In this no-holds-barred episode, Micki Woods sits down with Kyle Motzkus and Clay Hoberecht, two industry pros who say what others won’t. They get brutally honest about the lack of accountability in the collision world, calling out fake certifications, clout-chasers, and shops that talk a big game but don’t follow OEM procedures. What you’ll hear: - Why ego is killing repair quality and what real leadership looks like - RTA: consumer protection or shop-owner trap? - The shocking truth about “cer...
Jul 22, 2025•1 hr 30 min•Season 2Ep. 4
In this powerful and deeply personal episode, Micki Woods sits down with industry leader Andy Tylka, owner of Tag Auto Group and founder of Brake the Stigma, to talk openly about mental health in the collision industry. This isn’t your typical business podcast. Andy shares his own mental health journey, from years of struggle and stigma to building a culture of support across his 15+ locations. Whether you’re an owner, tech, CSR, or just someone trying to keep it together…you’ll want to hear thi...
Jul 08, 2025•45 min•Season 2Ep. 3
In this powerful episode, Micki Woods is joined by Jeff Butler and Justin Lewis—two shop owners who fought for years to protect collision shops and consumers alike, and won. They helped pass a groundbreaking Right to Appraisal (RTA) bill in Washington, and they’re here to share what every shop owner needs to know about it—and how to take action in your own state. Here’s what you’ll learn: ✅ What RTA Actually Is: Why it matters, how it works, and why most shops are still misunderstanding it. ✅ Wh...
Jun 24, 2025•54 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In this value-packed episode, Micki Woods sits down with Kena Dacus, co-owner of Dacus Auto Body & Collision Repair, to uncover real-world strategies for shop owners who are ready to grow smarter, not harder in the collision repair industry. Here’s what you’ll learn: ✅ Insurance Headaches: Why getting paid for proper repairs (like safety inspections) feels impossible, and how Kena’s team manages the pushback. ✅ Towing Business Truths: The real cost of adding towing services, the risks you ne...
Jun 10, 2025•33 min•Season 2Ep. 1
I am talking with Michael Giarrizzo, CEO/President of DCR Systems, about embracing the change of our industry. As our vehicles become more complex things NEED TO CHANGE! Vehicles today are safety machines on wheels so what is your shop doing to make sure you are keeping those vehicles that come to you after a collision are being restored so they operate exactly like they would if they never would have gotten into an accident. We need to start taking on the responsibility of this to create a sust...
Jul 16, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 121
Thank you to our wonderful sponsor, Lombard Equipment, who sells new and refurbished equipment AND provides training on that equipment in your shop! Reach out to them and get the help you need... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ What made this year's SE Collision Conference amazing? Several of those involved chatted about some things that happened behind the scenes plus a recap of the ...
Jun 25, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 120
Thank you to our wonderful sponsor, Lombard Equipment, who sells new and refurbished equipment AND provides training on that equipment in your shop! Reach out to them and get the help you need... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ We are talking about a very polarizing topic today with Steve Krieps of Collision Safety Consultants of West Virginia. Steve was part of a panel at the SE Coll...
Jun 21, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 119
For all of you listening Lombard Equipment is offering a FREE Air Jack (3 bag) with purchase of any Chisum equipment piece PLUS Chisum is offering incredible factory pricing through the end of June! https://youtu.be/AsTdmSVxSHs?si=v-sKc171vEm1eaKC Kevin Lombard & Dave Caron of Lombard Equipment chat with us today about the opportunities shops have as they are experiencing some slow downs right now. A survey was done and found that a technician standing up ergonomically (versus down on the gr...
Jun 20, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 118
Thank you to our wonderful sponsor, Lombard Equipment, who sells new and refurbished equipment AND provides training on that equipment in your shop! Reach out to them and get the help you need... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ I'm excited to bring to you today Mister Blake Farley, the Executive VP of Operations for Quality Collision Group from the Southeast Collision Conference. Blak...
Jun 19, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 117
Thank you to our wonderful sponsor, Lombard Equipment, who sells new and refurbished equipment AND provides training on that equipment in your shop! Reach out to them and get the help you need... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ Next in our lineup from the Southeast Collision Conference is Jay Goninen, the President and Co-Founder of Wrench Way and the Podcast host of "Beyond the Wrenc...
Jun 18, 2024•29 min•Season 1Ep. 116
Thank you to our wonderful sponsor, Lombard Equipment, who sells new and refurbished equipment AND provides training on that equipment in your shop! Reach out to them and get the help you need... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ Today we chat with Taylor Moss of OEC (OE Connection). Taylor talks about some of the main ways that shops are losing (leaking) profit and how you can stop the...
Jun 17, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 115
Thank you to Lombard Equipment, our wonderful sponsor, whose goal is to help improve the quality of people's lives. Reach out to them and get the help you need... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ Next in line at the SE Collision Conference we are taking with StrongLead's CEO, Bruce Schronce. Bruce and his team help grow collision centers. In his session he gives 5 critical aspects of g...
Jun 14, 2024•21 min•Season 1Ep. 114
Lombard Equipment, our fantastic sponsor has 5 star online reviews, they do all of their own service and warranty work! Amazing! :) Reach out to them today... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ Kyle Motzkus, GM of Hunter Autobody, and Danny Gredinberg of the DEG (Database Enhancement Gateway) are with us today! Their session was called "Self Confidence: An advanced repair plan you can ex...
Jun 13, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 113
Lombard Equipment, our fantastic sponsor, has been in business for over 30 years providing equipment, service, training, AND support! Reach out to them today! Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ Today we are chatting with Greg Peeters of Car ADAS Solutions. Greg's session was titled " The Critical Steps Involved to Achieve an OEM-Centric Calibration". W e chat about the good, the bad, the...
Jun 12, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 112
Thank you to Lombard Equipment - our sponsor of this series! Lombard Equipment not only sells new and used equipment but they have real LIVE people answer their phone! Reach out to them and get the help you need... Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ Next in line at the SE Collisiion Conference we are taking with Matthew DiFrancesco who had a session titled "Building Value in Your Shop". ...
Jun 11, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 111
Shoutout first and foremost to Lombard Equipment - our sponsor of this series and your #1 choice when looking to purchase new and refurbished equipment from Maine to Miami! Reach out to them today! Massachussets Office: (800) 422-PULL Florida Office: 888-440-WELD Virginia Office: 833-MIG-WELD Visit them online: https://lombardequipment.com/ We are kicking off the series from the SE Collision Conference 2024 in Greensboro, North Carolina with the one and only Mike Anderson of Collision Advice! Mi...
Jun 10, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Winner of the 2024 Vehicle Care Rockstar Award given out by BodyShop Business went out to Clay Hoberecht - owner of Best Body Shop in Wichita! Clay talks about what he does differently, why he does it and what separates him from other shops. Reach out to Clay directly: Clay's Email: bestbodyshopinwichita@yahoo.com Episode #55 with Clay: Get Paid for What You Do and Change Your Mindset with Clay Hoberecht: https://youtu.be/s46WhSvjClk Best Body Shop's Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BESTB...
May 21, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 109
Jordan Hendler & Josh Kent join me today to talk about the SE Collision Conference that will be happening very soon! From May 16-18th the festivities will be going down! On Friday, May 16th there is an award ceremony with cocktails, games and a whole lot of fun. This event is by invite only or if you purchased a ticket to the attend the amazing classes. Starting Saturday, May 17th at 8:30am EST the classes kick off with Mike Anderson of Collision Advice and sessions run all day. The tradesho...
May 07, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Rick Selover has been in the business for a long time and has been helping shops grow for just as long! Rick understands the power of perspective and of self awareness. After putting things into action in his own life and seeing the power of it all, he started helping others in our industry. We talk today about some basic things you can switch up in your every day life that will impact your person, your body and also your business and the way you function! If you take 1 thing that popped into yo...
Apr 30, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 107
The NE Collision Conference just wrapped up and I only heard amazing things about it! Today we talk with Ken Miller, President of the AASP New Jersey and Co-Owner of 821 Collision in North Haledon, NJ. He shares with us some of his top takeaways and most popular highlights of the show. If you have never been to the NE Collision Conference it is the weekend of St. Patty's Day in March every year so make sure to register when it comes around in 2025. This conference has the largest trade floor and...
Apr 09, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Today, my friend Kyle Motzkus, who's the general manager over at Hunter Auto Body in St. Louis, Missouri, and I are having a chat about the common challenges collision shops face. Kyle's got some great insights to share! We'll cover everything from the importance of getting the intake process right with clients to ensuring they're the right fit for your shop, setting clear expectations, walking them through the repair process, drafting repair procedures, staying in touch with both the insurance ...
Mar 26, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 105
Louie Sharp, owner of Sharp Auto Body talks to us today about the keys to his success. As a former marine his mindset shift completely changed his life and his business. Louie drops so many amazing gems in this episode. Check this out: Life is either easy or hard and you get to choose how you play the game. Be the point of the spear. Lead the charge for what is right, for what's just and what is fair. In coaching he starts with the owner. For every business owner, Louie shares that you have to w...
Mar 12, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 104
Did you know that in our collision world today that only 44% of body shops are independent? Take advantage of that! John Shoemaker joins us today and we dive a little bit into his session at SEMA with the SCRS classes where he spoke on “Being Elite in a Consoldator’s Market”. John is a legend in our industry. He’s a long time veteran who now is a BDM for BASF where he is able to help out shops plus he speaks at conferences and association events across the country. Being elite in your market mea...
Feb 27, 2024•40 min•Season 1Ep. 103
I had the pleasure of hanging out with Steve Baker, manager of Windermere Collision Center in Winter Garden, Florida. At Windermere their team has decided to really get niche in the EV repair segment. We discuss the importance of their processes and how that has been a big needle mover for them. We also discuss some of the difficulties they have had repairing the EVs and how they are overcoming them. In addition, if you are thinking of either getting into the EV certifications for Tesla, Lucid, ...
Feb 13, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Today we are talking with Laura Tierney from ShopLoaner.com and discussing something that is gaining a lot of momentum in our industry – vehicle loaners in your shop. This doesn’t mean that you have to give out free loaners to people. This means another revenue stream for you. It means that you could provide a value to your guests by having a vehicle on site or even providing a vehicle for less money per day to customers who don’t have rental coverage. It also allows you to really provide for th...
Jan 30, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Collision repair centers may hear of cyber crimes but think it won't happen to them. Yet, it could and it does! We talk to Mark Riddell who spoke at a collision conference "across the pond" and shares with us some key takeaways from that conference. Cyber crimes are not typically a hack into your system. Most crimes are tricks a human to pay money out via email...listen in to hear the #1 main cyber hack so you can be on the lookout! Auto body shops are looked at as small businesses which for cyb...
Jan 16, 2024•50 min
Kevin Wolfe is the owner of Leaders Way which just celebrated its 25th birthday! As a former mechanical shop owner who was doing great financially yet saw that his staff was not cohesive which started his journey into leadership. Within 3 years he had become the employer of choice as he had worked hard on developing and exploring his leadership skills. Kevin is now highly sought after as a leadership coach and this episode will show you why! Did you now that we are at an all-time high of disenga...
Jan 03, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 99
Josh Piccione is a go-getter as the GM of Tom Wood Collision. They are a dealership owned shop in Indianapolis that is VERY BUSY! As a very active member in the Collision Cocktail Hour, Josh has worked very hard to make sure their vehicles are repaired according to the manufacturer repair procedures and has had a hard time battling the insurance companies to figure out how that was going to work in his shop. His experience is awesome and he brings very helpful information to others working to do...
Dec 12, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Robert Snook with Business Success Global is talking with us today and he knocks my socks off! Robert is a very popular key note speaker and works with shops around the globe and helps them grow their business and differentiate themselves. How do you increase your revenue using the business revenue stream knowing that money follows energy. We are talking about the "Stars" versus the "Hamsters". Product, Positioning and your Channels set the stars apart from your hamsters which is the trap of sal...
Nov 28, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Our last guest of the Texas Auto Body Trade Show is the one and only Mike Anderson!!!! This year Mike’s theme is “Be ExtraOrdinary” and, as always, he brought the house down! Since we last talked, Mike had the opportunity to read the book by Kevin Brown called “The Hero Effect”. He stated in this book “NOBODY NOTICES NORMAL” which means we have to be extra ordinary. Mike then shares his latest jaunt to a local Lexus dealership and how that visit wowed him! What he realized was the power of perso...
Nov 15, 2023•23 min•Season 1Ep. 96
