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Episode 3: From the Streets to the Mobile w/ LUB2UKC
88 Plays25 days ago
In this episode, we sit down with LUB2UKC to break down the real journey behind building a name in the automotive world. From starting with no formal training, we dive into the mindset, the struggles, and the moves it takes to stand out in this industry.
We talk about what it really takes to grow, the lessons learned along the way, and how staying consistent can open doors you didn’t even know existed. If you're a mechanic, thinking about going mobile, or already in the game trying to level up, this episode is packed with real talk and valuable insight.
Tap in, stay locked, and get ready for Episode 3.
New episodes drop weekly—don’t miss what’s coming next.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to Lube2UKC
00:00:22
BEN DELLARIA
All right, guys, welcome back. Today, I am sitting here with Mr. Johnny Carroll with Lube2UKC. Is that correct? That's how you say it?
00:00:30
Johnny
Yep.
00:00:32
BEN DELLARIA
So, Johnny, tell us, what are you doing? youre What's Lube2UKC?
00:00:39
Johnny
Luke2UKC was supposed to have been just strictly a mobile oil change and simple basic maintenance service. um Then we decided to take those skills and evolve them into more um more in-depth car repairs and car services.
00:01:02
Johnny
um
00:01:02
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
00:01:03
Johnny
Just about anything except for you know engine replacements, transmission replacements, any of the heavy line works.
00:01:13
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Staying away from all the crazy stuff.
00:01:15
Johnny
Yeah.
00:01:15
BEN DELLARIA
I got you. So correct me if I'm
Johnny's Background and Experience
00:01:18
BEN DELLARIA
wrong. You don't really have much of a professional background in being a mechanic, right?
00:01:23
Johnny
I do not know.
00:01:24
BEN DELLARIA
No. Okay. So what, what made you want to do this or where did you start? Why, ah why did this, why did you get into business being a mobile mechanic?
00:01:35
Johnny
Oh, it's a long story. I've worked on, I've honestly worked on cars for the past 20 years off and on. Just if someone asked about a problem or asked me to take care of something for them, and I would go in, research it, study it.
00:01:51
Johnny
and then get the job done. um i was spent during that time, most of the time I was a tow truck driver and I built a lot of my skills helping out a lot of the customers that I would pick up off the side of the road or oftentimes, you know, someone wrecked their car and it'd be a simple wreck where they lost the lower control arm or a ball joint or, you know, something in the steering or suspension.
00:02:17
Johnny
i knew how to replace that and I knew that I could do it the right way. and not, um and be very part price competitive and, you know, just help people out.
00:02:29
BEN DELLARIA
um Okay.
Transition from Sales to Lube2UKC
00:02:31
Johnny
um I was in sales at my last job and i can't go into detail due to an NDA, but that kind of, I got, I got poor, badly screwed screwed out of that job.
00:02:31
BEN DELLARIA
I got you.
00:02:45
Johnny
And Stephanie was like, you enjoy doing this? Why don't we just buy a truck, put all the tools in it and, make some money from the skills.
00:02:53
BEN DELLARIA
How long did you do the job before this? Like you you said you were in sales. You don't have to say anything about that, but how long were you in it?
00:03:01
Johnny
That specific position was four months. um Prior to that, ive I had other sales experience with a couple of other companies.
00:03:11
BEN DELLARIA
Oh. So just losing that job, you were just like, I'll screw this. I'm going into business for myself.
00:03:15
Johnny
Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:16
BEN DELLARIA
I'm going to try my hand at this. So when you...
00:03:18
Johnny
Yeah. heard
00:03:19
BEN DELLARIA
ahead.
00:03:21
Johnny
Her and i have been talking about different opportunities, and that unfortunate one led us to this.
00:03:30
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, losing a job and going on. So wasn't that like, I mean, that's obviously not the way that we teach and everything else, but it worked and you you did it, you know, and but but to each their own.
00:03:37
Johnny
no show up.
00:03:41
BEN DELLARIA
you You do what you got to do. But so your but your background, like I said, it was never professional in this.
00:03:47
Johnny
yeah no sir
00:03:47
BEN DELLARIA
You were. a ah
00:03:48
Johnny
No shop experience, not not classically trained, so to speak.
00:03:51
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. No dealerships.
00:03:53
Johnny
ah No, no, no, no, no.
00:03:56
BEN DELLARIA
Tire shops, lube shops, nothing.
00:03:58
Johnny
Nothing, no. um
00:04:00
BEN DELLARIA
You're the epitome of of the ones that we to say, whether, oh yeah, I want to get into business, you need to go to a shop and get some experience. And you didn't, but you're doing it.
00:04:09
Johnny
Yes.
00:04:10
BEN DELLARIA
so And I think that's what like we spoke about in with Chris in another podcast, that um you're the difference of that. Because even though you're not doing it the way that we we teach and the way that we, you know, try to help people understand to get that professional experience firsthand to understand this world.
00:04:33
BEN DELLARIA
You ask the questions, you do the training, you do the, ah you don't take jobs that you know are out of your realm. And you're like, yep, nope, not going to do that because you don't want to hurt the customer's car. That's just what we have learned from you over the you know time of ah talking with you and helping you along the way.
00:04:52
Johnny
Yeah. There are some risks that i that I do take, but also unlike a lot of the other guys who, uh, who are in the same path that I'm in.
00:05:03
Johnny
Again, like you said, I asked the questions and I have the, I have the resources to guide me through um those jobs.
00:05:14
Johnny
So ah yeah,
00:05:14
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:05:15
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. You're paying for software. You have tech metric. You're, you're doing the things the right way.
00:05:18
Johnny
yeah, right.
00:05:19
BEN DELLARIA
You're not doing it half fast. And that's one of the problems that we see. We see that most of the guys that are not trained are getting out there and they're doing damage and they're hurting things.
00:05:30
BEN DELLARIA
um
00:05:30
Johnny
Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:32
BEN DELLARIA
So, so why not stay in the profession you were in, whatever it was, And like, what made you want to just leave
Learning and Adaptation in the Automotive Industry
00:05:42
BEN DELLARIA
that? Cause you said it was sales. So how long were you driving tow trucks for?
00:05:46
BEN DELLARIA
So like out of high school, what did you do?
00:05:49
Johnny
Oh, fast food out of high school. Fast food for the most part. Um, Then I was working at Walmart, met a guy at Walmart. He was in repossessions and he and I got to talking and I started picking his brain and getting to know him a little bit more.
00:06:03
Johnny
And he said, you seem like he'd be a great fit for this. Come out come out here and apply for a job. He vouched for me. I got the job. I was there for about four or five years as a repossessor.
00:06:15
Johnny
And I just, I love driving. I'm a driver. um I love being behind the wheel and just kind of traveling. Now, I do have a Class a CDL, but I am not an over-the-road driver.
00:06:27
Johnny
About four or five hours is my max.
00:06:28
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:30
Johnny
um
00:06:34
Johnny
But I also got sick of answering to a boss.
00:06:41
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:06:42
Johnny
If I'm going to answer to someone, I'm at least going to have some some terms of my own to dictate.
00:06:48
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:06:48
Johnny
oh And for me, what what works is being able to dictate my price. You know, what it's going to cost to hire me.
00:06:58
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, exactly. To be your own. Do what you want.
00:07:01
Johnny
Yeah.
00:07:01
BEN DELLARIA
I mean, we got one time on this.
00:07:02
Johnny
Yep.
00:07:03
BEN DELLARIA
we're going to be dead for an infinite amount of time compared to that we're alive.
00:07:05
Johnny
No.
00:07:06
BEN DELLARIA
We don't need to be taking orders from somebody else. It's just not going to happen.
00:07:08
Johnny
No. No.
00:07:10
BEN DELLARIA
um So, yeah, you, so you drove trucks for a while and then you got into this sales position right afterwards and,
00:07:16
Johnny
Yeah.
00:07:17
BEN DELLARIA
And so that did,
00:07:18
Johnny
Yep. it was It was an old friend of mine who I used to work with at another company. He pestered me to come work for him.
00:07:28
Johnny
It was initially it was a driver truck for him. Then he found a sales gig for me. um Again, the most I can say due to the NDA is it did not work out.
00:07:41
BEN DELLARIA
Yes, it dumb you don't have to say nothing about it. i don't care about that. Just trying to figure out like where you were going along and all that time you were working for friends and family and and fixing cars even while you you know when you were towing towing cars and stuff. But so in between towing cars and then before you started Lube2U, how many years was that?
00:08:01
Johnny
years.
00:08:03
BEN DELLARIA
So how freaking old are you?
00:08:05
Johnny
Wait, hold on, ask that question again, I'm sorry.
00:08:07
Johnny
About four months.
00:08:07
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, dude, you're only like 20.
00:08:09
BEN DELLARIA
how From when you stopped driving a truck and you started Lube2U, how long was that span?
00:08:18
Johnny
ah about about four months
00:08:20
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, okay. So you weren't doing the other job very long. So you were like, yeah, no, we're not doing this. We're to on business for ou ourselves.
00:08:25
Johnny
Right.
00:08:26
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
Challenges in Starting a Mobile Business
00:08:26
Johnny
Yeah.
00:08:27
BEN DELLARIA
I get it. yeah Yeah. You go from driving trucks into something that is not heavy handed. You're not working with your hands. You're not doing anything, you know, And then all all of a sudden you're like, yeah, no, screw this.
00:08:36
Johnny
Oh. i was bored.
00:08:38
BEN DELLARIA
I get, I get that a hundred percent. um All right, cool. So you started Lube2U. When, when you started, how was it?
00:08:49
BEN DELLARIA
How scary was that? Or how was the, you were like, just because obviously you don't have a job at this point.
00:08:52
Johnny
Yeah.
00:08:55
BEN DELLARIA
So what are you thinking?
00:08:56
Johnny
Right.
00:08:56
BEN DELLARIA
You got no job and you're going to start this lube company and you're going to go change oil.
00:09:01
Johnny
Well, so for me, it was, ah was fairly terrifying, but at the same, at the same time, during my, um, I was offered a severance package from the company I was working for.
00:09:19
Johnny
So I had that to ride on. and then And then unemployment, I rode on and um unemployment for a little while.
00:09:21
BEN DELLARIA
Okay, that's good.
00:09:27
Johnny
um Then we had ah had had a little nest egg that we got saved up. Took some of that to buy the truck and then some of the more more critical, important tools ah to get started.
00:09:38
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:09:41
Johnny
So I think the more terrifying part was jumping into an industry that I had zero familiarity with and spending, and with that came spending a ton of time on Google, just researching different laws and policies and practices and what needed to be done and what should be done.
00:09:51
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:09:59
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:06
Johnny
um Fortunately, I've got a couple of really good friends here here in the area. who own their own shops. And so they sort of sort of guided me along the process, but I'm not a very trusting person.
00:10:19
Johnny
So a lot of my, a lot of money and nothing against them, but you know how it can be with competition, right?
00:10:26
BEN DELLARIA
yeah yeah
00:10:26
Johnny
Or who may who might view you as competition. They're probably not going to give you everything you're looking for.
00:10:33
BEN DELLARIA
Exactly why we're doing what we're doing.
00:10:33
Johnny
um Yes, yes. um And I don't expect, don't expect to be given all the answers. Like when I call you, if I say I'm calling for a cheat code, like don't, you don't have to give me the answer, but at least tell me if I'm on the right path or tell me tell me if I'm getting close or help point me in a different direction.
00:10:50
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:10:55
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:10:55
Johnny
I'm not gonna learn anything if you just give me the answer. And that's that's a lot of how this business has grown is seeking the answers and figuring out how to find the answers.
00:11:08
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, that's all about no matter what company you're in, that's the whole thing. when you you Even if you're not a mechanic, you have double things to learn here where most of us already know how to be a mechanic and we now have to learn how to build a business and and run it correctly.
00:11:23
Johnny
Right.
00:11:24
BEN DELLARIA
Whereas you now have to learn how to be a qualified technician and run a business at the same time. And that was something I remember in the beginning you struggled with I mean, how long have I, I've known you at least now a year or more um that, you know, since you reached out, um I don't even remember where we reached, you reached out to me for, i don't know if it was TikTok or YouTube or what, or Facebook.
00:11:39
Johnny
Roughly. Yeah.
00:11:48
Johnny
Facebook. Yeah. yeah
00:11:50
BEN DELLARIA
um But so, so you started scary as hell. And so the truck you have now, the setup you have, um just a pickup truck with a tonneau cover and you got all your stuff.
00:11:56
Johnny
Yes.
00:12:03
Johnny
yeah
00:12:05
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, topper.
00:12:06
Johnny
yes
00:12:06
BEN DELLARIA
ah It's how tall is it in there?
00:12:16
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, you're frozen.
00:12:18
Johnny
Of course.
00:12:19
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, just stay in one spot.
00:12:19
Johnny
It's i don't know about four but about four feet and from the bed from the floor of the bed to the top of the topper, about three or four feet.
00:12:29
BEN DELLARIA
Okay, so you got a decent amount of space. so what So obviously you're not set up like we are.
00:12:31
Johnny
Yeah.
00:12:34
BEN DELLARIA
do you ever plan to possibly change or do anything more with the going from a the truck and the topper like that?
00:12:42
Johnny
I would love to. Yeah. Yes. um We are talking, we've talked about getting a Sprinter van and building out a Sprinter van.
00:12:49
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
00:12:51
Johnny
I would more so love to get a trailer, but yeah.
00:12:56
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, see where you're at. You're parked on the road there. That's a little bit different than like where I live or anybody else lives or Chris.
00:12:59
Johnny
Yeah. Yeah. You know,
00:13:03
Johnny
Right. We are a very tightly packed city or group cities.
00:13:06
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:13:08
Johnny
There's really nowhere to go to park if i if in most areas that I go to with the train.
00:13:13
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, wouldn't want to be leave. Well, yeah, the parking part with people's houses, but i I would care less about that than having to like park it in the road like that or leave a trailer too far away from my house.
00:13:24
Johnny
sister
00:13:25
Johnny
I've got a camera sitting on top of it. I know. see on top of it
00:13:25
BEN DELLARIA
I don't think I could.
00:13:28
BEN DELLARIA
Still though, like it's still, that's your livelihood, man. You know, $50,000 sitting in a truck.
00:13:31
Johnny
other
00:13:33
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. That's scary, but so, all right.
00:13:35
Johnny
And yeah.
00:13:36
BEN DELLARIA
So you, one day you'll do something bigger.
00:13:36
Johnny
Yeah. So.
00:13:38
BEN DELLARIA
You'll go to the sprinter van and and stuff like that.
00:13:39
Johnny
yeah
00:13:41
BEN DELLARIA
That's cool. Um, but, uh, What have, when you started, obviously you started minimal. How did you start out?
00:13:52
BEN DELLARIA
Were you doing like, you, did you just straight up get Ari immediately and then start growing from there? Or did you just like try to do this on paper?
00:13:59
Johnny
so
00:14:02
BEN DELLARIA
Like, how did you evolve with it without, before you even started figuring all this stuff out and finding us and everything, how did you, how'd you get going?
00:14:11
Johnny
Google. um Google, I spent about a month building my website. um And in the in that in that time, getting like set up legally, navigating that, trying to understand it and making sure i was doing that the right way.
00:14:18
BEN DELLARIA
Oh yeah, I remember you had that.
00:14:30
Johnny
I started with a company called Torque 360. And they are a very high pressure sales company. I didn't want to, but also I'm just kind of sort of a, in kind of a way, a pushover.
00:14:43
Johnny
know, you show me something and you and you talk it up real well. Okay, fine, you might get my business. um But it was it was incredibly expensive. And then I found Ari. dabbled with some other ones and found Ari, A-R-I.
00:14:43
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:14:59
Johnny
Used that for a little while. um it's such It was a trash... platform. And that was even before I knew about Techmetric.
00:15:08
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:15:09
Johnny
Comparing it to Torque 360. Torque 360 wasn't the greatest, but it was miles and miles better than We
00:15:17
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:15:18
Johnny
um
00:15:22
Johnny
ah we decided we needed needed a truck. So found one on Facebook Marketplace. Oh, no, no. one of my men One of my local mentors, he had a friend who was selling the truck.
00:15:34
Johnny
I found the top round Facebook marketplace, built that. Then we have a decked drawer system in the back of the truck now that I got several months ago.
00:15:42
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, that's cool.
00:15:43
Johnny
Yeah. um So I've been i've been um working on ways to maximize my storage capabilities as much as I could with the limited amount of space that I have.
00:15:58
Johnny
Yeah.
00:15:59
BEN DELLARIA
That's one of our biggest struggles is mobile. Yeah. How much space do you have and where can you make sure you have every freaking tool in the world to not have to go running around and keep extras and extra bolts and this and that and everything.
00:16:01
Johnny
Yeah.
00:16:07
Johnny
Right. assessment
00:16:11
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:16:12
Johnny
Yep. Yep. um Then networked with vendors, part stores.
00:16:14
BEN DELLARIA
so yeah
00:16:20
Johnny
I was going to be, I just wanted to oil changes and breaks, you know, maybe some tie rod ends, maybe, maybe some struts and coils or whatever. That's all I really care to do.
Business Growth and Service Expansion
00:16:30
Johnny
um Business wasn't picking up.
00:16:30
BEN DELLARIA
yeah but that's obviously changed to now
00:16:34
Johnny
Yeah, yeah. The money wasn't really coming in. I had a few clients, but then I learned that fleet, I had a hard arm for fleets.
00:16:45
Johnny
Because obviously that's that's what's going to keep you busy and that's where the money is at.
00:16:45
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
00:16:49
Johnny
But they're tough to keep up with and typically typically typically can be pretty demanding.
00:16:58
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. They want you now and they want you to wait 30 days for payments.
00:17:00
Johnny
Yeah.
00:17:02
BEN DELLARIA
And some fleets can be nice, but other fleets can really try to, if you're, you screw up once, all of a sudden you lose that fleet and now you're stuck with all your eggs in one basket.
00:17:02
Johnny
Yes.
00:17:11
Johnny
Yes. Yep. Yep. And so then I decided go more mainstream, um, or not more mainstream, sorry. Um, more, more complete service,
00:17:27
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:30
Johnny
more complete service where I am, um, the water pumps, um,
00:17:41
Johnny
water pumps and engine mounts. um Whatever is, that whatever it is that isn't that's not to take me four, five, six, seven, eight hours or more.
00:17:56
BEN DELLARIA
yeah you Yeah, we don't want, we want to be able to do the customer justice and be able to take care of their vehicle and take care of everything, but we don't, but there's a limitation with certain things in certain mobile, even with my trailer setup and the amount of things that I can do.
00:18:12
BEN DELLARIA
I'm still not going to do an engine or a transmission at their house. I'm not going to, I've done, I've put a rear end in at someone's home because it's easy.
00:18:17
Johnny
Right.
00:18:21
BEN DELLARIA
it's just a couple of bolts, you know, do that.
00:18:21
Johnny
Same. Same. Yeah.
00:18:23
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. You recently did one walk, you know, we talked about and,
00:18:24
Johnny
Yep.
00:18:27
BEN DELLARIA
ah Just, ah you know, there's certain things you can and can't do, and and it's getting harder and harder, obviously, to be able to do certain things.
00:18:34
Johnny
Yep.
00:18:35
BEN DELLARIA
You're learning that. You know, fluids are extremely important when it comes to some of these transmissions today. You know, reading bleeding breaks with these, you know, GM modules that go to crap and everything.
00:18:47
Johnny
Right.
00:18:48
BEN DELLARIA
There's a whole world of this stuff that you're learning. learning that we learn at the same time now too, because not being in a shop atmosphere where you don't have hundreds of cars coming through the bays all the time, you've got, you know, 50, 60, 70 cars a month only versus, you know, four times that somewhere else where you get to see more, you know, repeat failures, things like that.
00:19:14
BEN DELLARIA
So
00:19:14
Johnny
and Not just that, but you you have you have a so and ah built-in support system, right? If you you get stumped on something or you need a hand with something, you have someone in and in the bay next to you, hopefully.
00:19:21
BEN DELLARIA
yeah.
00:19:28
Johnny
No.
00:19:28
BEN DELLARIA
There's yeah, there's no shop camaraderie when you're out there doing it alone.
00:19:31
Johnny
No.
00:19:31
BEN DELLARIA
And that's the whole point of this, our community and everything else and our our groups that we have is for that. So these you guys can be coming in and getting the help and getting the questions answered that you need to be able to move on and do these things.
00:19:45
BEN DELLARIA
um So, all right. So you got the truck, you got the cover, you've been out here, you're doing work. Have you seen steady growth since you've started or was there a turning point where you're or, you know, how long have you been actually in business now?
00:20:02
Johnny
a A year and a half and yes, um definitely growing, definitely picking up. um i no longer have that
00:20:11
BEN DELLARIA
Mm
00:20:13
Johnny
i no longer have that feeling of will the phone ring again that we all typically have when we first start.
00:20:17
BEN DELLARIA
hmm.
00:20:19
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, starting out.
00:20:21
Johnny
you know i
00:20:21
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:20:22
Johnny
Even if it doesn't ring, I'm confident that at some point it's going to ring. And then it's on me to sell myself to the customer.
00:20:31
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:20:32
Johnny
you know, they're calling, just because they're calling doesn't mean they're sold.
00:20:36
BEN DELLARIA
So, was but was there a point where you were just like, you know, like, ah you know, you're just either you're constantly breaking even or not making enough.
00:20:46
BEN DELLARIA
And then finally something turned or something hit and you just all of a sudden now you're, you're profitable and and things like that. Or is it just always been an up and down or consistent or steady consistency?
00:20:56
Johnny
Oh, it's always an up and down. um winter time winter time i slow way down because i'm not going to go turn wrenches in 30 degree weather or 20 degree weather um then there are times say what yep it doesn't even to snowing just just too damn cold um
00:21:00
BEN DELLARIA
Always up and down for you.
00:21:11
BEN DELLARIA
snowing and everything, right? Snowing? Snow? Yeah. Nope.
00:21:21
Johnny
But then there are times where were I just get overwhelmed with calls and not sure where to put some people at. So I just start turning away calls or putting people off.
00:21:32
Johnny
Maybe I'll hear from them again. and Maybe I won't.
00:21:34
BEN DELLARIA
So maybe some of the next things you're going to try to do is work on the the the scheduling side of it and the the organization side of it, which is not easy.
00:21:42
Johnny
Yeah. Yes.
00:21:45
BEN DELLARIA
It's difficult. Even still today, I have trouble with that.
00:21:46
Johnny
Well,
00:21:49
Johnny
Well, not just that, but also at my skill level. um
00:21:53
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:21:53
Johnny
Confident I can get any job that I take on done. The issue is is a lot of it I have never seen. So if I say it's going to take me an hour or two to do, chances are I'm going to get in there and run into something that I'm not familiar with and then and try to have to navigate around that.
00:22:11
Johnny
So if you call and say, hey, I want this appointment, I can't confidently tell you, okay, I'll be there around 11 o'clock, you know.
00:22:11
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:22:18
BEN DELLARIA
I got you. Yeah.
00:22:18
Johnny
you know
00:22:19
BEN DELLARIA
So you can't do like the way we do I do, where I put, if I know I'm going to go do X service on a car, this repair, i already know the whole deal.
00:22:30
BEN DELLARIA
And I give myself an hour leeway in case of a problem.
00:22:34
Johnny
Yes.
00:22:34
BEN DELLARIA
That way, if I'm early to the next job, it's just better. But if I'm going to be late, the customer already is expecting this timeframe.
00:22:41
Johnny
Right.
00:22:42
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, I get that.
00:22:42
Johnny
Right.
00:22:43
BEN DELLARIA
You've never done every job that's out there. And it's not I'm not saying I've done every job out there, but 20 years in the field versus two is massively different.
00:22:51
Johnny
The difference. Yeah, the the difference is. You've been around the block a few times, so even if it is a little bit different, or even if it is quite a bit different on one platform, there are still familiarities that can that you know how to navigate to to get to the next bolt or not.
00:23:05
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:23:08
BEN DELLARIA
It's just the way we are, the way we work, the way we do it. Like I explained to the wife all the time when she's, she's like, well, why did you do that?
00:23:11
Johnny
Yeah.
00:23:17
BEN DELLARIA
I don't know. I just did because I, how I work, it's how we are as mechanics or it's, it's more the service.
00:23:19
Johnny
Yeah.
00:23:22
Johnny
Yeah.
00:23:24
BEN DELLARIA
It's the service side or how I'm speaking to a customer. That's the one thing that I can't teach you guys in school um, I can't teach you exactly how to talk talk to customers. All I can do is show you. So like if if I'm recording when a customer calls,
00:23:42
BEN DELLARIA
it's easy to be done. So I can't teach her how to do it. So for since August, she has just listened to me on the phone. And now now she talks on the phone and she knows how to get the basics done and answered.
00:23:50
Johnny
Right. Right.
00:23:57
BEN DELLARIA
And she can make a decision and say, yep, we got to come and diagnose. This is when we can do it. Or hang on, let me go ask the technician. And then she'll come and ask me a question.
00:24:07
BEN DELLARIA
So it's, you know, I give you, i commend you for doing it because it is not easy. And I commend you for the the biggest part of that is to be able to tell people no, because we had guys in the group that, you know, you remember Matt, you know, though he should have never been anywhere near a car, that kid.
00:24:29
Johnny
He was my motivation.
00:24:29
BEN DELLARIA
And yeah, he was your motivation to who not to be.
00:24:35
Johnny
Yes.
00:24:35
BEN DELLARIA
just a leech off everybody and just whatever.
00:24:36
Johnny
Yes.
00:24:39
Johnny
Not just that, but that shade tree crap that we all despise so much.
00:24:44
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:24:46
Johnny
I've got nothing against shade trees, but if you're going to be, if you want to touch a car, at least put some effort into it.
00:24:53
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Have some type of understanding that you're got people's lives in their hand and their livelihood in your hand and do it right.
00:24:58
Johnny
Yes. Yes.
00:25:01
BEN DELLARIA
And most of these guys that are out there that are calling themselves mobile mechanics are just not doing it right. And they're, it's never going to change in that way.
00:25:10
Johnny
How often do you find your how do you find yourself going behind other mechanics to to repair work or or double check?
00:25:10
BEN DELLARIA
So,
00:25:19
BEN DELLARIA
Not a lot. It happens every once in a while. But most of the customers that I'm finding, usually when I find a customer like that, I learned this when I was cutting grass.
00:25:32
BEN DELLARIA
um I would get a new customer. Oh, my long guy just stopped showing up. ah You go to find out it's because they just stopped paying because they're assholes.
00:25:43
Johnny
Right.
00:25:43
BEN DELLARIA
It's kind of the same way. They'll be like, oh, the mechanic did this or the mechanic did that. And I'm like, that's correct. that's exactly what he should have done. And they're like, they look at me like all cross-eyed like, what? Like, I don't see anything wrong here. That's exactly the procedure that I would have done. And then they don't like that because they have a conception in their head that it should be this way because this is what Google and the YouTube says.
00:26:10
BEN DELLARIA
And I'm sorry, I'm on YouTube, but I'm not on YouTube to show you the fake way of fixing your car. I'm on YouTube to just be on YouTube and grow in ways to have a social media lifestyle. But there's No, customers that tell you that are wrong. I've had a couple customers where I've gone back behind him, like that kid, Matt, when he worked on some cars, I've fixed multiple cars that he worked on.
00:26:37
Johnny
The yellow Mustang.
00:26:38
BEN DELLARIA
And that's when I realized like he's not listening and he's doing bad stuff to come store his cars.
00:26:38
Johnny
Right.
00:26:42
BEN DELLARIA
So there's no changing him, you know, and he's Ubering around town to work on people's cars or his friends are taking them to do it. That's not the type of mechanic that we're trying to put in the spotlight here.
00:26:54
BEN DELLARIA
You know, we're trying to put real businesses into the spotlight.
Customer Relations and Professionalism
00:26:58
Johnny
Right.
00:26:58
BEN DELLARIA
So speaking of that and like problem customers, ah how do you handle, have you run into, okay, the biggest question, how do you handle customers that don't pay?
00:27:10
BEN DELLARIA
Have you run into customers that don't pay? Because I know that was a question you asked me in the beginning as well.
00:27:16
Johnny
um Every so often, yeah. And a lot of that's my fault because I don't charge a diagnostic fee up front. I'm a lot more loose.
00:27:30
BEN DELLARIA
So what do you mean you don't charge one up front?
00:27:34
Johnny
I'll do the diagnostic and then once I have the answer, I'll charge them and then we'll have it as well.
00:27:38
BEN DELLARIA
That's correct way. That is the correct way to do it. The only way, the only thing that we would add to that is they are aware that there's a diagnostic fee before you come out.
00:27:48
Johnny
Yes. Yeah.
00:27:49
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. That's exactly what we teach. We do not, you know that we do not, uh, request prepayment up front for diagnosis. Like some of the other guys, we don't do that.
00:27:58
Johnny
Yeah.
00:28:00
BEN DELLARIA
That's not how you handle customers.
00:28:02
Johnny
Don't get me wrong. I love the customers who do prepay, but yeah.
00:28:06
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. I mean, it's fine if that's, if they're going to, but we do not require it. You know, I never take a prepayment and I personally have over six years of doing this. I've never had a customer never pay me before.
00:28:20
Johnny
It's happened to, far services go, um there are a few of those.
00:28:22
BEN DELLARIA
No, see you,
00:28:29
Johnny
There's only one job that I can think of where I lost on parts also.
00:28:34
BEN DELLARIA
But that was someone, was that that they didn't pay you or was that the one that was a chargeback?
00:28:42
Johnny
The one, this guy did not pay me.
00:28:45
BEN DELLARIA
So you left without taking a payment.
00:28:47
Johnny
Yes, he and i we he and i had already had a really well-established relationship. He probably already spent $1,500 with me before.
00:28:54
BEN DELLARIA
So that's the one. That's the ones that screw you all the time. Yeah.
00:28:57
Johnny
Yeah, yeah. And and so he he was out of town for work.
00:28:58
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:29:01
Johnny
um
00:29:01
BEN DELLARIA
Okay. Okay.
00:29:03
Johnny
And so, yes, yes.
00:29:03
BEN DELLARIA
So you trusted them on that and it bit you in the ass. Yeah. That's the one thing that I do that at times too. I'll risk some people. I'll say, Hey, here's a I'll send you an estimate.
00:29:14
BEN DELLARIA
of it But the same thing. I know the customer already. It's not a new customer or anything like that.
00:29:18
Johnny
Right.
00:29:18
BEN DELLARIA
But still I've never, I got to ask the question again today on YouTube.
00:29:19
Johnny
Right.
00:29:23
BEN DELLARIA
I probably get it asked 10, 15 times a month. How do you handle customers that don't pay? I don't because it doesn't happen. It just, yeah. It doesn't happen. I don't know. And I guess it's mainly the professionalism. I tell people it's the professionalism of how the company is presented.
00:29:38
BEN DELLARIA
We have a beautiful trailer set up. We have or a nice truck set up. It doesn't matter what you have as long as you have a really nice setup and your estimates and invoice forms are professional and they look good. The customers that are going to want to not pay you are probably not going to choose you anyway because they don't even want to pay your prices if they decided to pay.
00:29:56
Johnny
Exactly. um You know, there's really, as being mobile, there depending on, um I want to say most jurisdictions, there isn't really a whole lot you can do to cover yourself.
00:30:10
Johnny
you can have a ah You can have all the paperwork that you want.
00:30:10
BEN DELLARIA
Not much, no.
00:30:13
Johnny
You can have all the documents that you want. But at the end of the day, sort of
00:30:17
BEN DELLARIA
Still a small claims court.
00:30:19
Johnny
Yeah, any sort of recourse you try to take to get payment might land you into some bullshit that you don't want to be in.
00:30:26
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, it's not worth it.
00:30:27
Johnny
No.
00:30:28
BEN DELLARIA
If I ever had a customer that didn't want to pay.
00:30:28
Johnny
Yeah.
00:30:33
BEN DELLARIA
i I just walk away. Just, okay. see you later. See you I don't care. I mean, I'll care. I'll be pissed, but like, I'm not, I don't, it's not the end of the world. I'll move on.
00:30:42
Johnny
Oh, well, i mean so if I just finish up and if I'm at your house, I i will probably get get the police involved and let them tell me that it's a civil matter if that's what they choose to do, you know.
00:30:43
BEN DELLARIA
You know?
00:30:52
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then, and that's the thing is like some states and some people will say, you know, like us, we're Florida Department of Agriculture. let You know, so I have legally binding signed estimates and invoices forms.
00:31:07
BEN DELLARIA
They're agreeing to pay this dollar amount. So technically in or at least in the shops, that's what they would tell us. The or the the owners always told us that, You don't hand the keys back over until the job is paid for.
00:31:20
BEN DELLARIA
So we never did, but we never had a problem either. But if if you didn't sign... an actual estimate form saying this was the dollar amount, you don't have to pay it anyway.
00:31:34
Johnny
Right.
00:31:34
BEN DELLARIA
So having TechMetric or a system like that that has a digital footprint that the customer agrees to this dollar amount gives you a bit of legal standing to do that.
00:31:45
Johnny
Yes.
00:31:45
BEN DELLARIA
So you yes, you would have to go to some type of small claims court in order to get your money. But I don't think I would do unless it was like, you know, a couple thousand dollars and I would maybe. But how much is that going to cost me to do?
00:31:57
Johnny
Right.
00:31:58
BEN DELLARIA
You know, but because let's face it, most jobs that if I'm going to do, if I got to spend four or five hundred bucks because I bought, you know, a compressor that was a five hundred dollar Cadillac compressor.
00:31:59
Johnny
Right.
00:32:11
BEN DELLARIA
I'm eating it and I'm just moving on.
00:32:12
Johnny
Yeah.
00:32:13
BEN DELLARIA
i I five hundred bucks is not worth it to me. I don't care about the labor. It's me, my own company. I pay myself. Oh, well, I'll be fine.
00:32:21
Johnny
Yeah. A lot of what I've started doing is is when so when I send someone at an estimate, I will tell them if you you're happy with it if you like it, sign it or approve and sign it. Send the back so I can get the parts ordered.
00:32:34
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, that's how we do it. yep Tech metric is perfect for that.
00:32:37
Johnny
Yeah, without having assigned order, I'm not, or without having a assigned estimate, I'm not ordering parts.
00:32:42
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, don't order the parts. We're not coming to your house. If you can't agree to the dollar amount, we're not coming out. If they don't agree to my diagnostic fee, we're not coming out there.
00:32:48
Johnny
Yeah.
00:32:51
BEN DELLARIA
We're not doing anything. We don't just willy nilly that shit and show up for, you know, pennies on the dollar and a six pack of beer and say, oh, I hope Mrs. Jones is going to pay me. No.
00:33:02
BEN DELLARIA
Mrs. Jones, this is how much it is to diagnose your car. Yes or no? Yes. We agree to that dollar amount. Great. We'll be there on this day at this time frame. And then, you know, you'll be fine.
00:33:15
BEN DELLARIA
and So ah you said the weather thing up there. That's one of the biggest problems that most people complain about with ah mobile mechanics. And they're like, oh, I don't want to lay on the ground on every single job. I mean, come on.
00:33:28
BEN DELLARIA
We're not laying on the ground on every job. ah Yeah, we have to lay on the ground to do an oil change and we have to deal to do breaks.
00:33:31
Johnny
oh.
00:33:35
BEN DELLARIA
But there's not much like you never worked in a shop, so you don't really know the difference. But you're not laying on the ground every day. there There could be weeks that go by where I don't ever lay on the ground.
00:33:47
Johnny
And typically if I'm laying on the ground outside of an oil change, it's for maybe 30 seconds to a minute.
00:33:57
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, to look at something or do whatever.
00:33:57
Johnny
If that. Yes.
00:33:59
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:34:00
Johnny
Yeah.
00:34:01
BEN DELLARIA
And if I got to do a starter, the starters are usually 1, 1, 5, and I'm under there for a half hour, and that's it. Oh, well.
00:34:08
Johnny
That's it.
00:34:08
BEN DELLARIA
And usually it's a really nice, soft-moving blanket, so I could go to sleep if I need to.
00:34:08
Johnny
Yeah.
00:34:12
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:34:14
Johnny
How do your customers like that?
00:34:15
BEN DELLARIA
It'll, ah they don't have to, my wife can run interference. He's very busy.
00:34:20
Johnny
Okay.
00:34:21
BEN DELLARIA
Leave him alone. ah ah
00:34:24
Johnny
Legs crossed in the air and everything.
00:34:25
BEN DELLARIA
yes So what do you think coming up from where you came up as someone that wasn't professionally trained and now you're in it and you're seeing it, have you changed your perspective on the automotive industry at all and what you thought about before you started doing this?
Changing Perspectives on the Automotive Industry
00:34:46
Johnny
100%. I hate it.
00:34:49
BEN DELLARIA
it's different it's It's different, isn't it?
00:34:49
Johnny
i
00:34:51
BEN DELLARIA
It's not all freaking rainbows and sunshines.
00:34:52
Johnny
yeah No, not at all. so i Yeah, it's changed a lot. um
00:35:02
Johnny
Taking the leap and diving deeper into projects that I've never done before with the help of all data or whatever, I've i've been able to to see things that I...
00:35:14
Johnny
did not know existed in, you know, I've really got a good exposure to how incredibly stupid automotive engineers can be. oh
00:35:23
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:35:25
Johnny
Not just that, I also kind of worry about my my personal longevity in this industry. Because the other night we were talking about ADAS. ados I don't have the i have the knowledge, skill or care sorry, the knowledge, um capabilities, or care to learn that, right?
00:35:51
BEN DELLARIA
You can't do it anyway.
00:35:53
Johnny
No.
00:35:53
BEN DELLARIA
There's no no way that you could do it mobile and then you have to know when to not take something apart so you don't screw that up.
00:35:59
Johnny
Yes. Yes. And so how how limiting is that going to become over time?
00:36:06
BEN DELLARIA
Yep.
00:36:06
Johnny
younger And a buddy of mine said, yeahops New cars today, new cars today are still going to, you know, in 10 years, they're still going to be 10 year old cars like we're working on today.
00:36:20
BEN DELLARIA
And they probably will have the ADOS system disabled and broken and they won't really care about it. Kind of like a tire monitor system or most cars you get in that have the ABS lights on because they can't afford to put a module in it.
00:36:25
Johnny
that.
00:36:30
Johnny
i
00:36:32
Johnny
yeah that
00:36:32
BEN DELLARIA
Or the modules are non-existent anymore.
00:36:35
BEN DELLARIA
And that's what the problem is going to be. You're going to have people that want to fix it and you're going to have people that don't care to fix it. So it's going to still be in the same position we are now.
00:36:45
Johnny
Yeah, just a lot more complication and additional technical technical craft that I'm not going to have access to.
00:36:55
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, and that, and well, you'll have access to it. It'll be there. It'll be part of all data. It's part of your scanners and everything else. But yeah, ADOS, until there's a way for them to do ADOS...
00:37:08
BEN DELLARIA
out in the road or in a driveway, there's not going to be a way to to safely do it. You can't. A car has to be level. You have to be precise on the measurements.
00:37:17
Johnny
Yeah.
00:37:18
BEN DELLARIA
You have to be trained to do it. Just like how they did it when EV started coming out back in 06, 07 when I was working for Chevrolet.
00:37:28
BEN DELLARIA
They were putting us through, you know, training for electric, you know, hybrid trucks and stuff like that. And they were making you be more scared than you really had to be about it.
00:37:40
BEN DELLARIA
But I think ADOS is so much different because if you're off a slight bit on a sensor when you put a bumper back on, it's going to be off feet.
00:37:51
Johnny
Right.
00:37:53
BEN DELLARIA
down the line on when this car is judging where there's another car in proximity to it. And if you take something apart and you screw that up and don't put it back, right, you're going to have a problem. You're going to get someone hurt.
00:38:05
Johnny
Yeah, it's a bull ah simple radi radiator job is no longer a simple radiator or condenser job is no longer a simple condenser job.
00:38:05
BEN DELLARIA
That's
00:38:13
BEN DELLARIA
it could be very well. Yeah. If they're making, if they smarten up and stop putting the sensors in the bumper, and put them on the frame behind the bumper, then it would be a little easier because you could still take the bumper cover off without having to risk the adjustment of the sensors.
00:38:29
Johnny
right i don't think
00:38:30
BEN DELLARIA
But ah there's not everyone that does that. I just did a bumper cover on a 23 Sonata. That's fine because the ah the main sensor is bolted to the bumper. You don't adjust it. The cover just sits over it. That's it.
00:38:44
Johnny
okay yeah
00:38:45
BEN DELLARIA
So there's there's no depth change. there's no You don't actually move the sensor. There's no little, you know, you know the old school backup sensors, you know, there's none of that type of stuff in the front. It's all proximity and cameras.
00:38:59
Johnny
I did not know.
00:38:59
BEN DELLARIA
So, but still, it's still things that the mobile world is either going to have to evolve and change and do, or we're going to get left behind, or we're going to constantly just be the maintenance people or the strictly diagnostic.
00:39:12
Johnny
Right.
00:39:14
BEN DELLARIA
You got guys like, uh, you know, Chuck and, um, well, I can't say Ryan Mullen, he works in a shop, but Chuck's a mobile diagnostic guy. Faraz is a mobile diagnostic guy.
00:39:26
BEN DELLARIA
There's the other one that's on. like I don't remember his actual name. I think it's Paul, um but he's no, not Paul Danner.
00:39:31
Johnny
Oh, is there
00:39:34
BEN DELLARIA
um Paul, I think his name is Paul. He's got earrings. He's autn automotive diagnostics and something. God, I talk to him on TikTok a lot and I talk to him on Facebook, on YouTube.
00:39:45
Johnny
a Hispanic coming?
00:39:47
BEN DELLARIA
Now, um I'd have to look up what his name is while we're here, but I'll end up being quiet too long. But it's... um Where's YouTube?
00:39:56
Johnny
It's...
00:39:57
BEN DELLARIA
His name is... ah It's on a Automotive Diagnostics and Programming. I can't remember his his first name, but it's AutodiagYT, YouTube. He's very, very, very, very good. There's another one. I think his name...
00:40:14
BEN DELLARIA
Man, I'm going to screw his name up because I never say it right. Lars or LaRoz or something like that. His is advanced.
00:40:22
Johnny
that's what
00:40:22
BEN DELLARIA
Advanced, advanced level diagnostics. He, I think, is a Spanish guy or not or something, but he's up in New York in the snow and stuff.
00:40:28
Johnny
that no
00:40:30
BEN DELLARIA
Those guys are never going to get left behind because they're always going to be the ones that are coming to rescue everybody when it comes to the diagnostics and things like that. Because they're not worried about doing the repairs. That's why I decided to do as much of a specialty as I possibly could with air conditioning because that's never going to be irrelevant.
00:40:52
BEN DELLARIA
And everyone in Florida is always going to want it. So in the off season, I get by with basics.
00:40:55
Johnny
right
00:40:59
BEN DELLARIA
But in the summertime, we make a killing in air conditioning because it's the biggest money earner during the summertime. That's where our months grow dramatically.
00:41:10
Johnny
and that's sort of where i was when we started business i did again i just wanted to do bare bare uh base bare bones work brakes, oil changes, little bit of steering and suspension here. I had no desire figure out how to take take water pumps apart or do valve cover gaskets, remove intakes for spark plugs and crap like that.
00:41:33
Johnny
I never wanted to do that.
00:41:35
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:41:35
Johnny
But it's what's paying the bills and it's actually actually becoming fun because i now it's more of a puzzle that I get to enjoy trying to solve than anything.
00:41:45
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:41:47
BEN DELLARIA
That's cool. So you're you're you're evolving more into one of us than you thought you were going to be.
00:41:52
Johnny
yeah
00:41:53
BEN DELLARIA
yeah
00:41:54
Johnny
Yes. Yeah.
00:41:55
BEN DELLARIA
So if you if you had to restart today, would you do anything slightly different?
00:41:56
Johnny
oh
00:42:06
BEN DELLARIA
Would you wait longer? Would you go to school? Would you take some courses? Are you taking any courses now? Or you gonna try or do you watch are you part of a Scanner Premium?
00:42:15
Johnny
I have a few courses coming up. I don't know what is with math sensors or something. um I can't remember what the other two or three are. And then, yeah, I spend a lot of time watching Scanner Dinner or Royalty or...
00:42:33
Johnny
there There are about three or four that I keep in rotation if I'm not watching your videos, which are always primary
00:42:42
BEN DELLARIA
Watch the dumbest guy on YouTube all day long. yeah ah
00:42:47
Johnny
That's Tyler Hoover.
00:42:48
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. At least I'm the one that can admit when he's wrong on there.
00:42:53
Johnny
yeah Yeah.
00:42:55
BEN DELLARIA
I just had one.
00:42:56
Johnny
learn the few
00:42:56
BEN DELLARIA
had one the other day. um So, but there's not anything that you would change or or really start different and.
00:43:06
Johnny
I think for one, I would say I would start with a different name. If we're talking small changes, I would start with a completely different name. um
00:43:15
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, we we could definitely lube to you, KC.
00:43:18
Johnny
Yeah.
00:43:19
BEN DELLARIA
Definitely give you some.
00:43:20
Johnny
I was probably drunk or higher. I got of my mind or something like that Stephanie she loved it it
00:43:28
BEN DELLARIA
it's like ah It's like having, you know, you make an email address on AOL when you're 12 and you still have it as an adult and you're like, oh man, that's horrible.
00:43:33
Johnny
but but
00:43:36
Johnny
know Sean John 8706 don't ask me why yeah and then custom five-speed
00:43:40
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, there you go. That's horrible.
00:43:45
Johnny
um Why i don't, i was a I was an idiot. um Small changes, one, name. Two, yeah,
00:43:59
Johnny
I probably would have done a little bit more research to get a better understanding of what exactly it was that I was getting into. Because again, I've been shade-tree tinkering with cars for the past 20 years.
00:44:08
BEN DELLARIA
Gotcha.
00:44:12
Johnny
Never, and a lot of my diagnosis, I didn't always have a scanner or that I didn't always know the techniques to figure out different noises, different sounds, different issues the way that I do now.
00:44:12
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:44:28
Johnny
I just got lucky to say, no, I wasn't really even a parts cannon guy either.
00:44:28
BEN DELLARIA
A lot of parts canon.
00:44:34
BEN DELLARIA
Wow, that's good. It's good to hear.
00:44:34
Johnny
ah I've never wanted to be that way. Even even in my early 20s, if there was something I couldn't figure out, I'd call my dad or I'd call some take it to someone and say, hey help me out with this.
00:44:50
Johnny
I've never been wants to just throw shit at something hoping that it sticks.
00:44:56
BEN DELLARIA
That's good because we don't need that anymore in this freaking industry There's enough of the the junk going around all day long
00:45:00
Johnny
Oh.
00:45:03
Johnny
Right?
00:45:04
BEN DELLARIA
So, well, we're getting towards the end here, but ah what um if someone if if a younger guy or someone in the school group was you know asking in there, you know hey, should I do this?
00:45:05
Johnny
There's a
00:45:17
BEN DELLARIA
Should I not do this? ah What would you say to them?
00:45:23
Johnny
lot of nuance in that. What do I know about that person? Do they have experience?
00:45:28
BEN DELLARIA
Well, just...
00:45:29
Johnny
do i have experience
00:45:30
BEN DELLARIA
they're like They're either like you or or not, or they're like me, one or the other. Got either 15 years in or they got no experience.
00:45:37
Johnny
and they were a preschool teacher for the past 10 years and they wanna to jump into turning ranches. No, I'd say id say no, si know stay at home and play in your garage on your own cars.
00:45:50
Johnny
Someone else who's got, someone else who,
00:45:50
BEN DELLARIA
Mm-hmm.
00:45:55
Johnny
um anyone else who has some experience and some some ah capability, I wouldn't say wing it, but definitely definitely know what you're getting into.
00:46:15
Johnny
Definitely have a plan um and be prepared. Yeah.
00:46:21
BEN DELLARIA
do more research, find us and see what we're doing.
00:46:22
Johnny
Yeah. Yeah. yeah
00:46:25
BEN DELLARIA
I think that's the whole reason why we did.
00:46:26
Johnny
yeah
00:46:28
BEN DELLARIA
I chose to do what I was doing was I'm tired of the junk people touching people's cars. And I want people, I want more of the young kids that are going to get into this field to go and do it the right way. Go get trained, go do the things you should, because there's a lot of guys that are coming in the group that are, you know, 19, 20 years old.
Advice for Aspiring Mechanics
00:46:46
BEN DELLARIA
They're like, Oh, I'm graduating school and I want to start a business.
00:46:49
BEN DELLARIA
No,
00:46:50
Johnny
Yeah, no, no.
00:46:51
BEN DELLARIA
No.
00:46:52
Johnny
Young, if you're still green behind the ears, go work.
00:46:57
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. Like, I don't want to crush their dreams, but they need to hear it. They need to be told no.
00:47:01
Johnny
Yeah, go work in the Bay for least at least five years.
00:47:03
BEN DELLARIA
They need.
00:47:05
Johnny
Do five years in the Bay somewhere oh and get familiar with what the work is actually like under under the guidance of someone.
00:47:07
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:47:12
BEN DELLARIA
And it, and And y'all listening, you got to realize that that's coming from someone that didn't do that. He's saying to do that, and he didn't because he's realizing how difficult this industry really is
00:47:26
Johnny
just Not just that, but I know who I am.
00:47:33
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, but you have a head on you have a head on your shoulders that is your understanding that you're like, shit, there's a lot of stuff.
00:47:33
Johnny
i'm i'm I'm dumb, but I'm
00:47:40
BEN DELLARIA
Like sometimes you call and you ask questions about stuff. You're like, are you serious? Like it's that way, you know, and just because it is like drivability is not an easy thing to deal with.
00:47:50
BEN DELLARIA
And you've called about drivability problems before. Like shit, even Chris called about it was talking what about a drivability concern the other day.
00:47:57
Johnny
Yeah.
00:47:58
BEN DELLARIA
And he finally got down to it. But, you know, it's not easy when you're like you said, you come out of school. I was there. I was, you know, 20 years old and I'm like, hell yeah, I'm going to school. I want to open a shop. I'm going to do this.
00:48:13
BEN DELLARIA
I don't know the first thing about a freaking car. I aced school without a problem, without opening books, but it's school. It's simple. It was dumb, but fixing cars in the real world is not the way most of these mobile guys are making it out to seem.
00:48:29
Johnny
No, and not just that, I've kind of grown to hate the concept of the ASC certifications. It's nothing, I always compare it to um like nursing, right?
00:48:45
Johnny
anyone Anyone, if you study enough, you can pass a nursing test and get your certification.
00:48:45
BEN DELLARIA
Okay.
00:48:52
Johnny
But just because you understand what you saw in black and white, bringing that to the real world and applying that, it's a totally different, totally different.
00:49:04
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:49:05
Johnny
And
00:49:05
BEN DELLARIA
And that's the thing is the ASCs are, are that it is, it's a test and anyone could pass it if they just read the books and study. But I think that ASCs are good to, to know where you're lacking in skills.
00:49:13
Johnny
I'm
00:49:18
BEN DELLARIA
So if you're going constantly and and recertifying and you're like, Ooh, that's new. I haven't seen that before. i had a hard time passing that or Holy crap, look at that. I failed this on transmissions or whatever it is.
00:49:31
BEN DELLARIA
Like,
00:49:31
Johnny
I fully agree with you on that.
00:49:32
BEN DELLARIA
you know, that's something to do because they are evolving tests.
00:49:32
Johnny
yeah
00:49:37
BEN DELLARIA
They do bring in new stuff as the cars are changing. It's not always, you know, stuff from 1995. So, you know, it's just, it's, it's a good way to know your skill level and where you need help because, know,
00:49:52
BEN DELLARIA
there's days where I'm going and I'm like, dude, I haven't seen this car in 10 years. I do not remember how this works, you know, but there's other guys that are like, Oh, that's easy.
00:50:01
Johnny
Right.
00:50:03
BEN DELLARIA
That's this, that, the other, like, okay, maybe you saw it last week. I was, I haven't seen, ah I was watching advanced level diagnostics the other day and he was working on an old school, like mid two thousands, like Malibu or Impala three, four or three, six, you know, has a basic three X 18 X crank sensor in it.
00:50:24
BEN DELLARIA
That took me a minute to remember. I know you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, but it's a different style. It's, it's a crank sensor. And the way that that signal was read and interpreted by an IC mod and ignition control module is vastly different than what most people are looking at today on a basic crank sensor because they don't talk about it anymore.
00:50:44
BEN DELLARIA
It's just it, the technology changes and changes and changes and changes. And
00:50:48
Johnny
Right.
00:50:49
BEN DELLARIA
You have to be able to read the literature to understand. So every new car today, if you don't see it, if the literature is not there in all data or Mitchell or Identifix for you to read and understand, you're not going to know how to fix the car.
00:51:04
Johnny
And I'm not, I'm not shitting.
00:51:04
BEN DELLARIA
And that's so even.
00:51:08
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah, but that but that's what I mean. So like ASE is still just a test. It still doesn't prepare you for any of that stuff. But you I just like it as that.
00:51:17
Johnny
Exactly.
00:51:18
BEN DELLARIA
Like I said, it's I think it's good. And I heard that on just podcast. I don't remember who said it, but it was very, very. It made me realize why I stayed with those for so long because it makes me, makes you realize like, Oh, i I know where I am.
00:51:33
BEN DELLARIA
I know my skill level and it's something to, you can be proud of it in a way, but it doesn't do a damn thing for you.
00:51:35
Johnny
Right.
00:51:40
BEN DELLARIA
It doesn't help you.
00:51:41
Johnny
No. There's way too much emphasis put on it.
00:51:45
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah.
00:51:45
Johnny
But it's not...
00:51:45
BEN DELLARIA
You don't need to have it to be in business.
00:51:48
Johnny
Right. um i've been considering I've been considering investing in getting all the different series and levels of books to have around and to study.
00:52:01
Johnny
That's been something I've been heavily considering lately.
00:52:04
BEN DELLARIA
I think the best, best money spent is the 15 bucks a month for scanner, Dan, or premium and watching the videos you get in there outside of his basic YouTube channel and the workbook that he has that you can get from there is one going to be one of,
00:52:04
Johnny
Because the more... on
00:52:16
Johnny
Yeah.
00:52:23
BEN DELLARIA
your biggest ah ways of learning what you need to do every single day because he can make you understand the circuits. Understanding circuit design with diagnostics will make you understand how the system is supposed to work, how all systems work,
00:52:42
BEN DELLARIA
And then you can interpret that into drivability as you go along. So you can look at a car and be like, oh, this is how this works. This is what I need to do. And he, because he's an instructor, he is very, very, very good at that. And everyone knows that about him. There's other people out there that do a great job as well, but I just think he's very good at that. And having his scanner-to-anner premium is a great thing to have because you could just sit there and watch those videos or listen to them in the background and it'll make you start.
00:53:12
BEN DELLARIA
It'll, you'll self-consciously we'll be learning all that stuff. But anyway, with that being said, that's really all I got for you today, my friend.
00:53:16
Johnny
Right.
00:53:22
BEN DELLARIA
I appreciate you being on.
00:53:23
Johnny
Sir, appreciate you having me, man.
00:53:25
BEN DELLARIA
Yeah. So listen, guys, if you want to check out lube to you, Casey, he is on Instagram and what ah Instagram, Tik TOK. And what else?
00:53:35
Johnny
Instagram, tik no, not TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and that's it.
00:53:41
BEN DELLARIA
Oh, yeah, yeah. Instagram.
00:53:41
Johnny
I've got a website.
00:53:42
BEN DELLARIA
That's Instagram, Facebook. No website, no more.
00:53:45
Johnny
No, I have the website.
00:53:46
BEN DELLARIA
Okay, so there is a website.
00:53:47
Johnny
still have it.
00:53:48
BEN DELLARIA
So you can check them out, especially if you're in the KC area and you need someone to work on your car.
00:53:48
Johnny
Yeah, I still have
00:53:51
BEN DELLARIA
Give them a call. Give them shout out. We appreciate you. We'll talk to you all later. See ya.
00:53:55
Johnny
it.