On The Ramp - The Independent Automotive Garage Owners Podcast.

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Ross Maitland was promised training by one employer after another. Main dealers, big independents, a contract, a handshake, none of it turned into a single day on a course. At 35 he was ready to leave the trade for good.

Instead he opened Maitland Motors in Burntisland with £200 in his bank account and his mum and dad lending him the rent. Less than a year in he had nothing booked and gave himself two days before he packed it in. Ten years on he has six staff, owns the building, and has just won an award for training and development. Alex and Tim take him right back to the Yellow Pages and work forward through every garage, every broken promise, and every mistake he made on the way.

Topics covered:

- writing to 74 garages for an apprenticeship and getting two replies

- being passed over for master tech training without being asked

- a bonus scheme that punished the wrong person

- finding out he was £3 an hour under the technicians he was trying to recruit- why paying under market rate catches up with a garage

- starting a garage with £200 and no savings

- the fleet work that saved his first year- a thousand pounds a year for unlimited training, and what he did with it

- what he does differently now he employs technicians himself

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

07:56 - writing to 74 garages for an apprenticeship

18:14 - leaving the first garage for bigger jobs

26:44 - castrol | the race group partnership

29:30 - promised master tech training, then passed over

39:46 - on £10.50 an hour and £3 under his own technicians

48:03 - the two homers that made his mind up

52:24 - starting maitland motors with £200 in the bank

59:57 - two days from packing it in

1:05:20 - a thousand pounds a year for unlimited training

1:13:37 - winning the training and development award

1:20:01 - two staff, an envelope and five rules

1:30:37 - outroSubscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

 https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

David Simpson left school with no qualifications, got sacked from a string of McDonald's, and ended up running a tuning network with around 800 agents and manufacturing his own DPF cleaning machines. In this episode he and Sy Harraway open up a side of the trade most garage owners never see from the inside, including how tuning files are actually bought, sold and protected, and why the incoming DPF test is going to catch out a lot of cars.

If you run a workshop, send DPFs out, or have ever wondered what is really on the ECU of the car in front of you, this one is full of practical insight.

What is covered:

Diagnosing with second-hand parts instead of chasing fault codes

How master and slave tuning tools work, and why choosing a file provider matters

Manufacturers locking down ECUs, and what happens when one gets cracked

Warranty markers and how main dealers spot a remap

The DPF MOT test and what it means for mapped-out vehicles

Putting vehicles back to stock as a revenue stream

Building a DPF cleaning machine from scratch

Running a garage at 48% gross profit with one technician and an apprentice

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro
00:30 - from the army to the boot of a bmw
05:21 - the £30 ecu approach to diagnostics
09:14 - mobile to workshop, and the moonlight flit
16:16 - selling tools, and getting stung
20:25 - seven day payment terms and lending on trust
27:47 - Castrol | The Race Group Partnership
29:00 - masters, slaves and how tuning files really work
42:20 - tuning evs and locked down ecus
54:56 - the dpf mot test and stockpiling filters
57:56 - the mdf box and the machine that leaked
1:02:50 - taking manufacturing to turkey
1:07:59 - four businesses, one workshop
1:17:08 - £120,000 spent getting work for agents
1:24:27 - outro

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

#ontheramp #mobilemechanic #garageowners #independentgarage #automotiveindustry #mechaniclife #ukgarages #trades #automotive #castrol #remapping #dpf #diagnostics

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Marc is 25 and runs Magnet Autos in Liverpool, a third generation family garage his granddad started in 1978 after accidentally buying the wrong building at auction. He came into the business straight out of school after six months at home, took over in October 2023 when his dad stepped back to care for his granddad, and was made managing director just under two years later. Turnover has roughly doubled in three years.

Tim Guidotti joins Alex on co-hosting duty for the first time, so there is a proper fleet conversation in here too: fleet versus retail margins, auto authorisation on the platforms, high spend reviews and de-fleeting, and why six technicians can run on one service advisor.

If you run an independent garage or you are heading into a family business handover, this one is honest about the parts that go wrong as well as the parts that work.

Topics covered:

Coming into the family business out of school and starting in the back office

How Magnet bought its way into fleet in 2004

Taking over in October 2023 when his dad stepped back

Going from mate to boss, and the hire he regrets letting go

Turning away the busy fools and £4,000 to £5,000 a week of turnover

Fleet versus retail: margins, authorisation and high spend reviews

Splitting workshop control from the front desk

The five year plan, ramps, and why he is not opening a second site

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:44 - leaving school and the six months at home

07:29 - how magnet got into fleet in 2004

13:15 - the dip and taking over in October 2023

19:18 - the sultan of brunei cars

23:06 - Castrol | The Race Group Partnership

24:26 - the setup, the staff and buying the wrong building

33:02 - fleet versus retail margins and authorisation

39:15 - the numbers and turning away the busy fools

46:27 - becoming managing director

52:46 - the five year plan and adding ramps

59:36 - outro

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

#garageowners #independentgarage #automotiveindustry #mechaniclife #ukgarages #trades #automotive #castrol #fleet #familybusiness #ontheramp

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Sophie Lyden works alongside her dad at Westgate Tyres in Morecambe. Three depots on one street, 40 to 50 cars a day, and no booking system for tyres. She's also better known across the trade as The Tyre Lady, and became the person the BBC called when they wanted a tyre expert. She joins us to talk about how both of those things happened.

If you run a garage or sell tyres, this one's full of practical insight, and a decent argument that safety messaging is the best marketing you're not doing.

In this episode:

- Why Westgate doesn't take bookings for tyres, and how they cope with 40 to 50 cars a day

- The stock strategy behind their biggest tyre month

- TPMS, valve service kits, and the conversation most garages skip

- Why she checks dot codes on every car and advises at 3mm

- The crash outside the garage that started The Tyre Lady

- What road safety conferences never talk about

- How a LinkedIn post about a bad tyre reached 200,000 people

- Getting a tyre onto the BBC Breakfast sofa

- What she'd change about the MOT and the legal tread limit

- ADHD, postnatal depression, and running a business through both

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:04 - how sophie ended up back in the family tyre business

09:11 - inside westgate tyres and their biggest month

18:31 - punctures, stock and what makes a tyre shop busy

24:51 - tyres or servicing, and which one she would keep

29:26 - castrol | the race group partnership

35:55 - the crash outside the garage that started the tyre lady

43:04 - road safety conferences, dot codes and the education gap

52:38 - testing tyres and keeping the tyre lady separate from westgate

60:37 - bbc breakfast and the families behind the campaign

66:46 - what she would change about the mot and the tread limit

75:07 - adhd, postnatal depression and understanding her own brain

83:40 - taking over the business and what comes next

88:05 - outro

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

#ontheramp #tyres #tyresafety #garageowners #independentgarage #ukgarages #automotiveindustry #roadsafety #mechaniclife #castrol

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

 https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Fleet work divides the trade. Some garages swear by it, others swear at it. In this episode, Alex and Leo are joined by Tim Guidotti, second generation owner of Ferdotti Motor Services and founder of Fleet Guy, to tackle the myths head on. Alex explains why he spent years telling garages to get rid of their fleet work, and why he now admits he was wrong. Tim breaks down good fleet vs bad fleet, the truth about labour rates, how to actually win fleet contracts, and why the data suggests retail-only garages could be facing long term decline.

If you run an independent garage and you've ever dismissed fleet work, this one's full of practical insight.

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:04 - tim's story, growing up in the family business

12:34 - joining the business and doing the deal properly

21:52 - Castrol | The Race Group Partnership

23:05 - why alex was anti-fleet, and admitting he was wrong

29:32 - the coffee test, good fleet vs bad fleet

41:09 - winning fleet work and keeping it

52:25 - should your garage do fleet, and where ownership is heading

1:03:05 - the labour rate myth, utilisation and productivity

1:09:23 - why fleet guy exists, building an industry standard

1:16:36 - fleet guy live, plus tim joins as co-host

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

#ontheramp #garageowners #independentgarage #fleetwork #fleetmanagement #ukgarages #automotiveindustry #mechaniclife #castrol

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

This week it's not a story episode, it's a business one. Alex and Leo sit down with business coach Phil Brookes, who has spent his career in the tyre and garage trade, from the workshop floor to training and running parts of a national group, and now coaching independent garages. We get into the stuff most owners never get taught: pricing with confidence, knowing your real numbers, front of house, recruitment and the small marginal gains that quietly add thousands to the bottom line.

If you run a garage and you have ever felt busy but not as profitable as you should be, this one is full of practical insight.

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro and why business training is undervalued

01:20 - phil's journey into the trade

07:38 - growing and selling a national tyre group

13:37 - why tyre pricing is so sensitive

17:25 - pricing with confidence and the three prices

18:50 - front of house and the restaurant lesson

26:39 - why training fails without follow-up

29:11 - marginal gains and the 1% rule

33:00 - the wheel alignment opportunity

38:27 - how much profit is really in a tyre

47:56 - leading, retention and recruitment

51:09 - knowing your numbers and the benchmarks that matter

57:29 - marketing and the garage that isn't busy enough

1:04:23 - hiq, wholesale and the real tyre margins

1:06:47 - how to get in touch with Phil

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

#ontheramp #garageowners #independentgarage #automotiveindustry #mechaniclife #automotive #castrol #businesscoaching

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-...

Joanne Knowles is the Event Director for Automechanika Birmingham and the UK Garage and Body Shop event, the two biggest trade shows in the UK independent garage calendar.

She joins Alex and Dawn on this episode to talk about what actually goes into running them, why attending matters more than ever, and how Motivate is starting to change the way new talent is brought into the industry.

If you're a garage owner, technician, college tutor or student, this one's worth your time.

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:14 - automechanika vs uk garage and body shop

03:00 - why garage owners should attend

07:31 - feedback, parking and the autonomous bus

09:20 - introducing motivate

12:20 - women, the ignite arena and engaging colleges

18:16 - computer science, adas and the future

21:34 - the case for cpd accreditation

25:22 - castrol | the race group partnership

26:37 - industry community, the blend and ben charity

33:15 - takeaways and how to get involved

41:13 - uk garage and body shop 2026

44:00 - outro

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

#automotiveindustry #podcast #interview #ontheramp #independentgarage

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Joanne Knowles is the Event Director for Automechanika Birmingham and the UK Garage and Body Shop event, the two biggest trade shows in the UK independent garage calendar. She joins Alex and Dawn on this episode to talk about what actually goes into running them, why attending matters more than ever, and how Motivate is starting to change the way new talent is brought into the industry.

If you're a garage owner, technician, college tutor or student, this one's worth your time.

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:14 - automechanika vs uk garage and body shop

03:00 - why garage owners should attend

07:31 - feedback, parking and the autonomous bus

09:20 - introducing motivate

12:20 - women, the ignite arena and engaging colleges

18:16 - computer science, adas and the future

21:34 - the case for cpd accreditation

25:22 - castrol | the race group partnership

26:37 - industry community, the blend and ben charity

33:15 - takeaways and how to get involved

41:13 - uk garage and body shop 2026

44:00 - outro

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

#ontheramp #mobilemechanic #garageowners #automotiveindustry #castrol #automechanika #ukgaragebodyshop #motivate #independentgarage #automotiveevents

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group.

To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Jordan from JLK Vehicle Solutions, better known online as The Norfolk Tech, joins us to share how a Covid redundancy pushed him into self-employment and how he's built one of the healthier mobile businesses in the UK.

In this episode, Jordan breaks down why the trade undercharges, what it really takes to run a mobile business day to day, the value of community for solo operators, and why he's been willing to talk openly about burnout.

00:00 – Introduction

02:15 – Redundancy during Covid

06:10 – Six weeks to self-employed

08:45 – Building the business on Facebook

19:20 – A typical day on the road

22:35 – Why the trade undercharges

33:00 – Sponsored Segment

38:00 – Getting scammed, security, and working on driveways

53:00 – Diary management and parts

01:06:00 – The mobile tech community

01:10:00 – Talking openly about burnout

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

#ontheramp #mobilemechanic #independentgarage #automotiveindustry #castrol

tps://beacons.ai/ontheramp

If you are a garage owner thinking about starting, specialising or scaling, this episode offers a clear look at what actually drives results.

In this episode we cover how this specialist garage was:

- Built With Clarity From Day One

- Built Without Guesswork- Built With Purpose, Not Pressure

- Built Through Focus, Not Expansion

- Doing the Right Things Early

This episode is kindly sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. Find out more about Castrol using the link below:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction

01:42 - Early career and dealership experience

04:15 - The decision to leave the dealership

07:10 - Career perspective and Australia

10:05 - Starting The Mini Repair Shop

14:20 - Building the brand before the building

18:35 - Launching during COVID

23:10 - Finding customers in the early days

28:45 - Why specialising in MINI works

34:20 - The role of social media

40:05 - Partnerships and early growth

46:30 - Expansion vs focus

52:10 - Key lessons for garage owners

57:00 - Final thoughts