Welcome to another episode of Repair Shop Reckoning! Buckle up, because this one is a straight punch to the throat of the collision industry.
Kevin sits down with Jim Gray, partner at Motor City and a 40-year veteran of the collision world, to break down everything the insurance companies never want shop owners, techs, or customers to know. If you think you’ve heard Kevin talk shit before… this episode takes it up ten levels.
Jim exposes how DRPs really work, why adjusters with zero hands-on experience dictate how trained techs “should” repair cars, and how insurance companies flat-out manipulate labor rates, parts sourcing, supplements, and customer claims to pad corporate profits. The stories in this episode are so insane you almost wouldn’t believe them, until you realize every shop in America has lived the same nightmare.
This episode is not theory. It is not opinion.
It is the lived reality of two shops who deal daily with:
- Surprise inspections from adjusters who have never fixed a car in their life
- DRP rules that punish shops for doing repairs the right way
- Insurance companies writing garbage photo estimates, mailing checks directly to customers to avoid supplements, and then blaming shops for the chaos
- Labor rates being CUT while tech shortages get worse
- Adjusters arguing repairs without ever seeing the damn vehicle
- “Profit calculators” that magically make your profit disappear
- DRP scare tactics that manipulate customers into thinking independent shops are risky
- Endless hours of unpaid admin work forced onto shops because insurance companies eliminated adjusters
But this episode goes deeper into culture, leadership, and the bitch generation that cannot survive in a real shop environment. Jim and Kevin call out weak work ethics, victim mentalities, and the fantasy-land expectations younger techs walk in with.
At the same time, they break down what REAL leadership looks like inside Motor City: structure, autonomy, accountability, standards, loyalty, and taking care of the guys who earn it. No fake praise. No trophies. Just grown-ass men doing real work for real money.
If you run a shop, manage techs, work in the industry, or simply want the truth behind the bullshit this is the episode you send to everyone.
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