07/14/2025
There are so many different ways to measure "success" in the automotive repair industry and every shop owner has a different approach to that measurement. Some want 5 to clear 5 million a year. Some want 30 shops and a private jet. Some want a super high annual car count. For me, it's to have a place where employees and customers can feel that they're right where they belong. We joke with customers when we say, "our best day is typically your worst day". It's a crumby joke, but it's true. Maintaining a sensitivity to that requires a tremendous amount of respect for the task at hand. Cars are getting exponentially more complicated by the day, and repairs are getting more expensive and complex. Training technicians to be up to speed on diagnosing these vehicles is very expensive and it is a large out of pocket expense for the shop owner. As such, most shops invest very little in annual training, instead relying on shipping their customer's cars to the dealership when things get tough. Let me be clear: This is IS a call out post. This is a call out to the shops who care enough to send their technicians to training events. The shops so understand its' value. I recently hosted my first homegrown training event at Karr. This event was on air conditioning diagnosis and leak detection. It featured material built entirely in-house, with my own staff teaching it. It was a freaking blast. The best part? We had 5 other shops there training along with us. Jason Labonte from Legendary Automotive even taught a portion of the class. My shop foreman, Mike Rowe, did an hour and a half hands on portion that was engaging and incredibly informative. I would do an event like this every weekend if I could.
We train because we care. We want you, the customer, to know how hard we work to give you the correct diagnosis. We lose sleep over the countless problems that we face during a difficult diagnosis. We obsess over it. We care. Alot.
So, when you ask me how I measure success, I'm going to tell you that I measure it in the success of my employees. The ones who worked their ass off on Friday night to get our shop prepared for Saturday's training. The ones who obsess over your correct diagnosis. The ones who go will always go the extra mile for you to make sure you get to the destination safely. The good guys.
And to the other shops who care, this post goes out to you.
Thank you to EVERYONE who supports Karr Automotive!
