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On this episode of Grease the Wheels, we have some serious words of wisdom (and rants) for the new guys. If you have new guys in the shop, this is probably a good one to start them out with, because it should theoretically cut about 90% of the BS if they actually listen! From inherent mechanical curiosity to becoming a master technician, the road for a mechanic is a long one that is fraught with difficulty. Choosing the right tech school is a big part of getting yourself ahead and learning many of the core concepts that we use on a daily basis - that is of course if you actually paid attention and showed up every single day. Seriously, attendance and effort are massively rewarded at this phase, because if you miss something the confusion is going to compound quickly and it can be incredibly hard to get back on track. Research where you want to go to tech school as well, because there are tons of options, scholarships, and external factors that will make your success either more likely or less likely. Continuing ed is a real thing here as well, including manufacturer specific training programs and the relentless march of automotive technology that aims to make our job more difficult every single day. We also get into the tools debate with a simple mantra - less is more! Believe us, we have seen tons of technicians go massively into tool debt and then exit the profession before they are even done paying for the socket set. Bottom line, it can be a great career, but dues need to be paid, and mistakes can quickly compound if you don’t slow down and seriously think about your choices, strengths and weaknesses. 

Also, Uncle Jimmy does a short book report on ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’

This Episode of Grease the Wheels is brought to you in partnership with Surfwrench Digital! For more on Video MPI Training Visit https://www.surfwrench.com/video-mpi-training-landing/ to learn more. Video MPI Training built in the shop, by your Uncle Jimmy. 

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On this episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy goes in depth on the pros and cons of being an auto mechanic. Despite some of our previous episodes, there are many pros to being an auto mechanic. The cars have gotten safer, the shops in many cases have gotten better, and more often than not the shops have come a long way from some of their humble roots. Not to mention that as mechanics, there are tons of ways that we can keep our own cars on the road longer and even occasionally (or constantly) flip broken cars by fixing the. There are some things that split right down the middle though, including the people, management decisions, waiters especially at 5 PM on a Friday. There are some things though that are straight in the cons list, such as shrinking warranty times, the lost or broken tools that are needed to get the job done, and the constant battle against cars getting more and more complex, with our customers not being realistic with some of their demands. Bottom line, there are many pros and cons to being an auto mechanic, but this is an incredibly personal thing that depends a lot on where you are, how good your management is, and the communication breakdown that happens when service advisors auto-decline all of the work that we have put in a repair order. What are the pros and cons of your shop and brand — let us know over on the Facebook page. 

Also Uncle Jimmy staunchly denies throwing wrenches (for the last decade or so) and explains the Moss-Magnusen Act of 1966. 

This Episode of Grease the Wheels is brought to you in partnership with Surfwrench! This is where all of the digital tools to help run your shop live and we are constantly adding more. For more on Video MPI Training Visit https://www.surfwrench.com/video-mpi-training-landing/ to learn more. 

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On this episode of Grease the Wheels, Uncle Jimmy goes down the rabbit hole of toxic management. We go into some of the specifics for what makes a manager or boss toxic: such as unrealistic expectations, nepotism, and much, much more! The good news is that skilled tradesmen of all types, and especially auto mechanics and technicians have ample opportunity to jump ship, because the demand far outweighs the supply. We also go over some of the possible remedies to these conflicts, which mostly revolve \around good communication and documentation of your grievances, and possibly going over their heads in certain cases. When a manager doesn’t understand this, they are in trouble, and in many cases it can spell doom for a shops overall productivity and profitability. Bottom line, do not put up with a toxic manager for one minute more than you want to!  

Also, Uncle Jimmy astonishingly holds his fire on Service Advisors for another day! 

This episode is sponsored by surfwrench.com: for all of your dealership's digital needs. Photography, SEO, AIO, E-Commerce, and Service Lane Video Training that put you on top on the internet! 

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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!  

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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! 

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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! 

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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! 

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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. 

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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!

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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”