Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
All right, welcome in to Automotive Repair News Today. I'm Braxton Critcher. Thanks for listening. And we're going to try something new today. So this is going to be a solo episode of me just reflecting on my time in Kansas city at Vision 2025. So literally just got back yesterday, and I've already released a couple of episodes, conversations I had at the event and. And just wanted to just go through with you my highlights of the trip, my takeaways, and give you some advice about if you want to go to Vision next year. So first, Vision was awesome.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:42]:
This is actually my second time that I had been to Vision before I went with Lucas and David a couple years ago, 2023, and I had not started my podcast yet. I was not even really in the industry. They just hired me to come shoot some B roll for their podcast. And I didn't realize this, but David told me that some of the B roll that I shot that year in 2023 is actually on the Vision website. So if you go to Vision's website, you might see some of the B roll that I shot a couple of years ago. So that's. That was a cool note that I took away from the week. By the way, if you haven't subscribed to the podcast channel, do that now.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:21]:
And I'm trying to get to the point where I release a lot more content for you. So there's a lot of news happening in the industry, especially from. From Vision, and I just. I'm just learning that it's hard to release one or two episodes a week because there's just so much going on. So I'm going to try to start to get to the point where I release three times, maybe four times a week. So. So, you know, keep an eye on that here on the podcast channel. But my first takeaway from the event is that I just love the people in this industry.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:56]:
And I feel like that's probably a cliche thing that you hear, but, you know, cliche things happen because they just get said a lot, and a lot of times it's because they're true. And the people in this industry are amazing. The people that go to these conferences that I've now been to three, asta, Apex, and now Vision twice for Vision. I've meeting the same people, creating relationships, and, man, I just, I don't want to name names because I'm sure I'll forget people, single some out. But, you know, if you know me and we've seen each other at these conferences, you know who you are. And I just so appreciate the support from the industry about this podcast, what I'm doing, and just generally, friendship has been really awesome. So it was great to meet Travis and Sherry from Vision. Had Travis Troy on the podcast.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:49]:
That episode's out now. You should go listen to it. We just talked about Vision and his love for the industry, his love for the shop. He also called out shop owners and talked about that technicians aren't appreciated enough in the industry. Kind of a hot take. Go listen to it, Comment, Let me know what you think. But it was great to meet Sherry and Travis from Vision. And also I got to meet.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:19]:
I went on the show floor Friday night. Yeah. So shopware, 360 payments. The change in the industry podcast had a party Friday night. But just before the party, awesome party, by the way. I went on the show floor and just walked around, introduced myself to people, and I got to meet Chad Snitz. He is the vice president of Top Don. Chad, if you're listening to this, I can't thank you enough.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:50]:
I did thank you in person, but thank you again on the podcast. Because when I got to meet Chad at Top dawn and told him about my podcast, he was like, you know, I have got to introduce you to some other people here. I've got some connections you need to make. And so he took 15 to 20 minutes of his time to take me around the show floor and intro me to four or five different companies that I needed to know to do this podcast the right way, to have the right connections, to get press releases to keep you informed, and hopefully to have some of these people on for future guests. Well, Chad took time away from his booth to help me who he had never met before. And so that really made an impression on me, Chad. So thank you. And I will be reaching out because I want to get on that press release with TopDawn, and I need to have Chad on the show.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:44]:
So I thought it was really, really. It just stood out to me that he took that time. Even somebody. Somebody came up to his booth while I was standing in there. And he didn't say it in a rude way, but he was like, hey, I need to. I'll get to you in just a second. This guy's really important to me right now. And I was like, well, I feel important here.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:08]:
Um, and I'm sure there was somebody else at the booth that could talk to this guy, too. But Chad was awesome. Loved that connection that I made and looking forward to that relationship. But that just is a quick anecdote to what people in this industry do. Like, they care about each other. They take time away for people they don't know that. They don't even know if they can truly be. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here, but they take time out of their schedule to help people they don't know because they just love the industry and they love people.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:46]:
Chad was a great example of that. If I had two takeaways from the event, here's a couple. One, we're a long way from where we need to be in technology in the industry. So the last five years, the technology in the world has so greatly improved. And Chris Cotton and I had a conversation. That podcast is already released, too. You should go listen to it. And we talked about the technology in the industry and where we're at.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:23]:
And he said he believes if you were to compare the industry and their use of the technology that we have at our fingertips. He's like, we have smartphones, and this is just a metaphor, but we have smartphones, but instead we're choosing to use dumb phones, old flip phones. He said, we're years behind where we should be. We've got a long way to go. He does believe we can catch up, but AI is. Is something that a lot of people are trying to learn. Some are hesitant to get in there yet. I understand that viewpoint, but there's so many things that truly are helpful resources for shop owners, for industry leaders that we are simply not using.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:10]:
And Chris and I talked about that on the podcast. So that's a huge takeaway for me, is that the industry is great, there's a lot of good people, but our use of technology is not where it needs to be. So I learned that this weekend. A second key thing that I took away was my conversation with Lisa Faucher from the Auto Care Association. I've had Lisa on a couple of times. This is actually her third time on the show. I still need to go back and look, but I think she's been on the most of anybody else, at least, bare minimum, she's tied with someone else for three. So she and I talked about right to repair, and the Repair act literally just got reintroduced to Congress a few weeks ago.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:54]:
And so we had a conversation about the future of the bill. And my takeaway is that it's going to happen. This bill will be passed. I thought going into the conversation with Lisa that it would be this year. That's the reporting that I had read. There is a lot of enthusiasm, but Lisa said we probably should tamper those expectations and think that it will be passed next year. She was like, you know, great, it could be this year. But she was like, more realistically, it might take the full term of Congress.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:28]:
So she said, she talked about the new administration, the Trump administration, and that they have a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of energy. They're, there's, they're trying to get a lot of things done. She said she doesn't really know where the repair act is on the priority list for the new administration. She did talk about the tariffs, but that because it is still bipartisan and she stressed the importance of it continuing to be bipartisan, that she feels there's really a strong chance for it to get passed maybe this year. I'd love to see it happen this year. But she sort of just said, you know, plan for the worst, expect the best kind of deal. So maybe next year for the repair act. So that was another big takeaway for me also, too.

Braxton Critcher [00:09:20]:
This is not a takeaway, but just an encouragement to you or something that I should. You should do is go listen. It's not available yet, but I think it's going to come out this Thursday. A conversation that I had with Uva Kleinschmitt. He is with Dvidone right.com autotech IQ and if you are in the Changing the Industry podcast group, then you know about a post that DVI done Right David and Lucas were involved in back I think it was February 5th. So David and Lucas both use DVI done right. They are DVI certified through that website at their shops. Well, David was trying to promote what DVI Done Right has done for his shop and the post sort of went sideways.

Braxton Critcher [00:10:09]:
A lot of negative comments. You can go back and find it February 5th on change in the Industry podcast Facebook page and OOVA jumped right in there and he got in the comments. He got into some conversation about some negativity about the website and the numbers that were being displayed. And I just said, uwe, I want to just sit down and talk about this. Are you willing to have an honest conversation about what happened on that Facebook post? Because there was 102, I think comments, a lot of them were negative. And so we had that conversation and I was really happy that we did at the end. Really good conversation. I encourage you to go listen to it, to hear his side of the story and his view of the industry, which I think is a really strong one.

Braxton Critcher [00:10:55]:
And he really is trying to help. So go listen to that episode, by the way. So just if you've not gone to Vision. That was my second time. But if you have not gone, plan to go next year. It's not always the most ideal time of the year. Still kind of winter. It was a little cold.

Braxton Critcher [00:11:14]:
Flights getting out there were a little dicey. But it's worth it because it's a great venue, plenty of hotels around and lots of fun things to do. Like, by the way, Sunday afternoon, before flying out of Kansas City to come back home, Lucas and I went to the Arabia Museum in downtown Kansas City. And it's a museum about. If you've heard of it. I hadn't, but if you heard of was a riverboat that sailed down the Missouri river back in the 1850s sunk. All the passengers survived, but all the cargo was lost. And the museum is about the excavation in the 1980s that recovered the Arabia.

Braxton Critcher [00:12:04]:
There had been two previous attempts. One of the attempts actually reached the boat, found a barrel with hats and shoes. They then gave up because they were looking for whiskey and, and gold and valuable items. But when they found clothing, they said, it's not worth it. So they found the Arabia back. I think that that example was in, like the 1880s. And so then the Arabia was lost for 100 years. And the museum is about these refrigeration salesmen and, and a restaurant owner that decided to find it, and they did.

Braxton Critcher [00:12:43]:
And it's really amazing. David actually encouraged Lucas and I to go. And I was a little skeptical going in. It was like, what's this going to be? Is it going to be any. Any good? And I was really, really intrigued. Great, great museum in downtown Kansas City. Wasn't that expensive. If you do it and really spend your time to learn and, and see everything, you'll be there for about two, two and a half hours.

Braxton Critcher [00:13:04]:
But the Arabian Museum and there's lots of other stuff I didn't realize this. The College Basketball hall of Fame is in Kansas City. Of course, baseball hasn't started yet, so you can't go see a Royals game, but definitely you should go. Plenty of good restaurants. Kansas City is a great area, too, to hang out for a little while. So go a little early, stay a little late, take in the sights and sounds of Kansas City if you get to go next year. But I do encourage you to go next year. Bring some, bring some folks at your shop, go to Vision.

Braxton Critcher [00:13:38]:
But yeah, so that, that's kind of, you know, my takeaway from. From Vision. And I am just truly excited about where the podcast is going, the growth that we've been seeing, and just excited to continue to keep you informed of what's happening in the industry. So excited to I think the next show I'm going to go to may not be till ASTA in September, so kind of got a couple of months off here. I know Lucas and David are going to go to a bunch. They're going to San Diego here in a few weeks and they'll be at Tools in Pennsylvania. I think that's in May. Then they'll be in Phoenix.

Braxton Critcher [00:14:14]:
But I think the next show that I'm going to is ASTA in Raleigh in September. So if you get a chance to go to that show, link up with me. Would love to meet you. But that's it for this episode of Automotive Repair News Today. My little recap of my takeaways from from Vision 2025. Thanks for listening. Hey, if you're still here, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Automotive Repair News Today. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment like share.

Braxton Critcher [00:14:48]:
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