Repair Shop Reckoning

Owning a repair shop can look pretty damn good from the outside.

The cars are moving. The team is working. The bills are getting paid.

Maybe there is even money sitting in the bank.

So why does it still feel like everything could fall apart tomorrow?

This week on Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin and Jason dig into the stress that comes with owning a business and the pressure nobody really sees. Payroll. Vendors. Insurance. Employees. Customers. Loans. Slow weeks. Bad reviews. Staffing problems. Rising costs. Personal guarantees. And the constant fear that...

Who actually controls whether your collision shop makes money?

You own the building. You pay the technicians. You buy the equipment. You warranty the repair. You deal with the customer when something goes wrong. You carry the liability.

But someone else is telling you what parts to use, what they'll pay for those parts, how much markup they'll allow, how many labor hours the job should take, what labor rate they'll recognize, and what work they're simply not going to pay for.

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin and Jason go down...

What if the kids who never fit the system were exactly the ones built to fix it?

This week on Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin Brown gets more personal than usual. After using AI to explore patterns and tendencies he has noticed in himself his entire life, the conversation starts with school, Ritalin, being labeled hyperactive, struggling with social cues, feeling like an outsider, intense routines, direct communication, pattern recognition, and the feeling that his brain has always worked differently.

But the conversation quickly becomes much bigger than Kevin.

Because when Kevin and Jason start...

You can be busy. You can have trucks lined up outside. You can be selling work every single day. And you can still go broke.

This week on Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin is joined by his wife, Marilyn Brown, and daughter, Jordan Valle-Perez, for a very different kind of episode. They go back to a time when the business was fighting to survive, the line of credit was nearly tapped out, customers owed tens of thousands of dollars, and Kevin and Jordan suddenly found themselves trying to figure out QuickBooks, payroll, sales tax, accounts receivable, and cash flow...

This week on Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin and Jason dig into a problem happening in shops everywhere: technicians are being blamed for not producing enough hours, but nobody is stopping to ask whether those hours were ever sold in the first place.

If you expect a technician to produce 40, 50, or 60 hours, what is your service advisor actually putting on the board?

Kevin breaks down what he's uncovering while digging through real shop numbers, including artificially high close rates, deleted declined work, underpriced labor, poor technician documentation, weak service advisor communication, and owners who think they need...

Customers do not buy brake pads, transmissions, tires, or diagnostics. They buy confidence that their family will be safe, their truck will get them back to work, their trip will stay on schedule, and the problem will finally be handled.

In Part Two of this Repair Shop Reckoning conversation, Kevin Brown and Jason Tracey break down what effective service advisor training should actually accomplish. This is not about turning advisors into aggressive salespeople. It is about teaching them how to listen, understand what matters to the customer, explain the repair clearly, build trust, and confidently lead the next...

Most shop owners think they need more calls, more customers, or more work. But what happens when the phone is already ringing and the opportunities are being lost before the vehicle ever reaches the shop?

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin Brown and Jason Tracey break down what they are uncovering through real phone audits, real coaching sessions, and real shop numbers. Advisors are failing to capture names, appointments are being left to chance, marketing dollars are being wasted, pricing systems are wrong, close rates are lower than owners realize, and some shops cannot even accurately...

Your service advisor may be the gatekeeper of your entire business, but have you actually trained them to protect it?

In Part One of this two-part Repair Shop Reckoning conversation, Kevin Brown and Jason Tracey break down one of the most expensive problems hiding inside repair shops today: owners expecting service advisors to convert calls, protect margins, build trust, feed technicians, and keep the schedule full without ever giving them the tools to do it.

The result is wasted marketing, discounted jobs, lost customers, frustrated technicians, and advisors who sound friendly but have no idea how...

Every major shift in business creates two kinds of shop owners. The ones who wait until everyone else has already figured it out. And the ones who adapt early, learn the system, and create an advantage long before the rest of the industry catches up.

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin Brown and Jason Tracey dive into one of the biggest shifts the automotive industry has seen in decades: artificial intelligence. But this isn't another conversation about robots replacing technicians or AI taking over repair shops.

It's about leadership.

Kevin shares why...

Every shop owner has invested time and money to make the phone ring. But what happens when it finally does?

In this episode, Kevin Brown and Jason Tracey tackle one of the biggest profit leaks in the automotive industry: what happens at the front counter. From the very first phone call to the final repair order, they break down how service advisors either create confidence or create chaos.

Through real shop examples, live coaching, and side by side comparisons of actual repair orders, Kevin and Jason show why the best shops don't simply answer questions. They...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin sits down with Isaac, owner of Diesel Dynamics in Texas, to talk about what really changed after six months of focusing on the fundamentals of running a better business.

Like so many shop owners, Isaac wasn't afraid of hard work. He was working seven days a week, putting in 15 and 16 hour days, doing everything himself, and still wondering why it felt like he was constantly fighting to stay ahead.

The problem wasn't effort. It was operating without the systems, processes, and financial clarity needed to build a business...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin starts with a debate that lit up social media:Should technicians be helping pay for scan tools?But what starts as a conversation about equipment quickly turns into something much bigger.This episode is really about control.

Control of your business.
Control of your customer experience.
Control of your processes.
And ultimately, control of your future as a shop owner.

Too many shops operate on hope. They hope customers remember what was approved. They hope employees remember conversations. They hope chargebacks don't happen. They hope...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin takes on one of the most controversial topics in the collision repair industry:

Who decides what a repair is worth? 

Too many shop owners have accepted the idea that an insurance estimate is the final word. Kevin argues that's exactly the mindset that has created what he calls the industry's "Race to Zero"—a constant push toward lower labor rates, reduced markups, shrinking profits, and shops working harder while making less.

This episode breaks down why insurance estimates are not contracts, why knowing your numbers matters mor...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin tackles one of the most damaging beliefs in business: "The customer is always right."

For years, shop owners have been taught to bend over backward for every customer, absorb every complaint, hand out discounts, and tolerate behavior they would never accept from employees, vendors, or even friends. Kevin argues that mindset is destroying shops from the inside out.

Using real stories from the front lines, he breaks down why some customers are worth fighting for and why others need to be shown the door.

You'll hear...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin tackles a reality every shop owner will face sooner or later: What do you do when the phones slow down, the bays aren't as full, and the panic starts creeping in?

Too many owners react by cutting marketing, slashing prices, taking bad jobs, and making emotional decisions that create even bigger problems. Kevin argues that slow times aren't what destroy businesses.  They simply expose the weaknesses that were already there. 

This episode is all about what smart operators do when business slows down.

Kevin breaks down:Wh...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin breaks down one of the biggest problems killing repair shops right now:

Owners are doing the work… but they are not controlling the money.

What starts as a conversation about cash basis vs accrual accounting quickly turns into a much bigger discussion about billing discipline, cash flow, overhead, collections, labor rates, and why so many shop owners stay broke while working themselves into the ground.

Kevin explains the real difference between cash accounting and accrual accounting in plain English, why your numbers can lie to you if...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin gets personal.

Before the shop ownership.
Before the buildings.
Before the consulting.
Before the success.

There was a broke mechanic blaming everybody else for problems he created himself. Kevin opens up about the years he spent buried in debt, falling behind on tool payments, living paycheck to paycheck, and constantly thinking the problem was his boss, his pay plan, or the industry… until he finally realized the truth: The first thing he needed to fix was himself. This episode is about the mindset shift that ch...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin sits down with Anthony Rendino from A/R Customs and Collision to talk about the reality of running an independent body shop in today’s insurance-driven world. This conversation goes deep into what most collision shop owners are struggling with right now: Insurance companies cutting rates.

Short pays.
DRP pressure.
Paint material costs exploding.

And shops staying busy while barely making money. Anthony shares how he and his partner built their shop from the ground up after leaving larger operations, why they diversified beyond insurance work, an...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin breaks down one of the biggest reasons shops create their own chaos… poor communication and broken expectations.

Most customers can handle bad news. What they can’t handle is silence, vague answers, missed promises, and feeling like nobody knows what’s going on.

Using his own recent experience dealing with a dealership after the engine failure in his 2025 Sierra, Kevin walks through how quickly frustration builds when communication falls apart—even when the actual repair process is moving forward.

This episode is all about expectation control.

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin takes the conversation beyond numbers and into what every shop owner is really chasing… freedom.

Freedom from chaos.
Freedom from bad customers.
Freedom from living week to week.
Freedom from having to say yes to things you know are wrong.

Kevin breaks down why knowing your numbers is about far more than spreadsheets and reports. It’s about building a profitable shop that gives you leverage, confidence, and control.

Because when your business is broke, desperate, or disorganized, everybody owns a piece of you...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin breaks down the part of the business most shop owners either avoid or don’t fully understand… the balance sheet.

You can be busy, profitable, and still not actually getting ahead.

This is why.

The balance sheet shows what you truly own, what you owe, and where your money is really going. And for a lot of shops, that picture isn’t as strong as it feels day to day.

Kevin simplifies it with real-world examples so it finally clicks.

You’ll hear why...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin takes the conversation beyond just understanding your numbers and gets into what actually separates profitable shops from the ones constantly feeling the squeeze.

Most shop owners look at their P&L like it’s the finish line. It’s not. It’s the scoreboard of what already happened. By the time you’re looking at it, the money’s already been made or lost.

This episode is about what happens before that.

Kevin breaks down the real difference between a P&L and a budget, and why the bu...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin breaks down the difference between knowing your numbers and actually running your business with them. Too many owners look at their P&L at the end of the month and treat it like a report card. By then, the money is already spent and the decisions have already been made.

This conversation is about taking that back.

Kevin walks through how to use last year’s numbers as a blueprint for this year, how to build a real budget instead of guessing, and how to stop reacting to wh...

Most shop owners don’t have a pricing problem. They have a numbers problem and it’s costing them more than they realize.

In this episode, Kevin breaks down what actually happens to every dollar that comes into a shop and why so many owners are busy, working nonstop, and still wondering where the money went. Because the truth is, you can be doing millions in sales and still be losing money if you don’t understand your numbers.

Kevin walks through a simple breakdown of a $100 repair order to show exactly where the money goes from th...

Everybody keeps talking about how this industry is broken. How it sucks. How you can’t make money. How technicians are leaving and shops are struggling.

Here’s the truth. Yeah, there are problems. But that’s not the whole story.

Because there are shops out there winning. There are technicians building real careers. There are owners creating teams, culture, and systems that actually work. And the difference isn’t luck. It’s how they run the business.

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin breaks down what’s really going on inside shops right...

Everybody keeps talking about the technician shortage like it just showed up out of nowhere. It didn’t. We built it.

For the last 30 years, we told kids not to go into the trades. We stripped hands on training out of schools. We pushed college as the only path. Then we built workplaces that burn out the very people we depend on. And now everyone’s asking where all the good techs went.

Here’s what nobody’s saying… Supply and demand has shifted.

There aren’t enough skilled people, and the ones who can actually...

Most people know Kevin Brown as the guy who tells it like it is.

The shop owner. The operator. The guy calling out the chaos, the excuses, and the bad decisions that quietly kill shops.

But this episode is different.

This is the beginning of the story.

In this remastered episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin sits down with his mom and dad to talk about where it all started.  The learning struggles, the behavior issues, the teachers, the testing, the medication, the farm, the trades, and the moments that shaped the way...

Flat rate worked in Kevin’s shop for years. But the world outside the shop has changed.

Parts backorders. Fleet approval layers. Training the next generation of technicians.

Jobs sitting in bays waiting on things nobody inside the shop can control. And when that happens, flat rate stops rewarding productivity and starts punishing the wrong people.

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning, Kevin explains why he made the decision to move his entire shop off flat rate and onto hourly and salary pay.

This isn’t a rant about pay plans. It’s...

Marketing can build your shop or quietly bankrupt it.

In this episode, Kevin breaks down why most marketing promises are smoke and mirrors, and what shop owners should actually measure if they want booked work, not “impressions.”

What you’ll hear in this episode
• Why “impressions” are the most abused metric in marketing
• The tracking question every shop must ask on every customer
• Why Google Business Profile is the real local gold mine and it’s free
• How to handle bad reviews without looking weak or corporate
• How Kevin audits marketing so he can cut spend an...

If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t control your business!

In this episode, Kevin sits down with Maria Montie, partner at Shindel Rock and a key resource inside the Repair Shop Reckoning network, to talk about what most shop owners avoid their backend. 

Cash flow. Oversight. Internal controls. Tax structure. And the dangerous assumption that “my accountant has it handled.”

We break down:
Why bookkeeping and real accounting strategy are not the same thingHow overstated revenue can quietly create six-figure tax billsThe internal control mistakes that lead to embezzlementWhy “no surprises”...

Because being good at fixing cars isn’t enough anymore...

This episode is for shop owners who are tired of chaos, thin margins, and feeling like they’re constantly putting out fires.

Kevin breaks down what it actually takes to build a disciplined, profitable shop in an industry that’s getting tougher by the day.

We’re talking real systems. Real structure. Real leadership.

Inside this episode:

-Why letting customers bring their own parts kills your margins
-The difference between ChatGPT and a properly built shop AI system
-How doc...

In this episode, Kevin breaks down his exact service advising system step by step from the first phone call to after-hours pickup. This isn’t theory. It’s a process built from getting burned, plugging holes, and tightening the operation until the front office actually controls the day.

We talk about:

-Why most shops lose trust on the phone in the first 10 seconds
-How “free estimates” screw your techs and kill customer confidence
-The check-in process Kevin uses to eliminate wasted time and miscommunication
-How they use AI to capture the full customer story, w...

Featuring George Ryan, Body Shop Manager at a Mercedes-Benz dealer in upstate New York, this episode is a straight-up masterclass in why shops are sick of getting jerked around by insurance companies—and what it looks like to push back with facts, laws, and zero fear.

George’s perspective hits different because he’s lived both sides of the table: he grew up in a body shop, worked as a tech, then spent 20 years inside insurance (including overseeing DRP operations across 13 states and 300+ shops) before coming back to the shop world. Translation? He knows the games. He knows the sc...

This episode of Repair Shop Reckoning didn’t end the way we planned due to technical difficulties, but the conversation was too real not to release.

Jessica shares her story of starting in the trade at 16, helping build a successful mobile operation into a shop, and then watching it fall apart because of bad leadership, flat rate abuse, unpaid labor, and broken promises. From 1099 misclassification to technicians doing office work for free, this episode exposes exactly how good shops fail and good techs burn out.

We break down what happens when a shop grows without systems, bo...

Featuring Kevin Brown, host of Repair Shop Reckoning, and Jason Tracey — this one is a full-blown reality check for shop owners who are sick of getting squeezed from every direction.

Kevin doesn’t sugarcoat it: the collision world is sliding into a Race to Zero where shops keep dropping prices to “win” work… and end up financing repairs out of their own pocket. Meanwhile, insurers keep tightening the screws, MSOs keep setting the “standard,” and the customer gets caught in the middle with cheap parts, fear-based steering, and word-track manipulation.

This episode is not for the “pros”...

What happens when you put a real Corvette guy in the room… and let him talk?

In this episode, Kevin sits down with Alan Johnson from Matick Chevrolet, one of the most dialed-in Corvette minds you’ll hear anywhere. This isn’t “car talk” for clicks. It’s a deep dive into what’s actually happening inside GM right now… and why so many dealerships are falling behind.

They hit everything from the 3.0 Duramax being the best-kept secret in the truck world, to the reality behind the 6.2 uncertainty, to what really creates trust and consistency in a dealership: sy...

This episode is for new shop owners, mobile mechanics, and anyone thinking about going out on their own.

Kevin sits down with Ben Higgins, owner of The Wrench Wagon, for a real conversation about what actually happens when you transition from technician to business owner and why so many good techs fail once they open their own shop.

This is not another episode bitching about flat rate, dealerships, or customers. This is about responsibility, pricing, leadership, and survival.

Kevin breaks down why being busy does not mean you are profitable, how sympathy brain quietly...

WARNING: This episode is not scripted, polished, and it sure as hell is not safe for soft ears...

Welcome to the Christmas Special you always dreamed of. A behind the scenes look into shop life, recorded with the full Garrett Truck and Auto crew.

The team come straight from the shop, with the doors open and the truth turned all the way up. No guests. No filters. Just the people who actually do the work sitting down and talking about what really happens when you are building a shop, a team, and a culture from the...

In this episode of Repair Shop Reckoning: Race to Zero, Kevin and Jason go straight at the root problem most people keep dodging.

Flat rate is brutal, but the real villain is wasted time caused by bad leadership, weak policies, and broken processes. When the parts department is late, when the advisor does not verify parts, when approvals drag, when meetings steal wrench time, when techs are forced to do unpaid DBIs and research, the technician eats it. Every single time.

Kevin breaks it down in a way that is impossible to ignore, using simple math...

Welcome to another episode of Repair Shop Reckoning! Buckle up, because this one is a straight punch to the throat of the collision industry.

Kevin sits down with Jim Gray, partner at Motor City and a 40-year veteran of the collision world, to break down everything the insurance companies never want shop owners, techs, or customers to know. If you think you’ve heard Kevin talk shit before… this episode takes it up ten levels. 

Jim exposes how DRPs really work, why adjusters with zero hands-on experience dictate how trained techs “should” repair cars, and how insurance...