How to Run a Profitable Detail Dept | SDR #258

Welcome, everybody, to the big show. Today we are going to talk about how to create a profitable detail department. There's going to be some surprises in there. It's a great, great conversation. We also talk about Christian's experience with a pole and a star and range anxiety and there's stuff in the news and much, much more. Coming up on this edition of Service Drive rev.

I would, I would like to remind everybody that we have started this incredible series called the Irreplaceable Service Manager Live lecture series, where I'm going through the book, chapter by chapter, kind of expanded version of it, telling some stories, some experiences, updating it a little bit. We also have priced it so anybody can afford it because we want to have you there. It's, it's kind of my, my way of paying a tribute to a book that has sold very well and made a difference in a lot of people's lives. Before we come out with our leadership.

Book the next lecture, I think it's probably going to be one of the meatiest lectures because it's. Yeah, that's when you don't want to miss direct. I think that'll be better.

People have read that chapter and cried.

Yeah.

A lot of people have.

Said that that's them like that chapter. And you couldn't, like if you were writing a book, you couldn't fictionalize that chapter and have it be authentic. It had to be somebody. It was.

Well, when you hear Mr. X talk about it, I'm going to guess that it's going to. It'll hit you that there's not a huge difference between him and you.

There's just something about him that just. You want to hear him talk about his experience.

Yeah, but some of the stories we'll talk about. You might be surprised how.

How much of a dance it was between him and I in the beginning.

I believe that. And you would. Because I wouldn't guess it now because he doesn't look like a person. I don't have to dance with him. You. You knocked it out of him.

Oh, I wouldn't describe it as knocking it out of him. I would describe it as I got him to have some success and then that made him believe.

Okay.

And then he did it on his own. But I, but I.

I, you know, went with him into the fire until he.

Had some success.

Great.

That makes sense.

I can't wait to hear it. So I'm just a fan. Next on the NEXT one. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

Really fun.

Oh, tell everybody about your experience. With the electric. So there's a. There's a Tesla. By the way, my chick rented a Tesla when she went to San Francisco.

And you know how she got that? Not through a rental car company.

Right. Did she ask you for help?

No, we talked about it this morning.

Oh, yeah. Through Turo Toro, which I learned from you.

Yep.

When you had a Tesla, you still rent it on there, right?

I did, yeah.

It was easy, but I told her, you know, they're dropping off at the airport. It was really easy. So she had a great experience. Yeah. But she rented the one that.

That you had, the three. Is it called the three?

Yeah, the smaller one.

Yeah. Not the same as her plaid.

No, hers is way more of a.

I could see her spoiled.

Yeah. I could see her struggling with that transition. But. But yeah, so she told me that she did that. And I think the thing about Turo that I really, really like is that the owner of a car that's renting it to you has so much more skin in the game than a rental car company. So, like, their attention to detail and what they're willing to do to try to make the customer and. Yeah. Their rating matters a lot to them. And being a master renter or whatever, there's, like, levels that you get within Turo. And I just think that every time I've ever done it. So I've rented my car out on Turo, and I remember how much I cared about, like, how clean the car was and making sure that it was fully charged and that I made it easy for the person to get. And, like, I really became a business person during that rental. And then when I've gone and rented cars, because I've rented several on the other side, it's always been a phenomenal experience. I love the whole, like, drop it off at the airport, and they just kept sending you a picture of where the things parked at. It's so easy. So that's great. But I didn't do that most. Most recently when I went and hung out in Florida for the weekend. So I would. I do. I usually rent through the same company, and I will tell you that it's.

One of the big rental companies that puts your name the sign. Unless you're with me, which your name never shows up on the sign.

Yeah. So mine does. They do a really, really good job.

There's always some reason why my name isn't on the sign.

Yeah, it's really funny. But. But in this particular case, I was just kind of thumbing through, and there was one vehicle that Was like half the price of all the other ones. And it was an electric car. And I'm like, okay, so if they give me a. If they give me a Tesla, then I already know how to use it.

How much was it a day?

50 bucks a day.

50 bucks a day.

So 50 bucks a day. I was there for two days and I got there and again, like usual with this company, it was really easy to get the paperwork done on the board. They didn't have a board at that airport, but had. They had my paperwork all pre done and essentially I just had to get the keys and go. So it was pretty easy. So I went out there and then.

An electric car has a key.

Yeah, this one did. So it looked like it like your key fob for your land.

Tell everybody what kind of electric car.

Is a pole star. It was the pole star.

Which is.

What do you think about when you hear the name Polestar? Do you think about the North Pole?

No. Am I allowed to say.

Does it.

Involve the word dancing?

Yes.

No, you're not allowed to say.

Okay, so dancing. It doesn't. Yes. No. Okay.

What you think about is the North Pole or the South Pole.

So it was a pole star.

Yeah.

All right. Yeah. So that was a key with a. With a fob. There's nowhere to put the key. But it was just a key fob. Like it looks like what, your range.

Rover for $50 a day?

For 50 bucks a day.

Seems like a bargain.

Yeah. I was like, okay, I'm all in. So the thing I noticed you think.

That it was a Tesla when you were renting it.

I did think so.

It just says electric car. Is there a picture of a Tesla?

Yeah.

So it's a little bit of a bait and switch.

A little bit of a bait and switch because it was test Tesla 3 or comparable model.

I hate that.

So, yeah, so I got hit with the.

That happens to me quite frequently when I go to Seattle. That the car that I reserve on the website isn't the car that they have.

Yeah. So this was a very interesting vehicle. So the first thing that I noticed, and I'm used to, I had a model 3 extended range. Right. So my.

What would be the range on that?

Like, let's say 330.

And is that enough for you to do the activities you were going to do in Florida?

By far for sure. So this one when I got in, it was over 92 charged. And the total rating I had 230 miles now.

So it's a little shorter range.

So it's a hundred, 100 miles shorter. Now, here's the thing where I knew I was in trouble before I drove off the airport. I'd gone from 230 to 210 miles of charge.

Going out of the airport?

Yes. And this is a small airport.

How fast were you going, going out of it? Were you in a hurry? Like, were you driving like Christian, scaring the living bejesus out of everybody?

No, I was, I would say normal. Let's say it's 45 miles an hour in the zone.

My normal or your normal?

Probably closer to your normal than my normal. Like I was doing the speed limit.

So there isn't a. There isn't a.

I don't know, like a common.

Way to report that. Like it's left up to the manufacturer at this point.

That's right. So.

So the thing could say you had a thousand miles and then by the time you get to the airport, you got 800.

That's right. So it was a very similar thing to that. So I got out and I noticed that it already lost, you know, whatever, a few percentage points on the total. And then it gone down 20 miles. And I'm like, okay, so that's interesting. And then I get out, it's. It's 40 miles from the airport to where I pick my son up at. And so I'd gone from 2:30 to 1:60 is when I picked him up. And then I'm like, I start to do the math in my head now. Now I will tell you. So my total mileage traveled from day one to returning the car 192. And I had to charge twice. Now here's the problem. So I'm pretty spoiled with Tesla. They've got the supercharger network, right? So you can literally charge. Like you can give yourself a couple of hundred miles worth of charge in an hour or less. But the plug that works for the polestar is like your standard electric car. So I couldn't go to what would.

Be in a Chevy voltage.

Yes. Or a Ford F150 Lightning or whatever. Right. So it's like your standard electric car. So they have an app that they have you download and it starts to give you all of the, all of the different options for chargers and everything like that. So in this area where I was at, which St. Augustine, Florida, beautiful place if anyone ever wants to visit. But a lot of people do move there. It's, you know, it's, it's not as hot as normal Florida cities, but I'm a big fan. I Lived.

Especially if you like alligators and water moccasins and snakes.

Yeah.

I've seen all of those things while I've been there.

But, you know, if you're willing to part with your dog, your small pets.

It'S the place to go. So. So then it becomes the weekend, which I didn't have a lot of time. Right. So I'm going out there and I'm leaving on a Friday and coming back on Sunday night because I got to work on.

But the app tells you where to go to charge it, and the app.

Tells you where to go to charge it. So this isn't the. Plenty of places to go charge it.

What's the problem?

Guess how many miles per hour the charge system was?

Oh, slow.

It said 10 to 14, but it was closer to 10.

So they got problems with that car.

So I don't know if it's the car, the chargers, or whatever it is, but the problem is, and you know me really well, right? So would I rather sit somewhere for six hours and charge for free, or would I rather pay and have it done in 45 minutes?

I would much rather pay, but it wasn't an option. So either that the infrastructure isn't good enough in that part of the world, or the car isn't good enough that it can't accept a fast charge, but either way, I worked my weekend around charging the car.

Yeah.

And that wasn't cool.

The wheel is turning, but the hamster's dead.

Yes, the hamster was dead. A dead, dead hamster. But I would say, like, drive wise now. When I got on, felt just as fast as the Tesla. They have a screen in the middle.

Just like you watch the range go down.

That's funny. But I definitely had range.

What did your son think of it?

He likes it better than the Tesla. I don't know why. So. But he's got weird tastes in cars. Like what?

He doesn't have range. No.

And whatever makes him like or not like a car has nothing to do with how the car operates. But. Yeah. So that was my. That was my electric car story. And I wonder if that's what it's like. I'd heard about this. I didn't. I didn't print it for the news, but there was a guy, I think maybe you sent me this. A guy did, like, a road trip in his F150 Lightning, and it was just a disaster. And they ended up. It was so terrible. They left their truck at a Ford dealer and rented a gas truck to finish their vacation.

So A lot of people aren't. Are jumping in and then feeling like it's not for them.

Yeah. Like they got duped. Like, it's just not honest.

Yeah.

So there's. There's definitely some work to do there, but. Yeah, so that's my. That's my electric car rental story. First time I've ever rented.

Weeks ago when we had the.

Category for Hillary. So funny that they named it Hillary.

Yeah.

Hillary Hurricane. I was thinking.

That I was glad I had a, you know, the Range Rover and gas.

Yeah.

So, yes, I could get out of there if I had to. And also it'll go through water. I don't think the Tesla is going through standing water, is it?

Not that I've seen.

Yeah.

I wouldn't want to drive it through.

Where would you charge? Like.

Yeah, I would just be worried about it.

Yeah. There's no electricity.

I mean, that's a. An odd event. But I went and filled up the Range Rover and I was ready for. I was ready to put all four bulldogs in there and drive to Washington or whatever I had to do.

Yeah, it wasn't that bad.

It was like a rainstorm.

Rains.

It was fun to watch them on the news, trying to make it into something.

Yeah. So I think that's an art to.

Make something scary that isn't scary. The people in Baja.

Had it pretty bad. I don't think too many people here.

When it hit Baja as a Category 3, you feel that. That's terrible. And I've been through terror.