okay, Larry, I got to tell you something about your floors. Okay. One more time. So yesterday I'm at Lowe's and my wife and I are shopping for this particular light thing. And as we're walking around one of the corners, all of a sudden this machine comes out And it's a floor scrubber, Larry, with no one sitting on it, Larry.

35:40It is computerized, like those inventory robots that I've seen at BJ's where they're just walking around. I don't know how that stuff works. I'd love to know. But Larry, they have automated floor scrubbers today. That is nice. And when I've seen that also, but What I don't think it would work in a shop. Now it might after hours, but during hours, if you drop a part and this thing's coming through and it sweeps up a bolt while you're working, it could run into a problem there.

36:14Can you imagine at night, you know, at 9 o'clock at night, this thing turns on? It's kind of like those vacuum cleaners at home. Yeah. Yeah. You're exactly right. Do me a favor. Don't buy one, but just price one and let me know how much they cost. I bet they're pricey. You know, I would like to touch something back about the service advisors also.

36:36I don't mean to beat up on dealers, but I've— going into business, I've learned a lot about dealers. Where I think a lot of shops are missing it is they don't advertise. I know advertising is expensive, especially TV advertising, but when's the last time you've seen a dealer advertise their shop? You see all the car sales, the car advertisements, but they never advertise that they work on cars.

37:00The dealer's mentality is, you bought a car here, you have to bring it back to us. That's how they think they get their business. So we, since we don't sell cars, we have to advertise. That is a big help that grown our business is TV advertising. You know, it's the alternative, back to your question earlier, it's the alternative to the dealer because the dealer really isn't busy except for warranty work because the customer has to take their car back to the dealer for warranty work.

37:29So it's great to have a friendly face. You walk into a shop, mom-and-pop shop, and you get a friendly attitude. They help out. It just— we try to be one step ahead, or 10 steps ahead, I should say, than the alternative. On your website, there's a couple of videos. Are those your commercials that you run? Yes. Yep. Those are our TV commercials.

37:49Those are your TV. And you do TV and you feel it is a really big impact for you. I can tell you it's very expensive. And when we were approached about doing TV advertising, I said absolutely not. But it helps a lot. It's a big help. The way you have to advertising, which Kara does a great job at this, is a lot of people don't watch TV anymore.

38:09They got YouTube TV, you know, this and that. So we have to do it around sporting events, NASCAR, football, baseball, the news. People usually watch those things. So that's where we put in our ads. Makes all kind of sense. Well, look, uh, this was, uh, refreshing. Uh, thank you for your perspectives on a whole lot of things about the shop, your succession program, and of course, congrats to the NAPA 2025 Autocare Center of the Year.

38:35Final word, any great advice to shop owners out there that are looking to just jump to the next level? Kara, we'll do you first and then Larry. I would just say, if your heart's in it, go for it. Because if you don't take the risk— and I'm the one that should be saying that— but if you don't take the risk, you never will know.

38:56And it definitely has paid off for us and our family and all of our employees in the community. So we're able to give back to our employees and to the community both. So. It's been well worth it. You gotta go to the website, Larry's Automotive Repair in Newburgh, Indiana. Just look at the shop and the pictures and how you market yourself really, really well.

39:17Good job, Larry. Final word, sir. Well, you know what they say, no risk, no reward, right? Well, my wife, it took me a while to get her on board to take the risk and it's paid off. So for a shop, if I was to tell a, you know, a guy that's thinking about opening up a shop, If he's got the skills to work on cars, he's got 90% of what he needs.

39:41And there's, like you said, Repair Shops of Tomorrow. Give them a call. If you're thinking about it, give them a call and find the help that they can give you. And between them and NAPA, there's a lot of great help out that can guide you the rest of the way. I find it so interesting that you said he's got 90% of what it takes, but sooner or later, he needs to flip that to a 50/50 entrepreneurial and then the technology piece.

40:06Exactly. At some point when you start filling up your shop, you're going to need to either move up front or hire somebody to move up front. And for the longest time, I was doing both. I was front and back, and then I was up front, and then I've hired a general manager now. So, you know, I can do pretty much anything. Okay, I gotta keep going.

40:28I thought this was gonna be the end. Which job did you like the most, back in the shop or on the counter? Back in the shop. I still like being back in the shop. I like seeing people I know, greeting them, talking to them. So I don't have a problem with being up there. Before, when we were understaffed, I guess I say, as we are growing, you're always understaffed and looking for someone.

40:51So, I would cover for vacations for service advisors and stuff like that. And I like being up there a day or two, uh, helping customers, talking to customers and stuff. But, uh, my heart is in the back, in the shop. Yeah. Find what you do so well and do it. And I know some shop owners that say, hey, I've got a great GM and I've got everybody else and I'm back in the shop because that's my most natural tendency.

41:19That's what I love to do. But you still have to pay attention to the business. I don't care. You can't keep your head under the hood and not pay attention. And if you can't pay attention, hire RSOT. They will pay attention for you. Yeah. Repair Shop of Tomorrow. Hey, thank you so much. Great to hear your story. And, uh, we need to have you back when there's some big succession things going on.

41:43We'd love to talk about it. Okay. Sure. Maybe we'll bring our, uh, son in next time. That'd be great. Thanks guys. Larry and Kara Rose, owner, Larry's Automotive in Newburgh, Indiana. Thanks for being here, man. Thank you. Thanks, Carm. Thanks for being on board to listen and learn from the premier automotive repair business podcast, Remarkable Results Radio. Get your episodic education on the ARPN listing app at automotiverepairpodcastnetwork.com.

42:09Also enjoy the podcast on our Carm Capriato YouTube channel. Karm is all for advancing the professional automotive service industry. Until next time.