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181- Tech at a dealership to owning two shops. William Bowe Shares his journey to ownership.
181 -Tech at a dealership to owning two shops. William Bowe Shares his journey to ownership.
December 09, 2025 - 00:32:16
Show Summary:
William Bowe shares how he went from tinkering with his grandfather to earning his Red Seal and owning two shops in Canada: Bruno Automotive and CG Motorsports. He walks through buying a business during COVID, learning cash flow the hard way, and working two jobs to keep things stable. William explains his growth strategy: build a repeatable service model, then adapt it to different vehicle brands and customer bases by location. He also highlights why restoration work often comes down to emotion, and why understanding customer motivation matters. He closes by calling for a better public perception of the automotive industry as trusted problem-solvers.
Host(s):
Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development
Guest(s):
William Bowe, CG Motorsports / Bruno Automotive
Show Highlights:
[00:01:26] – William shares how working on cars with his grandfather sparked his interest in the automotive trade.
[00:02:26] – He describes moving from tire shops into European dealerships and earning his Red Seal early.
[00:03:23] – COVID forced a career crossroads between dealership life and independent shop ownership.
[00:04:13] – Buying a shop during the pandemic meant learning business ownership under intense pressure.
[00:06:12] – William explains why he worked two jobs for years to stabilize cash flow and reduce risk.
[00:09:24] – A gradual ownership transition at CG Motorsports created a smoother path to full control.
[00:14:12] – His advice for expansion centers on mastering one business model before scaling it.
[00:15:07] – He breaks down how the same service model supports different brands and customer bases.
[00:18:24] – A personal restoration project shows how emotion often outweighs logic in classic cars.
[00:27:27] – William shares his wish to improve public trust and perception of the automotive industry.
In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
Share your story with us at [email protected], and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.
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Links & Resources:
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Episode Transcript Disclaimer
This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at [email protected].
Episode Transcript:
Jimmy Lea
Hello, friends. This is Jimmy Lee with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, and you are listening to the Leading Edge podcast. My guest today is William, and he is the owner of Bruno Automotive as well as KG Motorsports. Both up in Canada. William, how are you, brother?
William Bowe
Good, thanks. Yeah, just super busy in the time of year. It is, but. Yeah. Doing well.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. I really appreciate you carving out some time. I know you are in heavy entire season right now. Your shop's up in Vancouver, Canada.
William Bowe
Yeah. I mean, not so much tires for our clientele, but definitely lots of fluid services right now, a lot of winter inspections for road trips up to the ski mountains, that kind of thing. But, yeah, we're deep in the thick of it.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. My son is a big, big mountain biker, and he is just jonesing for me to take him up to Whistler.
William Bowe
Oh. Right on. Yeah, yeah. Which is a great place for that. I mean, also with the skiing and whatnot, but, Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Know mountain biking.
William Bowe
Yeah, exactly.
Jimmy Lea
I'm like, oh, you lazy bum. All you want to do is the downhill stuff. Yeah, that's the good stuff, dad. Oh. Okay. Yes.
William Bowe
Of course, of course.
Jimmy Lea
That's good, that's good. Well, William, I'm excited to to find out about you and about your history and how you got into the automotive business. Take us all back to where it is that you started in the automotive industry.
William Bowe
Yeah. So, I mean, I'll be honest, I never actually had any dreams of being in the automotive industry as a kid. I actually wanted to be in the police force. But, you know, there's this. I got my first car. I was tinkering on it with my grandfather and his, you know, one car, garage, basement kind of set up.
William Bowe
Yeah. Back in the, grade ten or grade nine when I started. And it was just basic stuff I want to tinker on. Oh, I want to get different headlight bulbs. I want to do different wheels and stuff like that. And he being an old hot runner himself, he kind of showed me what he could show me. But I mean, the cars that he worked on, the last, newest one was like a 1975.
William Bowe
Right? So, I mean, my first car being like a 2000 Acura, was a bit of his wheelhouse, but you definitely taught me what you could. And I kind of just got really intrigued with learning more and learning more, and, and life kind of hit. And after high school, you kind of faced the decision to lock myself down to school or do I try and go and make some money?
William Bowe
And, I realized you could you can make decent money, being a technician. And I liked what I was doing, you know, tinkering. So when I turned into a career, police try to. And, yeah, it started off in tire shops and, you know, worked my way up. And then I got my first real gig at a dealership that was specialized in German performance here in Vancouver, right when I was a first year.
William Bowe
Yeah. And then from there, I spent some time in a couple other European dealerships and, I was Red seal in my early 20s.
Jimmy Lea
Congratulations.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did it. You know, I had my fun dealership. I did, you know, learned everything I could with all the BMW factory training sets, rose focus and specialized in. And, then Covid hit, you know, fast forward to what? Yeah. Covid times and, you know, the dealerships went through a bit of a shake up being, you know, corporate structure and whatnot.
William Bowe
And I'll show you to another decision. Do I put myself in a situation where I'm just a number, or do I try and branch out on my own? And at that point in time, I showed a friend who was working at an independent shop in North Vancouver, and he approached me saying, hey, the owner wants to retire. Do you want to try this?
William Bowe
I was like, oh, okay, well, I've never done anything business related, but I can see how a shop should run, you know, to be efficient and have pride in one's work. So, okay, I took on that opportunity.
Jimmy Lea
Are you're you're Tekken at the dealership and your buddy comes to you and says, hey, let's buy the shop.
William Bowe
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Is that what I do, sir? So you went from taking the dealership to shop ownership immediate?
William Bowe
Yeah. Yeah. Trial by fire.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, yeah. Welcome to the deep end, William. Sink or swim. Here we go.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, like, sink or swim is the best way of putting it because, yeah, this was Covid. We just we literally just bought this business as the mask mandates were coming out and things were just opening up again. Right. So take two guys in there. We were mid 20s in the mid to late 20s, you know, don't know how to run a business really.
William Bowe
And now it's okay. Well you can run a business. But you know you got to make sure there's clean disinfected masks, gloves you know all that kind of stuff on top of like don't have too many people in the room and all those other silly rules that came out at that point in time. But we did it, you know.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. So you here.
Jimmy Lea
You you bought it in March of 2020 or when things were opening at 21.
William Bowe
I think we, I think the conversations of us taking over the business were like, hey, September of 2019, things got serious. I want to see March, April ish. And then everything was all said and done that following September. Wow. Yeah. So like right in the thick of it. Right. And I remember, you know, even us being open, we'd have to talk to our staff and say, okay, well, only one of you can work today.
William Bowe
Two of you can work that day. Just, you know, because there's so many mandates on various levels of staff at the time. Yeah. All the while I was still working at the dealership, too, so I'd, you know, help the shop work at the dealership because no one knew where the roll was going to go. Right? So I had to kind of hedge my bets and see how much you know, what I can save up in case things hit the fan again.
William Bowe
Oh, but I mean, you had to do.
Jimmy Lea
The two jobs. How long were you still at the dealership and working as a business owner?
William Bowe
Well, up until four years ago. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
So you had a solid one. Two years of working two jobs?
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah. So, I mean, like, obviously when you buy a business and you're new to it, you don't really understand how the cash flow of things work. You don't really understand the customer clientele yet. And how the flow of work kind of comes through the shop season, the season. So I told my business partner, hey, like, you can be the day to day guy and I'll still keep my, you know, my dealership job, but I'll help you in the background.
William Bowe
I'll do all the web, all the appointments, all the accounting, all the super not fun stuff like that. My off hours. Yeah. And, you know, I won't take as much from you, you know, so I'm not there every day. But I don't need to, because I'll be supplemented on the dealership side, and, it worked out well, you know, and then we got busy enough and other opportunities presented itself that I, I left the dealership and went out into, CG Motorsports as a, foreman manager.
William Bowe
And then I took this shop over two years ago now.
Jimmy Lea
So, congrats to you on the two shops you own, Bruno with a partner, and then you own CG Motorsports.
William Bowe
Yes, sir. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Wow. Congratulations. That's awesome.
William Bowe
Thank you, thank you. You know, I.
Jimmy Lea
Want to go back a little bit in your history there. You give quite a bit of details there. Talking about working with your grandfather in the basement on the car. And you talk about grade nine. Grade ten. Canada has a pretty good apprentice program for the mechanic side of things. The technical side of things. Yeah.
William Bowe
Yeah, definitely.
Jimmy Lea
Did you go straight from high school into the tech school?
William Bowe
Well, no, I mean, it was I mean, being young and being into cars right after high school, I did, I would say waste some time, just working, you know?
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Just work, just working.
William Bowe
Just working in the trade, working on my car. And then, you know, I kind of realized, like, I can't just, you know, screw around for the rest of my life. So I was like, okay, let's get into schooling, let's do the right steps. And, I'll be honest, it wasn't until I had the offer to go work at that European dealership.
William Bowe
That just means a lot more seriously. Oh, wow. I thought, like, okay, there there can be a decent career in this, you know, working on the higher end cars. And I was very interested to see, like, you know, what they're capable of. And, you know, I kind of started off with really basic performance work at that shop, you know, like coilovers, lowering exhaust, that kind of stuff.
William Bowe
And that was extremely exciting for a guy who was, I guess, a first year apprentice.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Because most guys, they're doing lube oil filter brakes, brake pads, rotors.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. And I did all that to, you know, in the, in my time in the tire shops. Right. Yeah. But it was that like that, you know, tip of the iceberg that I was exposed to of, like, kind of the fun stuff you can do with cars that really got me hooked. And then I was I was done after that.
William Bowe
I had to finish up the whole apprenticeship and stick it out, so.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, good for you. Congrats, man. So. So you went from the dealership, and owning Bruno's to being the foreman at KG. And how did that conversation happen that you go from, hey, I'm just shop foreman to, hey, man, I'd really like to buy you out.
William Bowe
Well, when I first went in there for my interview there, I was like, all right, here at TJ, I was I was floored, I was impressed. It was it was a beautiful, clean shop. It did all the kind of stuff that I like to do, you know, of European performance. And, Douglas, from my first remarks to the previous owners.
William Bowe
Wow, this place is amazing. This is my dream. And, you know, kind of off the cuff. He said, well, you know, I'm going to retire one day, and if you're interested, maybe you can take it over, you know, in a very, like, jovial and passing way. But I, I definitely took that to heart. And I was like, yeah, let's do it right.
William Bowe
And we joked and laughed about it. But then as time went on and, you know, I, I guess I proved myself, we got to more talks and I fully started to like, take over most of the day to day operations stuff. You know, we got into more serious conversations. He said. Yeah. So my, my plan is to exit by this point in time, my life.
William Bowe
And, you know, if you're ready, you get first dibs at it and we'll go from there. And it worked out. So definitely wasn't a hostile takeover by any means. It was a very gradual and, you know, symbiotic kind of relationship to go about it.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Sounds like a friendly transfer of ownership from I was the shop foreman and now I'm the shop owner, and it sounds like that. Yeah.
William Bowe
I mean, it was it was definitely, a softer landing. The one I dealt with was Bruno. Right. Because, you know, when I spent quite a few years here learning the customer base, knowing how things go, and then when the change of hands happened, there was no. Oh, we don't know who you are. We can't trust you like people already knew me.
William Bowe
So it was okay. And not saying the Bruno transition was rocky by any means because my business partner had been there day to day. Yeah, but the learning curve was a bit more because we didn't have as much of, you know, a finger on the pulse of the day to day operations, whereas I did with CG.
Jimmy Lea
So. Wow. It's fascinating. That's awesome. So now is, is CG closer to home for you, or is Bruno's closer to home for you?
William Bowe
Oh, gosh. No, no. They're both, as far as I can get for my house. Almost. To be honest,
Jimmy Lea
I've got really good friends in Surrey, so we've been up to white Rock and been to Moby Dick's and had fish and chips. And you are so far North Vancouver, I don't think. I think we may have passed through there, going to the national park, the rainforest, but I don't think I've been that far north more than once.
William Bowe
Yeah. So, I mean, I originally lived in Langley, not too far from white Rock, South Langley, when, I took over CG but as of recently, I have moved out to Abbotsford, which is we have a little 40 acre farm out that way that we kind of run as a family hobby. So, I mean, if I had to give you two of the worst commutes to work, it'd be North Vancouver and Richmond, and I have both, so that's, good for me, but.
Jimmy Lea
Oh my goodness. Yeah. Go. On average, how long does it take you to go from, home office to business office?
William Bowe
Well, I mean, I do, I do say that, the commutes crap, but we start super early here. We're 7 a.m. start. Yeah. So, I mean, in the in the morning, like, average, it's 30 to 45 minutes. You know, if there's an accident, doesn't matter where you're coming from, you're in traffic. So I don't count those days.
William Bowe
But, you know, 45 minutes is pretty average. And, Yeah. And coming home, you know, that's again hit or miss. Right now I'm getting home in like 30 minutes flat. So we know traffic after 5 or 6:00, which is nice, but, you know, I know I'm on borrowed time there, so.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, for sure, for sure that that's pretty cool. You're able to get back and forth that quick. My, my commute could be anywhere from 30 minutes to the home office to two hours. Yeah.
William Bowe
So I, I will say like, last winter we had a nasty winter and the tunnel that we go through to get through the other side of the river here was closed. Yeah. And I think it was I left the shop 6 p.m. and I didn't get home.
Jimmy Lea
Till.
William Bowe
132 in the morning.
Jimmy Lea
In the market.
William Bowe
Everything. Yeah, everything was a mess. So it was like, you know, you spent three hours trying to get one way. Oh, now it's closed and you backtrack and go the other way and all that. That's close. And you just it was all over the place. So. Yeah, it wasn't fun. Yeah. Okay.
Jimmy Lea
You when you, when I don't even want a level that that's that's next level. So you own two shops. What kind of advice would you give? The men and women out there in the industry today that are looking to expand their base, they want to add a second, a third or fourth or fifth location. Here you are.
Jimmy Lea
You've got two. What advice would you give somebody who's considering to take on a second location?
William Bowe
Yeah. I mean, like the most important thing I find is really understanding your model, right? Because, I mean, you have to understand your model really well, and then you put in the variables being the clientele base and the cars you're going to work on. Right? You know, where your parts come from doesn't change too much. How to do it narrow doesn't change too much.
William Bowe
We really have to narrow down and be specific as to who you're selling to and what cars you're selling to. And if you're able to do that, then you can basically plop that model down in, you know, neighborhood A, B, C, D, you know, always churn out the same. Right?
Jimmy Lea
And so for your business model, you're looking at it saying, okay, I'm a Euro shop. I work on Audi, BMW, Mercedes that this is my core business. I could take this same model and plop it down in A, B, C or D and we would have a successful business.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. I mean like right now we have our two shops, right. So in North Vancouver, we are heavily focused on, Japanese and domestic. Right. I say 95% of everything out there is Japanese or domestic down here in Richmond, I have 100% European. And if I have to split that down a little bit more, I'd say 90% of BMW and 10% to everything else.
William Bowe
But it's the same business model. It's the same, you know, parts suppliers, it's the same customer service, it's the same model. What you do things, you're just plugging and playing different, plugging and unplugging different brands and different customer styles. That's it. Right. So, I mean, I know if I took this business and I went out to, see Surrey, where you might know, right?
William Bowe
Yeah, there definitely be European shops out there. Well, then. Okay, you just bring the whole model over and you figure out which customer base of cars is the most popular out there, or which ones you can connect with most and plug it in and off you go, right? If you can really nail down a good customer service model and really understand what you need to give to your customers for that to come back, it does not matter if they drive an Audi or a Lamborghini or a, you know, basic Honda.
William Bowe
People want good service, right? It doesn't matter what they drive. You know what the exception is? Some people don't care. That's one deal. But, you know, most people just want good service.
Jimmy Lea
Know for sure. For sure. Well, and from your website, I would tell you that Bruno looks like it's got a lot of Euro mixed with some domestic because I'm seeing some classic cars and some, corvettes and some looks like a Nova.
William Bowe
Yeah. Yes. I mean, like, our our specialty up there is the classic cars of both European and domestic. You know, we do have a couple of really good guys on staff. And that's why I say that's our specialty. It's not something we do every single day. But if a guy comes saying, I want to restore X, Y and Z, well, okay, let's go, let's take it on.
William Bowe
Right.
Jimmy Lea
We'll take a deposit of $30,000 and we'll let you know when that runs out.
William Bowe
Yeah, I mean, that, that that should be a pretty healthy build for some cars, but that's kind of what happens. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah. Oh I'm sure, I'm sure people bring you Swiss cheese and want it to be, showroom ready a garage queen.
William Bowe
Oh, 100%.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, come on man.
William Bowe
Yeah. And yeah. And I mean, like, you know, this is for the automotive industry. Everyone understands, like, you know, curtailing a customer's expectations. Sometimes, you know, they bring you a car that's basically one speed bump away from the wrecking yard and want you to make it concourse ready. Right. And you're like, oh, how do I break in the news?
William Bowe
I mean, we can do it. Anything can be done. If there's enough money and drive behind the person doing it, it can be done. Yeah, but you have to be honest and be like, I don't know if this is worth it. Like, maybe we should go find you that cleaner of a car to start off with. But, I'll be honest, there's been some customers and even actually myself, that have had so much emotional attachment to certain cars, they don't care if they gave you the concourse version for less than what they'll put into the rust bucket.
William Bowe
They love the rust bucket, right? So they're going to go to the end of the earth for it. And I mean, I just mentioned like I'm definitely a glutton for punishment with that one because I'm currently restoring my grandfather's night, 1970 Mercury Meteor convertible. And, I have never spent so much money on a car in my life.
William Bowe
And it's a terrible decision.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah.
William Bowe
So, of course, emotional attachment. Right?
Jimmy Lea
Like terrible financial decision, but, highly emotional satisfaction.
William Bowe
Oh, 100, 100%. Like, I mean, how many times can you say that? Oh, we lost our family heirloom of a car. And then I found it on a Facebook marketplace 15 years later.
Jimmy Lea
Like, shut up. Is that.
William Bowe
What happened? Yeah. Oh, 100%. Yeah, yeah. Oh, and on Facebook Marketplace, just by chance, and, I asked the guy, can you open the glove box for me and just see what registration is in there? And sure enough, the registration was my grandfather still, so. Wow. Yeah. Pretty cool.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. You knew that you weren't walking away from that one.
William Bowe
No. Oh, no. Exactly. But that's the kind of situation, right? Like, I mean, certain customers will definitely. They'll be right there beside you, like, I love this car. I want to see this car. And everyone else in the room will say, walk away, walk away. But when there's an emotional attachment to vehicles, you can't sometimes. Right?
Jimmy Lea
No, that's exactly right. And that's where you need to find out what is the customer's motivation. I, I heard of a client here quite recently that, she brought in it was a, not a Corvair karma Ghia, you know, a Karma Ghia convertible. And, you know how much to restore this vehicle? I want it, I want to be able to drive it.
Jimmy Lea
And, the service advisor had the same idea, the same prospect, which was, hey, you know, let's talk about this car, because I really don't think it's worth it. Worth it? But they didn't say that. What they said was, you know, let's talk about this car. What does this car mean to you? Well, this is the car that my husband bought me when we were first married, and he recently passed away.
Jimmy Lea
And I would like to restored because it reminds me of the love we had, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Beautiful love story. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Nope. Not a problem. It's going to be $25,000. Here's a check. Okay, tell me when it's ready. And four weeks later, six years later, it was ready to go.
William Bowe
Yeah. And that's a that's that's actually quite a common theme. You know, like some people think that, these newer cars, they don't have any personality or they're just recyclable. I think that's extremely subjective. You know, I've, I've had some interesting, you know, BMW, BMW models come through where it's like the most basic of the basic of the basic, and you're like, you okay, you want to see this?
William Bowe
And yeah, sure enough, there's some story behind it. Like, yeah, this was the car I got when my son was born. And we have all these memories and the road trips like, oh, okay. Sure. We'll we'll save this base model three, two, three. No problem.
Jimmy Lea
Like, yeah.
William Bowe
Yeah I would, but I get it. You know.
Jimmy Lea
Back when the windows were cranked and it wasn't a power window that that type of, basic, basic, basic.
William Bowe
Well, no, I'm talking like early 2000. It's like E46 generation. Yeah. Okay. Like really? Not really. Nothing too exciting about it. No run of the mill three series sedan. But, you know, if if it's got any emotional attachment, I'm there for it. We'll we'll help out. Sure.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, I love it, I love it. Yeah. Those emotional attachments go deep for many, many, many, many people. And I agree with you I think cars have personality. I name all my cars. They have personality for sure.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's like, you know why most people are in this trade and why most business owners and move industry wake up every morning as we're here to like connect with that customer and kind of bring back the dream, bring back the passion to your car, even if it's just your daily driver and you really don't like it here.
William Bowe
Just driving from A to B to get just to get there. Yeah, well, we should be making a smile a little bit when you accelerate or when you hit a corner. You should be a little bit of enjoyment, right? You shouldn't hate everything about your car.
Jimmy Lea
So yeah. So true. So true. Well, I'm glad that you are in the industry and I think a lot of us in the automotive industry, automotive aftermarket, we do this because of the immediate feedback, the immediate feel good we're here. We help people in their day to day commutes. We help people with those family vacations. We we get that immediate feedback that says, oh man, thank you so much.
Jimmy Lea
You saved this delivery. You saved this family vacation. You saved this commute. You saved grandpa's car.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah, I could do that. Yeah. I mean, like, I, I my wife's a nurse. And, sometimes we've gone to heated arguments in a in a nice way because I like to relate our industry to the healthcare industry like we are doctors for cars. That's what we are. Yes. Right. You know, every aspect of a car, you can relate to the human body.
William Bowe
So, you know, doctors are here to make you safe, healthy and smile. We're doing the same for your car. You know, the car is an extension of a person in most cases, right? So, I mean, we care. We care as much as doctors, I think, you know, and to a certain degree, and, you know, whether it's making sure your son gets to school safe, making sure you get to work safe, you know, a fun family trip.
William Bowe
Like you said, it's important. And that's what we're here for, right? We're problem solvers.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah, we are problem solvers. You're exactly right. And that's so exciting. Well, so what's the future for you, William? What's the future for CG Motorsports? For Bruno's? What's what does it look like for you? What's the plan? The three year, five year, ten year plan for you, brother?
William Bowe
Yeah. I mean, like I would say, the immediate three year plan is to we'll branch out at CG. You know, we are well known for, BMW repairs where, you know, we have a very strong, customer base and that and people trust us with those. Over the last couple of years, I have been, bringing on staff and, you know, resources to help cater to other European brands so we can build a foothold there.
William Bowe
And same thing goes for Bruno. Like, we do have a very strong classic car, customer base, which we would like to be offering a bit more to. Yeah. So, you know, we're we're just trying to position ourselves strategically to, you know, take over enough real estate to facilitate these extra customer bases because, you know, cars take up a lot of room.
William Bowe
And Vancouver real estate sucks for wanting room. So I think the next three years or so is just, you know, kind of branch out and make them make those different divisions of our company and then build up the specialized, clientele base and our specialized workforce to help cater to those segments of the market. Just as well as we do for the ones that we're well known for.
William Bowe
And it's like I said in the beginning, it's all based on that model, right? BMW model ten of ten figured it out. Okay, let's try Mercedes. Right. Okay. Ford trucks figured out ten out of ten. Okay. Let's try Chevy trucks. The same model. You're plugging in a different brand and different customer base and off you go. But you have to throw out the model with the different variables, right?
Jimmy Lea
Yep. Oh, I love it I love it I love what you're doing there. And I love that you're, looking to expand the kingdom too. That's that's very cool. And maybe one of these locations might be a little bit closer to the Home Office as well. Next to the hobby farm.
William Bowe
Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. I mean, I kind of like having my work far away from my house because I can just turn off. Yeah, but yeah, that's part of my drive. I'm like, oh, it doesn't exist anymore.
Jimmy Lea
Until the 40 minute decompression.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. But I, I'm a glutton for punishment. So I give out my cell to my customers sometimes, you know, good customers. I get along with that. Yeah. There's always the Sunday Sunday night. Oh check into like, what could it be. Oh I don't know anything like.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Anything from a loose gas cap to, Yeah. You're going to blow up your engines, so pull over.
William Bowe
Yeah, 100%. But for some reason, they think we can just diagnose it over the phone, which. Yeah. Let's see. So super fun to do on a Sunday night, which is always seems to be.
Jimmy Lea
No. Yeah. Your answer needs to be don't do anything. I'm calling the tow truck now. You know what?
William Bowe
If you said.
Jimmy Lea
Let's have a conversation tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
William Bowe
For sure.
Jimmy Lea
Wow. That's awesome. William. Well, if you were to have in your hands a magic wand and you could wish one wish. You can't wish for more wishes, William. But what is your wish? What would you wish for?
William Bowe
I guess if we're talking specifically the automotive industry, I would. I would love to see the, the the outward opinion of our industry change from you're just trying to scam you out of a quick dollar to there there to help me. That would be very nice. Not saying that so much our customer base, but just when you talk to people on the street or you hear people talk about technicians, the automotive world always negative, almost always negative, oh, they'll know what they're doing.
William Bowe
Oh, they, you know, overcharged me. There's always something negative. You know, be nice. If we were thought of as, you know, problem solvers that we talked about. Yeah. Because I don't like I know multiple shop owners, I don't know a single guy in my kind of circle that I've ever heard of scamming someone who's not trying to help.
William Bowe
You know, I think there was misinformation. There might be some bad apples, but you can't paint everyone with the same brush, right? Yeah, that'd be my wish. It's just to change the outlook opinion of our trade, right? Because I think there's a lot of really good people there that want to help. But it's hard sometimes when you're up, like facing an uphill battle of negativity, right?
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, I love it. I love, talking about elevating our image in the industry. And that's what you're talking about is, increasing our perceived value to the public 100%. Yeah. And we can do that. We will do that. Not that the, the health industry is by any means perfect because we know they're not. The difference between the automotive industry and the medical industry is a doctor will bury their mistakes, and we have to bring them back and fix it 100%.
William Bowe
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's funny too. And like, you know, people don't put much value on it, but the amount of, like, you know, liability and safety that's in your technician's hands on a day to day basis is ridiculous. You know, it really.
Jimmy Lea
Is. It's amazing. It's amazing. The responsibility you have. Yeah.
William Bowe
Yeah. And so I mean, that's what I mean, like the amount of responsibility put on our techs and our staff every day. How can we all be bad this world would be, you know, trashed. You know what I mean? Like if every guy was scamming and not doing brake jobs or doing improper repairs or improper parts, how would the cars still be running?
Jimmy Lea
Well, how would they stumble? They would never be able to stop us.
William Bowe
I mean, yeah, exactly. Running, stopping all of that. Right. So yeah, it's it's interesting kind of, way to look at things.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah. So true. Most important, number one important on a vehicle is, that we need it to go. And second most important is just as important as the first one is we have to make sure it stops 100%.
William Bowe
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
William. Congratulations on on, transitioning from the dealership into the independent world. What do you think of it? What's the difference in your mind between, a dealership and an independent world?
William Bowe
I mean, I honestly don't have anything too bad to say about the dealership world. Like, I learned a lot there that I only ever found in the independent world. Yeah. I think the one thing the dealerships are missing and they've probably lost track of is, you know, true customer service. Right? And I'm not I can't blame them.
William Bowe
I mean, they're usually large corporations with very large overhead and every dollar counts, right. So, I mean, the biggest positives for an independent shop is you have the ability to take the extra time to, to get to know your customer and treat them better than they have at the dealership. And that's what creates repeat clients. But then again, we can't answer every question for them.
William Bowe
We're limited by tooling or by facilities, or we can't do recalls. That kind of stuff. Right. So definitely a place for both models in the industry. But I think, you know, dealerships need to work a little bit better on, their customer service in this day and world. But it's okay. No one's perfect. And who has room for improvement?
William Bowe
Right? From both sides of the coin.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah. For sure. Yeah. I would agree with you. I think those dealerships, they are big and they do a phenomenal job. And they've got, a big overhead. And I love the nimbleness, the ability of the smaller business to make decisions, make decisions quickly, move quickly, take care of customers and clients to a point where they become raving fans and they stay with us forever and ever and ever.
William Bowe
Yeah, you know, 100% cool.
Jimmy Lea
William. Thank you very much, man. I appreciate the conversation. I appreciate talking with you today. Thank you so much.
William Bowe
Yeah. Of course. So thank you.
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By institutesleadingedgepodcast
5
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181 -Tech at a dealership to owning two shops. William Bowe Shares his journey to ownership.
December 09, 2025 - 00:32:16
Show Summary:
William Bowe shares how he went from tinkering with his grandfather to earning his Red Seal and owning two shops in Canada: Bruno Automotive and CG Motorsports. He walks through buying a business during COVID, learning cash flow the hard way, and working two jobs to keep things stable. William explains his growth strategy: build a repeatable service model, then adapt it to different vehicle brands and customer bases by location. He also highlights why restoration work often comes down to emotion, and why understanding customer motivation matters. He closes by calling for a better public perception of the automotive industry as trusted problem-solvers.
Host(s):
Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development
Guest(s):
William Bowe, CG Motorsports / Bruno Automotive
Show Highlights:
[00:01:26] – William shares how working on cars with his grandfather sparked his interest in the automotive trade.
[00:02:26] – He describes moving from tire shops into European dealerships and earning his Red Seal early.
[00:03:23] – COVID forced a career crossroads between dealership life and independent shop ownership.
[00:04:13] – Buying a shop during the pandemic meant learning business ownership under intense pressure.
[00:06:12] – William explains why he worked two jobs for years to stabilize cash flow and reduce risk.
[00:09:24] – A gradual ownership transition at CG Motorsports created a smoother path to full control.
[00:14:12] – His advice for expansion centers on mastering one business model before scaling it.
[00:15:07] – He breaks down how the same service model supports different brands and customer bases.
[00:18:24] – A personal restoration project shows how emotion often outweighs logic in classic cars.
[00:27:27] – William shares his wish to improve public trust and perception of the automotive industry.
In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
Share your story with us at [email protected], and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.
Don’t miss exclusive insights, expert takeaways, and real talk you won’t hear anywhere else. Hit Subscribe, drop a comment, and share it with someone who needs to hear this!
Links & Resources:
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Episode Transcript Disclaimer
This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at [email protected].
Episode Transcript:
Jimmy Lea
Hello, friends. This is Jimmy Lee with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence, and you are listening to the Leading Edge podcast. My guest today is William, and he is the owner of Bruno Automotive as well as KG Motorsports. Both up in Canada. William, how are you, brother?
William Bowe
Good, thanks. Yeah, just super busy in the time of year. It is, but. Yeah. Doing well.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. I really appreciate you carving out some time. I know you are in heavy entire season right now. Your shop's up in Vancouver, Canada.
William Bowe
Yeah. I mean, not so much tires for our clientele, but definitely lots of fluid services right now, a lot of winter inspections for road trips up to the ski mountains, that kind of thing. But, yeah, we're deep in the thick of it.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. My son is a big, big mountain biker, and he is just jonesing for me to take him up to Whistler.
William Bowe
Oh. Right on. Yeah, yeah. Which is a great place for that. I mean, also with the skiing and whatnot, but, Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Know mountain biking.
William Bowe
Yeah, exactly.
Jimmy Lea
I'm like, oh, you lazy bum. All you want to do is the downhill stuff. Yeah, that's the good stuff, dad. Oh. Okay. Yes.
William Bowe
Of course, of course.
Jimmy Lea
That's good, that's good. Well, William, I'm excited to to find out about you and about your history and how you got into the automotive business. Take us all back to where it is that you started in the automotive industry.
William Bowe
Yeah. So, I mean, I'll be honest, I never actually had any dreams of being in the automotive industry as a kid. I actually wanted to be in the police force. But, you know, there's this. I got my first car. I was tinkering on it with my grandfather and his, you know, one car, garage, basement kind of set up.
William Bowe
Yeah. Back in the, grade ten or grade nine when I started. And it was just basic stuff I want to tinker on. Oh, I want to get different headlight bulbs. I want to do different wheels and stuff like that. And he being an old hot runner himself, he kind of showed me what he could show me. But I mean, the cars that he worked on, the last, newest one was like a 1975.
William Bowe
Right? So, I mean, my first car being like a 2000 Acura, was a bit of his wheelhouse, but you definitely taught me what you could. And I kind of just got really intrigued with learning more and learning more, and, and life kind of hit. And after high school, you kind of faced the decision to lock myself down to school or do I try and go and make some money?
William Bowe
And, I realized you could you can make decent money, being a technician. And I liked what I was doing, you know, tinkering. So when I turned into a career, police try to. And, yeah, it started off in tire shops and, you know, worked my way up. And then I got my first real gig at a dealership that was specialized in German performance here in Vancouver, right when I was a first year.
William Bowe
Yeah. And then from there, I spent some time in a couple other European dealerships and, I was Red seal in my early 20s.
Jimmy Lea
Congratulations.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did it. You know, I had my fun dealership. I did, you know, learned everything I could with all the BMW factory training sets, rose focus and specialized in. And, then Covid hit, you know, fast forward to what? Yeah. Covid times and, you know, the dealerships went through a bit of a shake up being, you know, corporate structure and whatnot.
William Bowe
And I'll show you to another decision. Do I put myself in a situation where I'm just a number, or do I try and branch out on my own? And at that point in time, I showed a friend who was working at an independent shop in North Vancouver, and he approached me saying, hey, the owner wants to retire. Do you want to try this?
William Bowe
I was like, oh, okay, well, I've never done anything business related, but I can see how a shop should run, you know, to be efficient and have pride in one's work. So, okay, I took on that opportunity.
Jimmy Lea
Are you're you're Tekken at the dealership and your buddy comes to you and says, hey, let's buy the shop.
William Bowe
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Is that what I do, sir? So you went from taking the dealership to shop ownership immediate?
William Bowe
Yeah. Yeah. Trial by fire.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, yeah. Welcome to the deep end, William. Sink or swim. Here we go.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, like, sink or swim is the best way of putting it because, yeah, this was Covid. We just we literally just bought this business as the mask mandates were coming out and things were just opening up again. Right. So take two guys in there. We were mid 20s in the mid to late 20s, you know, don't know how to run a business really.
William Bowe
And now it's okay. Well you can run a business. But you know you got to make sure there's clean disinfected masks, gloves you know all that kind of stuff on top of like don't have too many people in the room and all those other silly rules that came out at that point in time. But we did it, you know.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. So you here.
Jimmy Lea
You you bought it in March of 2020 or when things were opening at 21.
William Bowe
I think we, I think the conversations of us taking over the business were like, hey, September of 2019, things got serious. I want to see March, April ish. And then everything was all said and done that following September. Wow. Yeah. So like right in the thick of it. Right. And I remember, you know, even us being open, we'd have to talk to our staff and say, okay, well, only one of you can work today.
William Bowe
Two of you can work that day. Just, you know, because there's so many mandates on various levels of staff at the time. Yeah. All the while I was still working at the dealership, too, so I'd, you know, help the shop work at the dealership because no one knew where the roll was going to go. Right? So I had to kind of hedge my bets and see how much you know, what I can save up in case things hit the fan again.
William Bowe
Oh, but I mean, you had to do.
Jimmy Lea
The two jobs. How long were you still at the dealership and working as a business owner?
William Bowe
Well, up until four years ago. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
So you had a solid one. Two years of working two jobs?
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah. So, I mean, like, obviously when you buy a business and you're new to it, you don't really understand how the cash flow of things work. You don't really understand the customer clientele yet. And how the flow of work kind of comes through the shop season, the season. So I told my business partner, hey, like, you can be the day to day guy and I'll still keep my, you know, my dealership job, but I'll help you in the background.
William Bowe
I'll do all the web, all the appointments, all the accounting, all the super not fun stuff like that. My off hours. Yeah. And, you know, I won't take as much from you, you know, so I'm not there every day. But I don't need to, because I'll be supplemented on the dealership side, and, it worked out well, you know, and then we got busy enough and other opportunities presented itself that I, I left the dealership and went out into, CG Motorsports as a, foreman manager.
William Bowe
And then I took this shop over two years ago now.
Jimmy Lea
So, congrats to you on the two shops you own, Bruno with a partner, and then you own CG Motorsports.
William Bowe
Yes, sir. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Wow. Congratulations. That's awesome.
William Bowe
Thank you, thank you. You know, I.
Jimmy Lea
Want to go back a little bit in your history there. You give quite a bit of details there. Talking about working with your grandfather in the basement on the car. And you talk about grade nine. Grade ten. Canada has a pretty good apprentice program for the mechanic side of things. The technical side of things. Yeah.
William Bowe
Yeah, definitely.
Jimmy Lea
Did you go straight from high school into the tech school?
William Bowe
Well, no, I mean, it was I mean, being young and being into cars right after high school, I did, I would say waste some time, just working, you know?
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Just work, just working.
William Bowe
Just working in the trade, working on my car. And then, you know, I kind of realized, like, I can't just, you know, screw around for the rest of my life. So I was like, okay, let's get into schooling, let's do the right steps. And, I'll be honest, it wasn't until I had the offer to go work at that European dealership.
William Bowe
That just means a lot more seriously. Oh, wow. I thought, like, okay, there there can be a decent career in this, you know, working on the higher end cars. And I was very interested to see, like, you know, what they're capable of. And, you know, I kind of started off with really basic performance work at that shop, you know, like coilovers, lowering exhaust, that kind of stuff.
William Bowe
And that was extremely exciting for a guy who was, I guess, a first year apprentice.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Because most guys, they're doing lube oil filter brakes, brake pads, rotors.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. And I did all that to, you know, in the, in my time in the tire shops. Right. Yeah. But it was that like that, you know, tip of the iceberg that I was exposed to of, like, kind of the fun stuff you can do with cars that really got me hooked. And then I was I was done after that.
William Bowe
I had to finish up the whole apprenticeship and stick it out, so.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, good for you. Congrats, man. So. So you went from the dealership, and owning Bruno's to being the foreman at KG. And how did that conversation happen that you go from, hey, I'm just shop foreman to, hey, man, I'd really like to buy you out.
William Bowe
Well, when I first went in there for my interview there, I was like, all right, here at TJ, I was I was floored, I was impressed. It was it was a beautiful, clean shop. It did all the kind of stuff that I like to do, you know, of European performance. And, Douglas, from my first remarks to the previous owners.
William Bowe
Wow, this place is amazing. This is my dream. And, you know, kind of off the cuff. He said, well, you know, I'm going to retire one day, and if you're interested, maybe you can take it over, you know, in a very, like, jovial and passing way. But I, I definitely took that to heart. And I was like, yeah, let's do it right.
William Bowe
And we joked and laughed about it. But then as time went on and, you know, I, I guess I proved myself, we got to more talks and I fully started to like, take over most of the day to day operations stuff. You know, we got into more serious conversations. He said. Yeah. So my, my plan is to exit by this point in time, my life.
William Bowe
And, you know, if you're ready, you get first dibs at it and we'll go from there. And it worked out. So definitely wasn't a hostile takeover by any means. It was a very gradual and, you know, symbiotic kind of relationship to go about it.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Sounds like a friendly transfer of ownership from I was the shop foreman and now I'm the shop owner, and it sounds like that. Yeah.
William Bowe
I mean, it was it was definitely, a softer landing. The one I dealt with was Bruno. Right. Because, you know, when I spent quite a few years here learning the customer base, knowing how things go, and then when the change of hands happened, there was no. Oh, we don't know who you are. We can't trust you like people already knew me.
William Bowe
So it was okay. And not saying the Bruno transition was rocky by any means because my business partner had been there day to day. Yeah, but the learning curve was a bit more because we didn't have as much of, you know, a finger on the pulse of the day to day operations, whereas I did with CG.
Jimmy Lea
So. Wow. It's fascinating. That's awesome. So now is, is CG closer to home for you, or is Bruno's closer to home for you?
William Bowe
Oh, gosh. No, no. They're both, as far as I can get for my house. Almost. To be honest,
Jimmy Lea
I've got really good friends in Surrey, so we've been up to white Rock and been to Moby Dick's and had fish and chips. And you are so far North Vancouver, I don't think. I think we may have passed through there, going to the national park, the rainforest, but I don't think I've been that far north more than once.
William Bowe
Yeah. So, I mean, I originally lived in Langley, not too far from white Rock, South Langley, when, I took over CG but as of recently, I have moved out to Abbotsford, which is we have a little 40 acre farm out that way that we kind of run as a family hobby. So, I mean, if I had to give you two of the worst commutes to work, it'd be North Vancouver and Richmond, and I have both, so that's, good for me, but.
Jimmy Lea
Oh my goodness. Yeah. Go. On average, how long does it take you to go from, home office to business office?
William Bowe
Well, I mean, I do, I do say that, the commutes crap, but we start super early here. We're 7 a.m. start. Yeah. So, I mean, in the in the morning, like, average, it's 30 to 45 minutes. You know, if there's an accident, doesn't matter where you're coming from, you're in traffic. So I don't count those days.
William Bowe
But, you know, 45 minutes is pretty average. And, Yeah. And coming home, you know, that's again hit or miss. Right now I'm getting home in like 30 minutes flat. So we know traffic after 5 or 6:00, which is nice, but, you know, I know I'm on borrowed time there, so.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, for sure, for sure that that's pretty cool. You're able to get back and forth that quick. My, my commute could be anywhere from 30 minutes to the home office to two hours. Yeah.
William Bowe
So I, I will say like, last winter we had a nasty winter and the tunnel that we go through to get through the other side of the river here was closed. Yeah. And I think it was I left the shop 6 p.m. and I didn't get home.
Jimmy Lea
Till.
William Bowe
132 in the morning.
Jimmy Lea
In the market.
William Bowe
Everything. Yeah, everything was a mess. So it was like, you know, you spent three hours trying to get one way. Oh, now it's closed and you backtrack and go the other way and all that. That's close. And you just it was all over the place. So. Yeah, it wasn't fun. Yeah. Okay.
Jimmy Lea
You when you, when I don't even want a level that that's that's next level. So you own two shops. What kind of advice would you give? The men and women out there in the industry today that are looking to expand their base, they want to add a second, a third or fourth or fifth location. Here you are.
Jimmy Lea
You've got two. What advice would you give somebody who's considering to take on a second location?
William Bowe
Yeah. I mean, like the most important thing I find is really understanding your model, right? Because, I mean, you have to understand your model really well, and then you put in the variables being the clientele base and the cars you're going to work on. Right? You know, where your parts come from doesn't change too much. How to do it narrow doesn't change too much.
William Bowe
We really have to narrow down and be specific as to who you're selling to and what cars you're selling to. And if you're able to do that, then you can basically plop that model down in, you know, neighborhood A, B, C, D, you know, always churn out the same. Right?
Jimmy Lea
And so for your business model, you're looking at it saying, okay, I'm a Euro shop. I work on Audi, BMW, Mercedes that this is my core business. I could take this same model and plop it down in A, B, C or D and we would have a successful business.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. I mean like right now we have our two shops, right. So in North Vancouver, we are heavily focused on, Japanese and domestic. Right. I say 95% of everything out there is Japanese or domestic down here in Richmond, I have 100% European. And if I have to split that down a little bit more, I'd say 90% of BMW and 10% to everything else.
William Bowe
But it's the same business model. It's the same, you know, parts suppliers, it's the same customer service, it's the same model. What you do things, you're just plugging and playing different, plugging and unplugging different brands and different customer styles. That's it. Right. So, I mean, I know if I took this business and I went out to, see Surrey, where you might know, right?
William Bowe
Yeah, there definitely be European shops out there. Well, then. Okay, you just bring the whole model over and you figure out which customer base of cars is the most popular out there, or which ones you can connect with most and plug it in and off you go, right? If you can really nail down a good customer service model and really understand what you need to give to your customers for that to come back, it does not matter if they drive an Audi or a Lamborghini or a, you know, basic Honda.
William Bowe
People want good service, right? It doesn't matter what they drive. You know what the exception is? Some people don't care. That's one deal. But, you know, most people just want good service.
Jimmy Lea
Know for sure. For sure. Well, and from your website, I would tell you that Bruno looks like it's got a lot of Euro mixed with some domestic because I'm seeing some classic cars and some, corvettes and some looks like a Nova.
William Bowe
Yeah. Yes. I mean, like, our our specialty up there is the classic cars of both European and domestic. You know, we do have a couple of really good guys on staff. And that's why I say that's our specialty. It's not something we do every single day. But if a guy comes saying, I want to restore X, Y and Z, well, okay, let's go, let's take it on.
William Bowe
Right.
Jimmy Lea
We'll take a deposit of $30,000 and we'll let you know when that runs out.
William Bowe
Yeah, I mean, that, that that should be a pretty healthy build for some cars, but that's kind of what happens. Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah. Oh I'm sure, I'm sure people bring you Swiss cheese and want it to be, showroom ready a garage queen.
William Bowe
Oh, 100%.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, come on man.
William Bowe
Yeah. And yeah. And I mean, like, you know, this is for the automotive industry. Everyone understands, like, you know, curtailing a customer's expectations. Sometimes, you know, they bring you a car that's basically one speed bump away from the wrecking yard and want you to make it concourse ready. Right. And you're like, oh, how do I break in the news?
William Bowe
I mean, we can do it. Anything can be done. If there's enough money and drive behind the person doing it, it can be done. Yeah, but you have to be honest and be like, I don't know if this is worth it. Like, maybe we should go find you that cleaner of a car to start off with. But, I'll be honest, there's been some customers and even actually myself, that have had so much emotional attachment to certain cars, they don't care if they gave you the concourse version for less than what they'll put into the rust bucket.
William Bowe
They love the rust bucket, right? So they're going to go to the end of the earth for it. And I mean, I just mentioned like I'm definitely a glutton for punishment with that one because I'm currently restoring my grandfather's night, 1970 Mercury Meteor convertible. And, I have never spent so much money on a car in my life.
William Bowe
And it's a terrible decision.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah.
William Bowe
So, of course, emotional attachment. Right?
Jimmy Lea
Like terrible financial decision, but, highly emotional satisfaction.
William Bowe
Oh, 100, 100%. Like, I mean, how many times can you say that? Oh, we lost our family heirloom of a car. And then I found it on a Facebook marketplace 15 years later.
Jimmy Lea
Like, shut up. Is that.
William Bowe
What happened? Yeah. Oh, 100%. Yeah, yeah. Oh, and on Facebook Marketplace, just by chance, and, I asked the guy, can you open the glove box for me and just see what registration is in there? And sure enough, the registration was my grandfather still, so. Wow. Yeah. Pretty cool.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations. You knew that you weren't walking away from that one.
William Bowe
No. Oh, no. Exactly. But that's the kind of situation, right? Like, I mean, certain customers will definitely. They'll be right there beside you, like, I love this car. I want to see this car. And everyone else in the room will say, walk away, walk away. But when there's an emotional attachment to vehicles, you can't sometimes. Right?
Jimmy Lea
No, that's exactly right. And that's where you need to find out what is the customer's motivation. I, I heard of a client here quite recently that, she brought in it was a, not a Corvair karma Ghia, you know, a Karma Ghia convertible. And, you know how much to restore this vehicle? I want it, I want to be able to drive it.
Jimmy Lea
And, the service advisor had the same idea, the same prospect, which was, hey, you know, let's talk about this car, because I really don't think it's worth it. Worth it? But they didn't say that. What they said was, you know, let's talk about this car. What does this car mean to you? Well, this is the car that my husband bought me when we were first married, and he recently passed away.
Jimmy Lea
And I would like to restored because it reminds me of the love we had, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Beautiful love story. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Nope. Not a problem. It's going to be $25,000. Here's a check. Okay, tell me when it's ready. And four weeks later, six years later, it was ready to go.
William Bowe
Yeah. And that's a that's that's actually quite a common theme. You know, like some people think that, these newer cars, they don't have any personality or they're just recyclable. I think that's extremely subjective. You know, I've, I've had some interesting, you know, BMW, BMW models come through where it's like the most basic of the basic of the basic, and you're like, you okay, you want to see this?
William Bowe
And yeah, sure enough, there's some story behind it. Like, yeah, this was the car I got when my son was born. And we have all these memories and the road trips like, oh, okay. Sure. We'll we'll save this base model three, two, three. No problem.
Jimmy Lea
Like, yeah.
William Bowe
Yeah I would, but I get it. You know.
Jimmy Lea
Back when the windows were cranked and it wasn't a power window that that type of, basic, basic, basic.
William Bowe
Well, no, I'm talking like early 2000. It's like E46 generation. Yeah. Okay. Like really? Not really. Nothing too exciting about it. No run of the mill three series sedan. But, you know, if if it's got any emotional attachment, I'm there for it. We'll we'll help out. Sure.
Jimmy Lea
Oh, I love it, I love it. Yeah. Those emotional attachments go deep for many, many, many, many people. And I agree with you I think cars have personality. I name all my cars. They have personality for sure.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. And I think that's like, you know why most people are in this trade and why most business owners and move industry wake up every morning as we're here to like connect with that customer and kind of bring back the dream, bring back the passion to your car, even if it's just your daily driver and you really don't like it here.
William Bowe
Just driving from A to B to get just to get there. Yeah, well, we should be making a smile a little bit when you accelerate or when you hit a corner. You should be a little bit of enjoyment, right? You shouldn't hate everything about your car.
Jimmy Lea
So yeah. So true. So true. Well, I'm glad that you are in the industry and I think a lot of us in the automotive industry, automotive aftermarket, we do this because of the immediate feedback, the immediate feel good we're here. We help people in their day to day commutes. We help people with those family vacations. We we get that immediate feedback that says, oh man, thank you so much.
Jimmy Lea
You saved this delivery. You saved this family vacation. You saved this commute. You saved grandpa's car.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah, I could do that. Yeah. I mean, like, I, I my wife's a nurse. And, sometimes we've gone to heated arguments in a in a nice way because I like to relate our industry to the healthcare industry like we are doctors for cars. That's what we are. Yes. Right. You know, every aspect of a car, you can relate to the human body.
William Bowe
So, you know, doctors are here to make you safe, healthy and smile. We're doing the same for your car. You know, the car is an extension of a person in most cases, right? So, I mean, we care. We care as much as doctors, I think, you know, and to a certain degree, and, you know, whether it's making sure your son gets to school safe, making sure you get to work safe, you know, a fun family trip.
William Bowe
Like you said, it's important. And that's what we're here for, right? We're problem solvers.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah, we are problem solvers. You're exactly right. And that's so exciting. Well, so what's the future for you, William? What's the future for CG Motorsports? For Bruno's? What's what does it look like for you? What's the plan? The three year, five year, ten year plan for you, brother?
William Bowe
Yeah. I mean, like I would say, the immediate three year plan is to we'll branch out at CG. You know, we are well known for, BMW repairs where, you know, we have a very strong, customer base and that and people trust us with those. Over the last couple of years, I have been, bringing on staff and, you know, resources to help cater to other European brands so we can build a foothold there.
William Bowe
And same thing goes for Bruno. Like, we do have a very strong classic car, customer base, which we would like to be offering a bit more to. Yeah. So, you know, we're we're just trying to position ourselves strategically to, you know, take over enough real estate to facilitate these extra customer bases because, you know, cars take up a lot of room.
William Bowe
And Vancouver real estate sucks for wanting room. So I think the next three years or so is just, you know, kind of branch out and make them make those different divisions of our company and then build up the specialized, clientele base and our specialized workforce to help cater to those segments of the market. Just as well as we do for the ones that we're well known for.
William Bowe
And it's like I said in the beginning, it's all based on that model, right? BMW model ten of ten figured it out. Okay, let's try Mercedes. Right. Okay. Ford trucks figured out ten out of ten. Okay. Let's try Chevy trucks. The same model. You're plugging in a different brand and different customer base and off you go. But you have to throw out the model with the different variables, right?
Jimmy Lea
Yep. Oh, I love it I love it I love what you're doing there. And I love that you're, looking to expand the kingdom too. That's that's very cool. And maybe one of these locations might be a little bit closer to the Home Office as well. Next to the hobby farm.
William Bowe
Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. I mean, I kind of like having my work far away from my house because I can just turn off. Yeah, but yeah, that's part of my drive. I'm like, oh, it doesn't exist anymore.
Jimmy Lea
Until the 40 minute decompression.
William Bowe
Yeah, yeah. But I, I'm a glutton for punishment. So I give out my cell to my customers sometimes, you know, good customers. I get along with that. Yeah. There's always the Sunday Sunday night. Oh check into like, what could it be. Oh I don't know anything like.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Anything from a loose gas cap to, Yeah. You're going to blow up your engines, so pull over.
William Bowe
Yeah, 100%. But for some reason, they think we can just diagnose it over the phone, which. Yeah. Let's see. So super fun to do on a Sunday night, which is always seems to be.
Jimmy Lea
No. Yeah. Your answer needs to be don't do anything. I'm calling the tow truck now. You know what?
William Bowe
If you said.
Jimmy Lea
Let's have a conversation tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
William Bowe
For sure.
Jimmy Lea
Wow. That's awesome. William. Well, if you were to have in your hands a magic wand and you could wish one wish. You can't wish for more wishes, William. But what is your wish? What would you wish for?
William Bowe
I guess if we're talking specifically the automotive industry, I would. I would love to see the, the the outward opinion of our industry change from you're just trying to scam you out of a quick dollar to there there to help me. That would be very nice. Not saying that so much our customer base, but just when you talk to people on the street or you hear people talk about technicians, the automotive world always negative, almost always negative, oh, they'll know what they're doing.
William Bowe
Oh, they, you know, overcharged me. There's always something negative. You know, be nice. If we were thought of as, you know, problem solvers that we talked about. Yeah. Because I don't like I know multiple shop owners, I don't know a single guy in my kind of circle that I've ever heard of scamming someone who's not trying to help.
William Bowe
You know, I think there was misinformation. There might be some bad apples, but you can't paint everyone with the same brush, right? Yeah, that'd be my wish. It's just to change the outlook opinion of our trade, right? Because I think there's a lot of really good people there that want to help. But it's hard sometimes when you're up, like facing an uphill battle of negativity, right?
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, I love it. I love, talking about elevating our image in the industry. And that's what you're talking about is, increasing our perceived value to the public 100%. Yeah. And we can do that. We will do that. Not that the, the health industry is by any means perfect because we know they're not. The difference between the automotive industry and the medical industry is a doctor will bury their mistakes, and we have to bring them back and fix it 100%.
William Bowe
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's funny too. And like, you know, people don't put much value on it, but the amount of, like, you know, liability and safety that's in your technician's hands on a day to day basis is ridiculous. You know, it really.
Jimmy Lea
Is. It's amazing. It's amazing. The responsibility you have. Yeah.
William Bowe
Yeah. And so I mean, that's what I mean, like the amount of responsibility put on our techs and our staff every day. How can we all be bad this world would be, you know, trashed. You know what I mean? Like if every guy was scamming and not doing brake jobs or doing improper repairs or improper parts, how would the cars still be running?
Jimmy Lea
Well, how would they stumble? They would never be able to stop us.
William Bowe
I mean, yeah, exactly. Running, stopping all of that. Right. So yeah, it's it's interesting kind of, way to look at things.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah. So true. Most important, number one important on a vehicle is, that we need it to go. And second most important is just as important as the first one is we have to make sure it stops 100%.
William Bowe
Yeah.
Jimmy Lea
William. Congratulations on on, transitioning from the dealership into the independent world. What do you think of it? What's the difference in your mind between, a dealership and an independent world?
William Bowe
I mean, I honestly don't have anything too bad to say about the dealership world. Like, I learned a lot there that I only ever found in the independent world. Yeah. I think the one thing the dealerships are missing and they've probably lost track of is, you know, true customer service. Right? And I'm not I can't blame them.
William Bowe
I mean, they're usually large corporations with very large overhead and every dollar counts, right. So, I mean, the biggest positives for an independent shop is you have the ability to take the extra time to, to get to know your customer and treat them better than they have at the dealership. And that's what creates repeat clients. But then again, we can't answer every question for them.
William Bowe
We're limited by tooling or by facilities, or we can't do recalls. That kind of stuff. Right. So definitely a place for both models in the industry. But I think, you know, dealerships need to work a little bit better on, their customer service in this day and world. But it's okay. No one's perfect. And who has room for improvement?
William Bowe
Right? From both sides of the coin.
Jimmy Lea
Yeah, yeah. For sure. Yeah. I would agree with you. I think those dealerships, they are big and they do a phenomenal job. And they've got, a big overhead. And I love the nimbleness, the ability of the smaller business to make decisions, make decisions quickly, move quickly, take care of customers and clients to a point where they become raving fans and they stay with us forever and ever and ever.
William Bowe
Yeah, you know, 100% cool.
Jimmy Lea
William. Thank you very much, man. I appreciate the conversation. I appreciate talking with you today. Thank you so much.
William Bowe
Yeah. Of course. So thank you.
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