On The Ramp - The Independent Automotive Garage Owners Podcast. - Détails, épisodes et analyse

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On The Ramp - The Independent Automotive Garage Owners Podcast.

Alex Lindley, Leo Dack, Nathan Taylor

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Fréquence : 1 épisode/18j. Total Éps: 53

We have a simple mission; to connect as many independent garages as possible, with the aim of sharing knowledge and helping to raise the standards of the independent automotive industry.

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Données mises à jour le 07/11/2026

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From Lorry Driver to Award-Winning Garage Owner | Dave Wilson, Drive Green

vendredi 6 novembre 2026 • Durée 01:32:07

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

To find out more about our GMS LaunchControl, head to https://launchcontrol.app

Eight years ago Dave Wilson was driving lorries and doing carbon cleans at the weekend to pay off his debts. He had no trade background, no backing, and soon after, an IVA that meant he couldn't get so much as a credit card. Today he runs Drive Green Vehicle Services, an award-winning garage with staff, and he has just bought the unit next door without a mortgage.

Alex and Tim take Dave back to the £2,000 carbon cleaning machine he gambled on, and work forward through teaching himself DPF work, walking away from lorry driving, building a mobile business through an IVA, saving £15k just before COVID hit, getting his first unit, and learning to price a job properly.

Topics covered:

- going from lorry driving to carbon cleaning at the weekend

- finding his first customers on Facebook

- the "what's a DPF?" job that changed everything

- caring for his dad while building the business

- running a business through an IVA with no credit

- taking on a unit with £3,500 in the bank

- why most garages are undercharging

- buying the unit next door when the bank wouldn't give him a mortgage

- his advice for anyone thinking of going it alone

Timestamps:

00:00 - launchcontrol

00:42 - intro

01:57 - from lorry driver to carbon cleaning at the weekend

03:50 - finding customers on facebook

07:27 - "what's a dpf?" the job that changed everything

10:26 - cracking dpf regens and charging properly

13:29 - caring for his dad

16:31 - walking away from lorry driving

25:40 - joining the dpf doctor network

27:31 - networking his way into the trade

29:30 - the iva, building a business with no credit

33:08 - castrol | the race group partnership

35:45 - £15k saved, then covid

42:04 - getting the first unit

46:27 - sharing a garage and taking on dan

54:36 - who the business is for

57:45 - learning to price a job

1:02:12 - most garages are undercharging

1:06:38 - front of house, staff and the new hire

1:14:49 - buying the unit next door with no mortgage

1:23:30 - on the main stage at 1tec

1:25:50 - a tough year

1:30:32 - advice for anyone going it alone

1:31:41 - outro

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

https://beacons.ai/ontheramp

#ontheramp #garageowners #independentgarage #dpf #startingagarage #ukgarages #automotiveindustry #mechaniclife #castrol

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The future of garage management software and AI in the automotive industry.

mardi 3 novembre 2026 • Durée 10:24

If you run a garage, you’ve probably seen a lot of adverts for garage management software (GMS) lately. There’s a reason for that. AI has made software almost free to build, so garage owners, the established players and brand new companies are all piling into the market.

In this short episode I talk about where that leaves the industry. I cover why prices are falling, what MCP is, and why connecting Claude or ChatGPT to your GMS changes things. Soon your agent won’t just pull reports. It’ll create bookings, order parts and contact customers. I also explain why LaunchControl starts at £49, how one of my businesses already runs fully automated bookkeeping through Xero, and why I think the market will grow fast and then shrink back to a few key players.

The big idea: your GMS should hold your data and your processes, and give you full API and MCP access so you can build on top of it. Some of our customers already have.

Chapters

00:00 Why you're seeing so many GMS adverts

02:03 AI inside the workflow, and what MCP means

03:00 When AI agents start writing back to your GMS

03:41 Why we launched LaunchControl, and why it's £49

05:07 Bookkeeping that runs itself

06:25 Buying a GMS right now, and the coming shake-out

07:46 The GMS as your data layer

08:41 Customers building their own apps

10:11 Your priority for the next 12 months

To learn more, visit https://launchcontrol.app

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Starting a Garage With £200 in the Bank

vendredi 11 septembre 2026 • Durée 01:32:13

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Ross Maitland was promised training by one employer after another. Main dealers, big independents, a contract, a handshake, none of it turned into a single day on a course. At 35 he was ready to leave the trade for good.

Instead he opened Maitland Motors in Burntisland with £200 in his bank account and his mum and dad lending him the rent. Less than a year in he had nothing booked and gave himself two days before he packed it in. Ten years on he has six staff, owns the building, and has just won an award for training and development. Alex and Tim take him right back to the Yellow Pages and work forward through every garage, every broken promise, and every mistake he made on the way.

Topics covered:

- writing to 74 garages for an apprenticeship and getting two replies

- being passed over for master tech training without being asked

- a bonus scheme that punished the wrong person

- finding out he was £3 an hour under the technicians he was trying to recruit- why paying under market rate catches up with a garage

- starting a garage with £200 and no savings

- the fleet work that saved his first year- a thousand pounds a year for unlimited training, and what he did with it

- what he does differently now he employs technicians himself

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

07:56 - writing to 74 garages for an apprenticeship

18:14 - leaving the first garage for bigger jobs

26:44 - castrol | the race group partnership

Inside the Tuning World: Files, Agents and the Bit Nobody Talks About

vendredi 21 août 2026 • Durée 01:25:20

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

David Simpson left school with no qualifications, got sacked from a string of McDonald's, and ended up running a tuning network with around 800 agents and manufacturing his own DPF cleaning machines. In this episode he and Sy Harraway open up a side of the trade most garage owners never see from the inside, including how tuning files are actually bought, sold and protected, and why the incoming DPF test is going to catch out a lot of cars.

If you run a workshop, send DPFs out, or have ever wondered what is really on the ECU of the car in front of you, this one is full of practical insight.

What is covered:

Diagnosing with second-hand parts instead of chasing fault codes

How master and slave tuning tools work, and why choosing a file provider matters

Manufacturers locking down ECUs, and what happens when one gets cracked

Warranty markers and how main dealers spot a remap

The DPF MOT test and what it means for mapped-out vehicles

Putting vehicles back to stock as a revenue stream

Building a DPF cleaning machine from scratch

Running a garage at 48% gross profit with one technician and an apprentice

Timestamps:

What It's Really Like Taking Over the Family Garage at 24

vendredi 31 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:00:25

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Marc is 25 and runs Magnet Autos in Liverpool, a third generation family garage his granddad started in 1978 after accidentally buying the wrong building at auction. He came into the business straight out of school after six months at home, took over in October 2023 when his dad stepped back to care for his granddad, and was made managing director just under two years later. Turnover has roughly doubled in three years.

Tim Guidotti joins Alex on co-hosting duty for the first time, so there is a proper fleet conversation in here too: fleet versus retail margins, auto authorisation on the platforms, high spend reviews and de-fleeting, and why six technicians can run on one service advisor.

If you run an independent garage or you are heading into a family business handover, this one is honest about the parts that go wrong as well as the parts that work.

Topics covered:

Coming into the family business out of school and starting in the back office

How Magnet bought its way into fleet in 2004

Taking over in October 2023 when his dad stepped back

Going from mate to boss, and the hire he regrets letting go

Turning away the busy fools and £4,000 to £5,000 a week of turnover

Fleet versus retail: margins, authorisation and high spend reviews

Splitting workshop control from the front desk

The five year plan, ramps, and why he is not opening a second site

The Tyre Lady: 50 Cars a Day, 2,000 Tyres in Their Biggest Month

vendredi 17 juillet 2026 • Durée 01:23:18

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Sophie Lyden works alongside her dad at Westgate Tyres in Morecambe. Three depots on one street, 40 to 50 cars a day, and no booking system for tyres. She's also better known across the trade as The Tyre Lady, and became the person the BBC called when they wanted a tyre expert. She joins us to talk about how both of those things happened.

If you run a garage or sell tyres, this one's full of practical insight, and a decent argument that safety messaging is the best marketing you're not doing.

In this episode:

- Why Westgate doesn't take bookings for tyres, and how they cope with 40 to 50 cars a day

- The stock strategy behind their biggest tyre month

- TPMS, valve service kits, and the conversation most garages skip

- Why she checks dot codes on every car and advises at 3mm

- The crash outside the garage that started The Tyre Lady

- What road safety conferences never talk about

- How a LinkedIn post about a bad tyre reached 200,000 people

- Getting a tyre onto the BBC Breakfast sofa

- What she'd change about the MOT and the legal tread limit

- ADHD, postnatal depression, and running a business through both

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:04 - how sophie ended up back in the family tyre business

09:11 - inside westgate tyres and their biggest month

Is Fleet work worth it? The Fleet Guy sets the record straight.

vendredi 12 juin 2026 • Durée 01:19:31

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Fleet work divides the trade. Some garages swear by it, others swear at it. In this episode, Alex and Leo are joined by Tim Guidotti, second generation owner of Ferdotti Motor Services and founder of Fleet Guy, to tackle the myths head on. Alex explains why he spent years telling garages to get rid of their fleet work, and why he now admits he was wrong. Tim breaks down good fleet vs bad fleet, the truth about labour rates, how to actually win fleet contracts, and why the data suggests retail-only garages could be facing long term decline.

If you run an independent garage and you've ever dismissed fleet work, this one's full of practical insight.

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:04 - tim's story, growing up in the family business

12:34 - joining the business and doing the deal properly

21:52 - Castrol | The Race Group Partnership

23:05 - why alex was anti-fleet, and admitting he was wrong

29:32 - the coffee test, good fleet vs bad fleet

41:09 - winning fleet work and keeping it

52:25 - should your garage do fleet, and where ownership is heading

1:03:05 - the labour rate myth, utilisation and productivity

1:09:23 - why fleet guy exists, building an industry standard

1:16:36 - fleet guy live, plus tim joins as co-host

The Marginal Gains Approach to Running a Garage: A Conversation with Phil Brookes

vendredi 5 juin 2026 • Durée 01:10:00

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

This week it's not a story episode, it's a business one. Alex and Leo sit down with business coach Phil Brookes, who has spent his career in the tyre and garage trade, from the workshop floor to training and running parts of a national group, and now coaching independent garages. We get into the stuff most owners never get taught: pricing with confidence, knowing your real numbers, front of house, recruitment and the small marginal gains that quietly add thousands to the bottom line.

If you run a garage and you have ever felt busy but not as profitable as you should be, this one is full of practical insight.

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro and why business training is undervalued

01:20 - phil's journey into the trade

07:38 - growing and selling a national tyre group

13:37 - why tyre pricing is so sensitive

17:25 - pricing with confidence and the three prices

18:50 - front of house and the restaurant lesson

26:39 - why training fails without follow-up

29:11 - marginal gains and the 1% rule

33:00 - the wheel alignment opportunity

38:27 - how much profit is really in a tyre

47:56 - leading, retention and recruitment

51:09 - knowing your numbers and the benchmarks that matter

57:29 - marketing and the garage that isn't busy enough

1:04:23 - hiq, wholesale and the real tyre margins

Behind the UK's Biggest Garage Events: A Conversation with Joanne Knowles, Messe Frankfurt UK

lundi 25 mai 2026 • Durée 44:16

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group. To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit:

https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-...

Joanne Knowles is the Event Director for Automechanika Birmingham and the UK Garage and Body Shop event, the two biggest trade shows in the UK independent garage calendar.

She joins Alex and Dawn on this episode to talk about what actually goes into running them, why attending matters more than ever, and how Motivate is starting to change the way new talent is brought into the industry.

If you're a garage owner, technician, college tutor or student, this one's worth your time.

Timestamps:

00:00 - intro

01:14 - automechanika vs uk garage and body shop

03:00 - why garage owners should attend

07:31 - feedback, parking and the autonomous bus

09:20 - introducing motivate

Life of a Mobile Tech with The Norfolk Tech

vendredi 24 avril 2026 • Durée 01:16:35

This episode is sponsored by Castrol and The Race Group.

To learn more about Castrol Service, please visit: https://www.castrol.com/en_gb/united-kingdom/home.html

Jordan from JLK Vehicle Solutions, better known online as The Norfolk Tech, joins us to share how a Covid redundancy pushed him into self-employment and how he's built one of the healthier mobile businesses in the UK.

In this episode, Jordan breaks down why the trade undercharges, what it really takes to run a mobile business day to day, the value of community for solo operators, and why he's been willing to talk openly about burnout.

00:00 – Introduction

02:15 – Redundancy during Covid

06:10 – Six weeks to self-employed

08:45 – Building the business on Facebook

19:20 – A typical day on the road

22:35 – Why the trade undercharges

33:00 – Sponsored Segment

38:00 – Getting scammed, security, and working on driveways

53:00 – Diary management and parts

01:06:00 – The mobile tech community

01:10:00 – Talking openly about burnout

Subscribe for more expert insight, honest conversation, and real stories from inside the independent garage sector.

#ontheramp #mobilemechanic #independentgarage #automotiveindustry #castrol

tps://beacons.ai/ontheramp

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