140 - From Two Bays to TrueCare: David Long’s Journey to Building a Thriving Auto Repair Business
August 22, 2025 - 00:27:07

Show Summary:

David Long shares his journey from fixing family cars in a small rural town to owning and growing multiple successful auto repair shops. He reflects on starting in the industry out of necessity, building his first shop in Palo Alto nearly from scratch, and learning the business side through training and mentorship. After selling his first shop, he opened TrueCare in Shingle Springs, California, where he recently expanded into a larger seven-bay facility. David discusses the challenges of finding good employees, the importance of developing managers and technicians, and the lessons he’s learned about renting versus owning property. He also opens up about stress management, the difficulty of industry training, and what keeps him up at night while moving his business into its new permanent home.

 

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

 

Guest(s):

David Long, Owner of TrueCare Automotive

 

Episode Highlights:

[00:00:47 ] – David expands his shop from five bays to seven and finds the perfect property by chance.

[00:02:39 ] – Growing up fixing cars with his dad and neighbor sparked his automotive path.

[00:05:01 ] – Remembers sneaking out with a 1978 Dodge truck and push-starting cars on hills.

[00:07:37 ] – Starts career working at his aunt and uncle’s shop, learning diagnostics without internet or modern tools.

[00:11:22 ] – Mentor encourages David to open his own shop and loans him money to start Dave’s Auto Repair.

[00:12:26 ] – Runs a highly efficient two-bay shop that nearly hits $1M in annual sales.

[00:14:02 ] – Opens his second shop, TrueCare, after moving out of the Bay Area.

[00:16:34 ] – Shares vision of stepping out of daily operations and developing strong managers.

[00:20:26 ] – Biggest regret: renting for too long instead of buying property for the shop.

[00:22:19 ] – If given a magic wand, he’d strengthen technician training opportunities industry-wide.

 

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 Lea. I'm with the Institute for Automotive Business Excellence. And you have joined us for the Leading Edge podcast. My guest today is David Long with TrueCare in And you're in California, right, David?

David Long: Yeah. Shingle Springs, California.

Jimmy Lea: Shingle Springs, California. How is the weather in California today? It's about 90. It's not too bad. It's gorgeous. I moved, I just recently moved. And you recently moved? I recently moved from St. George, Utah to Northern Utah. We went from the 100 and teens into the nineties.

Jimmy Lea: I'm thinking it's gorgeous outside. It's so beautiful.

David Long: Oh yeah.

Jimmy Lea: And you just recently moved as well from five base to a seven base shop. Tell us about that.

David Long: Yeah, well I've been looking for a bigger place for years actually. And sometimes universe just pushes you. Had a problem with my landlord at the old place.

David Long: We found out about this place hitting the market. We actually were able to come and look at this building the day that the realtors signed with the seller. And so we were able to get a contract like just a couple days after that, before they ever even advertised it, which is lucky because there's very little inventory out there for automotive.

David Long: Commercial properties, so, oh my

Jimmy Lea: gosh, yes. Congratulations. And David just gave me a little tour around the place. If ever you're in Shingle Springs, California. You definitely wanna go see this shop. It's absolutely gorgeous. I love his waiting room, the woodwork that was done in there. You own a fabulous shop, seven Bays, two outdoor lifts.

Jimmy Lea: Is that correct?

David Long: Five indoor, two outdoor.

Jimmy Lea: That's awesome. And how many technicians are at the shop? How many service advisors? What does the makeup look like?

David Long: Currently there's just five of us here. We've got a service manager, three technicians, and I'm a floater. We're kind of, we're gonna be expanding our employee inventory soon, once we're more settled in here.

David Long: 'cause we just moved into this building a month and a half ago.

Jimmy Lea: Yep. Congratulations. That's awesome. Get your feet on the ground, make sure you're stable. And then start the expansion.

David Long: Yeah, exactly.

Jimmy Lea: Gotta love it. Gotta love it. All right, well let's go back in time if you will. Go back with me. How did you get started in the automotive industry?

Jimmy Lea: That's slower.

David Long: Well, I grew up in a small rural community and our family. We mostly had to fix our own cars except for the many times that they became unfixable. So a lot of cars went through our family over the years growing up. And my next door neighbor down the hill from us was a heavy duty mechanic.

David Long: So he would work on tractors and anything. He would work on anything. So I remember going down there with my dad when I was a little kid and they, he'd be. Asking Dick for advice and I was just looking and learning. And you know, then when it was time for me to go to college, I was thinking, well, I don't have money for college.

David Long: I don't know what I'm gonna do, but I have a knack for working on stuff. So I went to school for automotive technology and that was, let's see, I took my first. Job as a mechanic in 1996.

Jimmy Lea: Nice. Okay. Now you talk about all the cars that went through the family. I think our, we fell out of the same tree.

Jimmy Lea: There were a lot of cars that went through the family that, that we would work on as well. What was your first vehicle that you drove that you had to maintain and if the. If the battery died, you had to replace it. If the windshield wipers needed new windshield wipers, you had to replace it. If the starter got a didn't work anymore what was that first vehicle that you worked on?

David Long: Well, I mean, before I had my own first vehicle, of course I would do whatever we could do. I mean, jumping the bat that batteries that were dead. Did you ever push

Jimmy Lea: start?

David Long: Oh yeah. All the cars were stick shifts. Oh yeah. And we did live on a hill. Oh yeah. Matter of fact, when I was, before I had my driver's license, I'd sneak out and steal the truck and I'd just coast it down the hill far enough down that my mom wouldn't be able to hear it start.

Jimmy Lea: Yes. No, I understand. Oh man. So what was the truck that you were? It

David Long: was a 78 Dodge. Would've been a half ton pickup, whatever that was. Had a slant. Six engine.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Nice. Mine was a, my great grandmother's 1952 Chevy Deluxe, Bel Air three on the tree. Three on the tree. And I would park it at school on the downhill.

Jimmy Lea: So after school I could jump in coast, pop it into second, jumpstart it.

David Long: Because it wouldn't start otherwise.

Jimmy Lea: No. 'cause the battery was dead. Oh. And I couldn't afford another battery, so I know, right. That was my solution. And you know, you get creative when the mother of invention is creativity or creativity is the mother of invention, one of the two.

Jimmy Lea: It works that way. So what's one of those defining moments for you in the beginning of your. Working on automotive you've got the neighbor that's doing everything from lawnmowers to diesel trucks and tractors, but what's that defining moment that you go, Ooh, I think this is me.

David Long: Well, honestly, it was more of a decision out of necessity to try to get a job and be able to support myself.

David Long: I don't think working in automotive was ever my. First choice. I mean, it was a choice, but like I probably would've gotten into engineering or something if I had lived somewhere else and had, you know, different resources available