On The Ramp - The Independent Automotive Garage Owners Podcast.

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

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

To find out more about our GMS LaunchControl, head to https://launchcontrol.app

Eight years ago Dave Wilson was driving lorries and doing carbon cleans at the weekend to pay off his debts. He had no trade background, no backing, and soon after, an IVA that meant he couldn't get so much as a credit card. Today he runs Drive Green Vehicle Services, an award-winning garage with staff, and he has just bought the unit next door without a mortgage.

Alex and Tim take Dave back to the £2,000 carbon cleaning machine he gambled on, and work forward through teaching himself DPF work, walking away from lorry driving, building a mobile business through an IVA, saving £15k just before COVID hit, getting his first unit, and learning to price a job properly.

Topics covered:

- going from lorry driving to carbon cleaning at the weekend

- finding his first customers on Facebook

- the "what's a DPF?" job that changed everything

- caring for his dad while building the business

- running a business through an IVA with no credit

- taking on a unit with £3,500 in the bank

- why most garages are undercharging

- buying the unit next door when the bank wouldn't give him a mortgage

- his advice for anyone thinking of going it alone

Timestamps:
00:00 - launchcontrol
00:42 - intro
01:57 - from lorry driver to carbon cleaning at the weekend
03:50 - finding customers on facebook
07:27 - "what's a dpf?" the job that changed everything
10:26 - cracking dpf regens and charging properly
13:29 - caring for his dad
16:31 - walking away from lorry driving
25:40 - joining the dpf doctor network
27:31 - networking his way into the trade
29:30 - the iva, building a business with no credit
33:08 - castrol | the race group partnership
35:45 - £15k saved, then covid
42:04 - getting the first unit
46:27 - sharing a garage and taking on dan
54:36 - who the business is for
57:45 - learning to price a job
1:02:12 - most garages are undercharging
1:06:38 - front of house, staff and the new hire
1:14:49 - buying the unit next door with no mortgage
1:23:30 - on the main stage at 1tec
1:25:50 - a tough year
1:30:32 - advice for anyone going it alone
1:31:41 - outro

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

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

#ontheramp #garageowners #independentgarage #dpf #startingagarage #ukgarages #automotiveindustry #mechaniclife #castrol

If you run a garage, you’ve probably seen a lot of adverts for garage management software (GMS) lately. There’s a reason for that. AI has made software almost free to build, so garage owners, the established players and brand new companies are all piling into the market.
In this short episode I talk about where that leaves the industry. I cover why prices are falling, what MCP is, and why connecting Claude or ChatGPT to your GMS changes things. Soon your agent won’t just pull reports. It’ll create bookings, order parts and contact customers. I also explain why LaunchControl starts at £49, how one of my businesses already runs fully automated bookkeeping through Xero, and why I think the market will grow fast and then shrink back to a few key players.
The big idea: your GMS should hold your data and your processes, and give you full API and MCP access so you can build on top of it. Some of our customers already have.

Chapters
00:00 Why you're seeing so many GMS adverts
02:03 AI inside the workflow, and what MCP means
03:00 When AI agents start writing back to your GMS
03:41 Why we launched LaunchControl, and why it's £49
05:07 Bookkeeping that runs itself
06:25 Buying a GMS right now, and the coming shake-out
07:46 The GMS as your data layer
08:41 Customers building their own apps
10:11 Your priority for the next 12 months

To learn more, visit https://launchcontrol.app

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

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

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

Topics covered:
- writing to 74 garages for an apprenticeship and getting two replies
- being passed over for master tech training without being asked
- a bonus scheme that punished the wrong person
- finding out he was £3 an hour under the technicians he was trying to recruit- why paying under market rate catches up with a garage
- starting a garage with £200 and no savings
- the fleet work that saved his first year- a thousand pounds a year for unlimited training, and what he did with it
- what he does differently now he employs technicians himself

Timestamps:
00:00 - intro
07:56 - writing to 74 garages for an apprenticeship
18:14 - leaving the first garage for bigger jobs
26:44 - castrol | the race group partnership
29:30 - promised master tech training, then passed over
39:46 - on £10.50 an hour and £3 under his own technicians
48:03 - the two homers that made his mind up
52:24 - starting maitland motors with £200 in the bank
59:57 - two days from packing it in
1:05:20 - a thousand pounds a year for unlimited training
1:13:37 - winning the training and development award
1:20:01 - two staff, an envelope and five rules
1:30:37 - outroSubscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

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

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

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

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

What is covered:

Diagnosing with second-hand parts instead of chasing fault codes

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

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

Warranty markers and how main dealers spot a remap

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

Putting vehicles back to stock as a revenue stream

Building a DPF cleaning machine from scratch

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

Timestamps:

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

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

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

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

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

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

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

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

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

Topics covered:
Coming into the family business out of school and starting in the back office
How Magnet bought its way into fleet in 2004
Taking over in October 2023 when his dad stepped back
Going from mate to boss, and the hire he regrets letting go
Turning away the busy fools and £4,000 to £5,000 a week of turnover
Fleet versus retail: margins, authorisation and high spend reviews
Splitting workshop control from the front desk
The five year plan, ramps, and why he is not opening a second site

Timestamps:
00:00 - intro
01:44 - leaving school and the six months at home
07:29 - how magnet got into fleet in 2004
13:15 - the dip and taking over in October 2023
19:18 - the sultan of brunei cars
23:06 - Castrol | The Race Group Partnership
24:26 - the setup, the staff and buying the wrong building
33:02 - fleet versus retail margins and authorisation
39:15 - the numbers and turning away the busy fools
46:27 - becoming managing director
52:46 - the five year plan and adding ramps
59:36 - outro

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

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

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