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We lost a good one.
Aaron Stokes, along with his 21-year-old son, his nephew, and a close friend perished in an airplane accident. Aaron was a defining influence in my automotive career and someone I respected deeply. Aaron was a relentless advocate for shop owners, a gifted educator, and a leader whose influence shaped countless businesses and lives; including mine.…
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When Engineering Looks Great on a Screen — and Fails in the Real World
Modern vehicles are engineering marvels. No question about it. Advanced safety systems, lightweight materials, aerodynamics, and software integration have pushed cars further than ever before. Some cars come into our shop that should be taken off the road due to their wear and tear- yet they can still do 60mph down the road. This is…
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Daytona 24 Hour Endurance Recap
Let’s start with the obvious: Porsche Penske’s #7 car won overall. Barely. Felipe Nasr, Julien Andlauer, Laurin Heinrich in the Porsche 963 took the overall win and made it three in a row for Porsche Penske at Daytona, and three in a row for Nasr himself. That puts Nasr in the same conversation as Helio…
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Why Routine Maintenance Matters More Than Ever for European Cars in Houston
If you drive a European car in Houston, you already know it’s not just transportation. It’s a machine built around precision. Tight tolerances. Complex systems. Everything is working together. That’s also why routine maintenance and proper diagnostics matter more today than they ever did before. We see it every week at ABR Houston. Cars don’t…
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Why “Just Fix What’s Broken” Is the Most Expensive Sentence in Auto Repair
That sentence sounds reasonable. It feels disciplined. Responsible. Budget-aware. It’s also how cars and owners get burned. Modern vehicles don’t fail the way older ones did. They don’t break one part at a time. They fail in systems, layers, dependencies, and cascades. Treating a modern car like a light bulb replacement is how small issues…
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Mahle’s Wild New Engine Could Change the Game for EVs — If Anyone’s Paying Attention
Mahle’s Wild New Engine Could Change the Game for EVs — If Anyone’s Paying Attention Electric vehicles are not gaining the traction we thought they were, but manufacturers are chasing range, battery tech, and pretending like plugging in for 45 minutes at Buc-ee’s is the new “fast.” But at this year’s IAA Mobility Show in…
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The $120,000 Mechanic Job Headline And What Nobody Tells You, Part 5: What You’re Really Paying For When You Fix Your Car
We’ve covered a lot already: Part 1: Why the “$120,000 mechanic job” headline is misleading Part 2: How politics inside a dealership starve good techs out Part 3: Why shiny pay plans fall apart once you plug real life into them Part 4: What the industry would actually have to fix to attract real talent Now it’s time…
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The $120,000 Mechanic Job Headline And What Nobody Tells You, Part 4: How To Actually Fix The Technician Shortage
So far we’ve covered: Part 1: Why the “$120,000 mechanic job” headline is misleading Part 2: How politics inside a dealership starve good techs out Part 3: Why shiny pay plans fall apart once you plug real life into them Now we get to the part everyone pretends is complicated “How do we fix the technician shortage?” It’s…
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The $120,000 Mechanic Job Headline And What Nobody Tells You, Part 3: Flat-Rate Reality vs. The Shiny BMW Pay Plan
By now you’ve heard the line: “We can’t find techs even for $120,000 a year.” In Part 1 I explained why that number isn’t what the public thinks. In Part 2 I showed how dealership politics can starve a good tech right out the door. Now we’re going after the money piece everyone keeps waving…
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The $120,000 Mechanic Job Headline And What Nobody Tells You: Part 2: Dealership Politics And Starving Out Good Techs
Ford CEO Jim Farley said that he’s got 5,000 jobs that pay 120K dollars that he can’t fill. Ok, let’s talk about that (more). This had HUGE traction on Facebook- with over 1200 shares. Part 1: The “$120,000 mechanic job” headline, and all the fine print :Record scratch: how does a top-level, award-winning technician end…