I started a shop. I had three employees: me, myself, and I. I did everything from busting tires to timing belts to climate control—and everything in between. Eighteen...
The Repair Your Customer Can’t See
Posts by Pam Oakes MOTOR Contributing Writer:
Best Practices for the Mom-and-Pop Shop: Run on Your Numbers, Not Someone Else’s Shop Accounting
Spend any time at an automotive trade seminar or skimming industry magazines—and I’ve done plenty—you’ll hear and see the same commandments repeated like gospel: hit...
Every Repair Lives or Dies by Nine Critical Decisions
We’ve all experienced it: diagnostic failure in the bay—and I’ll be the first to raise my hand when questioned. And the breakdown has a multitude of contributing...
Fixing No-Code Issues While Sitting in the Driver’s Seat
We’ve all been there: no codes, low-erratic idle—all pointing to a contaminated mass air flow (MAF) sensor. And what do we usually find as the culprit? Another dirty...
When ADAS Sensors Cannot See Through the Snow: Why Obstruction and Calibration Matter More Than You Think
Modern vehicles rely on cameras, RADAR and other sensors to make driving decisions. Advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), like automatic emergency braking, lane...
OTA: Vehicle Upgrades Most Shops Don’t See Coming
The Class 1 vehicle sitting in your shop bay today is nothing like your grandfather’s Oldsmobile. But if Ransom Olds—the real inventor and patent holder of the...
ADAS/AD Developments Magnify Technician Practices in the Bay
It’s only a two-day event—but those two days are intense. And this year’s ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Technology Summit – North American edition was no exception.
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From the Ground Up: Tires, Alignment and ADAS Safety
To this day, I still love the smell of vulcanized rubber.
It takes me back to my childhood in the late 1960s, visiting my dad at Kliffle Tire at 8½ Mile and Gratiot...
The Expanding Role of AI/ML in Automotive Autonomy: Standards, Liability and the Technician’s Evolving Responsibilities
It’s hard to believe more than five years have passed since I stepped onto my “the tech needs to be trained” soapbox, authoring articles and recording podcasts on one...
So, You Want to Own a Repair Shop?
From the service bay, shop ownership can look deceptively simple—easier even than repairing cars and light trucks. But do not confuse technical skills with business...