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My name is Jeff, and I'd like to welcome you on a journey of reflection and insight into the tolls and triumphs of a career in automotive repair.
After more than 20 years of skinned knuckles and tool debt, I want to share my perspective and hear other people's thoughts about our industry.
So pour yourself a strong coffee or grab a cold Canadian beer and get ready for some great conversation.
Jeff Compton [00:00:06]:
I equate it to like when that generation that had pet rocks, you know, some guy made a billion dollars because he went and pulled all these river rocks out and drew faces on them. And this is your pet rock. I think that that's the generation of drivers we're now dealing with where they want the most low maintenance thing they can get. And they think that an EV is going to be that. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another exciting epis of the Jada Mechanic podcast. I just have to, for a minute, give thanks because Canada, it's our. It's our Thanksgiving weekend. And you know, so people are like, what's that? Well, think of it.
Jeff Compton [00:00:45]:
It's your Columbus Day. It's our Canada, our Thanksgiving. And you know, we don't have any kind of like, we didn't discover anything on this particular day like you guys did, but it's still an important day to us. And I. I'm kind of doped up on turkey and gravy and everything, so if I, you know, seem a little giddy, that's why. So. And with that, I have another Canadian on. You guys are sick of that by now, aren't you? Right? But I mean, you know, we're trying to make it into the 51st date.
Jeff Compton [00:01:12]:
So I got a friend of mine tonight named David Peacock from Calgary, Alberta. David, how are you?
David Peacock [00:01:18]:
Good, man. How are you?
Jeff Compton [00:01:19]:
Very good. Like I said, I'm running on that dopamine from the turkey and. Or whatever chemical is supposed to be that's supposed to make people sleepy. So you see me guzzling on coffee, that's wise because I'm just trying to stay awake. But yeah, I feel you, I feel it.
David Peacock [00:01:36]:
Don't worry. Mine's coming Monday, so I'm counting down the hours.
Jeff Compton [00:01:40]:
Yeah, I'm hoping to. I'm hoping to go fishing either tomorrow or tomorrow and Sunday. So we tried to kick it off and get it out of the way today so that we can. Because the weather this morning sucked. But if the weather is supposed to be on the upswing, we might get a. We might have a couple really good mornings. So. And what's it like in Calgary?
David Peacock [00:01:59]:
It is pretty much the same. It's cold in the morning. Like today it was like 20 degrees for most of the day and then now it's 5 degrees Celsius, obviously. Yeah, but yeah, mornings like tomorrow is supposed to be minus 10 and then zero all day and then Tuesday is supposed to be like 20 degrees again. So.
Jeff Compton [00:02:17]:
Yeah. Now where. Yeah, where in Calgary are you?
David Peacock [00:02:21]:
I'm in like the north west northeast section of Calgary. So close to the airport if for reference sake.
Jeff Compton [00:02:27]:
Yeah, yeah. I've never been the farthest. I've never been very far west at all. So.
David Peacock [00:02:32]:
Okay.
Jeff Compton [00:02:33]:
One day I want to definitely.
David Peacock [00:02:35]:
I haven't been that far east so I feel you.
Jeff Compton [00:02:39]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:02:40]:
For a week. It'll be cool, man.
Jeff Compton [00:02:43]:
What's kind of tell everybody what you do and your shop situation, all that kind of stuff.
David Peacock [00:02:49]:
So obviously mechanic, red seal, journeyman, all that fun stuff.
Jeff Compton [00:02:53]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:02:55]:
Been in the industry for almost 15 years. Okay. So started when I was 20ish, give or take and then just been kind of hopping around seeing what's gonna work best and what's. What's out there. Spending most of my career at the same shop. I worked there for about 10 years and then after a long stint and getting my license and all that jazz, I decided, decided gotta see what else is out there. So I went from all independence. I've never been in the dealer so I did pretty much small independent to performance to a large independent.
David Peacock [00:03:35]:
Right. And then I went mobile actually for a little bit.
Jeff Compton [00:03:39]:
Oh cool.
David Peacock [00:03:39]:
Went back into a small independent and then went into actually like a chain independent kind of store.
Jeff Compton [00:03:46]:
Right.
David Peacock [00:03:47]:
So I've been everywhere and actually right now I'm back to being mobile again.
Jeff Compton [00:03:50]:
So very cool.
David Peacock [00:03:51]:
Pretty much tried everything at this point except for dealerships obviously.
Jeff Compton [00:03:55]:
I see all the time like different head hunting, hunt headhunting companies will post like you know, relocation to Alberta. Right. For. For mechanic jobs. Like there seems to be a big shortage out there especially.
David Peacock [00:04:07]:
Absolutely.
Jeff Compton [00:04:08]:
I don't know if they all wind up in the Mac David or.
David Peacock [00:04:12]:
Nah, not necessarily. They're really struggling to get guys up there. I think the last couple years obviously post Covid kind of messed everything up. But they're hiring guys, you gotta. They're trying to get the fly in, fly out thing going. Yeah. So they're paying them a premium. But you're working 10 days, 12, 14 hours straight.
David Peacock [00:04:32]:
So it's like he really you're making a lot of money. But yeah, the personality usually you spend a lot of money when you're up there, you come back, you spend a lot of money. So it's to go up there. It's not fun work. It's not fun to work up north. It's shitty weather, it's cold, it's.
Jeff Compton [00:04:51]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:04:51]:
It's expensive.
Jeff Compton [00:04:52]:
So yeah. So for people that are not familiar like our American friends, when we say the Mac, what we mean is Fort McMurray, Alberta which is kind of like the boom town for the oil sands and essentially a boom town in Canada for a long, long time. Going back, you know, 20 years or now, it's been kind of the, you know, a very economic epicenter of a lot of, A lot of good paying jobs. Very high cost of living though, like he said, friggin cold. And being in the Mac, like he says it's a lot of. You're almost like camp work. So you're going in and you're staying for like 10 days and to put you up in a job and then you can fly out for 10 days. A lot of guys sit up there and like gamble a lot, drink a lot, you know, smoke a lot.
David Peacock [00:05:40]:
Yeah, those lines.
Jeff Compton [00:05:43]:
Yeah. If you get hooked on like the gym instead of hooked on the strip club, you can come home with your money. But I know more than one person from my area because I can remember David like 10 years ago seeing ads and like they'd pay technicians and dealerships like 55 an hour flat rate. Yeah. It's like, holy shoot.
David Peacock [00:06:02]:
Like that's crazy. I worked with a guy when I first joined the industry. His brother worked up north Grand Prairie at a Ford dealership. And all they did was at that time, accessories. They're putting bull bars, light bars, pretty much just decking trucks out for these guys driving up into the rigs. And they were making 50 bucks an hour flat rate to put LED lights in. Like crazy simple work. But that obviously changes with oil up and down, right?
Jeff Compton [00:06:28]:
Yeah, yeah. And I know like I remember seeing a couple guys from here, there and they're like, well, I'm gonna go three years, you know, and I'll come back here and buy a house or I'll come back.
David Peacock [00:06:37]:
Last words.
Jeff Compton [00:06:39]:
And a couple of them lasted like one year and they came back like broke.
David Peacock [00:06:44]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:06:44]:
And couldn't handle some of them. It's just they couldn't be away from the family. They got out and it was like, wow. I didn't realize how much it actually costs to live out there, you know? Yeah, a lot of people go out there, guys with like and, and take a Winnebago, like an rv and hope to like live in that. And that can be. But you don't want to be cold, man. You don't want to be in an RV in Canada in the wintertime. It's not fun.
David Peacock [00:07:10]:
Nobody wants to be there.
Jeff Compton [00:07:12]:
Yeah. So you kind of. Why, why all the moving around, if I can ask? Just like always looking for a new opportunity or culture or.
David Peacock [00:07:21]:
It's mostly a Culture thing. I think for me, my stint at the first shop was I wanted to play smart, get my license, get all that jazz out of the way, learn as much as I can. At that point it was a do anything shop. Right. So I started as an exhaust guy. So they taught me how to weld, bend, pipe, expand, do all that jazz.
Jeff Compton [00:07:41]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:07:42]:
Eventually got the apprenticeship and then spent my time just trying to figure it all out there. After 10 years, you know, growing pains, I'm wanting to see the world. They're not really seeing where I'm seeing where my career is going. So a lot of clashing.
Jeff Compton [00:07:59]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:08:00]:
And a heavy shift in culture very quickly. So it felt like a good time to walk away. And then after that it's been like most guests in yourself have expressed. Right. It's the, the culture, it's the how you're treated, how you're paid, how you're spoke to, parts, everything. So it's like a bit of a duck, duck goose, just trying to find a place that treats you with respect almost at this point.
Jeff Compton [00:08:28]:
Yeah. I mean, people don't believe, but I mean, I've talked to so many people and it's like I left a job for less money because I couldn't stand the way they were treating me. You know what I mean? I've left dealership jobs where it's like it might pay the same per flat rate hour, but you knew you were going to make less hours, so you just knew you're going to make less money. Yeah, but it was like I couldn't stand being treated the way I was being treated by that, say, that service manager or that, you know, I was the guy that would grab a parts guy by the neck and pull him across counter because it's like, you know, you had everybody that was on you. Like, I got to get this done, got to get this done, got to get this done. Customers waiting, customers waiting. And you know, the, the parts guy's on his phone, right. Or he's playing with fidget spinner or something and I'd be like, hey.
Jeff Compton [00:09:11]:
And then you lit back and I get it now why they lit back because they're not getting paid squat. That's a whole other conversation. But I mean I had lots of managers tell me like everybody else is a support staff for the technician. That's what they said. That's their role, that's their thing is to keep it, the wheels moving, the wheels turning, keep them producing hours. So when I would see that lackadaisal like attitude, piss on you, Tech. I, I came unglued. I'm not a good person when I, when I work flat rate, I'm not good.
David Peacock [00:09:42]:
I feel you, man. Like when it comes down to what you take home at the end of the day and frankly like the level of perfection we have to operate at most of the time, I think it's hard to see people, for lack of better terms in those environments, piss your time away.
Jeff Compton [00:10:00]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:10:01]:
For no reason other than selfishly to what, play Candy Crush or something? Like what, what is it? Right? Like what is so important that we can't just get the parts going?
Jeff Compton [00:10:09]:
Yeah. And I get it. Like, you know, some of them, it's like it doesn't matter whether they, they get 100 parts off the shelf for the technician that day or 50. They're only paid the same. Right. And they think, well, the busier you guys are, you're making more money. Not always the case because you, I don't show you my paycheck. Like I could be doing a job that I'm not even going to get paid for.
Jeff Compton [00:10:29]:
You know what I mean?
David Peacock [00:10:30]:
Yeah, right.
Jeff Compton [00:10:31]:
But the, the idea that they just sit there and go like, it's like, man, like if you want job.
David Peacock [00:10:39]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:10:40]:
Parts guy, if you want to make more money, go be a tech. Oh, wait, you can't.
David Peacock [00:10:43]:
Yeah. Oh, sorry. Well then stick in your lane. Give me the parts. Let's go.
Jeff Compton [00:10:47]:
Yeah. What? So the ex. When you say you did a lot of exhaust, is that a lot of like custom stuff or is that a lot of like one off? Kind of like repair this and repair that? Because that's most of my exhaust training. I never did a custom system in my life. You know, mine was always like fix this because you know we can't get that piece.
David Peacock [00:11:11]:
I did both. So this shop had two full size vendors.
Jeff Compton [00:11:17]:
Okay.
David Peacock [00:11:17]:
So we did everything from hot rods, muscle cars, imports to full systems. Catbacks never built manifolds or did any crazy tig welding. But we had contracts with like Southland Transportation, which is like the big cheese wagon buses. So we'd get those coming in and we'd put them on this huge 30,000pound hoist and we would rebuild the exhaust from the turbo back.
Jeff Compton [00:11:40]:
Right.
David Peacock [00:11:41]:
RVs, semis, pretty much. I've built literally exhaust on everything. I've cut holes in boxes to build stacks. I've done it all. So yeah, it's, it was really cool. It's cool to learn. And at that point I was as green as they came. I literally did not know anything.
David Peacock [00:11:58]:
And they took A chance on me. So I appreciated it. But yeah, I've done it all man. From Ferrari to big old semis.
Jeff Compton [00:12:06]:
Yeah, very cool. Yeah yeah. You see some neat stuff out in the oil patch. Trucks kind of those things run into the rigs. Hey like yeah.
David Peacock [00:12:14]:
Some unique builds to say.
Jeff Compton [00:12:18]:
And some is pretty impressive too. Like what those trucks will do. Like you know when you essentially it's like somebody started out with like you know a Ram 2500 or whatever 3500. When you see it done you're like that thing. I think you like go on the moon, you know.
David Peacock [00:12:32]:
Yeah, it's ready for the world man.
Jeff Compton [00:12:34]:
Yeah, yeah. A lot of money. Like it just.
David Peacock [00:12:37]:
Oh yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:12:38]:
You know one hundred thousand dollar trucks are no nothing out there. Like that's nothing.
David Peacock [00:12:42]:
It's crazy to see man. Like people like your average person doesn't realize but like when we drive around and we just see the cars on the road, right. Like you think a big truck but I see that's 150000 truck and there's another one and another and another and another and it's. You just like staggering how expensive cars are that your average person drives. Right?
Jeff Compton [00:13:01]:
Yeah, yeah. What. So to go into the mobile thing like how did that. Because that. I mean that's a. I guess I should say traditionally what. I guess what the. The image we get of a mobile guy right now it seems to be in the industry is a lot of like a diagnostic programming kind of guy.
Jeff Compton [00:13:21]:
Right. And you see a couple guys that are like out there on Tick Tock and they're like gone a completely different way. Like they're a nuts and bolts mobile guy.
David Peacock [00:13:28]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:13:28]:
They don't get into too much diag. Like were you kind of right in the middle?
David Peacock [00:13:32]:
So yeah, like I've been. I really enjoy diag. I really enjoy the trouble shooting, solving. I. I enjoy that stuff.
Jeff Compton [00:13:44]:
Yeah, me too.
David Peacock [00:13:46]:
I. But I. My whole career I've been a nuts and bolts guy. Like right. I'm a big dude. I go to any shop, they're like big guy transmissions engines and it's just. You get pushed into it. Right.
David Peacock [00:13:57]:
So the mobile thing for me was more of a. I did the 10 year stint at my first shop, did performance for a year and then the mobile is actually a subcontracting job. So they pretty much just give me a van. I outfit it with whatever I need and then they just give me work. So that at that point in my career hadn't had a lot of positive affirmation on my skill set up to that point. So to me it was, you know, what if I can't get it from other people and I can't be taught how to do it? The only thing I can do possibly is throw myself into an environment where it's only me. And if I can make it, I'm gonna find out pretty quick if I can or can't do it. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:14:43]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:14:44]:
So, yeah, I just kind of jumped in and I took the job and I bought a bunch of diag stuff and scanners and. And just started.
Jeff Compton [00:14:54]:
That's very cool. That takes some balls too, right, because. But I understand what you're saying about, like, if you can't get kind of affirmation for. From. From your people around you that you can make it, you might as well go try it yourself. And I mean, I've had my toe dipped in a couple times there where it was like I was gonna just like do the same thing. I was gonna buy a van, all different scan tools, the service information system, you know, and just go around and. And the way Keith Perkins from L1 talks about, like he would just go to every shop, handed a flyer and go here.
Jeff Compton [00:15:23]:
Yeah, you know, I'll fix them problem. Cars that are driving you nuts, right?
David Peacock [00:15:27]:
100.
Jeff Compton [00:15:28]:
Is that kind of. You took that same approach or.
David Peacock [00:15:31]:
So that's kind of the. Now that I'm. I did the mobile thing and I went back into shops for a little bit and then I came back to mobile. And now this stint around is the cool thing with where I'm at now is it's very little investment apart from paying them to rent the van. So I get the kind of pretend to be a shop and pretend to do a business without actually taking all the risk. Right. So this time around, it's very much nose to the work. Can I do this past just, you know, basic work and like, can I make this a business for me instead of working for somebody else again?
Jeff Compton [00:16:12]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, that's kind of. So how did that come about, like to be doing it now as a contractor, that kind of sublet or whatever you want to call it? Because like, did they had. Did you start out doing work for them as yourself? And then they kind of were like, hey, you know, we're going to develop this position for you, or tell me about that.
David Peacock [00:16:33]:
So the company is actually based around. Everybody's a contractor. So it's based out of Edmonton, Alberta. And then most of the employees outside of mechanics, they are offshore. So it's kind of like a call center situation. But they have text in Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, random city DODs and SODs throughout Canada. Right. And all of us are subcontractors so we do all remote interviews, everything like that.
David Peacock [00:17:03]:
And then they have one kind of main guy in the city who just gives you a van and then they just set you free and.
Jeff Compton [00:17:09]:
Very cool.
David Peacock [00:17:10]:
The subcontracting thing initially scared me because it was different but with the perks of it and the no holds over it's autonomy and agency I think is what it is for me. It's. They don't dictate my schedule. I tell them what hours I want to work, I tell them what I want to do and don't want to do.
Jeff Compton [00:17:28]:
Right.
David Peacock [00:17:29]:
There's a lot of. It's. It's nice because they don't know anything about cars or automotive shops. So they're just like, you just tell us what you want and how you want to do it and we'll try our best to fit that mold. So we kind of have guys in cities who. Vancouver, there's a guy does a lot of programming and diag right here there's a new guy that just started, he likes nuts and bolts. So I'm looking at maybe investing in a programming and more diag to fill the gap for them. So it's been a blessing and a curse in its own with working with them.
David Peacock [00:18:02]:
But that's.
Jeff Compton [00:18:03]:
That seems so weird though, eh. That they're like, they're in that business but yet they don't know anything about cars or running a shop.
David Peacock [00:18:09]:
Yeah. You know, like makes for some interesting conversations sometimes.
Jeff Compton [00:18:15]:
There obviously must be a need in the industry for it though. Somebody can come in like that and make it work, you know what I mean?
David Peacock [00:18:20]:
Like yeah, we stay busy for sure. Like It's. I work 10 hours, 4 tens and I'm pretty much busy all the time. We have a couple fleets, so it's all in all it's a good gig. It pays well, the hours are great. It's just on my own I think is what it is. Yep.
Jeff Compton [00:18:41]:
How is it in the winter time?
David Peacock [00:18:43]:
It sucks. I'm not gonna beat around the bushman. Like yeah, the layers I put on. Like I went to the gym last winter and I get to the change room and it's like coveralls, hoodie, jacket, more things. It's like six or seven layers of lockers full of just clothes to wear and not enough room for my bag even. So it's like yeah man, what am I doing sometimes?
Jeff Compton [00:19:08]:
Yeah, I mean people I Can remember that too. Like I would come in and I would like. I remember walking into a McDonald's one time and I was like, it was during one of the coldest weeks last two years ago, three years ago, and I was up doing road service all morning. One truck after another, Right. Just wouldn't start. And it is basic stuff. Go out and you know, hook the truck on, start putting some charge in the batteries, right. Like take the fuel filters off, put some anti gel in, fill them back up with diesel and get the truck going.
Jeff Compton [00:19:34]:
Right.
David Peacock [00:19:34]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:19:35]:
I remember going into like the McDonald's where it was like, it was sweltering hot, it felt like. And then started peeling off layers to sit down and take like a coffee break. And like they're just. I'm piling the clothes up in the booth and people are looking at me like, you're crazy. But it's like. Yeah, you go stand out there for an hour though and see, you know how you address, right?
David Peacock [00:19:54]:
Like, yeah, dude. Yeah, it gets cold quick. But like, like anybody, I don't know in my part of the world, anybody will tell you that works in for Mac. Anything after minus 35, it's all the same. Yeah. So like. Yeah, you just have to dress for minus 35. Anything after that is.
David Peacock [00:20:10]:
You don't feel the difference, man. It could be minus 40 or it could be minus 60. It's all the same on your skin at that point.
Jeff Compton [00:20:16]:
Yeah, it's just more exposure. Right. Like you can't expose it for as long. You know what I mean? Like if you take your hat off, your hat's off for 10 seconds or 30 seconds, right. If you take it off at all. Yeah, we, we don't get like minus 60 too often here. I've seen it like minus 40. I've been out and that's cold.
David Peacock [00:20:33]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:20:34]:
Right. And that's when one, you've been down near the lake and it's been whipping off the lake, that's when she gets really cold here. But yeah, I. I guess.
David Peacock [00:20:42]:
Yeah, you guys would be more. It'd be more humid where you guys are, right. So it's cold to your bone.
Jeff Compton [00:20:47]:
It's a damp. Damp kind of.
David Peacock [00:20:49]:
Yeah. We're lucky it's dry here. So it's feels weird on the skin and makes you feel like hell. But we don't get that like piercing cut through you cold like you guys do.
Jeff Compton [00:21:00]:
Yeah, it's. It's a different. It's a different thing for sure. The wet. And in the summertime it's the same it just welter heat a like it's just brutal. Like you're so close. I mean I. I'm two blocks from the lake, you know what I mean? Like Lake Ontario.
Jeff Compton [00:21:13]:
I'm two blocks. That's so there's always, there's always a breeze. Always.
David Peacock [00:21:18]:
That sounds nice actually sometimes nice just have that regular like we have such crazy swings here with the mountains and stuff. Man.
Jeff Compton [00:21:25]:
That. Yeah, it's not terrible. Yeah but what so if you get into the winter time does it change the kind of jobs that you'll take on?
David Peacock [00:21:33]:
It does, yeah. Like winter is a lot of no starts. Right. So I'm doing a lot of, a lot of the work I do in compared to a shop is it's going to be a lot simpler. So I'm doing a lot of no starts, a lot of batteries, a lot of starters, a lot of alternators, stuff like that. It's. I would say winter is probably more of like let's get you back on the road and it's an emergency. We're just going to try to get you to spring and then once we get spring we can, we can take care of as much as possible kind of thing.
David Peacock [00:21:59]:
But to work out in. To spend too much time in the cold, when it's that cold, it's just not conducive longevity wise. Right?
Jeff Compton [00:22:07]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember going and trying to put like, you know a guy ripped his bulkhead fittings right off the front of a trailer pulling away. Right. New new driver unhooked everything on the truck but the airline for the trailer of course rips from right off the front of the trailer and the syn flex. I remember being so cold was trying to fix it and he could not. It kept just cracking and cracking and cracking. And I was like I called and said I'm done, quit.
David Peacock [00:22:34]:
It's not happening.
Jeff Compton [00:22:35]:
Not already happen to said I know it was supposed to be Friday, was going to be my last night. It's Tuesday, I'm done.
David Peacock [00:22:40]:
Yeah. That's a.
Jeff Compton [00:22:41]:
Because it's. It's in a yard somewhere and the yard's only like 10 miles from the shop. So it would have been a pretty easy tow but they just all I want to pay the tow. Let's go down. Yeah and that's the kind of part drove me nuts. The battery thing that always surprised me because it's like. And again you're working for fleets. Like they know the batteries in the trucks are three years old.
Jeff Compton [00:23:04]:
They know they're three years old. They know they've Never had a truck go four years without needing batteries.
David Peacock [00:23:09]:
Yep.
Jeff Compton [00:23:09]:
So why in like October do they just not pull the truck in and put four new batteries in it and kick it out the door?
David Peacock [00:23:15]:
Questions as good as mine, man. Like, sometimes fleets like you can, you could spoon feed them on how to take care of their car. Like, you could essentially write yourself out of a job and they'll look at it and be like, nah, we'll call you when it's broken. You're like, whatever, man. You're gonna pay for it either way, so.
Jeff Compton [00:23:35]:
And you're gonna pay a lot more when I come out.
David Peacock [00:23:36]:
Exactly right. When it's the dead of winter and 30 people need batteries and now the priority needs a battery. Yeah. You're paying a premium. I'm sorry.
Jeff Compton [00:23:44]:
Yeah, I don't. Fleet managers are funny. They really are. Like, I, like I've said on other episodes, I've never met one yet that was a, ever a mechanic or B, if they had been a mechanic, it had been like so long ago that I don't think they ever really truly were, you know what I mean? Still relevant to what the conversation was happening.
David Peacock [00:24:05]:
Like, the first shop I worked in, we ended up getting a fleet with the Calgary Zoo. And so we were taking care of all their odds and sods vans pretty much. They had a slew of F250s and a slew of Dodge Caravans. That was, that was it. And when they came in, they effectively approved, I bet you 99 of the work. We called. The first one, we had an F250. We called.
David Peacock [00:24:32]:
They wanted the whole car looked over front to back. Right. We called like the weather stripping and like odds and sods, things like that. They did everything. It was like a $30,000 bill. These trucks were coming in and we were pumping these trucks out. Like we were just a fleet shop at that point. And he used to be mechanic and he took care of like, you know, light bulbs and odds and sods.
David Peacock [00:24:54]:
And when he found us, he was like, I know enough of what you do and what the problems are, and I understand it. So I know that if you do it, it's going to stay on the road for a while. Perfect. And it was great for a while. And he eventually got fired and a new guy came in and that fleet left right away.
Jeff Compton [00:25:11]:
And that's what, that's always the same thing. Like, they never look at like, well, we never had one breakdown or, you know, we never had to call out a tow for a boost or something. Like, but they look said like Holy crap. Like they spent, you know, 200, 000 last year and the last guy only spent 80. The last guy spent 80 on repairs and you know, 150 on service calls.
David Peacock [00:25:30]:
Yeah, exactly. You're paying for it somewhere, right?
Jeff Compton [00:25:32]:
Yeah, like it's. The fleet's going to cost you the same to operate yearly. Like I can remember my old job with the bus garage. The only time he saved money on, on fleet maintenance is during COVID when he wasn't allowed to run the bus just sat there and we still had to safety them, but they're not burning fuel, they're not running tires off them, they're not running brakes off them. Like they're just sitting right. You still had to be safety to stay valid. But like it, he could look back all these years and go, yep. He could tell you that the, the, the bus is going to next year is going to cost, you know, 10 grand more to run because it's going to need.
Jeff Compton [00:26:14]:
And a lot of it was a lot more AC work. You know, after the five year mark that bus begins to like leak refrigerant. And people are always like, well, I don't understand. They build the, the, the piping, the plumbing is all in the floor of the, of the thing front to back. So there's no way if it's got a leak, you're ever going to find it. You know, this action. Yeah but, and it's not a big leak because if it was, you'd be able to fix it. But it's a pinhole somewhere and dye doesn't show up because it's a bus.
Jeff Compton [00:26:43]:
It just wipes it off like it's blown. So they're throwing in probably two more charges a year. That's adding all this cost to, you know, whatever it was, it was fascinating. But I was just like, this is ridiculous.
David Peacock [00:26:56]:
Just. No thanks.
Jeff Compton [00:26:57]:
No thanks. You know, I, I had no interest in, in the tour bus side of it at all. Like no, no. Doesn't. You know, because it was like I can remember he had to. The guy would have to go up, mop out the bathroom because they all had like, even like a, an Econoline, you know, school bus kind of thing. What we call a short bus up here for the kids, you know. It had a bathroom on it.
Jeff Compton [00:27:20]:
Right. So hey, like listen, they're animals, man. So I'm like when they said, no, I'll stick to the transits that have no bathroom on it. Like it's just, yeah.
David Peacock [00:27:35]:
Line to draw in the sand. I think I don't want my vehicles to have bathrooms. And I think I'll stick to the. The functionality part of it.
Jeff Compton [00:27:43]:
Pretty bad when you're picking a transit to work on though, over some other stuff like those things.
David Peacock [00:27:50]:
They are. They truly are so bad.
Jeff Compton [00:27:53]:
What's so what like for the people that are you 310s and 310t.
David Peacock [00:27:59]:
So I don't think we have the same like certifications as you guys do.
Jeff Compton [00:28:06]:
Right.
David Peacock [00:28:06]:
My. I'm technically like an AST journeyman red seal. And that's where it ends for me. There's no number affiliation because I think that's how you guys differentiate like light duty and heavy duty. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:28:18]:
310S is automotive, 310t is truck. And then I think they added another one that's 310something which is like trailer, you know, so you can go out and do anything from an air brake chamber then to like.
David Peacock [00:28:32]:
No. So I'm just 310s then? Technically, yeah. No heavy duty on my end.
Jeff Compton [00:28:37]:
Okay.
David Peacock [00:28:38]:
It's just purely light duty is what I handle.
Jeff Compton [00:28:41]:
Very cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and see, I'm not supposed to have ever touched, you know, air brakes and whatnot. Now up here you can get a kind of a supplement license or used to be. If you were endorsed to drive the truck, then you could kind of like if you went underneath the truck and could set up your own, you know, brakes or slack adjuster, set that thing then you. They wouldn't have really minded if you went and did any other repair. Now it's getting really hard to. It's getting really hard to find truck mechanics up here.
Jeff Compton [00:29:12]:
It's getting really hard to find automotive mechanics. But the truck mechanics locally, I guess we had like three shops shut down when we brought in the new way we did because we. A year ago they changed the way we do safeties now. So. And a lot of the shops said, I'm done. Don't wait. Because we had that now actually has to be done with a tablet and you're logged in with the provincial government when you do it. So you're actually there, you're uploading photos to them and they're looking at everything you take.
Jeff Compton [00:29:41]:
Photos is all being documented. And these shops decided I'm not bothering to do that.
David Peacock [00:29:46]:
Not want to like. Like you have to pay for the tablet. Is there like a buy in or.
Jeff Compton [00:29:50]:
Well, there's a buy in, but I mean, it's no different really than like. Because the old way used to be you just did a yellow sticker for a commercial unit. Right. And. And if it was an automotive unit being sold, you just had to keep a logbook and that was it of what you safety didn't want to needed, blah, blah, blah. This tablet thing, I think it was. They were like looking at it going, oh my God, it's going to take like three hours to do a safety. And you know, oh my God, like I can't like.
Jeff Compton [00:30:14]:
And I think a lot of it was. They were, they were passing stuff that by the, by the book shouldn't have been passed. Yeah, right. Because now like frame jacking is a big one on the trucks. Right. They want pictures of that and if you fail it for jacking of the frame, they want to see it. While everybody knew there's a lot of trucks that are 20 years old around here that have got substantial frame jacking, but they're still running up down the road now because you actually have to have a picture. We can't pass a lot of these trucks.
David Peacock [00:30:44]:
It's all going to come in like an influx now, right?
Jeff Compton [00:30:47]:
Yeah. So we have a lot of the truck shops now are trying to hire automotive techs and then they're going to train them up to be truck techs back in the apprenticeship program, try to get some of their hours like credited, write the exam, all that kind of stuff. Because as long as there's a licensed truck guy overseeing their work. Air quotes, overseeing. It's all legal, legal, legal. And I talked about it. We had a. There's a local one that she took a break chamber in the side of the head.
Jeff Compton [00:31:17]:
It came apart because she wasn't being. She wasn't being mentored.
David Peacock [00:31:21]:
You don't know. You don't know, right?
Jeff Compton [00:31:23]:
Yeah. And it wasn't like she did anything stupid. I think she just. There was something where she thought she had a cage and she didn't have it quite caged and it was broken on the inside. And I don't know the whole story, but she's going to be okay. But I mean like they were running an ad every week trying to hire automotive techs and now that's happened, they're not hiring any automotive.
David Peacock [00:31:42]:
It's look the other way.
Jeff Compton [00:31:44]:
So, yeah, it's. There's. The shortage is huge, man. Huge.
David Peacock [00:31:47]:
You know, But I think it's similar vein here. You see the same places hiring for months and months and months and months. It seems like either most places keep their core group or people leave into other industries or it's always the same dealers, the same truck shops, whatever it is, always looking for people.
Jeff Compton [00:32:11]:
Yeah. Every dealer in my local area is trying to hire a technician. Everyone.
David Peacock [00:32:15]:
Yep, same here. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:32:17]:
At least one that most of them would take 2, 3 if they could get them.
David Peacock [00:32:21]:
Oh, easily. Yeah. Yeah, it's most of them, from what it seems like here, fairly understaffed right now.
Jeff Compton [00:32:30]:
Long, long wait times, I bet.
David Peacock [00:32:32]:
Yeah, it's two weeks, three weeks. I, I worked on a BMW a couple weeks ago. Need to go to the dealership, had an FRM module failure mid repair. Went to the dealer and we squeaked in because it was a Friday of a long weekend. And they pretty much told us though if it was anything outside of a basic update, it probably would have been a month before they even looked at the car. It just sits in the lot, collects dust. A month later, maybe they'll get to it.
Jeff Compton [00:33:01]:
It's like, that's nuts. I mean, it's one thing to, like, look at it and be that long for a part, you know, I mean, I get that, especially electronical mod, the module stuff. Right. I totally understand that because the parts supply chain sucks. But the, the. Oh, yeah, we. We're even a month before a technician can look at it. Like, I mean, if I was running a dealer tomorrow, I'd be like, well, I mean, I'd probably get my wrist slap for it, but I would probably be like, wait a minute, it's retail.
Jeff Compton [00:33:32]:
Yeah, bring it in right now. Oh, it's warranty. Yeah, it's gonna be a month. I would be doing it right, because, like, stack your deck right. Make your.
David Peacock [00:33:40]:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:33:41]:
But I guess it's just, they look at his appointment, appointment, appointment, appointment, and wow.
David Peacock [00:33:46]:
Yeah, I think they just take them in as numbers. When my buddy took the car, when he showed up.
Jeff Compton [00:33:52]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:33:52]:
Before they even knew what the problem was. He explained it to the lady at the counter and she just told them it's probably gonna be a thousand bucks. Is that, Are you, Are you okay with that? And he explained to her, well, you know, I'm pretty sure this is a warranty thing, like extended warranty, BMW, all that jazz. And she just really wanted to verify, are you okay with spending a thousand dollars? And he was like, you know what? How about you just look at the car and then we'll talk about the thousand dollars. Yeah. And I don't know how it got to the front of the line, but I had a conversation with BMW Canada and they clarified with me that, yeah, no, it's definitely under warranty. And then shortly after they looked at the car. So I don't know what happened there but either way the car got looked at and no thousand dollar charge.
Jeff Compton [00:34:32]:
But so do you think there's a lot of people, David, that are getting, I don't want to use the term duped, but they're probably like getting duped when they go in there and they don't really know, especially on that high end car line. Right. Because a lot of those people just don't know. And a thousand bucks to them is like not necessarily the same as a thousand bucks to somebody else. Right. So go. It's a th000 bucks and it's done next week. And they go, sure.
Jeff Compton [00:34:57]:
And it, you know, really if it had to go through the warranty process, it might be a month and it wouldn't cost them a thousand bucks. You think stuff like that's happening a lot or.
David Peacock [00:35:05]:
I think so, yeah. I think it's, I think this is warranty. It feels like doesn't even mean anything anymore to like a customer because like when you show up to the dealership, like every brand's having problems with these crazy warranty claims and blah blah, blah. And you need to pay for this just for us to warranty this engine and, and all this like underhanded kind of shady shop business that they're running. I guarantee if, because even for me, when I looked up that FRM module for the failure, I went through identifix and all data and couldn't find an actual label date for the extended warranty. I had to call a local independent BMW shop and they informed me and emailed me the revised version for the module. Otherwise it would have gone to the dealer. He would have paid a thousand bucks to replace a module that BMW has stated is to be replaced up until I think next year for all cars for like the last 20 years.
David Peacock [00:36:07]:
So somebody's paying that. I, I don't doubt it for one second. And I bet you most people are paying it unless they have a guy like us to be, hey, yeah, I don't think that you should pay this. This is not cool.
Jeff Compton [00:36:21]:
Yeah, like it blows my mind because way back when I was in the dealer and right or wrong, you know, like if I diagnosed the car and it needed an ignition coil and the car was like, you know, under warranty of any kind, well it just got the ignition coil and they didn't like the customer didn't pay for diag or anything like that. Like it was just all part and parcel. Now it's like I'm looking at stuff and it's like I have Kia Telluride and it's just got a failed ignition coil. It's like, I don't know, it's got 53000 kilometers on it, right. So it's well within the 3 or 60 000k. And I do the real swap, the coil from one cylinder to the other real quick. The misfire moves. Okay, coil's dead.
Jeff Compton [00:37:00]:
You know, needs coil. Send it over the dealer and the dealer's like, okay, well we're gonna charge the, you know, and I work at a used car lot. We're gonna have to charge you guys to die again. I'm like, you don't have to charge us to diet. I already told you what's wrong. Yeah, here's all my notes. Like, oh yeah. But you know, if it's not something covered, I'm like, not something covered.
Jeff Compton [00:37:15]:
It's ignition coil, your paperwork. But I'm pretty sure within 60000 kilometers it's still covered. They come back and like, yeah, okay, it's covered. Like, you know, we'll have to order one. And I'm thinking you just have to order one. Like this is a common thing. Like don't. Yeah, they're not on the shelf.
Jeff Compton [00:37:35]:
Go out to the PDI car lineup and grab one and stick it in my car and get my car back. I got a customer who wants to buy this Telluride. Right? Like that's what you want to say. But it's, that just drives me, it's.
David Peacock [00:37:46]:
Just deaf ears at that point. Right? Like, yeah, same thing with like the fleet managers. You could write it out for them on how we can progress effectively and efficiently and it's just not going to get anywhere.
Jeff Compton [00:37:58]:
It sucks because like, you know, and I mean I've never been a service advisor. I don't know if I'm ever going to be or not dream that it might happen. But like I, I, the, the level that I see them now and I know last couple episodes I've been really beaten up on them and I think it's deserve it. But a lot of them, it seems like they have never done the job in their life.
David Peacock [00:38:21]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:38:22]:
And then they come in and it's like, oh well, Mrs. You know, Mr. Jones, we're gonna have to charge you maybe to check this out. And I'm like, is this coming from just commission based? Because if it's coming from commission base, I understand then why you might be trying to do that. Right or wrong. You know, I can kind of understand it. I don't approve it, but I can kind of Understand this nonsense that it seems like they don't even know what's covered, what's not. You print out a tsp, you take a TSP into the hand it to them, and they still say, oh, well, we're gonna have to have my guy look at that.
Jeff Compton [00:38:48]:
Like, you don't. Your guy's gonna find the same information I'm gonna have.
David Peacock [00:38:51]:
He's gonna print you that piece of paper and hand it back to you.
Jeff Compton [00:38:54]:
Yeah, right. He should be anyway. Or they should be like, that's the part that just drives me. I don't know. I don't know. I guess there's a shortage of advisors too. There has to be if there's a shortage tax.
David Peacock [00:39:05]:
Because yeah, I think the tech shortage is fed into the service advisor shortage and probably vice versa. And it's, it's just an automotive industry shortage at this point. Like, because it was like a couple years ago or last year even, where the union workers of the automotive factories wanted to go on strike. And it's, it's across the board, man, that there's, there's a, there's a problem. And it's not just with us. I think it's with a lot of things right now.
Jeff Compton [00:39:32]:
So how does it work for you? Do you have like, are you dispatched or did somebody just within your area call you and tell you what they have going on and you.
David Peacock [00:39:43]:
So like, So I work 4, 10, so Tuesday to Friday. I'm available to this company for 10 hours a day. Obviously they pretty much dispatch me my work a day in advance usually. But then if there's no work, I find my own work, do what I got to do, get my own side of the things flowing as well. So they kind of just work as like a secretary for that end of it. And then I hunt and find my own work as well.
Jeff Compton [00:40:14]:
Okay.
David Peacock [00:40:14]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:40:14]:
You're responsible for sourcing parts.
David Peacock [00:40:16]:
Yeah, Source parts, diag repair, customer talk, literally everything. The only thing the company does is take the phone call and then put it in my schedule. After that, it's up to me to source it, quote it, sell it, build it, or fix it, all that. So one stop shop.
Jeff Compton [00:40:37]:
It's like being flat rate, but being an advisor and a flat rate.
David Peacock [00:40:40]:
Yeah, that's, that's the vibe I get. This is. So it's a flat rate system, so I'm able to build my quotes accordingly. Because changing, you know, XYZ in someone's driveway may not be the same as changing XYZ in a shop. So I'm able to Obviously I stick as close to possible as book time, but there's obviously gonna be things that change that. Right. So when I go to a car if it's heavily rusty, I can see that and then I can make the executive decision that, you know what, these bolts are rusty. It's probably going to take time, might have to cut something, blah, blah, blah.
David Peacock [00:41:16]:
I can add that to my time and then I can justify it by talking to the customer, showing them their car and being like, unfortunately, you know, not all cars are made equal and this one's going to take a little bit more. And so I'm able to get that flex time by being the voice to the customer, which I found in shops I wasn't getting.
Jeff Compton [00:41:36]:
Right.
David Peacock [00:41:37]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:41:37]:
Is it a lot of high end cars?
David Peacock [00:41:40]:
No, actually it's, I'd probably say we're right in the middle. It's probably like mostly what I see is I'm so used. Probably Dodges, Ford. It's like anything in a normal shop, to tell you the truth. We have the casual Porsche I think is probably the highest end we'd get. Not a lot of BMWs, not a lot of Mercedes, a lot of that stuff. It's, it's not conducive to the time that they give you and the buy in. Like it's it.
David Peacock [00:42:10]:
They take longer to die egg. The customer doesn't really want to pay that. You know, you got to try to sell it. But you're a mobile tech and they're looking at you like you're the dealer but you're just. There's discrepancies there. Right. So.
Jeff Compton [00:42:21]:
Right.
David Peacock [00:42:22]:
Sometimes getting the team on board to realize, you know, there's things we can do and can't do and brands that we can focus on and maybe brands that we should focus on less.
Jeff Compton [00:42:32]:
Yeah. I had a conversation last week in the group and I can't remember what sparked it but I mean I have met a lot of that high end type of customer that they just prefer to go to the dealer.
David Peacock [00:42:42]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:42:42]:
Because of the status of saying it's always been at the dealer.
David Peacock [00:42:45]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [00:42:45]:
You know what I mean? Like they'll complain about necessarily the service or like the wait time but you tell them it's like, hey, I got a guy that's got all the same software, probably more training, he's going to buy the same part that the dealer is going to have. He's either going to go over to the dealer and buy the part or he's going to get it through world pack, same part, blah Blah, blah. They're like, nope, I'm going to take it back to the dealer. I know them. And I'm like, you're just complaining about them.
David Peacock [00:43:08]:
Yeah, yeah. But just.
Jeff Compton [00:43:09]:
I think it's like they think it adds so much value when they trade it in as if it's got this, you know, record of all dealer service performed, maintenance, repairs.
David Peacock [00:43:20]:
You need to meet somebody who even knows what that is and sell it to them at a premium. Like you need the perfect buyer for those situations. And it's. And you know like that anymore.
Jeff Compton [00:43:31]:
90% of the time it's traded back to the dealer.
David Peacock [00:43:34]:
That's true.
Jeff Compton [00:43:35]:
Which they don't care whether you did every liquor service on it. I mean they care a little bit. Bit. But they really don't because they have a number of like top end and bottom end and you're somewhere in the middle. Right. You're not. We're not going to scare you with the low end unless it's every fender's got a dent. We're not going to give you the high end either.
Jeff Compton [00:43:52]:
Unless it's like completely no mileage cream puff.
David Peacock [00:43:55]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:43:56]:
Right. You're always going to be in the middle. So they're not looking at your. That kind of stuff.
David Peacock [00:43:59]:
It doesn't matter. Right. They're going to buy it for as little as they can and they're going to sell it for as much as they can. They sell cars. It's. And the next guy that buys it, he may not even ask for the carfax or any sort of service records. Right. Sees the pretty white Mercedes, wants the pretty white Mercedes.
David Peacock [00:44:14]:
That's where it ends.
Jeff Compton [00:44:15]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:44:16]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:44:17]:
Because I always think about. When I think about the meat, the mobile guys that do light duty. I think like, I guess I get. We're trained to think that it must be like either car lots or like you're going to somebody that's got a higher end car that just doesn't have the time to take it in. Right. And that's what I. But that's not the case. You're saying you get like caravans and.
David Peacock [00:44:39]:
Yep. Pick up trucks and stuff like that because of the. Because of the wait times to get into any shop, not just dealers. Like we're able to kind of fill this gap right now that not many people can do. So there's a lot of guys, you know, marketplace mechanics, DIYers, whatever you want to call them. I got a bag of tools. I could totally do your breaks kind of guys. Yeah, those guys are a.
David Peacock [00:45:03]:
Plenty where I am and, you know, props to those guys. You want to make a hustle, you want to be mechanic, whatever it is, good. Go. Go to town. But I see a lot of mistakes. And, yeah, people are just trying to get their cars fixed. So it's going to be three weeks getting the dealers get my brakes done. This guy's gonna do a marketplace dirt cheap.
David Peacock [00:45:22]:
He does it wrong. This is where we come in, where, you know, we're certified, we're licensed, we have the tools, we're equipped, we look professional. There's. There's a lot of weight in that. And I mean, a lot of people are pretty grateful. You get a lot. They're not all great, but you get a lot of people who are happy that you're there to help them. So quickly.
David Peacock [00:45:44]:
Everybody told me it's gonna be three weeks. You guys came out the next day. This is amazing. Thank you so much. And it's. It turns that customer dynamic that maybe a shop gets to see a lot of the time where, oh, I don't want to be here to spend a thousand dollars to. I'm just happy you got my car running.
Jeff Compton [00:45:59]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:46:00]:
That's kind of where you want to find people, right?
Jeff Compton [00:46:02]:
Oh, 100. I always appreciated more when they just appreciated what I did.
David Peacock [00:46:06]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:46:06]:
You know, Yeah, I wanted to get paid, but it was really nice at the end of the day that they said thank you. Like, we were able to actually, you know, we didn't have to cancel our vacation or something because, like, you know, you couldn't get us in, you know, like this completely. You know, you know how it goes. Wednesday morning, they go and hit the key, and it doesn't start. And Friday they're supposed to be going on taking the kids to, you know, summer vacation trip. Like, how does this happen all of a sudden? It's like, call it the dealer. Look at it in three weeks, like, bring it over. And it's like, what do I do in the meantime? Rent a car.
Jeff Compton [00:46:38]:
Right?
David Peacock [00:46:38]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:46:38]:
You know, and you don't know, it could be a starter. Right. So you get. Yeah, I don't know. It's. It's. This is an interesting industry right now because I see, like you said, this shortage. And then I talked to Ben, former guest, right.
Jeff Compton [00:46:53]:
From three T's on YouTube, and he talks about, like, the stuff that he, you know, he's almost doing a video a week where he's gone in behind another mechanic. Mobile guy has been there and completely screwed the car up.
David Peacock [00:47:04]:
Yep.
Jeff Compton [00:47:04]:
He just did one where the fuel pump was in. It was I want to say it was like, it looked like a. It was a Mustang. The guy didn't even put the retaining ring back in to hold the fuel pump down. It was. Ended up being a loose connection on the battery, was not powering up. Like, when it would crank, the voltage would drop. The fuel pump wouldn't prime.
David Peacock [00:47:24]:
My God.
Jeff Compton [00:47:25]:
But it already had the low pressure pump, the high pressure pump, like a bunch of other stuff. And then Ben comes in. Is like, the test light's going away when we're cranking here. Like, you know, something going on. God. Yeah. Not too crazy difficult. And I'm just like, you know, this is why I think again, I've.
Jeff Compton [00:47:48]:
I've upset some people. The. The mobile thing for me right now, least in Canada, they shouldn't be calling people that aren't a licensed mechanic to come and fix your car.
David Peacock [00:47:57]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:47:58]:
You know what I mean?
David Peacock [00:47:58]:
Like, they should.
Jeff Compton [00:47:59]:
But you see them post in the neighborhood groups. It's like, hey, can somebody come interacting with somebody cheap to put brakes on my car? Like. And that's what scares me with the mobile guys. Because the mobile industry. Excuse me. It's because it's like the wild, wild west. There's no certification. Not saying that everybody needs it.
Jeff Compton [00:48:15]:
I'm not saying that every guy out there doesn't know what they're doing. Please don't take it that way. But it's. It's a tricky thing when we don't have. Because there you go. Ben's like, there's somebody who we don't even know if they've ever been in a class or worked in a shop or had a mentor. They don't even bother to put the retaining ring to hold the fuel pump in.
David Peacock [00:48:35]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:48:35]:
Like, that car could have caught fire, you know?
David Peacock [00:48:38]:
Yeah, it's. It's. It's so much further past even a safety point at this, like, this time, because, like, wild west hits it bang on the head. I think it's like, yeah, a lot of what I see you go out to, and it's clear as day that this guy or this person does not have a clue what they're doing. Like, yeah, Like, I went out to US Chevy Sonic last week, and he was trying to get his. That common ignition coil out. It's got those two little torque screws. It looked like they.
David Peacock [00:49:09]:
The guy got one screw out, and then he just totally demolished the other screw. And so, you know, I tap a hammer in there. I get it out with easy out, whatever. Easy peasy. The guy thinks I'm like magic that I just got this thing out. And then I'm looking over the car, I get under there, and I'm looking at the oil filter. The thing is like crushed with what looks like a socket. The drain plug is rounded.
David Peacock [00:49:33]:
And you can see that he's rounded the plug. And then the center where the Torx is, he's rounded that also. So I'm talking to the guy at the end and it's. It's such a weird conversation because he's like, oh, you know, my friend takes care of the car, so you don't really want to quote for anything else. And I'm like, okay, you gotta tell your friend he's gotta buy some tools that fit because he's just gonna make things worse if this is what he's touched. And it's this bad. Like these things, whatever he's putting in there are. It's not even close to the size or the shape or anything.
David Peacock [00:50:04]:
Like, I don't know what you use, dude, but it looked like someone tried to drill it out. And he's like, no, he stripped it and left it. All right, dude, whatever. But it's like that, right? And guys like me come out, quote somebody an oil change. And I get there and I see this. And then what do you do? So it's going to cost more money. Well, why? Because this guy doesn't know what he's doing.
Jeff Compton [00:50:26]:
200 oil change. I can remember. This is funny. My mom and my stepdad. A long time ago, my stepdad was doing a couple oil changes for my mom on her car. And I remember she gave me the car to drive. And while I had the car to drive for like a month, she's like, can you change oil? Yeah, sure. I changed it on.
Jeff Compton [00:50:47]:
I was early in my apprenticeship, right? And again underneath, and the drain plugs all rounded off. Like, how did this get like this? Well, it's because, again, my stepdad grew up on his. On a farm. Everything was like a pair of slip joints across the rancher. Vice grips. That's what you took everything apart?
David Peacock [00:51:06]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:51:06]:
So the drain plug completely rounded off completely. Right. So I'm under there with like every kind of wrench until finally I have to get it off of the par scripts too. And I'm thinking, like, who does that? And then I remember, like, you know, people that. I don't want to say low skilled, but low investment in tooling, you know, that find a way. That's the people that do that. And it's. It's scary, man.
Jeff Compton [00:51:29]:
Like the same Thing like, you know, but how do you, how do you keep your cool when you say, well, okay, just, just get this done. Because I have my friend looking after it. Like, he's the one that's. I want to say, I want to scream, pull my hair and go, your friend is. Who has f this all up. You shouldn't be calling them again.
David Peacock [00:51:45]:
You know, it's. I have my moments. You know, sometimes I go in the van. You have to just kind of like scream in the van. Like screaming to a pillow kind of situation. But. Exactly, it's. It's hard to have those conversations.
David Peacock [00:52:00]:
But it's. I think it's important that those conversations are had with customers that be like, I get, you want to save money. I understand it, Everyone does. Right? But you have to understand that if he's not the only guy fixing the car, somebody's going to charge you a lot of money at one point to fix one of his mistakes.
Jeff Compton [00:52:19]:
And.
David Peacock [00:52:21]:
I think that goes for everybody. Any customer, you want to pay a guy 50 bucks or 30 bucks to change your oil in an alley, great, be my guest. But don't be surprised when the next guy who actually knows what they're doing, tooled out equipped business, whatever, is going to tell you there was a mistake and now we have to rectify it. How do we do this? How do you want to proceed? Right.
Jeff Compton [00:52:41]:
Yeah, yeah, I just, I, yeah, the oil change thing for me is just like, I, I hated doing them towards the end, like at any place of work. I mean, I still do a pile of them where I work now, but I do them on like the cars were getting ready to sell. You know, they get every car that we sell. We service it before it goes, so we know that it's been done. But like, these people that are just like, if you ever called me up and said, like, I, I wanted, can you do my oil change for 30 bucks? I'd be like, no. Like, you know, I'm gonna charge you 50. And they go, okay, 50 is not bad because Midas will do it for 40. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:53:20]:
Because I'm gonna drive it in there and pay minus 40 bucks to do yours. And I'm gonna use a 10 in my pocket to cover my time. Like, I'm not, I couldn't be bothered. These people that like, you know, take cars in and jack them up and do an oil change in, in their driveway just to help somebody. Like, I'm not, I'm not about to do that.
David Peacock [00:53:35]:
Yeah. You know, I don't, I personally like the subcontracting deal. It's a lot of oil changes, a lot of services. My end of it. I really try to avoid oil changes as most as I can. People that search me out that want an oil change, they want it for as dirt cheap as possible. And it always comes down to the same conversation of, well, Mr. Lube, whoever.
David Peacock [00:54:00]:
XYZ can do it for this much. Can you do that? No, I, I don't buy oil in the.
Jeff Compton [00:54:06]:
That's right.
David Peacock [00:54:07]:
Quantity that they do. How could I compete with them? I'm one person with a van.
Jeff Compton [00:54:13]:
If I was doing something else in the car too, like, I would do it. But I mean, like, if it needed struts and a brake job and an oil change, yeah, I can do it while it's there.
David Peacock [00:54:20]:
Easy.
Jeff Compton [00:54:21]:
But to just drive out and do the oil change, I'd have to charge 200 bucks to even make it worthwhile.
David Peacock [00:54:25]:
That's usually what it turns into. It's, it's. It's a. I'll quote you it, sure. But it's, it's going to be very expensive. And if you want it done, I'll do it. But I'm not doing it for what they do it for. I.
David Peacock [00:54:36]:
I can't.
Jeff Compton [00:54:36]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:54:37]:
It's just not realistic.
Jeff Compton [00:54:38]:
How much in your day is spent going from job to job? Like a. Typically long, long. Lots of seat time between or.
David Peacock [00:54:46]:
Yeah, I would say probably a third of my day is driving.
Jeff Compton [00:54:51]:
Wow.
David Peacock [00:54:51]:
It's a lot. That's something I think when I'm on my own, I'm gonna try to mitigate and organize. The contracting situation is a little messy. They don't know the city. So you're kind of going southwest, northeast, southeast, northwest. You're just going corner to corner. That makes no sense in terms of efficiency. That's a whole other issue.
David Peacock [00:55:16]:
But a lot of time driving, like I put on a couple thousand K in the last couple weeks. Like, they adds up really, really quick. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:55:26]:
Good time to listen to the podcast, though.
David Peacock [00:55:28]:
Honestly, dude, ever since I started this gig, I've just been binging automotive podcasts. So.
Jeff Compton [00:55:33]:
Yeah, Yeah, I do it too, even at the shop. I mean, I'm not traveling around, but it's just like I. It's just the radio boards me anymore.
David Peacock [00:55:40]:
You know what I mean?
Jeff Compton [00:55:41]:
Like, it doesn't matter if it's Rogan or like Mike Allen or, you know, Lucas and David. I'm listening to one all, almost all the time if I can. It's just. It breaks up. The music thing for me is just. It's Over. They're playing the same ten songs five times each day. I can't.
Jeff Compton [00:55:56]:
I can't do it, you know?
David Peacock [00:55:57]:
Yeah, I'm a big music guy. I love music and I always have headphones in. But driving that much and listening to even my own playlist in my Spotify, it just. Oh, my God. I just need something to break up. Just the monotony of music, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:56:15]:
So what's your. What's your favorite scan tool right now? In rotation.
David Peacock [00:56:18]:
So I have just like an MP808 autel, just kind of a bare bones. I'm looking at getting something a little bit bigger, maybe with an oscilloscope in it. And that's going to be kind of my. My big boy scanner to kind of fill that void. I'd love a pico, but realistically, having the pico, having the scanner being in the van mobile, it's not exactly in that position right now.
Jeff Compton [00:56:46]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:56:47]:
So it's looking like it'd be nice to get whatever. Whatever their professional level scanner is with the J box attached to it as well. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:56:58]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [00:56:58]:
That's kind of where I'm at right now.
Jeff Compton [00:57:01]:
Yeah, that's kind of. I. Looking back now, I wish I'd have paid a little bit more attention on to that side of things because any of the flashing that I've done has been always like at the OE level. When I was at the dealer flashing or like we used to snap on that wrap system. Right. That they have. Or, you know, which is a beautiful system, but you're paying a lot of money above what a jbox does to just essentially phone snap on and have them hook it up.
David Peacock [00:57:25]:
Yeah. You know, do it for me.
Jeff Compton [00:57:27]:
Yeah. The rest of the last shop that I was at, we did everything Autel remote. You know what I mean? You just log into them and they're bidding on who wants to, you know, and you see all the names in the industry. Keith Perkins and Mario are all there and they're like, hey, you know, you want to flash this radio frequency hub and a RAM for us? And they're like, maybe I can get to it later. And it's like, okay, we kind of need it done. Oh, yeah, well, time zone difference, right. And you're like, fair. So but that was.
Jeff Compton [00:57:55]:
That was pretty cool. But that was like, you know, then it's more of a free market thing where snap on it was handy because it's just like, how much is it? Okay. And. And you can do it right away. Cool.
David Peacock [00:58:06]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:58:06]:
All right, let me call a Customer and see, right. Like that was the speed of it.
David Peacock [00:58:09]:
That was always invaluable. Right?
Jeff Compton [00:58:11]:
Yeah. But it's an expensive piece of equipment.
David Peacock [00:58:13]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:58:14]:
Just to do that. Right. Like the J box is a lot, a lot less money. Exactly.
David Peacock [00:58:19]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [00:58:19]:
It's once you're paying subscription, you know, Snap on's handling all that for you. Right. Like yeah, I remember we did a Nissan for. When we do the Nissan's always for the 101 DTC that math code that was almost never a map. Right. And I'm like holy crap. They did that pretty quick. Right.
Jeff Compton [00:58:38]:
Like, whereas like trying to do one at the last shop. It was like three hours before we could get somebody remote to do it. Holy snap on. Just like call it up and it's like yep, bang, done. You know, so it's pluses and minuses, Right. It's just if you and I don't want to buy a Nissan script just to do one Nissan.
David Peacock [00:58:56]:
Exactly. That's the, the catch 22 with this whole programming thing, right. Is like yeah, yeah, if we could just cover everything that would be great. But it's just not conducive to that in our world.
Jeff Compton [00:59:10]:
Are you going to go into keys?
David Peacock [00:59:12]:
I'd like to. The key thing I wasn't super keen on, it didn't really seem like something I was interested in even. But it seems as I get closer to that direction and, and wanting to get more into, you know, diag and programming and in that world keys I think are just part and parcel with it. I think a lot of those guys do keys and it's a good way to supplement everything. Right. So yeah, three teams is the. Pretty much the guy I started following with this whole mobile idea. So yeah, stuff like that.
David Peacock [00:59:44]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [00:59:45]:
Yeah. Ben's, Ben's a super guy. He gives me a shout out all the time, all day. He got in a, in a rant in his video about them damn Canadians doing everything in metric and he was something, you know, his wife was like. Because he was with her. It was like, you know, she's like well it's like five liters of, of oil. And she's like. He's like what the hell is a liter?
David Peacock [01:00:04]:
These magic numbers you throw or these.
Jeff Compton [01:00:06]:
Magic measurements you throw, taking them right back to super Super Troopers. I'd like a goddamn leader call.
David Peacock [01:00:11]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [01:00:11]:
Like that's my bus thing. But he's like, well. And I, I saw of course a comment on the video. I'm like, well, the engine displacement is. It isn't like 5.7 quarts or is it in 5.7 liters? There you go. I rest my case.
David Peacock [01:00:23]:
Right?
Jeff Compton [01:00:26]:
He's like, them damn Canadians. I, I really enjoy like I was watching Matt Fonzel and Mike Molesky from PSK Talk in one of Matt's most recent episodes and like Mike said the same thing. Like the key thing kind of took off because he said the margins on keys are fantastic. Like comparable like the. What the guys say, like ROI for tires is similar to like keys. Like once you get that kind of, you know. And that's. Even if you want to, it gets a little more.
Jeff Compton [01:00:57]:
If you want to buy a key cutter. But if you want to just stick to doing the push button, fabic type stuff, you can make a lot of money and not really need a whole lot of like, you don't need a cutter.
David Peacock [01:01:07]:
Yeah, you know.
Jeff Compton [01:01:08]:
Yeah, you can just like. And then the, the whole thing. Autel's got the universal keys which are, I guess they're like the, their universal TPMS. They work like 99 of the time.
David Peacock [01:01:19]:
Oh really? I didn't know it was. Yeah, I, I heard some mixed things about the T or the Autel key cutting. Yeah, I had, I've had pretty good luck with the tpms.
Jeff Compton [01:01:29]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [01:01:29]:
And the shots I've been in. Unreal. Great, great, great idea.
Jeff Compton [01:01:34]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [01:01:35]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:01:35]:
Oh, it's just stupid. One part number does like I don't know, almost 99. Right. 98 point something like it's just fantastic. I mean I just trained my other technician at the shop because he'd never used one. So he'd call up the dealer and get a pre programmed one. Yeah, pre programmed TPMS sensor from the, you know, dealer and just do the relearn. I'm like, what are you doing that for? Like we have like a box of tp, you know, Autels, he didn't, he just didn't know how to use the tool to go in and give it an ID and all that kind of stuff.
Jeff Compton [01:02:08]:
And I'm like, man, it's so simple. I can do it. Anybody can do it. Like, I ain't smart.
David Peacock [01:02:12]:
Probably a big money saver compared to the dealer.
Jeff Compton [01:02:14]:
Right. For a tpms sensor. Yep. Versus 22, $26. We can buy them from, from the local part store. 26 bucks for an auto.
David Peacock [01:02:25]:
When the first shop I worked at, we had a rep. He was really pushing Autel into the shop right at the, the point Autel was really starting to pick up and his deal was, I will sell you the box with the tool and the sensors in it until all your techs have their own machine. And then I'll start selling you the sensors in bulk. So we were getting all the guys in the shop, got our own TPMS tool with sensors in it. And then once everybody got one, he was just dishing out sensors to us, and everybody was happy. It was unreal.
Jeff Compton [01:02:58]:
Oh, yeah. Because it was like, I know, I know. They still run it because Brian Pollock was still does it. Like, he's the same thing. At Wilco, almost every guy's got their own autel because it's like, buy 50 sensors, here's a tool.
David Peacock [01:03:09]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:03:11]:
Shop doing, you know, sometimes 50 sensors a day. Right. When they're making tire packages up. Snow tire packages up, and they're putting the sensors. Not hard to go through 50 sensors.
David Peacock [01:03:21]:
That's right.
Jeff Compton [01:03:22]:
So then here's a tool. There's another tool, there's another tool, there's another tool. Like, it's so much. I don't know why the dealers didn't jump on that years ago. Like, just figure it out and make it work.
David Peacock [01:03:34]:
They really just want to live in their own little worlds a lot of the time. Little bubble.
Jeff Compton [01:03:40]:
I. It's so funny because it's like there was a conversation that popped up, and it's about the wheel lock thing, and it's a clip from. From Asta. I said, think about all the time wasted just looking for a wheel lock key. And of course, then the clip goes out, and people are like, well, I, you know, I. I just go and get the master set. How does that work at an independent. Like, do you have a master set on your truck for.
Jeff Compton [01:04:06]:
For wheel locks? No, you don't, right? Like, you have some.
David Peacock [01:04:08]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:04:09]:
And you have extraction tools. And the guy's like, well, I just extract them. K Scooter. Who pays for that?
David Peacock [01:04:14]:
Exactly. It's. It's time.
Jeff Compton [01:04:15]:
Right? Right.
David Peacock [01:04:17]:
Where time is literally everything.
Jeff Compton [01:04:20]:
Or you call up there was another post that was like a guy was selling. So you replaced every lug nut on a Dodge Durango or Grant or Grant Jeep wagon here. Same. Same lug nut. And it was like by the time he ran through his matrix and everything, his markup was $787.
David Peacock [01:04:37]:
Jesus.
Jeff Compton [01:04:39]:
For every lug nut on car. And everybody's like. He's like, is that too much? And everybody's like, maybe just a little bit, you know, but he's like, it's in my matrix. Yeah, I get it. But like, you know, dude, you can buy a set on eBay. For $80, you know.
David Peacock [01:04:53]:
Yeah. Like, look at the optics on this situation. Right. Like, how do you go to somebody and you're like, it's gonna be 800 bucks.
Jeff Compton [01:04:58]:
Well, and I said to them, I said, think about it like this way, right? There's a lot of people, a lot of cars that you can still put a brand new battery in for under 750.
David Peacock [01:05:08]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:05:09]:
So think about that, right? So the customer's like, I got 750 to spend. I need lug nuts or a battery, which is going to give the customer the more value, the battery more important. But so that's where we kind of, we get a little lost sometimes. The dealer thing, though. Yeah. Like, they're just so, you know, they, oh, that's all I have to do is this and that and the other thing. Yeah, I know. I work there.
Jeff Compton [01:05:31]:
Like, I, I, I had a box of master set and we just took them off and put them back on the car. We just said effort. We don't care if the customer gets a flat and doesn't know. Like, that's the thing that always eats at me because it's like, if it's not in the car and you get a flat, what are you gonna do?
David Peacock [01:05:46]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:05:47]:
And then I remember that most of these people, like, when they get a flat, they're not even thinking about, like, getting a change on the side of the road. They're just like, hey, tow truck, take me to a shop.
David Peacock [01:05:55]:
Yeah, we're so in the mindset of repair. Right. But most people, it's AMA or whatever. Tow truck's gonna get you to the closest place to fix the tire.
Jeff Compton [01:06:05]:
What's the most frustrating thing you're dealing.
David Peacock [01:06:07]:
With when you go out there right now? It's probably gonna be, it's gonna be bridging that relationship between customer, mechanic of, you know, like, the reality of repair and, and the expectation of repair and the expectation of, you know, what you own versus what we can do and what needs to be done. And the money you have, I would say, is probably up there with the company I'm contracting with. I think an issue is going to be making sure we actually know the right information, getting the car, you know, like what's actually wrong. And it's, it's like that everywhere. I've had service advisors where I work next to them, and they can't do that. So it's, I think that's more of a bigger problem. But day to day. Yeah.
David Peacock [01:06:57]:
Getting people to understand their cars, I think is, can be a steep ask sometimes.
Jeff Compton [01:07:03]:
Yeah, yeah. That's the whole thing with the EV thing that scares me because, I mean, it's like, I think a lot of people right now want to buy an EV because they just think it's going to be, like, less things to worry about.
David Peacock [01:07:14]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:07:15]:
You know, like, I forget that a lot of these drivers right now, they're still even necessarily comfortable putting gas in a car. Like, what side's on again? And how do I know when to stop? And you know, oh, it shot out at me. And you know, like, what's that mean when it does that? They're just like, if I just plug it in when I go to bed and I wake up and it's all good to go and I never do anything else to it. Like, it. I. I equate it to like, when that generation that had pet rocks, you know what I mean? And like, here was your, you know, some guy made a billion dollars because he went and pulled all these river rocks out and drew faces on them. And this is rock. I think that that's the generation of drivers we're now dealing with where they want the most low maintenance thing they can get.
Jeff Compton [01:07:54]:
And they think that an EV is going to be that. And I think we're. When we look at our history in the industry of barely being able to sell the value of what we're truly doing on an. On a combustion engine vehicle and ice, and we turn around and we say, okay, like, we're going to tackle this EV thing. Like, no, we're not in the industry. We're not even ready for that.
David Peacock [01:08:14]:
No.
Jeff Compton [01:08:14]:
Right. To understand. Yeah, the tires on them cost twice as much. Yeah. The brakes on them cost, you know, twice as much because they're twice as big. The front suspension wears are constantly. Because they're heavy. Like, all these kind of things.
Jeff Compton [01:08:28]:
We're failing. And if you sat down, a bunch of advisors that haven't had training and said, why is an EV burn tires off? They go, I don't know. Yeah, like, the weight might be a problem. Well, why would it weigh more? Come on. Like, let's think about this for a minute, right? But they, they just don't know, David. Like, they're not trained.
David Peacock [01:08:50]:
Yeah, no, that's. That's the thing. Like, one thing you guys have talked about before that I had never even thought about was we obviously have to go through so much training, right? You know, constant. We got to stay on top of the ball. But service advisor training, like, I had never heard of that, I think, until this podcast. And I, I've worked with a lot of service advisors, old and young, and I always was baffled at how there can be such a disconnect between two people that work in the same building in the same industry. And, you know, I get maybe having to explain some things to people, but there's some things at some point you'd have to just like, intrinsically learn. There's no way you can work in a shop for 30 years.
David Peacock [01:09:33]:
And when I ask you for a sway bar link, you order me a sway bar bushing. That is, in my opinion, just unacceptable. How does this happen?
Jeff Compton [01:09:42]:
I always would shake my head and go, the amount of work orders they must read in a day or should be reading for the customer. Like the, the mechanics complaint, the mechanics repair, they should all be reading that. Like, and how it just doesn't were two years later, like, at a dealer. To me, you should be a wealth of knowledge on what the pattern failures are at least that are coming in caravan, coming in with a stiff steering, you know. Yeah. The lines are blowing off the cooler again. They should be able to quote that without even seeing the car.
David Peacock [01:10:08]:
Exactly. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:10:09]:
They don't. And I'm like, how do you not get this? Then you see some of them and it's like, like they just look at the bottom line. They do their soft skills, which is like, hey, Mrs. Jones, like, how's the kids? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. So my technician checked it out. It's, you know, 585 and they go, great. They come in and, you know, get a big kiss on the cheek and, you know, get their car turned.
Jeff Compton [01:10:31]:
They never read a damn thing about what the technician actually said. This is where we get into this comeback thing and this divide between. Because it's like technician makes little notes again. Before the DVI thing was so big of saying, hey, I also noticed this and I also noticed that they don't bother to call them and tell them, yeah, don't even bother to mention it. And then the car comes back and it's like, you fixed my muffler last week. And now the brakes are squealing. I couldn't hear the brakes because the, you know, the pipe was broken. And now I'm pissed and I want a free brake job.
Jeff Compton [01:11:04]:
Yep. And they're chewing the tech and it's like, spot on. Technician said, hey, you know, advisor dude, I told you the brakes were bad. Well, yeah, but I didn't, I didn't tell a customer, you know, or I.
David Peacock [01:11:14]:
Didn'T then whose fault is it? Right?
Jeff Compton [01:11:17]:
It's written down yeah, Used to drive me nuts. You might have seen it. I would write out these stories, you know, what I did to the car, and it would get all deleted.
David Peacock [01:11:27]:
Oh, I've never seen that. That would. Oh, my. That would boil my blood, I think.
Jeff Compton [01:11:33]:
Yeah. But I see. And then we talk about this DVI thing, and it's like, I've seen some of the guys put some videos up this week, and it's like, they're joking because the one guy, he puts his kids pictures on his hoist leg, and he's going there pointing at the brakes, and he's like, so the brakes are at, like, you know, 30%. My three kids, you know, Daphne, Donald and whatever. Right. They would really appreciate you if you, you know, fix the brakes today, because that would mean that they can, you know, go to summer camp. I'm watching these videos. I'm just cracking up.
Jeff Compton [01:12:04]:
But you know that somewhere somebody's doing something like that, right? Like, they're. They're making a point to say, like, really get to know your customer.
David Peacock [01:12:12]:
And you get to know your mechanic, too.
Jeff Compton [01:12:15]:
Yeah. Right. My kids really like to eat today, so if you could, you know, get these flushes done, that would really help us.
David Peacock [01:12:21]:
I appreciate you.
Jeff Compton [01:12:25]:
That's kind of slimy when you think about it, you know? Yeah, but it's covering what, right? You're documenting what the car needs.
David Peacock [01:12:31]:
And that's the thing. Like, I was. I was always taught, even in school, they really drilled this into us from, like, our first year was write a story. Like, be descriptive even. Like, I've worked with guys who would tell me, you know, don't put the details in because you're just giving the customer diag so they can figure it out themselves. And, you know, I mean, be my guest. You want to pull out a dvom and you want to try to figure it out, whatever, go for it. I don't care.
David Peacock [01:12:59]:
But, yeah, like, I was always taught to write stories of what I did. Justify the dying, justify the price. Right. And then I left the first shop I worked in where we all wrote stories. And I. I haven't been to a place since that wants anything past the sentence of right. You know, the brakes make noise because the pads are low. That's all they want to hear.
David Peacock [01:13:21]:
They don't want to know any details. They don't know anything. But then again, car comes back because the axle is bad or it's throwing grease, and then it's. Why didn't you tell me? It's like, well, you're not asking for those, I guess. Right. So you want to know everything? You want to know a little bit. You want to know nothing.
Jeff Compton [01:13:40]:
You know, the DVI is. Is touted as the, you know, this saving tool for the industry right now. But, I mean, we've seen cases now where they're being manipulated, where guys have talked about in the groups where it's like, yeah, I know she's got pictures of brake pads that are, like, low, but when I looked at her car, those aren't her brake pads.
David Peacock [01:13:59]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:13:59]:
You know what I mean? It's like. And that's so. I don't want to say it, but I'm sure there's a bunch of people have got files out there of like, you know, low parts, like shitty parts, and they're putting them up to the inspection. You know, it comes back to that. Here we go again. Comes back to that whole incentivized pain, right? Where it's like, you know me, if I have to. If I have to eat, I'm gonna eat. Right? And we all have to eat.
Jeff Compton [01:14:26]:
So if I have to go out there and find work in order to eat, I will. And everybody goes, you should never have to do that if you're a good technician. I've been a good technician for a long, long, long time, but I've always been in shops where there was a whole lot of good technicians, more than they needed. Right. And that. That's why. So too many pigs at the trough. It's that same old thing, you know?
David Peacock [01:14:49]:
Right.
Jeff Compton [01:14:51]:
Yeah. And it's not like if you find less work than everybody else, they reward you. They think there must be something wrong with you because it's. You must not be a keener or you must not be that in ambitious. And it's like, no, that's not it at all. I just, you know, I thought she could go another four months on her breaks. I didn't need to do it now.
David Peacock [01:15:10]:
Yeah. I think that's like kind of a strange thing in automotive. And there's just so many opinions on how to do things and opinions, what's right and wrong and. And I've heard you guys talk about before, like, I think I agree. 100. The. The red, yellow and green on inspections should just be green and red. There's too much ambiguity in the middle for, you know, what does this actually mean? How long is this? Is this okay? Is this safe?
Jeff Compton [01:15:40]:
Like, yeah, you can't.
David Peacock [01:15:42]:
It's right or wrong. Possibly.
Jeff Compton [01:15:43]:
You can't possibly know the yellow.
David Peacock [01:15:45]:
No, exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:15:46]:
That's my argument. It's like, it's going to depend on how they drive, how often they drive, what kind of car is it? Like, all that kind of stuff goes back to what's a leak? Like it's leaking, you know? How bad is it leaking? It's leaking bad enough that, like, we bothered to write it down.
David Peacock [01:16:01]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:16:02]:
Otherwise, like, I don't even write some of them down. I look at them go, that's a bit of a stainage from a rear main. That's like four years of seepage past the rear main, around the bowser. I ain't writing that up yet.
David Peacock [01:16:11]:
You know what I mean?
Jeff Compton [01:16:12]:
Like, that's just. But then if it's a big gusher one and they go, how bad is it? Pretty bad. Like, if they don't. Because we got an engine here that burns oil and now it also leaks oil. So if they're not fixing one of those two things, like Perfect Storm, we should send them out with a case of oil in the trunk. That's how bad it is.
David Peacock [01:16:32]:
Yeah, exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:16:33]:
Oh, I guess they should fix that, like, really now.
David Peacock [01:16:38]:
But then do you think, like, experience and skill set really plays into what gets called too? Because, like, when I look at an oil leak, like a rear main that's been leaking for four years, and, okay, the dust is sticking to. It's not that bad. But then Joe, who, it's his third day, comes in and he's all gung ho on finding all this work and maybe making money on flat rate, he's gonna call everything he sees. Right. So the customer says, well, I was here a month ago with no problems. I'm here a month later, and now you tell me I need 20 grand worth of work. Like, how do we.
Jeff Compton [01:17:10]:
So that's where again, the front counter drops the ball. Because it's like, if we're going to do DVIs and we're going to document and 300 rule and all that kind of stuff, which I'm all for that. I think they're good tools. The front counter has to be looking at what was recommended last time. And before we even have that customer in here, we need to know what she was recommended last time to know what we're recommending this time. Because we need to have a continuing conversation with them about, hey, last time we looked at this, this, we noticed this. Are you. Did you get that address somewhere else? No.
Jeff Compton [01:17:40]:
Okay. Are you interested in getting an address? Because it's not going to have gotten better, it's going to probably have gotten worse. And that way, because we know then when they get a DVI from this time, different technician, a DVI from last time. And this time, like you said, this tech didn't bother to write up anything. The whole effectiveness of the tool is gone.
David Peacock [01:17:58]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:17:59]:
Because they're like. Well, that tech must have been really trying to upsell me. No, he just knows that like, like this would be me. That person on front counter ain't gonna sell it anyway. Yeah, right. And I don't even have a clear time on how much I'm supposed to. This DVI is supposed to take. Nobody can give me a straight answer that exactly how long it should take.
Jeff Compton [01:18:17]:
So I, I just do I pencil whip them? No, but I go through them pretty quick. You know what I mean? And it's like, you know, red. Yeah, brakes are red last time. Brakes are red this time. Tires are really red now. Like I can't make it any redder.
David Peacock [01:18:30]:
Like, what's worse than the worst it was last time it was here we.
Jeff Compton [01:18:34]:
Had a big conversation that popped up about like an oil leak in, in one of these. That's in an upcoming episode. Oily for me were always something that was like, if it was under warranty, would you call it because of your flat rate and you lose your Irish and you go, no. Once it's retail, would you would call that. Yeah. Okay, well that's something wrong there because that means that it's like it's not all that serious because it went say 60,000k and nobody even noticed a drip or a drop or whatever. And I get it. Customers don't put oil or don't put fluids in their car anymore.
Jeff Compton [01:19:08]:
But when you look at it and you go, that's not even a league a leader between the next oil change. You know, we all see it, I'll say it with this, with coolant. We all know some of these cars just like use a little coolant. Yeah, Nissans were famous for that. Like they leak around the head gaskets. It's always a dry leak leak down in the. See the blue crust all over the place. If you go and try to fix that, guess what? The new one's going to do exactly the same thing.
Jeff Compton [01:19:32]:
So like you just, you're topping the coolant up between oil changes or when you get an oil change, you dump in a liter, it's good to go for another 5,000 miles. These trying to sell that to me is, is I'm not, I'm not on board with that. You know what I mean? And it's like. So you get into A situation where it's like, I added one liter of coolant. Well, where did the coolant go? And sometimes you work for people and they don't want to accept that as an answer. Well, shouldn't we table that customer then that they need to do head gaskets on that car? What do you really? No.
David Peacock [01:20:05]:
Yeah. It's a money game at that point. Right. Like, well, we could sell the job. We can make the money. It's like, but you're not, you're not fixing anything.
Jeff Compton [01:20:14]:
Do you really want to do head gaskets on a 10 year old engine?
David Peacock [01:20:16]:
That too.
Jeff Compton [01:20:17]:
Right.
David Peacock [01:20:18]:
Like a whole other can of work worms.
Jeff Compton [01:20:20]:
It's a whole other can of worms. So what's the solution? Well, I can't, like they're going to want to know why there's a liter of coolant on their bill. Tell them exactly what I just told you.
David Peacock [01:20:31]:
It's your time to do your job and, and express to them what we, our experience shows them.
Jeff Compton [01:20:38]:
Yeah, I, I find that again it's the, the, the advisor is the weak link in this chain of this industry right now. I believe too many don't. They're not getting training. I'm gonna really piss some people off. Sometimes it's the wife or the daughter that is the, in that role and they can't. Like their soft skills are so good, their rapport with the customers is so good because they built that relationship in the beginning that they're, but they're, they're just not doing what needs to be done, which is truly advocating for them and saying, hey, you know, I, you know, it isn't about whether their kids can go to summer camp, like can afford it or not. You have to tell them what's wrong with their car.
David Peacock [01:21:18]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:21:19]:
And I find a lot of them don't really want to scare them off. Seem like they're accused of upselling. That's none of that. You know what I mean? It's just like you have to separate yourself from the transaction and just be like, this is what the car needs.
David Peacock [01:21:33]:
Yeah, exactly. It's, you know, this is our role in the job that we do.
Jeff Compton [01:21:38]:
Right.
David Peacock [01:21:39]:
It's, I'm not, Yeah, I have no problem like breaking bread and you know, learning about the family and kids and stuff. But that doesn't A, pay the bills. It also b, doesn't justify why you're here. And we're talking right now like I'm here to tell you what's going on and you make the executive decision on what you want to do with that. Right. So. Yeah, it doesn't.
Jeff Compton [01:22:00]:
And make sense. Yeah. If, if you tell them that oil leak is really should be done within the next three months and at six months, that oil leak hasn't gotten any worse and they're still driving the car around. Their faith in you at like your severity of like, you know, evaluating the condition of a failure is shot.
David Peacock [01:22:18]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:22:18]:
They think you're completely like over analyzing everything. My car still runs fine, you know, and, and to them, they don't know. I get it. They don't stare underneath their car if they live on a gravel. Like, my parents have gravel everywhere where they, They're. They don't care if it drinks leaks a little drop of oil they're never going to see anyway. You know what I mean? It's. Yeah, but you know, you have to be making the customer aware.
Jeff Compton [01:22:45]:
The, that whole yellow thing is like, I've seen transmissions blow up because the cooler lines were leaking, but somebody put them down as yellow.
David Peacock [01:22:54]:
Yeah, stuff like that. Right. Like, what's the severity of that yellow? Is that gonna take my engine out or my transmission or is that gonna, you know, leave a drop on the driveway every month? Month. Who's to say?
Jeff Compton [01:23:09]:
And that's again, you know, we talk now where everybody's like, just hire a dedicated person to do the inspections. I think we get into a tough spot there too, where it's like, because that person that's brand new in the industry, they don't even know the severity of it.
David Peacock [01:23:22]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:23:22]:
You're. I might know. Okay. Oh, you got a Chevy Equinox. Like, yeah, they burn a ton of oil. Like a liter every thousand kilometers is perfectly acceptable. And then now it's leaking a little bit from the, you know, crank seal too. So now it could be hypothetically leaking 2 liters of oil or losing 2 liters of oil in a thousand K.
Jeff Compton [01:23:41]:
That's something that should be addressed. But somebody else that doesn't know would look at that car and go, oh, it's got a big, big, you know, oil leak. And you might look at that car and go, yeah, but you know, it doesn't burn it. And that's 10 years of, you know, residual off. Not a big deal. Not going to make customer rare. I'm thinking of like the, you know, the older caravans, the three threes and the three eights. Valve covers all leaked like they'd be coming into.
Jeff Compton [01:24:10]:
Just covered in oil on the bottom. It never dripped on the ground, never hit the ground. And it would just sit there and sweat from There, Right. So you'd see five years of crust and people like, oh, it needs valve covers. It does. But, you know, it's like they're machines, right?
David Peacock [01:24:27]:
Like, yeah, they're gonna have some things going on and some flexibility, and even we know that and can see that. And.
Jeff Compton [01:24:35]:
Yeah. And look at the parts quality. Right, David. Like, sometimes you're taking out something that, like, it's been in there since it was new and it's always managed to leak just a little bit. Now you go put in something completely different, and guess what? You've now got a tracer oil leak coming out. Right. Because it's.
David Peacock [01:24:52]:
Now it's all you to figure out. Right. So, yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:24:57]:
You go get their old parts out of the garbage can, give their money back. Like, you can't do that.
David Peacock [01:25:01]:
No, it's. You're just stuck in that loop now. You're hoping the next part's going to be better than this part. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:25:08]:
So what's. What's the near. Like, you talk about? You kind of want to think about going out for yourself. Do you have a time plan for.
David Peacock [01:25:15]:
That or the next. Within the next year. Is the plan okay? It's just. It's pretty much getting money sorted and getting my own van and then pick up the ball and running with it is kind of the goal right now. This second term, I guess, with this company was kind of my. The first time, a bit of a sour taste when I left. Thought maybe I was just destined for shops, but obviously back for a reason. So there's no point in not trying at this point.
David Peacock [01:25:48]:
Right. So the next year, hopefully that's when I'll have all my ducks in a row and. And we'll be able to just get her going.
Jeff Compton [01:25:57]:
Yeah. I mean, I. I think I'll. I'll be thinking about you because, like, when I think about Ben and it's like, Ben's in Florida. I mean, like, there's no snow.
David Peacock [01:26:05]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:26:08]:
Like, we had a hurricane, so I didn't do. You know, we only had two days this week they were working instead of four. Four. Like him and his wife do Monday to Thursday now, like, they don't even do Fridays.
David Peacock [01:26:18]:
Awesome. Good for them.
Jeff Compton [01:26:19]:
Yeah, he's. They're. They're doing well. They're killing it. I mean, he's. He's had a couple bumps like he talked about, but I mean, he's doing really well. And then I thought, like, Matthew Patno that I interviewed a couple weeks ago there, that was. I think the episode just dropped.
Jeff Compton [01:26:34]:
He's in The Ottawa area up near me. And he does more heavy line stuff and it's all mobile. And he says, yeah, like a lot of the time now he's able to at least get the thing back to his shop or where he goes. If he has to work on it, it's in their shop. He's not doing a lot of stuff outside anymore. So.
David Peacock [01:26:52]:
Yeah, that'd be longer term, five year goal. What I'd say probably if I could just have a one bay shop, that would be great.
Jeff Compton [01:27:00]:
How old are you now?
David Peacock [01:27:01]:
33.
Jeff Compton [01:27:02]:
33, yeah.
David Peacock [01:27:05]:
Yeah. So, yeah, I don't know. It's like with anything, right? Or with everybody, it's. You gotta kind of. It seems like most guys, if they want to stay in this world and they want to have it worth it, they have to go out and do their own thing or excel in one thing really, really well to build that. Right. So.
Jeff Compton [01:27:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. Like if I didn't have. Yeah. If I didn't have the podcast to supplement some income. Right. Like from my standpoint where I'm getting paid what I do now, I'd be a lot more irritable because I'd be like, you know, they're getting a smoking deal on what I can do for what they pay me. But I mean, I'm into the point right now where it's like, they treat me really well in terms of, like, they really appreciate me.
Jeff Compton [01:27:49]:
They tell me that, you know, it's a small operation, so they can't pay me $50 an hour anyway, even if they wanted to. It just. There's not enough work going through. So it's like, you know, it's. It's more important right now for me to be like, living within my means and having a comfortable head space about where I am, you know, at 50 than to start getting upset. Because at 50, I can't really start getting where I want to, you know, start over again like I did at 30, and tell this industry to go F itself and, you know, move around a bunch like it's.
David Peacock [01:28:19]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:28:20]:
You know, I don't regret one second of that. Not for one minute. I. I wouldn't do a darn thing different.
David Peacock [01:28:26]:
No.
Jeff Compton [01:28:26]:
Not one thing. No.
David Peacock [01:28:28]:
I think this was what you were like, meant to do, per se. Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:28:34]:
I mean, I never knew I was gonna be here doing this podcast. That's all blame Lucas for that. Right?
David Peacock [01:28:41]:
He's a catalyst.
Jeff Compton [01:28:43]:
Yeah, he's the catalyst. But I mean, I 100 knew after like a year in that I was never gonna shut my mouth about what was wrong with this industry? I knew that. Right?
David Peacock [01:28:52]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:28:53]:
Not. It wasn't like I didn't will seek out an audience for. Was just. If you wanted to talk about. We were going to talk about it. You know, I, I tell the thing like I'd be at Christmas parties with my ex wife and people would start talking about, you know, oh, my shop, cars in the shop and I couldn't fix it and my ears would start burning. I'd put my hand up like, let.
David Peacock [01:29:14]:
Me talk, let me talk with my turn.
Jeff Compton [01:29:17]:
It's like you, you take them to church, right. You give them, take them to task so they understand. Exactly. Oh yeah. Well, what did you get paid today? Well, you just. Whoa, wait a minute. You showed up and they just paid you? That's pretty cool. Like I, I showed up.
Jeff Compton [01:29:32]:
Yeah. And I didn't get a car till noon, so they didn't. I didn't get paid.
David Peacock [01:29:35]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:29:35]:
They're looking like you're crazy. No, that's how a lot of us are.
David Peacock [01:29:38]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:29:39]:
So I wouldn't go back and do a darn thing different. I'm so. Even the people that didn't like what forged me, the stuff that I went through, I'm very fortunate that I had that, that. Because it put me on this path of where it's like, you know, yeah, I got really good at doing this. I'm terrible at doing that. This kind of thing really upsets me. This thing doesn't bother me at all. Like, I'm totally cool, you know, it doesn't.
Jeff Compton [01:30:11]:
I wouldn't go back and change a thing. It's. It all happened for a reason. And that's, that's the good part, you know?
David Peacock [01:30:16]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:30:17]:
It's. It's so cool to see, you know, the younger people coming in now. Like when I was at Asta, I was sitting there talking to a bunch of people and some of the young people are like, they're 24 or 25 years old, David. And they're just like, they're so optimistic about this industry. They just love it. And I'm like, that is so cool. Yeah. You know, the difference is they're not working in dealerships, you know, they're working in independent shops where they're paid hourly.
Jeff Compton [01:30:46]:
They got a tool supplement. Right. Like they're, they're being taken care of.
David Peacock [01:30:50]:
Yeah. I think that's the thing, right. That, yeah, it's like pay feels like. Yeah. Everyone wants to make more money. Right. But it's like lots of people have said, and I'm sure we've all had the conversations that pay is. I don't even think it's the most important thing or even the top five most important thing for us anymore.
David Peacock [01:31:09]:
It's like. Like it's. It's just chipping its way down the list of priorities and everywhere. Feels like they just want to throw money at it. But I just don't think more money is the solution anymore. It's. Something's got a budge, like. Like tool ounces.
David Peacock [01:31:24]:
Oh, my God. When I started, man, the thought of a tool ounce would literally have changed my life at that time.
Jeff Compton [01:31:31]:
Oh, yeah.
David Peacock [01:31:31]:
But like, most of us, we just have to slum it for years and years and years to collect tools, to hopefully make a little bit more money in the end. And it's like, yeah, come on, man. It's. It. It's crazy to me to have to supply tools for a shop, to work on cars for that shop and only make a fraction while my tools take the wear and tear. My body takes the wear and tear, and I can't even take a Friday off after working somewhere for five years. You know what I mean?
Jeff Compton [01:32:02]:
I know they go, you know, they keep saying, well, what are we gonna do while. While you're gone?
David Peacock [01:32:08]:
It's not my business.
Jeff Compton [01:32:09]:
I don't know, man. Like, I gotta. You know, I gotta get my teeth looked at, and I want to get a haircut. You know, I'm trying to do it on the same day.
David Peacock [01:32:17]:
I'm slipping behind here.
Jeff Compton [01:32:19]:
I'm very lucky that, like, I literally just got home from North Carolina, from asda. Then I go to my boss and I go, yeah, so the first week of, you know, November, from the 3rd till the following Monday, I'm gonna be gone. I'm gonna be in Las Vegas and doing the scene apex thing. You know, when you hired me, I told you I'd be doing that. So just giving you a heads up, like, it's, you know, it's happening. And my boss and I. I'm so lucky because other people would be like, oh, gee, I gotta run that by hr. And my boss is like, can you grab me a hat while you're there?
David Peacock [01:32:49]:
Give me some memorabilia.
Jeff Compton [01:32:52]:
Of course I can, Joe. Like, I'll certainly grab your hat. Like, I'm. That's. That, to me, is worth more than the money thing. Yeah, I'm not getting paid while I'm at sema. You know, they're not. I don't have paid time off for this job.
Jeff Compton [01:33:04]:
Like, I just show up when I work, and when I work, they pay Me, when I'm not working, I'm not paid. It's simple. I'm very lucky that it's like I'm. They. They allow me to be able to do this. You know, I haven't had an employer yet try to stop it. But I have had other employers. I know that if it was like, you're going to be gone how long, how many weeks of the year to go to now, I'm sure that's gonna work because, you know, like, that one is enduring tire season.
Jeff Compton [01:33:31]:
Yeah. Okay. And it's entire season. Like, you want me doing tires. Have you seen me do tires?
David Peacock [01:33:37]:
And like, you know, realistically, what does a week really do? You know? I mean, like, you get the heads up, you know how to book it. Maybe you have guys work a little bit different around that time. Like, there's solutions for this stuff. Right. And it's not like you're popping it on in the morning of calling in sick for the next week. You want to be the responsible guy and, you know, give them the heads up because you have a life. But lots of places just don't want to hear it.
Jeff Compton [01:34:04]:
And I tell them it's an obligation. Like, I'm. They. I need to be at this. So it's not really. I'm not really negotiating with you. I'm telling you that I'm going to be gone. And like, if you want to give me termination papers the day before I go, cool, you know, I'd rather have a job when I come back.
Jeff Compton [01:34:21]:
But, you know, like, if. If it's going to mean that we're going to end a relationship based on that because you need some. I totally understand it.
David Peacock [01:34:27]:
But then what is that? What does that, like, show to you and even kind of to them on what they value you? Like, like, if you taking a week off a year in advance is somehow enough to rock the boat, that they want to maybe terminate you or cut you loose or. Or give you a slap on the wrist or whatever. It's like that shows volumes of just the. The level of respect is just not there. You know what I mean?
Jeff Compton [01:34:54]:
Yeah. And you know what is so sad about this shortage is it's taken the shortage for people to finally realize, I think, how they actually have to treat us.
David Peacock [01:35:04]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:35:04]:
You know what I mean? I think they have to finally treat us. That it's like for every five that leave, that's the stat. That for every five that leave, only one comes in. Comes in not of everyone that comes in is even lasting. But if five leave, one Comes in. So, yeah, I. I don't like to think that it's like we have them by the short curlies now and it's like we can control the. The narrative a little bit, but we kind of can.
David Peacock [01:35:28]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:35:29]:
It's like they. Yeah, they could be really miffed and fire me, but there's not. Like, you're not gonna.
David Peacock [01:35:36]:
Let's be.
Jeff Compton [01:35:36]:
There's other texts, but, like, I mean, the shops already had them and they're already. That's why there was still an ad for me. There was a position for me to fill. It isn't going to be like, oh, shucks, I wonder if I'm ever going to find work again because you're fired.
David Peacock [01:35:50]:
Me.
Jeff Compton [01:35:50]:
No, we'll be fine. I'll go. I'll go over to, like, promoter indeed, and click one button, activate resume, and the inbox will fill up.
David Peacock [01:36:00]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:36:00]:
I'm not sure it's, you know, not.
David Peacock [01:36:03]:
Not hard to find a new place right now. Right. Whether that place is worth the time and stuff is a different conversation. But, yeah, it's sad that it has to come to this point and then even those guys coming in 10 years in this industry, you know, is. It's a chip on the block. There's still a lot that you'll never learn. Maybe you're good at a lot of this, maybe you're good at a lot of that, but 10 years in, I think, like, I don't know, you have experience, but you. You may not still be the best guy in the room, and you may be the best guy in the room at two years, but experience and what you see and what you do.
David Peacock [01:36:42]:
I've worked with guys who've been in the industry for 30 years, and I wouldn't trust them to change a light bulb. But, yeah, I've worked with guys who are their first years. They've been in six months, and you're like, this is the guy. Like, he's the guy you want to nurture in this world, but it's all the same.
Jeff Compton [01:36:58]:
What does that look like to you? Because, like, I know I talk to a lot of people and they're like, I just need somebody that's reliable. Right? And then. But what's it look like to you when you look at somebody and go, yeah, like they've got a future. What is it?
David Peacock [01:37:12]:
I think it's. It's reliability and it's care, I think is a lot of it. I think it's. You see a lot of guys that it's a job to them, and Maybe they don't want to go anywhere with it. Maybe it. To them it's, oh, whatever, I left a bolt loose. It is what it is. But it's like, but you don't realize that you leaving this bolt loose when you're only two months into the industry, that's just gonna magnify.
David Peacock [01:37:35]:
Right. Like, you're just gonna find more reasons to justify why this was this way and why you got fired here, maybe, and, and why your life isn't panning out or this career isn't panning out and it feeds into that machine of, you know, mechanics or scammers. Mechanics are this. Blah, blah, blah. I think it really just, just, it brings us all down when people that don't want to be here stay in here longer than they should.
Jeff Compton [01:37:59]:
Yeah.
David Peacock [01:38:00]:
So it's. Yeah, just give a. I think is the big thing. And we. Like I've always said to guys in the past, you know what? You may not. You may not think you're the smartest. I promise you, if you give a. And you're here, we can build skill.
David Peacock [01:38:13]:
We. We can make you good at this. Because this part of it is, is. Is easier than just the part of wanting to be here for a lot of guys. So, yeah, if you care, great, I can make you. And I've been made a decent tech because I care. And I've worked with guys next to me who didn't give a. And came at the same time as me and didn't last because, you know, oh, well, this, this, this, that, and blah, blah, blah.
David Peacock [01:38:39]:
Right. There's excuses for every mistake, but it's clear they just don't give a. Yeah, it's.
Jeff Compton [01:38:44]:
It's like that the old sports analogies, right. Like effort will trump talent every time. Right. If you have more, if you're putting more effort in than the person that's got the talent, you might get more time off the bench than they do. You know, they want to use that, but it's like. And then like my friend Josh Parnell, he says, just try to be 1% better every day.
David Peacock [01:39:05]:
Exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:39:06]:
He said, if you get 1% better every day, you know, some days you're not going to be able to, but if you get up every day with that, just 1% better, and at the end of the month, you're 10 better. Think about that.
David Peacock [01:39:19]:
Yeah, that's like.
Jeff Compton [01:39:20]:
I mean, quantify, but I mean, think about to 10. Improvement in anything is a big deal. So if all of a sudden you take like, something that you're weak at and you learn just a little bit about it. You know, I go about this like with drivability when I'm trying to teach it to people. It's just like, just start with the little things. Just start with like how an oxygen sensor works, you know, and then build from that and just think about like, don't get into a whole pressure transducers and all this kind of stuff, but just like focus on what really is an oxygen sensor doing and how does it work and then learn how to really just dial in on what that O2 is telling you and then apply that kind of workmanship to the rest of the systems in the car. And before you know it, you're solving a lot of problems in the engine because you're understanding how to. You've developed your process.
David Peacock [01:40:12]:
Yeah, exactly.
Jeff Compton [01:40:13]:
Right. There'll still be a new system maybe in the car that you've never seen before, Multi air or something like that. But you have a process to diagnose something now.
David Peacock [01:40:20]:
Yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:40:21]:
So you just take the data, you take the service information, you apply the process, you fix the car. You know, it's a wonderful thing, but it's 1% every day. You know, that's. I never sat there and somebody drilled in concepts into my head. I spent a lot of time just like trying to drill in my own damn head because I had to read the surface information. I had to go look at a known good or I had to, like I joke. I spent so much time driving staring at a scan tool, it's amazing. I haven't had a car accident, you know, because I'm literally like, I'm not.
David Peacock [01:40:54]:
Locked in on the steering wheel.
Jeff Compton [01:40:56]:
I'm sitting there watching it for 20 minutes going, okay, in that 20 minute graph, that fuel injector, you know, the on time was 8% more than the others. That's the one injector that I'm changing for this code. And it fixes the car. No, that's not written in service information anywhere. It's just like thinking, just intuition and time. Right. But everybody's like, oh my God, you have 30 minutes of driving the car. Yeah, we got ours fixed.
Jeff Compton [01:41:29]:
We got an hour sold for Diag. I spent 30 minutes driving the car gathering data.
David Peacock [01:41:35]:
Like, yeah, the, the rush to figure out problems really needs to just dial back a little bit. Like the. Especially as they get more complex.
Jeff Compton [01:41:44]:
Right.
David Peacock [01:41:44]:
Even a car 10 years or 10 years old, it may have an issue that you never seen or no one in the shop has ever seen or it's an auction car, a one Off a flood, anything. Right. It's a million variables. So like to think that, oh, you spent a half hour trying to figure it out. It's like my dude, I'll give you the scanner, you figure this out in a half hour, I'll give you half the day. It's just.
Jeff Compton [01:42:07]:
Yeah. And I, I've got them sometimes and I don't know, I just get lucky. It's like I talk about that Mazda that wouldn't shut off. Like I had that narrowed down in 40 minutes, you know what I mean? And it was like, I didn't do it. You would push the button and nothing would happen. You had to like go out there and pull relays of the fuse box. Ended up being a stock relay. But it's not like the codes and the data are telling you this relay is stuck on exactly, right.
Jeff Compton [01:42:30]:
It's just giving you multiple codes and like some, some stuff. And you're like, let me think here how this is working for a minute. And it's like, look at some service information. Like. And that was a car that had been traded for that very friggin reason. Oh yeah, obviously once we, yeah, because once we started getting into the car and I started taking things apart, I'm like, okay, so around the steering column, somebody's had that shroud off and you know, right around the battery here, somebody's definitely been in here at some point. Now this never gave us the symptom till it was being washed. Customer on their way to pick it up to take it.
Jeff Compton [01:43:02]:
But obviously it had a problem that somebody had looked at and when they couldn't fix it, they traded the car.
David Peacock [01:43:09]:
Gave up on to the next.
Jeff Compton [01:43:13]:
So you know, do I fault myself if it took me, you know, 45 minutes? Hell no. Like I would have followed myself. It took me four hours the time. But I mean like it, you know, what do you want me, what this, this idea that it's like. And I'm not saying a car should wait at the dealer four weeks before somebody can look at them, but I mean when people are like, well you know, the technicians, he's got an hour into it and he hasn't really been able to give me anything. Yeah, like, okay, I spent most of the time, I spend the first 30 minutes just like driving the car and looking for TSBs, that's my first hour.
David Peacock [01:43:53]:
Half the time you like familiarizing yourself with what's going on even, right?
Jeff Compton [01:43:57]:
Yeah, yeah.
David Peacock [01:43:59]:
So yeah.
Jeff Compton [01:44:01]:
What's a word of advice for the young people?
David Peacock [01:44:05]:
Man, I don't know at this Point like I think this trade is a great trade. I do. I think working on cars is fantastic. I think you just need to know what you're signing up for because I think that's like what a lot of guys get blindsided by is. Is like you've said before, you know, everybody wants to work on fast cars and hot rods and shoot flames and burn rubber. Right. But at the end of the day everybody's got to get groceries and that's what you're doing a lot of the time. And yeah, just be prepared and find the right shop.
David Peacock [01:44:38]:
Because I think a lot of us, myself included, spend a lot of time in the wrong places not having these places serve me or set me up for success. I think the best techs come out of places that are culturally well, yeah. And they care. It's not just a numbers game, it's not a speed game. You want to learn how to fix a car? We'll teach you how to fix a car. And then you're going to make us money. Have investment, have somebody invest in you. I think is the biggest one that's.
Jeff Compton [01:45:08]:
A true skin in the game. I hate that term when people say it. The technician has to have skin in the game. But I mean I'll challenge the, the owners and the leaders in this. You got to have skin in the industry, which means you got to have investment in training the industry to be better. Which means every person that you employ and you're responsible for you should be trying to make them better. Not just like on the spreadsheet at the bottom for the ROI better but better technicians, better industry every day. And that's why, you know, the flat rate thing.
Jeff Compton [01:45:43]:
I don't. We've almost had a whole episode where we don't talk about it. But I still believe that if you're, if you're advocating as that as a pay method, you're not really advocating for the betterment of the industry. And I think that that's like we've seen enough evidence now to say that it's not the best way, especially for the young people coming in. And that's all I really want to do is see it to be come an option and not the only way.
David Peacock [01:46:05]:
Yeah, that'd be wrong with an established.
Jeff Compton [01:46:07]:
Tech wanting to work flat rate. I had no issues with that at all. It just like the, the stat support that the wash it that we're having is because guys are not getting paid in gals for their diagnostic time and they're not. The times just aren't what they should be exactly. To want to now to fix these cars. And that's an unfortunate reality. And if you're paying that way, you know, I think you're not advocating for the industry. You're just advocating for your bottom line.
Jeff Compton [01:46:32]:
But, David, I'll let you go, man. It's kind of getting late, and I appreciate you coming on on the Thanksgiving night and, you know, having this conversation with us. I really appreciate you reaching out to me. And I'm sorry we had some. Some scheduling issues getting it to happen.
David Peacock [01:46:47]:
You know, it's been a couple months.
Jeff Compton [01:46:48]:
But we're both busy, right? Like, you. You have to go to the dentist.
David Peacock [01:46:52]:
Life, man. Yeah, you do not want me on here after the dentist, dude. Like, I was, like, lip was sagging. It was pretty gnarly.
Jeff Compton [01:47:02]:
Well, you're good now, man.
David Peacock [01:47:03]:
Thankfully. Yeah, thankfully.
Jeff Compton [01:47:05]:
I appreciate it. Just get yourself a nice big beard for your. For your winter service calls.
David Peacock [01:47:09]:
Creeping on, man. It's got to get that nice, warm layer of freeze out there.
Jeff Compton [01:47:13]:
Yeah, it helps. All right, everybody, I'll. For those of you attending sema, I look forward to seeing you there. Apex is going to be a great show. Seem as an amazing thing. We had our giveaway. We've got our final person coming, so Mr. Paul Zilla is going to attend.
Jeff Compton [01:47:31]:
He won the free trip. That's pretty sweet. So he's excited, and I'm excited to see everybody there. We've got a great episode coming out on Tuesday that you're really going to like. It'll be out before you probably hear this episode, but we've got a lot coming in the new year for you two people. So, as always, I love you all. Thank you for all the support, and we'll talk to you again, David.
David Peacock [01:47:53]:
Later, man.
Jeff Compton [01:47:54]:
Happy. Thanks, everybody.
David Peacock [01:47:55]:
Appreciate it.
Jeff Compton [01:47:56]:
Thanks, man. Hey, if you could do me a favor real quick and, like, comment on and share this episode, I'd really appreciate it. And please, most importantly, set the podcast to automatically download every Tuesday morning. As always, I'd like to thank our amazing guests for their perspectives and expertise, and I hope that you'll please join us again next week on this journey of change. Thank you to my partners in the ASA group and to the Changing the Industry podcast. Remember what I always say, in this industry, you get what you pay for. Here's hoping everyone finds their missing 10 millimeter, and we'll see you all again next time.