Auto Care ON AIR
"Auto Care ON AIR" is a candid podcast dedicated to exploring the most relevant topics within the auto care industry. Each episode features insightful discussions with leading experts and prominent industry figures. Our content is thoughtfully divided into four distinct shows to cover four different categories of topics, ensuring collective professional growth and a comprehensive understanding of the auto care industry.
The Driver's Seat: Navigating Business and the Journey of Leadership
To understand organizations, you need to understand their operators. Join Behzad Rassuli, as he sits down for in-depth, one-on-one conversations with leaders that are shaping the future. This show is a "must listen" for how top executives navigate growth, success, and setbacks that come with the terrain of business.
Carpool Conversations: Collaborative Reflections on the Road to Success
Hosted by Jacki Lutz, this series invites a vibrant and strategic mix of guests to debate and discuss the power skills that define success today. Each episode is an entertaining, multi-voice view of a professional development topic and a platform for our members to learn about our industry's most promising professionals.
Indicators: Discussing Data that Drives Business
This show explores data relevant to the automotive aftermarket. Join Mike Chung as he engages with thought leaders in identifying data that will help you monitor and forecast industry performance. Whether global economic data, industry indicators, or new data sources, listen in as we push the envelope in identifying and shaping the metrics that matter.
Traction Control: Reacting with Precision to the Road Ahead
Every single day, events happen, technologies are introduced, and the base assumptions to our best laid plans can change. Join Stacey Miller for a show focused on recent news from the global to the local level and what it may mean for auto care industry businesses. Get hot takes on current events, stay in the know with timely discussions and hear from guests on the frontlines of these developments.
Episodes
109 episodes
Mexico’S Vehicle Fleet Hits 36.1 Million
Mexico’s vehicle fleet just crossed a milestone that should make every aftermarket planner sit up: 36.1 million vehicles in operation. Stacey Miller sits down with Evaristo Garcia, Founder and CEO of IDF, to unpack the latest Mexico VIO data an...
College, Trades, or Something Else? How Gen Z Is Rethinking Work
Most career advice assumes you already know who you are at 18. We don’t buy that, so we sit down for a real talk about uncertainty, pressure, and the messy path that actually leads to work you like. Jacki Lutz is joined by Zoi Holloway, our com...
Aftermarket Data Reality Check
Inflation is forcing a new kind of creativity in car ownership and the ripple effects are everywhere in the automotive aftermarket. We talk with Rob Pietrowski, VP of Research at IMR, about what the data says when repair bills rise faster than ...
How State Bills Shape Auto Repair Costs And Choice
A lot of the biggest threats to the automotive aftermarket don’t start in Washington. They start quietly in a statehouse, inside a bill that sounds harmless until you read the fine print.Stacey Miller is joined by Donovan Ringo, our dir...
Perseverance and Authentic Leadership in the Auto Care Industry
A layoff can feel like a verdict. A tough pivot can feel like proof you failed. We see it differently, and this conversation shows why. From the Women in Auto Care Leadership Conference, we sit down with April Williamson, General Manager at FJC...
Aftermarket Shockwaves From The Strait Of Hormuz
A single waterway on the other side of the world can quietly rewrite your cost sheet in the automotive aftermarket. Mike Chung sits down with Stephan Keese, Managing Partner for North America at Roland Berger, to unpack what the Iran conflict a...
How The US Iran Conflict Could Reshape Auto Repair Demand
Gas prices can jump overnight, and when they do, the ripple effects reach far beyond the pump. Stacey Miller unpacks how rising tensions tied to the US Iran conflict could impact the US auto care industry through four pressure points: fuel pric...
Building a Professional Brand at any Stage
Your professional brand is forming right now, in the email you send, the way you show up at a trade show, and how you act when you’re nervous. Jacki Lutz sit down with Northwood University sophomore Caden Olvey and Dana leader and Northwood alu...
The Data Behind Every Drive: Powerful Insights from Phone Telematics
Your phone is quietly generating one of the most useful datasets in transportation and auto care, and it’s bigger than most people realize. We talk with Anthony Johnson, solutions engineer at Arity, about how phone-based telematics data becomes...
What The 6-3 Tariff Ruling Means For Auto Part Imports
A 6-3 Supreme Court ruling just rewrote the tariff playbook and then a brand-new 15% global surcharge arrived days later. Host Stacey Miller unpacks what fell, what stayed, and what stacked, translating fast-moving trade policy into clear steps...
Layoffs & Alignment: Navigating Career Transitions with Intention
What if the most powerful career move isn’t a promotion, but choosing yourself? Jacki Lutz sits down with two industry powerhouses, Kristine Frost of Shattered Glass Advisory and Tammy Tecklenberg of dott®. to unpack the real story behind caree...
How AI, People Stories, and Student Programs are Shaping the Auto Care Industry
The floor at AAPEX buzzed with more than announcements, it pulsed with practical innovation. Stacey Miller sat down with Chris Jones, group editorial director at Endeavor B2B, to unpack what’s actually moving the aftermarket forward right now: ...
From RBIs To Reality: Baseball’s Data Myths And What They Teach Every Industry
What if the numbers you trust most are telling only half the story? Mike Chung sits down with Ben Orlando, host of The Midnight Library of Baseball, to explore how baseball’s most beloved stats—wins, RBIs, errors—became powerful myths and why c...
Chasing Growth Over Comfort
What if the difference between burnout and breakthrough is choosing the right kind of hard? We dive into the art of challenging yourself with intention, how to spot energizing resistance, build resilience, and grow without burning out. Auto Car...
What the Aftermarket Needs to Know from CES 2026
CES 2026 didn’t just showcase concept cars, it rewired the roadmap for the entire aftermarket. We unpack how software-defined vehicles, AI-first platforms, connected cockpits, and autonomous fleets are transforming everyday service work into hi...
Marketing Skills That Move The Automotive Aftermarket
A revolution is happening in aftermarket marketing: The Automotive Communications Council (ACC) is coming under the Auto Care Association, and with it a stronger community for communicators who turn complex parts and fitment into stories people...
How Connected Vehicle Data Cuts Congestion, Lowers Costs, And Improves Driver Safety
What if vehicles could tell us exactly where congestion starts, which intersections are most dangerous, and how to shave days off fleet delivery timelines? Auto Care ON AIR host, Mike Chung, sits down with Eddie Nath from Stellantis Mobilisight...
The Dealer Wants Your Wallet... We Need the REPAIR Act NOW!
Imagine starting your car and realizing the title says you own it, but the software doesn’t. That’s the reality too many drivers face as manufacturers tighten control over diagnostics, data, and tools. We break down what the Federal Trade Commi...
ACT NOW! Your Voice Can Move Congress To Pass The Repair Act
The repair you choose shouldn’t depend on a locked screen. We break down why Right to Repair is reaching a critical moment, how recent state wins in Massachusetts and Maine are reshaping access to vehicle data, and what it will take to secure a...
The Secret is Out: We’re All Winging It, Even The Bosses
Ever feel the sting of “not good enough” right when you need to step up? In this episode we open up about insecurities that stall careers: fear of being judged, comparison traps, and the myth that leaders must know everything. With Stefan Feder...
Inside Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week: Come for the Parts, the People and... the Bacon?
Big deals need the right room, the right timing, and the right people and Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) sets the stage. Host, Jacki Lutz, sat down with our Director of Trade Shows, Jessica Finnerty, and our Sr. Director of Meetings and Eve...
From “Blue Collar” To High Tech: Rethinking Auto Careers Through Competition
Engines came apart. Confidence came together. We brought a brand-new student engine rebuild competition to AAPEX and watched teams tear down and reassemble small block V8s in front of a live crowd, with instructors coaching from the sidelines a...
Inside The Life Of A Manufacturer’s Rep
Ever wondered who actually turns supplier strategy into real shelf space and steady sell-through? Host, Jacki Lutz, rides shotgun with two veteran manufacturer’s reps, Brad Baker, Senior Vice President at Bill Murray and Associates, and Darrell...
Why Hydrogen Is Poised To Power Trucks, Buses, And Cities
Hydrogen isn’t waiting for someday. It’s already moving freight, carrying riders through winter, and powering the equipment that keeps cities running. We sit down with Christa Harrison of BNG Clean Fuel Corporation to unpack where hydrogen work...
AIA Canada on Right To Repair, Workforce and Tariffs
A year can change the ground under your feet. We sit down with AIA Canada’s President and CEO, JF Champagne and their VP of Government Relations, Emily Holtby to unpack how Canada moved from talk to traction on Right to Repair, why Quebec’s new...
