When “We’ve Always Done It This Way” Leads to a $0 Exit

I first met this family in 2022. A father and son referred to me by a trusted friend. On the surface, they were good people. Hardworking. Honest. Proud of the fact that their shop had been around for roughly 30 years.

But very early on, it was clear they couldn’t communicate.

During due diligence, a story surfaced from years earlier where the father and son got into a heated argument inside the shop, escalated into the parking lot, and ended with the father chasing the son with a shovel. The shovel missed, bounced, and damaged a customer’s vehicle.

When I met them, they were calmer. Polite. Easy to talk to. But that story mattered, not because of the drama, but because it revealed unresolved leadership and emotional volatility inside the business.

The father was fed up. Burned out. The son wanted change but stayed quiet around him.

That dynamic matters more than most owners realize.

What the Business Actually Looked Like

Despite decades in business, the operation itself was fragile.

• No website

• No verified Google Business profile

• No marketing plan

• Two underpaid technicians

• Obsolete equipment

• No training systems

• No software or reporting

• No clear workflow

• No sales process

The shop looked busy because cars sat in the lot, but many of them were covered in dust.

Some had been sitting for years.

When we spoke to the technicians, a different story emerged.

They were frustrated. Underpaid. Lacking tools. Lacking training. Expected to fix modern vehicles using outdated equipment. When jobs couldn’t be completed, the owner blamed their work ethic instead of the environment.

That’s a pattern I’ve seen too many times.

The Plan, And the Resistance

Once we complete diligence, we always present a plan. This one was straight forward but heavy.

This shop needed a full reboot:

• Replace aging equipment

• Implement modern software

• Stabilize daily operations

• Train the team on systems

• Build a sales process and hire a sales team

• Market the business properly

• Recruit and develop staff

We planned to keep the name and run it from behind the scenes but under our group umbrella. The location wasn’t ideal, but that’s rarely a death sentence when online visibility and conversion are done correctly.

But as negotiations progressed, resistance grew.

The father became increasingly emotional and sentimental. One moment that stood out was when he asked us to agree not to sell brake fluid flushes.

His reasoning:

Brake fluid “never needs to be replaced” and shops that do it are robbing customers.

That statement alone revealed a deeper issue.

Brake fluid degrades. It absorbs moisture. Manufacturers specify replacement intervals, typically around 20,000 miles, and warranty compliance depends on it. Black fluid often indicates internal seal breakdown.

Refusing to service vehicles according to manufacturer standards isn’t ethical. It’s a liability.

That single request wasn’t the problem, it was the signal.

The Tip of the Iceberg

From there, the resistance expanded:

• Equipment upgrades were unnecessary

• Technicians didn’t need training, they needed a “kick in the ass”

• Diagnostic tools weren’t required because AutoZone “diagnoses cars for free”

Anyone who has spent real time in this industry knows that parts stores sell parts, they don’t diagnose vehicles.

This was no longer about systems. It was about control.

Buying a business is like getting married.

The handoff only works when the prior owner trusts the next chapter and releases control.

This wasn’t that.

The financials were messy. The expectations changed constantly. The demands contradicted what we know creates stable, self-sufficient businesses. Financing wasn’t possible making it unrealistic to buy in cash.

So we passed without making an offer.

The Outcome No One Wants to Talk About

About a year later, I ran into the son at a grocery store.

The shop had closed.

Both technicians were gone, one injured due to faulty equipment, the other left out of frustration from lack of tools and training. The father wanted to reopen discussions with us, but pride got in the way.

They exited with $0.

Thirty years of work.

Gone.

The Lesson

Every successful exit, internal or external, starts years before the sale.

A business is no different than a home.

You invest in it while you live in it, for comfort, function, and long term value.

Resistance to calculated change, refusal to invest in people, and clinging to “how we’ve always done it” is a direct path to a pride-filled, zero-dollar exit.

And unfortunately, it’s far more common than most owners want to admit.

Written by James Stephenson

Master Technician, Multi-Shop Owner, Operator, and Founder of Lotus Consulting

James Stephenson actively owns and operates Automotive Repair and Automotive Service Businesses across Massachusetts and Connecticut and works directly with Shop Owners to build stable, self-sufficient, Owner Optional Businesses.