138 - What Winning Shops Know: Direct Mail Works Best with the Right Guidance
August 19, 2025 - 00:16:41

Show Summary:

Jimmy Lea sits down with Scott Repman of Scott Repman’s Auto and Truck Repair to explore his path from fixing an unreliable high school car to running a multimillion-dollar repair and towing business. Scott’s story highlights the power of persistence, mentorship, and a commitment to honesty and customer service. He shares how paying technicians well, keeping the business family-driven, and focusing on integrity have fueled his success. Along the way, Scott reflects on industry challenges like rising parts costs and outlines his vision of building a lasting legacy for his children. His guiding lesson through it all: “Don’t be afraid.”

 

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

 

Guest(s):

Scott Repman, Owner of Scott Repman’s Auto and Truck Repair

 

Episode Highlights:

[00:00:42 ] - Scott shares how a bad first car led him to discover his love for automotive work in high school.

[00:02:22 ] - At 20 years old, Scott was given the chance to run an independent shop, taking it from $2,000 a week to $130,000 a month.

[00:04:26 ] - He later managed a 28-bay shop, becoming the largest AAA contractor in the U.S., handling both repair and towing.

[00:06:24 ] - Starting from a single bay in 2017, Scott has grown his shop into a $2M+ three-bay operation.

[00:07:06 ] - Customer service, honesty, and paying technicians well are the cornerstones of his success.

[00:08:17 ] - Scott highlights parts price gouging as one of the industry’s biggest current challenges.

[00:09:39 ] - His five-year vision is to expand into a 10-bay shop and build a legacy business for his sons.

[00:10:32 ] - Keeping the business family-run ensures integrity and a unique customer experience.

[00:13:37 ] - Offering free towing instead of cheap oil changes is one way he adds value for customers.

[00:14:07 ] - Scott’s advice to his younger self: “Don’t be afraid."  Taking risks and leading with integrity brings success.

 

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.

 

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Episode Transcript Disclaimer

This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at marketing@wearetheinstitute.com.

 

Episode Transcript:

Jimmy Lea: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or goodnight, depending on when and where you're joining us from today. My name is Jimmy Lee, and you are joining the Institute with the Leading Edge podcast, and our guest today is Scott from Scott Reitman's Auto and Truck Repair. Scott, how the heck are you brother?

Jimmy Lea: I'm wonderful. It's good to talk to you this morning and be a part of your show. Yes. Well, thank you very much and in fact, I want to talk about your shop and about your business and what you've done. Specifically like how did you get into the automotive industry because your shop's only been around since 2017.

Jimmy Lea: How did you get launched into this?

Scott Repman: Well, honestly my parents buying me a very bad car in high school is what made me become a mechanic when you were always having to fix your own vehicle and they still offered high school automotive. That's what led me to working on cars. I was fortunate to have a father that was in the mechanical business, not automotive, but in air conditioning, so he taught me great work ethic, work ethics.

Scott Repman: When we finally got a chance to start turning a wrench in high school, I really enjoyed it. I found a love for it, so I stayed very in depth to it. That is awesome. What is your first car? My first car was a 1981 Ford Escort. I'm embarrassed to tell you, but 81 Ford Escort. That's why you had to learn to work on cars if you own that.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, yeah. You did. Oh, that's awesome. My first car is a 1952 Chevy Deluxe, Bel Air. It was great Grandma's car and I got to drive it.

Scott Repman: Oh, there's nothing wrong with a classic. Oh, that's a good car. That's a lot better than the 81 escort. I did get to learn to drive three on a tree, so that was pretty cool.

Scott Repman: That was very cool. Today, I don't think we could get 10 young men to be able to drive three on a tree.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. So true. My son could do it. I could tell you that.

Scott Repman: That's 'cause you're a good dad and you taught him. I, same with my boys. I've got five boys and they can all drive a stick. They had to learn.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, it's so true. It's so true. So going back to when you started your shop, you've got a solid foundation, high school, auto shop, what's one of those defining moments that really set up who you are today as a budding business owner?

Scott Repman: When I was 20 years old, I was fortunate to be given a chance by a gentleman named Dan Verdo that owned an independent repair shop in Phoenix, Arizona that butted up next to an kaman transmission.

Scott Repman: So I had the, i, I got the. Just an opportunity that was unreal to be able to be in control of a shop that was growing. We ended up taking it to be one of the largest auto repair independents in the nineties over in North Phoenix. And just grew from there. Took a business that was only doing a couple of thousand dollars a week up to doing about $11,000 a week.

Scott Repman: So that was a major change for that company. And then by the time that I had spent five years with that company, we had 'em up to about 130,000 a month. I always was someone that was dedicated to growing my customer base, making sure they were satisfied and happy. I started as a mechanic, but as people found out and I found out myself, I was very good with people, I was very good with our industry and explaining what needed to take place with people's cars, and that's a success story starting right there.

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. It sure is that's awesome. Inspiring that you went from being mechanic to a service advisor. You took a shop from. A few hundred dollars a day to 1.3, 1.4 million a year in a, that is correct time. Oh my gosh. That's amazing. So at 25, did you strike out on your own

Scott Repman: or did you. No, I'd love to share.

Scott Repman: So I, through the industry and time, like you probably know, anytime you've got somebody that's successful at the front counter, you're gonna have plenty of people come look for you. Yeah. So the next person that found me was a gentleman named Scott drag me that owned a Coman transmission and took me to my next level.

Scott Repman: He allowed me to really run his facility with my abilities and my talents. I ended up taking him to the number third rank for kaman transmission between 96 and 99 of for, you know, the whole industry throughout the 50 states. And at that point then the next person that I got to meet was a gentleman named.

Scott Repman: Johnson. There's a lot of good and bad that rolls with that. But at the end of the day, I was able to run a 28 bay shop largest AAA contractor in the United States for both towing and repair. And this is before AAA had their own repair shops. And at $256,000 a month in business and service, and over 2000 calls with towing, it really broadened all my horizons on the business.

Jimmy Lea: Holy mackerel.

Scott Repman: Yes, sir.

Jimmy Lea: Two, you are a $3 million a year business.

Scott Repman: Probably closer to four when it was all said and done. The, being the largest AAA contractor I evolved the towing industry into an amazing product that we still use today at my shop. So having 10 tow trucks at your disposal, I gotta be honest, one of the things that made me successful was giving a little bit away to get a lot.

Scott Repman: We used to average bring in 10 cars a day minimum into that shop. Via a tow truck and anybody in our industry knows a tow truck. Back then they were an average of 900 to $1,100 per car, and today they're closer to two to $3,000 per car because of the cost of auto repair. Wow. So. We wrapped everything I, over time, I took everybody's great ideas and wrapped them into one is what brought me to my own business.

Scott Repman: So I did work for a large multi-company that had sold this last year. And my best friend is actually the vice president ex vice president, and that was Gruels Automotive. They really taught me