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Episode 7 Roland Auto Repair
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In episode 7 of the 3T’s Mobile Mechanic Podcast, we sit down with Roland from Roland Auto Repair to talk about his journey through the automotive industry and what led him into the world of running his own repair business. We dive into the challenges of building a reputation, working through the ups and downs of the industry, customer experiences, diagnostics, and what it really takes to stay consistent in automotive repair.This episode is a laid back but real conversation about life as a technician, business owner struggles, lessons learned, and the passion that keeps us all turning wrenches every day. If you’re a technician, shop owner, or thinking about starting your own automotive business, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.Sit back, relax, and enjoy episode 7 of the 3T’s Mobile Mechanic Podcast with Roland Auto Repair.
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Transcript
Weather and Introductions
00:00:19
BEN DELLARIA
Good morning, everybody. Welcome back to the episode. Today, we have Kyle Rowland on with Rowland Auto Repair. What's going on, man? How you doing?
00:00:28
Kyle
Good, how are you?
00:00:29
BEN DELLARIA
ah It's Saturday.
00:00:31
Kyle
Yep.
00:00:31
BEN DELLARIA
just It's about to pour down rain outside and looks like hell, so it's a day of me not doing a damn thing.
00:00:35
Kyle
Yep.
00:00:38
Kyle
Yeah, it's kind of a sprinkling here, it a little little cloudy but cool.
00:00:42
Kyle
So, chilling in the garage.
00:00:42
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:00:43
BEN DELLARIA
Well, yeah, you're wearing a hoodie, bro.
00:00:45
Kyle
ah Yeah, it it was cold this morning.
00:00:46
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Oh, it's you know that's I'd have to say that is a little bit wild right now. I mean, it's May, obviously.
00:00:52
Kyle
Yeah.
00:00:54
BEN DELLARIA
It's May 23rd, and I live in Florida. Evenings at this time of year are usually just humid, brutal, and nasty. the Same with the mornings. But lately, i don't understand it.
00:01:03
Kyle
Yeah.
00:01:05
BEN DELLARIA
weve We haven't gotten a lot of rain, so we're on like a water shortage, so we can't like wash the trucks, can't do anything. um But In the mornings, I'm getting up. It's like 60 degrees.
00:01:15
BEN DELLARIA
I'm like, what the hell? like This is Florida. This is not you know somewhere up north.
00:01:16
Kyle
Right.
00:01:18
BEN DELLARIA
This is stupid. I mean, it's not freezing cold. like you know It gets in here. Florida wintertime gets in the 20s. But um you know everybody's like, try zero degrees.
00:01:26
Kyle
Right.
00:01:28
BEN DELLARIA
I'm like, I don't want to. I'm good. Y'all can have that. don't need that weather.
00:01:31
Kyle
Yeah, it gets like that here sometimes.
00:01:32
BEN DELLARIA
But I would like some rain. Zero?
00:01:34
Kyle
Yeah, we have zero, yeah, sometimes, sure.
00:01:38
BEN DELLARIA
Bro, no.
00:01:38
Kyle
We got too much rain right now.
00:01:38
BEN DELLARIA
You can.
00:01:39
Kyle
our whole My whole driveway is flooded right now. It's crazy.
00:01:44
BEN DELLARIA
and But does it like, is it rain all day or is it like just, you know, quick?
00:01:50
Kyle
It's like a thunderstorm. It could rain all day here, but it's just random whenever a thunderstorm rolls through.
00:01:56
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:01:56
Kyle
We have like the next week it's going to be all rain, so but which is good.
00:01:59
BEN DELLARIA
Man.
00:02:00
Kyle
It's crazy.
00:02:02
BEN DELLARIA
Man, I wish it here. There's so many, there's a ton of fires, forest fires and all kinds of stuff going on and It's, you know, everyone's still out there like, oh, you you can't water your lawn.
00:02:12
BEN DELLARIA
I'm not watering my lawn. I don't care. But I would like to clean my truck. live on dirt roads and it's my truck is black.
00:02:15
Kyle
Yep. Yep.
00:02:17
BEN DELLARIA
But right now it's completely covered in white
Kyle's Journey in the Auto Industry
00:02:20
BEN DELLARIA
dust. and it looks like shit. But anyway, so Roland, tell us, man, where when did you start in the industry? Where'd you come from? Why? Why choose to be an auto mechanic?
00:02:30
Kyle
Um, well, you know, i grew up with four wheelers and dirt bikes and stuff like that. So, you my dad was always piddling on stuff and I was always taking things apart or breaking things.
00:02:35
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, yeah.
00:02:40
Kyle
Um, then we had, um, I've ever seen like the sprint cars that race the dirt ovals.
00:02:46
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:02:46
Kyle
Uh, they have smaller ones called quarter midgets. So they're a quarter of the size of those full size. and they had like ours had five horsepower, um, Honda motors in them. So we raced those when we were kids, you know breaking that turning wrenches on those. And, um,
00:03:01
Kyle
You know, high school came and went and i didn't know what i was going to do. My buddy decided to um go to a tech training school. i was like, you know, what I'll go with you. That sounds great. Went up there. Yeah. or uppa I worked at a Honda dealership as a lube tech for the year I was there.
00:03:19
Kyle
Came home. I worked at an independent shop for... ah a year or so. And that really turned me off of independent shops. It was like you go to technical training and they were like, hey, you know, this is how it's supposed to be done.
00:03:34
Kyle
And you go to this little independent shop and like, we're doing what now? We're doing what? And i I got tired. I actually left one day at like nine o'clock in the morning because, ah man, I it was like a Volkswagen.
00:03:48
Kyle
It had lot caliper. And I took it apart. like, hey, this thing actually needs rotors, too. And this was back in 2006. So you could get rotors for 30 or 40 bucks back then. Easy.
00:03:59
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:03:59
Kyle
was like, when you get this lady some rotors, he's like, no. Or my manager was like, no, just put back together. i was like, this is not. No. So I think it was like 930. I locked my toolbox and left and I applied at there's a real busy st street up in Indianapolis. Excuse me.
00:04:16
Kyle
And I just applied for every single dealership through their tech school. I had Toyota training, too. They had like a little it's on the same property, but off, you know, a different building. So I had Toyota training. i applied for Toyota.
00:04:30
Kyle
I think there's like a Jeep Chrysler dealer, Lexus and Acura Honda dealership all on the same road. um The Acura lady called me back and I worked at Acura for like 12 years and management changes and stuff.
00:04:45
Kyle
ah I left there for subru dealership. Now I've been I'm still there. And, yeah, we might see that here from time to time.
00:04:50
BEN DELLARIA
so of
00:04:54
Kyle
ah Yeah.
00:04:54
BEN DELLARIA
That's all right, little man.
00:04:54
BEN DELLARIA
That's cool.
00:04:56
Kyle
um I worked there for like 12, 13 years. Did a whole like master tech program through them. i was actually their NSX guy for a while. And I yeah, like I said, management change, things changed.
00:05:07
BEN DELLARIA
That's cool.
00:05:12
Kyle
A guy actually, service writer that was really good. Uh, he went to Subaru and he just, they're right next door to each other. He's like Hey man, come over here.
00:05:21
BEN DELLARIA
oh
00:05:21
Kyle
I went over there and it was, it was good. And then here recently in the last year, another management change. And, um, so this is where I'm at now.
00:05:32
BEN DELLARIA
It's all right, man.
00:05:33
Kyle
I might get hit. I might get hit with a squirt gun or something here in a second.
00:05:36
BEN DELLARIA
That's what happens when we got little ones running around.
00:05:36
Kyle
So, mm-hmm.
00:05:39
BEN DELLARIA
Mine are old. i don't have little ones anymore, but still. So you ended up, you you liked the dealer world more. I mean, I get it. It depends on the experience you have in in whatever independent shop you go to.
00:05:50
Kyle
Yeah, so, yeah, that independent shop, it was, and it's still around. It was more of like a car sales area. Like, they sold cars, and they had a very small, yeah, they had a, yeah, they had a real small service shop.
00:06:00
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, like a crossbreed of used car.
00:06:06
BEN DELLARIA
That kind of answers your question right there. Like, you know, why would a shop do that?
00:06:08
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:09
BEN DELLARIA
Well, that's why, used car. they're They're in that mode of don't spend anything, get it onto the lot as quick as possible.
00:06:11
Kyle
Yeah.
00:06:15
BEN DELLARIA
So they're going to do that with the customer too if they just don't have the experience to sell correctly and talk to customers correctly.
00:06:16
Kyle
Yeah, yeah i was it was... a their're Their car salesmen the guys that ran the car sales were really nice people.
00:06:28
Kyle
ah
00:06:28
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:06:28
Kyle
I just think that shop manager at that time was... Didn't know what he was doing. He was just...
00:06:33
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. But that sucks because that gave you a persona at that time or a thought process at that time instead of them giving you a better experience.
00:06:34
Kyle
I mean...
00:06:38
Kyle
Oh, yeah. it it I mean, I was... And probably here until recently, until I started doing on my own, or you know videos like royalty and stuff kind of came out here and last year, two years or so, where you see like a good independent shop, you're like, oh, that's that's what it's supposed to be.
00:06:53
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:06:58
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:06:58
Kyle
Not what, how over half of people are.
00:07:02
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, exactly.
00:07:02
Kyle
And you can tell you could tell when you go past an independent shop like how it's it's usually clear as day how they operate.
00:07:07
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, big time. there's i do some some work for some shops, like programming for some shops here in town, and some of them, you know, it was...
00:07:18
BEN DELLARIA
oil dry that's you know in a pile next to the lift, never cleaned up, cigarette butts everywhere.
00:07:23
Kyle
yeah yeah
00:07:23
BEN DELLARIA
Customers are standing in the bays and it's like, what the hell is going on here? like Don't you guys have any sense of purpose of like quality or um liability?
00:07:34
BEN DELLARIA
You got a customer standing under the car looking at it while you're welding on it for a muffler.
00:07:34
Kyle
yeah yeah oh yeah that's well I yeah oh yeah
00:07:39
BEN DELLARIA
like What are we doing with a cigarette hanging out of your mouth? like And I'm not exaggerating. That's exactly how it is. And it's like, geez louise, man. But again, that's where do we get the persona? Where do we get the stigma from? It's from that.
00:07:51
BEN DELLARIA
That's where we get that that. And if no one's going to actively help to change the way we look and make it a better place, then it's just going to continue you to be the same way.
00:08:02
Kyle
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:08:03
BEN DELLARIA
So how many how many years did you spend at the dealer?
00:08:07
Kyle
So i spent one year as a loop tech at Honda, like 12 to 13 at the Acura dealership. And I'm like eight years in at, ah yeah, started my eighth or started my seventh year at Subaru right now.
00:08:16
BEN DELLARIA
at the Subaru.
Burnout at the Dealership
00:08:21
BEN DELLARIA
I got you.
00:08:21
Kyle
and And here recently, i I just took a, they have a used car department there.
00:08:22
BEN DELLARIA
And
00:08:27
Kyle
Subarus, I don't know if you ever worked on to me, but they're just all the same. They're all pretty easy to work on.
00:08:31
BEN DELLARIA
yeah, they pretty much the same.
00:08:32
Kyle
And i I just got so bored of doing the same five things.
00:08:33
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:08:38
Kyle
It really burnt me out last summer.
00:08:38
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:08:39
Kyle
I was burnt out just doing the same thing over and over again.
00:08:43
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:08:43
Kyle
And um they had used car department. It's kind of in a separate little building. It's me and one other guy. ah And I get, we do all kinds of stuff. Like I learned a bunch of Volkswagen stuff here recently.
00:08:55
Kyle
All kinds of random, you know, you get wrecked cars and you got find out what the, where the wiring is pinched at for the headlight and, you know, just kind of all random kind of stuff. So I feel like I'm going back through and learning everything I used to know.
00:09:07
Kyle
And, you know, buy new tools and stuff.
00:09:08
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:09:09
Kyle
That's kind of always fun. So I've been little bit more challenged right now. And the schedule works out where I'm off at four now. So I could scoot out and, you know, do a car or two for myself in the evening.
00:09:20
Kyle
And my Saturdays are off too now. So um that allows me to kind
00:09:23
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, that's good. But that gives you a little bit more time for the mobile.
00:09:26
Kyle
Yes. Yes. Yep. And yeah, it's been it's been good so far.
00:09:29
BEN DELLARIA
in So you're
00:09:34
BEN DELLARIA
the um excuse me the ah So eight years at that Subaru, but about a year ago, you said, is when you started the mobile world.
Decision to Go Mobile
00:09:43
Kyle
Yep. Yep.
00:09:45
BEN DELLARIA
Okay. Why? Why do that if you've been at the dealers for so long?
00:09:49
Kyle
ah Well, it kind of coincided with me burn being burnt out with doing the same thing every time and a management change. We had, I'm going to ballpark, we probably have 24, 25 stalls probably.
00:09:57
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
00:10:05
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
00:10:05
Kyle
But we only had maybe like 16 guys. So there was free stalls, plenty of work. And um I understand it. Like the new guy, the new manager came in and filled every single stall up with a person.
00:10:17
Kyle
um
00:10:18
BEN DELLARIA
Mm-hmm.
00:10:18
Kyle
And there's a dispatcher now. And it's all, I get it from the business side.
00:10:21
BEN DELLARIA
Mm-hmm.
00:10:22
Kyle
I get it. But it kind of cut into mine.
00:10:23
BEN DELLARIA
It's usually what happens on management change. They just throw a million techs in there.
00:10:26
Kyle
Yep. Yep. And like I said, I get it from the management side, but I was hustling and being able to do a couple things at the same time.
00:10:28
BEN DELLARIA
Yes.
00:10:34
Kyle
And it just cut all my extra hustle out.
00:10:39
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, but so it took away from all your flat rate time.
00:10:40
Kyle
ah makes If that makes sense. Yep.
00:10:43
BEN DELLARIA
Were you working on flat rate, I assume?
00:10:45
Kyle
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:10:46
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, so instead of turning just just say 60 hours a week, you're turning now 40 hours a week because they actively took away all your work.
00:10:46
Kyle
I've been flat rate since.
00:10:52
Kyle
Yep.
00:10:54
BEN DELLARIA
So it's like it's the problem.
00:10:55
Kyle
Yep.
00:10:56
BEN DELLARIA
ah you You got a shop that's busy as hell and producing the work.
00:10:57
Kyle
Yep.
00:10:59
BEN DELLARIA
If you're not behind and customers aren't waiting, why start adding more in? and Because now you just took away from all the techs. It doesn't mean you're going to get more car count by throwing more techs in and filling the bays.
00:11:08
Kyle
No. And this it's also coincide with like being forced for video MPIs.
00:11:10
BEN DELLARIA
and Yeah.
00:11:13
Kyle
I don't mind taking a picture, but like slowing down to do a video MPI for free, ah it's it's annoying.
00:11:22
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:11:23
Kyle
And I get it for the customer's sake.
00:11:23
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:11:24
Kyle
It makes perfect sense. like I do it when I do my mobile stuff. I'll If I try to explain to something somebody, I'll take a quick video with a laser pointer and stuff. And I, you know, but I'm getting myself paid when I do that. You know what mean? Like, you know, I get a higher labor rate for myself. So it makes sense for me to do it. But like when you're cussling, bustling in and the dealer and um slowing down to take a video,
00:11:48
Kyle
kind of gets you out flow sometimes and especially how they want you to do it they don't want a quick three second hey this is good this is good this is good their tires are bad they want details and I get it for the customer yeah yeah
00:11:51
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, exactly.
00:11:58
BEN DELLARIA
They want a whole production. It's almost like having to do what we do as far as being content creators and making an actual video of a guy that, you know, oh, this is my diagnosis. Not everybody can do that.
00:12:08
Kyle
yeah right right yep you're good okay
00:12:09
BEN DELLARIA
Not everybody's great at doing that. I think Jeff talks about that a lot on his podcast. Hang on one second for me.
00:12:16
BEN DELLARIA
All right, sorry about that, guys. I had to swap my internet. I was glitching out on this end. um Yeah, it's... ah I mean, I can see it both ways. Like I understand on Like you do now. You understand it on the business side on why a DVI is important.
00:12:30
BEN DELLARIA
But yeah, I mean, when you're you're asking a guy that's doing an oil change and the inspection and then to stop, go back and do more work that you're not paying them for, I get where a lot of the...
00:12:44
BEN DELLARIA
flat rate guys are getting pissed about it, but I also get where some of the guys are like, oh, I don't mind. It's like half a dozen or the other, you know, it's ah it's a back and forth conversation all the time.
00:12:49
Kyle
Yeah.
00:12:54
BEN DELLARIA
Everyone's going to, it's always got its pros and cons. I personally, if I was working in the dealership nowadays and they were asking me to do that and the mentality I have now, I'd probably be like, no, dude, you get the fuck away from me.
00:12:57
Kyle
Yep.
00:13:05
BEN DELLARIA
Like I'm going to do the inspection. I'll take some pictures of stuff and I'll upload it.
00:13:08
Kyle
Yeah.
00:13:08
BEN DELLARIA
But you want me to start doing this when I've never been behind the camera before? Cause I know how it was getting in or being in front of the camera, getting in front of a camera and talking or behind it and doing all that stuff.
00:13:20
BEN DELLARIA
I don't know if I could handle it, especially now just being my mentality.
00:13:22
Kyle
Yeah.
00:13:24
BEN DELLARIA
But if I had stayed in the dealers for all those years or shops for all those years, like there are the past, you know, eight, nine, 10 years that I've been out of the shops, I'm, Maybe I could still do it, but I don't know it's just it's it's you know.
00:13:36
Kyle
Right.
00:13:39
BEN DELLARIA
That's the argument that everybody has on these platforms is I'm always working for free. I'm always doing this, so I'm going to do this, and that's why most of us go out on our own or open a shop or whatever.
00:13:48
Kyle
Mm-hmm. Yep.
00:13:51
BEN DELLARIA
um And that's obviously your reason, too. You just said you know you're tired of working for free and everything else.
00:13:58
Kyle
Yep. That's it.
00:14:01
BEN DELLARIA
Sorry, my dog's dreaming over there, and i have no he was making some wild noises, so now my son's going to see what he's doing.
00:14:04
Kyle
oh
00:14:09
BEN DELLARIA
He's he's old. um All right, sorry, guys.
00:14:11
Kyle
Yep.
00:14:13
BEN DELLARIA
So obviously, he likes the dealer more than the independent, so i mean you know it is what it is. but So now we're we're about eight months ago, and you decided to open mobile.
00:14:19
Kyle
Yep.
00:14:22
BEN DELLARIA
what what Outside of not getting enough work and everything else, like why mobile versus like your own shop?
00:14:24
Kyle
Yep.
00:14:31
Kyle
Well, I was, I actually looked at a shop and it was just so far out of budget. It was, but it was the nicest independent shop I've ever seen personally.
00:14:38
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:14:41
Kyle
i mean, this thing place had AC in it up here in Indiana where, you know, we use it maybe three months and super clean for us.
00:14:42
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah.
00:14:47
Kyle
And it was ended up being a, my brother's neighbor owned it. Uh, so he had kind of ran into him. They kind of talked before about it. And so we just happened to go, I went and looked at it, but it was a price thing. It was just, I couldn't do it.
00:15:00
Kyle
Um,
00:15:01
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:15:02
Kyle
And maybe, you know, maybe in the future a small shop with, you know, a few guys I could probably handle. But I think this mobile thing is going to work out pretty good in the short term.
00:15:14
Kyle
Just to kind of see where I want to go.
00:15:14
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, yeah.
00:15:16
Kyle
Because, I mean, i have a truck and it's filled with tools. So i don't have, you know, I'm just buying things as I make money. ah So, like, the initial startup cost is low.
00:15:30
Kyle
You know, I had a...
00:15:30
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:31
Kyle
I just bought basically a second set of hand tools and a tool cart to throw my truck and a couple of things here and there. um
00:15:38
BEN DELLARIA
Well, yeah, because all your stuff's sitting at the dealer. It's not like mine where you could just load up a a trailer or a truck or a box truck and got everything with you.
00:15:39
Kyle
Yep.
00:15:44
Kyle
Yeah.
00:15:46
BEN DELLARIA
So it's that's it's definitely a really, really hard transition if you're still working in a shop and then trying to build a mobile life because you could go to people's houses be like, crap, I don't have that tool.
00:15:50
Kyle
Yep. Yep.
00:15:57
Kyle
Yep. It's happened.
00:15:58
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, that's the main reason.
00:15:59
Kyle
It's happened a couple times. And like, luckily where I'm at, luckily where I'm at, there's a bunch of part stores, you know, within 10 minutes, I could usually go buy a socket if I have to, or whatever a little thing I have to, but I haven't ran into that since I probably the first three months, I've been pretty good about trying to think of anything I've ran into lately, but I've been pretty good about having, you know, maybe watching a video real quick on YouTube about how to do it just to see if there's any weird tools.
00:16:04
BEN DELLARIA
Sorry.
00:16:09
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:16:26
BEN DELLARIA
if you're gonna need something odd yeah i mean that's the main reason why i built a trailer instead of the way i first had it
00:16:26
Kyle
yeah. yeah
00:16:32
BEN DELLARIA
<unk> in the bed of my truck because i just i was tired of like thinking I had everything, but I've got all these other tools that are at home. and then get into a customer's house and like, Hmm, I got to run.
00:16:41
Kyle
Yep.
00:16:43
BEN DELLARIA
i don't have my tool. I got to go to my house and I'm 35 minutes away.
00:16:46
Kyle
Yep.
00:16:47
BEN DELLARIA
i was like, no, if I'm going to do this and I'm going to do it right, I need to have everything.
00:16:47
Kyle
Yep.
00:16:52
BEN DELLARIA
And I have everything now just about, there's only a few things I keep at home, but those are things I wouldn't even do in a customer's driveway anyway.
00:16:52
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:17:01
BEN DELLARIA
So it, uh, it really works out well that way for me at least.
00:17:01
Kyle
Right, right.
00:17:06
BEN DELLARIA
Um, But ah you were talking about you know this this shop. I wonder – I can't remember. You know who Chris Enright is?
00:17:16
Kyle
yeah yeah
00:17:18
BEN DELLARIA
Is he up by you?
00:17:20
Kyle
I don't actually know where he's from. don't
00:17:24
BEN DELLARIA
thought he was in Indiana.
00:17:26
Kyle
know.
Challenges of Mobile Mechanics
00:17:27
Kyle
Maybe i could give quick yeah.
00:17:28
BEN DELLARIA
i did i I can't remember right now. i'd have to I got to look that up because he's got it pretty – not going to say he's got it pretty good. He's got it decently good. um He's got a shop at his house.
00:17:39
Kyle
Yeah.
00:17:39
BEN DELLARIA
Um, but he's allowed to have a shop at his house,
00:17:39
Kyle
Yeah.
00:17:42
Kyle
Yeah.
00:17:44
BEN DELLARIA
according to whatever he, you know, he talks about online. I've, I've only talked to him personally a couple of times, but the, um, that was always a thought process for me too.
00:17:51
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:53
BEN DELLARIA
Cause like my father-in-law and there's a lot of guys in my neighborhood that have, uh, shops on their property and they do, you know, side work. Um, and that's it.
00:18:04
BEN DELLARIA
But i don't want yeah i I wouldn't want to do that. i I thought about putting a building out back, and um we looked into the cost. I got a real small property. It's only a quarter acre.
00:18:15
BEN DELLARIA
So if I had a 12-foot tall building at the eave that I could fit at least one lift in it would stick out like an eyesore. But if I stick out like that eyesore, I don't want to get busted by the freaking city saying, oh, you can't do that.
00:18:24
Kyle
Yeah.
00:18:30
BEN DELLARIA
And then I have such a
00:18:30
Kyle
Right.
00:18:32
BEN DELLARIA
a fine on my hands because I'm running a shop out of my house. And, but then it's that double it it's, ah it's like, so I'm mobile.
00:18:36
Kyle
Yeah.
00:18:41
BEN DELLARIA
So you allow me to go to people's homes and work on their car, but you don't allow me, you know, to do it at my house, but it's different.
00:18:43
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. Right.
00:18:48
BEN DELLARIA
They just don't want you running a business out of the house like that because then you're,
00:18:51
Kyle
Yep.
00:18:52
BEN DELLARIA
You're making a mess. There could be cars everywhere, engines laying around, you know, just crap like that. But I don't know. That would be kind of neat to be able to do that.
00:18:58
Kyle
Oh, yeah.
00:19:00
BEN DELLARIA
and But again, I'd rather that than having a brick and mortar nowadays.
00:19:01
Kyle
Yeah, and I have...
00:19:07
BEN DELLARIA
I always wanted the shop, but now I don't want to have to go somewhere Monday through Thursday or Monday through Friday and open the door.
00:19:07
Kyle
Yeah.
00:19:15
Kyle
Yep. Yep, I can see that.
00:19:15
BEN DELLARIA
i want to have to do it.
00:19:17
Kyle
Yeah.
00:19:18
BEN DELLARIA
It's just not that deters me more years ago. was yeah, I want this. And it would still be kind of really cool to have a shop. I've talked about it before, but I just don't know if that's, I don't know if it's in the cards for me later because I'm kind of like my freedom.
00:19:30
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah, sure. It's, you know, pros and cons and everything, like we said earlier.
00:19:36
BEN DELLARIA
um The what?
00:19:40
Kyle
Pros and cons, just like anything else we've been talking about already.
00:19:42
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, exactly. you know we do I do really well now. and you know if we can If we can change our our routine on how we're doing our inspections and we can pay a little bit more attention, we could definitely get...
00:19:57
BEN DELLARIA
probably closer to that 270, 280 a year mark.
00:20:01
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:20:01
BEN DELLARIA
And then, so then what's the question? I think I talked about this last time with Justin. like So where's the threshold that I can only make X amount work in four or five days a week versus if I was in a brick and mortar, how much more could I have?
00:20:18
BEN DELLARIA
Well, like, so as mobile, I'm working on you know, five to seven, eight cars a day. and we're booked out every single week, well, I have to do all that.
00:20:29
BEN DELLARIA
At a shop, I wouldn't have to worry about it. Just, yeah, you want to drop off, drop off. You know just you got to influx the cars. You just go and go and go. And you know and people pull up and everything else.
00:20:35
Kyle
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:20:38
BEN DELLARIA
That's the that's the main difference. So if like you're if you're chasing the money end, which in reality we all are, but I'm not at the same sense because I i just, you know for me, I need that break of it all.
00:20:51
BEN DELLARIA
But if you're chasing that money, I don't see how a one-man shop with ah an office person can't do, you know, three, 400,000 a year easy if you've got the business coming in.
00:21:05
BEN DELLARIA
But I know now that for how many years I've been mobile, if if I were to ever transition, um I would lose a lot of my customers. I would have to rebuild in a vastly different way to be able to keep most my customer list.
00:21:15
Kyle
Yeah, everybody.
00:21:18
Kyle
yeah airbye so
00:21:21
Kyle
Yeah, everybody's so busy nowadays.
00:21:22
BEN DELLARIA
Sorry, we're a little bit off.
00:21:24
Kyle
Yeah, i think so. You know, everybody's so busy nowadays, you know. um I feel like when I, lot my customers are like, you know busy parents or single moms or people who um just can't find anybody that's it worth their time.
00:21:41
Kyle
um
00:21:43
Kyle
So, you know, everybody's getting busy. So, you know, it's just like Amazon or DoorDash. It's convenience. It's ultra convenience.
00:21:43
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:21:49
BEN DELLARIA
It is, and that's what people are liking is that convenience.
00:21:50
Kyle
It's what it is.
00:21:51
BEN DELLARIA
And it's either that they're not even as busy. Today's world, they're forcing you know husbands and wives and fathers and followers to have to work every single day instead of a mom being out.
00:22:02
BEN DELLARIA
But you you think when this stuff wasn't around, people did it anyway. you know They still got to the shop.
00:22:07
Kyle
yeah that's true.
00:22:08
BEN DELLARIA
they still But it's also different business owners. I remember working, the last shop I worked for, He was a jackass. you know you If you needed to go to the DMV to do something, like it's only open until 4 o'clock during the week, man.
00:22:24
BEN DELLARIA
like I have to go. like We'll go on your lunch break. I'm like, you only give us 30 minutes. like I can't get in there in and out fast enough.
00:22:29
Kyle
Yeah, you know.
00:22:31
BEN DELLARIA
like
00:22:31
Kyle
No.
00:22:32
BEN DELLARIA
There's a lot of guys that – or a lot of business owners that forget what it's like to have to be – your, you know, at at, at your mercy for that type of stuff.
00:22:42
BEN DELLARIA
And that's another, you know, like why I like this. So, and even then, like I'll be driving down the road. I'm like, Oh, I need gas. I'm not stopping. I got work to do. You know, I just, I still don't even want to stop.
00:22:51
Kyle
No. No.
00:22:52
BEN DELLARIA
I just, I want to get done. I want to go home, you know? So I'm limited to those cars.
00:22:55
Kyle
Yeah.
00:22:56
BEN DELLARIA
If I was in a shop, it doesn't, it's no big thing to have 10 or 11 cars that day because a couple of them can stay over.
00:22:58
Kyle
Yeah.
00:23:05
BEN DELLARIA
I can't move.
00:23:05
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:23:06
BEN DELLARIA
I can't stop. on this job after I diagnose it and wait for parts to come in to go work over here, I have to plan ahead. That's the problem with this is that plan ahead. So you're, you're in until you can critique it and change it. And I think that's, I talk with people on Tik TOK a lot that, And they're like, there's no way that you know I could go to someone's home, diagnose it when they want the car done now.
00:23:33
BEN DELLARIA
Or it was actually a a guy in the group today was talking about that. And I'm like, no, you just have to learn how to talk to that customer. So like we will go out, diagnose the car, and I tell them, all right, you know this is the issue.
00:23:40
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:23:45
BEN DELLARIA
We'll go ahead and get you an estimate sent over within the hour, or I'll do it later this afternoon when we get back to the office.
00:23:49
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:23:50
BEN DELLARIA
Got a lot going on today. We'll get you an estimate. Yeah. And I'll tell them, and I'll also let you know what day I can come back. It'll depend on what I can have the part in my hand. Nobody gripes at that, and it's fine.
00:23:59
Kyle
Yeah.
00:23:59
BEN DELLARIA
um But that's just the way I have to do it because otherwise I would not make the money that I make.
00:24:02
Kyle
Yep.
00:24:04
BEN DELLARIA
If I was having to drive back and forth every day to the auto parts store and then the customer back and forth, there'd be no way I could make anything close to what I make unless I was charging $200 hour. two hundred dollars an hour
00:24:15
Kyle
right yeah and i've had good luck talking to people and everybody so far has been pretty understanding about hey this is kind of a little bit different uh because mobile around here there's one guy that's been doing it for a while and i don't know if he's on this group or not but i've heard horror stories from him though too but there's a bunch of other guys that have just probably just started within the same time period as me as well but um
00:24:34
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:24:39
Kyle
Yeah, it's been, I think, like I said, the people I've had, and this just happened last night. I've had one experience with a customer so far. It's been bad. That just happened last night.
00:24:49
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:24:49
Kyle
So, and it was nothing. It was nothing. It was, I was doing AC.
00:24:54
BEN DELLARIA
Well, now we need to know about it.
00:24:56
Kyle
Yeah, sure. ah As a person, she I've done work for her before. um She lives not too far from me and her AC wasn't working. I was like, well, come over. I'll get a charge back up for you.
00:25:07
Kyle
And, um, it's like 14 and the low side port is kind of like up underneath. It's kind of by the, between the motor and there's a hose that runs over of it for coolant maybe.
00:25:19
Kyle
And there's the expansion tank with two plastic hoses coming off it.
00:25:20
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:25:24
Kyle
Well, I'm reaching in there to get the low side clamp on it. And I broke one of the little hoses off the expansion tank. I'm like, Oh man.
00:25:32
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:25:33
Kyle
And, um, I was like, well, that should be just like a the overflow tank hose. So it shouldn't leak out like anything crazy. But it did. i they had i ended up being like a T-fitting back into the turbo somewhere. I couldn't quite trace where it was. but So you know this is 7 o'clock at night, and I'm trying find this hose. And she doesn't want to go home.
00:25:55
Kyle
She doesn't want to leave the car. I'm like, you're going to be... You can't drive this. I could try maybe gluing at it or something, but ain't going to work. like So I ended up finding a hose 25 minutes away last night.
00:26:04
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:26:07
Kyle
She rode with me to get this thing. She just didn't want to leave. And I got it fixed, got charged up, and then doing the little leak check on it. And i one of the high side pressure lines was leaking.
00:26:21
Kyle
And she was kind of frustrated with that. I told you this was like a check. This is an inspection. You're completely empty. So we knew right off as soon as I hit the hit the gauges on it, we knew you were empty. We had a leak somewhere.
00:26:32
Kyle
but ah I don't know. She might be my first customer I fire. I don't know yet. We'll see. We'll see what the phone call sounds like today when I tell her to the price for the discharge line.
00:26:41
Kyle
But that's the only customer I've had that's been...
00:26:41
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, but that seems like ah
00:26:46
Kyle
It's just a i know I broke it.
00:26:46
BEN DELLARIA
that's that's rough because you're – Yeah, you you owned up to it. You broke it. But there's also the point that even though you broke it and I was just having this.
00:26:51
Kyle
Yep.
00:26:56
BEN DELLARIA
ah I can't I have no clue how to say this guy's name. He's on TikTok. Very nice guy, but he's I don't know where the fuck he's from. But um he asked all of ah he tagged some of us in some videos.
00:27:09
BEN DELLARIA
He had the same thing like he he took the car apart, but a but a bolt broke. it's not It's on you, but it's not on you. It's the car.
00:27:16
Kyle
Right.
00:27:17
BEN DELLARIA
I can't help it if I have to dig down in here and shit breaks because I have to put my arm under there.
00:27:17
Kyle
Yeah.
00:27:23
BEN DELLARIA
Your car was brittle before that.
00:27:23
Kyle
Yeah.
00:27:25
BEN DELLARIA
It's not like I was being destructive and I destroyed your car.
00:27:28
Kyle
Yeah.
00:27:29
BEN DELLARIA
It's on you. Now, granted, you're in a tight situation and everything else, And it was just obviously not the best scenario. so you But you did what you had to do.
00:27:37
Kyle
Yep.
00:27:38
BEN DELLARIA
You took care of it. The customer got to drive home, but it was stressful.
00:27:40
Kyle
Yep.
00:27:41
BEN DELLARIA
It was frustrating. But you learn from that, and you'll you'll change that outcome when you're looking at stuff.
00:27:42
Kyle
Yep.
00:27:45
Kyle
Oh, yeah.
00:27:46
BEN DELLARIA
like Especially the Fords with the heater hoses. We know those stupid things. Or you might. i don't you know You're working with other types of cars, but you just know in general plastic is a son of a bitch.
00:27:51
Kyle
Yeah. I know. that's Yeah. Yeah. That was the first.
00:27:58
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:27:59
Kyle
And I, it crossed my mind when I first got in there. I like Hey, be careful, man. That's plastic. I said to myself and I was just like, I think but like web the size my fittings were.
00:28:06
BEN DELLARIA
It's going to break.
00:28:09
Kyle
And like, I was really having to really get in there to get the low side port in there. And, you know, I just, you know, I did it.
00:28:15
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:28:18
BEN DELLARIA
Lovely engineers.
00:28:18
Kyle
I broke it. It happens.
00:28:19
BEN DELLARIA
they do they They do everything.
00:28:19
Kyle
Yeah.
00:28:21
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, it does happen.
00:28:22
Kyle
Yeah, there's...
00:28:23
BEN DELLARIA
But again, that's that.
00:28:23
Kyle
Yeah.
00:28:24
BEN DELLARIA
And that's the hardest part when you got someone that's also hanging over your shoulder, watching you, seeing what's going on.
00:28:29
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:28:30
BEN DELLARIA
you Where were you at? In like a parking lot or her house or?
00:28:34
Kyle
Uh, no, she lives like maybe 10 minutes from me, my AC machine. I don't have a way to get it my truck. So she came, she came over and so at least I was in my garage and you know, so at least I had like all my stuff here to fix it.
00:28:40
BEN DELLARIA
She came over there. Okay, so she came to the house. I got you.
00:28:45
Kyle
And it was just, um, yeah, she just didn't want to, ah she probably had a bad experience somewhere else and she stuck with her.
00:28:47
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:28:53
Kyle
And that's kind of what I kind of got through it. And I think by the end of it, she was maybe okay. Cause she saw that I fixed it and I didn't,
00:28:53
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:28:59
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:29:01
Kyle
I charged her for the AC diag and stuff and refilling it and stuff. But she didn't hesitate to hand me the money over. So I think she was all right with it by the end of it.
00:29:11
Kyle
And I'm waiting for a phone call today to see.
00:29:14
BEN DELLARIA
And she probably has a good cool down today.
00:29:17
Kyle
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and I've done work for it in the past.
00:29:19
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, cool. I mean,
00:29:21
Kyle
She's been cool in the past. So maybe it could have been a bad day.
00:29:24
BEN DELLARIA
then I'm sure it'll be fine.
00:29:24
Kyle
Who knows? Yeah, maybe I was the third third thing that's happened to her.
00:29:27
BEN DELLARIA
yeah it obviously was a bad evening. That's rough.
00:29:30
Kyle
Yeah, yeah.
00:29:30
BEN DELLARIA
When you're sitting at your house, you're like, oh, yeah, come on by. I'll be real quick. You're like, son of a bitch. It's midnight and I'm still doing this.
00:29:34
Kyle
Yeah, exactly. That's what exactly what happened.
00:29:37
BEN DELLARIA
Jeez Louise.
00:29:40
BEN DELLARIA
don't know. I try to stay out of those situations. But, I mean, that's just things that it's the nature of the beast. Even if you're in a shop, the same thing could happen, but it just wouldn't be at 7 o'clock at night.
00:29:48
Kyle
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:29:50
Kyle
Yep.
00:29:50
BEN DELLARIA
But then at that point, you know, you get the customer a ride home or a rental or, or you know, ah a loaner or something, you know, if that's the type of shop you are.
00:29:55
Kyle
Yep.
00:29:57
BEN DELLARIA
but So um you we were talking about if you were going to possibly – you know why you decided mobile over brick and mortar but what gave you that push like did you just see some mobile guys in your area did you find us online and you were like screw this i'm going mobile like what's your next obviously you're not full mobile like we all are with full setups and stuff yet but what are your goals for that what are you trying to get to
00:30:21
Kyle
Right.
00:30:25
Kyle
um So right now, any of the money I'm making on this is going straight back into, I'm probably, I'm trying to decide, it kind of depends when i want to go full time, but I'll probably get a small trailer or a lift. It kind of depends. If it comes into wintertime, I'll probably put a lift in this.
00:30:42
Kyle
I have a garage. It's not very tall, but I can put a lift in here. Um, and if it's sooner than that, where I'm going to be out in the summertime and fall, I'll probably buy a small trailer. Like I said, I got have an AC machine. i can't take it anywhere with me right now.
00:30:56
Kyle
Um, but, uh, you know, stuff like that and be able to, like my truck, we are always out using it for various other activities.
00:30:57
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:31:05
Kyle
So I'm always unloading it. and putting stuff back. So I think a trailer would be nice just for that fact too, for, you know, ah getting tools moved around and putting stuff back in and whatnot.
00:31:11
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Yeah.
00:31:17
Kyle
But, so that's kind of my goal right now and kind of keep, keep, keep growing it.
00:31:19
BEN DELLARIA
It's easier just to hook up, go to work.
00:31:22
Kyle
And, um, Yeah, I think it's been great, and it's way more rewarding, too.
00:31:26
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. It's,
00:31:29
Kyle
I've had a couple old people that needed help with something, they give you a hug, and you're like, man, I've never had a customer hug me before.
00:31:38
Kyle
You know what mean? And it feels it feels great.
00:31:38
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:31:41
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:31:41
Kyle
Like you can't it's kind of weird at first, but you're you know what, this is yeah, you get a little more personal side.
00:31:41
BEN DELLARIA
It's a completely different personal side.
00:31:47
Kyle
And i do like talking to people. Sometimes I people never hear me talk because and if you're in a shop like I have my headphones in and I don't barely talk to anybody. I'm working.
00:31:58
Kyle
about here talking to people and you know there's definitely you get a sense of people that need help help them and uh people that appreciate you really uh really say it to your face and you know it's not a survey where it's written down that you're great or you suck or whatever too
00:32:12
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, God, don't start on that bullshit. sort
00:32:16
Kyle
so yeah i it's it's it's been really interesting and really rewarding um and like really
00:32:17
BEN DELLARIA
Let's CSI scores. Get the hell out of
00:32:27
Kyle
I kind of talk down to people working on the ground, but you get a lot of stuff done working on the ground. It's surprisingly what I've...
00:32:33
BEN DELLARIA
here.
00:32:34
Kyle
i Yeah.
00:32:34
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, yeah, get that shit all the time. I'm not laying on the ground to do an oil change. I'm like, but I'm laying down. I'm not arching my back. I'm actually comfortable versus standing under a lift sometimes.
00:32:41
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:44
BEN DELLARIA
But, you i just stand. I just i'll nod off and close my eyes while I'm filming on YouTube, just sitting there waiting on the oil to drain. Just ah did to ah give myself a good five, ten minutes and then get back at it. Just, you know, being stupid and lazy.
00:32:55
Kyle
Yeah, it's kind of a different kind of mind.
00:32:55
BEN DELLARIA
But that's what happens you're fat.
00:32:59
Kyle
It's a different kind of mindset too. Like you have to kind of like slow down a little bit and say, okay, I'm going to lay underneath this car. What do I need? so i don't have to get back up. And it's not like you have a lift where you can just roll your cart full of tools.
00:33:11
Kyle
You have to kind of slow down a little bit and think it's just a little bit and kind of slow your pace down just a tad just to see, you know make sure you grab everything you need before you slide underneath that car.
00:33:13
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:33:18
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
Benefits of TechMetric Software
00:33:22
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:33:22
Kyle
But like I said, it's just a different,
00:33:23
BEN DELLARIA
I'm pretty lucky now that my wife's there. she can She hands me a lot.
00:33:26
Kyle
yeah Yeah, that would help. That would help a bunch.
00:33:28
BEN DELLARIA
all stuff now, yelling, you know hey, grab me this, hey, grab me that.
00:33:30
Kyle
Yeah.
00:33:32
BEN DELLARIA
ah It took her a long time because I'd be like, give me ah a 10 millimeter. I'm used to knowing I use quarter inch stuff. Give me a 10 millimeter this.
00:33:39
Kyle
Yeah.
00:33:40
BEN DELLARIA
And she brings me not even close to what the fuck I asked for. In the beginning, I'm like, what is that?
00:33:46
Kyle
Yeah.
00:33:47
BEN DELLARIA
And she's like, that's what you said. i'm like, not even close to what I said. Now she's doing really good. Now she doesn't have too much of an issue. She understands the difference in quarter inch sockets versus three eighths sockets.
00:33:57
Kyle
that
00:33:58
BEN DELLARIA
Before she's like, it doesn't say quarter inch. I'm like, no no, no, no, no. Like, sorry, forgot. You don't know what the hell talking about.
00:34:04
Kyle
Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:34:05
BEN DELLARIA
So it's it's definitely a fun thing.
00:34:05
Kyle
Yeah. yeah
00:34:07
BEN DELLARIA
Um,
00:34:07
Kyle
Yep.
00:34:08
BEN DELLARIA
um So when is there anybody else you were following online like ah when you were like, oh, I'm going to do this mobile thing? Because obviously you found the school group and you're part of that.
00:34:19
BEN DELLARIA
How long have you been in the school group now?
00:34:19
Kyle
Oh yeah. I think probably about when you first started kind of close.
00:34:22
BEN DELLARIA
I'm going to look it up. I don't remember.
00:34:26
Kyle
i I don't get in there a bunch unless I run into some problems, but I might hop in there every once in a while.
00:34:31
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:34:33
Kyle
I think I started basically probably why when you first started it or close to it, you know.
00:34:33
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, yeah, October, yeah. October 20th. yeah Yeah, right around then. That's cool.
00:34:41
Kyle
But yeah, the mobile side, I don't know.
00:34:41
BEN DELLARIA
It definitely helps out.
00:34:44
Kyle
I think maybe as far as finding mobile out, ah I would say probably just stumbled and upon like Chuck Engine Chuck's videos and like, this guy's doing some crazy stuff out.
00:34:50
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, like what made you think to go do it? Yeah.
00:34:57
Kyle
And then shortly, I bet it was probably, it was probably him first, just you know randomly find him on Instagram or TikTok or wherever.
00:34:58
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, he does. There's wild shit.
00:35:08
Kyle
And then shortly thereafter, I definitely find you guys on YouTube youtube shortly thereafter.
00:35:08
BEN DELLARIA
tick tock or something yeah yeah most people do
00:35:14
Kyle
Because I went through a... Yeah, it's... You're pretty... As far as YouTube goes, you're probably the first one that shows up more more times than not.
00:35:26
BEN DELLARIA
yeah outside of some of those fly by night jagoffs that i don't really like to talk about but um
00:35:30
Kyle
Yeah, yeah, that, yeah. Yeah.
00:35:33
BEN DELLARIA
but so that's what So you thought about mobile, you found everybody, obviously it interests you in. When do you plan full-time?
00:35:39
Kyle
Yeah.
00:35:42
BEN DELLARIA
full time
00:35:45
Kyle
I think once I have a trailer and I get my customer base built up, I, I should have had tech metric loaded up here in a second, but I think I have 60 customers.
00:35:57
Kyle
I repeat, you know, our different cars.
00:35:59
BEN DELLARIA
Did everybody hear what he just said? Tech metric loaded up and he's not even a full-time mobile guy yet and he understands the value of that.
00:36:02
Kyle
Oh yeah.
00:36:05
Kyle
Yeah. I, it, yeah.
00:36:08
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Listen, pay attention, y'all.
00:36:09
Kyle
It,
00:36:10
BEN DELLARIA
we're on a podcast.
00:36:11
Kyle
I, and I'm gonna sign in here just to see how many customer names I have on here. It's been, and people, ah customers love that system.
00:36:18
BEN DELLARIA
Oh,
00:36:21
Kyle
You know, you give them a couple pictures in there. You know, I've been doing this long enough where can write up a good story on how, what's going on with it.
00:36:24
BEN DELLARIA
oh yeah. Yeah.
00:36:28
Kyle
And that generates that inspection. And it's, from what I've been told, it's better than any shop around here, what they get out of that. just that inspection and the clarity and how it's all set up and even being able to pay, you know, through the app if they're not home has been helpful too.
00:36:38
BEN DELLARIA
Yep.
00:36:47
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, text message and email pay and invoicing and everything is freaking perfect.
00:36:50
Kyle
Yep.
00:36:52
BEN DELLARIA
Now, most of the you know programs out there today are doing that, but still, it's the same thing. i ah I owe a lot to TechMetric for... us building where we are.
00:37:04
BEN DELLARIA
i mean, they didn't do anything but build a great product. I could have chose any other product that would have done the same thing, but I just like TechMetric over all the other other shop management softwares.
00:37:07
Kyle
Yeah.
00:37:12
BEN DELLARIA
They just didn't hold a candle to it, my opinion.
00:37:15
Kyle
And honestly, it's better than what I've used in any dealership. Like, just hands down. That's simple.
00:37:21
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Yeah.
00:37:22
Kyle
And for the price, I can't imagine. Like, when I'm at work, I have three tabs open just to get stuff done. And it's frustrating.
00:37:31
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:37:33
Kyle
It's so frustrating.
00:37:33
BEN DELLARIA
It's a pain.
00:37:34
Kyle
and and it's like, guys, you could spend way less money and get a better product. But, i you know...
00:37:42
BEN DELLARIA
is what it is.
00:37:42
Kyle
Who, i'm just I'm just a mechanic.
00:37:42
BEN DELLARIA
People don't understand the value of that.
00:37:45
Kyle
No one asked my opinion.
00:37:46
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, exactly. We're just dumb mechanics.
00:37:47
Kyle
ah
00:37:48
BEN DELLARIA
We have no idea.
00:37:49
Kyle
Yep, exactly.
00:37:49
BEN DELLARIA
I put out a video yesterday talking about that, of like what my expenses are. And you always get the guys that are like, why are you paying for three different softwares? Well, I'm not.
00:38:01
BEN DELLARIA
I'm paying for two, two different softwares.
00:38:03
Kyle
Yep.
00:38:03
BEN DELLARIA
Like I'm paying for service information and shop management software. Well, I mean, why can't you just have one that's all together? I'm like, because I want to make more money. I want to have a good business. I don't want to just be like, oh, I'm just going to use this cheap one here because I can make an invoice or an estimate.
00:38:20
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
00:38:20
Kyle
Oh, yeah.
00:38:20
BEN DELLARIA
You could do it. I'm not saying you can't, but I mean, where's the, where do you want to be? Do you want to be a great company and you want to make a lot more or do you want to be making minimal because you're never going to know the backend of stuff with those cheap programs because they're not going to be able to hold a candle to the reporting that you need to find your margins and what parts you're using and all this, like all the videos that I make on tech metric and put into the school program or a school platform, you know, it shows all that stuff there because just want to see people do better.
00:38:51
BEN DELLARIA
Um,
00:38:52
Kyle
Oh yeah.
00:38:52
BEN DELLARIA
hey
00:38:52
Kyle
And I think that's probably one of the bigger turning points for me is when you started releasing all your numbers, I was like, there's that's crazy numbers for just a guy in the trailer. And then you're like, okay, that's, you can make a living doing this.
00:39:04
Kyle
That's
00:39:04
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. I love when people like, you're a lawyer. Show me the numbers. Okay, here you go. And then we take a screenshot of TechMetric from like you know whatever year it is, and they're like, and then they don't answer you back because they realize that you're not lying.
00:39:10
Kyle
yeah. Yeah.
00:39:19
BEN DELLARIA
Because I i mean, I get it. Everyone's on social media, and they're making videos like, make $1,000 a Okay, come buddy. strive $1,000 day in total revenue.
00:39:28
Kyle
Oh, yeah.
00:39:29
BEN DELLARIA
we strive to do a thousand dollars a day in total revenue You're not telling these people the difference of what revenue, gross profit, and net profit is.
00:39:38
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:39:40
BEN DELLARIA
it it's not You're not like, oh my God, I get $1,000 a day. Really? You're working whatever it is, like 200 and something days a year, so you think you're going to make $280,000 year?
00:39:51
BEN DELLARIA
no Like not even close.
00:39:52
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:39:53
BEN DELLARIA
Come on, buddy. Like, like it's, I get it.
00:39:54
Kyle
Yep.
00:39:56
BEN DELLARIA
So they're making it to make money off of a video, but it's the same thing over and over again. So that's when I was like, I'm going to do something different. I'm not going to be the same as all of these, you know, people.
00:40:05
Kyle
Thank you.
00:40:07
BEN DELLARIA
And that's, and I didn't even do it because I'm like, Oh, I want to be a content creator. No, I, I don't want to be a content creator. I want to be an advocate for the automotive industry.
00:40:17
BEN DELLARIA
And I'm tired of seeing those people that are out here. Making money off the backs of us, making people believe that that's how it is. So I'm like, screw that. I'm going to be honest about all this stuff and I'm going to i'm going to tell people what it really is. And people are like, oh, no one's going to watch it.
00:40:35
BEN DELLARIA
No, the people that are going to watch it are the people that believe in it, which is the people that realize that those guys are frauds as well.
00:40:39
Kyle
Yep.
00:40:41
BEN DELLARIA
It's just not everyone's out there saying it.
00:40:42
Kyle
Mm-hmm. All
00:40:43
BEN DELLARIA
But the most people that are following them and saying something on their pages are the consumers or the people that are just like, hell yeah, man, go get it. If you really knew what he was actually making, you probably wouldn't be saying that because most of it is is crap and most of it is a lie and they don't even know what their profit numbers are.
00:41:02
BEN DELLARIA
They don't know what their net is or their loaded costs and things of that nature because they're not a company.
00:41:04
Kyle
right.
00:41:07
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:41:07
BEN DELLARIA
They're just a guy that you know says, I'm going to do that starter for $100 when in reality it's like four hours labor on a four-wheel drive Jeep Cherokee that
00:41:16
Kyle
Yep. Yep.
00:41:19
BEN DELLARIA
it takes it's like a 4.7 hour job. So yeah, exactly. You enjoy your hundred bucks. I'm not doing it for less than, you know, $700 type of thing, but that's just made up stuff.
00:41:26
Kyle
Yeah.
00:41:29
BEN DELLARIA
Guys, don't give me crap in the comments, but you get what I mean.
00:41:31
Kyle
Yep.
00:41:33
BEN DELLARIA
and So ah I want to shift here. What do you, um obviously you take a lot of training at the dealerships and things like that. ah what um What do you think about who do you Do you pay attention to certain guys online, like besides Chuck and stuff like that for training and and people that are really good in that aspect or the events or anything like that?
00:41:56
Kyle
um i've posted in a couple like uh i don't know if posted in the school but there's another facebook page that has all the you know um owners and stuff on it i posted on there because i'm kind of in a rural spot i want um oscilloscope training bad like hands-on I know I got scanner, Dan and stuff, but like I want to put my hands on some different oscilloscopes and see which would work best for me and like have somebody right next to me.
00:42:17
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:42:28
Kyle
That's I think that's how I learn best is someone standing right next to me. Like, OK, do this, do that. I can watch scanner, Dan and i kind of get what he's doing, but I want hands on.
00:42:35
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:42:37
Kyle
So I feel like everybody's watching this that knows somebody in Indiana, central Indiana, that has oscilloscope training, hands on person to person. Let me know because I'll sign up.
00:42:47
Kyle
That's...
00:42:47
BEN DELLARIA
I think that's probably the hardest thing to find.
00:42:49
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:42:50
Kyle
Yeah, yeah. that's um There's classes here and there, but nothing... I've been to so many trainings through the dealerships. I'm actually going this week to do a couple days.
00:42:59
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:43:02
Kyle
But it's been kind of the same... like After I out tech school, it's kind of been the same thing.
00:43:06
Kyle
There's kind of some brand-specific things.
00:43:07
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:43:08
BEN DELLARIA
and Well, they're only teaching you about their product, right?
00:43:13
Kyle
I...
00:43:14
BEN DELLARIA
Most of the dealer stuff, they're teaching their product and their things compared to like the aftermarket world.
00:43:15
Kyle
i So, yeah. um Yeah, it's more like, hey, this is how this sensor works in our car, if that makes sense.
00:43:26
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:43:26
Kyle
it's still It still kind of works the same and it kind of still works the same in all the cars, but there's always the nuances with weird things that, you know, they're specific to that that dealer.
00:43:27
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, that's what I mean. So...
00:43:35
BEN DELLARIA
Mm-hmm.
00:43:36
Kyle
And the classes I'm going to this this week are are actually certain car specific, an EV car that we work on.
00:43:43
BEN DELLARIA
Okay. Okay. Yeah.
00:43:45
Kyle
So... It's um kind of...
00:43:47
BEN DELLARIA
Well, there's there's a lot of guys that – have you watched Steckler a lot at all?
00:43:48
Kyle
It's just, you know...
00:43:54
Kyle
o haven't heard of him.
00:43:56
BEN DELLARIA
He's one really, really good. What about on TikTok, um Ryan Mullen?
00:44:02
Kyle
Yeah, I've seen his stuff, too.
00:44:04
BEN DELLARIA
So if I'm not mistaken, he he was coming out with something that was going to be, or he wanted to, or or somebody.
00:44:04
Kyle
And it's great. All the...
00:44:13
BEN DELLARIA
i don't remember who it was. I'm probably wrong on what I'm saying. And I think maybe it was even royalty, but they were coming out with some type of training thing to help build that world.
00:44:21
Kyle
I think royalty
00:44:22
BEN DELLARIA
There's,
00:44:25
Kyle
think Royalty mentioned something here recently.
00:44:26
BEN DELLARIA
sorry guys, we're still delayed back and forth here.
00:44:27
Kyle
Yeah.
00:44:30
Kyle
I think real Royalty said something here in last couple videos that they're building some training thing, but they kind of didn't go into detail about what it was. it was kind of like a passing comment.
00:44:39
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, because a lot of people online kind of like shot them down and stuff like that and things like that. I remember that video a while back.
00:44:44
Kyle
Yeah.
00:44:46
BEN DELLARIA
But I mean, I think they should still do it because I think he's a completely different person versus what some of the other people are that have done it.
00:44:46
Kyle
Yeah.
00:44:48
Kyle
Oh, yeah.
00:44:52
Kyle
Oh,
00:44:54
BEN DELLARIA
um Because everyone does everything different. i can I can learn from certain people. I can't learn from other people, even though it's the same subject. So it just really depends on what it is.
00:45:01
Kyle
yeah.
00:45:03
BEN DELLARIA
um But I like, so Steckler is one of the, I can't, don't know it's Brian or Ryan.
00:45:03
Kyle
Yep.
00:45:07
BEN DELLARIA
I think it's Brian Steckler. I can't remember first name. um But he's one of like the older generation guys that like the motor age um style ah web, you know, ah YouTube videos that are training and stuff like that.
00:45:22
BEN DELLARIA
There's another older gentleman that's on with him or on the same motor age page, really old, but they do a lot of, proper setup for oscilloscopes, like the basic.
00:45:34
BEN DELLARIA
He calls it like his twenty twenty rule.
00:45:35
Kyle
Yeah.
00:45:38
BEN DELLARIA
milliseconds, twenty volts you know twenty volt scale and you know, simple basic setup of original and, you know, and here's how to use it.
00:45:45
Kyle
yeah
00:45:47
BEN DELLARIA
And he goes through like the all tell scopes. He goes through the snap on scopes and the Pico scopes and stuff like that. um Really cool stuff. But everyone keeps saying, and I really hope I get there this year. I was talking to Justin about it because ah Justin went, um but ASTA event.
00:46:06
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. event ah Those guys that I'm talking about, I believe Steckler trains at those. um And there's a lot of other guys. Even Chuck goes to those because he's like, yeah, man, he's like, you can really get into some seriously cool stuff and conversations with these guys because of that type of close one-on-one training.
00:46:22
Kyle
Uh-huh.
00:46:25
BEN DELLARIA
And he's like, it's it opened my eyes to... some things that I never thought possible. And if you look at Chuck now, the things he's doing versus the way he was before, where he was just strictly diagnosing now with the amount of complexity he's dealing with, with the cloning and the modules and tearing them apart,
00:46:45
BEN DELLARIA
It's really neat. you know i mean Obviously, people are doing this stuff, but I sent him one that he was he wanted to burn it. um It was for a 07 Suzuki XL7.
00:46:58
BEN DELLARIA
um Previous mobile mechanic came out to do a starter. and he I'm going to say inadvertently, but the guy's a Not very bright, but he dropped the PCM onto the positive terminal.
00:47:11
BEN DELLARIA
I didn't even see it when i had seen the PCM.
00:47:12
Kyle
so yeah. You had a you had a
00:47:14
BEN DELLARIA
I went to diagnose. And i was like, well, PCM's dead. you know i said, I can't tell you anything else, but PCM's dead. So I ah got a PCM. I went to go do TechConnect programming.
00:47:27
BEN DELLARIA
Even though it's a GM, it way wouldn't do the programming. I couldn't pull it up. Wouldn't pull VINs. Wouldn't do anything. So I called Chuck and I said, hey, man, I got this. I'm going to send it to you. He said, yeah, send it up. I sent it up. And that's when he's like, hey, man, look at this PCM. It's got an arc mark in it. This thing's shorted bad. I go, yeah, I know. It's dead, but I didn't see the arc.
00:47:45
BEN DELLARIA
He tears it apart. You couldn't do anything. So he had to de-solder the EEPROM off of the board. That was the only way you could read it because when he was on the board putting the clamp on it, it was just shorted internal. So like thinking about it now, talking about it, okay, that's simple stuff in my head. But before he was talking about be like, man, you're freaking nuts. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not dealing with any of that stuff.
00:48:09
BEN DELLARIA
Just because I don't train down. it I don't learn on it. But like, and neither did he.
00:48:11
Kyle
Yeah.
00:48:13
BEN DELLARIA
But now the fact that he's doing that in his basement day in and day out in the Mercedes ones and everything. he's I'm like, for me, it's mind blowing because I'm like, that's so cool, man.
00:48:23
BEN DELLARIA
Like your mind works that way. And I always try to give him praise about it. He's like, I'm just an ordinary guy, man. I go, shut up. Like, Richard, like, dude, yeah, you might be a cool, ordinary guy. I go, but your brain works that way. You just really want to learn it, and you love it. You have a passion for it.
00:48:41
BEN DELLARIA
I have a passion for running my company and helping people run theirs. So it's it's vastly different. So he doesn't take the – he doesn't like the praise. When I give him the praise, anytime I talk to him on the phone, he's just – no, no, I'm just an ordinary guy, man.
00:48:55
BEN DELLARIA
I'm like, okay, Chuck. yeah this you know But anyway, going back to those training things, like those are the ways to do it.
00:48:57
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:49:02
BEN DELLARIA
But in today's world, like most of these guys don't realize like a scope can help you get to the answer on things so much faster than the old school ways. And if you just knew how to use your scope, it doesn't matter if it's a cheap one or the Pico,
00:49:17
BEN DELLARIA
You can get the answers if you know how to use it and you know how to set it up correctly because that's the biggest thing.
00:49:20
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:22
BEN DELLARIA
Most people don't know how to set it up or follow it. Oh, that's what I was going to tell you. Sorry, off track again. So I became friends with another gentleman. um His name is Faraz, Diag Beast on ah TikTok.
00:49:36
BEN DELLARIA
He's out there in like San Francisco. He's really good friends with Ryan Mullen too. Anytime I've ever had – there's a – Snapchat. Snapchat, there's a huge group in there that we're all part of, but it's hard to keep up on because these guys are posting like all day.
00:49:52
BEN DELLARIA
But anyway, needing a ah good pattern, the Pico comes with that.
00:49:52
Kyle
Sure, yeah.
00:49:58
BEN DELLARIA
right If you buy the library, you can get known good patterns.
00:50:00
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:50:03
BEN DELLARIA
So it's worth the money right off the bat doing that. But Ryan just has this stuff. like he just has So I asked Faraz. I'm like, hey, I need this. And he's like, oh, yeah, hold on. Let me ask Ryan. And like an hour later, he's like, here you go.
00:50:17
BEN DELLARIA
And I'm like, what Jesus Christ. like I can't pull that up online to save my life.
00:50:19
Kyle
No, yeah.
00:50:21
BEN DELLARIA
But those guys, when they're in that world, like it'll suck you in.
00:50:21
Kyle
no no
00:50:25
BEN DELLARIA
And like it's really cool, like this type of stuff that they're coming out with.
00:50:26
Kyle
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:50:30
Kyle
Yeah, and I feel like that's like the last bit of things I need to really like get into and learn. Like, honestly, I've never touched a scope in 20 years since I've started this.
Desire for Oscilloscope Training
00:50:40
Kyle
It's never been.
00:50:40
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:50:41
Kyle
a i mean, you end up just doing like, you know, if you run to something in a dealership, you end up just calling tech line and throwing something in it, you know, and they've seen, oh, we've seen, you know, a dozen these go bad in last month.
00:50:42
BEN DELLARIA
Neither did I. Yeah.
00:50:52
Kyle
Let's try this. So you never really
00:50:54
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:50:56
Kyle
I don't know if you we didn't figure it out, but you never really figured it out. And that's, you know, with being mobile, you don't have that option.
00:51:01
BEN DELLARIA
No, you you came out with the answer and the car was fixed, but...
00:51:05
Kyle
Yeah, yeah.
00:51:05
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, exactly. The car was fixed, but you just you're like, why? What was the issue? Why did this why did this cam sensor do this? you know I'm just using that an example. but yeah it's so I didn't do it either. In the independent world, it we just didn't I didn't have to.
00:51:22
BEN DELLARIA
And not because it was anyone's better or or worse than that.
00:51:22
Kyle
Right.
00:51:25
BEN DELLARIA
I just, I don't know, common repeat failures, you know, the the same things. And that's when you had the, the lack of knowledge
00:51:32
Kyle
Yep.
00:51:36
BEN DELLARIA
to realize that for how fast you're hustling through these cars and the the owners want the cars in and out, in and out, you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, common common common cam sensor. Let's get a cam sensor. Did it drive good? Yeah, okay, good. It's out. Get it out of here. You know, like, instead of being precise about these things, and that's what people...
00:51:54
BEN DELLARIA
like don't know, like the consumer doesn't know that they just think that because of the way the shops were and that we're just like to do, do, do, doing this stuff. You watch guys that are doing with a scope.
00:52:05
BEN DELLARIA
They're even faster than that with the scope because they're like, nope, that's exactly what it is.
00:52:08
Kyle
Yeah.
00:52:08
BEN DELLARIA
Not, not some random wild ass guess because the owner wants you to put these parts in the car and you're like, okay, yes, boss.
00:52:09
Kyle
Right.
00:52:16
BEN DELLARIA
You know, it's just dumb, but yeah,
00:52:16
Kyle
And like, you know, a lot of, a lot of the modern cars, um a lot of these sensors are hard to get to. I mean, a lot of times the PCMs are the easiest thing to get to sometimes. So teen into a PCM and getting your signals and you scope it there.
00:52:27
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, so you got to scope it there.
00:52:31
Kyle
I mean, it's kind of seems like some, that's how they're designed to be inspected. Some, some cars feel like to me at least, um,
00:52:39
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, I'd have to kind of agree with that.
00:52:40
Kyle
if you need to get one out. Yeah.
00:52:41
BEN DELLARIA
it's ah Some of them are pretty difficult. And then i think my biggest problem is because I don't have... Because I don't have Pico and I don't have the known good, which now I'm probably going to buy one like tomorrow because i keep saying this.
00:52:54
Kyle
yeah
00:52:56
BEN DELLARIA
But um even if I'm checking something, so like I was questioning, and this is the most basic car in the world, so it's an older G van that I had. And crank signal was perfect going to the PCM.
00:53:14
BEN DELLARIA
Okay, cool. But what if it's not the PCM? Because the the PCM was showing RPM on the scanner. So it received it, but the PCM wasn't grounding the coil to or to control the coil at that point.
00:53:33
BEN DELLARIA
So... Granted, that's simple now when I think about it, but when you're in the field at a customer's home and you're diagnosing this, there's nothing there that just tells you, oh, look, hey, genius, you got crank signal.
00:53:38
Kyle
Right.
00:53:48
BEN DELLARIA
It's going in the PCM. What's next? I don't freaking know. There's nothing in the description of operation for when there is for that code.
00:53:55
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:53:57
BEN DELLARIA
There's nothing in there in that code that says, oh, you have this. It just says replace PCM. Well, what if the PCM was fine? It doesn't tell you to check the wire coming from the PCM to the coil to make sure it's telling the coil to do its job and the injectors to do its job.
00:54:16
BEN DELLARIA
You could have a break in that wire. You could have this. so like You could get really lost in that stuff because you don't know what that next step is. and that I don't even remember why I was saying that. Oh, because I was scoping it, and I'm like, okay, it looks great. Now what?
00:54:33
BEN DELLARIA
you know i'm i'm i'm Am i actually seeing it right? Oh, that's why. I'm sorry. This is why I'm stupid. o it was Mine was saying like five volts on it.
00:54:45
BEN DELLARIA
But yet in the description, it was talking about 12 volts, but that doesn't tell you which engine it said it could be five or it could be 12.
00:54:52
Kyle
Nice.
00:54:53
BEN DELLARIA
okay, that's cool, but what if I've got a short in the wire and I'm getting five when it's supposed to be 12? How do I determine which PCM is which? How do I determine which engine is which? I have no idea where to get that information from.
00:55:03
BEN DELLARIA
It's not in all data. It's not in Identifix. I don't know where to get it from. so you know So even if you've got the scope and you're using it, I always just go too far in my head and I'm overthinking everything, and that gets me in trouble because I'm like...
00:55:09
Kyle
Right. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:55:18
Kyle
and no
00:55:19
BEN DELLARIA
Well, what if this? And that one actually worked out on that overthinking. Like I said, it was the PCM. It just wasn't grounding the coils afterwards. But there was no there was no code for that. it was a It was some type of crank sensor code. And most people would have kept throwing crank sensors in I didn't.
00:55:38
BEN DELLARIA
But still, like even though the scope is such a great tool, it really if you don't know what you're doing, like I don't in certain cases, it could really throw you through a loop.
00:55:47
Kyle
yeah oh yeah yeah i think that's where like you know oh no you're good and i think that's where like hands-on experience with it like not in the field would be most beneficial just to you know
00:55:50
BEN DELLARIA
Sorry, I ranted there again.
00:56:02
BEN DELLARIA
ah yeah.
00:56:02
Kyle
Make sure you're setting it setting up all right and not going down rabbit holes and you know all that because you get too much data and you're like, whoa, what's what's this weird spike here?
00:56:12
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, exactly. Now you don't know to do with any of it.
00:56:13
Kyle
And you have no idea what it is. Yeah.
00:56:15
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. and And interpreting that data. You got guys I see in like the, there's a ah scope and waveform of Facebook group that I'm in. And I don't pay attention to it much because I just try not to. But I remember a couple days ago, there was a post and the guy put up something on the screen and he was talking about cam and crank sensors and he didn't notice it and yet. But every commenter noticed it. They're like, that's not a cam and crank.
00:56:42
BEN DELLARIA
ah you're doing some you're checking something out You're checking a network line. Those are network lines. And he's like, oh, I didn't even notice it. I'm like, holy crap. Like... that you You should be careful where you're plugging things into because you could
Value of Industry Events
00:56:55
BEN DELLARIA
either either A, burn your scope up, or a B, burn up the PCM at that point.
00:56:55
Kyle
Oh, yeah.
00:56:59
BEN DELLARIA
like
00:56:59
Kyle
Right.
00:57:00
BEN DELLARIA
That was something, you know i don't know. it If you don't know the information, like a lot of people that are doing it and teaching you the scope, it's so simple for them. They're like, oh, look, that's so simple like when you're watching it, but then in the real world, you're hooking it up. You're like,
00:57:17
BEN DELLARIA
What the freak does that mean? how Did I hook that up wrong or not? I remember that always happening to me.
00:57:21
Kyle
Right.
00:57:22
BEN DELLARIA
to And it still happens today. There's a time I'll i'll so scope a camera crank signal. like, what the hell does that even mean? Oh, I'm in the wrong wire.
00:57:30
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:57:31
BEN DELLARIA
Let me move that over. And it just you know you you feel like an idiot.
00:57:32
Kyle
Yep.
00:57:34
BEN DELLARIA
But I think that also for me, because I'm such a rusher, that when I'm in the field working on people's cars, I rush rush, rush, rush, rush. I'm like, oh my God, I don't know what that is now. I don't know what to do. I'm stupid. know how to fix cars. I got to sell my company. See you later.
00:57:48
BEN DELLARIA
That's what goes through my head real quick.
00:57:49
Kyle
Yeah.
00:57:51
BEN DELLARIA
But I mean, that's, that's real life and it's just, it's just the real thing.
00:57:51
Kyle
Yep, yep.
00:57:54
BEN DELLARIA
But, and I think that's, Also why these training events are really good because the networking that comes out of them is really cool because a lot of these guys will sit there and talk to you.
00:58:08
BEN DELLARIA
So when you've got certain things that are bothering you or like you're just not clicking in your head, you can talk to them after these classes or on the, you know, Friday and Saturday night things and they'll talk you through it.
00:58:20
BEN DELLARIA
Um, we were talking about it on Justin's like these guys are giving out their phone numbers. Um, Like I remember when I first started really posting on TikTok and talking to guys about numbers and things like that, Lucas Underwood had chimed in on one.
00:58:33
BEN DELLARIA
And then we were talking in ah DM after that. And he's like, well, here's my cell phone number. Call me if you ever have any questions. I'll help you out. And I'm like, ah that's freaking cool. You know, like these guys, I've never called them, but still like it's really
00:58:42
Kyle
yeah
00:58:46
BEN DELLARIA
the Being that we're mobile, a lot of people in don't like us. And I think that persona is changing a lot, especially with some of the bigger guys that are on these platforms.
00:58:55
Kyle
Yep.
00:58:59
BEN DELLARIA
Because the only ones that I feel like we're getting a lot of recognition were like the guys like Chuck. they're like They're diagnosing and they're doing really cool things. So like it was okay for them to be mobile, but it wasn't okay for us to be mobile-based.
00:59:07
Kyle
Yep.
00:59:13
BEN DELLARIA
Doing starters, doing alternators, changing in spark plugs.
00:59:15
Kyle
Yeah.
00:59:16
BEN DELLARIA
Like it was always looked down upon.
00:59:16
Kyle
Yeah.
00:59:17
BEN DELLARIA
And then I think now that most of us are showing that we're not trying to be those cheap ones and we're not trying to race to the bottom, like it's becoming more and more like of an okay thing.
00:59:25
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
00:59:28
BEN DELLARIA
i don't remember why I was saying that, but...
00:59:28
Kyle
Yep.
00:59:31
Kyle
Yeah.
00:59:32
BEN DELLARIA
get off track I get off track a lot when I
00:59:32
Kyle
ah yeah
Would You Choose a Different Path?
00:59:34
BEN DELLARIA
this shit.
00:59:34
Kyle
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:59:34
BEN DELLARIA
I can start just rambling about things that make go.
00:59:37
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, let's talk about training events, but whatever. It is what it is.
00:59:39
Kyle
Yep.
00:59:40
BEN DELLARIA
um so But anyway, ah we're getting close to ah the end here. So I want to ask you one thing because you have a little bit of a different – like perspective on this you're still in the dealer kind of like justin is he's still in the dealer too but he's a little bit busier than you are so would you have changed the way you're doing this or like to get into mobile would you have done it are you doing would you wish you have done it a different way for the past year
00:59:57
Kyle
when Mm-hmm.
01:00:18
Kyle
Um, I don't think so.
Balancing Jobs and Finding Freedom
01:00:21
Kyle
Unless I just had, you know, good chunk of money laying around where could just quit tomorrow. And that would be the only thing I could change if I could, because it is so much more rewarding.
01:00:31
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
01:00:33
Kyle
um i mean, I'm working two jobs now, but I still feel like I have kind of sounds silly, but there's freedom to doing it yourself. Um, and I'm realizing that, like, just even with, like, what part you want to get for this customer, or, you know, if you want say, hey, look, this thing's rusty, just put extra labor on it right off the bat, because you know this thing's going be pain, and kind of being able to, like,
01:00:44
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
01:00:57
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
01:00:59
Kyle
manipulate things to your liking has been very, very interesting.
The Joy of Customer Interaction
01:01:03
Kyle
And, um, like said, like people, meeting people face to face with a handshake or a hug after you're done.
01:01:10
Kyle
It's, it really makes me happy, I guess would be the only, Yeah, it makes me, yeah, yeah.
01:01:13
BEN DELLARIA
Makes you feel like you're doing better for the automotive world.
01:01:17
Kyle
And, um you know, i when you work at it, yeah, I've met so few customers face-to-face in a dealer world.
01:01:19
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Or that person in general.
01:01:26
Kyle
Like, I can't name you a single person's full name, honestly. But there's maybe been six people that I've done met twice. um
01:01:35
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
01:01:36
Kyle
So, it's, I really really enjoy it. So, I guess just keep on pushing through and, you know, keep on hustling.
01:01:41
BEN DELLARIA
don't
01:01:46
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
01:01:47
Kyle
yeah
01:01:48
BEN DELLARIA
Some days it's harder to do that than others, but
Running a Mobile Business
01:01:51
BEN DELLARIA
I got hand it to you.
01:01:51
Kyle
Yeah.
01:01:52
BEN DELLARIA
i mean, being ah being in the dealer and still trying to run a mobile business on the side with limited tools is going to be one of the hardest ways of doing this, I'd have to say.
01:02:04
Kyle
Yeah.
01:02:05
BEN DELLARIA
Because if you don't have your tools with you every single day, like you're you're in ah you're at a tight spot, man.
01:02:06
Kyle
Yeah.
01:02:09
Kyle
Well, there,
01:02:11
BEN DELLARIA
So I give it to you. mean, especially with that giant thing you got behind you. So I get it why you've got more people coming to your house versus going fully out mobile to build that like client list.
01:02:15
Kyle
yeah
01:02:18
Kyle
well
01:02:21
Kyle
There's just a bunch of junk in this one right now because we have built-in toolboxes at the dealer. So this is like hand tools for like saws and like hammers for like house stuff.
01:02:27
BEN DELLARIA
Oh.
01:02:31
BEN DELLARIA
Okay, like the house stuff, I got you.
01:02:32
Kyle
that's it's full It's full of junk.
01:02:33
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
01:02:34
Kyle
It's full of junk right now.
01:02:34
BEN DELLARIA
Well, it looks good back there anyway. I mean, it makes it look like it got like double, but but still.
01:02:37
Kyle
Yep. Yep. I think like maybe maybe the top drawer has some car tools in but other than that, it's just Milwaukee like ah battery chargers and Randy.
01:02:44
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Sockets you had when you first started.
01:02:47
Kyle
Yeah, exactly. Like my third set of tools. So
01:02:50
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Well, anything else you want to talk about? Anything else that's on your mind about this? the About the automotive industry or anything like that?
01:02:59
Kyle
nothing really. i I have one silly question. You may have answered this before. What are the three T's?
The Story Behind '3Ts' Name
01:03:06
Kyle
Or is there a reason for the three T's?
01:03:06
BEN DELLARIA
The kids names.
01:03:08
Kyle
Oh, okay, cool. yeah Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if you've ever said that or not.
01:03:10
BEN DELLARIA
My oldest is my oldest is Tyler. He's 23. i think he's 23.
01:03:15
Kyle
Got it. Yeah.
01:03:17
BEN DELLARIA
He's married. He got married a little over a year ago. Um, the middle is Tawny. She's my 21 year old daughter. That's the one that's getting married this year.
01:03:27
BEN DELLARIA
And then our youngest is Travis.
01:03:27
Kyle
Yeah.
01:03:29
BEN DELLARIA
He's 18. Just finished up his last day of high school a couple days ago.
01:03:31
Kyle
Got it.
01:03:34
BEN DELLARIA
So he, uh,
01:03:34
Kyle
Yeah, i was trying to think of some automotive, was to think of some automotive tees, like testing.
01:03:38
BEN DELLARIA
Nope.
01:03:40
Kyle
i don't know.
01:03:41
BEN DELLARIA
Nope. That'd be like the three C's, like cause, complaint, correction.
01:03:43
Kyle
Cool. Yeah. it's what yeah yeah
01:03:46
BEN DELLARIA
you know so I guess you could say it's a little play on that, but not really.
01:03:46
Kyle
Yeah.
01:03:50
BEN DELLARIA
Because when I had a lawn service, it was the same name.
01:03:50
Kyle
Yeah. Yep.
01:03:52
BEN DELLARIA
It was just called 3Ts Lawn Care.
01:03:53
Kyle
Okay.
01:03:54
BEN DELLARIA
And then when I opened this, i was like, oh, 3Ts Auto Care.
01:03:55
Kyle
Yep.
01:03:57
BEN DELLARIA
And then I changed it to automotive repair later because i don't I was being stupid.
01:03:57
Kyle
There you go.
01:04:03
BEN DELLARIA
I'm like, Auto Care? No, I want to be more about the repair and That's why the trailer says automotive repair, on-site diagnostics, and something. I don't know what the hell else it says.
01:04:14
BEN DELLARIA
says something on there.
01:04:15
Kyle
Yep Yep Yeah
01:04:15
BEN DELLARIA
But yeah, it's just the kids' names, man. nothing Nothing fancy. I get that. and You'd be surprised. It's not a silly question. Almost every customer asks us what it's for.
01:04:23
Kyle
Yeah Really Yeah Right
01:04:25
BEN DELLARIA
And it was also back in the Yellow Book days. If you had a business, you would call it A plus this or a and A this. you know So you were like the first name in in that. um So it kind of a little play on that too. I didn't want a a name or anything.
01:04:45
BEN DELLARIA
Like ah my father-in-law's business down south, it was called Pete's Complete Auto.
01:04:45
Kyle
Yep.
01:04:50
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
01:04:50
BEN DELLARIA
ah
01:04:51
BEN DELLARIA
I didn't like... So that's simple. It's it's about them. So I wanted something because his business was very personal.
01:04:55
Kyle
Right.
01:04:57
BEN DELLARIA
So it was very... family oriented because it was him and his wife as well as like the way we're doing it.
01:05:03
Kyle
Mm-hmm.
01:05:04
BEN DELLARIA
Um, so I wanted something that represented us as our family. So, and that was like, Oh, well the kids are our world.
01:05:08
Kyle
Sure.
01:05:10
BEN DELLARIA
So like, let's come up. So I was like, Oh oh shit. All the names are teeth. Let's do that. So yep that's what it's for.
01:05:15
Kyle
Yep. Cool.
01:05:17
BEN DELLARIA
Anyway.
Closing Remarks and YouTube Invite
01:05:18
BEN DELLARIA
All right, man. I appreciate you being on. That was a good conversation.
01:05:20
Kyle
ah Thanks for having me.
01:05:20
BEN DELLARIA
Thank you very much.
01:05:21
Kyle
Yeah. Yeah. Anytime.
01:05:23
BEN DELLARIA
All right, everybody. We appreciate you listening. That was Rowland with Rowland Auto Repair. So you can listen or come. And if you're listening, come and watch it on YouTube. And you can see my dogs running around in the background and all the chaos that goes on every single day. We appreciate you guys. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you later. Thanks.