The twelve sentences service advisors are trained to say, what each one really means, and the exact words that stop them. Thirty-four years under the hood, nine of them writing the tickets, written down for the person who signs.
Every volume names the sentence, shows the math, and gives you the words to say at your next visit.
The advisor's script, decoded, with the answer to every line.
Both volumes plus the brand-by-brand sheets and the printable tools.
Brand-by-brand verdicts on oil, tires, batteries, brakes, filters and wipers.
Flip the switch. Same brake job, same car. On one side, what gets printed for you. On the other, what the department runs on: book time instead of the clock, a parts matrix instead of a markup, and the lines somebody added because the system let them.
Two books and three tools, delivered as PDFs the minute you pay. Read them on the phone in the waiting room.
The Service Counter Playbook. The invoice, the twelve sentences, the warranty, the parts, the diag fee, the visit protocol. 53 pages.
The Never-Buy List. Oil, tires, batteries, brakes, filters and wipers, brand by brand, with who really makes each one. 33 pages.
Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM, Nissan, Hyundai/Kia, Subaru: the suppliers, the five-minute items, the programs to ask about by VIN, the upsells to expect.
Every sentence to say, in order, and every box to tick before you authorize. Screenshot one, print the other.
Four weeks, four short tasks. Receipts in one place, VIN checked, last invoice priced, next visit scripted.
Brands change hands, prices move. Bundle buyers get every revised edition at no charge.
"I could rebuild your transmission. I could also tell you to the dollar what the dealership was going to charge you for it, and why. The second kind of knowledge is the one nobody writes down."
I turned wrenches for thirty-four years. Lube tech at a Ford dealership in Ohio in 1989, master technician, nine years as shop foreman, which is the job where you stop just fixing the cars and start writing the tickets. Then fourteen years running my own independent shop, pricing every job against the dealer down the road. I sold it in 2024.
As foreman I wrote the repair orders, sat in the meetings where the maintenance menus were built, and watched advisors get trained on the sentences in Chapter 2. I know what a bill is made of because I made them.
For thirty-four years I watched the script work from the shop side of the wall. Every tech knows it. Nobody writes it down, the way a casino does not publish its odds.
Then a retired man brought me a dealership invoice for fourteen hundred dollars of work his car did not need, and I realized I had spent nine years as foreman signing the tickets those sentences produced. He was not careless. He had just never been shown how the bill was built, and the industry has every reason to keep it that way.
These books are my attempt to close that gap. Not with "do your research," but with the actual sentences, the actual numbers, and the actual words to say back, written for someone who wants an answer at the counter, not a new hobby.
You already own the car. You are already paying. You might as well be the one who read the script.
Use it at your next service visit or parts run. If you have not spotted one padded line or made one better decision, reply to your receipt within 7 days for a full refund. No forms, no questions. The risk is mine.
It names them. Chapter 2 is twelve sentences, quoted, with what each one is doing and the exact words to say back. Chapter 3 lists the services that get sold and gives a verdict on each. Chapter 5 shows you how to find out who really makes the part in a minute.
No. Nothing in these books requires a tool. They are written for the person who signs the estimate, not the person who turns the wrench. If you can read a receipt, you can use every page.
The counter works the same way whatever is on the lift. Book time, the parts matrix, the menu, and the script do not change with the badge. The warranty chapter matters most on newer cars; the parts and counter-tax chapters matter most on older ones.
No. It is about knowing which of their recommendations are engineering and which are quota. Keep going to the dealer; just stop funding the add-ons.
Volume I is the counter: the sentences, the invoice, the warranty, the visit. Volume II is the shelf: who really makes oil, tires, batteries, brakes, filters and wipers, which badges are the same factory, and the eight places to never buy from. The bundle adds the make-by-make sheets, the printable card and checklist, and the 30-day audit.
Instant PDF to your email through Gumroad, readable on any device. Refunds within 7 days by replying to your receipt email. No forms.
Volume I alone is $27. The 60-second invoice check in Chapter 1 usually covers that on the next visit. Start there.