Why Some Technicians Are Leaving Flat Rate | Daniel Whitey

0:00Do you have any advice for the young technicians coming in, Daniel? You have to have like a hustle attitude as far as like, oh yeah, you know, I'll do that for you, I'll get that done. Get comfortable using tools. Just because something looks like you can't remove it without removing, you know, 8 other things, like take your time and You know, it all has to come from within you.

0:28It is a hard industry. Like, I think back, like, there was definitely times when I wasn't sure if I was going to keep going. Like, I was like, "Do I really want to keep doing this?" If you're going to do it, like, it's definitely not a career that you're just going to coast through. Like, this has to be something you're really passionate about.

0:45You have to be willing to constantly learn and adapt to new things. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to another exciting episode of the J.D. Mechanic Podcast. We're sitting here the first week of June and we're just kind of rolling into the nice weather. We had a, I say nice weather, and this morning we had like crazy downpour and high winds this morning.

1:18But for Canada, it's pretty nice. And you know, you're like, you're always talking about Canada. Yeah, well, and guess what? There's another Canadian guest today. That's just me still trying to be the 51st state, right? You know, I had some people get on me this week about my duck, my, uh, MAGA duck, my Make America Great duck, and, um, Donald Trump and the whole thing.

1:41And it's just like, I'll tell everybody, don't take it too seriously, okay? I'm not standing on one side of the aisle or the other. It's just, uh, it's all fun. So it's a duck in a Jeep, okay? But Speaking of Canadians, Daniel Whitehead is with me today. He's from the York Region up near Toronto, if anybody's familiar with that. And he reached out to me and wanted to be, just to kind of, you know, as we always do, kind of shoot the shit and talk.

2:06So Daniel, how's it going, man? Doing good, bud. How are you? Very good. Very good. Little stiff. I woke up, anytime it rains like that, this one gimpy shoulder that I have gets really sore. So it's like, Almost before you get out of bed, you know what that's like. But I mean, this morning I go to this like church dinner or breakfast with my parents and my brother.

2:32And you know, you're seeing all the old people sit around there, talk. And the one guy in front of us, literally like, you know, only one leg and then a prosthetic on the stump and wearing shorts and he's grinning his head off, right? And I'm like, well, I'm not gonna get here and bitch about anything. 'Cause like— It's all relative, right? Yeah.

2:49So how's things there, man? Things are good. As you said, the weather's been nice lately. I was off the last week of May from work and the weather was perfect. And yeah, I can't complain. Summer's just started. It's exciting always, right? Yeah. Now, what did you do for your week? You said you had a week off? Yeah, just took it easy. Took the kids to the zoo, stuff like that.

3:14Tinkered around with the cars a little bit, you know. Uh-huh. The last time— it's been 20 years since I've been to the Toronto Zoo. Oh really? Oh yeah, it's because I'm just sitting there thinking, we took my nephew and he was still in a stroller, and I— so yeah, it's probably been pretty close to 20 years. Drove past the exit a bunch of times.

3:38Like, I was just in Vaughan Mills with my brother um, last weekend at Bass Pro Shops, right? Getting ready for this coming season. And, uh, yeah, I'm like, too far. Yeah, no, that is— yeah, too far from where we are. Yeah, yeah, it's, um, I never minded Toronto, you know what I mean? Like, it's like the traffic is crazy. Oh, absolutely. Compared to anywhere in Canada.

4:03Yeah, but it's still manageable. Like, I drove around in Montreal a bunch And I'll take driving in Toronto over Montreal any day, any day. Me too. No right turns on reds there. The cops wait for you when they see your Ontario plate. Oh, is he gonna turn? Right? Yeah. Yeah, you see the Quebec plates fly by you, right? Speeding. Yep. They never get pulled over.

4:27You're speeding? On the come, get the Ontario guy. Second, you do anything. Oh yeah, they'll nail you, man. It's a trip. And actually, I should be careful because I had a guy reach out to me from, he's from Quebec City and he wants to be on the show. So I probably shouldn't, I should probably be nice to the French a little more.

4:45I'm always nice to them. I just, you know, they know what they are. So kind of give us, tell us a little bit about yourself, Daniel. Like how long you been doing this? This crazy thing that we call being an auto mechanic. So I, um, I first, I went to college for it when I was 23. Okay. And I'm 36 now, but I really, to me, I've really been doing it consecutively professionally for about 11 years now.

5:15Okay. Okay. Yeah. For, for about 11 years. And, um, I've been licensed for almost 6 years. Yeah. Yeah. There's that licensing that we're, you— you know, always pops up in the conversation now. Like, we're starting to— people are starting to know what that means, right? Because again, a large part of the listener group is still the Americans where we don't— they don't have that, right?

5:41Um, and you're seeing now they're talking in the last couple weeks about people are like, they're really on the fence about— they don't want that to happen in the, in the, in the U.S. because they're, you know, government involvement, but What do you think about the, like, coming up through the apprenticeship program and getting the license? What did you think about it?

6:02Well, for me, I, I really, I was always fast, like, interested and fascinated with cars ever since I was a kid. I always wanted to know how they worked and stuff like that. So I didn't, my high school didn't have an auto shop program or anything like that. I After high school, I found myself working a few different retail jobs, and then I actually, I went to university for a little while, and that, okay, just wasn't really what I wanted to do.

6:31So then I found myself working at the Toronto Star. Oh, nice. The production plant, which was in Vaughan, and I worked there for several years. And over the course of time I was there, I got the opportunity to sort of move up a little bit, and I got to know my mailroom foreman Jim pretty well. And I did some training programs. I used to create standard operating procedure manuals, all types of different stuff.

7:02And then one day, he just— we were going over the stuff I had done, and he just looked at me and said, Daniel, this place is not going to be around for you for the long run. You have to figure out what you want to do with yourself now. You know, you're a young guy, you got to get going and do something bigger than this place because it's not going to be around, right?

7:22Yeah. And, you know, no manager or boss I've ever had has said anything like that to me. So, you know, I really took that to heart. So I just figured to go all in and just do automotive because I sort of always knew it was something, at least learning how to fix a car and how to do certain things. It was always something I wanted to learn how to do.

7:42Right. Or I went to college, I had, you know, done basic things. Like one time the tire was flat on the driveway, you know, I put the spare on, uh, you know, change the car battery, stuff like that, wiper blades. But I will say, back to your original point of the apprenticeship process, I think it's— I mean, it's not perfect, but I think overall it's a good system to have in place because down in the States, as you know, we talked— you've talked about with so many different people, it's really just the ASC program.

8:15And even then, they don't— I don't think they mandate that people get their ASCs. It's sort of up to them, right? Yeah, it's all— it's all on the— on the— on the choice of the employer to either make the people recognize it, right, or on the individual to, to, to take the test, to, to have a— I don't want to say proof of knowledge, but like the tests show a level of competency to some understanding.

8:42And competency being the understanding, not necessarily because, you know, oh, listen, lots of people can take a test, but you know, you put the tools in their hand. Yeah, I know, and, and you're not wrong, but it shows a level of understanding at least of the, of the systems that they're teaching, right? You have to— if you passed it, yeah, you probably understood how that system worked.

9:05And, you know, what happens in the shop is a different thing altogether. I talk all the time about, like, I'm, I'm the kind of technician that's not— never been super fast and, you know, can blow a whole transmission apart on a bench and remember every little piece goes. That's not me. I have to be, like, meticulously laid out, and I have a process to it, or else I'll, I'll forget to, you know, the order, something, have to go back.

9:32So that maybe— does that mean that I can't be a mechanic? No, because obviously 30 years later I've been successful being a mechanic. It's just I have to, you know— but I have a really good understanding of systems, right? And that's where I've been allowed to, to keep up and still be very, you know, uh, successful, is because of the sense that like my brain understanding helps me get through with my brain's inability to remember photographic memory of how, you know, shit looks.

10:04I don't— I'm just— I don't know where I am on the spectrum on that, but I'm definitely there somewhere. What, um, what college you go to up there? So I did a 2-year program at Centennial College. It was a Chrysler, Chrysler co-op diploma program. Nice. So how it worked was we did our first 8 months in school, we did, um, Level 1 and Level 2 Okay, then we went to paid co-op placements for 8 months.

10:34Then we came back, we did Level 3. As in, when I say Level 1, 2, and 3, I mean, you know, as mandated by, you know, well, at the time I guess it was the College of Trades. Yeah, that's gone now. Yeah. And then they had a Level 4 program which was a little more Chrysler-specific, I guess, as far as like the new stuff that was coming out.

10:58It was a very good program. Especially for somebody like me. I mean, I had to learn, you know, everything, not just like the fundamentals and knowledge base behind it, but, you know, kind of getting in and, you know, getting used to using tools. You know, that's its own other thing as well. But for me, I, I took my time with it and I persevered and I, I got through it.

11:20And, uh, I've never looked back myself. Um, a few guys I went to college with, I'm still in touch with. Actually, two of them After graduation, we all worked together at the same Chrysler dealer. Oh, nice. Yeah, we all worked there together. And one of the guys is still there now and another guy has moved on. And myself, I've moved on as well.

11:48But yeah, a few guys that we went to college with, you know, 13 years ago, whatever it is, you know, we still, still hang out once in a while and catch up. So it's pretty cool that way. What, what made you pick the Chrysler program? Um, at least when I was looking at everything on paper, it seemed to me to be the most comprehensive program in terms of— when I read what it was about, it seemed like it really had an idea and, you know, a direction.

12:20You know what I'm trying to say? Yeah. Um, not just that, but I've At the time, as I said, I've always been into cars, and you know, like when Chrysler brought back the, you know, the Dodge Challenger, and yeah, what was it, like 2008 or something like that? I was like, okay, here we go, they're starting to, they're starting to pick up again, you know?

12:41Yeah, because I mean, I hit Chrysler in 2003, so I can remember like the first, you know, the first like the, the C-Class semi car coming, right? And the rear-wheel drive, like the old 300s. I can remember them coming, and, and I can remember when the PT Cruiser hit, and that was a big deal, right? Like, oh my God, like a PT Cruiser.

13:02And, and because before that it had been the Viper, and then everything else was a Caravan, you know what I mean? Like, it was like you had a Neon, you had a Caravan, you had a Viper, and you had the Ram truck. And then they— when the rear-wheel drive cars hit, I was just like, oh yeah. And then of course the Jeep thing too.

13:19Like, I'd always loved Jeeps as a kid. So when I hit, it wasn't by choice that I picked Chrysler. I literally, same kind of thing, I had some friends that worked at the dealer and I was in a small little independent shop not making enough money to survive. And that's not a knock on them, it's just, and I went to the dealer because like I was there with these guys that were like making $5 more an hour than I was way back in like 2002.

13:44And they weren't flat rate, they were just, like hourly, and they're making $5 more. And they're like, why don't you come work with us? And I'm like, oh, I've heard all these things about working at a dealer. Like, it's, uh, I'll starve. And, you know, their politics. And, and they're like, um, and I was intimidated. I was literally intimidated where I was.

14:06They weren't trying to, but it was like I wasn't getting exposed to anything. And they're like, I didn't feel like I was ready. And they're like, oh no, trust me, you're ready. You're smart enough to come work with us. Like And I'm like, yeah, because my test scores are doing pretty good. And, you know, I'm in the shop working next to you guys on the, on the labs, and I'm doing fine.

14:23Well, I, I went, and it was the best thing I ever did in my career to start out, because I got exposed and I got training that I would have never got at the little shop that I was at. Not to say— and I'm not trying to sit here and say like indie shops are dead ends, obviously I'm not saying that— but I was in one of those shops that we talk about in the groups that like It's, it's one of those shops that they set themselves up and design themselves to be— I'll say it— to be the cheapest option in the neighborhood.

14:52And then there's no room for advancement there. Like, they can't to bring on— if they're hiring young people, they're always hiring young people because it's cheap labor, not because they're trying to get young people to become great technicians. They just— the money's not there. Like, we didn't have training, we had one scan tool, no service information. Like, it was, it was just Half the customers were paying on like a never, never pay plan.

15:17Like, you know, come by and pay once a week with some cash. And it was just a gong show. We put on the cheapest parts we could find. Like everything was cars that somebody went and bought that needed to be safety. And then when you looked at it, you're like, wow, this thing's really bad. Right? And then it's like, well, how do I mean, I already bought the car, you know, like, wow, how do we get it ready?

15:38So that was a big part of what I did was like oil changes and tires and safety inspections. And on these, I remember these old rotten Toyotas and like old rotten Hondas and everything was rotten. And learned a lot, but I was going broke. Like I was making $10 an hour. And the running joke was like the tool truck, there'd be a tool truck every day, a different one.

16:05And if you went out and bought a tool off the truck and it was $80, you worked for free that day, right? Yeah, that's right. You know, 8 hours times $10, you just worked for free. Um, and I laugh about it now, but it was the finding a Chrysler dealer that hired me and taught me everything that it taught me really did save my career for sure.

16:27So, and that, that just became why I love the product. Like, we I know I'm going to ramble, but we in the shop yesterday had a 2023 Demon and I want to say like a 2022 TRX truck. I don't know if that's the right kind of date, but it's about that. This guy's trying to sell them both anyways or something. And like, just to be walking around those two cars, like, or those— I've never seen a TRX up close.

16:53I've seen lots of Challengers before, but I'd never seen a TRX up close. That thing is something like entirely unto its own. Like, it's not like people like, looks like a Raptor. It's nothing like a Raptor. It's completely— I don't know, it, man, it's, it's a truck, but oh my God, is it— it's so much more than that. It's just ridiculous. They fired them up, and of course, like, the boss wouldn't let me drive them around the street because he knows what's going to happen if I drive them.

17:24I come back with a speeding ticket, but it was just so cool to be around those two cars. And it was like, because for me, you know, people have heard me say it, that's why I love Chrysler, right? That's why, that's their heritage is building ridiculously stupid, high horsepower, loud, obnoxious, you know, throwback cars. And then they still build the best truck in the market.

17:50I don't care what anybody says, but yeah. Sorry, I agree. Yeah, Ram. Yeah, that's my favorite truck too. Sorry to cut in everyone, but this is really important. As a tech, I've seen firsthand how frustrating it'd be to work in a shop bogged down by outdated systems and inefficiencies. It happens all the time, right? That's why here at the Jaded Mechanic, we're partnering with TechMetric to help change the industry and your shop.

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19:00It's— it just feels different, eh, when you— when you drive a Hemi Ram and then you get into like a Silverado. And I'm not knocking anyone else, but it just has the way that that engine wakes up in the power band when you're driving it is just different. It's just different. Absolutely. And it's always been different. Like, it's just even— because again, like, I worked there when the first Hemis hit, so we were always running the old 5.9s and, you know, 4.7s and 5.2s.

19:26They were junk. And then when that Hemi truck came, it was like, holy shit. Like, it's— it was different, you know. Everybody wants a 5.3 and LS the world is what they say, but like, no, man, you want to Hemi swap the world if you want to do something. Like, it's just a different it's a different beast. So sorry. What's, um, did you ever get to drive one of the Demons?

19:48Never driven a Demon. Yeah, um, I had to go with my service manager at the time, um, across the street. The owner of our auto group, he had, uh, he had one down in the basement bunker. Nice. And, um, I guess for whatever reason he wanted the carpet liner installed in it, so I had to go down there with him and put it in.

20:10So I've never driven one, but I've Yeah, satin one. I've driven Hellcats, I've driven, you know, SRT 392 Shakers. Yeah, Charger Daytonas, you know, all that kind of stuff. Never driven— well, I've driven a TRX into my bay. That's about it, you know, for an oil, for an oil change. But even just sitting in the TRX, you can just tell like this is a serious truck, man.

20:37Oh yeah, it's— so I— yeah. It like, and I sat in both of them and I'm like, it just the way it feels like you're sitting in that, like you just, and I know performance cars have a feel, but there's just something about those two. Like the way the cockpit around the TRX is designed, I'm just sitting in it. I'm like, this is like, this is not supposed to be a truck.

21:01A truck is not supposed to feel like this seat and the console and the steering wheel and the shift. Like it's not supposed to feel like that. It's just, It's ridiculous. And then, you know, the Demon is just, I don't know, it's like something cool from like the '70s, but walked in and then all of this technology going on and performance. Like, we're talking 700, 800 horsepower.

21:29Like, it's nothing like what anybody ever drove back in the day, right? It's just ridiculous. Exactly. No, that's right. Yep. 100%. Yeah, again, like you said, the heritage— sorry, the heritage with Chrysler, like, that's sort of something that drew me into, because I love all, you know, the classic cars and the Challengers, Hemi Cudas, stuff like that, Chargers. So yeah, I agree.

21:50Yeah, it's definitely a cool lineage. And they're still— they kind of got off the track for a little while, but they think they're bringing the Hemi back, so we'll see if they, uh, do some gas Chargers. Yeah, because that electric one— get rid of that electric. Have you heard one? Have you heard the speaker exhaust startup? Yeah. Yeah, so have I. And it's almost like, I mean, does it serve a function?

22:20Sure it does, but I just almost would have been better without that, you know what I mean? Like, yes, I think so too. 'Cause it's just, it gets your attention, which I guess is what it's supposed to do. But no, I mean, just, it might, a piece of my heart breaks every time when I hear it, you know. There's a Chrysler dealer right across the road from me actually that like where I used to work years ago.

22:45And so yeah, I remember they had one out front for a little while and I'm like, that's just looks wrong, you know. Yeah, I mean, you know what, um, when you started at the dealer, what kind of— what were some of the jobs that like you were really excited about? And then what were some of the jobs that you were like kind of intimidated by?

23:08So for me, when I first started working there, the place I did my co-op at first, I, I worked in— I did a few different things in the service department. I you know, moved cars out of the drive-through and stuff like that. And then I got to work in the, you know, the quick lube bays, but they were all, you know, drive-on racks.

23:28And, you know, we were just doing oil changes and, you know, filters and wiper blades and stuff like that. So then when I came, when I got hired at the dealer after graduation, I still had a fair amount of kind of catching up to do, I felt, as far as like, okay, let's learn how to rack a truck. Let's learn how to rack this car, you know, on a two-post.

23:50So then what ended up happening was, uh, me and another apprentice that had already been there, and he had more hands-on, I guess you could call it, experience than I did. They kind of elected the two of us to be in charge of, uh, their new, uh, what did they call it, uh, Quick Lane. Yeah, or Express Lane. Chrysler Express Lane. Yeah.

24:10So then he and I did that for probably about almost a year, and we would do everything. We would do obviously oil changes. We even did mount and balance tires, tire repairs. Sometimes we would even do the odd little recall flash here and there, depending. And then we would inspect the cars, and then, you know, if something, you know, something was loose in the front end or something like that, you know, we call like a what senior licensed guy over and have him kind of verify, oh yeah, there's something wrong with this car, you know.

24:45So we were both, we were both learning, but we learned from each other, and then we both got away from that. So then it was actually— I've heard you talk about mentorship before, so I actually had a great opportunity at this dealer because, you know, while he and I were doing our Quick Lane, you know, jobs you know, all the kind of older guys that have been there for a while, you know, they kind of saw, okay, these guys can work, these guys can move, they at least can do tires and oil changes and put wheels back on properly and torque them properly.

25:18So then he and I sort of start— each started working with a licensed, uh, technician, and, um, we were their apprentices, and that lasted for quite a while as well. So even when I went, uh, my buddy Sean Billy, when I went to work with him, I still had a lot of— a long way to go, but he, he taught me a lot.

25:40And he was, I would say, one of their top earners. And he was a guy that, at least in my opinion, he could pretty much fix anything. It was a really good, well-rounded tech. He could solve an electrical problem, he could do suspension work, he could do AC, like he could do everything, you know. So for me, it was not so much that I was ever afraid to do something, but I was always just trying to learn as much as I could and do things properly, if you know what I'm trying to say.

26:17You know, I didn't want to— you know, even now where I am, and even, even while I was at the dealer, I've always kind of had a certain amount of quality control for myself when a job gets shipped out, even if it's just, you know, a four-wheel brake job, so to speak, right? So for me, like, I wasn't always the fastest. Like, you know, certain things, yeah, I could get in and out and bang out, but, um, I was never like, you know, lightning speed kind of guy.

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27:51But things I was excited to do when I worked with Sean, we had the opportunity to do, we actually did an engine in a Hellcat. Oh nice. Did a long block. Yeah, we did a long block. So what happened was it had come from another dealer, they took it off the delivery truck and I can't remember exactly what happened but I think the story is it overheated when the guy at the other dealer was doing his PDI test drive and then they started started poking around, and then I don't know, they didn't want the car anymore.

28:27They did— that dealer did— wanted nothing to do with that car. So then, however it happened, our dealer ended up getting it. And then, uh, yeah, me and Sean, uh, got the car and got to do the engine in it. And that was sort of the first time he kind of left me alone, really, and said, okay, this is what you need to do, you know, go.

28:48He had done that before for smaller, you know, smaller things. Like, I remember the first day I started working with him He hands me a work order and a set of keys and he goes, okay, bring in this Ram truck and change the serpentine belt. It pays 18 minutes. Go. Yeah. Yeah. You know, type of a thing. So that was a, that was a really, that was one job I did there that, uh, I was still obviously an apprentice at the time, but that was something I'll always remember because it was the first time I'd ever really done a big, a big heavy line repair, let's call it.

29:20Yeah. You know, yeah. And even then, you know, putting everything back together, making sure everything's right. And then, you know, we got to drive it after. Obviously we had both keys. We kept, you know, we took the red key in the car. You know, it was a lot of fun getting to drive it after, you know, we had just done all this work to it, right?

29:37Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the kind of jobs that's almost like, you know, and I've talked to so many dealer techs and it's like, yeah, they hate that sometimes, like, they lose their butt on some of the jobs, but just like getting to do the quality control test drive on something like that, you'll almost like give up an hour pay or whatever because it's just, when else are you gonna get a chance to really, you know, like flog one of those cars, right?

30:02Like you, and that's part of it. You put an engine and you gotta really get that thing up to temperature and like you're shaking it down, right? And yeah, I'd still be a sucker. You know, if they came back to me and said, Jeff, come back and all you're gonna work on is like, you know, Scat Packs and Demons and like, but it's not going to pay great.

30:25I'd be like, okay, I'll do it, twist my arm, you know, just let me road test all of them. And that's, that's what always cranked me is like the salesman or, you know, even my boss at this job now, he like, you know, because he's been in the used car market for a while, so you don't ever really own anything, but you get to demo it, right?

30:42Extended demos. That's right. He had a stick shift, um, uh, you know, Scat Pack years ago. And he said it was just stupid to drive that thing around. Like he said, it was almost— you couldn't drive it in town because the tires were breaking free all the time with a stick, right? Like an automatic, you know, you just put it in D and kind of like just keep your foot out of the pedal and you'll be all great.

31:04He says that it's just like you're just trying to roll away from a stop and, you know, chirping the tires. So I had to get rid of that. It was a heat score. But he said it was just So much fun to drive, you know. So anyway, those cars just want to go, man. Yeah, even the 5.7s, like, you know, I can remember the old— the older 5.7s with a stick.

31:24I drove an SRT8 Challenger, a yellow one, back. It was one of the last PDIs I ever did for Chrysler, and, you know, stick shift. And it was like, that car was still stupid fast, and it's a 5.7. Like, the 6.2s now, and it's just like, supercharger? What? Hello? Like, yeah. You know, thank you, I'm, I'm good now, right? Like, I've scared myself.

31:48I don't need to, you know, drive supercars because I've driven, I've driven lots of Teslas, and I mean, that's impressive, right, how it'll accelerate and all that shit, but it doesn't have that feel, you know? It just, it feels so controlled and refined, whereas you drive something like that, and, and Corvettes are the same, it feels refined. You drive a Chrysler, it's just like, this feels like a car.

32:15Like, this feels like a car that could hurt me, and it— but in a good way, right? You know? Oh, absolutely. My favorite one to drive was always the, um, yeah, the Charger, uh, with the 5.7 and the shaker hoods. Yeah, that one was always my favorite because, yeah, still plenty of power, and I just loved, uh, I love seeing that hood scoop out the front of the windshield, you know?

32:40Yeah, yeah. So going back to the, the job experience, because we can't keep talking about these cool cars because it just, um, so did you say that for overall, like, the dealership then they had a pretty good idea about mentorship for you? Like, it sounds like it, it was just sort of one of those things where I don't know if it officially was ever the service manager was like, okay, you're gonna go do this now, but it just sort of ended up panning out for us.

33:10I will say we were a pretty apprentice-heavy dealership. And then even after me and my buddy went to go work with the two techs, they had other people they hired and brought in. So it was definitely a very good experience. Like, that's, you know, I did my whole apprenticeship at this dealer. I got licensed there. Like, to me, like, I wouldn't— definitely wouldn't be where I am now without, you know, that place and that group of guys and, you know, my my buddy Sean that, you know, pretty much showed me all the stuff I know and at least gave me some confidence to be able to try to tackle things.

33:48Because it did end up happening where obviously I couldn't be his apprentice forever. Yeah. So then I did start working on my own at one point. I got my own bay, but he was, you know, he was pretty understanding of that and he would still help me when I would, you know, need help with certain things. But, um, Yeah, then I started working on my own, and, um, that was its own, you know, a new thing for me too.

34:14Yeah. And, um, it was a good experience though. I was still hourly when I started working on my own, so I could still kind of take my time. I would try to obviously hustle where I could, but certain things obviously I couldn't. Yeah. And then, um, I went flat rate, obviously still working on my own, and then I really tried to go lightning, lightning, lightning, and nothing bad happened, so I guess it was okay.

34:43But, um, it wasn't— for me at least, flat rate is— I definitely had good days with it and some decent paychecks here and there, but it was never like consistently, yeah, It never consistently worked for me, if you know what I'm trying to say. I, you know, 100% always make my 40 hours every week or make 50 hours. It was sort of always around a certain threshold where it was okay, but it was not enough money to, you know, make a good living, right?

35:15Yeah. And we know what it's like in Canada, right? You get that tire season, that twice annual thing, and all of a sudden you just see a lot more cars, right? And that's when you got to really hustle down and like, and get it done. And those were the days that I'd work the long days. Like, I'd work 7:30 in the morning till 8 o'clock at night, right?

35:34Because if they had— I can remember, like, if they had a bunch of like cars that were in waiting to get tires put on, we only had 2 tire machines and like other work to be done. So they were like— I'd stay and get— knock out 2, 3 sets of tires, you know, at the end of the day after everybody went home.

35:52'Cause my dealer, we didn't like, they didn't dispatch used cars to just anybody and they didn't dispatch PDIs to just anybody. There was only one guy that got used cars and one guy that got PDIs. So, you know, when I, I'm jealous of the guys that I hear about, like, well, you know, when I had a tough week, they'd throw me a couple used cars and they'd throw me PDIs.

36:11Like, that didn't happen for me. We had to, we had to make it on whatever we could find. So I was, jealous of the guys that when I hear that, you know, their dealer would kind of, and I'm not saying it was right or wrong, would kind of keep that for to help people out that were down on hours. I thought that was always really cool.

36:30I'm like you, I stayed hourly for a long time. And when I was hourly, because I was hourly, I got a lot of crap jobs. And I don't mean crap like just recall after recall. I mean like, Here's another check engine light. Here's another, you know, when it rains, the, you know, power, you know, the wipers turn on by themselves, Caravan, and stuff like that.

36:56And it was just like, go figure it out, you know. I remember I was on early in my apprenticeship, we had a V10 truck, not a Viper truck, just the old 6.8 V10. And it was in a 3500 with a dump box on the back. And we didn't have even a hoist that would fit on.. And, um, they sold this truck to this French guy, and, um, he blew the engine up in it, seized it right up.

37:20And so he had some kind of extended warranty through the used car department, and like, we had to put an Alon block into this fucking truck. And I could remember, like, boy, yeah, it wouldn't fit on the hoist. I had to do it on the ground.. And then of course, because it seized up, I had to like pretty much take the mains out.

37:42And so I could spin the crank to get, you know, the flywheel to come off. Right. Because, you know, it was just, I was like 2 weeks getting that truck done. I was not fast. Right. And it was like, but it was in a, it was in a flat bay between 2 bays that like, you know, and I had parts laying blown all over the place.

37:59There's probably 6 bags of floor dry on the floor by the time it was done. Like it was, But it was cool to get it done and then drive it. And of course, after you drive it, you realize that it's like, oh, okay, it's got a bad ignition coil, which was common— or not ignition coil, coil pack— which was common on the 6.8s.

38:17But like, you couldn't have known because when it came in, it came in deader than dead, you know, seized up. And, uh, I can remember going through the diag on that going, well, why is it only firing on, you know, 5-cylinder coil pack. Uh, so it was just one of those things where it was like nobody was chewing my butt, nobody, because by then we'd already had so much money into that job that buying an $80 coil pack at the time didn't make any— like, didn't break anybody's hearts, didn't make anybody mad, right?

38:45It was just get the truck running. And, um, I can remember that job, and there's some other ones I remember doing that just sucked. I remember, uh side impact curtain airbag on a brand new Grand Cherokee. Like, it had 300 kilometers on it, and it went through PDI, and we didn't PDI it, but it went through PDI. Pretty sure the airbag light on.

39:08And then of course the customer picked it up and then brought it back. And, uh, the reason the guy that did the PDI didn't write it up for her is because he would have— they would have asked him to start looking at it, and he didn't want to, so he never did. Um, and I remember finding that— that was the first time I'd ever seen it.

39:22They had pinned on a terminal but never stripped the actual wire, the insulation off it. So it was like the, the terminal was crimped around the wire, but there was— wasn't touching copper. And that was a trick because it was inside the connector, right? Like, it's hard to see. And, uh, that took me a while to figure out because I remember I just went to the module and started depinning at the module and switching stuff around and going, well, when I run that circuit down to the other side, like switch left or right like we do with ABS or whatever, Um, it's still, you know, the code's following, so it must be a bad inflator.

40:01So get an inflator, go and put it in the exact same thing. What the hell's going on? It's at the connector at the inflator, right? So it was just— I was, I was— first time I'd ever seen that. I'm like, this doesn't make sense. And you take the connector apart and you're like, oh, that's pretty cool. Then you go to, you know, you go to your drawer and you get your connectors out and you find the connector that has the right pin and you re-pin the damn thing and it's fixed.

40:25But like And it's good. That was the first time I'd ever seen them do that, that they forgot to strip the wire and then make the connection. That was dumb. So, you know, I've seen my fair share of brand new— I've seen my fair share of brand new PDI cars with some kind of light on, and then you, yeah, tear half the car apart to find something not plugged in, or yep, you know, whatever, right?

40:48Yeah, it's frustrating, isn't it? Because then it's like And I don't know, you've probably phoned Techline once or twice, but I can remember phoning them and they're like, "What? It's doing what?" And it's like they wouldn't believe you. And I'm like, "Trust me, man, like it's okay." And then they'd call back, you know, or you'd reach out to them like a week later and you find it and they're like, "Oh yeah, that makes sense now.

41:09Okay, yeah." Like they were pretty cool to call. I enjoyed talking to them on the phone. And if people are listening, be like, "Oh yeah, sure, Jeff, you called them all the time, I bet, right? You dummy." No, but it was like you would get really weird stuff and like you would call them up and it's like, and they were pretty smart.

41:26They had seen, well, they hadn't seen it personally, but again, when they sit there and they collect all that, you know, case findings and stuff and sit there and pour through it, they were a really good asset because they had heard of at least, and they'd say, oh yeah, go look at this one. You know, floors, I talk about all the time, caravans had those floor spices under the carpet.

41:44That would rot and corrode and do all kinds of weird stuff. And the old Jeep Libertys, first-gen Jeep Liberty, had this connector underneath the console that had like 100 wires in it, and it would fill up with water and do weird stuff. Like, you know, we had one and it was like you turn on the rear wiper and the radio would switch stations.

42:03It was, it was ridiculous. Like, it was stupid. And it was this big connector. Oh yeah, some of the electrical problems you see in Chrysler cars especially Yeah, you know, you got to approach the fundamentals though. That's the thing, right? You just got to break it down to what is it, and then, you know, like, absolutely, people trash on them, but I love the product.

42:26I really do. It taught me so much. I do, I do as well. I don't drive one, but there's— I do like, I do like the product, and I definitely will always maintain that it's definitely a good brand to learn on if you're going to a dealership. Because it's such a big brand and there's so many different types of vehicles. And again, their service information— I found this after I left Chrysler.

42:50Yes. And tried another brand. The service information is really par to none. Yeah, it's fast. The best there is, 100%. Yeah. So when we, when we talk, you know, the service, everything. Yeah, topology. Like, that's everybody that's using any kind of scan tool now that has topology, you can thank Chrysler for that. They invented that shit. Like, so I mean, you know, people want to rip on them and it's like, I mean, yeah, they're not perfect, but I mean, like, look at Ford or look at like, I mean, everybody has their problems though.

43:22Chevrolet has their problems. But did you get into the EV stuff going back to the, you know, talking about the Charger? No, I, so I left, I left Chrysler in the tail end of 2021. Okay, I left there. So we started getting, I think, those, um, like hybrid Jeep Wranglers and stuff like that, but there was no electric, fully electric cars yet.

43:46So I never really even— I've never driven one of them. I've never serviced one or looked at it. That was just sort of around the bend when I was going there. Yeah, or when I left there, you know. Yeah, those, um EV and hybrid Wranglers are not doing well from what I've heard. They got lots of, uh, lots, uh, more than one engine issue, I guess, on the— which is, I guess, the Tornado.

44:11And you can't blame the fact that it's a hybrid, but I guess I know, I know two that were hybrid Wranglers that like literally came off the truck and the engine was junk. So, and, um, two of them, and then it was like 8 months to get a replacement engine. Like, it sat there like that long. That's crazy. Um, I can remember the first, uh, I wasn't certified to work on it, but my co-worker was.

44:35Um, Hybrid Durango, way back when, you know, it was one of the first things they rolled out with a hybrid. And, uh, I remember looking at it going like, yeah, I want no part of this, you know. And now it's— now they're pretty cool. Um, I'm starting to slowly warm to the hybrid thing, but the straight EV thing, I don't ever think I'm going to be on board with that, especially when you see it with a Wrangler.

44:56Like, that to me is just like so, so backwards of what a Jeep person would want. And it was like, oh yeah, like, you know, because the idea that you— it's a vehicle you can take anywhere, everywhere. Well, no, you can't take it very much farther than the next fucking charging center. Like, come on, there's no, uh, there's no charging station on top of a mountain you're gonna climb with it.

45:21That's right, exactly. Yeah, yeah, get your little generator out of the back and, you know, fire it up and charge your car and keep going down Moab or something like— yeah. No, thank you. So what made you leave? Um, it was a combination of things. I had been there for so long and I was just kind of, I was just kind of getting tired, I guess.

45:47There were certain things at that particular dealer, you know, I would kind of make, I would voice my opinion about something, it would change for like a week or two and then it would go right back to where it was. Yeah. And I was just— so we had a service manager that I really liked. He was our service manager for 3 years there, and then he left.

46:07And then after that, like, the person who they appointed to be the service manager, I knew her quite well and I had no problem working for her. It was just things just weren't changing. And I was just kind of— I just sort of wanted to— I wanted to see what it was like at a different, uh, a different brand. So I ended up going to where my previous service manager was now working, which was a Hyundai store, which was complete opposite ends of car brands, like just much simpler, smaller dealer, uh, smaller group of guys.

46:48But, um, that in, that in and of itself was also a very good experience. I actually really liked working there. Um, even the couple of guys that I worked with there, I still, I still go by to see them once in a while, you know. Yeah, we definitely had a good crew. Every few places— I mean, I haven't worked a lot of places, but where I have worked, I will always say, and where I'm working now, that, uh, definitely have been privileged to work with a good group of guys and a few girls over the years.

47:19Like, good group of people that You know, when you yell for a push, everybody comes to help you, you know, and vice versa, you know, stuff like that, right? Or that's, that's the key point, right? No, it's the culture in the shop. That's the main thing. It's, it's, you know, people always talk about, well, techs are quitting because of money. The recent surveys show that most techs, it's not even the top 5 why they quit— money.

47:43You know, it's, it's— that's right, it's the culture, which the money is part of the culture. But they work with people that don't get along or they don't even hide the political divide or the favoritism, right? Like they don't even hide it. And that makes people really frustrated to come to work every day, right? When you know that you're going to come in and you're going to face the same challenges over and over and over and over and over and over again that nobody really cares.

48:14And then it makes it worse for me because it's like, You know, if I just know that you're not gonna change anything, just tell me you're not gonna change anything and then I'll learn to live with it. But when we keep going through the rhetoric of like, let's have a monthly meeting and talk about, you know, improving and nothing improves, that just the way I'm wired, just frustrates me.

48:33Like I just, I talk all the time in my, I just stopped going to the monthly meetings. Like I would go there and eat my pizza and then I would leave and I would go back down to the shop and I would work on whatever I had left in my bay. And they didn't like that. But it was just like, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that like we're going to do anything about the amount of comebacks that we have.

48:53Or, you know, like, I'm not— no, I'm not. I'm not going to sit here because they're not my comebacks. I'm not having comebacks. I'm slower than everybody else and I'm doing the work the way it's supposed to get done. And, you know, if I have a comeback, it's because it was an intermittent, we couldn't duplicate it. You know, like, otherwise it wasn't a big deal.

49:16But like, we had 4 chosen guys that like could do whatever they wanted, and if the car came back, oh well. It was just we didn't talk about it, and that frustrated me. And then it's like, you know what, we're not going to do anything about this. Let's just all get along and, and just skip it, eat the pizza, and then go back to work.

49:33Like, you know, don't, don't lecture me with shit that we're not going to change. So was that kind of what you were facing? Yeah, I mean, there'd just be so many times when I just sort of see the same, you know, a couple people constantly just getting fed stuff. Like, I remember there was one time me and another buddy were sitting around doing nothing, like, all, like, for a good couple hours that afternoon because there's no work.

49:59We watched the same guy pull in, like, 3— what they— how they did used cars, we all got to do used cars as well as, um, you know, PDIs. But we saw the same guy pulling 3 pre-owned inspections back to back, and they each paid an hour. So before the car was sold, when you would do the safety, you would do the pre-owned inspection and just kind of make a list of what it needs to pass safety.

50:24Back to back, 3 of them, and we were just like, are you serious? Inspect. Yeah, you know, because of course when the car gets sold, it's going to the guy who did the pre-owned inspection, unless they're not there that day for some reason or they're on vacation, right? So stuff like that. And I was just getting— I was getting pretty burned out on— I wasn't— I was getting burned out on, I guess, warranty jobs there.

50:52And you know what, I was able to collect every week from my paycheck being flat rate. It just— I just had enough of it, you know what I mean? I just wanted to try something else, is really— is really all— like, it's really the only reason why. And I think it was a good decision for me to, uh, for me to move and try something else because it showed me that, okay, I can work on another brand and get used to it, or I can just at least try a new workplace because it's one thing It's one thing, I think, because I was there for 6 and a half years.

51:25It's one thing if, let's say, in the span of 6 and a half years I've worked at 4 different Chrysler dealers with different groups of people, but I was literally at the same one the whole time, right? Yep. Yeah, so it was just— I think it was just time for me to just make a change. And it was a hard— it was a really hard decision.

51:44It was not an easy decision to make by any means. I took It took me probably a good month or so of mulling it over and thinking about it and going to visit the new place and talk to the— talking to the owner there, seeing my old service manager there. It took about a month of me really mulling it over before I decided to pull the trigger, you know.

52:04So was it a financial, like, increase to go to the new place, like, to the Hyundai store, or not really? So it, uh, actually, I did, I did take $3 an hour pay cut going there. Wow. And I knew that up front. I knew that up front. But I will say that, of course, again, like, the cars are a lot simpler. And at the time when I got there, like, they were doing— we were doing a lot of good service work.

52:34Yep. So there was, you know, when I first— when I first started working there, I was I was happy with my hours I was hitting at first, but it didn't last either. And then, you know, I eventually— that's a whole other story. There's a lot of things that happened at that place too. I went on vacation. You were there when the engine recall happened?

52:58Oh yeah, we did. We did tons of, tons of, uh, Elantra and Sonata, Tucson. Oh yeah, all those engines. I never did— I only ever did long blocks. A guy I worked with was like the, the engine slayer there. Like, he would do obviously long blocks. He would do— he would have an Elantra short block like in, in the morning and out by, you know, 2, 3 o'clock, running, cooling system bleeding, everything, you know.

53:27So we did lots of engine work too. Warranty-wise, I found it wasn't quite It wasn't quite the same as Chrysler because it didn't seem like the same kind of like ridiculous, again, electrical problems. Nothing like that, you know. I was just kind of— I'm not the best at electrical. I can do it and I understand it, but it's not really my forte.

53:51So again, I was just kind of tired of dealing with like that kind of stuff too at Chrysler, you know, because it just seemed like in the span of a couple years, it was just going from like, okay, we know what the problems are with these cars, and now it's like, okay, what is going on here with these new cars, you know?

54:11But it was— and it was, again, it was a hard decision to make, but I'd made it, you know. And that's what ultimately burned me out, was it was like, you know, guys could talk about doing the new transmissions or something like that, and I was just over my corner going Okay, like I'm over here doing check engine lights and, and software and, and wiring problems and, and, you know, diag.

54:32That's all I was doing, a lot of it. And so for me, like, I found at Chrysler, like, we were all okay at it, but a couple of us, like, were really good. When I made the jump to Hyundai, which was like, I don't know, 2012, say I landed in a dealer that you could tell that Hyundai, from a wiring standpoint, was pretty good, uh, not as prone as Chrysler, because none of them were good at solving it.

55:02Like, it was like if they had a comeback on a check engine light, like, it was, it was like a boomerang. It, it circled the shop. And I can remember, like, a couple of them— I got one and it was like low on power. You know, lean fault. And I'm like going out and I'm driving it. I'm like, what has this all had done?

55:21And it's always had a tune-up and a cut. And I'm like, the fuel pump's bad. They're like, the fuel pump's not bad, it's still starting. I'm like, well, you're running up the hill and the thing is running out of fuel. Like, the oxygen sensor can't keep up, it's dead. Like, it's running out of fuel. And I remember the one— I, I've talked about it before— there was a a seat airbag fault.

55:44And the car had been like from 40,000K, had this fault in it. And then it had been traded twice and sold twice. And it kept coming back and coming back and coming back. And until they put a whole seat in the car and it still had it. Every airbag module, every seat that you could change, you know, all this kind of stuff.

56:02And it was a bad ground. It was a bad ground. And I'm like, how do you guys not know how to do this stuff? And they're just like, oh, just nobody ever taught us. And I'm like, taught you? Like it's, you know, You're all licensed technicians, like you should know how to determine that the ground is bad. Like it wasn't like, and in defense of that, it was intermittent, but there was also like, you could go back in their history and look and there'd be like periods where it was like 4 days that it was in the shop.

56:31And it says right in the work order, left light still on, fault's still there. Right, right. And the customer would drive around, the fault would go away. When I got it, I was literally 45 minutes and then there's the bad ground. I'm like, how do you not know this? Like this, you know? And it's— I'm not bragging, it's just like I was amazed at what they couldn't do.

56:51EVAP, there wasn't a flat rate tech at the Hyundai store that I was at that would touch an EVAP fault. It wouldn't touch it. They give it all to the straight time guy that worked in the bay next to me, an apprentice. And I'm watching them, I'm like, this is not hard. Like, this is— but they just wouldn't do it. They would— they'd give it back to the tower, they'd cry a little bit, and then the tower would give them a service.

57:13Here's a timing belt job, you know, like when Hyundai still had timing belts. That's how old I was, you know. Or here's like another front cover to reseal, or here's like a, you know, a control arm noise and a brake job. And you know what it was like. Like, it was just, here's a good ticket, get out of my face kind of thing, right?

57:31Or here's two PDIs to do. So I didn't— I didn't last there either. Like, I was just like, are you kidding? Like, you guys are all master techs. So that's, that's something that's always made me laugh. And it's like, oh yeah, that guy over in the corner, he's our master tech. Not throwing shade, people. Don't get mad at the Jade Mechanic. Um, so you finally left Hyundai, right?

58:01Yeah, yeah. So I left from there. So I only, I only was at that Hyundai dealer for, for almost a year. Yeah. So this is what happened. My service manager that left my Chrysler dealer, he was there and he was there for quite a while, but then he left on us as well. And yeah, it was kind of like, okay, what's going on here, you know?

58:25So then they hired a new guy to come in Long story short, I went on vacation. I was gone for like a week and a half. I went down to Colorado for my buddy's wedding, and then I come back, the new service manager that they hired had quit. The parts manager, the parts manager had quit. The service advisors had quit, you know.

58:47So then we were like, uh, what are we supposed to do? So the owner of the, the Hyundai store, he was actually a really good guy. He didn't want to lose like us, the techs. So he was paying us our, our wage, our flat rate wage, straight time. And we would just come in and, you know, come in at 8 o'clock in the morning, work, you know, an 8-hour day.

59:08And we were just catching up on, you know, our engine jobs and different things we had kicking around. So that lasted for a good, I don't know, month and a half probably before they got someone else in there. Yeah, you know, and then I just sort of— for me, the writing was sort of on the wall that I wanted to try to get into like a, like a straight-time fleet.

59:34Yeah, sort of an environment. Yeah. So I was at Hyundai for about a year, like I said, and then, uh, I left there and I took, um, I took the job where I am now that I've been at for It'll be 4 years in November. Wow. I've been at this same place and it was actually pretty wild. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

59:56This is the longest I've been at a place, you know, since I left Chrysler. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't really have any intention on leaving, but, um, it was pretty wild because, um, I got the job and I wasn't really sure how I did in the interview. I thought it went okay, but I wasn't, you know, I wasn't sure. And then I got offered the job and I accepted it.

1:00:17And then maybe about 2, 2 weeks later after I accepted this job, I found out I was gonna be a father. So I was just like stoked that I found this job and took it, you know, sort of a thing. So at least I didn't have to worry about the financial stress of being flat rate anymore. Yeah. You know, steady, predictable income.

1:00:39Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So where I work, it's, um, sorry, I'll go on. What— so because you've heard some of the conversations and people have said that the saying is that, you know, like, people don't quit jobs, they quit managers, right? And you kind of talk about like you had a manager that you really liked and you kind of followed him. Like, that, that happens a lot, especially in the bigger cities, right?

1:01:02Like, especially within dealer groups, within big cities that happens. Like, a service manager that's known to, like, treat techs good, it doesn't really matter what the brand is, they'll go to another store and all of a sudden, like, technicians are following them because they're like, yeah. So in this industry, it's not just about the dealer thing. Your people that are in charge of your— how your technicians are treated, you know, that kind of will— again, this is going to sound so divisive, you know, that are the, the go-betweens between the advisors and the, and the techs.

1:01:36And like, that's the manager's role. He's the leader. Um, if they're strong, you can do— there's no, there's no limit to what you can achieve as, as a business, as a shop, right? Within limits, of course, but there is no limit. You can do— you can have incredible numbers. But if that person doesn't— isn't respected or doesn't know what they're doing or like won't fight for the technician for that hour that they should have got paid, you can just— you might as well stick a pin in it and call it done because it's gonna— it's not gonna be what it should be.

1:02:09It'll be something, maybe you'll make some money, but it won't be what it could be. So, so you left for the independent side, and I know for me when I did that, all of a sudden I was really worried that I wasn't going to be able to fix anything. If it was a brand that I wasn't familiar with. And did you, did you think about that?

1:02:30Or— so I definitely felt that way when I left Chrysler because I was going to a new brand. And then I kind of thought, I don't know, I guess we'll see how it goes. But, you know, my boss that, you know, I followed there, he, he was like, oh, you'll be fine. It's— they're, they're pretty simple. You know, he kind of reassured me it'll be fine.

1:02:51Where I am now. So I'm at, I'm at a fleet shop. I work for a pretty big company. We're in the courier business, I'll just say. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Couriers and deliveries and stuff like that. Yeah. So I took, I took the job there and what I never— what I didn't think about until I had been there for maybe the first month I was there, I realized being here is kind of like being at the dealer.

1:03:19The cars, the trucks are literally all the same. They're literally the same trucks, but they're all identical. And you know what I'm trying to say? I never, I didn't think about that before I went there, but, um, going there, I realized pretty quickly it's everything becomes a repetitive motion after a while. And then you get quicker with certain jobs that you do a few times there.

1:03:45And it's, uh, Yeah, it's cool that way. Yeah, I, I know I worked on a, I worked on a FedEx fleet and that was like probably I'd never worked on so many Fords in my life, right? So I worked on that and then it was just like, it was one V10 or V8, you know, box truck, FedEx truck after another, 3500 rear, you know, dual rear wheels.

1:04:09Like it was just all the time non-stop driveshafts, you know. Rear brakes, like, till where you're doing them, you're knocking them out so fast, it's making people going, holy crap, like, you know, you did that rear job in the time that I've seen some guys do a caravan. It's like, yeah, like, I've just done— it's like you said, it's getting the reps in.

1:04:27I've done hundreds of them now, right? So they look at these bigger jobs and it's like, yeah, but, you know, and we had to do them all on the ground. That's the thing, we didn't have a hoist that would lift them, but I mean, we for the guy that we did, like he was, he had it figured out. So he was one guy by himself and it was like he could get the work done.

1:04:48So he was sending up to the fleet shop that I worked at and he had a hoist that he could lift his and do the tires and the thing. But he realized that he was like straight time and unionized and like, you know, so he'd do like one brake job, one tire job in the morning and that was it. And then the afternoon, he'd do one brake job, one tire job in the morning, and that was it.

1:05:08He was two, two trucks a day. And we'd bring them up to our place, blow them all apart, tell them what they needed. He'd send parts up the next day, you know. So it was like it was just sitting there. And we'd go down, and the same one that when we left that he was working on, it was still there. And he was eating his— I joke because every time we'd walk in, he'd be like, hey, and he was in the back eating.

1:05:31Eating his lunch or drinking a coffee and eating a donut. Like, it didn't matter what day that you went in, he was in the office eating something. And he joked, it was like, yeah, I mean, he's like, I tried to retire there a couple years ago. And he says, they threw a bunch of money, made me stay on. He says, so I went and bought a new tractor.

1:05:47He owned a farm. He's like, I went and bought a new tractor. So he's like, I'm just trying to pay the tractor off. And I'm like, this is the life, you know. So not saying that that's what you do, is that you're— I'm not saying you're dogging it, Daniel. Yeah, yeah, no, no worries. I didn't take it that way. Yeah, no worries.

1:06:05He dogged it for sure. Um, but yeah, that's what I just found is— and you know, the thing is, it's— I was talking to a friend and she's, she's got a fleet of ambulances that she, she works on, um, Chevy 3500s, 6 liters and, uh, gases. And, um, I'm really familiar with them too because I worked on a fleet of those. So like, we were talking about a mass airflow problem that she was having with a lean codes and a mass airflow and all this kind of stuff.

1:06:31And I said, so I went through the whole ramble of how, like, you know, she was telling me how the data was, uh, corrupt, like, or skewed, and it had a piece of foam in the mass airflow that obviously ingested the mass airflow and she changed it. Now we got talking about this, you know, the different ways that you can— what the data should look like and how it should act and all this kind of stuff.

1:06:48And I said, or you can just walk over to another unit and get the airbox out of that unit and plug it in this unit, go for a drive. Like, and that's the beauty of— yeah, that's the beauty of fleet. That's what I call that. Yeah, but that's the beauty of fleet work, right? Like, if you have— you've got 10 other cars with the identical part, just swap it if you can swap it real quick, you know?

1:07:10Like, oh, for sure. Yep. You know, or even, uh, yeah, sometimes we've had, um, we couldn't get parts and we had like a retired unit outside. Yeah, steal the part off that one and then use it on the truck that's in service. All the time. All the time. That was the beauty. Like, yeah, they always seem to have, you know, you need a connector, walk out to the dead, you know, the graveyard, cut the connector off.

1:07:33Or, you know, headlamp bezel or headlamp or like, you know, wiper motor, blower motor switches, like all the great stuff. Yeah, anything's fair game. Yeah. So the baby comes along, you get a pretty substantial, you know, steady gig. It's all good. Yeah. Oh yeah, it's been going great. Yeah, I know, it's been going great. He's, uh, he's almost— he's turning 3 shortly.

1:08:00Oh, I have a little girl too. She's turning— she's turning 2 not too far after she is turning 3. So yeah, they're about a year apart. Very cool. Um, I go to work, I go for a morning shift, and then by the time I get back, I can play with them. I was doing When I first started working there before he was born and for a while after, I was doing kind of more like an afternoon shift.

1:08:24I would kind of start— I would start around 10 o'clock and then I would leave at, you know, 8, 9 o'clock at night. Yeah. So now I'm— I've been fortunate enough to be on the morning, more of a morning shift, so I can, you know, at least play with them when I get back from home, when I get back home, which is great.

1:08:41And, um, no, you know, it's been a good gig for me. I've, uh, really enjoyed it. And we have a which we had at the dealer. You know, we have a safety boot allowance. The only difference is it's much more substantial than what was at the dealer. And then we also have a tool allowance every year, $1,000. Yeah, that helps, eh? Oh, it's great.

1:09:00It's, it's really sweet. Yeah, I never— I always wanted to work at a place where, you know, I'd have, you know, something like that, right? Because, you know, you can buy as many tools as you want, but you're always going to need more. You know, I've bought tons of tools since I started working at this place. Things I didn't have, you know, bigger wrenches, you know, different things, right?

1:09:20Different bigger sockets, more standards, you know, Imperial sockets, right? Yeah. That's the thing, 'cause a lot of that, those boxes, those box trucks, that kind of stuff, they're still built with a lot of Imperial on them, right? Like we joke, you know, you work in the dealer, like it's, you never see, what's a 9/16 again? Like, you know, it's your 14 mil, dumb dumb.

1:09:41But like, you know, when you're out in that stuff, it's like, yeah, you go to service some of the doors or, you know, the roll-up doors in the back or any of that. It's all standard stuff in the back. Like it's all that way. 'Cause it's still— You know? Yeah, 100%. I always found that the trip for me with working on, 'cause again, multiple places that I've worked, we've had different fleets like that.

1:10:04What did you find when you work with the drivers directly? You know what I mean? Like, do you find that some drivers are just like really hard on equipment as Corb Lund says or like? I, there, there's definitely drivers that I'm sure are a lot harder on the equipment than others. Mm-hmm. Uh, I will say that without getting into specifics, there was a few drivers we had that I had, uh, a few, uh, issues with for the way they were treating me.

1:10:33That, um, I'm just happy that, uh, they're not driving in our sector of the company anymore. Okay. They're driving in a different area where I don't have to deal with them anymore. For the most part, I will say they're, they're pretty polite, respectful. There's some that are kind of like, eh, whatever. They don't really care. They just treat the truck like, uh, you know, they treat it like it's never going to break down.

1:10:57There's, it's either, you know, full throttle or nothing. And they just drive it till the wheel, like the wheels fall off. But then there's others that actually, you know, you can tell they care a little bit more about it and they try to at least you can tell it's clean inside. They clean it, you know, the cab and everything. They keep— try to at least keep it clean, you know.

1:11:19You can tell that they care more than the other guy who has garbage everywhere and everything, right? Well, that's— you know, you get to learn what some of them, their favorite snacks are, right, if you keep seeing them in the same truck. Oh yeah, that's for sure. John really likes Twinkies. Yeah. Um, oh yeah, what always made me laugh, or, or just shake my head with some of them is like they would come in and they would complain about this truck and they go, it's doing this again.

1:11:44Or, you know, like the AC's not as cold as John's truck. And you're like, okay, right, we've already been through this, right? Like your fleet manager doesn't want us fixing it, right? Like they don't want to put any more money into this. So like you're complaining to me, but like I'm not in charge of that, right? Like it's already been decided up the thing that like, you know, You know, or they would get in and be like, oh, the new truck is so much faster.

1:12:09Well, yeah, it's a new truck. This one's worn out, you know. There's, there's definitely a certain amount of, oh, this truck, I drove this truck and it felt better than my truck that's out of, out for service right now, or it did this or it did that. There's definitely some comparison that they do. Yeah, my big— we definitely interact with them pretty well on a daily basis because, you know, we'll be we'll be in the shop doing our PMs that we have to do for that week.

1:12:38And then, you know, if they have an issue with something, you know, they just drive up to the garage door and, you know, then yeah, they'll ask you for help and then you hopefully if it's something quick, you can just get it done so they can get on the road because usually when they come over, the truck's already loaded with freight, right?

1:12:53Yeah. Yeah. And that's, that's got to be a hard job driving in Toronto. Driving one of them trucks, like, I wouldn't want to do it. Like, I, I road rage so bad just getting to work now that, like, I— if you couldn't pay me enough money to drive anything as a job, like, I'm so— my brother, we're sitting— oh, it's funny. We go and leave the gas station today and we're getting ready to turn and there's a guy in front of me and the light turns green and he's turning left and the customer— customer person in front of him is turning left too.

1:13:26So both of the left, it's clear, and he's sitting there waiting and waiting and waiting. And this has been a, like, it's a bit of a high traffic zone. We've been sitting like 10 minutes at this light already, and I'm, I'm behind him. He's the first in line and he's not going. Well, I laid on my horn until I thought I was gonna break it.

1:13:43And then you see him and he creeps up, you know, older gentleman, probably not going to go to heaven for that. But my brother is like just looking at me like, why do you let that bother you so much? And I'm like, because they're flipping and He's right. Like, it's— it's like he's holding me up. That's the thing. I'm like, he's holding me up.

1:14:02I've got nowhere important to be, you know what I mean? Like, we're just out doing the thing today, right? Like, we're running around doing grocery shopping, shit like that. But it's just the way I'm wired now after I lived in Ottawa for so long. I can't— I can't drive in traffic. I'm good for about 20 minutes in and 20 minutes going home.

1:14:21Yeah, I can't do it. I wouldn't want to drive all day. But imagine them getting in those. Yeah, yeah, those trucks. I know, all day. I wouldn't be able to do it either, to be honest. I don't even think I'd want to drive even just like a car all day. Yeah, I wouldn't. I just wouldn't, wouldn't be into that myself either. My back will get stiff.

1:14:44You got to get out. I just couldn't do it. Half of them, you know, those AC, the box trucks, those AC units don't work for shit. Like they're terrible. You got the door open half the time. They're noisy, clunky, bangy. The radio's like crap. Oh yeah. Bangin' around, shakes, vibrations, noise. I know it's gotta be tough for sure. Some of the trucks, like they're, they don't have air, they're just not equipped with air conditioning.

1:15:07Yeah. And then the ones that are, you know, when they break down, we do our best to get them, you know, fix them. Mm-hmm. But, you know, it's, we're in the time of year right now where that's everybody's, primary concern, and then you end up getting a backlog of stuff. So it's just trying to keep that moving. It's, um, yeah, the other thing I found too, I, when I first went to this place and, uh, you know, I didn't have to worry about being flat rate anymore or anything like that, I've realized after all this time, doesn't matter if you're getting paid by the hour or you're flat rate, at least for me in my

1:15:44situation, I still when we're getting backed up with trucks out of service and things are breaking down, we have a lot to do. It's still the same level of stress, man. Oh yeah. Or if not worse. Yeah. You know, I've realized that the last sort of year or so, it's same stress. Yeah. Just with the workload and the backlog. In the fleet, when it happens, right?

1:16:10Yeah. Because in the dealership, it'll ebb and flow. Like, we talk about the tire season, and then we'll talk about like September was always a rough month 'cause everybody's kid went to school. So nobody had any money and the car was gone from where it had been and it showed up somewhere else and it broke down and it was all good. But like when you're dealing with fleet, fleet is always that level of stress of like, we always, always, always, always have either too much backed up like units down and we always have to have a certain amount of units ready to go.

1:16:42Or we're spending too much money and we have to dial back. And then it's like, well, if I don't fix it, you're gonna have more of a backlog of work. But if we do fix it, we're spending too much money, right? Like, and people, they laugh, but the reality is, is like, if the air conditioning is not working, they're not taking that unit out of service.

1:16:57Like, it's still work, it's still being used. Exactly. You know what I mean? My brother was like, because I was talking about I bought myself a sweet fan for the shop to work in, he's like, oh yeah, because you don't have air conditioning, right? I'm like, I haven't worked in a shop that had working air conditioning real well. It has it, but it isn't like when we think of when we walk into the salesman's office and it's like 61 and they've got their sleeves rolled down and they're sitting there looking like little penguins shaking because it's so cold.

1:17:27Like, the shops I've been when they had air conditioning, like, it took the humidity out, but it wasn't cool. Like, I mean, it was still pushing 75, you know, which is, it's hot in, in, in, you know, whereas like I've been at Lucas's shop in the summertime and the AC going and it's like the whole shop is like comfortable, you know what I mean?

1:17:50Like it's in there 68, you're like, wow. And, um, but up in Canada now we don't air conditioning shit. So yeah, they don't pull the truck out of service because the AC doesn't work. They don't care. Like it's gonna, it's gonna keep rolling, right? Like You know, the driver who usually drives that truck may say, I don't want to drive it today, it's too hot, the AC doesn't work.

1:18:10Then they'll do their best to find them a truck where the AC works, but then somebody else will take that truck, or, or it'll sit there for a few days while it's too hot. It all just depends. But, um, yeah, definitely it's that time of year. We're already in the midst of that already. Yesterday I put a compressor on a truck. Which isn't too bad to do.

1:18:31It's got to hope the lines come off because then if they don't, then I got to change the lights too. Yeah, which again, just not the end of the world, just takes more time, you know, turns a repair into, you know, a lot longer than it could be, right? We're always trying to, you know, obviously do things as quickly as we can, but then there's certain things you just obviously just can't be helped, right?

1:18:53Yep. How many techs in your current place now? So in total there is, uh, 10. Okay, not bad. Yeah, 10 guys. Yeah, yeah, so it's a good size. It's a good size. And everybody gets along great. Oh yeah, yeah, it's, it's a good group of guys to work with. Um, yeah, no complaints there. Again, I wasn't sure what to expect when I got, when I got there, but The nice thing actually was, so after I had my interview, when I got offered the job, the manager at the time, when he called me to, you know, let me know that I've got the job, I said, listen, I'm pretty certain I want to take this job,

1:19:38like, like 99% sure. But I said, if it's okay with you, would you mind if I came by and at least like checked out the shop and like met some of the guys? And he was actually okay with that, which was really nice. So then I got to go and then I met a couple of the guys, I looked around and then It wasn't a long thing.

1:19:55I was gonna be there for, I don't know, maybe half an hour tops. And then after that, I was like, I shook his hand, I said, all right, I'm in, you know, that was it. Yeah, so that was a cool thing too, that he, uh, was okay with me doing that. Yeah, what about, um, did you hear any, any, like, did anybody, when you, so when you gave your notice, like, at the Hyundai dealer You know, we talk sometimes and people say, oh, well, you know, they finally offered me, you know, a different— a raise, or they finally offered me something different.

1:20:28Did that happen with you, or they're just like, see ya? So when I, when I went to talk to the, you know, the owner of the dealer, who I liked— he was a really good guy, actually. I got along with him really well. He was— he treated us well, I think, overall. He was, he was definitely not a bad guy at all.

1:20:47But so he, um, I told— I gave— I had to give him my notice, and then he said, you know, like, is there anything I could do? Like, can I ask why? He said, and I just told him where I'm going to work, and I gave him an idea of like what they're paying me per hour. And he just was like, well, you know, obviously I can't really compete with that.

1:21:08And, uh, but you know, that's— he wished me well. Like, we left on like good terms, and he totally understood. Why I left, you know. So we definitely left on good terms. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was pretty— it was pretty painless, really. And I mean, I was only— I was only there for about a year. It was harder leaving the Chrysler store, right?

1:21:30That was— even that interaction was a lot different than my one when I left Hyundai, if you know what I mean. Tell me about that. When you left the Chrysler, like, did they— did they come up and throw money at the problem? Or he didn't throw any money at me, but he was just trying— he kind of tried to say like, you know, if you don't tell me what's going on, like, I can't help you, and blah blah blah.

1:21:56And I was like, well, you know, we've kind of been down this road before, and I just think it's enough. And I just, you know, it's been a great 6 and a half years, you know, thanks for everything, but yeah, you know, I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this. I've already made up my mind. And then yeah, even there, we left on We left on like pretty decent terms because I would still go back there and visit like the guys that are, that are there.

1:22:19And then I would see him and he'd still say hi to me. So, you know, like it was fine overall. But yeah, that was a hard, hard decision to make leaving the Chrysler store for sure. That's fun. That's funny the way, Daniel, when they say to you, well, if you don't let me know, like, what can I do about it? And it's like, you see my paycheck, you know?

1:22:38Exactly. I mean, you see it, you know, the hours are sucking, right? And, you know, maybe, I don't know if they tell themselves that it was like, well, the hours are low 'cause he's not hustling. I don't know if that's really, it probably is a big part of what a lot of them tell themselves. And, you know, there are guys that just don't hustle, you know what I mean?

1:22:57Like they just kind of just come in and do their thing and they're, you know, they're totally satisfied. Me, when I was flat rate, Like, if you'd have told me that there was more work to get done and it was like pretty easy, good work that I was good at doing, oh yeah, I would've jumped at the chance to say it. Like, I tell everybody all the time, I worked a lot of 6-day weeks, man, 'cause it was trying to just get up to 50, you know?

1:23:29And I would come in and if it was like, you know, 'cause the regular day there'd be 12 of us in the Chrysler store. And on Saturday, there'd be 3. And I was like, well, I can make, you know, there's a lot better opportunity. This is what you're telling yourself. A lot better opportunity when there's only 3 of us. Now, 'cause there's not many cars coming in.

1:23:49But I would be like, well, you know, I'm sitting here at 41 hours and it's Saturday, you know, I'll come in and hopefully I'll hit 50. You know, one good job and I'll hit 50. And more days than not, like, you were there from— I remember it was like you'd start at 8 and you'd be done at 4 instead of being done at 5.

1:24:09And by 1, you had nothing. You had, like, you had indigestion from the cheap lunch that they bought you and no more work. And I was like, I guess I'll change the oil in my own car, right? Like, I'll do something like that, or, you know, right? But you didn't come in and make 10 hours on a Saturday most of the time.

1:24:27Like, it was just— it sucked. And now it doesn't matter what they could pay me. My rule is like, if any place is open on Saturday, I don't even apply to it. I don't even apply to that job. I'm just not doing it. Weekends are mine. And I don't think they should be, well, you can make the argument, I guess, for why we should be open on Saturdays if we truly wanna serve our customers.

1:24:53I can kind of see the argument.. But the thing is, like, I never— in the dealership's landscape, it never worked. Because if I started a job on Saturday and then I wanted 2 consecutive days, Sunday and Monday, I— when I came back on Tuesday morning, my job from Saturday was finished by somebody else every time. Okay. Yeah. So I never got 2 consecutive days.

1:25:16So you come in on, on, you know, if you, you come in on Monday maybe and you do your, your wrap up, and then it's like, well, you can have any day off this week you want. And you're like, but you're always carrying over, you're always carrying over. She never got 2 days. So I worked a ton of 6-day weeks. Ton. Yeah.

1:25:35And that's just what I did as well. Yeah, you know, for sure. And I, like, I talk about the indigestion, but it was like the running joke is always, you know, pizza, right? Like, we got— we didn't get pizza. We had a local diner that sent down like, you can order anything from the menu. This is— boy, inflation's a bitch now. As long as it was under $12, you could get whatever you wanted for lunch.

1:26:00So you get like a hamburger with cold fries, or you could get like, you know, a lasagna with like cold garlic bread or something. It was like, that's how long ago it is. It was $12. Now you can't eat anything for under $20. And then you'd go out to the sales office and they'd be like eating like pizza or, you know, subs got catered in or like, it was just like, and we're like, you guys haven't even sold a car today.

1:26:25And your lunch budget's like, you know, $300. And ours in the back was like $50. Yeah, it was a trip. So I learned a lot on Saturdays and I had some good Saturdays too where I made some good money.. But more times than not, it was just not worth being there. And now that dealer that I spent all my tenure at, they're not open anymore on Saturdays.

1:26:50So, oh really? Oh nice. That's good. And a lot of them around here now, the only, if they do open, they just open the quick lane. They don't book anything else in the back. Like you can't, I can remember a joke, like I, it was Saturdays was recall day, recall day, child seat anchor bolt day. Like it was just, you know, towed in from other dealer day.

1:27:14Like, you know, they, they come in, it's like, you're from the other side Ottawa, like you're literally like 90 minutes to drive around Ottawa, why are you here? Well, the other dealer's not open on Saturday and we've had this ongoing thing since we bought this. And you're like, oh my, are you kidding me right now, right? So you would dig into it and you'd find the ghost in the machine, but now this customer is like You know, you're waiting to order a module on Monday, and now the customer's like calling, I need my car, I need my car, I need my car.

1:27:45And it's like, you know, I'm having to rent a car, I live 90 minutes away. Lady, you're the one that brought it 90 minutes because the last two dealers couldn't fix it, and now you're blowing up our phone about like the commute. I'm sorry, like, what do you want us to do? It's a free repair, it's a warranty repair. I just, I was just shaking my head like, I just It's where a lot of, I think, like my sense of humor about this industry came, because it was just like, it was like Groundhog Day.

1:28:12So many for so long, right? Like it was just rinse, wash, repeat. Here's another recall that comes out that like the first time you do it, the time sucks. And then I can remember Jeep Liberty ball joints. And like, we're like, I remember the first one we were doing, everybody's like, you know, getting buried under the time. And then by the 5th one, you're just like zinging them out.

1:28:37Like, it was just amazing how fast you did them. And the Dakotas had an upper ball joint recall too, and it was just like you could do them so fast, so fast, you know. Everybody was like— you'd be fighting over them. It was, it was ridiculous. Like, it was a good job, you know. It was, um, you know, the one thing I hated seeing coming in was anything on a PT Cruiser.

1:28:57Just hated it. Just hated it. Like, control arms, that was a good job. Everything else, F those little cars, man. They sucked. I hated them. Never really worked on one other than, uh, like, we— there was a guy who had one at the— when I worked at this place, but he would bring it in just for like, uh, you know, we changed the oil on it.

1:29:17That was really it. I'm sure it was there for other things too. I never touched it for anything other than that though. You know, yeah, we had a couple customers with the turbocharged ones and they thought they were something special, right? Like that was a really special little PT Cruiser. You ever work on, uh, you ever do anything on a Prowler? A little bit.

1:29:40I had it, so funny story, I had a Prowler come in one Saturday for a tire repair. Okay, I joke about this all the time because it was like, they're staggered sizes, right? Special order, he comes in on Saturday. We hadn't sold the car. Then he was all pissed off because he bought it at another dealer and like, well, they're telling me it's going to take like a week to get a tire.

1:30:01That's why he's here. And he's driving around, he's like having to put air in the thing. He's got a nail in there or something. And the nail was at the point where you couldn't have plugged it. Not that I thought you should be plugging Prowler tires anyway, right? But it's like, so we give him the estimate to replace the tire. And, um, because again, it's Prowler, low mileage, right?

1:30:20Like, they don't drive them, they just sit and look at them, wipe on them with a diaper. And he's like, oh, that's the same price that they, they gave me. I thought I'd save some money coming here. It's like, we're buying the tire from the same vendor, dumbass. Like, there's only one place, there's only one place that has this size in this brand.

1:30:37Like, what'd you think? Um, and I remember I had another guy come in He carried a Viper tire in under his arm. He wanted the tire repaired. And I'm like, it's a Viper. Yeah. And I, so I explained to him, like, like, here's what I do. I can take this, bust this down, and put a plug in it, no problem. Um, but these letters that are on the side of the tire for Speed Ring, I technically have to grind that off because now it's a plug tire, it's not Speed Ring.

1:31:06And he looked at me like I had shot his firstborn. Right in the head. And he looked at me like I was crazy, and he's like, you gotta grind. I'm like, yeah, you're supposed to grind that off the tire. It's not a speed-rated tire anymore. And he's like, you can't fucking do that. I said, I don't think we should plug this tire for you, sir.

1:31:20And he left, and he was all pissed off and called the service manager. And service manager, of course, I had a good service manager, he laughed at him. He said, no, the tech's right, you know. But so that was my— the whole experience to a Prowler. Um, and then we had— I had one with the— God, I'm trying to think of what it is.

1:31:42The Chrysler Crossfire. Do you ever work on one of those? I haven't, but there was a few we had in the shop a couple times. Yeah, I know, I know what you're talking about. Yeah, they're weird. They are weird little cars. Yeah, because it's like half Mercedes, eh? Yep, that's right. Half Mercedes, half Chrysler networking. Yeah, some kind of weird vacuum door locks and switches.

1:32:08It was just stupid, like it was just dumb. And, um, yeah, I know PT Cruisers were the weirdest customers to get. They were weird, they were weird. Timing belt in the PT Cruiser is a terrible job. I don't care what anybody says. I know lots of people that go, those are gravy, I love doing them. You must have little tiny hands then and like can contort your neck in a funny way because like I hated, hated doing timing belts on those.

1:32:34I hated them. They were terrible. There's no room. You got to jack that engine so high up to get it up where you can line your cams up. Right, of course. But you think you're gonna break shit, but you get it done. But like, yeah. And then did you work on any of the, uh, EcoDiesels? A little bit. Not— yeah. We had a guy, we had an actual dedicated like diesel tech there.

1:33:00Yeah. So, you know, I, the odd time I do like, you know, like an oil change or a fuel filter on one or something like that, but nothing too involved. Yeah. But he, he, he would take care of all that kind of stuff. And I know at least at that time, yeah, he was doing engines in them and, you know, different things.

1:33:19Did you touch any of the Genesis stuff when you were at Hyundai? I did, actually. One of my first jobs when I got to Hyundai, I did, I did a clutch on a Genesis Coupe, the 2.0 turbo. It was like, you know, car was, you know, it was an older car, but the guy loved it, you know. He had it since new, and it needed clutch.

1:33:44And so this is what happened. I kind of inherited the job. I didn't look at the car. I didn't look at the car, right? But, um, it was clear to see, yes, this car needs a clutch. So what had happened was maybe some time before the clutch went out on it, he had a wheel bearing noise. And this was like a few years ago.

1:34:06And they told him, yeah, you need, uh, whatever side, uh, rear wheel bearing, right? So that was a couple years ago. So now he's coming back. Okay, I'm gonna do the clutch. So like, let's do the wheel bearings. So then I was like, okay. So I do the clutch, that went like okay, it went fine. It took some time, but yeah, it went, it went well.

1:34:24So then I go to do the wheel bearings and, you know, the car's, you know, 15, 16 years old. Literally everything seized in the back. Yeah, it needed new everything in the back. And then the guy he loved the car so much, so he agreed to do it. That was the largest repair bill I think I've ever been a part of. I think the guy spent like $13,000 or $14,000 fixing this car.

1:34:49Like, it needed new, you know, axles in the back, new control arms, new everything, just so we could change the bearings. And then, you know, new hubs and parking brake shoes, and just it went on and on and on. Like, I swear I had that car and it wasn't my dedicated bay, it was like a secondary bay next to mine, which was also great.

1:35:11I could still kind of bring in, you know, quick jobs if I was sort of on a standstill for parts. But oh man, yeah, that guy, that guy loved that car. He spent big bucks on that thing. And then I finally get it all done, you know, and I'm driving it around and, you know, it drives good, but, you know, it still drives like You know, he drives like a 17-year-old car, you know, but, you know, I get, I get it.

1:35:38You know, I have a car that I've had for a really long time that I, you know, try to keep running. So this guy, yeah, he loved this thing. And then I also worked a bit on like, you know, the more high-end, you know, the 4-door ones, like the nice, the nicer stuff. I like those. Yeah. You remember when they used to look like a Jag?

1:35:58When they kind of were styled— yeah, like it was like someone say a Jag, or like, I'm trying to think of what, but they were styled kind of like that Euro. They had that Euro styling, right? And I remember looking at them going like, when this thing ain't broke and has electrical problems, because they like— everybody, that was the joke, was like every Genesis had electrical problems that was way worse than any Hyundai did.

1:36:21But they were a pretty cool car when they were working. You know what I mean? Like, it was a pretty nice car for what you could buy. Now I think it's so funny how you see, like, they become this prestige name and it's the separate dealer for Genesis and all. I'm thinking, like, I can remember when that thing was just like a warmed-up Tiburon.

1:36:39That's all it was, you know? Like, it was just like a— that somebody put a bigger body on. Like, that's all it was, right? But, oh, it's a Genesis now. I see them in traffic and I'm like, Oh, okay. Kind of looks like a Cayenne from the back. I'm talking the SUV ones, and then it's like you get a closer— like, oh, it's a Genesis, you poor schmuck.

1:37:02Oh, for sure. What, uh, do you have any advice for the young technicians coming in, Daniel? My advice, really, what I was always sort of told by, you know, my peers and, you know, people above me, is just You know, just, you gotta have, you have to have like a hustle attitude as far as like, oh yeah, you know, I'll, I'll do that for you.

1:37:29I'll get that done. But aside from that, you know, a lot of, you know, when you go to tech school or whether maybe they haven't gone to tech school yet, some people, and they're just starting to work in a shop, that would be the biggest thing I would say. But for people who have, you know, are going, have gone to school and at least have some knowledge of what's going on with the systems they're working on.

1:37:53The biggest thing I can say is just, you know, get comfortable using tools. Yeah. Just because something looks like you can't, uh, remove it without removing, you know, 8 other things, like, take your time. And, you know, a lot of it has, it all has to come from within the individual, right? At the end of the day, that's sort of what I have even tried to teach some people that I have somewhat— not, I wouldn't say mentored, but I've taught certain things to over the years, like younger guys.

1:38:23You know, it all has to come from within you. Yeah. And it's a hard industry. It is a hard industry. Like, I think back, like, there was definitely times when I, I wasn't sure if I was gonna keep going. Like, I was like, do I really want keep doing this, you know? Yeah, leave work at the end of the day, maybe, maybe you didn't make much money, but you know, your, your hands are all cut up and you're, you're sore and you know, it's 45 degrees out in the summer and it's just, it's a really hard industry.

1:38:56I would say like if, if you're gonna do it, like it can't— it's, it's definitely not a career that you're just gonna coast through. Like this has to be something you're really passionate about, and you have to wanna get— you have to be willing to constantly learn and adapt to new things. Yep. You know, that's— I guess that's really what I would say about that.

1:39:20Yeah, you never get to a level of comfort where it's like, I can coast, you know what I mean? No, because it's— it's the technology is ever-changing, you know. And it's even— to say it in the Fleet Garage is similar because it's like, oh yeah, we got all Fords. Well, next season they may buy like a whole fleet of GMs, and then all of a sudden it's like, if you haven't worked on a GM in a long time or at all or whatever, it's a— maybe it's a new, you know, scan tool, new service information system.

1:39:49Like, it's, it's the same as jumping dealers. And I tell everybody, like, you've got to learn how to learn. And that's my guys that I mentored, like, what I taught them wasn't just the fundamentals of like diagnosing a car and diag and electrical and, you know, that kind of the stuff that I like to do. But I taught them how to learn how to learn, which is like, if you don't know, you have to learn this stuff, which means you have to be ready to go home and reach out to someone and get the answer or reach out and get, you know, the training that you need.

1:40:23And you're going to have to learn. It's just a constant evolution of learning more and more things. And don't— I tell everybody now, it's like the stuff I can't remember, as I'm 50 now and I've been 30 years in, the stuff that I can't remember is like starting to pile up. And that's okay because it's, it's not relevant anymore, right? Like, it's like guys that like talked about the old Cavaliers with the tutus and they used to do the head gasket so fast and Guys I worked with that used to do a K-car head gasket so fast, and I'm like, how many of those do you do anymore?

1:41:00Like, you, you did so many for so long, and it's like, you know, what do I care anymore? Like, it's not relevant. I don't even get to be exposed to it. That the thing to remember is the fundamentals of how you diagnosed it the first time. That's what you need to like hold to your process. Your process. It's very important, guys. That just like, I remember this splice, or I remember this, you know, connector always backing out.

1:41:28That, that, that's like, it's good to know when it's making you money, but man, once those cars go away, like, you just let that, let that shit go, you know? Don't, don't hold on to it. Yeah, that's right. It doesn't matter anymore. Yeah, yeah, because it's, it's like the guys you see it in the diesel side and it's like They got really good at fixing 6.0L.

1:41:48Well, how many 6.0L PowerStrokes do you see? Not too many anymore up here. And if you do, like, they're in rough shape and they're not— people are not putting money into them, right? So if all of a sudden you were good at the 6.0L but you didn't get onto the 6.4L and you didn't go onto the 6.7L, you're 20 years, like, left behind.

1:42:06Try to think of what the technology now to try and catch up in 20 years is. Like, it'd be crazy if I snap my fingers and I'm back at Chrysler in 2002 and all of a sudden I have to go back to work in 2026. Like, the architecture of those cars is so different now. If I had never continued to apply myself so that I could fix the 2026s, I'd be so screwed, you know?

1:42:32So that's what I tell all the young people is just get ready to be constantly learning. It's not about— and yeah, the money's getting better for sure, but the expectations is also getting really heavy too, Daniel. Like what they're expecting us to be able to solve now. And that's the— that's what's true. Yeah, for sure. You know, a lot of these kids up and everybody goes, well, these kids are washing it.

1:42:56Like they're not staying in the industry. I'm gonna say this, I think some of them leaving is not a bad thing because I think they know where their strengths are. And they know that when we go more and more into the side of stuff that's electric, they want no part of that. And, and, and then, you know, if you're not strong on, on electrical stuff, look at all the— I mean, now to do a brake job, you got to use a scan tool, right?

1:43:24Parking brake, like, that's right, resets and all this. Because if you're not comfortable with service information, you're not gonna be the kind of technician that's going to be successful in this industry. And I hate to say that because, you know, we've all worked with guys that like, these were good, you know, their hands were good. Now you can't ride on that anymore.

1:43:45You really can't. No, overall you're definitely right about that. The other thing too, like, sort of to your point of, um, like when we were saying, um, yeah, with service information, like that's a great example, like You know, so many times, like, there— I was guilty of it too when I was like first starting out. I wouldn't know how to do something, then I'd ask someone, they'd be like, you know, go, go on Dealer Connect and, you know, look it up.

1:44:14And then, you know, that's what I— that's kind of what I meant to say when I say like, you know, it has to come from within you. You have to know how to tackle like everything yourself. You know, so there's times when everybody needs help, but you really have to have that fundamental knowledge of this is what I need to do to figure out my problem, or what I need to fix on this vehicle, or where I need to find this information.

1:44:39It's a lot involved with it, you know. And I think about it now, it almost makes my head spin, you know. It's a lot about it like this. Tomorrow, like, we all, you know, think about if you walked into your shop tomorrow and everyone else had quit, and it was only you, you and the service information, and all the bays that you could ever want, and all the cars you could ever want.

1:45:01But there's nobody else to reach out and come get you, right? Nobody else to reach out and say, how do I— you would just— you would, you would be like, damn. But then you'd just be— you would have to get really comfortable with the service information and then just start fixing cars. And that's what I, I tell them, is it's like, you know, it's nice when we get along with each other and we can help one another, but you can work in a place where nobody likes anybody and nobody wants to help anybody.

1:45:30And I'm not saying to stay in those places, but that doesn't mean you're trapped, right? If you've got the service information and, and you've got some ability, you can still fix the cars without people to help you. And that's what I think we've got to— this, this younger generation has got to learn how to do. And I'm not, I'm not picking on them, I'm not labeling them as anything.

1:45:51I'm just saying, like my friend Brian Pollack says all the time, read the effing manual, man. And because he's not saying because he doesn't want to help people— Brian's one of the best guys you'll ever meet for trying to help people— but he's— it's his way of saying there was so much in there that if I just tell you how to do it, you're not going to get And it's that ability to then teach yourself to learn how to learn.

1:46:15And that's the secret sauce, man, is learn your service information and learn how to make it your superpower and you'll be good. We'll all be good. I hate it sometimes. Some of it sucks. I hate when now when I run into something and it's like working on Tesla, like I talk about all the time. I get the occasional Tesla and I'm like, oh, but now I've had a friend reach out and help me out and give me some links and, and it isn't terrible.

1:46:45Do I want to be known as a Tesla guy that can fit? No, I don't want those customers in my face all day, but the car doesn't intimidate me. And I guess that's what I'm trying to say is learn, focus on the car and focus on the service information and more of us will be successful than will be failures. So, you know, I think that's part of the mentorship, you know.

1:47:10Any closing thoughts? Like, even— oh sure, yeah, sorry, I was just gonna say, like, even, like, you know what, during when I was working with, uh, the license stack, like, you know, he had to see a certain amount of basic knowledge and fundamental from me before he would even consider taking me on as, you know, as his apprentice. Yeah. Just from doing all the basic things that you learn to do, right?

1:47:35Tires and, you know, racking a car, you know, changing the oil, doing it properly without any, you know, leaks or comebacks or, you know. Yeah, no, for sure. It definitely helps hone those skills. Clean the corrosion off the hubs, put the rims on properly. Very important. Yeah, that's very important. I do— I've been— I've always done that. I do it where I work now.

1:47:58I've always done that. Yeah, yeah. Um, so in closing, I think you, you think most of the Americans should just adopt our system and, and be done with it? Well, I think it couldn't hurt because it seems to me, at least from what we see, is that they're always— there's always some, you know, story down there about somebody who took their car somewhere and the guy's not certified at all and he said he was, and now their car is in shambles, taken apart, and they're like, well, what do I do now?

1:48:33So I think it couldn't hurt, you know, it would only benefit their, their workforce if they're so hard up for, you know, technicians or, you know, like, you know, all that stuff with the Ford CEO and all that. Yeah, that's going on. We have all these empty bays. Well, you know, we're gonna have to have some kind of mandate come in, fix things to make an actual process for people to at least have a pathway to figure out how to go about this.

1:49:02Because here it's, it's pretty good. I mean, it works, worked for me and lots of people I know. And yeah, you know, it's not a perfect system, but it, it's pretty good. You know, I think, I think up here for us, what we, what we, you know, we don't have a choice. Like, it's just the way you have to do it. Exactly.

1:49:21You know, can you get hired in a shop without a license? Yeah, but it's almost impossible to. There are a couple around that will still, but like, it's the same thing. Like, they will only have you do certain things, and you know, when the Ministry of Transport's coming around, or Ontario College of Trades, or whatever, they'll hide you. They'll tell you to stay home that day because, like, you know, because you're such a liability there.

1:49:48And, and I'm not trying to say that all those guys that didn't get the test didn't pass way back then and somehow they worked for 40 years and fixed cars. I'm not saying that they were all like shouldn't have been or dumb or I'm not saying that. But I think that like the industry should just realize that a basic level of competency is not an obstacle.

1:50:11It's just what it is. It's the bare minimum of where everybody should start. And, you know, it's the same as us. Like, we— the critique I have always for our licensing system up here in Canada is that we don't ever retake the test and we don't ever recertify, you know what I mean? So it's like, if I had to go back and take the test, am I stressing?

1:50:31No, not at all, right? I stressed it the first time I wrote it. I was like, oh my God, this is going to be— and like, I was like, I was the last one to finish in the class, then I had the second highest mark in the class. So I was like, again, that's just the way my head worked. And, you know, when you think about everybody's against it, I don't think we should be because like going back to what you're saying, people, you know, they don't know what they're getting when they reach in the Google and they, oh, mobile mechanic or, you know, somebody doing auto repair for $60 an hour.

1:51:09And they go, oh my God, because my local dealer is like $160. So $60 is like, that's, you know, times are tight right now. I can really afford $60 is way better than $160. And listen, it might, you might get the same result. I'm not saying you don't, but man, when something goes sideways. Yeah. When something goes sideways at that $60 an hour shop, Like, it's like they're coming with a tow truck to get it out of there, right?

1:51:38And then you're into like, where do you drag it after that? And who wants to touch it? It's a big thing. So that's what I've always never liked about the idea. ASE didn't mean, you know, doesn't— is because nobody ever asked. Up here they go, oh, Daniel, you're, you're Class A technician, or you're 310S, or you're, you're licensed technician. Down there they don't ask anymore, are you ASE certified?

1:52:00Like, they don't even ask. They don't even ask. And it's just like, they look at your shirt and you're working and they assume you're qualified. And, you know, if you're never touched that car before for that particular problem, drivability-wise, whatever, um, you probably shouldn't be touching it. And, um, you know, the fact that like people just Oh, well, we'll try. I'm not against people trying, but you have to be upfront when you're trying versus when you're saying, yes, I can.

1:52:39It's a different language, different approach, different everything. Not to get too philosophical, but we have to be a lot more honest with where we are, each of us is within the industry and what the goal is. And then I think we'll get a little bit better. Like right now, the attrition rate of technicians leaving is, is not good. It's scary. Um, but I think that the— when we get the minimum certification level, minimum level of competency, I think the pay will come up because you're going to see a whole bunch that can't get that are going to be gone, and then it's going to bring the pay up a little bit, whatever that looks like.

1:53:20I don't know. And then we start to really break into what is the different levels of technician within industry. What does that really look like? ABC, licensed apprentice, you know, master, blah, blah, blah. I think it becomes a lot easier to start to classify, you know, what everybody's value is to, to who they're working for. So anyway, uh, Daniel, um, Closing thought.

1:53:47Give me something. Well, thanks for having me on. It's been great. I really enjoyed— really enjoyed it. I don't really know what else to say. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's been— it's been a long ride in this industry, and I'm sure you can relate because you've been doing it even longer than I have. Yeah, I love it though, I really do. Like, I mean, most days, most days now for me, um, they're better days.

1:54:22There's more good days than bad days, you know what I mean? The stress is behind me, um, you know, I've gotten to where like I can, I can live comfortably and I'm, you know, the tool thing, that's the big thing. I don't have to buy too many tools anymore, right? They're all like, I'm, I'm mostly paying I'm paying off my Zeus and I'm paying my subscription to it and that's it.

1:54:45You know, I don't have to buy anything else if I don't want to. And that's, I'll tell the young people in this in closing, like don't get yourself under a pile of tool debt and don't feel like you have to buy everything all at once. There's like, there's some tools, you know, it's really nice. Some tools make the job very easy.. But if you can keep some money in your pocket and learn a different way without having to spend all that money on that tool, think about that as still, there's some, still some value there.

1:55:18And that's, and that's just what I'll close with. It's, you know, Daniel, thank you for being here, man. You know, I really am happy you reached out to me and said, hey, I want to share my, my story because, you know, it's, I like, I like to see dealer techs come on and not be like, oh, it was the worst thing I ever did.

1:55:39Because like, I'm one of them where it was like, without, without that opportunity that that dealer gave me way long ago, I wouldn't be sitting here in front of y'all. So, you know, I, I love everybody. I don't care where you work. It doesn't matter to me. I don't judge you as being, you know, oh, you're not as good as this or that because you only work here.

1:55:57I've met some incredible people that like worked out of the back of a truck, you know what I mean? And then I worked— I've met some incredible people that were like top tier at a dealership and then superstars in the aftermarket. I've met them all and it doesn't matter. It comes back to what Daniel said. It comes back to what's inside of you that's going to determine, you know, how well you succeed in this.

1:56:18So Daniel, thank you for being here with me, man. Um, thank you, Jeff. It's been great. Thank you, man. Really enjoyed it. Yeah. All my supporters and everybody, you know, Launch Tech USA, TechMetric, thank you for, you know, providing for me the ability to do this going forward. I mean, we don't see it stopping anytime soon. So I mean, you know, reach out to me if you want to be like Daniel and share your story with me, or if you just like, if you need, if you're not comfortable being recorded, but you need to talk, always still reach out to me and I'll do that.

1:56:52I'll be happy. Happy to listen. Because I have people that I talk to every day in the industry that I don't record, that I just need to unload to. And that's, you know, June is Men's Mental Health Month. And there's a big problem with it going on in our industry. You know, a lot of high suicide rate for technicians. And I want to see that stop.

1:57:16I want to see it get better. So At any point, you know, reach out to me and say, hey, I need to talk to you, and I will do everything I can to talk to you as soon as I can for as long as I need to. So don't feel like you're alone, guys. Daniel, thank you, brother. Appreciate it. We'll talk to you again, sir.

1:57:36Have a good one. You too, man. Talk soon. Thank you, everybody. 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.

1:58:02Thank you to my partners in the ASAR 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 10mm, and we'll see you all again next time.