Most shop owners don’t have a profit problem. They have a clarity problem.
Under the Hood CPA is where we break down the numbers, decisions, and strategies that actually move your shop forward. No fluff. No theory. Just real-world financial insight for operators who want to build something that lasts.
Hosted by Eric Joern, CPA, and advisor to high-performing automotive repair shops, and Partner at Kaizen CPAs + Advisors. This podcast pulls back the curtain on what is really driving profit, cash flow, and long-term enterprise value inside your business.
Each episode is built around one question:
What would I do if this were my shop?
Alongside solo breakdowns, we bring on top operators and experts each week to give you clarity across the areas that impact your business and life most:
Personal finance and wealth building
Retirement planning for business owners
Technology and operational efficiency
Lending, capital, and growth strategies
Tax strategy that actually moves the needle
You will learn:
How to read your numbers like an operator, not a bookkeeper
Where profit is leaking and how to fix it fast
How to scale without losing control of your cash
What top-performing shop owners do differently
Whether you are an established shop owner or an aspiring operator looking to make the leap, this podcast will give you the financial clarity and perspective you need before making your next move.
If you are tired of guessing, reacting, and hoping your numbers work out, this is for you.
Because the shops that win are not the busiest.
They are the ones who understand what is under the hood.
Hiring Isn’t the Problem. Your Process Might Be. | Sara Fraser and Bill Haas - Ep. 6
Want to know what your auto repair shop is worth, whether you’re charging enough for labor, or where profits may be leaking? Kaizen CPAs + Advisors offers five free, easy-to-use tools for shop owners—just enter your numbers and get practical answers at kaizencpas.com (https://www.kaizencpas.com/).
In this episode, Eric is with Bill and Sara from Auto Ignite Management about hiring, retention, and building stronger teams in the automotive repair industry. They discuss why shops struggle to hire and keep good employees, including unclear job descriptions, poor communication, missed promises, and weak onboarding. Bill and Sara explain how their recruiting process helps shops define the right role, evaluate candidates, and find people who fit the shop’s culture, motivation, and expectations.
The conversation also breaks down the real cost of technician turnover, including lost gross profit, longer vacancies, onboarding time, and added pressure on the rest of the team. They share practical ways shop owners can improve hiring, retention, delegation, and team development.
Timestamps:
00:00 Job Hopping Reality
00:42 Podcast Cold Open
01:10 What’s Good Icebreaker
04:49 Family and Work Balance
08:24 Why Start Recruiting
12:20 How Their Hiring Process Works
15:20 Pay Transparency and Offers
19:25 Retention and Shop Culture
24:40 Productivity Gaps and Fairness
28:17 Role Mapping Tool
30:38 Maslow’s Hiring Angle
33:08 PTO Flex and Fit
34:57 Turnover Cost Math
40:17 Onboarding for Retention
43:07 Recruiting Process Deep Dive
46:07 Delegate What You Lack
48:40 One Thing to Do
50:27 Events and Networking
57:14 Wrap Up and Thanks
17 Oct 2026
More Revenue Doesn’t Always Mean More Profit - Ep. 5
Want to know what your auto repair shop is worth, whether you’re charging enough for labor, or where profits may be leaking? Kaizen CPAs + Advisors offers five free, easy-to-use tools for shop owners—just enter your numbers and get practical answers at kaizencpas.com (https://www.kaizencpas.com/).
In this episode of Under the Hood CPA, Eric and Clay discuss why increasing revenue does not always lead to higher profit or cash flow.
They break down technician efficiency, productivity, pay plans, job tiering, shop processes, and the hidden costs of interruptions, comebacks, and turnover. They also explain how tools, training, DVIs, and AI can help shops keep up with increasingly complex vehicles.
The conversation highlights the importance of knowing each technician’s true loaded labor cost and using that number to make better decisions about staffing, pricing, and productivity. The goal is simple: fix the process, not the person.
Timestamps:
00:00 Complexity Needs Investment
00:40 Show Intro and Setup
01:10 Audio Glitches and Banter
05:48 Efficiency and Turnover
09:37 Pay Plans and Comebacks
11:30 Tech Tiering and Dispatch
15:20 DVI and New Tools
20:28 Define Efficiency Metrics
24:53 Cost of Inefficiency Math
26:02 Productivity Hits Profit
27:20 True Technician Costing
30:25 Calculating Loaded Cost
34:45 Rates vs. Efficiency
35:39 Costing Tool and Setup
38:39 Complexity and Training Edge
40:01 Tools as Retention Strategy
44:41 Turnover and Tax Benefits
48:16 Wrap Up and Productivity Playbook
51:39 Final Takeaways and Outro
10 Oct 2026
The Deal Looks Good… But Are You Missing Something? with Aaron Woods - Ep 4
Want to know what your auto repair shop is worth, whether you’re charging enough for labor, or where profits may be leaking? Kaizen CPAs + Advisors offers five free, easy-to-use tools for shop owners—just enter your numbers and get practical answers at kaizencpas.com (https://www.kaizencpas.com/).
In this episode of Under the Hood CPA, Eric sits down with Aaron to discuss buying, selling, and transitioning into an auto repair shop.
Aaron shares his journey from music and dealership service advising to opening Extra Mile Auto Care and explains why exit planning should start long before you are ready to leave. They discuss valuation, negotiation, funding, owner financing, working capital, and different paths to shop ownership. The conversation also covers succession planning, key employees, due diligence, owner dependence, culture, and the risks that can affect a deal. The goal is to understand the risk, plan ahead, and build a deal that works for everyone.
Timestamps:
00:00 Risk vs. Reward
00:42 Show Intro
01:06 From Music to Auto
02:26 Early Work Roots
04:18 Starting the Shop
06:17 First Shop Reality
08:12 Exit Strategy Mindset
13:52 Approaching Owners
16:13 Funding the Buyout
18:16 Legacy and Trust
23:54 Structuring Win Wins
28:18 Evaluating the Deal
30:20 Bank Valuation Rule
30:53 Upside and Payback
32:40 Funding Strategy and OPM
35:31 Owner Financing Tradeoffs
39:00 Deal Risk Red Flags
41:41 Integration and Culture Fit
49:18 Cash vs. Sweat Equity
52:31 Institute Role and Resources
56:49 Final Takeaways and Outro
3 Oct 2026
The Company Is Always For Sale: Hard Truths About Owning a Shop with Mike Allen - Ep 3
Want to know what your auto repair shop is worth, whether you’re charging enough for labor, or where profits may be leaking? Kaizen CPAs + Advisors offers five free, easy-to-use tools for shop owners—just enter your numbers and get practical answers at kaizencpas.com (https://www.kaizencpas.com/).
In this episode, Eric and Mike Allen discuss the realities of building, buying, and selling an automotive repair business.
They cover succession planning, family ownership, private equity, buying out employees, and the financial mistakes that can create major problems. The conversation also dives into revenue vs. profit vs. cash, IRS issues, EINs, bookkeeping, entity structure, shop software, and tax planning. The big takeaway is simple: understanding the numbers is critical to making better business decisions.
Timestamps:
00:00 Hard Truths on Ownership
00:36 Show Intro and Whiskey Banter
01:36 Ads and Paying the Bills
02:22 Hockey and Home Teams
03:35 Concert Tickets Sticker Shock
04:40 Final Four Box Story
06:25 Why Shops Fail to Scale
09:58 Third Generation Shop Roots
12:47 Buying In and Succession Plan
15:09 Succession vs. Private Equity
21:31 Deferred Comp for Managers
22:55 Buying a Shop for Cash
24:57 IRS Trouble and Asset Deals
27:59 EINs and Legal Shields
30:23 One EIN vs. Many Costs
32:08 Selling Stores and Reorgs
33:32 S Corp Basis Traps
34:22 Podcast Ownership Structures
36:33 AI and Better Bookkeeping
37:47 Charts of Accounts and Peer Groups
39:10 Coaching Groups and Profit Talk
41:26 Tekmetric and QBO Debate
43:54 Desktop Legacy and Old Systems
46:54 Kaizen Pricing and Risk
48:38 Aggressive but Legal Tax Planning
49:59 Race Cars and Complacency
52:18 Giving Value and Closing Thoughts
26 Sept 2026
The Mindset That You NEED Before Buying a Shop with John Chiapetta - Ep. 2
Want to know what your auto repair shop is worth, whether you’re charging enough for labor, or where profits may be leaking? Kaizen CPAs + Advisors offers five free, easy-to-use tools for shop owners—just enter your numbers and get practical answers at kaizencpas.com (https://www.kaizencpas.com/).
In this episode of Under the Hood CPA, Eric sits down with financial planner John Chiappetta to discuss money, mindset, and building long term wealth. They cover emotional spending, tax write offs, saving to buy a shop, lifestyle creep, investing, Roth IRAs, and succession planning. John explains why small financial decisions can have a big impact over time and why having a plan only works when you follow it.
Timestamps:
00:00 Small Cuts Add Up
00:32 Show Intro and Guest
00:58 John’s Career Journey
02:39 Psychology of Money
04:44 Taxes and Emotions
08:09 Avoid Tax Driven Spending
09:49 Slow Play Wealth
11:06 Saving to Buy a Shop
13:14 W2 Mindset vs. Owner
14:51 Monthly Saving Targets
17:42 Cut Daily Spending Leaks
18:50 Investing and Compounding
20:14 Tool Truck Trap
21:13 Goals and Truth Tapes
22:19 Wealth in Auto Repair
23:21 Why Shops Attract Investors
23:41 Saving Early to Buy In
25:01 Lifestyle Creep Reality Check
26:36 Rent vs. Buy Math
29:47 Kids Roth IRA Strategy
30:56 Succession Planning for Owners
34:15 Budgeting on $120K Income
35:13 Cut Convenience Spend
39:05 Plan Before You Bootstrap
41:15 Execution and Closing Thoughts
19 Sept 2026
The Financial Red Flags That Could Cost Your Shop Millions | Lucas Underwood & David Roman - Ep 1
Want to know what your auto repair shop is worth, whether you’re charging enough for labor, or where profits may be leaking? Kaizen CPAs + Advisors offers five free, easy-to-use tools for shop owners—just enter your numbers and get practical answers at kaizencpas.com (https://www.kaizencpas.com/).
In the first episode of Under the Hood CPA, Eric Joern sits down with Lucas Underwood and David Roman to expose the financial mistakes quietly putting auto repair shops at risk. They explain why clean-looking financial statements can hide missing cash, unpaid taxes, bad accounting, and even fraud or embezzlement. The conversation explores balance sheets, profit-and-loss statements, shop management systems, internal controls, and the dangers of giving one person too much financial authority. Lucas also reveals why talented technicians can end up earning less after opening their own shops—and why “hope” is never a business strategy. Whether you already own a shop or hope to open one, this episode will help you recognize the warning signs before they become expensive disasters.
Timestamps:
00:00 Someone Took the Money—and No One Sounded the Alarm
00:32 Welcome to Under the Hood CPA
01:13 Why “Hope” Is Not a Business Strategy
03:47 Why “Ask Your CPA” Isn’t Enough
05:18 The Warning Your Accountant May Never Give You
07:16 Stop Waiting for Someone Else to Find the Problem
08:59 Cash Flow vs. Profit: Why the Balance Sheet Matters
10:00 Why QuickBooks Alone Can’t Run an Auto Repair Shop
12:07 Good Data Is the Foundation of a Profitable Shop
14:34 You Can Outsource Bookkeeping—but Not Understanding
17:16 How to Tell Whether Your Books Are Wrong
20:19 When Broken Financials Must Be Rebuilt
23:32 Should You Share Financials With Your Team?
26:23 Why Starting Your Own Shop Could Pay You Less
30:07 How Bad Business Advice Destroys Financial Futures
33:45 Tool Debt, Personal Finance, and Living Beyond Your Means
37:01 What to Expect From Under the Hood CPA
39:41 How Common Are Fraud and Embezzlement?
43:12 The Payroll-Tax Debt You Can’t Escape
45:09 Vendor and Loan Fraud Every Owner Should Understand
47:47 Why Business Owners Must Set Financial Benchmarks
49:23 Internal Controls: Who Can Move or Spend Your Money?
54:15 What Successful Shop Owners Do Differently
57:21 Pop the Hood on Your Business
58:32 Closing
16 Sept 2026
What is Under the Hood CPA?
Under the Hood CPAs gives automotive repair shop owners practical insight into what’s really happening in their businesses—before problems show up in the bank account. Hosted by Eric Joern, partner at Kaizen CPAs and advisor to automotive repair shops, the show breaks down financials, tax strategy, productivity, hiring, succession, and wealth building. Each episode will help you build a more profitable shop, a more valuable business, and more options for your future. There’s no fluff and no jargon—just clear answers grounded in one question: What would I do if this were my shop? Subscribe and join us under the hood.
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