Honest Garage Podcast

Brady Lehr is the owner of High Country Performance 4x4 in Colorado, and his story is equal parts shop growth and personal comeback. He started out cleaning toilets in the same building he now leads a team in, then built a career around the fun side of the industry. Lift kits, armor, axles, gears, fabrication. As Brady says in the interview, nobody needs what they do, it is all want based. That ch...

Alex Jones did not buy a shop to "own a job." He bought it to build an operation that can scale. In this episode, Alex shares the real story behind stepping into ownership at AutoWits in Scottsdale, Arizona, after retiring from professional basketball and taking some early hits in business. He talks openly about what changed when he went from learning business in theory to learning it with payroll...

Jim Mueller is not just running shops, he is building something that holds up over time. Jim owns Repair Masters Automotive in Boulder and Louisville, Colorado, plus The Auto Repair Place in Boulder. Three general repair locations within a few miles of each other, and a team culture so sticky that some of his core people have been with him since they were teenagers. In this episode, Jim shares wha...

Jeff Owen and Melissa Velasquez are the kind of leaders every shop owner hopes they can find, then keep forever. They run the day to day at Jeremy's Garage in Pueblo West, Colorado, a family owned NAPA Gold and AAA approved shop that has served the community since 2008. In this episode, Jeff and Melissa get tactical about what it takes to keep a busy shop smooth and accountable, even when the owne...

Stephanie Corbin spent more than 25 years in corporate IT, then helped build Bullet Automotive and Diesel from a simple idea sketched on a Chick fil A napkin into a growing multi location operation on Colorado's Front Range. In this episode, Stephanie breaks down what it takes to scale without losing the thing customers actually care about, trust. She shares the four pillars Bullet is built on, ho...

Ken Stafford spent decades in the collision world, sold his business, and tried retirement. It did not stick. What started as a small "keep busy" shop quickly turned into something bigger, especially once Chris Oatman came in and Ken handed him the keys to run day to day. In this episode, Ken and Chris unpack how Next Auto Care in Highlands Ranch, Colorado grew from a side operation into a real bu...

Collin Ettienne built RI Automotive in Tampa the hard way, starting with one lift in a storage unit, wrenching nights and weekends, and (for a season) balancing the shop while working as a firefighter. But the real turning point wasn't opening the doors, it was having the guts to reinvent the business. For years, RI was heavily performance-focused: big builds, fast parts, fun projects… and brutal...

Preston Callahan's shop story starts the way a lot of real ones do: wrenching at 16 in the shade of a tree in front of his parents' house, then making the leap to ownership at 23, working out of the driveway and betting on himself. Today, Preston runs Callahan Auto & Diesel in downtown Mesa, Arizona, plus a separate arm focused on 24-hour emergency roadside service for trucks and RVs. In this inte...

Erik Rud built Big Thompson Diesel & Automotive in Loveland, Colorado by doing the opposite of what he saw in too many shops: rushing work, chasing clock-time, and treating people like numbers. In this episode, Erik breaks down how he went from frustrated employee to trusted problem-solver and why his shop has become a go-to destination for diesel and diagnostic work that other places can't quite...

If hiring feels like a fire drill this one is your reset. In this Expert Spotlight episode, David sits down with Chris Lawson, founder of Technician Find, to break down what actually works when you're trying to hire great techs (and why most shops keep losing candidates even when the pay is solid). Chris walks through the recruiting framework he's used with shops across the country: How to create...

Steve Mancinelli is a third-generation shop owner who's spent more than half a century in the automotive industry and he's still pushing his team to stay ahead of where the market is going. Steve runs Mancinelli's Auto Repair Center in downtown Denver, a family shop that's operated out of the same location since 1950. In this episode, Steve shares how a shop with deep roots avoids getting stuck in...

Darrell Weddell is the kind of operator who doesn't chase hype, he builds the business brick by brick.  🚗 https://hinsdaleauto.com/ In this episode, Darrell shares how he took a struggling Hinsdale Automotive in Littleton, Colorado and steadily turned it into a 7-figure shop known for honest diagnostics, clear communication, and top-quality work on both gas and diesel. He talks about the real pat...

Dennis Goodhue built Diamond G Repair in Montrose, Colorado the hard way—through long days, constant reinvestment, and an obsession with doing the job right even when nobody's watching. https://www.diamondgrepair.com/ In this episode, Dennis breaks down what it takes to run a high-trust, high-accuracy shop in a smaller market—where word travels fast, one bad review can outrun the truth, and your r...

Corry Brown didn't stumble into leadership, he earned it the old-school way: starting at the bottom, getting coached by strong mentors, and stacking reps until he knew how a great shop should actually run. Now Corry is the co-owner of McCormick Automotive Center and McCormick Quality Tires & Lube in Fort Collins, Colorado, operating two different business models under one roof of standards,  a ful...

Steve Horvath literally grew up in the automotive business—then spent decades evolving a family legacy into a modern, trusted operation. Steve is the owner of Gino's Auto Service in Littleton, Colorado, a AAA-approved shop that's been serving the community since the early 1980s. In this episode, Steve breaks down what it really looks like to expand and modernize a long-standing facility—without lo...

Chris Whited doesn't talk about his shop like it's just a business — he talks about it like it's a responsibility. Chris is the managing partner (and future sole owner) of Community Auto in Fort Collins, Colorado, and his path to leadership is anything but typical: he started in automotive as a teenager under a mentor, stepped away for 11 years to serve as a full-time pastor, then came back to the...

Robert Blaes didn't just build a repair shop — he built a family operation, a training ground for young techs, and a community hub rooted in a lifelong love for Mustangs. Robert is the owner of Stang Auto Tech in Broomfield, Colorado (serving the area since 1980), and in this interview he gets extremely practical about what it takes to scale trust beyond the owner. He shares how defining clear cor...

Austin Hatchell has worked his way through the industry the hard way—turning wrenches, working the counter, and even stepping into car sales long enough to realize the "sell it at all costs" mindset wasn't for him. Now he's the General Manager at Lake Arbor Automotive & Truck in Westminster, Colorado, leading a team through the kind of transition most shops struggle with: stepping into leadership,...

The Honest Garage Podcast exists for one reason: to bring honest conversations back to the automotive industry — the kind that help good shops become great without losing their integrity. In this episode, David sits down with Wiley Faris, owner of Landmark Automotive in Conifer, Colorado, to talk about taking over a small mountain-town shop and building a reputation strong enough that people will...

The Honest Garage Podcast exists for one reason: to bring honest conversations back to the automotive industry, the kind that help good shops become great without losing their integrity. In this episode, David sits down with Ryan Masterson , owner of Phoenix Auto Repair in Colorado Springs , to talk about rebuilding a life, rebuilding a reputation, and building a shop where trust is earned—one dec...

The Honest Garage Podcast exists for one reason: to bring honest conversations back to the automotive industry — the kind that help good shops become great without losing their integrity. In this episode, David sits down with Jake Clark to talk leadership, culture, and what it takes to build a shop people want to work for. You'll hear hard-earned lessons on developing your team, raising standards,...

Welcome to The Honest Garage Podcast —  Our show is about REAL shops telling REAL stories. It's about shop owners talking about more than just repairs. They talk about building people, serving their communities, working ON their shops NOT just in them, and ultimately shaping the industry we all love! If this resonates with you, welcome to our show! We are excited to join the ranks of other great A...