On this episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy is back in the OG Rock and Roll Garage after a Homeric odyssey to get to New York from Texas. As a result, Erik the Producer is in studio to talk about some of the digital tools that we have been working on to help make your lives easier, and make you more money! We are talking Video MPI Training, a fully flushed out K-Plan with some help from our friends in academia, ASE Test Prep, and so much more! We also talk about the brands that we work for, the state of the business in general, the massive shifts in the market because of tariff fears, training, and the blistering rate at which some of the EV’s we work on and sell eat tires. We also do a short dive on some of the digital witchcraft that started it all, and how reverse engineering how people are looking for cars has completely changed how sales departments function. Bottom line, we listened to the techs who understand it best, and built the solutions that will actually fix some of the major problems in the industry. 

Also, Uncle Jimmy hasn’t found anyone who dislikes the Slate EV Pickup Truck!  

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy rounds out the “you’re e’ffed” saga with part four. As it turns out there are tons of portents of doom when cars roll into your shop. Some vehicle’s even have multiple of these automotive red flags, while others can be false flags. We hit the ever favorite, “gimp mask in the trunk” and raise it with tons of other examples that we have seen throughout the years. What is your favorite? What is one that we didn’t hit on the podcast (editor’s pick: Nissan Altima’s - they always have a story and it always has drama.)

Also Uncle Jimmy gears up for another longer form series that actually feels like work! 

On this episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy goes into some of the backend programming of our customers in regards to what the media has made our profession out to be for the last 50+ years. As a profession, few trades have been maligned to the extent of the automotive trades, and this is especially true in media depictions. Let’s be clear, we have seen some criminals in this trade -- but it is actually a lot more rare than you would think. However, more often than not the line is a lot more blurry than we, our customers, and even the shops that employ us would like to admit. The more pressing issues to todays automotive customers is the massive gap that exists between the seasoned professionals, and the newbies. Are you getting ripped off if someone fails to properly fix your car right, possibly - but more often than not the easy fix is to bring it back in and make it right! There is an incredible ground-swell though in the media perception war that has been waged against this profession, and it comes in the form of the Video MPI. This entire process brings levels of transparency that the customer simply cannot refute. Best of all, we’re going to teach all of your how to do it! More on that later! 

Also Uncle Jimmy goes 2 for 2 on thunderstorms during recording! 

On this much delayed episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy takes a look at the entire strata of the typical dealership and informs them of at least one major thing that they should take into consideration in order to make the process seamless. For ownership and boards of directors, it is very hard to get an accurate picture of a dealership’s overall functionality just by the numbers. The numbers can tell you a lot, but it is sometimes hard to put toxic shops or bad processes into numbers. Working the way down, the message gets much more explicit for the Service Managers. This person should probably be well-acquainted with the chaos of a shop scenario, and needs the customer service skills to deal with people who have problems with their car, or your staff! This position is best filled with former shop foremen. Sales people just need to stay in their lane and no disrupt the process too much, while Service Advisors simply need to ask for the sale. If a Service Advisor has the added benefit of video MPI’s this should be extremely easy! We also take ourselves and Lot Porters to task for a variety of issues, and finally Uncle Jimmy takes himself to task as well! 

Also Uncle Jimmy gives a shoutout to his teddy bear as the thunderstorm in the background would have warranted a dramatic reading of ‘The Raven’ as an intro! 

On this fairly-sporadic episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy wades into the terminally unhinged forum of LinkedIn to find a concept that everyone deals with in this industry. The term “Emotional Waste” is the concept of negative emotions creating undue stress and occupying an inordinate amount of someone’s time. We all see this, and some of the best people in the industry have the exact opposite going on - Emotional Intelligence. This is the ability to regulate and utilize your emotional states, as well as being able to effectively read a room or read a person. Being able to quickly get over things is a key skill in this industry. 

Also Uncle Jimmy goes 3rd round in the Angry draft, despite a strong showing with a missing 10mm. 

On this week’s Episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy takes a look at some of the real world ramifications of Texas discontinuing their state vehicle safety inspections. The first thing that stood out to us was that it was in fact similar to those in New York, and in fact throughout most of the Rust Belt where we know they are a really good idea. Entropy is the name of the game here, and if something is too rotten to be safe, or tires are too bald to provide adequate traction — they need to go. We also get into some of the socioeconomics of the state safety inspection, and how this has altered our own perceptions of this subject over time. When we we’re young and broke, we hated it! When we had seen some stuff and learned some stuff, we we’re a lot more understanding of why they are important. Bottom line, relying on the common sense of vehicle owners is, really without a doubt, one of the worst parameters we have ever seen. We have seen the “common sense” of vehicle owners and it usually ends up on “Just Rolled In” 

Also Uncle Jimmy talks his favorite ways of evading(and altering) police attention while having an out of date inspections!

On this episode of Grease The Wheels, Uncle Jimmy goes for the trilogy of things that you see roll into your shop that spell doom, because you know you’re eff’d. From poorly done wraps, to harlequin models of cars that are not 90s Golf’s, and underbody lights, there are a lot of things that we see that spell doom and gloom for our profit margin. Seeing an old car that is still being daily driven darkening your door is somehow more of an omen of impending doom than the banshee’s howl, while seeing car club stickers on a PT Cruiser was just hilarious. We’d like to throw a shoutout to Sibley, Iowa and somehow this series gets a part 4 at a later date. It’s the one series that you have nodded along to at least once — and hopefully hasn’t caused any weird synchronicities where you hear about it in the podcast and it immediately shows up in the shop! 

Also Uncle Jimmy goes thermonuclear on marketplace sellers who sell as “parts only” and explores of the concept of “Convertible Sunk Cost Fallacy”

On this week’s episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy comes up with a list of interview questions for mechanics to observe and take into account when they are looking to move to a new shop. Is there enough parking, are there enough bathrooms, and where exactly did all of these dead and abandoned cars come from? There are tons of criteria that we use when evaluating where we are going to work, but this episode brings a lot of them to life with some of the most insane examples you’ve ever heard! 

Also Uncle Jimmy side hustles as a garage door repairman

On this episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy goes to practical goal building mode for 2025. Getting better isn’t going to be negotiable in 2025, as the pace of technological change in the cars is continuing at break-neck speed. Look at the year end total for your W-2, divide it by your hourly rate and that gets you near how many hours you worked. This of course isn’t taking into effect all of the house that you turned but didn’t get paid for! It also doesn’t get into the amount of hours that you quoted. All oof these numbers are easy to figure out and give you a good idea of the value that you bring to your company. So needless to say, if you don’t like something, Grease the Wheels! 
 
 Also Uncle Jimmy discovers Gasoline particulate filters. 

On this episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy revisits some of the common signs and portents of things that you know are going to result in a rough day in the shop. From bullet holes and hypodermic needles, to an entire goodwill inventory of clothes in a trunk where you need to replace a battery, there is little limit to the chaos and carnage that customer roll in on a daily basis. We also go into a scientific breakdown for an answer to every single complaint about a sunroof. 

Also Uncle Jimmy pulls off a flawless Moody Blues reference while really hammering home just how old he is with the price of batteries.