Automotive Repair News Today

Braxton Critcher [00:00:05]:
This is Automotive Repair News Today. I'm Braxton Critcher. Thanks for listening. And if you haven't subscribed to the podcast yet, YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever you find your podcast, do that today to get notifications for new episodes, new content like Today with Ryan Reagan. He is, I guess, the, the brand new executive director of asta. Welcome.

Ryan Ragan [00:00:31]:
Oh, happy to be here. Happy to be here. Yeah, just, just coming on board as we speak.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:35]:
Yeah, technically you're not even, you're not even on the job yet.

Ryan Ragan [00:00:38]:
No. October 7th, first day. But you know, instead of waiting a year and trying to guess what this event looked like, I thought it would probably be prudent to get out here and really spend some time in the trenches.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:49]:
How's it going?

Ryan Ragan [00:00:50]:
It's actually outstanding. It's been a great show so far. You know, we had a record attendance, which is good. It's went pretty smooth. I mean there's always some one offs, but I've met enough people to think I'm going to be elected in November. It's been good. It's been real good. Everybody's, you know, pretty passionate about what we're doing and as the industry as a whole, so I've met a lot of great people and just looking forward to continuing.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:16]:
I don't know you that well yet. We just, we just met. But I mean, I might vote for you in November.

Ryan Ragan [00:01:21]:
Well, you know, I might be a better option. You never know. So I might.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:27]:
So what's your background? What do you come from?

Ryan Ragan [00:01:30]:
Yeah, I've been in nonprofits and associations for a couple decades. I've worked everybody from the Red Cross to inda, which is an international non woven association. And I'm really, I'm not a tech by any means in the automotive industry, but I'm a businessman. I understand industry needs, I understand membership value and what you need to do to put together value for your members and things that are actually relevant, you know, a lot with government relations, projects, things like that. So that's, that's where I come from. You know, when I, this opportunity kind of presented itself, it did intrigue me and you know, obviously met with the board and went through some, some processes there and you know, I've looked at 990s, I've looked at everything and a lot of opportunity, a lot of potential to really grow this organization and a lot of opportunity to enhance our value to the members.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:24]:
Yeah.

Ryan Ragan [00:02:25]:
So, and that's, that's what I'm really looking to do is just come up with better Programs, you know, newer things online, on demand, learning, just different things. I mean, they've done a great job here. You know, if you look at the industry as a whole, you know, especially on, you know, the mechanical side, you know, you know, new techs, about 50% of them leave in the first two years, and then, you know, tech's about a 30% turnover rate industry nationwide. And sometimes the training is not up to snuff. So I can definitely say this event is impressive in that we definitely solved the training part. So we're, you know, it's very good to see.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:58]:
Yeah, yeah. So a little bit about me. I'm from outside the automotive industry, so I come from radio stations, so this is kind of where I'm comfortable. So I've been kind of in the industry for about six or seven months now, and I've known Lucas for a while, so he's kind of, I guess, educated me a little bit. But so my knowledge is very limited about the industry. And some of the numbers you just shared with me shows me that you've done your research. But what is, like, your knowledge about the industry and where. What kind of experience have you had in the past?

Ryan Ragan [00:03:33]:
You know, me, my. You know, probably just, you know, working on cars with, you know, family members, things like that, and not a lot. I mean, I am a researcher. I'm a data guy. I'll spend a lot of time, you know, looking at data research, not just statewide, nationwide, pulling numbers. You know, I'm spending a lot of time so far on the. On the mechanical side of the house. I'm getting ready to kind of dive in over this next week before my official start date and look at the tire side.

Ryan Ragan [00:04:01]:
I really want to bring that side of the industry back up as well and really start offering a lot of things to that side of the house as well, especially, you know, the owners. You know, you can be the greatest tech in the world. You can be great at a lot of things, but running the business is a whole other aspect, you know, and I was telling somebody just earlier, I'm like, you know, I. I can't tell you how many times I've met somebody. And, you know, you go someplace and you say, oh, you know, let's go get a beer. And they're like, oh, yeah, okay. And you meet the person. Well, I was a bartender for 10 years, so I bought the bar, and a year later, it's bankrupt.

Ryan Ragan [00:04:33]:
You know, you might be the best bartender in the world, but running a business is a different animal. So, you know, getting More classes and helping those folks understand the dynamics of running a business I think is a big thing, you know, and I'll let the experts handle the technical training. You know, that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to listen to the needs of the members. I do a lot of surveys. I want the feedback.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:54]:
Yeah, yeah. Well, I think kind of like what you said about, you know, technicians and shop owners.

Ryan Ragan [00:04:59]:
It's.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:00]:
You've got a board of shop owners and people that know the industry and with your experience with the Red Cross and whoever else you've got, the leadership, the research, the how to run an association and get it moving forward. And I think like you said, they've got it to a point where it's in good health and now you can sort of propel next steps, you know, so.

Ryan Ragan [00:05:22]:
And that's what I'm here for. You know, the folks, both members and non members will see a lot of me. I'm definitely a person. I'll do a lot of cold calling, a lot of things. I'll get out on the highway, get a lot of windshield time. I'll stop and see members and I'm going to stop by and see a lot of non members. And it's tricky, you know, you might pop into somebody and it's the worst day they've ever had in that shop and you just hand them a card and bow out and I'll talk to you later. And then other ones, you know, you get some time and meet them and.

Ryan Ragan [00:05:49]:
But again, for me it's, it's introducing who we are, explaining the benefits of being a member and it's, you know, an association can't just be a discount, you know, it's a discount to a show. That's not who we are. It's a community, you know, it's community of like minded professionals striving to do the same things in the industry as a whole. I'm definitely going to dive in. I've had some conversations, you know, I want to do a lot with the youth, you know, there, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have merit badges in automotive, you know, I want our members to be a part of working on that. I want to get into the high schools. It frustrates me that if you go to a STEM school, you know, you're some kind of super smart kid. But if you go to a vocational school, you know, the stigma is a little frustrating to me.

Ryan Ragan [00:06:32]:
And I've told, you know, lots of people in my life, you know, oh, should I go to college? Should I do this? Well, you can go to college and in four years you're going to be in debt and you're going to start at the bottom rung of whatever industry you go into. Or you can go into H vac, plumbing, whatever you want. In four years you're going to be making a livable wage and no debt. So you tell me what you want to do.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:50]:
It's very different world these days.

Ryan Ragan [00:06:51]:
Yes, very different.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:52]:
Very different. I mean, I feel like 20, 30 years ago. Not that you didn't have to go to a college, but it was a little more necessary to get it. People wanted to see that thing on your resume. You went to a four year college, got a degree, whatever. But I mean, these days there's just, with the Internet and the way that goes and with everything since COVID has just blown up, you know, it's just there's a lot of opportunity out there that is outside of going to college.

Ryan Ragan [00:07:22]:
I think Coursera kind of changed the world. You know, Coursera is offering, you know, model thinking courses from MIT and the stuff from John Hopp, you know, and you could just log in and take these classes. It's changed the world and so it is. And the stigma has kind of been removed. I think, you know, I agree with that. Yeah, you might have, you know, somebody graduated summa cum laude if their attitude and things aren't there. So what you give me somebody that's got a positive attitude, I can teach them to do anything. So that I'm, you know, the old saying, hire for culture, you know, and then train, I think is, is probably the gold standard of what it really should be.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:58]:
Right, right. So this industry obviously is more, you know, more about the industry just as a regular Joe, because we all have cars.

Ryan Ragan [00:08:11]:
Sure. Yeah.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:12]:
This is not, you know, going into the donut industry or you know, healthcare. If you've never been in healthcare, like, you know, you have some knowledge. Everybody has some knowledge about vehicles because they've had to take their vehicles to repair shops.

Ryan Ragan [00:08:26]:
Absolutely.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:26]:
And they've had to deal with owners, service advisors, maybe some technicians here and there. So there's always some knowledge. For me, I think I'm like most people where I've had some positive experiences, but I've also had some negative ones. And you though these podcasts that we do with changing the industry. Automotive repair news today, good news and auto repair is all about propelling the industry forward. What's that next step? How do we improve not just the industry, but the perception of the industry on the outside. Because there are so many shops owners, people within the industry that don't care about the future and the perception and that is changing, that's improving. But in your experience and your life, going to repair shops, you know, doing some of the numbers recently.

Braxton Critcher [00:09:19]:
But where do you think the industry is at and where do you want to see it go?

Ryan Ragan [00:09:23]:
Well, it's funny you bring it up. I mean, if you look at the Better Business Bureau ratings by industry, you know, automotive is pretty much the bottom rung, home remodeling right behind, you know, just ahead of it. So, you know, that is out there. But again, I think that is kind of a stigma. I think a lot of it simply because consumers just aren't educated enough to understand the, you know, I think it's changing now with the DVIs and things like that. And just all the, you know, when you're doing the digital inspections and, you know, customers are now saying, wow, this isn't a scam. Nobody's lying to me. They're not just trying to upsell me.

Ryan Ragan [00:09:56]:
They're showing me a video of a gasket leaking that I've never seen. And so I think that's helping. I think it's going to, you start to see an uptick in the customer satisfaction ratings. I think that's going to happen. I think the youth movement is going to help. I think, you know, a new generation of coming up, you know, and people can talk about the millennials and this and that, and they're lazy. You know, I've heard it all. And, you know, it's funny to me, people say that they're lazy, but they've volunteered more hours than any generation in history since World War II.

Ryan Ragan [00:10:23]:
So it's not that they're lazy, it's just they want a purpose and they want a direction to go. And so as they come into this industry and transition in more, I think you're going to see that better customer experience. And that's really what it is. We live at a very, you know, Amazon world. You know, I want it now. Touch a button, give me this. And I want it as cheap as I can get it. So, you know, I think.

Ryan Ragan [00:10:43]:
But the more the industry evolves and the technology evolves and the more training that you get as a business owner and customer service, I think you're going to start seeing uptick. I think customers are going to start to realize this isn't, you know, this is a professional industry. It's not just some old garage somewhere and a flying. A guy up in New York or something. So I think they're going to start to see it and I think they're going to appreciate the fact and the transparency is going be there. I think that's what was always missing in the auto industry and a customer's mind was a transparency. Yeah. And I think it's coming now, so I think we're going to see it just improve.

Braxton Critcher [00:11:15]:
Yeah. So I think, you know, educating shop owners, educating people in the industry of how to educate the customer is really key because, you know, you talked about it, you know, a lot of the perception of the industry is a really old guy bit with a belly and dirty grease all over him and just kind of just rundown shop, whatever. That's changing. You know, there's some nice shops out there and customer service is improving and educating the industry is crucial, but the difficult part is educating the customers that the industry is changing.

Ryan Ragan [00:11:50]:
Absolutely. And it is. It's always going to be a challenge. But again, I think it's, when you walk into that shop, what's the first thing you see now? What does that shop look like from the outside? How are they treated? You know, bottom line is, I'll pay a little more if I feel like it's a little better. You know, it's not always the price for the customer. It's, wow, should I pay that much here? You know, I don't know if this is the right spot for me. So, you know, I've taken my cars to specific garages and when I walk in, it's like I'm in a dealership, but I'm not. And that's what I think consumers want.

Ryan Ragan [00:12:22]:
And I think again, they want to know that I'm not being scammed. You know, I'm not being constantly upsold. I'm not being sold products I don't need. And I think that's where the new tools and the new software, the new equipment, the things that we're using in these garages. Garages are coming into play. And, you know, if you're a garage owner that's struggling, you know, you may want to, you know, take a look at that. You may want to come to one of these events. You may want to talk to some of these peers and that were in the same shoes you were maybe two years ago.

Ryan Ragan [00:12:47]:
And this is how they got out of it. And I think that's the future. I think having these types of forums where the networking and, you know, I see so many people that two years ago I was going to close up. Now I'm best, I'VE ever been, you know, and it's, it's coming to these events and meeting people. That's what it's all about.

Braxton Critcher [00:13:02]:
Yeah. So I saw a video a couple of weeks ago of a girl. I think it was on TikTok, maybe it was YouTube, talking about getting scammed. And she had a flat tire. She took it to one shop and they looked at it and they said, oh, well, you know, I don't think we feel comfortable about trying to patch that. It's in an interesting spot. We need to replace the tire. And she said, no, I don't want to do that.

Braxton Critcher [00:13:27]:
So she took it to a different shop. They patched the tire and charged her 25 bucks. And so she kind of roasted the shop that wanted her to replace the tire. The thing about the whole industry is so many people get in their mind that most of it is because different shops do things differently and it's not always wrong. That's just how one shop recommends one thing and another recommends another. And it doesn't mean that both shops are wrong. No, but there are a lot of. There are a lot of shops that don't have proper procedures, proper policies.

Braxton Critcher [00:14:11]:
And I believe that the perception of cleanliness, good customer service, good policies, processes and procedures, will eventually weed out the shops that don't do it right. Especially in today's world with social media. The shops that don't get up to date on their website, Google Analytics, social media, don't do those things properly with cleanliness in the shop. Eventually, in the Next, I think, 15 years, you're going to see some of those go by the wayside, close up, because they're not keeping up with technology and the way things need to be today.

Ryan Ragan [00:14:48]:
Yeah, I think you're 100% on with that, to be quite honest. It's the old. Back in the day when people hunted buffalo, the buffalo theory, it was the slowest and weakest buffalo that fell behind, and they were the ones that got. But the overall herd got faster and stronger. And I think that's what you're going to see happen is you're going to see the cream kind of rise to the top. You know, it's funny and you hit on something there when you're talking about, you know, this tire shop wouldn't repair it. Again, you don't know their policies. You don't know that particular person's skill set.

Ryan Ragan [00:15:14]:
It could have been close to, you know, an edge and maybe they just don't feel comfortable about it. And. But again, I think being transparent with the customer, you know, that's probably not what I'm comfortable doing. Right. And that's okay. You know, what people have to realize today was the old saying was if somebody has a bad experience, they tell 10 people, they have a good experience, they tell one. Well, in today's world, with one click, you tell thousands. And so it changes.

Ryan Ragan [00:15:38]:
It changes overnight. And like you said, when you're looking at Google Analytics and you're looking at Yelp reviews and you're looking at. If you're not paying attention to that, you're not addressing that, it's okay to have a bad review. You're never going to make everybody happy. But you need to address it, you need to answer it, you need to follow up. And it's those shops that are going to take the steps, you know, moving towards the future. And like you said, I think the rest will fall by the wayside.

Braxton Critcher [00:16:00]:
Yeah.

Ryan Ragan [00:16:00]:
Thus making the industry overall better. And that's what we want. That's what we want.

Braxton Critcher [00:16:05]:
So you kind of touched on, you know, you said merit badges for kids. With asda, obviously you're not on the job yet. You haven't had a lot of forecasting for what's coming up. But I mean, that, to me, sounds like a great idea. Super exciting for young kids, because that's important to pour into the next generation. But very much. What else. What else do you see is something that you'd like to do?

Ryan Ragan [00:16:27]:
Well, like I said, you know, we're right now in the industry and on our organization, we're pretty heavy on the tech side with the education and training. And, you know, we're the Automotive Service and Tire Alliance. So I want to see us kind of dive back over to that tire side and make it equally as heavy as we are on the tech side with education and training and programs. I really want to bring it all up. And then for me, it's, you know, like I said, I need to get the word out. You know, I'm looking at legislation, you know, some things we can look at. I had some conversations about the apprenticeship programs and kind of how they work. And it's kind of funky from county to county.

Braxton Critcher [00:17:05]:
Some are great, some are not.

Ryan Ragan [00:17:07]:
Yeah. And you can't apparently leave one to go to the other. If you live in this area, you have to attend this one or something.

Braxton Critcher [00:17:13]:
I don't know if I knew that.

Ryan Ragan [00:17:13]:
Yeah, well, I didn't either. And it's something I'm going to look into because, you know, to me, we need to do something to raise the bar on all of them, you know, and so that you can get into those programs and get into a good program. So I'm going to look into that. You know, there's obviously other legislative things, you know, with the inspections and the fees and things. So we'll look into some of that. But really I'm going to put it on, you know, the membership and the industry. You know, like I say, I do a lot of surveys. I'm going to be spending a lot of time with members communicating.

Ryan Ragan [00:17:41]:
I'll probably over communicate. I'm a firm believer that if you don't communicate, people start writing their own narrative. And a lot of times that narrative is based off, you know, rumors and you know, not facts. So I want to let everybody know. Just kind of changing how we do things on a day to day basis and our communication processes, you know, our marketing initiatives and just the content we have. You know, we're getting ready to have an upcoming class in finance which I think is great. You know, kind of the financial side of running a shop. We need more of that.

Ryan Ragan [00:18:10]:
You know, we need it across the board. You know, I think, you know, the training we have is good, but we have shops that don't have that. I would like to be able to say you're a member, you know, you're a two based shop. They don't have HR like you know, corporation, they don't have training, you know, have that new, that new hire go in, sit down, log into your account with us. Here's an OSHA training, here's this training and we'll take care of that for you. This person's now onboarded for you. Using our platform. I want to build a nice library for our members to be able to have, you know, membership only access.

Ryan Ragan [00:18:40]:
If you're a member, you get access to this content. So I'm looking into that.

Braxton Critcher [00:18:43]:
Okay. All right, well I think the thing for the industry is community and picking each other up, helping. Every shop owner helps another shop owner and one at a time will move in the right direction. And so for someone listening to this episode, YouTube, Spotify, wherever, I think it's important to know that hey, if you got questions, if you have comments, concerns or ideas for your shop, your area, this association, how can people contact the association you to share some of those, those things?

Ryan Ragan [00:19:19]:
Yeah, I mean like I say, I'm, I'm not officially on the job yet again. Just go to, you know, the ASTA homepage, you know, you can hit the web, we have some contact links there where you can call or email us.

Braxton Critcher [00:19:30]:
But you encourage that?

Ryan Ragan [00:19:31]:
Yes, absolutely. You. Look, one thing I know is what I don't know. So I'm, you know, and I'm a person. Nothing's outside the box to me, you know that saying. But, yeah, you know, I want the feedback. You know, I want the criticism. You know, I want it all.

Ryan Ragan [00:19:45]:
Because that's how you get better. And so anybody that's got ideas, anybody just needs help. Anybody. This is my first time here, and I've yet to see one shop owner, you know, not try to help another shop owner. One tech, not try to help a tech. There's none of this competitive nature here, you know, withholding information. Everybody's as willing to help as they can be, and we are as well. If you just need resources, you need to know who to talk to.

Ryan Ragan [00:20:07]:
You want to call me up and say, hey, who's a shop owner that's successful? That I can reach out and ask questions to call me up. I'll let you. I'll hook you up with anything I can do. That's what I'm here. I'm here not just here for the members. I'm here for the industry. And so that's what they need to understand.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:21]:
Okay, well, Ryan Reagan, ASTA executive director. That's a cool name, too. I feel like Ryan Reagan is like, you know, that's somebody that can lead an association. Ryan Reagan.

Ryan Ragan [00:20:34]:
I get asked all the time, are you related to Ronald Reagan? I'm like, I'd be at Camp David hanging out.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:38]:
Well, it's spelled differently, right? It is, but R a G a N. Yeah.

Ryan Ragan [00:20:42]:
People always ask me. They never look, they just always assume. So I'm always like, say yes.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:46]:
Say yes. Say yes. Yes, of course, the Reagan.

Ryan Ragan [00:20:49]:
Maybe we'll have another one in November. You never know. So you never know. Never know.

Braxton Critcher [00:20:55]:
Thanks, man.

Ryan Ragan [00:20:56]:
No, thank you.

Braxton Critcher [00:21:01]:
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. Subscribe to the podcast. That'll help us out a big deal and help grow the show. And you know what? While you're at it, slap on a review too. If you feel like this content is helpful for the industry, don't forget to follow us on all your favorite social media platforms. We're on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. Stay connected and be the first to know about new episodes, behind the scene content and more.

Braxton Critcher [00:21:32]:
And until next time, let's make the industry better together.