#89 The PDR Expo and The Competitions

September 28, 2026

Episode 89 — PDR Expo 2026 and the Competitions

Gene recaps PDR Expo 2026 at the Rio in Las Vegas, recorded the day after a red-eye home, and brings back six interviews from the show floor plus a Tool of the Week and the competition results.

00:00 Intro — Recorded in the basement after the red-eye home. Heads up on audio levels: the on-camera mics were running hot at the show, so some segments may be louder or quieter.

00:01 PDR Expo 2026 at the Rio — Likely the biggest PDR Expo yet and the first at the Rio. Comparison to the Plaza and Fremont Street. Lunch in Chinatown, the food hall, the lobby bar where everyone gathered, and the rooftop cigar bar.

⚑ FLAG: "Dave Chalotte" (lunch in Chinatown) — first-time name, spelling unverified.

00:03 Shout-outs and the small-show advantage — Thanks to Mike Glidewell (Dent Mate) for the cigar and Jon Videen for the drinks. Why smaller shows give more networking and unhurried education.

⚑ FLAG: Verify "Mike Glidewell" spelling and whether "Dent Mate" is his company (it's also the name of estimating software referenced later).

00:03 Round table and glue pull talk — Friday round table of about nine techs, led by Keith Cosentino and organized by Kevin Bird. Saturday: Gene's glue pull double session, roughly an hour and 45 minutes with plenty of Q&A. Feels like old-school MTE in the early 2010s at the Caribe Royale.

⚑ FLAG: "Kevin Bird" — verify spelling.

00:05 Competitions preview — GOAT competition damage was brutal; beginners damage much harder than last year. PDR Marketing Minute returns next week.

00:06 New shaved tools from DentCraft — John Yeager and Brandon Schmitz collaborated on a new set of shaved tools through DentCraft. Gene ordered a set after seeing them in the elevator line; expect a future Tool of the Week.

⚑ FLAG: Verify "John Yeager," "Brandon Schmitz," and "Deacon" (one of Matt Boyette's sons). Also confirm Matt's surname spelling — the transcript uses both "Boyett" and "Boyette."

00:07 Interview: Žan Vidic — GOAT competition — The GOAT competition is open to top-three finishers from Dent Olympics in Orlando; five competitors. Sixty seconds to view the damage, no lights, no touching, no photos. Two hours of repair split into two one-hour blocks with a 10-minute break. The damage: a hood hit perpendicular to a body line with a tight, sharp crown driven down into the concave and a secondary impact, roughly 8" x 4". No wet sanding. Žan's plan: glue-tab tension on the body line to help the metal flow, with soft pushes, the same approach taught at Level Up. Tension costs setup and cool-down time, but without it push marks are almost guaranteed.

⚑ FLAG: "Wei Wu" (competitor, won in Canada) — spelling unverified. Žan's "Trying to stay ahead of Jack" joke left as-is — not sure who Jack is.

00:12 Interview: Vinnie D'Alessandro, Anson PDR — BLE X light stand — Debut of the BLE X light stand, a year-long collaboration with BLE, who flew in from England. Height range roughly 3.5 to 9.5 feet, strong locking joint, push-button height adjustment, integrated battery tray and water ballast bag. Works with X-Factor or Stuckey lights.

Pricing (from ansonpdr.com): stand only $849. Combos with Elimadent lights and Never Loose run $1,675 to $1,751. Listing specs a 45" minimum and 9.5 ft maximum height; batteries not included.

⚑ FLAG: Product listing still says "Available Mid September" — confirm it's shipping. Vinnie says 3.5 ft on-air; the listing says 3.75 ft. The blog says "about three and a half feet" per Vinnie; adjust if you want the spec.

00:14 Battery on board and plug lock — The Elimadent battery on board (previously the Hail Stand Receiver Adapter) is getting a clamp mod to fit the new stand. The plug lock keeps the light's male plug from popping out while you adjust.

⚑ FLAG: Transcript had "Limidant" / "IllumiDent" — corrected to Elimadent (the brand Anson carries). Confirm "plug lock" isn't the same product Anson sells as "Never Loose."

00:16 Tequila Compact HUB line — Grew from about two tools to around 130–135 in six to eight months, heading past 200. The Econoline handle locks solid with no play, converts to a mini T-handle, and gives a thumb-push position Gene likes on hand tools. 3/8" shaved tools deliver strong drive on European cars.

Swoop Compact HUB Interchangeable (link provided): $99 (17"), $109 (21"), $119 (24"), all 3/8" diameter, with a Black Gold morph tip.

⚑ FLAG: The Swoop link is a 3/8" compact hub tool. Verify: "Econoline" handle name, "Hail's Angels" (Dent Reaper — transcript says "Hales Angels"), and "Craig Dyer."

00:19 Anson app — Order through the Anson PDR app to get the glue of the month.

00:20 Interview: Noah Hebert, Dent Ops — Match-O-Matic — Built internally to match insurance approvals against your estimate line by line, even across formats (MobileTechRX or DentMate to CCC or Mitchell). Spot the gaps, generate a supplement, get a documentation checklist of photos and invoices needed, and use Payout Splits to allocate line items to techs, glass, or body shop. Works for PDR and body shops; free trial available. Dent Ops estimating and claim services also have free trials.

⚑ FLAG: Noah said "match-o-matic.io" on-air, but I couldn't verify that domain. Links above point to dentops.com only, per your list. Add match-o-matic.io if you can confirm it.

00:23 Interview: James Ricci — Dent Slayer and Dent Repair Jax — On pronunciation: the family says "Ritchie," but Ricci is the spelling. Dent Slayer started when Matt designed a one-off tool with A1 that turned into a product. Friends for 20+ years; Matt got James into PDR. Matt designs the tools; James handles videography, design, web, and podcast production.

00:26 Color blindness and the gray card — Both James and Gene are color blind. Gene's wedding-photography hack: shoot a gray card at every new venue and set white balance from it in software.

00:28 Making the Dent Slayer podcast — James refused at first because of the editing load. The fix: hire a production company that sets up, films, and edits. Around 22 episodes so far. Gene's approach: no heavy editing, just sit down and talk.

00:31 Glass cleaner for cold glue — James picked up a tip in Gene's cold glue class: clean the panel with glass cleaner. Gene learned it from Ryan Campbell out of Cleveland.

⚑ FLAG: "Ryan Campbell" (Cleveland) — verify spelling.

00:32 Process over intuition — James on Gene's class: the value is a clear, repeatable process. Gene's veteran philosophy: like a race car driver, you're chasing the tip that gains a hundredth of a second per lap, and it compounds over a career.

00:34 Dent Repair Jax — James's local PDR company. 50K+ on YouTube and about 96K on Facebook. Future episode planned on his social media strategy.

00:35 Interview: Mack — beginners competition — Mack felt less nervous but more intimidated than last year. The damage moved from a hood to a trunk lid on a stand: harder light setup, harder positioning, a bigger and wider dent. His advice to future competitors: be ready for anything, and if you did the best you're capable of in 30 minutes, you won.

00:38 Interview: Keith Cosentino — ClaimConnection — Keith built the company he wanted for his own shop. Scope the car, fill out a simple form, submit photos through the portal. The ClaimConnection team writes the estimate in CCC (catching R&I operations techs miss), submits it, and becomes the adjuster's point of contact, with status visible in the portal. Written PDR or conventional, depending on your preference and state. Working name was Back Office Bulldog.

Pricing (as stated on-air): $1 card verification to sign up, $199 per estimate written, 6.9% of total claim value for full claim support.

⚑ FLAG: ClaimConnection's site is a login app, so I couldn't verify pricing on the web — figures are from Keith on-air. Also: the estimator's name "Tammy" is unverified, and the site brands itself "ClaimConnection" (one word) — I used that in written sections.

00:44 Thad, Dentproof and the Panel Beaters Club — Sticker haul, T-shirt, hat, and a "thaddle" from Thad. The Panel Beaters Club Discord feels like old-school PDR forums: organized by topic, no algorithm feed. Join: https://discord.gg/7DUezhDBS

⚑ FLAG: "door ding dot com / doording.com" — the old PDR forum Gene references. Verify the name before it goes in any written copy (I left it out of the blog).

00:46 Coming up — Plans to interview Sheldon (PDR Expo and MTE) and possibly Casey about the shows. Gene will teach glue pulling again at MTE.

⚑ FLAG: "Sheldon … Convex" — transcript is garbled here. Confirm Sheldon's surname and company, and Casey's full name.

00:47 Tool of the Week: PDR Original custom tool — Custom hand-built, hand-ground tool from Alex at PDR Original (https://pdr-original.com/, https://www.youtube.com/@pdr-original, and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pdr_original_canada). Arched shape for reaching into braces and panel edges, rolling-style tip, custom-stitched black leather handle, copper ends with a Canadian flag, plus a red tool hanger in Dent Repair Now colors. Alex works with Josh Kidd in Canada; Miroslav used one of Alex's tools in the GOAT competition.

⚑ FLAG: Verify: "Alexander Yefremenko" (Gene says on-air he's not sure of the pronunciation), "Josh Kid/Kidd," "Bryce," "Miroslav/Miro," and "Ken Clark, the Man of Steel."

00:52 Competition results — Honorable mention to Seth for an incredible door repair on stretched, smoked damage. Gene encourages him to enter Dent Olympics.

00:53 Awards announcements — Full results as announced at the show — watch or listen for every placing.

01:00 Wrap-up — Congrats to Vladimir, the new GOAT. Gene did play-by-play with Lee Roth and judged the GOAT competition; no cleanup was needed on the GOAT hoods. Mack takes 2nd in beginners after 3rd last year, the first tech under a year in to podium. Us old guys better watch out.

Episode Transcript

#89 PDR Expo and the competitions
===

Gene Fetty: [00:00:00] Good

Welcome back to the show. Let me just take those off so you can see my eyes. Anyways, welcome back to another episode of the All Access podcast. I think, I think this is episode 89? Sounds about right. Anyways, uh, we are in the basement because we took a red-eye home from Vegas, got home this morning, took a nap on the plane, took a nap on the other plane, took a nap this afternoon.

I was a little too tired to go to the studio and do all this, so I figured we'd just jump right into here. Now, for this show, we are gonna take you to the expo. We've got a couple of great interviews, uh, we did [00:01:00] there. Uh, we've got Žan, Mack, uh, Vinnie at Anson, Noah from Dent Ops, Keith Cosentino, James Ricci from Dent Slayer.

Uh, it was a great show. Uh, so we've got those interviews coming up. Now, I may have some audio issues, so be ready with your volume knob as we move throughout the sho- throughout the show, right? This should be set up and it's my normal volume. At the show, my mics were going crazy on my little camera, uh, and I had to dial those down, but I went in and listened to the recordings and they sound pretty good.

Just know I'm not an audio engineer, and we may have some levels up and down, so if you've got a section that's really quiet, as it comes to an end, you might wanna turn the volume down so you don't blow your ears out, but we'll do the best we can do. Uh, so the show was amazing. Um, actually, I'm, I- I'm certain that it was the [00:02:00] biggest, uh, PDR expo to date.

Great turnout. It was the first time at the Rio. Uh, the Rio was such a nice property. Now, I enjoyed the Plaza, because it was close to Fremont Street, so, like, you literally could just walk out and walk across the street and be on Fremont Street, and there were a ton of great restaurants you could go to, and the, the sights to see on Fremont are pretty great, uh, pretty cool.

The Rio's just off the strip, so you really can't walk out and go anywhere. Now, I did have a great lunch in Chinatown with Dave Chalotte and MeLissa, and it was a 20-minute walk back to the hotel, which was good after a heavy lunch, but it wasn't like you were just walking out and going somewhere. Uh, but the Rio was great.

Um, they had, like, a food hall, so there were places you could get food. Um, nice bar right when you walk in, uh, where everybody sort of congregated, and it was cool to be able [00:03:00] to walk through and say, say your hellos. Uh, and then over in the other tower that I didn't stay in, or I guess not in the tower, on the tower, they had a really cool, uh, rooftop bar where you could smoke cigars.

So we had a couple of drinks. Uh, Mike Glidewell, um, uh, Dent Mate, thanks for the cigar, bro. That was awesome. Really enjoyed it. Žan Vidic, thanks for the drinks. Enjoyed those as well, and of course, always all the camaraderie at these shows. Um, you know, I really enjoy the expo as a smaller show. Even though there's less to see, you get way more great networking time, right?

Even, even the education, right? So we did, Friday, we did a round table. Uh, I think there were nine of us. Keith Cosentino led that. Kevin Bird put it together. Um, really a great, great, um, talk session. And then because it, you don't have the chaos [00:04:00] of, uh, MTE, and all the classes, and you're running to there, and you're trying to do this, we were able to stop, and talk, and have good conversations after and there was no rush about it.

And same thing Saturday. I did my, uh, glue pull talk. I had a double session, so we went for, like, an hour and 45 minutes, and I had time to talk, right? We had time for questions. We had lots of great questions in there, and at the end, right, there was no rush to run out and go do other stuff that you had to do or you were gonna miss out, so I was able to stay, and answer questions, and have good discussions.

I love the small shows. Now, I can appreciate- that's a little harder for the vendors who are coming to sell tools, and it can be more difficult to justify all the expense to get there, which is what makes it a small show. So, like, there's trade-offs back and forth, but I myself love the small shows. It [00:05:00] really felt like old school MTEs, like back in the early teens, I guess you would call it, '11, '12, '13, '14, uh, when we were still at the Crib Royale and the shows were small and everybody sort of hung around and congregated at the same place.

Really, really a great, great time. So Competitions were there, the GOAT competition. Oh man, that damage was crazy hard. Žan's gonna talk a little bit about that before he did his repair. Um, beginner competition, way harder damage than last year. Uh, Mack went after that, uh, and we talked to him in the interview.

And, uh, at the end of the show or towards the end of the show, again, audio may not be spectacular, but I have somewhere on my phone, I recorded all of the who won, who did what, so we're gonna wrap the show up with that today, uh, instead of a PDR Marketing Minute, which will be back at its regularly scheduled time next [00:06:00] week on the next show.

Um, anyways, we will put those clips in, uh, and try to keep track of everything. Um, what else do we got? Yeah, I think that's about it. Saw some cool tools, uh, you gotta check out. Uh, and I ordered a set, and I'm sure it'll be a tool of the week once it's in. Uh, but John Yeager and Brandon Schmitz put their heads together and worked on some new shaved tools through DentCraft.

Uh, as John was telling a- me about 'em, and I was supposed to go get a demo, and then Saturday just got busy for me. Um, I ordered a set. I, I saw, uh, I mean, was it Deacon maybe? Anyways, one of Matt Boyett's sons had a set, um, and pulled 'em out on the el- on the elevator or while we were a- waiting in line in the elevator, uh, and checked 'em out, and I'm like, "Must have."

So I ran over with John yesterday, like almost at the end of the show, and, uh, [00:07:00] ordered a set. Uh, shipped them in 'cause I didn't have a big enough bag to bring 'em with me, so I'm sure they'll be in this week because DentCraft is super fast, uh, at shipping. Um, anyways, without further ado, let's, uh, let's transition into some of the interviews.

Well, actually, not some of the interviews, all of the interviews from the show, and I will be back, um, to wrap up or intro into the... Oh, I do have a tool of the week. I'll be back, and we'll do a tool of the week for this week. Um, and then we'll do the, uh, winners, and then we'll wrap it up. So anyways, let's get to the interviews.

I'll see you at the show.

Gene Fetty: All right, guys, so back live at the expo.

Gene Fetty: I snagged this guy.

Žan Vidic: Hello.

Gene Fetty: Žan. You know him from the show, of course.

Žan Vidic: Trying to stay ahead of Jack.

Gene Fetty: Yes, exactly. Uh, so- The GOAT competition is today.

Žan Vidic: [00:08:00] Yep.

Gene Fetty: Right? That's like the best of the best. So you had to be third place or better-

Žan Vidic: Yep ... in the- Top three from Dent Olympics- Olympics

in Orlando.

Gene Fetty: Okay, perfect. So top three. There's five competitors.

Žan Vidic: Yep.

Gene Fetty: Um, they did the dent, and then it was hidden.

Žan Vidic: Yep.

Gene Fetty: And they did the big reveal yesterday. And we-

Žan Vidic: Yeah, we

Gene Fetty: got

Žan Vidic: 60

Gene Fetty: seconds to look at it ... 60 seconds- you got 60 seconds to

Žan Vidic: look at it. And no light- So- ... nothing ...

Gene Fetty: nothing.

Žan Vidic: Yeah, just you can see it.

You cannot touch it. I was like, "Can I feel it? Can I touch it?"

Gene Fetty: Right. No. Nothing. Nothing at all. No cameras, no... You couldn't even take- Yeah ... a picture of it.

Žan Vidic: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: Um, pretty gnarly damage. I wanna talk about, like, what is your mindset going into this? What are you trying to, um... What's your plan of attack? How long do you get to fix the dent?

What does all that look like?

Žan Vidic: So we get two hours. Okay. And they just told us today that we do one hour, and then 10 minutes break, and one hour. So the damage is bad. You saw it.

Gene Fetty: Yeah, nasty.

Žan Vidic: Yeah, yeah, it's the worst dent that was in the competitions, I believe. If we're [00:09:00] not counting the Camaro competition- Right, right

which is a completely different type of-

Gene Fetty: Totally separate ... competition. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but of the- of these style-

Žan Vidic: Yeah ...

Gene Fetty: Dent Trials- Yeah ... Olympics, Tag Team-

Žan Vidic: Yeah, even Germany- ... beginners, just- ... Italy, Italy, Japan, yeah ...

Gene Fetty: this is the worst damage ever made- Yes ... for a competition in this arena.

Žan Vidic: Yep.

Gene Fetty: Okay?

Žan Vidic: Yeah. And, uh, it's over a body line.

It's on the hood. So they allow anything except sanding and polishing at the end, so everything else goes.

Gene Fetty: But you could run a polisher over it. You can't wet sand, or not even

Žan Vidic: polish it? You can not wet sand. You can... For, I don't know about running a polisher through it. I'm sure you can hand polish if you want.

Gene Fetty: Okay. Okay.

Žan Vidic: Um-

Gene Fetty: But no, you're not cutting any- Yes ... flaws out. Yes. Like, you're stuck with what you got.

Žan Vidic: Yep. Yep. Yep. So my plan of attack is basically use tension to give that body line some flex, some more... The, to, to make metal flow easier-

Gene Fetty: Yes ...

Žan Vidic: basically. Yeah,

Gene Fetty: right.

Žan Vidic: And then just go at it and see what the me- the dent gives me.

Like-

Gene Fetty: Right ...

Žan Vidic: maybe I start knocking [00:10:00] down, maybe I start pushing a bit. But it's the things we teach at the level up- Right ... the body line. Exactly. Like, how to attack the body line and

Gene Fetty: stuff. Yes. And so guys, so you can picture it, body line next to a concave.

Žan Vidic: Yep.

Gene Fetty: And the, the impact came down perpendicular to the body line, smashed it down, drove a really tight, sharp crown down in the concave, and then there's, like, a secondary impact behind there.

Yep. So you're talking a pretty good... What do you think? Maybe- Yeah, yeah ... eight inches this way and four inches this way. It is a nasty, nasty dent, and that crown is super tight. You gotta do tension. I, I think- Yeah ... if you don't do tension, you're never gonna-

Žan Vidic: I mean, if you are going for a... We, I always go for 100% clean repair.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

Žan Vidic: I'm not saying I always get there, but that's my goal, you know? And if, uh, if you don't use tension, I don't think you can get there, because you will make push marks.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

Žan Vidic: In a retail lo- situation, like everyday life, yeah, okay, you can go. Even then, I would use [00:11:00] tension. But, but- But if you had

Gene Fetty: push marks,

Žan Vidic: you can sand it out- Yeah, you can sand it out-

and get all the, yep ... and you can ship the car- Yep ... and everything works, but here you cannot do that. Yeah, yeah. So without tension, I think it's gonna be ve- very hard. I don't know. Apparently these cars, these metals are really soft.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

Žan Vidic: Mack was competing- Yeah ... yesterday on the trunk. Yeah, Mack was talking

Gene Fetty: about

Žan Vidic: how soft the trunk was.

He was talking about it's very soft. So- I think with the right setup, with the correct setup, putting on tension and a good soft push, I think I can move, I hope I can move a lot of that out- Yes ... in, in one move.

Gene Fetty: Nice.

Žan Vidic: Uh-

Gene Fetty: Very nice ...

Žan Vidic: I am a bit worried about using tension. I never use tension on the competition, and you know you're limited with time- Yes

so when you set up those tabs on, and they take a while to set up, to cool down- A few

Gene Fetty: minutes, yep. Yep ...

Žan Vidic: so you're just like, I, I'm losing a few minutes, right? Right, right. You- there's nothing else you can do, like just wait and, um -

Gene Fetty: Yeah, hurry up and wait ... yep ... it is what it is.

Žan Vidic: Yep.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. Nice.

Žan Vidic: But yeah, let's see how it goes.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. Well, Žan, best of luck.

Žan Vidic: Thank you.

Gene Fetty: The [00:12:00] winningest tech ever. Man, I like your odds. It's a wicked dent, but I've seen you do some gnarly damage.

Žan Vidic: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: I, I, I think you got this, uh, but I guess time will tell.

Žan Vidic: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: And you've got some other fierce competitors-

Žan Vidic: Oh, yeah ... that you're up against, too ... like if it was just me against me, okay.

Right, yeah. There are other- Yeah ... good dent guys, like all top three before.

Gene Fetty: Yep.

Žan Vidic: Uh, one, two, three. That won, not just top three.

Gene Fetty: Right, right. So you got some studs that you're up against. Yeah, yeah.

Žan Vidic: Yeah. And, and Wei Wu is the same as winning 'cause he did amazing repairs in the, in the- Oh, absolutely ... back in the da- uh, not back in the days, but before.

Gene Fetty: Yes. Yeah, Wei's definitely a, a contender.

Žan Vidic: Yeah. So- And he's a winner. Yep. He won in, uh, Canada basically.

Gene Fetty: Exactly.

Žan Vidic: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: Exactly. So, well, thanks for coming on the show again. Thanks for having

Žan Vidic: me.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. We appreciate it. And best of luck, and we'll see if we can get some footage of you working and-

Žan Vidic: Yeah ...

Gene Fetty: we'll put it somewhere.

So-

Žan Vidic: And send it to my wife.

Gene Fetty: Yeah, there you go. Yeah, for social media. Exactly. All right, guys, we'll catch you on the next interview. All right, so back at the expo with another interview. We found good [00:13:00] old Vinnie- Yes ... at the Anson booth. Uh, and I interrupted him. He was getting ready to do a little filming, and I'm like, "Hey, what do you got going on?

What do you wanna talk about?" And we've got a couple of things.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yes.

Gene Fetty: So Vinnie, what do we got?

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Well, this year at PDR Expo is the big debut of the BLE Anson light stand, and that's over here. We can go over to the Elimadent booth- Yep ... and check that out. You might get blown out a little bit. There's a lot of sold stickers on these already.

They're flying out the door. It's a hot commodity. It's very hot. So BLE teamed up with Anson to make this awesome stand. It goes from three and a half feet all the way to nine feet, nine and a half feet. So for all you hail techs out there- We'll get that sucker way up in the sky working on a Sprinter van

Gene Fetty: That's up there, right?

Obviously.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah, ran out of cord. Ran out of cord.

Gene Fetty: Yeah.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: But, uh, you get the idea, nine and a half feet.

Gene Fetty: Yes, it's huge. And one thing, so we did a video, we even [00:14:00] did a how to build it. Impress- I was really impressed how easy it is to move, but this little pinch is strong. Like, you can put a good bit of weight down- Yeah

on this.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah, yeah.

Gene Fetty: And it's just holding.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. And it, it's not going anywhere.

Gene Fetty: And the simplicity of the move, like, just that push button locks into place.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. Fantastic. You would think that it's a simplistic design, but there's a lot of engineering going on inside the tube- I'm sure there

Gene Fetty: is ... to make it

Vinnie D'Alessandro: that special.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. It's solid. It's a really great build.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: Um, and also, I don't know if we have one handy, I don't think so, your battery on board setup. Oh,

Vinnie D'Alessandro: yeah.

Gene Fetty: And I know that's getting tweaked around a little bit.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. We're, uh, still working on it, but there's one over here that we can show you.

Gene Fetty: Okay. Yeah, let's walk over here and check out the battery on board because I think it's a really cool, uh, add-on.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah.

Unidentified Bystander: Yeah. Yeah, now you're starting here, but when you go to Orlando- So

Gene Fetty: why don't you talk about it, Vinnie?

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. So, uh, it's the Elimadent battery on board. It's always been called the Hail- Elimadent Hail Stand Receiver Adapter. Right. But we're gonna [00:15:00] have to come up with a better name because no one could distinguish that from the Medusa- Right

which is a different product. So what we're doing now is we're putting a clamp on there, and we made a little mod to make it, uh, accept the battery receiver adapter for this light stand, and it's, it's wonderful. A lot of guys don't know about the, the, the, uh, plug lock either. You know, we've had this out on the market for a long time, and the plug lock locks in that male plug, that way it's not popping out when you're adjusting it.

Gene Fetty: Yeah, it's really slick. As soon as I... I just got mine last week. As soon as I opened it up and I saw that, it was intuitive and I'm like, "Oh, that just... It locks it in." Yeah. I don't have to worry about moving it and it popping out. Yeah, exactly. Like, like, great design.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. Great design. And with the stand, it doesn't really matter what you run.

You know, we have it set up with the X-Factor. Some guys like Stuckey. You know, you can put a Stuckey on there. If you put a Stuckey, it comes with a water bag that you're gonna put on the battery tray back here, and, uh, you're good to go.

Gene Fetty: Well, the Stuckey or the battery on board. Or the, or, or the battery on board.

Yeah, yeah. But that water ballast bag is great.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: Yep.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. It comes with the [00:16:00] water ballast bag, but you know, you could go to Walmart and grab ankle weights if you want.

Gene Fetty: Yeah, whatever you want. Just something to, to ballast that

Vinnie D'Alessandro: off. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So we're really excited about it. It was a year in the making.

The guys from BLE, they're floating around here. They came all the way from England to, you know, share this moment with us. That's awesome. And it's, it's been really cool.

Gene Fetty: Great. Well, it's an amazing stand. Yeah. It's

Vinnie D'Alessandro: awesome. Thank you.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. Perfect. And you guys are working on something else. Yes. A whole new line.

Yeah. Well, this is not brand new, but the line just keeps expanding.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: It does,

Gene Fetty: yeah. Let's sneak over here and talk about this.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: So the compact hubs, the whole line of compact hubs grew from about two tools, and currently we have about 130 tools. Even within, what, six to eight months, we've come up with 130 some odd tools, and it's growing.

It's gonna be well over 200, 300 tools.

Gene Fetty: That's awesome.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: So, and a lot of people really like the Econoline handle Which you can lock and you can keep it like a regular handle. Slip it in there, and there's no movement at all. Once that's in, you're locked in. There's

Gene Fetty: no play. Super tight. Like, [00:17:00] no gig, no give- Yeah

no wiggle. Yep.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Say you wanna make it a T-handle, you take that button, throw it in the back. I assume a lot of people are just gonna keep it like this. What are you thinking? Right, just

Gene Fetty: a mini T. Yep.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. And this is weighted as well.

Gene Fetty: Oh, that's nice.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. So now that's, you're good to go What do you think?

Gene Fetty: I love it.

I really do. And another little side note with the Econo line, uh, you know where I like that? Is on the hand tools.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: The hand

Gene Fetty: tools, yeah. So the, uh... You guys have your curved, uh, sharp Tequila tools. Uh- Yeah,

Vinnie D'Alessandro: probably on the other table ...

Gene Fetty: Dent Reaper has the, uh, Hales Angels- Hales Angels, yeah ... and the micro hub.

What I like-

Vinnie D'Alessandro: A1 has compact hub

Gene Fetty: too. Oh, yes. So what I like about this Econo line handle, part of the old problem trying to do that is you don't really use hand tools like this. Yeah. You use hand tools like this. It gives you a perfect- You might, you might ... thumb push- Yes ... for when you're on your hand tools.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: That Econo line is a awesome- Yeah ... awesome little handle.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: I'm, I'm with you, Gene. I like that thumb.

Gene Fetty: The thumb- That, [00:18:00] you know- When you're, when you're doing- ... you just need

Vinnie D'Alessandro: that ...

Gene Fetty: when you're doing especially hand tools.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yes.

Gene Fetty: Right? Like the thumb, it's a little more control- Yeah ... a little bit more drive.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: I don't know what your secret sauce is- Oh ... the drive- You might- ... that you guys are getting out of these thin tools. What's the... What is that, a 3/8? That's

Vinnie D'Alessandro: 3/8 diameter.

Gene Fetty: 3/8 shaved. Man, I love it on European cars, German cars- Yeah ... sneaking down in the door, and the drive on these, even the, the, the Door Lords with the longer pick-

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Uh-huh

Gene Fetty: you're still putting all that power right into the panel.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. Yeah. This, this is, uh, this is a new one that, uh... This is the pride and joy of Craig Dyer right now, and this is a Door Lord that's shaved and interchangeable tip. So it's a little bit beefier. It's a 7/16 diameter, but it gets shaved down like the regular Door Lords, and then you have the interchangeable, so.

Gene Fetty: Yeah, I was talking to Craig about that yesterday. What's nice about that is you fight a little bit on the tighter doors to get your tip in, but then once you're in, because it's [00:19:00] shaved, you're getting the drive of the 7/16.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: With that shaved down space, you're not stuck in the, in the gap- Right ... at the top of the door.

Yeah, yeah. That's a, that is an awesome tool. This will be getting added to my arsenal for sure.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah, I'm sure.

Gene Fetty: For sure. Yeah.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Well, thanks for- So,

Gene Fetty: so 135 tools now.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yes.

Gene Fetty: Cruising up to 200, I'm sure. Oh, yeah.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah. Absolutely, and we're not gonna forget about the regular hubs either. This is a regular hub one. Yep.

It comes in compact or regular.

Gene Fetty: Yep.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: And, uh, so we'll be building on both lines.

Gene Fetty: That's awesome.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: That's great. Well, Vinnie, thanks for taking- Yes ... a few minutes. Appreciate it.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Absolutely.

Gene Fetty: And as always, you can get all of this at ansonpdr.com, or the better bet is to download their app because you're still doing the glue?

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Yeah, you know, there's always a glue of the month.

Gene Fetty: If, if you do the app order, you get the glue of the month. So- Yeah ... go get the app. Get after it. That's it.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: And it's no benefit to us. It's actually just a, a quicker, easier way to- It just

Gene Fetty: costs you more

Vinnie D'Alessandro: money . Yeah. Yeah . It costs us more money to have an app, but it's easier for the customer.

Right.

Gene Fetty: Exactly. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you, guys, and thanks for everything you've done [00:20:00] for us- Yeah ... here at the show.

Vinnie D'Alessandro: Well, appreciate it. We're here for y'all.

Gene Fetty: All right. Thanks. All right, thank you. All right, we'll see you on the next interview. All right, back with another interview. We're over at the Dent Ops booth.

Oops. Just literally just ran into my buddy Noah. Yeah . And, uh, I was like, "Hey, five minutes for an interview?" And he's all in.

Noah Hebert: Yep.

Gene Fetty: You guys are working on some new software, right? Yeah. So Dent Ops has been around. You guys have changed a lot of how PDR is done, how estimating is done. You've helped make- people make a lot more money.

Noah Hebert: Yep.

Gene Fetty: Now you're bringing some new, a new software or a new program out?

Noah Hebert: Yep. Yeah, so we just launched- So what

Gene Fetty: you got going on?

Noah Hebert: Yeah, we just launched a software called Match-O-Matic. It's at Match-O, match-o-matic.io. It's kind of a pan, a mouthful, but basically, uh, we process a lot of insurance claims with our team.

We were running into a lot of issues with supplements and just different estimating formats, and so we, we built a tool internally so that our team had an easier job matching up the insurance approvals with- Like

Gene Fetty: going from like a MobileTechRX or a Dent Mate and matching that to a CCC or Mitchell

Noah Hebert: kind of thing?

Yeah, exactly. Okay. So like if you submit an estimate to the insurance [00:21:00] company, sometimes they're gonna give you an estimate back in a different format, and now you're trying to figure out why is their estimate lower than mine or where is the differences. And so we designed a software to literally match up the line items and help you spot the difference between them really, really quickly and easily.

And then once you spot the difference, it makes it ridiculously easy for you to create a supplement, a document directly in the software that you can turn around and hand-write to the insurance company and say, "Here are the exact areas that we're missing right now that we still need to get paid on." So- Oh, nice

we, we made it as an internal tool. We were like, "This would be really helpful for a lot of people," so we made it a tool that other shops can sign up for and they can use. There's a free trial and everything, and-

Gene Fetty: Nice ...

Noah Hebert: so yeah. Yeah. It's made it really, really helpful. It creates another thing called the documentation checklist too, which basically just says, "Here are the things we need to get pictures of," or, "Here are the things we need to provide invoices for that we can get paid more money on."

Uh, and then the last part of it is what we call payout splits, which is, as a business owner as I'm sure you know, especially when you hire a, a subcontractors or anyone who's working with you, sometimes it can be [00:22:00] time-consuming, pretty tedious to slice and dice the approval.

Gene Fetty: It, it really is,

Noah Hebert: yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

To see how much is each person owed for that actual job. And so the last, uh, the tool there we call payout splits, lets you select, literally just click the line items that belong to this technician or that belong to the glass guy or that belong to the body shop, and it automatically calculates all the numbers and creates a nice looking report you can provide to everybody from there too.

So-

Gene Fetty: Oh, that's fantastic ... it's

Noah Hebert: pretty cool, pretty

Gene Fetty: cool tool. That's great. Yeah. That's awesome. So you guys are just continuing to push the envelope and-

Noah Hebert: Yeah ...

Gene Fetty: get there. Yeah.

Noah Hebert: Yeah. Yeah, so we'll keep, we'll keep on building it out if only for our own internal team- Yeah ... but we were like, "Might as well let the rest of the industry get the benefit of it too."

So it works with body shops, works with PDR companies, and we've gotten a lot of good, really good feedback for it so far, so.

Gene Fetty: That's awesome. Yeah. That's fantastic. So they can always find you at, is it just dentops.com?

Noah Hebert: Yeah, yeah, dentops.com you can find anything we do, including Match-O-Matic, so.

Gene Fetty: Okay, perfect.

Yeah. Great. And so free tile, free trial on Match-O-Matic.

Noah Hebert: Yep, free trial.

Gene Fetty: Um, the, the Dent Ops services are always great.

Noah Hebert: Yeah. And- Always have free trials on those too- Yeah ... so estimating and claim [00:23:00] services. But yeah. That's

Gene Fetty: perfect.

Noah Hebert: Other than that, we're just rocking and rolling, having a good time at the PDR Expo.

Gene Fetty: Awesome, love it. Thanks, Noah.

Noah Hebert: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: Appreciate you.

Noah Hebert: Yeah. Likewise. Thanks, team.

Gene Fetty: All right, let me know when you're on. Okay. All right. All right, guys, we are back with another interview. Now, just so I don't screw this up, 'cause we were just doing this off-camera a second ago, we're here with James, and I'm gonna let him say his last name.

James Ricci: Okay. We'll say Ritchie.

Gene Fetty: Ritchie. Okay. But... Okay. But it was Ricci?

James Ricci: Yes. Well, i- in Italian, that's how they would say it. Right. Ritchie. But when the, uh, I- I believe it was my great-grandfather, that generation that came over here from Italy-

Gene Fetty: Right ...

James Ricci: um, and back then, everyone, they wanted to be American, right? Yes.

They didn't wanna be Italian, so they kind of Americanized all the names so- Right ... my family says Ritchie.

Gene Fetty: Okay ...

James Ricci: which is not really correct, but that's what it- But

Gene Fetty: it should be Ricci. Sh- Well, I've always said Ricci- Should be ... for what it is. Yeah. So yeah.

James Ricci: You're... I think you're more correct. You speak Italian?

Gene Fetty: No. No. Okay. I eat Italian. I love Italian food. So it's all good. Yes. So [00:24:00] anyways, James, in case you don't recognize him, is the other half of Dent Slayer, right? Everybody knows Matt Boyette. In fact, we've had Matt on the show from Italy. Well, we're doing the same thing here, and I've wanted to interview you for a while.

James Ricci: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: I wanna hear your quick story, your- Okay ... back end of how did you get hooked up with Dent Slayer? What do you do for Dent Slayer? Like hit me with it. Yeah. I wanna get on it. Wow.

James Ricci: Okay, so

Gene Fetty: man- And this is not a four-hour episode.

James Ricci: Oh my gosh.

Gene Fetty: Go to Dent Slayer for the long shows. Right. This is a quick snippet, James.

Yes. So, so the, the s-

James Ricci: Yeah ...

Gene Fetty: the cliff notes version.

James Ricci: Right. So man, how Matt started Dent Slayer was he just designed a tool with A1. You know how A1 used to just build one-off tools? Yeah, yeah, you used to be able to just

Gene Fetty: call them and be like, "Hey, I need this tool," right.

James Ricci: Yep, and so he designed a tool, and they said, "Hey, we think we could sell this thing."

And so that was kind of the, the birth of Dent Slayer tools. Um, and as, as time went on, uh, and he [00:25:00] started making more tools, uh, we'd been friends for over 20 years. He's how I got into this business.

Gene Fetty: Oh, nice.

James Ricci: Um-

Gene Fetty: I think I remember that from your story on the Dent Slayer.

James Ricci: Yes.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. Yeah.

James Ricci: Yeah. So, um, but man, I, I don't know exactly when I started to get into, like, learning videography and going down that path.

Um, probably at least 10 years ago, maybe longer, but I, I was kinda going down that path, and he would just ask me to help him do certain things one-off. '

Gene Fetty: Cause you were the friend who was good with video.

James Ricci: Right.

Gene Fetty: That makes sense.

James Ricci: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Um, but we were... We've always... We've been pretty close, so I was just...

It was just naturally I would just help him with stuff.

Gene Fetty: Right.

James Ricci: Um, and then at some point, um, I really don't know how it happened, but at some point he was just asking me about he needs more consistent, constant help- Right ... um, with building that brand, and so- I don't know how many years ago, but that we [00:26:00] kind of said, "Okay, I'm gonna be, I'll be part of this with you and j- help you build this."

Nice. Um, and he, he designs all the tools, um, and he does all that kind of stuff, and then I'm doing most of the, um, videography, design, um, internet, um, p- producing, um- The backs, back end of the podcast- Yeah ... all that kind of stuff.

Gene Fetty: Yes, right, you've got podcasts. Yep. You've got online training.

James Ricci: Yep.

Gene Fetty: You've got all the tools.

You've got how-tos on the tools. Yes. Like, yeah. You do a fantastic job. I love- Okay, thank you ... I love all of your stuff.

James Ricci: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: Yeah, yeah.

James Ricci: Thank

Gene Fetty: you.

James Ricci: Um, but what's, what's funny is Matt is actually... I'm, I'm good at, like, the technical aspect of all these little understanding audio, understanding video, understanding the software and stuff, but he's actually probably better at me with, uh, uh, mind of designing things- Okay

how spaces, [00:27:00] um, colors. I'm actually color blind.

Gene Fetty: I, I'm a little color blind myself. You are? Not all the way, but a little bit. So do you- On the red side, and blue and green, like I can't tell those apart ...

James Ricci: so do you have to get people to help you do color correction, like, on your videos and in your photos and stuff?

Gene Fetty: Oh, yeah. Well, that's why I have Liv.

James Ricci: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: Okay. Yeah, yeah. I don't do any of that.

James Ricci: So I've, a lot of what I do, I know how to do things, but, um, I will, I'll get help from Matt or my wife. My wife is a pretty artsy person. Nice. She's studied a lot of art, uh, even in college, and so I always go to her for help with-

Gene Fetty: With

James Ricci: color

design, layout. Oh, absolutely color. Yep. Any vi- any video I've ever done, I have to ask somebody, "What... Did these colors look right?"

Gene Fetty: So, so we used to do- I

James Ricci: have no idea ...

Gene Fetty: me and MeLissa did professional photography. So weddings and babies and families.

James Ricci: Wow.

Gene Fetty: My hack, we always had a gray card.

James Ricci: Yep.

Gene Fetty: So any time we would go to a new venue-

James Ricci: Yeah

Gene Fetty: I would pull my gray card in and take my shot- Yep.

James Ricci: Right ...

Gene Fetty: because I can't guess on white balance. I can't see it. Right. I don't see it [00:28:00] well.

James Ricci: Yep.

Gene Fetty: But I can go in in the software and be like- Yes ... "There's my gray point." Yep. "I've got my colors right." Yeah. So that's how we di- That's how I... That was my workaround.

Yeah. And I'm like, "Hey, babe. How's this look?" "Oh, that's way too warm. That's way too this. You don't see that green?" And I'm like, "Oh, it looks good to me."

James Ricci: Yeah, I didn't know... I didn't understand or know that, um, there were different colors of white-

Gene Fetty: Yeah,

James Ricci: right ... and how horrible if you get that wrong in photography or videography, it makes it look absolutely- Horrible

horrible. Horrible. Yeah. Um, so yeah.

Gene Fetty: Yeah.

James Ricci: But, um, yeah, and funny, when we, Matt came to me and asked if I wanted to do a, if I would do a podcast with him, and I was like, "Absolutely not."

Gene Fetty: No, you said no.

James Ricci: No, no, because we were already doing so much. Um, he doesn't stop doing stuff. You, you- Well- ... seem like you're the same way.

Gene Fetty: I am. At that round table yesterday, it like... And I think a lot of us suffer from the same thing-

James Ricci: Yeah ...

Gene Fetty: where it's like if I'm not putting it into the bucket, I'm emptying the [00:29:00] bucket. Yeah. And then you feel like you're losing what you've amassed. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know how to turn it off. I don't know when enough is enough.

James Ricci: You just need more people to help you.

Gene Fetty: I think so. Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

James Ricci: But, so yeah, that's kinda how he is. He just keeps- creating, if you're the, if you're the guy who helps him, he just keeps creating more work for you to do. Right. 'Cause he just, he can't s- help himself- Right ... but just keep moving forward on learning new things and building new things, probably just like you.

Yeah. Um, but yeah, he wanted to do a podcast. I was like, "Bro, I can't, I can't do all that. Like, I can't... I don't have the, the room in my life to film, to edit a pod-" That's it, the editing. Right. It's like, I can't edit a podcast on top of- owning a PDR business, everything that goes along with

Gene Fetty: that. Well, and, and it's not like your, uh, shows are short.

Like, your multi-hour shows. So my secret to editing them is I don't. I just get in, we're gonna shoot it. Yeah. It is what... This will be the most editing I do is where I have all these clips.

James Ricci: Right.

Gene Fetty: But when I [00:30:00] sit down to do an interview or when I sit down to shoot, I'm like, "It is what it is." Right. I'm not gonna do the polish.

Right. I'm not taking out my ums, and my ohs, and the ahs. It's just me. That's it. What it is, yeah. It's just, we're sitting down and having a conversation, so that's what I do. Yeah. But you have, um, your, uh, podcast guy.

James Ricci: That's what we did.

Gene Fetty: Yep.

James Ricci: So that's what, that's what he said. He's like, "Okay, what if you didn't have to do that?

What if you didn't have to set up, you didn't have to film it- You can sit down ... you didn't have to edit it- You can sit down and talk ... you can just..." And I was like, "Okay, I can, I can do that."

Gene Fetty: Yeah.

James Ricci: And so that's what we did. We've invested in hiring a production company that comes-

Gene Fetty: That's- Sets

James Ricci: everything

Gene Fetty: up

they, they do a great job.

James Ricci: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: When I went down and did my show, so easy. Yeah. I literally just... I mean, you guys were awesome hosts. I, I spent all day talking to Matt about training, and then you showed up with Publix subs, and then we ate. I think we were even eating on the show.

James Ricci: I was definitely.

Gene Fetty: You... Yeah.

Uh, and it was just-

James Ricci: I have not heard the end of that.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. We just sat down and plugged in and, and went to town, and then got done, and he cleaned up, and we went and got some pizza and called it a night. It was awesome.

James Ricci: Yes. Yeah. [00:31:00] So that, that is how we have kinda kept that going. I don't think we would've been able to make that happen long term unless we would've done it like that and got the help, but it, it's not cheap.

Gene Fetty: No, I'm sure. So, um, yeah. Yeah, not that many hours of technical anything is gonna be expensive.

James Ricci: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: What episode number are you guys on? Did you break 20? I

James Ricci: wanna say 22. 22.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. I think if I haven't listened to all of them, I've listened to almost all of them.

James Ricci: Mm-hmm.

Gene Fetty: Always love when you guys are dropping a new show.

Doesn't happen often-

James Ricci: Yeah ...

Gene Fetty: but when you're dropping a new show, I'm like, "

James Ricci: Yes,

Gene Fetty: yes. I'm in. I can't wait- Yeah ... to listen to it."

James Ricci: Yeah, that's the, that's the trade-off. Like, I listen to every one of your

Gene Fetty: podcasts. I appreciate that. Yeah, I get the occasional text, "Oh, dude, this." I think I made you hungry a couple episodes ago.

James Ricci: Yes.

Gene Fetty: Yeah.

James Ricci: Yep.

Gene Fetty: Yeah.

James Ricci: Yeah, there's always something that it, um, even if it's not something new, you know, we've been doing this for a long time- Right, yep ... it's hard to learn something new. But I did learn something new from you today- Yeah ... which was the window, the glass cleaner-

Gene Fetty: Yes ...

James Ricci: for, um- For cold glue

cleaning your [00:32:00] panel for cold glue. Yeah. I've never done that, so.

Gene Fetty: I'm trying to do that little bit of polish. I actually learned that from, um, shoot, Ryan, uh, from Cleveland. I'm drawing a total blank on his name right now. Okay. But Ryan from Cleveland.

James Ricci: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: That was his thing. He's like, "No, dude, use the glass cleaner- Yeah,

James Ricci: yeah

Gene Fetty: and you're good to go."

James Ricci: Yep.

Gene Fetty: Yeah.

James Ricci: So-

Gene Fetty: Yeah ...

James Ricci: yeah. It works. It's, it's hard to learn brand new things, um, but we a- we need constant reminder to stuff that maybe we've forgotten about, um, that just brings it back up in our brain that we can focus on and just- You know, get better with what we're doing in this industry.

Gene Fetty: Just

James Ricci: dreaming again. So, yeah.

Gene Fetty: It's Ryan Campbell. Okay. Okay. Just gave- I just needed a second. Yeah, Ryan Campbell. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

James Ricci: Yep. Yeah. So- So it was- Cool ... we, uh... So yeah, uh, I, I sat in Gene's class today on cold gluing. It was great. Um, there wasn't a ton of new things that I learned, but there were... It was, what's g- what you're really good at is, um, process.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

James Ricci: And just understanding of the framework of things that maybe I know under the [00:33:00] surface, but like, okay, yeah, there is a... There's a clear process here that if you follow, it makes it work.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

James Ricci: Rather than going through all of the hardship of learning everything the hard way, and just knowing it by t- intuition.

Right. There's an actual process that you can follow if you're not- It works ... if you haven't been doing this for your whole life, to get good at it fast. And

Gene Fetty: then when it doesn't work, you just go back and figure out- Yeah ... which step you missed. Yeah.

James Ricci: Exactly.

Gene Fetty: So I feel like, like you said, we've, we've been doing this for a long time.

James Ricci: Mm-hmm.

Gene Fetty: My philosophy for us veterans- Mm-hmm ... 'cause we're old enough to be veterans-

James Ricci: Yeah ...

Gene Fetty: when you go to these classes, when you're taking a class, when you're having a discussion, we're probably not gonna find something that changes our world.

James Ricci: Yeah.

Gene Fetty: We're like a, a race car driver.

James Ricci: Mm-hmm.

Gene Fetty: You're gonna pick up that little tip-

James Ricci: Yes

Gene Fetty: that gives you a hundredth of a second on a lap.

James Ricci: Right. Right.

Gene Fetty: And that-

James Ricci: Yes ...

Gene Fetty: compounds throughout- Mm-hmm ... the rest of your career. Yeah. That's, that's my philosophy- Yeah ... for us veterans. I'm like, always, always-

James Ricci: That's good ... keep learning. Yes. Yeah.

Gene Fetty: That's good. Yep. Thank you. For sure. Cool. Well James, thanks for taking a couple minutes.

James Ricci: Yeah, my

Gene Fetty: pleasure. And, uh, I'm looking forward to [00:34:00] coming down and doing part two of mine.

James Ricci: Yes.

Gene Fetty: Um, because I still got a lot more to talk about.

James Ricci: Yeah. And you're welcome to come any time you wanna make the trip.

Gene Fetty: We'll make it down. Yeah. I've been traveling a lot this year, we might have to wait till next year.

James Ricci: Sounds good.

Gene Fetty: But it's coming.

James Ricci: Cool.

Gene Fetty: All right, man. Thanks.

James Ricci: Thank you.

Gene Fetty: So you can find James's stuff at Dent Slayer. Oh, and dude, your YouTube channel. Yep. You got a great, huge YouTube channel.

James Ricci: Yep. Dent Repair Jax.

Gene Fetty: Dent Repair Jax. So that's- J-A-X.

James Ricci: Yes. Yep. So,

Gene Fetty: um- And you're over 50,000 subscribers, right?

James Ricci: On YouTube, yeah.

Yeah. My... So yes, so I have Dent Repair Jax is my local PDR service company. Yep. And that's what most of my time goes to.

Gene Fetty: Sure.

James Ricci: Dent Slayer is something me and Matt do together, um, that kinda fits well with our normal businesses. But yeah, Dent Repair Jax. My, my... This is crazy, my biggest following is on Facebook.

Gene Fetty: Oh, really?

James Ricci: Yeah. So I have, like, I think 96,000 on Facebook.

Gene Fetty: Oh, wow.

James Ricci: And then YouTube, and then Instagram is my lowest.

Gene Fetty: Okay.

James Ricci: It's-

Gene Fetty: Well dude, we're gonna... I didn't- Yeah. So I [00:35:00] knew your YouTube was good, I didn't know your Facebook was that good. Yeah. We're gonna have to sit down and do an episode and talk social media strategy- Yeah

because that doesn't happen by chance. That's not accidental. No. Yeah. Like, it's by design. I wanna sit down- Got it ... and talk to you about that.

James Ricci: All right. I'd love to.

Gene Fetty: That'd be great. Cool. All right, James. All right, brother. James Ricci. Thank you so much. All

Mack: right.

Gene Fetty: All right. Thanks, Gene. See you on the next one.

Mack: What up? Yo, let me tell you something Looking at the ceiling.

Gene Fetty: All right, we good?

Mack: Yeah. Are you good?

Gene Fetty: I'm good. Are you good?

Mack: Yeah. All

Gene Fetty: right. Are we rolling? Yep. All right. All right, guys, we're back. Maybe you've seen this guy before.

Mack: Probably not.

Gene Fetty: Bob Smith, wasn't it? Bob, yeah. Yeah,

Mack: it is John Smith, but yeah.

Gene Fetty: Jo- oh, John Smith.

Yeah.

Mack: Yep.

Gene Fetty: Uh, anyways, we're back with Mack at the expo. I wanted to grab him. So you, yesterday you competed-

Mack: Yes, I

Gene Fetty: did ... in the beginner's competition.

Mack: Yep, yep, yep.

Gene Fetty: Um, first- How did you feel this year compared to last year? I, I can tell you from the outside he was way less nervous- Way less [00:36:00] nervous ... which is good, I expected.

Yeah. But, but what was it like last year to this year? What, what did you feel? Uh,

Mack: I was way more intimidated this year by the dent because I am way better than I was last year. The dent was way harder than it was last year as well. It switched from a hood last year to a trunk this year. Uh, the trunk was way harder to fix, way worse positioning.

But-

Gene Fetty: Yeah, it was like the trunk was on- Yeah ... it was on a stand but it was like you were- Yeah ... fixing it on the car, not a nice little open hood stand there. Yeah Right?

Mack: So lining up your light was harder, uh, getting yourself in position to push, finding the right tools was harder than just... I mean, you slip a double bend in a chain and you can fix a hood, like you're good.

Gene Fetty: Right. Uh- And this was, like, a bigger dent too.

Mack: Much bigger.

Gene Fetty: It was significantly wider, right?

Mack: Yeah. Less sharp than last year, but it was a harder dent.

Gene Fetty: Yeah.

Mack: Uh, I feel really good about it.

Gene Fetty: Good.

Mack: Feel pretty good about it. Uh, I'm... I did everything that I could in the time that I had. I didn't leave anything on the line.

I'm very happy with how it came out.

Gene Fetty: Nice.

Mack: We'll see. We got [00:37:00] three hours-

Gene Fetty: Yeah, about

Mack: three hours till award time ... three hours, 15 until awards, so. So

Gene Fetty: yeah.

Mack: We'll see.

Gene Fetty: When I wrap up the show, you'll find out how everybody did. I'll try to remember who won what, and we'll wrap the show up that way, so.

Mack: I might be vlogging of my story walking on the way home, but who knows?

We'll see. We'll leave that-

Gene Fetty: We, we might- We'll leave that up for a

Mack: couple hours ...

Gene Fetty: we might, we might let you fly home, we'll see.

Mack: We'll see. Depends on

Gene Fetty: the

Mack: wind.

Gene Fetty: Um, so what advice would you give to somebody thinking about coming out to try the, the beginners competition next time?

Mack: Uh, whatever you feel like is gonna happen, don't be ready for anything, be ready for all of it.

Uh, because I was ready to fix another hood and it threw me off and I was confident until I saw the trunk and that really threw me off. But all I'd say is if you can feel like you did exactly what you are capable of in 30 minutes on that dent, you won, even if you don't get the trophy. If you did what you could do and the best that you could do, you won.

Gene Fetty: That's all you can do is do the best you can

Mack: do. Yeah. I was up against great competition in there.

Gene Fetty: Yeah,

Mack: you- A bunch of good guys ...

Gene Fetty: you beat some big hitters.

Mack: Yeah. Yeah. Some, some really, really good competition in there, so [00:38:00] I am happy however this goes to know against who I was up against how I

Gene Fetty: did. That's awesome.

I'll be happy. And I think us old guys better watch out 'cause these young bucks are, they're killing it, man. They're, they're going so much faster and better than, than we ever did. Well, buddy, good luck.

Mack: Thank you, sir.

Gene Fetty: We'll let you fly home. We won't make you walk.

Mack: Sounds good.

Gene Fetty: Yeah. And, uh- You saw that

Mack: shake?

Gene Fetty: Yeah, we do, yeah. Yeah,

Mack: evidence.

Gene Fetty: That's right.

Mack: Evidence.

Gene Fetty: Uh, I will see you on the next interview, and when we wrap it up I'll let you know how he did.

Mack: All right. See you guys.

Gene Fetty: All right, guys, back with another interview. Uh, we're here with Keith, uh, and we've talked to you a few times about Black Plague. That's right.

You always got great straps and everything like that. I wanted to talk about Claim Connection- Ah, yes ... and what this is and what do we got going on with that?

Keith Cosentino: So in this business, we love fixing dents.

Gene Fetty: We do.

Keith Cosentino: We love getting paid for fixing dents. And on big jobs, those checks come from the insurance company.

They're very good at holding onto them real tight.

Gene Fetty: They

Keith Cosentino: are, yes. There's a very small orifice at the bottom of the [00:39:00] insurance company where the money comes out. Right. It's hard to get a lot of it.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

Keith Cosentino: So w- when we get a car and we file a claim, generally as a PDR guy, we are not that great as an industry at writing an estimate- Right

submitting it to the adjust- to the insurance company, and then when they come back and they approve a h- half or a quarter of it, it's hard for us to figure out how to fight and get to justify what we're owed. And even if y- it isn't hard for you, it's a lot of work. And most of us are not in a body shop where we have an office manager who...

or, or a, an admin team to take those tasks. Or

Gene Fetty: an estimator who that's all they do is estimate, right?

Keith Cosentino: Or an estimator. Yeah, right. We're, we're taking our hands, we're going from here, we're working, oh, adjuster's here. Okay, let me put this down, and now have a half an hour, hour conversation with you that I think is productive, and at the end it's not.

Gene Fetty: Right.

Keith Cosentino: So as a small shop owner, I hated this process. I didn't want anything to do with it. I wanna fix the dents, I wanna greet the people, but I want someone who's on the admin side [00:40:00] to write this estimate properly, submit it to the insurance company, deal with all the back and forth. So I just created the company that I wanted for myself- Nice

and we call it Claim Connection. So Claim Connection exists all by itself. When you sign up with Claim Connection, you take a car in, you scope it, just say, "This is the damage I see." You fill out a real simple form and you take a lot of photos, and you submit it to us in a portal. From there, our team takes the entire claim.

They analyze it, they write it up in CCC, missing, uh, finding all the RNI operations that you're gonna do that you don't know that you can actually get paid for.

Gene Fetty: Right.

Keith Cosentino: Like strapping the hood to the repair stand and then putting it back on the car before you actually install it. That's an operation. You should be paid for it.

All the stuff like that, and then the team submits it to the insurance company, becomes the primary point of contact for you. So when the adjuster calls, they call Claim Connection. When they email, they email Claim Connection. And we're updating the portal so you have a, a clear visibility into what's going on with your claims all the time.

And then eventually you just get a message that [00:41:00] says, "Okay, it's approved for what you needed. You're good to go to work on the car, and the check is coming on, to this address or to that address," and you just work, and Claim Connection handles all the admin work.

Gene Fetty: That's awesome. So, so don't like, don't breeze over that.

When you use Claim Connection for a claim, it's not that you're... They're not just giving you a bigger estimate and like, "Here you go." Right. Like, literally you guys, Tammy or whoever, become the point of contact. That's right. If the insurance company calls me and they're like, "Hey, Gene, we need to talk to you about Mr.

Cosentino's claim," I say, "Well, actually, hold on a second. Here's the number you need to talk to-

Keith Cosentino: That's

Gene Fetty: exactly right ... Claim Connection. They are handling the claim."

Keith Cosentino: And

Gene Fetty: different- It takes all the heat off of you

Keith Cosentino: To help people get their minds around it, I say imagine a body shop. This is like the adjuster coming to the painter and saying, "Come out of the paint booth and l- and walk around the car with me for..."

He's like, "I don't have time. I'm painting cars. That's what I do here." And that's what we do. We fix the sheet metal.

Gene Fetty: Right. Right.

Keith Cosentino: Walking around, talking, you do it 'cause you have to, but not [00:42:00] because it makes you money.

Gene Fetty: And not because we're necessarily good at it.

Keith Cosentino: Definitely not. I personally get emotional about it because it's frustrating.

Gene Fetty: It is.

Keith Cosentino: It's very frustrating. I don't like it. It's the only part of PDR I don't like, but I, I do want the money that the insurance company can pay.

Gene Fetty: Yes. '

Keith Cosentino: Cause they'll pay what it's supposed to be paid. But I've- I'm glad you brought up the point about it's not just a sheet. There's a lot of companies that'll write you a wonderful estimate, very thorough, and I started using those before Claim Connection existed, and I'd submit this big estimate, and then when the adjuster comes back and says, "Hey, Keith, w- why are you asking for, uh, .2 hours for clear coat on the rail?"

Like, I don't even know what's on that estimate. Right. I didn't write it. Right. I, I... Just pay me what you can pay me. I don't know. Right. So I thought this is a- The, the

Gene Fetty: fight's over,

Keith Cosentino: right? This is not a good system. Yes. It- I, I... If I'm gonna fight for the estimate, I have to write it myself, or the person who writes it needs to, uh, needs to defend it.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

Keith Cosentino: So now she writes it, and she'll write it conventional if you want. I prefer to have them written PDR 'cause that's what I'm performing. Right. Depending on your state and how you [00:43:00] run, she'll write it any way you like it, but... and then she'll support it that way. But, uh, if we just remember that people in their roles need to do what they do, if you...

I recommend you have that person inside your building instead of us.

Gene Fetty: Right.

Keith Cosentino: But if you don't, this is the bridge until you do.

Gene Fetty: Yes.

Keith Cosentino: Otherwise, you're just taking yourself off cars and wasting money, and, and you're gonna settle faster than she is, I promise-

Gene Fetty: Right ... '

Keith Cosentino: cause you want the work on the car. Yeah,

Gene Fetty: I've heard she's a bulldog.

I heard she likes to

Keith Cosentino: bite. That's, uh, so- In

Gene Fetty: a good way, yeah.

Keith Cosentino: Um, inside story, when the business was being formed, the working name was Back Office Bulldog. I still have the website- Nice ... backofficebulldog.com. That's nice. I love it. But I went with Claim Connection instead, but- A

Gene Fetty: little bit more user-friendly-

or, or insurance company friendly.

Keith Cosentino: But I have the same term. I'm like, "I need a bulldog back there just fighting- Yes ... for every single dollar 'cause these guys'll, they'll let you get burned on all of it if you'll, if you let 'em."

Gene Fetty: Of course they will. So where do they find it? Where do they sign up?

Keith Cosentino: Claimconnection.io. You can go there, see how it works, and create an account. It's virtually free. We ask you to put a credit card and we charge [00:44:00] $1 to make sure you're a real customer, and then when you submit a claim, we charge you $199 to write the estimate. And then if you want us to support the claim, uh, it's, it's, um, 6.9% of the total claim value- Nice

to handle all the back and forth and just get it put to sleep.

Gene Fetty: That's awesome.

Keith Cosentino: Yeah. That's perfect. We're, we're super excited about it. We hope we can help you, especially on hail cars. That's where you're missing a lot of money if you don't do a lot of them. Tons,

Gene Fetty: yeah.

Keith Cosentino: But collision stuff, too.

Gene Fetty: Right. If you're doing the big smashes- Even if it's some of these big smashes, there's money to be had there.

Keith Cosentino: There is, yeah.

Gene Fetty: Absolutely. Well, cool. Keith, always appreciate your time.

Keith Cosentino: Thanks for

Gene Fetty: coming to me. Thanks, brother. Yep. All right. So I hope you enjoyed those interviews. I know I did. I always love talking to all of, uh, all of those people. I really enjoy it Special shout out, I didn't get to connect with you, to Thad from Dentproof.

Um, I didn't bring it here. We'll, we'll get it on one of the other show- Oh, I got some stickers. We did get a good sticker haul from Thad, so we can... I'll show you a couple of those. That's what we got, Dentproof, like Cobra Kai. [00:45:00] Pretty sweet. Panel Beaters Club, if you don't know what that is, thanks for the shirt, dude.

Appreciate it. That is the Discord server that Thad runs, uh, that really, dude, it kind of reminds me of, um, old school social media, right? Even almost like an advanced, uh, door ding dot com event, or not event, doording.com site. So you get the discussions, uh, that we love on social media without the distractions of Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or just the feed and it's gone.

Uh, I really like being able to pop into the Discord server, uh, and have a discussion. He's got it organized, uh, by, he's got it organized by, um, topic, uh, and does a pretty good job of keeping everybody on topic. Uh, and it's a great little [00:46:00] crew there. I, I'm gonna make sure to put the Discord link in the show notes, uh, so that you can go sign up.

Uh, I don't know, will this one will show up? These are cool stickers, man. Thad is always coming... Oh, that's what, like, the shirt is. Uh, the shirt will be making appearances on the background at the studio for sure. Um- That's enough. So you saw a lot of stickers. That was cool. So Thad, thank you for that. Thank you for the T-shirt, the hat, the thaddle, I believe is the name.

Got another thaddle, the paddle that he makes. Um, anyways, very cool. Thad, I need to get you on for an interview. I know yesterday was crazy. Uh, I sent you a text, and then I saw you, and then turned around, and then I was gone, and then you were gone. So we will connect another time. Uh, we were also supposed to try to get Sheldon, uh, of PDR Expo and MTE, right, Convex.

We were supposed to get him on and did not because, right, the [00:47:00] chaos of a show. So I'm gonna reach out to Sheldon and maybe even Casey, and we'll get a good interview, and we will talk, uh, expos and MTEs and shows, uh, and get some insight and, uh, go from there. So that will be really cool. So hope you enjoyed that.

I hope to see you at MTE. Uh, I will be doing another talk there. Uh, we'll be talking glue pulling. Uh, we'll get all the details figured out and wrapped up. Let's talk tools before we, uh, roll into who won and did what and where whoever placed. So it is time now for...

The tool of the week. I need a cooler intro than that. I need like a... I need somebody to do like an announcement and be like, "The tool of the week." Uh, maybe not. I don't know [00:48:00] Maybe I'll reach out to Ken Clark, the Man of Steel, and we'll see if he can do an intro where it's the Tool of the Week. All right, I'm excited about this one.

I've literally not used it. It was waiting for me on the table when I got home today, but I am super stoked about it. So Alex, PDR Original at pdr-original.com. Sweet, sweet business card, dude. This thing is awesome. Got your QR codes for his Facebook and YouTube, right? Check that out. Oh, and a phone number if you wanna reach out to him.

Alexander Yefremenko.

Don't, don't tear me up on that, Alex. I appreciate you. Yefremenko. Ye- Yefrem- I'm butchering it. We're just gonna go Alex with PDR Original. [00:49:00] So Alex is a serious badass tech. Um, he works with my buddy Josh Kid up in Canada, and Does some amazing smash work. He has started making some custom hand-built... I don't know if they're exactly one-off, but I guess if he's hand-building them, they're kind of one-off.

Anyways, he started making some tools. I saw him put one out for, uh, Bryce and Miroslav. I saw both of their videos. Uh, in fact, Miro was using this tool at the GOAT competition yesterday. Yeah, that's yesterday. Two days ago for you, at the show, if you're listening to it later. Anyways, without further ado, this is the tool of the week, right?

PDR Original, custom for me, Gene Fetty, right? Handmade. Um, [00:50:00] cool. So we got an arched shape, right, for sneaking up into braces or towards edges of panels and get your, getting your hand away. Um, and, and more of, like, a rolling tip than a whale tail tip. Let's see. It's not the camera I'm used to. But anyways, and you can see, I mean, like, it is hand-built.

It's hand ground. Uh, I'm really excited to, to put this thing to use. Um, custom-stitched leather handle, copper ends with the... Whoop. Sorry, Canada. With the Canadian flag on there. Uh, man, little bit of cushion under that leather. Uh, this thing is awesome. He also sent me a tool hanger to hold it up, right? So I got black leather and a red hanger for Dent Repair Now colors.

Uh, and we're gonna hang that up, but this is not gonna be a wall piece. Well, I mean, I might put it in the [00:51:00] studio on the wall, so I have to walk in and get it, 'cause, like, it's like a work of art. But anyways, if you are interested in one of these, reach out to PDR Original. Man, I can't even ... Didn't bring my phone down.

I must have left my phone upstairs. Anyways, follow that QR code. Goes to his Instagram. Uh, I will try to put a, a post paste. No. I will include the link to his Instagram and to his YouTube. Uh, go check out his work. Check out his tools. And Alex, thank you so much, uh, for getting this. Uh, and we had a pain in the butt paying him, because my PayPal got hacked, and th- so I got hacked, and PayPal shuts me down, and I can't use it, uh, with either of my email addresses, so I am PayPal-less.

So I had to send, have Max send PayPal, and I Venmoed. This is crazy, dude. Can't we just mail somebody a check or do cash or... I don't know. Weird. But anyways, Alex, thank you so much, [00:52:00] dude. It is a work of art. I cannot wait, uh, to put it to use. Back to the regular show

All right, guys. It is time, drum roll, for the, the announcements for the winners. I think I got everybody. I certainly tried to get everybody. Uh, and there was a special shout-out, uh, that I'm pretty sure I got. If I didn't... Je- not Jesse. Shoot, who was it? Seth. Seth, shout-out on your door dent repair, dude. That thing was amazing.

These doors were smoked, stretched, nasty. He didn't place, he didn't win, but he did get an honorable mention. So Seth, congratulations on the most amazing door dent repair. And like they alluded to, you need to [00:53:00] do the Dent Olympics competition in Florida. I like your end. I'd certainly like your end to getting on the, uh, podium, and you may even have a shot at winning.

With whatever tactics you used, you fricking nailed it, so congrats. So let's get into the announcements for the winners of the competition.

Announcer: All right, we're gonna start with

Beginner toss, third place

Why, why do we have to start out with

Get up here, son[00:54:00] [00:55:00] [00:56:00] [00:57:00] [00:58:00] [00:59:00] [01:00:00]

Gene Fetty: Congratulations to everyone who placed. Really congratulations to everyone who even threw their hat in the ring and competed because that was a nasty competition. From the beginners to the Dent Trials to the GOAT, you all worked your ass off and it was amazing. Congratulations to Vladimir. Vladimir, sorry bro, on the pronunciation.

Anyways, congratulations. You are the GOAT. You earned every bit of it. Uh, and getting to do... I got to do some play-by-play, uh, with Lee Roth in the arena while the, um, g- GOAT competition was going on, and I'm one of the judges. I had my... It's upstairs. I had my GOAT tag on. You, you may have even seen it in the, uh, in, in the interview with Vinnie.

Um All of you [01:01:00] guys killed it. Like, in fact, there was lots of cleanup work for the guys to do on the, um, dent trials, even some cleanup on the beginners. Across the board, there was no cleanup, no extra repair, uh, that needed done as far as I know on the GOAT hoods. Um, you guys did awesome, and that damage was wicked.

Wicked. I mean, like, woo, nasty. Uh, I think all of those hoods would've been replaced at the body shop. So hats off to you all. Congratulations, um, Vladimir, and, uh, your guy, one of your guys won the, uh, beginners competition. Wish it wouldn't have squeaked my boy Mack out, but what are you gonna do? Then Mack, incredibly proud of you, bud.

You killed it. Second place for Mack. So third place, first student, or first tech under a year to [01:02:00] even make it on the podium. Came back this year, put in a solid second place. I didn't get to talk to the judges who judged beginners because obviously I wasn't part of that, but I did g- did get to look at his repair.

Super clean. You did an amazing job. Um, I think you had just a little bit of a crown way on the outside that was a way bigger dent than last year, just like he was talking about. I think there was just a little bit of a wiggle of a crown all the way on the outside. I think that probably is what, uh, squeaked you into second.

But I could not be more proud of, uh, of you, buddy, and, and making it that far. Second place, up against some of that competition. The guys that were there, the fir- the beginners competition was fierce. I don't even know that I would wanna compete in the beginners competition, right? Like, you guys hit it. Uh, this, it was on, and Mack mentioned it, right, instead of on a hood, it was on the back of a trunk lid, and instead of, like, I don't know, four or five inches, like, this thing [01:03:00] was a dent, like this.

So the fact that beginners are even doing damage like this and going after it, pretty impressive. Us old guys better watch out. All right, I hope you enjoyed the show. I hope the audio levels weren't too crazy. Um, and, uh, I will see you next week back with a regular style show. We'll have... Well, we did have tool of the week, but we'll have a different tool of the week.

We will bring PDR marketing minute back, but just my intros and outros and all of this is 20 minutes, so with the interviews kind of a longer show anyways. We will skip that marketing minute, and I will see you on the next episode.

#89 The PDR Expo and The Competitions

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