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The Gearbox Podcast brings on industry professionals to explore the day-to-day operations of owning and operating a shop. From common frustrations to industry-wide shifts, this podcast covers it with fun and insightful conversations.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:13]:
My name is Jimmy Purdy, shop owner, master tech, transmission builder, and the host of the Gearbox podcast. Here I talk with new and seasoned shop owners, as well as industry professionals about day to day operations within their own shops and all the failures and successes that come along the way from what grinds your gears to having to shift gears in the automotive industry. This is the gearbox podcast. You are?
Chris Johnson [00:00:39]:
I am Chris Johnson. I'm a shop foreman technician at Cobra Mazda in Coburg, Ontario, Canada.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:48]:
Oh, that's cool. That's a different animal up there.
Chris Johnson [00:00:51]:
That it is, yeah. Having to deal with all the rust and snow and.
Jimmy Purdy [00:00:55]:
I guess not. I mean, do you have. Being able to see the difference between the two? Have you been like. Because sometimes it's like, I'm in California, right? So I don't know anything about the rust belt. I've never had to deal with it. I've just seen horror stories, but I've never personally had it. So I can't, from experience be like, oh, it's so much better. Just.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:13]:
It is what it is. So I assume when you're up there, it's like, that's just your life. So you're like, I don't know. This is just what we deal with. This is just what we do.
Chris Johnson [00:01:24]:
Yeah, it kind of is. You just get used to it. Again, one of the other podcasts, Mario Rohas was talking, know, embracing the suck with working on bmws. That's what we do with the rust. Just embrace the suck and make it work.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:36]:
Embrace the suck. Yeah, exactly. You don't have much of a.
Chris Johnson [00:01:41]:
It's a rust is a way of.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:44]:
So you own a shop up there?
Chris Johnson [00:01:47]:
I am the shop foreman, lead technician of a small Mazda dealership here in Coburg.
Jimmy Purdy [00:01:52]:
Oh, that's cool. How was life like that? How is that going?
Chris Johnson [00:02:00]:
Going a lot better.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:01]:
Okay.
Chris Johnson [00:02:04]:
Coming up as a technician, you get the shit jobs and has the jadedness and whatnot. But once I make the industry work a lot better and working a lot better with my managers and with other technicians and learning how to work with them better and learning more about the business itself, especially through the chain of the industry podcast and with listening to everyone else's stories, it's becoming a whole lot better. Life is better because. Making it better.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:34]:
Yeah. One conversation at a time, as I guess, is what they say.
Chris Johnson [00:02:38]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:02:40]:
How's that transition going from technician to manager? Is that fairly new for you?
Chris Johnson [00:02:46]:
That is fairly new. You just been slowly working at it for the last little couple of years. More mentoring the other. Let's say other technicians. We're such a small dealership. There's myself and one other technician, and we have two apprentices, and that's our hoists taken up right there.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:05]:
Okay. Yeah, it's a pretty small dealership, but.
Chris Johnson [00:03:09]:
Having to oversee the work of the other guys and make sure they're learning, they're doing their jobs correctly, we're not having comebacks, so that's a steep learning curve. But it's like being a parent.
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:24]:
Yeah, I've come to that same exact conclusion. At some points, I feel like you got to think like that a little bit, but then also realize that they're not your kids.
Chris Johnson [00:03:36]:
So it's like, you can let them go a little further on that leash until they say, now, no. Should you really be doing this?
Jimmy Purdy [00:03:46]:
And an extent. I know guys are probably like, what are you talking about? I'm not like that now. We're not, like, talking about every technician out there. But how's the turnover rate at the dealership? I mean, I feel like obviously it's a different market. It's got to be a different marketplace than down here in the states. But they seem to be leaving the dealership and groves. I get a lot of interviews from guys from the dealership. With that being said, I feel like a lot of them use that just as, like, a bargaining tactic.
Jimmy Purdy [00:04:12]:
Like, hey, I got this job with this guy down the street, and then the manager, whatever goes in, okay, I'll give you your $5 an hour raise or whatever you're asking for. I see a lot of that in our area. I don't know if they're just trying to get more money and they're asking for raises and they don't know another way other than locking a job down somewhere else and using that as threatening, or if they're just really sick of the environment and a little bit more money kind of smooths that out.
Chris Johnson [00:04:40]:
Yeah, Ken, we've kind of seen that our shop hasn't been that bad because we've had one apprentice. He's been there for almost three years. He was a co op student. So from the high schools, they can send students out to get work experience. So we've had him since he was in high school, then been bringing him up, and we got our other technician, who's just recently been licensed as a technician. He's been there for going on two years, like a year and a half, two years, and he's growing well with us. We've had the average turnover, I'd say, before that, but we're trying to.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:18]:
You're a pretty small dealership, though, so you probably don't have too much to.
Chris Johnson [00:05:22]:
Yeah, we don't notice.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:23]:
Don't get lost in the minutiae. Yeah.
Chris Johnson [00:05:26]:
I always see ads for other dealerships in town that are advertising all the time, but they're the ones that are always advertising. Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:33]:
You always know the shops that are always advertising.
Chris Johnson [00:05:35]:
You always can tell for a reason.
Jimmy Purdy [00:05:38]:
They got a result for a reason. Usually for a reason, yeah. Are you part of the process when it comes to the pay rates and looking at raises or training? Do you have a lot to say when it comes to that kind of stuff as far as the manager role.
Chris Johnson [00:05:54]:
As far as the pay raise and whatnot? No, I'm a working shop foreman.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:03]:
Okay.
Chris Johnson [00:06:04]:
Being that we're incredibly tiny in the hiring process and the training, I've just started getting into that and I'm going to start implementing a training plan for us or for our techs besides what our manufacturer offers, because the courses aren't as prevalent as we'd like them to be. So I'm going to start working with our apprentices and technicians, start getting them, learning more. Like what are the weak areas? What do they want to learn? What are they interested in? Let's get a program going for that just so they can work a lot better and efficiently without me having to mind them all the time.
Jimmy Purdy [00:06:40]:
Yeah, I mean, you talk about programs. Is there a certain program that you working on right now?
Chris Johnson [00:06:48]:
I think I'd like to get them all signed up for scannerdanner initially because I think that would help everyone for getting our fundamentals. I mean, I'm still a premium member, I think for the last couple of years. I just keep going back, rewatching some of the stuff and refreshing stuff, and.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:09]:
It'S just, it's amazing how many free resources are out there that no one really takes advantage of, too, when it comes to technicians, every aspect of it. Right. I don't know. I feel like there's like a lot that's out there where they kind of point you in the wrong direction and unless you get on the right train to begin with, you feel like you kind of got the short. I don't know. You get taught something, then you realize everybody's against that certain, I don't know, that certain aspect or that certain mind process. Right. But you're so involved in it because you've watched so many videos and so much education about, you're like, oh, but I really liked what that guy.
Jimmy Purdy [00:07:54]:
So you feel like you're kind of doing the wrong thing. And so it's just hard to navigate because there's so much out there now. But when you find the right stuff, it's like, man, if it's free, just watch it. What's the.
Chris Johnson [00:08:06]:
Yeah, you can always, certainly go down a rabbit hole of, as you say, just finding like, oh, yeah, it's good, it's great. It's like, oh, yeah, this guy's a.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:17]:
Right away. That's a scotty kilmer. I'm not going to watch that one. No, I don't need someone to tell me that one's bad. I've been watching a lot of master class lately. I got that subscription in the beginning of the year. I've been non automotive training from my own personal growth, I think is really important, too, when it comes to teaching people or leading people.
Chris Johnson [00:08:40]:
Oh, yeah, that's a really good idea. I like that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:08:44]:
I don't know. You can't learn everything from the same couple of people. You got to keep finding new avenues of learning. And it's like just listening to some completely different mean. I feel like the scientist stuff is always something I'm interested in. I think as technicians, we're all kind of like scientists in a way. You know what mean? Like our process and our hypothesis. And so listening to Neil deGrasse Tyson is like, he's just like, that guy is so smart on so many levels, and it's like, I don't know, I was just listening to him.
Jimmy Purdy [00:09:16]:
He was talking about how he takes the scientific method and he's always trying to find a theory and then a hypothesis. And I'm like, man, you kind of sound like a day at the shop. We take something, we got to theorize, and we got to think about what it is and then sell a hypothesis on a quote, and then we're like, repairing this and then we got to actually do the mechanical part of it. But I think to be like an a level technician, you have to have that scientific process, right? It's not just hanging parts. You're like going through a diagnostic process in your mind. You just look at cars, you look at everything differently once you get to that level.
Chris Johnson [00:09:53]:
Yeah, why am I hanging this part? Why is this doing this? That's why. I love the why.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:01]:
Yeah, I think that's part of that whole process that he was talking about was like, taking that why. And it's like, you always have to be curious. But it's frustrating too, though. You get like, something comes in, it's like a 2019 or 2020 ram with, like, a communication code. And you're like, why? It's all about the tone of voice. You could be like, oh, why? Right. All curious and inquisitive, and it's like, or the, why am I doing this on this thing? I don't know anything about this. Damn.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:29]:
Yeah, exactly. Pulling your damn hair out. Like, I don't want to figure this out. But you have to keep that curiosity to be a good technician.
Chris Johnson [00:10:37]:
Oh, yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:10:39]:
And I'm sure you've probably been wrenching for a while as far as the diagnostic side of it. Was that something you kind of moved into as you moved into the manager position, or was it something that you just wanted to be a manager? Or what was your why when it.
Chris Johnson [00:10:56]:
Comes to that, with the diagnostic stuff, I think that started, like, a few years ago when you realize I'm hanging parts that's feeding my family, feeding my belly, but then you're just craving the paycheck, craving the hours on that, rather than feeding your mind and whatnot and have natural satisfaction with the job, whereas you can dig through a problem that no one else could find, then there it is. And you can at least be happy at the end of the day, like solving puzzles or putting puzzles together. Let's find out what the picture is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:40]:
I turned my mic on. There we go. Yeah. Being able to, I mean, that's the good and bad part. It's like the frustrating part when you don't get it right.
Chris Johnson [00:11:51]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:11:53]:
The elation of, like, yeah. Figuring out, I don't know, it's such a hard thing. You want to be the guy that everyone brings their problems to, but you don't want to be the guy that everyone brings their problems to. Why am I like this? Why am I wired this way?
Chris Johnson [00:12:10]:
Yeah, I think with my finding that stuff out, I've been liking to impart that on our other technicians and whatnot and other people. So that's why I've been trying to move up to the more managing role, especially as I get older, because I'm just rounded 40, so I want to be able to ease into the end goal or the next phase of life rather than having to pound out hours constantly.
Jimmy Purdy [00:12:40]:
Yeah. Working with your mind instead of your hands a little more. Then how's the satisfaction being kind of cultivating a culture and managing people.
Chris Johnson [00:12:55]:
That is actually really nice, especially with our one young and up and coming apprentice. He's like a mini me. I can teach him some stuff and he's got it. And I can just set him on autopilot and just looking across the shop, I know exactly what phase of the job he's at, how he can do stuff and he can just ground and pound stuff, or he knows what questions to come and ask me when he needs to.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:27]:
It's a rewarding. For me, it was a really rewarding aspect of moving into the management or the ownership position, and it's something I didn't really think about. It's just like fixing. Instead of fixing cars, you're kind of like fixing people in a way, but it's just as frustrating.
Chris Johnson [00:13:47]:
Oh, yeah. There's only so many times you can threaten them with a rolled up newspaper.
Jimmy Purdy [00:13:57]:
Yeah. You find different ways of disciplining, I guess, in air quotes, disciplining, but the old ways. I'm sure the way you were raised in a shop is a lot different than the way the culture needs to be now, as far as being brought up in the shop, what was your kind of like, your beginnings, as far as getting into it?
Chris Johnson [00:14:19]:
My beginnings, my wrenching became out of necessity. I eventually wanted to work on cars because I wanted to go racing and didn't have money to pay anyone else to do it, and I wanted to know how to bring it on. So I had to fix my own cars and go racing. Then I turned that into co op just at the end of high school. Then I turned that into an apprenticeship, then turned that into a career where I was actually working at a race shop for about seven or eight years until I had to get a real job.
Jimmy Purdy [00:14:53]:
Yeah. So you went from the performance just into the actual bread and butter, trying to forward the next step. Right?
Chris Johnson [00:15:02]:
Yeah. They co opt an apprentice at a dealership here in Cobra, actually, literally right next to where I work right now. So that was almost 20 years ago that was working on race shop we were building up here to the Trans Am series. We build their two frame chassis, NASCAR engine stuff, fun stuff, lots of corvettes, and lots of traveling down the states for fun races, which is a lot of fun, especially as you're younger, but eventually it takes up all of your.
Jimmy Purdy [00:15:36]:
Yeah, and you don't get any of the profit out of it either. Yeah, I've noticed that with the classics and the performances, I think a lot of guys knew in the industry that's what they want to do until they realize there's no paycheck on the other side, which still blows me away. It's just strange when you talk about the classics and whether it's a classic car, performance car, this is like expendable money. How is there no money for these skilled technicians to build these cars when it's not needed doesn't make any sense to me. And then you're dealing with the day to day, the soccer mom, the construction guy, and you're trying your best to keep the bills down as much as they can because they need it. And it just seems backwards to me.
Chris Johnson [00:16:26]:
It's definitely a different world. Especially the clientele we were dealing with at the race shop. They were operating on different levels. We had a lot of commercial real estate developers. They've got money to spend on this stuff. They're blowing 25 if they're doing a pro weekend. They're spending probably 45, almost $50,000 for a weekend of racing.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:50]:
Right.
Chris Johnson [00:16:52]:
And they may win, they may finish at the end, or they may wad it up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:16:56]:
Yeah, well, it's definitely not for a paycheck. I mean, they might make a little bit of money, but at the end of the day, it's not what they use to go to work. It just blows me away, that kind of stuff. Because there is a lot of passion for that to get in the racer. A lot of people start. That's where they start, is like getting on a race team. It's always something that I wonder about. I'd like to be able to just do performance stuff, too.
Jimmy Purdy [00:17:26]:
But anybody you talk to, once they get into the business of restoring cars or doing LS swaps or doing all the fun stuff, building baja trucks, it's like there's just no money at the end of, like that's. So.
Chris Johnson [00:17:43]:
Does boggle the know a little mean wrenching on those cars? You'd have to hopefully get into a bigger pro team, then go to Europe. Then you can kind of make some money and actually you get a living. But then the team might shut down at the end of the year or the next year when the rules change and you have to go find another job in a different series and keep traveling.
Jimmy Purdy [00:18:08]:
Yeah. So with the dealership, how's Mazda treat you? How do you like the outfit of actually Mazda? Because our Mazda dealership, it's not very good around here. We don't have one. So it's interesting out of the states with the different dealerships and how they operate. There's pretty strict rules with the ones in the states, at least, about having a certain number of staff in the service department to even be qualified as a dealership. And the structure of it's just totally different, I would imagine. I don't know the rules up in Canada, but just curious how Mazda is as far as parts in their cars and something that, you know, any issues that are common for you as far as the cars themselves or like the actual work atmosphere.
Chris Johnson [00:19:00]:
I know at least in our little neck of the woods, don't see too many big problems, especially from Mazda head office end. They usually leave us alone.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:13]:
That's nice.
Chris Johnson [00:19:14]:
Yeah, we don't get in trouble, keep to ourselves. We do just what we need to do. And actually we usually do perform a lot better than some of the other dealers in our group area or actually in our province. So they tend to like us fairly well. But as far as corporate with other dealer issues that I don't know too much about or haven't heard anything about. So I used to think no news is good news in that respect.
Jimmy Purdy [00:19:45]:
Well, that's always good. A hands off approach is always nice when it comes to upper management, to an extent. Does that kind of feel like keeps you out in left field a little bit like you'd prefer a little bit more? There's always that fine line of micromanaging and then the lack of management altogether.
Chris Johnson [00:20:04]:
No, I think we manage ourselves pretty well from our dealership perspective. Our owner, we meet their targets and our general manager, he understands what our service department can do or is doing and he understands the struggles that we have. And he works well with us. We do a lot or do well for him as well. I think we've got a very good team. Mean might sound like saying, yay, Cobra, Mazda, we're the best. We got problems, but we work through them and everyone's got problems.
Jimmy Purdy [00:20:44]:
The other day to day problems is never going to get away from the hiring. How's the tech shortage in quotes? How's that tech shortage up in that area? Is that something you guys are struggling with too?
Chris Johnson [00:20:59]:
Not so much. I think in our town, I think we said earlier, there's only the same dealers that seem to be hiring because they have a revolving door built onto the place, but they're hiring because no one wants to work there. And people work there and figure out, oh crap, shouldn't have done that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:18]:
When's the last time you had an opening at your place?
Chris Johnson [00:21:22]:
We just filled an apprenticeship program or filled a position today, actually, I think he just started today as an apprentice. But because the other apprentice we had, he's gone on to do different things. Just automotive wasn't for him and wants to pick a different career path. But besides that, we hadn't hired, hired anyone in about a year.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:48]:
Okay.
Chris Johnson [00:21:49]:
At least in the service area.
Jimmy Purdy [00:21:50]:
But you don't have a problem finding someone. And I guess you got a good apprentice program. That's one thing we need to get more of in the independent shops, is a better apprentice program. For indie shops. The dealers are doing pretty well when it comes to bringing in someone with no experience. But it's so difficult for me, being a specialty shop. It's just hard. I hate saying I can't, right, you always can.
Jimmy Purdy [00:22:16]:
But it's like, I don't what do, like, I can't put someone on a transmission job. Know, some of these big long term jobs, but I'd love the idea of Napa. Just came out with an apprentice program as well, and it's something I want to be hooked up. I mean, how does that work for you? Is that beneficial? Is it something? Takes a lot of your time.
Chris Johnson [00:22:40]:
I think it's certainly beneficial up here. To be a technician, you have to be licensed, so you have to have gone to a trade school and gotten your hours in or your equivalent time in at school. Then you have to write your license, and then you can get your ticket or your actual license, but you have to be a registered apprentice in order to do that. So you have to be working at a shop, registered as an apprentice. Then that's how you go to school, and that's how you get your license. So it's government mandated that you go through an apprenticeship program. But sometimes, as we all know, you be an apprentice, but you're stuck in the lubric for three years, you're not going to learn shit. Then you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:23:29]:
Government mandates. I don't know. I think that's a hot topic too, for everything, right?
Chris Johnson [00:23:37]:
Yeah. And I think the mandated is maybe, I don't know our choice of words, but at least it's government backed. So at least your schooling that you have to go to is at least when I did it, you need to do, like, day release one day a week, so you can still go to work. Then you go to school one day, but usually by the following week, you've forgotten literally everything you did the last week. Or you could go for, I think it's like two and a bit months. And when I went, my entire schooling for the six, eight months or whatever of school over three years cost me $1,200 because the rest of it was subsidized by the government. So that's at least, there's some support that way. But making it a government rule is, as you say, iffy.
Chris Johnson [00:24:31]:
But it's the same for literally every trade up here. And, like, nurses and whatnot, too.
Jimmy Purdy [00:24:39]:
It's not a bad concept. I don't know if I like the government taking care of it in a sense of like, anytime it becomes that, it's always for the right reasons, but then the wrong people get their hands on it.
Chris Johnson [00:24:56]:
Yeah. Usually because the people that want to be in charge are the wrong people to have in charge. Usually make a mockery of it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:05]:
Yeah. Once someone becomes a job and it becomes a financial income for somebody, they have to figure out a way to continue that. I got to find a way to keep my job, so I have to create fines or funnel money or whatever they end up doing. But I like the idea of having anybody could be a mechanic down here. Technician. You can open a shop, you could put a sticker on the side of your van, go buy some tools at harbor freight, and all of a sudden you're a mobile technician, and that gets lumped into the same mobile technicians like Bernie Thompson. You watch.
Chris Johnson [00:25:47]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:25:47]:
So it's like he's a mobile technician, right? And it's like, so that mobile technician is the same as the guy that just bought this van, put a sticker on the side and bought some harbor freight tools, and now he's out in the wilderness. That's the, like, that's not the same, but there's no, it's like, so I like the idea of like, well, if we had some sort of certification program, that'd be great. You got the AC program. That's fantastic. But it's such a poll. Everyone hates it or everyone likes it. I don't know.
Chris Johnson [00:26:21]:
I find the fact that you can just walk in anywhere and be a mechanic with no formal training of any sort is terrifying and call yourself a mechanic. Or as you say, just grab some tools and say, yeah, I'm going to do this today. I'm going to be a mechanic today. Utterly fucking terrifying, to be honest.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:41]:
Yeah. And it goes over to the other trades, too. But the other trades don't go down the road at 100 miles an hour.
Chris Johnson [00:26:49]:
Into oncoming traffic with you and your kids going home from soccer practice.
Jimmy Purdy [00:26:53]:
Right. Yeah. You don't see the guest house going down the highway. Nothing to say bad about any of the other trades. I like to have myself, my morning ritual in a nice air conditioned working toilet. Right. So it's like I'm totally about the other trades. Like, you guys do a great job, but yeah, it is.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:16]:
It's terrifying to think that someone can just go in there, put some ball joints in a wheel bearing on a 1990 Chevy with absolutely no certification behind them at all or even if they're AC certified. What does that really mean? Did someone take the test for them? I don't know. I appreciate the AC certification system just because it's that first layer of defense. You know what? Like, it's at least.
Chris Johnson [00:27:44]:
I almost hesitate to say, like a form of accountability, but it kind of is. You need some sort of liability or accountability on the person actually doing the work.
Jimmy Purdy [00:27:57]:
Well, at least someone cares enough to actually sit down for an hour and try to put the knowledge of what they're about to attempt on a piece of paper. Does it mean it's like it's the end all, be all because you passed the a two, you're an automatic transmission expert. No, I get that point. And I think that's like the hard pull between the two when it comes to education. It's like, oh, so just because you're ase certified means, you know, everything. It's like, no, it just means someone cares enough to try, and I think that's big because it's like, at least I actually am going to take my time and try to try to do this right and not just knock this out and make my $200 and then go home and not worry about where that car is going after this.
Chris Johnson [00:28:39]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:28:43]:
I don't know what else you could do. What would be the next process other than having the government step in and make these mandates like you guys have up there? What would be the biggest hint? I haven't dealt with that. Right. I don't know what exactly they reach into as far as how deep into your pockets they pull when it comes to actually being certified. But when you hire a tech, what's that process look like? What do you have to actually verify?
Chris Johnson [00:29:11]:
As long as we get their license number, you can look up any technician or any licensed trade person. You can just go on, there is a website available. Punch in their name. You can see if they're certified or if they've paid their license fees. At least make sure they're current.
Jimmy Purdy [00:29:30]:
I see. So it's more or less about the money keeping it certified. Do they have to recertify with a test or some sort of every year? What's the update on it?
Chris Johnson [00:29:42]:
No, there isn't anything on it as long as you keep paying your fee, which is with tax, 67, 80 every year. So it's peanuts, really. Yeah, and it's pretty much just a cash grab. If they had some sort of updates or refreshers, like, say every year, every other year, every three years or whatever. You had to write a new test or something like that to at least say you're somewhat competent, then maybe that's something.
Jimmy Purdy [00:30:12]:
Or even like job experience, right? Like, hey, I've been at this shop and then the shop has been accredited, but like you said, that's more of a money grab. Then that's one more thing the shop needs to take. I don't know. I don't know what the answer would be, but some sort of certification program would be nice, even just what you're talking about. It's more or less like a driver's license, it sounds like, where it's like maybe if you just test it every ten years, that would be a step in the right direction.
Chris Johnson [00:30:45]:
It pretty well kind of is. And as we were just talking here, I was just thinking, like, when I got my racing license, I've been observed. It's kind of like an apprenticeship program. So you can apply for your license, you have to go to a school, do some driving so they can show that you're not going to crash, you're not a weapon out there. Then you can get your license and you have to be observed so many times in an actual race. Then you can get your next license up, which is kind of the same process. But again, when you start out, there's nothing saying that you know how to fucking drive in the first place, but you can at least go through the motions. You at least put forth the effort to take all those steps to show, hey, I'm interested in this.
Chris Johnson [00:31:33]:
And you're striving to do better as you would go along.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:38]:
Yes, striving to do better. That's what's important.
Chris Johnson [00:31:41]:
Yeah, there's really nothing for that except on the individual level or if the shop makes it a mandate there that they attend training or.
Jimmy Purdy [00:31:55]:
Do shop mandates.
Chris Johnson [00:31:58]:
Which is kind of what I'm at least trying with ours with working on towards a site training program, at least if they show interest in it. But again, that's always down to your individual technicians or apprentices to show the interest, show the drive to want to do better.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:17]:
Yeah, I mean, that's hard because you put all that in place and then the consumer just sees a break. Job as a brake job. As a brake job. And it's like, so how do you translate that to the client? How do you say, hey, look, we're in training. We do these things. We have this accreditation, which means all our techs have this certain license. And it would be a great marketing tactic, right. If you could actually use that to pull away and differentiate yourself from the other shops, the other dealerships, or what have you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:32:50]:
But it's just a hard thing to translate because most people think, well, if an oil change is an oil change, then a brake job is a brake job. It's like the hardest thing to try to communicate.
Chris Johnson [00:33:05]:
Yeah, it's always the stuff they don't see anyways. Here's hand someone a bill for $3,000. Here's $3,000 for a bunch of parts you'll never, ever look at. And they're not going to notice much difference. Besides, the car drives a little better.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:18]:
But.
Chris Johnson [00:33:21]:
They might not even notice the difference between us having it done at our dealership versus Joe Blow's garage down the street. If it's something they're not.
Jimmy Purdy [00:33:36]:
Yeah, as long as it starts and drives and goes down the road and the stupid light is off, that's all they're worried about. And it's like, if they can get that process taken care of for $2,200 or $3,000, it's like the consumerism steps in and it's like, oh, well, if I can save $800, I can save $800. It's like, well, it took an extra week, and you had to go back three times or whatever. And it's just so hard to communicate that because for the most part, not for the most part, but more times than not, cars are pretty easy. The mechanical stuff lasts a long time, and it still blows me away. You ever notice you miss one small thing and it just. Automatic transmission is a good point. You miss one tiny little check ball, and the whole thing burns up, right? Meanwhile, you get these guys come in and they put a whole timing belt on or whatever, and it's like, missing half the bolts and the motor mounts held on with one bolt, and then it's like you drove it in like this.
Jimmy Purdy [00:34:39]:
How does somebody else get away with that? And I miss one freaking little thing, and the whole thing just goes up in a ball of flames. It's crazy.
Chris Johnson [00:34:50]:
It always seems like. Or you leave, like, one smudge somewhere and you're the worst person in the world. Just ruin your entire day. That's where someone drove in with three wheels falling off the car, or almost got three bluetooth wheels, and someone just put the tires on and, oh, could you guys just fix that for me?
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:11]:
You don't want to go back to the shop you just came from? Yeah, I don't want to bother them. They were really nice to me. Really?
Chris Johnson [00:35:20]:
You guys put a smudge on my car, so you're the devil now?
Jimmy Purdy [00:35:24]:
Yeah, I don't know. I feel like the more you start charging, the more that kind of stuff starts happening, which I can appreciate. The standards go up, so you got to raise your standards too. But it's a good point to bring up because it's true, really. It seemed like everybody else gets away with this stuff and I can't get away with one little thing that just blows me away. Diagnostics too. That's the biggest thing is the freaking diagnostics, because that is the biggest divide when it comes to payment or being compensated. Right? Nobody wants to diagnose cars or test them properly because it doesn't pay.
Jimmy Purdy [00:36:05]:
And that's another one where a lot of the time you can just look up the code, you can throw the first three parts that come up on the hotline and usually you're going to encapsulate what the problem is and the car is fixed. And whoever made that recommendation is now God, because they fixed it the first time. But come to find out, it was like they put two parts on there that the car didn't even need. You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, for the consumer, it's like, hey, they said what it was going to be, it actually fixed. It was going to be, and the price didn't change from what they told me. Meanwhile, you go through the diagnostic process and you sell them $400 of advanced assessment and then you tell them what the problem is and then it's another bill for another $600. At the end of the day, the bill was $1,000 at both the places. But the shop a gave you that $1,000 quote right off the bat and was able to just throw all these parts in it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:37:01]:
I mean, yeah, maybe his GP net sales was only $200 because the rest of it went to parts and the other guy actually made more money. But that's a harder sale to have. Most people don't want to hear. What do you mean it's going to be $400 and that's not even going to fix it. It's so hard. So what's the right thing to do? From a technician standpoint, of course we want to be able to get in there and encapsulate exactly what it is. But from a business standpoint, it's like, I just want to tell the consumer what the price is one time, fix the car and get paid and take that transaction and make it as painless as possible. But it's so hard to do that.
Chris Johnson [00:37:41]:
Oh, yeah, it is. You always seem like you're the asshole for wanting to spend the actual time on it. We had Karen a few weeks ago. I think the person was saying, oh, that sounds like a lot for diagnosis. It was like 3 hours for chasing some parts in which one problem they created and another one was a bad repair someone else had made before they bought it. And I had to take my time to get that. And they're like, oh, that sounds like a lot for repair. Well, we didn't break it.
Chris Johnson [00:38:10]:
Half of it you broke or Mrs. Customer. And the shithole that you bought the car from broke the other half. So now you've got a working car.
Jimmy Purdy [00:38:19]:
Yeah. Then it's fixed. But it's just tough working through that process of like, oh yeah, I have a lot of other shops that I know of that do that shotgun approach. You can throw stones at them and that's not the right way to do it. But they're selling more jobs and they're turning over more cars even though they're just throwing a bunch of parts at it. And every once in a while one will hang up while they throw three or four parts at it and then they don't charge them anything and then they send them somewhere else to actually get it fixed. And it's just so frustrating because the amount of work and time that we spend to meticulously go through these cars and make sure that we're finding the only problem that there is and technically go through it and say this is the only component you're going to need to replace, and somehow we look like the bad people because it's like, yeah, it's a process. Oh, well, he said he could fix it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:39:16]:
Well, what do you say it was going to be? And it's like they were going to replace all the oxygen sensors for a fuel trim code. What are you talking about? It's not going to fix it and it's going to be like $1,000. I don't know. It's so hard. The education of the consumers. It's so hard because there's so much you just can't educate. Everyone comes in with their car one time a year, two times a year at the most. How are you going to be able to translate that much education to someone on a 1 hour transaction once a year when it comes to customer delegation? Is that something you take head on now as well, moving from the technician more into the manager position?
Chris Johnson [00:40:04]:
How do you mean?
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:05]:
Do you do a lot of the service advising?
Chris Johnson [00:40:12]:
No, we still have, say, our service advisor up front, but I do deal with a lot with advising our advisors as to some of our processes and what needs to be done.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:32]:
Just when there's a fire or something like that.
Chris Johnson [00:40:35]:
Yeah. Got to be a pretty good fireman, especially during tire season, which is something you've never experienced. The absolute gong show that is a tire season.
Jimmy Purdy [00:40:50]:
That's true. I actually just learned about that last. Even as weird as it is, I didn't even think about it. I mean, I'm in California, so of course I didn't think about it. But it was not until last year that I realized I was like, that's a thing. You store people's tires and then put them back on. That's pretty genius, actually. That makes a lot of sense, but I didn't even think about it.
Chris Johnson [00:41:13]:
Oh, it's an absolute shit shows, but. Especially if you don't bother limiting your appointments and vetting some stuff out. But they can actually get it done. But that's an entirely different world. You probably don't want to experience that.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:31]:
I don't even know what I could compare it to. I mean, I don't know. Would it be like an express lube or something like that?
Chris Johnson [00:41:39]:
13 cars backed up out the door. Everyone wants their tires on two days ago because they told them a week and a half ago it was going to snow.
Jimmy Purdy [00:41:50]:
I can see it's kind of like our smog program.
Chris Johnson [00:41:54]:
Oh, yeah. Usually within, like, three days of the tickets or the tags being expired. Oh, I got to get it done right now.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:00]:
It's usually already expired.
Chris Johnson [00:42:01]:
Yeah, they got 18 codes that they got to get cleared out, and it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:07]:
Passed last time, so why doesn't it pass now? The other guy I used to take it to, he passed it every time. There was no problem. Okay, maybe go back there. I don't know. I stopped doing it. I got into the industry. That was my very first professional, I guess, automotive job was as a smog technician. And I'll never go back.
Jimmy Purdy [00:42:36]:
So I guess I roughly translate it probably over to your guys'tire season, because, yeah, you'd be backed up 30, 40 a day in smogs, people coming in. I'm already booked for the day. Oh, you're just standing here? You can't do mine, like. No, I'm not just standing here. You walked into the shop, so I had to stop what I was doing to talk to you. You can't just do it real quick? No, I have all these people sitting here. I got to do real quick. Oh, my God, the parking lot.
Chris Johnson [00:43:02]:
They're all ahead of you.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:03]:
Yeah. And then every time it would fail, it's like, they want you. Well, what do I need to do? I don't know. I need you to just pay so I can do the next one, because there's another guy waiting behind you. What do I need to replace? I don't know. What are you talking about? I don't know what you need to replace. It failed. Go fix it.
Jimmy Purdy [00:43:26]:
Being test only. That was a big thing. We didn't do any repairs. It was just like, come in, test it, and then ship them out. And it was. Yeah. I'm surprised I stuck in the industry after that. That was like the gauntlet getting thrown at me, for sure.
Chris Johnson [00:43:41]:
Oh, yeah. Tires up here is probably where you make a good 60 to probably 60 70%, or can make 60 to percent 70 of your money. If you're at a bit of a. Like, if you're at a bigger shop, that's where you're making a lot of your money, because a lot of your tires are coming off. Everyone needs your brakes or brake surfaces by then. You're getting a better thorough inspection on it. You can rack up or stack up the hours quite a lot more on your ros.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:12]:
Nice. I could see that working out pretty good. Then you store the tires too, then, right?
Chris Johnson [00:44:18]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:18]:
Or do you, like, give them back?
Chris Johnson [00:44:21]:
Some people take them back if they've got room for them. A lot of people, if they're living in apartments or they're older or just can't be bothered, then they store them with us. We've got seven or nine bins, something like that. Full of tires. One bin is just full of used car department tires. Actually, a bin and a half is full of used car department tires, and the rest are all full of customer tires. Last dealership, a big dealership I worked at up in Peterborough, they had twelve bins at that time. I think they've added another four or five since then.
Jimmy Purdy [00:44:53]:
It's a crazy concept when you're charging.
Chris Johnson [00:44:57]:
45 or 50, $60 a season, then you can at least recoup your money, and at least recoup the money is taking you to store those as well.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:06]:
Right.
Chris Johnson [00:45:07]:
And you keep them on sites the customer just has to show up tires on. So it does make life easier, especially as a tech. You don't have to haul them out of the car, unbag them, blast them off, then rebag the next ones and get them put away. You just have to stuff them outside in. Our co ops or apprentices store them at the end of the day, I.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:29]:
Always wonder what the tire bags were, too. I got one of them racks that has, like, the floor mats and all that. So the seat covers and the plastic wrap and the floor mats, and then the bottom says tire bag. I'm like, tire bag? That's weird. The hell you need tire bags for? I don't do tires. And I started asking some of the guys, do you guys have to put tires in bags before you throw them away? Like, no, they just come pick them up. We just recycle them. Like, all you need bags for.
Jimmy Purdy [00:45:57]:
How it makes sense. So you get, when you get 75 degrees every day through all four seasons, I don't know. You learn something new every day. It's just amazing. Yeah, I guess that's a good way of retaining clients, too, is like, they can't really go anywhere else because you got their tires.
Chris Johnson [00:46:17]:
They can take them somewhere else and store them. But everyone seems to offer tire storage around here because it kind of keeps a captive audience.
Jimmy Purdy [00:46:26]:
Yeah, for your retention. You know, these cars are coming in. You just know. That's kind of cool. I like the idea of that, too, because it's like a guaranteed, you know, through these months, you got these clients that are coming in because the tires are sitting there on the rack unless they wreck the car or something. I mean, how many times does that happen where they don't have the car anymore or something happens to it and you just sell the tires to somebody else? I guess.
Chris Johnson [00:46:52]:
Not that often, but, yeah, usually they wind up trading the car in, so then those tires don't fit their new car, or they want new tires with their new car so that we wind up with the old tires and fills up our used car department bin. Those will get sold along with another vehicle if there's still good condition.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:12]:
That sounds like a pain in the ass. That doesn't sound like great. Hey, you can have those. Oh, thanks. Great. That's fantastic. Or you're, like, waiting and there's been, like, three years, and these tires have still been sitting on the rack, and you're like, I haven't seen these guys in a little while. What happened to them?
Chris Johnson [00:47:31]:
Do a health check on them.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:33]:
A bad idea. You never know what's going to happen. Yeah. Crazy stuff from different. I mean, a different world up there. I can only imagine, like, the salt and the rust. I mean, anything in the rust belt. But moving up into Canada, too, I guess they say I'm blessed.
Jimmy Purdy [00:47:53]:
Like, I'm just happy. Yeah, I got to do good. And for the things I worry about or I whine about, I'm like every once in a while, an exhaust manifold. It doesn't want to disconnect for me, so I got to heat it up a little bit, but then it's fine.
Chris Johnson [00:48:06]:
Yeah, you probably do that. The propane torch?
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:10]:
Yeah, exactly. It doesn't take much. I don't need much. And then they crack them loose. You probably get every one of them. You got to cut them out, drill them out, or whatever.
Chris Johnson [00:48:19]:
Yeah. Here, it's usually you're torching them out or I think even at our dealership, we're hard pressed to do an alignment on a 21 or older without breaking the torches out to heat up the jam mats up front.
Jimmy Purdy [00:48:32]:
Oh, my God. Is that like a multiplier you put on your labor as well, or is that just like across the board? Do you inspect it first, or do you just have, like a set year and anything older than that, we're guaranteed. We got to do like a 1.5 or 2.5 multiplier on the labor times.
Chris Johnson [00:48:52]:
No, that's usually kind of a set price on that. Should be probably going over that and see if we can adjust that. But most of that stuff, you're still half an hour for an alignment. That's all it takes. Even if you're breaking out the torches, they live right next to the alignment rack.
Jimmy Purdy [00:49:11]:
Oh, I see. Yeah, once you get it set up and you're used to it, because we always take the inspection time to really go over and like, is this thing lifted? Are we going to run into problems? Is it rusted? I mean, I've had a few come from out of state, a few jeeps that needed a frame, and you're like, needs a what? It needs a frame. What happened to this thing? That's new to me. So it's always interesting, like, what the hell? But you got to look at it and say, okay, yeah, we need a little more time. This thing's got 44 inch tires. Like, yeah, we got to add a little multiplier on the labor guide here because that's not going to be a standard hour and a half brake job. It's just interesting how, from different areas of the world, how people look at it and say, hey, where's our line? How do we draw the line in the sand so that we're not just blanketing everything with a cost increased, but we can kind of change. Exactly and pinpoint the repair for each vehicle accordingly.
Chris Johnson [00:50:10]:
Yeah, usually we'll go over if it needs control arms or whatever, we can look at it. And here's our labor guide says yeah, no, it's rusty. This is rusty. We're going to have to break that yada yada. And we adjust accordingly for due to every vehicle before we do an alignment, it's usually already been had another repair done.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:32]:
That makes sense.
Chris Johnson [00:50:33]:
Usually move fairly freely.
Jimmy Purdy [00:50:35]:
Yeah. I got to wonder how many cars just end up getting scrapped because it's just too much too. And then the clients are like, I've been driving around for a year like this. What do you mean it's not safe?
Chris Johnson [00:50:50]:
Probably get enough of that if you drive on the highway. I like doing 150k. That's not terribly safe, but you could do that, too. But as long as no one notices. But the same with all the holes in your frame and your control arms falling off and whatnot. Oh, that's what that clunking was.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:13]:
Because you probably get a lot of trade ins you got to look over, too, right. On, like inspections.
Chris Johnson [00:51:18]:
Yeah. Get a lot of fair amount of safety inspections by usual. Sometimes only very rarely. We'll put them up and like, yeah, this belongs at the auction or.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:30]:
Send.
Chris Johnson [00:51:30]:
It down the road or, we don't want our name on this. This is not a product we want to sell through our dealership that we would be proud to sell.
Jimmy Purdy [00:51:42]:
Does that inspection go before the actual trades met or they just take the car in as a trade in? They sell the new car and then whatever happens after that, it's too late.
Chris Johnson [00:51:54]:
Yeah. If it's someone trading in that's already of service with us, they'll usually try and look at the service history and get a ballpark idea of what the condition of the vehicle is. Or they'll should know ahead of time. But most of the time it's traded in, they take off and they're new or new to them. Gar. Then we'll do a safety inspection on the used vehicle. So there's no inspection before sales buys it from the customer or takes on trade in.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:21]:
I see. Good luck.
Chris Johnson [00:52:25]:
It kind of is. Probably should be. Might save them quite a bit, but then you also might lose the sale at the other end.
Jimmy Purdy [00:52:35]:
It might be a good thing if you lose it, though, because I always wonder about that, too. Guys are always like, for the most part, I think people are pretty honest. They get ready to sell a car and they're like, they want to fix everything. I want to, hey, I want to make sure everything's good with this car, but if they're going to trade it in, that's like the famous last words, just get it good enough so I can get it to the dealership so I can trade it in. And I always wonder on the other side of that, it's like, oh, man, they should really think about inspecting these cars before they take it in on a trade in. And then when you're dealing with rust and a whole different climate like that, if it needs a whole frame or something radical like that, you would think there'd be, like, an inspection process to kind of go both ways. Like, hey, we'll give you this much contingent on the fact we're going to do it. A quick little inspection.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:22]:
Because when people are buying a car from a private party, that's what they do. Like, hey, can I go take it? Or if you're selling a car, you probably allow them to go take it to an independent repair facility and say, oh, yeah, go drive it. Take it to a shop, go check it out. Should go both ways. You would think.
Chris Johnson [00:53:38]:
Yeah, you would hope so. You think so. But I'm not at that end of the business, so I don't.
Jimmy Purdy [00:53:44]:
Yeah, I guess the manner of averages and odds is like, just take it in. Let's just get these new cars moved because they're only giving you pennies on the dollar anyway. When it comes to the trade in.
Chris Johnson [00:53:56]:
As it is, you'd hope they'd usually account for needing a few thousand dollars worth of reconditioning to get it to a proper sales level.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:06]:
But that's true. That's true. A whole different world when you got to deal with cars that are like that, especially when it comes to the cold. What's the weather like up there now?
Chris Johnson [00:54:22]:
Right now it's not so bad. I think we just got our first snowfall of the season.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:28]:
Really?
Chris Johnson [00:54:29]:
Like yesterday.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:30]:
Wow.
Chris Johnson [00:54:31]:
But it's supposed to rain tomorrow.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:34]:
That's not terrible.
Chris Johnson [00:54:35]:
We're fairly temperate. It's getting more and more temperate here as years go on, and I'm kind of okay with that. The older I get, the more I don't like the snow as much.
Jimmy Purdy [00:54:47]:
Well, the dealership is probably set up pretty nice to handle that kind of stuff, too, as far as ice and snow and keeping it warm in there for everybody.
Chris Johnson [00:54:55]:
Oh, yeah. That part is not that bad. The occasional slop, you get slop down the back of your neck. You're working in the wheel well, you're doing brakes, and you got some ice down the back. That's a great feeling that wakes you up.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:13]:
I just had a vivid feeling of that. Oh, my God, that's terrible. I get, like, the chinese wet water torture when it rains here. Like, kind of drips, drip, drips, drips. But I could only imagine getting a snow plow down the back. No, thank you. That might be the end for me. It's like, I'm good.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:33]:
I don't want to do this anymore. That's all it took. Right there. That's it, I'm done.
Chris Johnson [00:55:38]:
There you go.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:41]:
That's funny. Well, cool, man. Yeah. I appreciate you coming on.
Chris Johnson [00:55:46]:
I appreciate having me for listening to me ramble for a while.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:50]:
What's that?
Chris Johnson [00:55:51]:
Let's appreciate you having me and listen to me ramble for a while.
Jimmy Purdy [00:55:54]:
Oh yeah. All the way up from Canada.
Chris Johnson [00:56:01]:
That's great.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:01]:
Up here.
Chris Johnson [00:56:01]:
You should come. Just come in the summer.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:06]:
That's when the bugs are all out, I guess.
Chris Johnson [00:56:08]:
Oh yeah. Usually we got snow season and you got bugs. Bug season, that's about it. You got about three weeks in the spring, another three weeks in the fall where it's fine. Everywhere else you're there carried away with bugs or frozen.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:26]:
Yeah, I just thought it was like once you get to the border of the States, it's just like it's all trees and then. Know anything? I don't know anything. All. It's all gray to me. I don't know.
Chris Johnson [00:56:42]:
Trees. A few million lakes in Alaska. Done.
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:46]:
It's like just nothingness, just hills and trees. A couple of mounties and then it's Alaska.
Chris Johnson [00:56:52]:
Yeah. How you doing?
Jimmy Purdy [00:56:53]:
Eh? I heard the french fries and gravy is good over there though, so I'll have to check that out one of these years.
Chris Johnson [00:57:01]:
That it is. That's also a way of life.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:04]:
That's all you get to look forward to.
Chris Johnson [00:57:06]:
Wings and a poutine that keeps you warm in the winter.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:08]:
That's it. A couple of ice cold beers and the french fries and gravy and then that's pretty much it. In your area. When it comes to dealer, do you have a lot of independent shops around your area? Is it all like, I mean, how rural are you?
Chris Johnson [00:57:26]:
The town that I work in has, I want to say like 18 20,000 people in the town itself. Then in the county, in the area that our dealership kind of serves, you probably got about 40 odd thousand people going either direction.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:46]:
What kind of radius is that? Like in mileage or, I'm sorry, kilometers.
Chris Johnson [00:57:51]:
Canadian miles.
Jimmy Purdy [00:57:53]:
Canadian miles? Yeah.
Chris Johnson [00:57:56]:
I was trying to think we probably got a good 40 km each direction, not south obviously, because we're on the lake.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:07]:
So it's a pretty decent sized little town.
Chris Johnson [00:58:10]:
Yeah, that's at least our county. Plus kind of the neighboring county's townships way that all works out. I think in our town itself, we've got our town and the next town over, Port Hope, we have something like nine new car dealerships, plus another probably dozen or more small independent car shops or auto shops. It's a large concentration for a small area.
Jimmy Purdy [00:58:42]:
That's kind of crazy because that's not much smaller than our county. In our area, we're about 35,000 in our city. In our county, it's definitely grown a lot bigger than that, but as far as size and everything is about the same. But we don't have near that density of repair shops or even dealerships. We got a lot of dealerships down in San Luis, but off the top of my head, I couldn't quote exactly how many of that is, but I know they have to have a certain amount of mileage from the dodge, the Chevy, and they have to be spread out a certain distance from each other. But it seems like a pretty good concentration. I mean, compared to how many people are in your area. That's when I'm wrapping my head around it doesn't seem like there's that many people that need that high a concentration of auto repair shops.
Jimmy Purdy [00:59:41]:
But I guess with the tires and everything.
Chris Johnson [00:59:44]:
Yeah, and with the, I guess rural area as well, you're drawing those people in.
Jimmy Purdy [00:59:50]:
Oh, I see.
Chris Johnson [00:59:51]:
Yeah, it is a fairly large concentration. The more I think of it, it just seems normal to me because it's always been like this. But when you think of it, I was like, man, that is a lot of flipping car dealers literally within spit distance of each other.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:06]:
And no one's fighting for work. Everyone's busy.
Chris Johnson [01:00:09]:
Yeah.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:11]:
It'S interesting.
Chris Johnson [01:00:12]:
Everyone's busy enough.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:14]:
So you probably don't have like on the outliers of the city or the city limits. There's probably not a big township that's closer by.
Chris Johnson [01:00:23]:
Not really, because even where I live, I live about 20 minutes just outside of Coburg in the next small little town or town. And I think there's like four independent car repair places here to a population of a couple of thousand.
Jimmy Purdy [01:00:40]:
Wow.
Chris Johnson [01:00:41]:
Then there's two auto repair shops in the borough or village in between Coburg and Port and Colburn as well. That's again, maybe a couple thousand people in that area. And a car dealership, a used car dealer. Then you get into Coburg, where you got our nine dealerships, plus some outlying shops in the area, probably at least a dozen or more independent shops. Everyone seems to be keeping busy.
Jimmy Purdy [01:01:13]:
That's crazy. And you have the regulation to be certified, too. So you would think that would pull back on how many qualified technicians there would be. It's pretty interesting because we have a pretty good population and we have a pretty. I think for us is the zoning, because there's not a lot of buildings or facilities that are zoned by the cities to allow auto repair. So I think that's the big thing around for us is like, if you find a shop or someone that will zone you for auto repair, you just stay there. You're not buying something and you're definitely not building something. And a lot of the commercial is being rezoned to get out of the commercial zoning and do retail only, especially for us, because we're all wine and everyone wants a winery and a freaking brewery and a distillery.
Jimmy Purdy [01:02:04]:
I guess around here people can't drink enough.
Chris Johnson [01:02:07]:
Yeah. They don't want oil leaking everywhere, air guns going off.
Jimmy Purdy [01:02:13]:
Yeah, but I mean, even then, it's like no one uses air guns anymore. And for the most part, it's like the county is up your ass so far about trying to keep it clean. You can't really get away with digging a pit out back anymore either. So I just think there's more going on politically as far as wanting the liquor licenses and wanting people to come in and get a DUI. And that's great revenue for the city.
Chris Johnson [01:02:36]:
Way more kickbacks for that.
Jimmy Purdy [01:02:38]:
Yeah. If you don't think so, then why are you having 15 different wineries one after another? What do you think people do? They're drinking at all these places and they're driving home. Come on, put two and two together. It doesn't make any damn sense to me, but that's just like a whole political thing that it's like, I don't get that at all. And to have that concentration of auto repair shops you're talking about in your area and the lack of it here, it just kind of, like, more proves in my own mind, of like, yeah, there's definitely something going on as far as the city wanting to push all the auto repair shops to the very edge of town. And it just doesn't make any damn sense. Everyone's going to drive electric cars. No, I don't think so.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:17]:
That's not going to happen. Like, it. These gasoline cars are going to be on the road for a very long time, and someone needs to be there to fix them. So. Yeah, it don't make any sense. Getting to the government stuff. We talk about this for hours. Well, cool.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:36]:
Man, this has been fun.
Chris Johnson [01:03:37]:
It has been.
Jimmy Purdy [01:03:38]:
Yeah. Some good information. Appreciate you coming on.
Chris Johnson [01:03:42]:
I appreciate.