EP027: - How AI Is Transforming Fixed Operations -- John Gavin, Shane Beaman & Matt Stanford

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome to True Confessions of a Car Guy. My name is John Gavin. I decided to do this because I've been in the car business a little over 40 years. And as I've been going through all those 40 years, I'm not proud of this fact, but I've worked at 49 different dealers. Over those 40 plus years, I have seen some of the craziest stuff happen.

[00:00:29] Good, bad, the ugly, you name it. I've worked for some real characters. I no longer work for any dealer, so I can say whatever the fuck I want, when I want, about what I want. I'm going to do a lot of the truth of what happened in the car business. I mean there's stuff that I can tell you that women took their pulls off at the discount in the dealership. Literally, they took their pulls off and offered sex to get discounts. I mean there's crazy shit that went on in the car business.

[00:00:57] Unbelievable that nobody else would believe. Dumbish fuck. So, I think there's a lot more going on in this situation. But we're car dumb. It's a different type of dumb. She put the disclaimer up that says that we're only allowed to have so many curses in one session. I don't need you. I've never needed anybody. You can go fuck yourself and let's see how your store does in the next six months. I shit my pants. I gotta go. This is the guy, Mark. Run on the sales floor. Mark, get it, man.

[00:01:26] I shit my pants. I gotta go. It's 831. He's running on the sales floor. Croak and choke. Oh, croak and choke. That's right. I don't remember. Yes. Croak and choke. That's right. It was croak and choke. Because your car's on fire. Just like that. This guy went ancient. I had more balls than brains. And he didn't, he had a little bit of brains and no balls. Would you believe my used car manager took a hundred milligram Viagra and stuck it in my coke kit?

[00:01:57] Bro, I had to call out of work the next day because as soon as the washcloth hit it, and I thought I was gonna die. But if I would have stayed longer, it would have killed me. Because all we did was party. It was just a non-stop party. And all you car guys and gals who are out there who got stories like mine, you want to send them in to me, I'd be more than happy to read them or have you on the show. Send it to confessionsofacarguy at gmail.com and we'll all laugh.

[00:02:26] You ought to print that on our show. Make that a fucking tidbit. That really happened. Welcome everybody to another episode of True Confessions of a Car Guy. My name is Badgie. And in tonight's episode, we have two very special guests and a very special conversation. Usually when you talk about AI, it's always centered around the sales side of things. How can we increase more sales? How can we get more customers? And how can we close more deals?

[00:02:56] But today we're going to have a discussion on can AI help in the service department and the fixed ops department to help diagnose and help maybe solve some problems that are in that area. Alongside me in studio is our host, John Gavin. John, welcome to another episode. How you doing, Badgie? Don't worry.

[00:03:17] And then our guests we have on, we have Shane, the founder and CEO of ForgePilot and also Matt Stanford, who's the co-founder of the company as well. Gentlemen, welcome to the show. Thank you for having us. Hey guys. Thank you. And we're excited that you're excited to talk about service. You know, you're right. Everybody frames AI in the lens of sales.

[00:03:45] Even in the service department, it's like, well, how can we answer phone calls and get more sales? Right, right. We have more of a unique product born out of the brain of a 20 year master technician. And so we kind of have a unique perspective on it. So, you know, I worked for Cox for nine years. I don't know if you guys know that. You know, I was a PM for Cox.

[00:04:11] So, you know, I talked to owners, managers, service managers, but I've been in the car business 48 years. And so I understand your tool. First, I had a couple of things. Where are you guys from? Where are you guys from? And how'd you guys meet? How'd you meet get this going? Do you want to take that shit or do you want me to take it? I can tell the story. So I had kind of mentioned, I'm from Montana. I've been up there for about 20 years, but I was originally born in Denver.

[00:04:40] Decided to come back down. I was working at a Kia dealership and got kind of annoyed with dealer track and X time and bouncing around between six different systems, checking pro demand or all data. And I decided to try to make something that would put all that information under one roof and get it to me in a quicker way. And obviously you can't sidetrack dealer track or and X time.

[00:05:10] But the rest of the information that gave me insight that we're bouncing all over the place. So we can create a program that brings all this information to just one source, not all these logins and stuff. And then I came up with the idea, started just exploring it, went full time in March. And then I knew I needed a buddy. I needed somebody to help me because doing the solo is just a lot of work.

[00:05:34] So, uh, I, there was, um, a local event called Boulder, uh, Boulder startup week and it's entrepreneurs and startup guys. And I threw myself out there because I'm kind of an antisocial person that, uh, I need to do this. I went out there for a full week and in the process of that, just while hanging out, I came across Matt and he stood out as, you know, kind of, uh, um, allowed, you know, this is me.

[00:06:03] I bring opportunity to the table and I saw him and he came over and talked to me and boom, I had a co-founder and we've been grinding it out for, I think almost three months now since we met. Amazing. Yeah. So it's kind of a new product. It was actually kind of fun. You know, I'm, I'm up there networking. I have my own products. I'm in the tech space. Um, and, um, you know, I was going to do, I was going to pitch my, I built a call center app for SDRs.

[00:06:32] And I was going to pitch it. And, um, uh, but I'm, I'm focused on networking. I'm working the room. I had to talk to what a hundred people that night. And Shane is the guy that like sits at the table. He's kind of looking nervous, but he wore his best leather jacket, right? That's my guy. And he's looking nervous, but I was telling this story about, um, how automation brilliantly, uh, created a sales channel for the, we buy your car system.

[00:07:01] And to a VC, I was using that as an example for something. And, um, and Shane overheard that and he was like, Hey, and it was, it was really amazing because, um, Shane comes up to me and you know, I'm just like, yeah, pitch, let's go. And, uh, he tells me about it and he says something very unique.

[00:07:21] And this is actually one of the core fundamentals of, uh, not only Shane's, uh, abilities to persevere and build what he needs to, but, um, something that so many people who are building AI in general are missing. Right. And Shane says, Oh yeah, I got the licenses from the manufacturers to run their data through AI. Okay. Huge, huge value. Yeah. So I look at him and I said, Hey Shane, I'm going to put you in 10,000 shops.

[00:07:51] And he was like, okay. And so we just been grinding it out ever since, uh, it's been a, it's been a blast and a pleasure. So you guys been together three months and so, you know, again, you know, X time, uh, dealer track, et cetera, et cetera. You know, the, so I have this, right. You guys are really up against pro date and pro whatever and all data, right? That's how you guys you're in the same swimming pool with them. You'll work in the, they're that eco.

[00:08:20] Correct. So I've always wondered as a car guy who knows nothing about cars, I've appraised probably more cars than you've driven past. I've been doing this 48 years, you know, I've been doing it forever and I don't know Dick. So, you know, V auto smart enough to get involved because they're a monopoly in something. So they've got a few OBD readers integrated now into the auto, right?

[00:08:45] They've got, uh, Vintel appraisal pro and blue drive max or something. Are you guys familiar? You familiar with that? I've heard of them. Yeah. So what that is for, cause I'm wondering when you go into the store to get 10,000 stores, I'm guessing you didn't 10,000 yet, but yeah. So who do you go talk to and help me help you get into other stores? Cause I, one thing, I don't know if you know, I've worked in 50 plus dealers.

[00:09:15] Oh geez. Yeah. I don't fuck around. You touch my pay plan. I leave. There's nothing to talk about and I'm really good at what I did. So, you know, it's like, yeah, yeah. That's kind of, that's how it works. So who do you go talk to, to, to bring your product? Do you bring it to service manager owner? Who do you guys talk to? I'm curious on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the strategy it's, it's, so it's like actually an evolving thing and we're learning a lot along the way.

[00:09:44] Obviously hopping into the ecosystem is it's sink or swim. Yeah. And, and, and, you know, I went to talk to, I don't know, 50 to a hundred independent shops. I went and talked to a bunch of mobile technicians because we're not dealership, you know, we're not locked into the dealership space. And, uh, I've talked to quite a few people in dealerships.

[00:10:09] Um, and so we actually integrate at multiple levels. So we're a tool that an independent mobile mechanic or a technician can buy just for a tool on their tool belt. Um, we are a tool that, um, I'll give an example, a service manager at a dealership, right? Uh, this tool would be very useful to his B and C technicians and probably his master decks as well. Right.

[00:10:36] Um, but you know, we had somebody come to us and say, Hey, uh, why wouldn't you, um, get into the schools and get with the dealership service managers and allow them to buy five seats. And then they can hand those out to the guys at the schools so that they're versed in diagnostics when they hit the dealership. Right. So there's a level of going in at the dealership.

[00:11:02] We can get in at the dealership level, or we can get in on the corporate level and integrate into SMS systems and, uh, that kind of way. So we're actually working quite hard to get through these multiple layers of, of integration and how people want to do it. Cause it's very different for every single dealer. Yeah. I saw your guys tool was you got a 29 99 and it, uh, one time then read, right.

[00:11:31] You got that. And then you've got, I think a one 99 and then you've got a three 99 or three 95, something like that. And the way I looked at it as a car guy, I mean, I'm a, I'm a stone fucking cold car guy. I know the car business better than most is that you've got for individuals. There's a lot of them who work on their cars that 29 99 would be a big value to them to fix their car. That one night I'd be great for enough for a used car lot. I've, I've owned a used car lot.

[00:12:00] The problem is that's what I was going to ask you, Shane, cause I'm not technical either. I'm dumb as fuck. I really am. I'm just, I'm good at, I say it all the time. I'm good at four things. Good husband, good father, good grandfather, and a good car guy. That's it. Everything else. Not too good. Not too smart. So how, how much, and how fast does it change where you went to update, you know, the system for the cars,

[00:12:27] cars changing. How often does that happen to the guy? Let's say I'm a used car lot. I buy your product. How often does it update the manufacturer? Do you have to update? Cause they changed something. So as far as our program, all the data comes from motor information systems. They've been around for 40 years. They're a huge source of all the OEM data. That's okay. So, so you get, so you're updated then regularly, right? You're just updated automatically.

[00:12:55] Yeah. We update every year. You don't have, it's not in the subscription or anything like that. You just get the new information as soon as the OEMs released it with most other programs. They charge, you know, it can be upwards of a thousand dollars a year for access. And we're actually getting into a really almost a scary place. I'm sure you've heard of the right to repair act and everything going on with that. Stellantis and I believe Volkswagen have issued

[00:13:21] what Stellantis is auto off. And essentially it's an authorization gateway to access any system in that car. So they've already implemented it. Volkswagen's done the same and they're trying to expand that. You won't be able to pull codes. You won't be able to access anything unless you pay for that direct access. That's going to cut out a ton of code readers. Then your deep level scan tools,

[00:13:50] everything's going to be gated behind. Have you paid the manufacturers to even scan a code? Yeah. And we've seen it with some of these manufacturers, even removing hood or hood open latches. Oh, you can't open your hood. That's a dealer only item. And so it's how far is that going to go? And in the repair space for dealers, obviously they have access to everything in the independent space. It's going to get very interesting because we saw the change from the

[00:14:18] eighties to the nineties with OBD one, OBD two, and then OBD two got expanded. And now we're looking in ethernet systems and everything else. So it's that much simpler to cut out access to that. So back in the eighties, you'd connect the two ports and count how many flashes in the light. Now it's, you gotta be accurate to even touch what, what the error code is.

[00:14:43] Right, right, right. So I'm guessing that when you walk into, let's say a BMW or Mercedes, what, cause I don't know, Matt probably hasn't hit those. It sounds like he's been working. I would say easiest to hardest. It's hard to get into a manufacturer, really hard to get in because

[00:15:07] they probably only see BMWs. So what do they need? You know, you guys for, cause they're going to see one Toyota or one other car, they don't have the tools for it. Right. So, um, so, but these other guys, I, I think these used car lots today, they're all buying these ones off. They're buying readers off of, uh, you know, uh, prime and shit like that for 30 bucks. And then they can't figure

[00:15:35] out why the car left in a week later it's back because they're, they're not getting reliable information from that stuff. And I don't know if dealers understand why they're not. Maybe you can explain what, what they're actually getting as opposed to what a service like you does. You're listening to true confessions of a car guy.

[00:16:05] Uh, yeah. And that is kind of the problem is there's an influx of cheap tools, OBD readers, um, claiming that, Oh, I have an AI that can diagnose your car when all it is, is just the basic AI information put in a pretty wrapper basically. So what I sought out to do was take the ease of just asking AI of what you need. I'm working on this car. So it would already know what car you're

[00:16:30] working on would have the VIN number. It pulls all of the car facts, uh, TSP's recalls, everything else, and then knows through the scan tool, uh, which codes are present in the car. So it pulls all the information immediately and then gives you a summary of here's the issue. Here's common causes. Here's the history of the car. And then here's links to the motor diagnostic information for

[00:16:55] how to diagnose like the flow chart for that trouble code. And then when you're done with that, it serves up the procedure documents on how to actually replace said part. So it walks you through all of it. And then it knows all the steps along the way. So especially for new technicians, you know, there's a big technician shortage. New guys can come. The shop space is intimidating as it is. It's kind of scary to ask questions, not to mention the master tech is busy. That was usually

[00:17:22] me. And I was having to answer questions that were most of the time just generic dumb questions. I don't like to say anything is dumb, but it was basic stuff that they wouldn't look up themselves. So I thought if we can give them all the information and the ability to just ask for what they want, they could get a lot of these questions answered, get the information they needed quicker, faster. Um, cause even the all data systems, you've got to dig through trees of dropdown menus

[00:17:49] to try and find that one piece of information you're looking for. Oh, I need a wiring die, lower motor, but you got to dig through stuff, copy and paste everything over. If I could put all of that underneath the actual ticket system or integrated into the existing ticket system, you'd have access to all that information through a simple chat window. Wow. And it was your tool also does. I'm sorry. Does your tool also tell how many hours it's supposed

[00:18:17] to take for the diagnosis? Does that come out or is that another? Yeah, we're going to have the entire database. Uh, we don't currently, um, we're working up to that. That's funding. Um, these databases are very expensive. So we have the DTC and the repair procedures databases. So you can access that for most of it. We are going to be adding in all of the others, which is fluids and specs. So you can look up what type of oil, how much instantly just by

[00:18:43] clicking a button. Um, and then you'll have wiring diagrams, uh, labor hours, uh, maintenance schedules, everything else will be tied in. And then all that information will be served up through the summary. So even a service advisor, when he walks up, you pull the vehicle and what the customer is, it automatically pulls our AI, pulls all the history, pulls the car facts, pulls deferred services from the last couple of visits and presents it all into a summary that the service advisor can easily read

[00:19:13] and understand instead of just P0420. It actually explains it and gives them a way to explain it to the customer. And then also, um, just pulls everything like, Oh, they deferred a cabin air filter last visit. We should ask them if they got that replaced and try to upsell it right now. So the goal is all the information you need to make a sale within the first 30 seconds of that customer really being

[00:19:38] there. And that was kind of my goal. And with the repair side is there's so much information you spend your time at the computer trying to look up, trying to get into if we can use AI to do all of that stuff that we don't want, the looking, the different sites and pull all that information into a summarized context connected to what the actual vehicle is and not random stuff like AI does

[00:20:02] now. It's all guard railed. And I see a really big benefit for you guys to talk to the front end more than all these companies are doing right now. They're all talking to the techs, you know, which there's a shortage really hard to get them most, you know, businesses completely flipped on its

[00:20:27] head right now. New car business, Chevy got no cars, GM's, uh, GFC's got no cars. CDGR has got all kinds of cars, but there's a recall on every fucking one of them. Hyundai's got cars. Kia's got cars. Honda down. Toyota's got nothing. So my point is the guy who, cause they don't see many used cars come into their shop. If you're a Toyota dealer, you see mostly Toyota. You're a Honda dealer. You

[00:20:53] see most Honda dealers. So they've got already a lot of tools they paid for, but you got guys buying cars still who have no idea what's wrong with it. And yeah, you can scan a OBD reader, but like you just said, the OBD reader doesn't really break it down and explain the way you just explained it. And that's where they're missing the appraisers when they're, cause that's the one thing that

[00:21:18] there's all kinds of makes coming in. So many dealers turn cars away. What I mean by that is they make the deal. They take the car in a trade and they off it because they don't have a tech or, and they can't work on the car. Now what do they do? So they just paid all the money for it and they got afraid that the other dealer. Yeah. The other dealer says, okay. Yeah. Right. So I think

[00:21:44] that's something Matt, maybe in your trying to get to 10,000 is something to think about is because I do think that the used car operations is a must have. This is something of a must have for them. They really do today because you can't even get an old, how long you been doing this Shane? When were your first mechanic? What year? When I was 17, it's about 23 years.

[00:22:11] Okay. So 23 years ago, you could take the car and I could bring it in the back of my garage and you could fix it for me today. You can't do that anymore. You grade a mechanic and maybe you can't cause you're technical, but I can't go into, I would say 70% of the techs I meet and talk to could not back alley fix a car today. That's a car that's from 2021 on, right?

[00:22:38] No, no, purely because you could even, you could replace the part, but you probably couldn't calibrate it or reconnect it to that module. They put a gate in there. It's not swap a water pump anymore. Yeah. This is a good point, right? And it's, it's really, I call it data backed service intelligence, right? Because it's all backed by OEM data across multiple brands that just allows for the visibility

[00:23:03] very simply, right? And so for used car techs, you're a hundred percent right. Every used car tech should have this because it'll greatly increase their, their speed of, uh, of, uh, diagnosis and, and allow visibility for the used car manager to understand what's going on as well, because, you know, they could just have a shared portal to where they can see all the cars together

[00:23:28] and the used car manager can go through the process of how they got to whatever diagnosis that they have. I'd love to hear that. Which, which the other funny part is I, I, I, I showed this to, uh, a used car appraiser and he was like, wow, that is way more information than, than VinQ or, or what's the other one? The auto, VinQ, the auto. Yeah. That's way more information than they give me,

[00:23:58] right? Yeah, of course. And it's too much, right? Well, but it's really not in today's market because you make that, you make that call, you put all the money, which is all percentages today. They paid 102% for a Toyota and they bring it in and they read it wrong, or they just used the auto and use just percentages, just market day cost to market. And they don't know that it's got all these codes. You're talking a $4,000 swing before you start. Now what?

[00:24:27] A hundred percent. You know, the other thought pattern that we could have there is for the used car manager themselves, have a version that maybe connects to a V auto or a VinQ, and then just provides the additional data so that they can actually have it at their fingertips. And we're just like an API layer. And so this is like, this is the fluid integration that we're talking about, that people are discussing multiple different things. And, uh, you know, we're,

[00:24:56] we're kind of realizing that because we have the licenses and the intelligence, we are the layer that people can grab from. And then, so it may look a little bit different for them to where VinQ or V auto integrates with us. And then we just make it visible in a, in their platform, which is something that's very interesting and what we're, we're really excited about. I know. Um, and then for the

[00:25:24] technicians, the app remains the same, you know, for the technicians, the app is so valuable, right? Right. Unbelievably valuable. Now, if I'm a guy looking for a job and I know this is because I am dumb. I told you guys this, I'm a guy looking for a job and I'm a, I'm a tech and I pay you three 95 a month. They have my own access to this and I'm going to be a used car tech. Isn't that, am I better than the next guy?

[00:25:53] If we're both techs, right? But I'm going, walking into a place, Hey, I already got my go ahead, Shane. I'm curious. What was that? So one thing I wanted to say is, uh, for one, our solo package is only one 95. That's for one guy. The three 95 is for five users. So that'd be a whole shop system. Gotcha. Um, so it is cheap. Um, we're actually under all other programs for access to this kind of information. Uh,

[00:26:18] and then you have a single use. So we're even rolling out, um, essentially a CRM shop management program for mobile, mobile tech specifically. They're, they're a one man show. So a simple ticket track, customer tracker payment system all set in, but then they can get one time access for $29 to all this information. So the goal is, Hey, you thought you could replace this on your own. Now you're stuck. You get the AI that knows all this information you can ask

[00:26:46] questions to. And you also get all of the verified OEM information that every other mechanic uses. And all they need is a laptop in your, in your tool. Correct. That's it. Phone, tablet, laptop. Okay. Every device seamless across both. So if you do something on your phone and then you need to look at a document closer, you go to the computer, you open your account, the exact same ticket,

[00:27:11] exact same document is already in there. So all the information you need is seamless across every device. There's no looking it up again. You're both West coast guys, right? You're both Colorado, Denver, Denver. Yeah. So, uh, I'm, I, I feel that a lot of the tools are regional of how, what read, like if you look at, uh, CDK and Reynolds, Reynolds used to be, well, I think West coast

[00:27:40] and CDK was East coast. Now Reynolds is kind of slowly loose, but as if for you guys too, is, uh, all data in pro whatever they're called, is that also regional? Are you guys, is that like, they're all over, they're all over now. They're there, they're, they are the options. Yeah. And they have been for 40, 50 years. That's it. Those are the only two. Well, well, I think there's one more, but like, I don't need, like, I don't even remember their name. So there you go.

[00:28:07] Yeah. You really need to. Yeah. It's all data and it's Mitchell's pro demand. And that's the two main ones. Uh, identifix is a similar system, but they piggyback off of the two I just listed. So there it's a really limited market. Yeah. Well, looking at your guys pricing, it's, it's very, I mean, it's, uh, you're, you're pretty much almost exactly the same as every other just OBD

[00:28:35] reading company I've come across. Um, so I think you're, you have a really beneficial tool there that, well, you only been around three, three months. Is that right? Is that what, is that the right time? Yeah. So I don't want to talk out of school a year from now. You might have those 10,000. I don't know, but I don't see you having trouble getting into dealers at all because this is such

[00:29:01] a necessity today that the, the hard one will be like you said, is how long have these other guys been around? I I'm not even sure because it, it, it's not something that I ever had to get involved in, uh, even as running a store and I'm, I'm old. So, but I, I see that there's only two of them that are in this, you know, ecosystem. You guys should have really, you have a great tool. I was

[00:29:28] looking through all of it. Are you in any dealers currently? Are you already in dealers or no? Not on the dealers. So we're, we're, we're bringing on partners, uh, who are heavily vested in the dealership space, uh, who would like to help us with this integration level. And so, um, uh, integrating into shop management systems and, and workflows within the dealerships. So that's

[00:29:56] something we're going to be focusing on, uh, here in the near future, uh, because, um, they're going to help assist us in that, uh, integration. Could it be cost effective to beta test this in a big group? Okay. Okay. Please. If you have, we would love to, I know fucking everybody. You kidding me?

[00:30:19] We have 21 users and one paying guy. Okay. We do have traction, um, but we need more for testing. And then we're expanding on the databases. Like I said, we only have the first two, so we're getting the rest of them and then we're the full suite, but we're proving out the whole concept. I'm going to put you in touch with a couple of really big groups after this is all, or I'm going to put you in touch with the guys who make decisions for big groups and maybe you can

[00:30:48] put something in because you're just such a necessity today. I mean, the OBD readers all great in these ones that are integrated into the auto, the auto is like probably my numbers may be off. Cause I have been retired from Cox for three years. So nine out of 10 dealers were with the auto and I was with them. Now it's probably six to seven out of 10 are with the auto because that's a Cox company

[00:31:15] and they all integrate together. You got dealer track been, uh, uh, my brain sucks by the way, just all, but there's been solutions, V auto, et cetera, X time. They're all integrated and it works really well together. It does, but they could use a tool like this. They, I don't think X times anywhere near what you guys do, right? That's a different, different sources.

[00:31:42] I used X time three months ago and it wasn't, it wasn't anywhere close. I'm going to put you in front of somebody from Cox that you can talk to. We, we, we, we signed up for the portal for API access and then, you know, obviously we're running a lean machine, um, building this back out by ourselves right now. And, uh, it's, it's pretty amazing. And, you know, um, any kind of integration help would be awesome because we can go, you know,

[00:32:10] I want to give you a nice thought here, right? Being that we, we have the data backed information and we can be that layer. Uh, we can be the generalized AI layer that produces cool things for the, for the service department. Uh, but when we're talking about, um, technician stories, I don't know if you know this, but technicians will type in the computer, uh, you know, very

[00:32:35] sloppily. Yeah. Yeah. Job is completed. Well, imagine if you had a button that just says pretty fine story and, uh, we're able to make that story a lot better based on the context of the whole repair order, uh, uh, for warranties. I think that's why Shane originally started like, Hey, I w I would love to have a story completion tool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I think the better

[00:33:03] techs now are going and talking in the chat GPT and saying, Hey, how would you explain that's what they're doing? I mean, it happened with descriptions on cars and then I went to service and those are the better guys. This is problem. No offense guys in the car business and girls, we've gotten lazier, you know, uh, like when you started Shane, if I would have asked you,

[00:33:27] do you want a thousand bucks or three days vacation? You would have took the thousand bucks all day long today. They want the three days. It's a different, we're just dealing with different mentality. So they need tools that do more for the consumer to get them to keep coming back to just you because levels of, of, uh, you know, uh, separation of vehicles have went, the Hyundai was a three and a BMW was

[00:33:56] a 10. Now BMW is a nine and a, some one days are sevens or Kia's are sevens. So you got to keep that customer and you need to be, do everything right all the way through from the minute they meet you, the customer to service to when they drive away and the slightest thing they can go somewhere else. So it's, it's funny. It's funny you say that because we have a lot of lifetime. Sorry, Shane,

[00:34:22] do you want to say something? No, you're good. Okay, cool. Cause like, you know, we have a lot of conversations about this, like lifetime value of a customer and there's so many unthought of things that, you know, that we know this tool provides to the shop. So they just have to experience it. So for example, comebacks, right. Um, or, or, or, uh, process flow. So imagine if you gave this tool

[00:34:51] to a B tech or a C tech, right? They don't have the knowledge of a master tech, but they can have 4g. Yeah. They can diagnose the car with 4g. Well, all of the sudden what happens is your morning rush that we know every service department has, you don't have to say, Hey, we'll get to it tomorrow because the technician who does diagnostics is full all day. Right. You can say, we'll give this

[00:35:18] to one of our technicians, like you would think. And, uh, we'll get you an estimate within a few hours. So there's a lot of little benefits that come along with this, that, that increase, not only dealership margin, you know what I mean? But also just customer lifetime value. You're like Michael Jordan. You're like Michael Jordan. You take an average player, you make them great. You make a great player. You make him amazing. That's what you guys are.

[00:35:46] You're like a Michael Jordan for the service department. That's it. Uh, it's a fun thought pattern. So I'm glad, I'm glad you brought that up though, because as you're seeing, there's a lot of little ancillary benefits that like just having good, you know, a good intelligence system to help guide the flow, uh, not only makes the technicians better, it makes the shops better. It makes customers happier. And, and really that's,

[00:36:13] you know, that's what we all want. We just want better customer experience, better technician experience. And we just do that through data-backed service intelligence. I had a quick question for you guys, you know, with, with EVs exploding right now, especially the used EV market, does your product work with that, like a Tesla or some of these other EVs that are on the market to help diagnose because they're basically rolling iPads.

[00:36:38] Yeah. So Tesla itself has certain gateways. They have a built-in diagnostic system into the Teslas. So they gatekeep almost all of that, but there is databases for most of the other EV market. I mean, it is such a simple symptom or system as someone who is Kia certified for the EV market. Uh, it's a much simpler setup because the computers know what's wrong right away,

[00:37:04] but every system and it's just replaced this module. So diagnostics for electric vehicles is actually extremely easy and it's a lot more simpler information to retain. I mean, when you look at like timing belts and timing chains and whole drivetrain systems and it's replaced with just an electric motor, it's so much simpler that diagnostic is way easier as a gas fan, it's sad to say, but yeah, right.

[00:37:31] Yeah. Well, I went, I've had electric, my last electric, I've always had the Jeep Wrangler since it's come out, the X, whatever the shit, whatever the fucker's called. It's got a recall every time I finally had to get out of it, but I went to a Honda electric, um, what was that car called? All electric. Anyhow. The Prologue. No, no, big, fast 500 horsepower. Um, whatever the fuck it was called. Um, the problem was

[00:38:01] there's no place to charge them. There's no place to, you know, besides your own house, I got, you know, that put in and there's no place you can't make plan a trip and be safe about it because I've tried, I live in South Carolina, by the way, I used to live in Chicago for 60 years, but, um, that's the problem with the whole electric thing, but it doesn't surprise me that, you know, Elon Musk product, you can't really get into it like you would any other one.

[00:38:28] Right. Is that what you said? Cause he's not from here. He's definitely not from here. He's way smarter than all of us. He knows how to block us all. He knows, but so how do people get ahold of you? Besides when I make a few phone calls, we hang up, how do people get ahold of you? How do people get ahold of you? Uh, so it's easy. Um, crimsonforge.pro forgepilot.pro, uh,

[00:38:54] Matt, do we have any other easier, um, tick tock crimsonforge? Um, I'm pretty sure if you Google it, you'll get a whole list of stuff. I'll list it all below. So, uh, if you guys want to know how to find them, you can go to the description and have all the links to their website. So you can go on and take a closer look at that. Yeah. And, and just to be clear, um, because this is a licensed OEM

[00:39:19] data, um, it is only for automotive, uh, uh, certified shops and dealerships. Um, so train technicians. And then, so that's our license there. So if you're a trained technician, please go to the link where Baggy's posting it, or, uh, just go to, uh, forgepilot.pro. Uh, we got the links to the mobile

[00:39:43] apps on there. You can order our OBD to reader. Uh, it's just OBD link, but, um, you can order that through the sites and, uh, do a one-time use or a, uh, multi-use or, you know, get a month subscription and try it out. And, uh, we hope we can change your life. Uh, and if you do sign up and try it, I will be reaching out to you to have discussions on what you think we can do with it.

[00:40:09] That's awesome. All right. Um, if you guys just make sure you send a phone numbers to Baggy and, uh, I'll have a couple of people reach out to you again. Uh, I will do whatever I can to try to help you guys make this hit 10,000. I'd love to see it. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. And expect phone call from me. All right. Thank you guys. Thank you so much, Shane, Matt. It was

[00:40:35] really nice talking to you guys. Have a great rest of the week. Thank you guys. Thanks everyone. Thanks everyone for watching. We'll see you next time in our next episode, Shane and Matt. Thank you again. All of their descriptions are down below. Have a great evening. See y'all. Bye everyone. Thanks for listening to true confessions of a car guy. Download this podcast on all your favorite podcast platforms and follow us online at true confessionsofacarguy.com.