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Business By The Numbers

by Hunt Demarest

Business

Hunt Demarest, CPA has consistently provided his financial business acumen to help move the industry toward greater heights of success and profitability. Hunt was recently referred to as a "terrific advocate of the aftermarket."He is the author of the book, Your Perfect Shop: How to Start, Run & Sell a Profitable Shop. In this book, he compiled some of the best practices for auto repair shop owners, whether they are just starting or have been in the business for years.Hunt's podcast will provide a core understanding of the financial aspects of running an auto repair shop.

From the show's RSS feed, refreshed Oct 29, 2026. Source feed.

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Episodes

  1. 3 Year-End Money Checks Every Auto Shop Needs [E247]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, and Overdryve Do you know what you’ll owe the IRS this spring, or are you hoping the number shrinks on its own? Are you planning to grow from $1.5 million to $1.8 million next year with the same labor rate and the same crew? And if your overhead goes…

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  2. Free AI Tools That Find Your Auto Shop’s Missing Money [E246]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, and Overdryve Why does QuickBooks show $40,000 in parts when your shop software shows $30,000? Would you notice if someone took $20 a day? And if AI companies are offering shop owners up to $2 million for their internal data, what’s sitting in yours?...

  3. Auto Shop Health Insurance Up Again? 4 Ways to Pay Less [E245]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, and Overdryve Did your health insurance renewal just land with another double-digit increase? Paying $800 a month for a group plan your techs could buy themselves for $500? Why can’t you just hand them the difference? Stephanie from Five Creek...

  4. Who Pays Most for Your Auto Shop? 3 Buyers Compared [E244]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, and Overdryve What is your shop actually worth, and who will pay it? Two of Hunt’s clients want to sell someday, but neither knows who the buyer will be. As Hunt explains, that answer decides whether you retire today or three years from now. Hunt...

  5. Interest Rates in 2026: No Relief Coming [E243]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, and Overdryve Thought interest rates had peaked? So did most of the country. So what happens when a customer needs a $10,000 repair, owns a home with hundreds of thousands in equity, and still can't pay? Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis &…

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  6. 6 Ways Auto Shop Owners Overpay on Taxes [E242]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, and Overdryve Did you buy a truck last December just to shrink your tax bill? Is the year-end bonus you pay yourself actually handing the IRS more money? In part two of his tax series, Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis & Associates, moves from tax...

  7. Stop Guessing What You'll Owe in Taxes [E241]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Do you actually know what you'll owe the IRS next spring, or are you just hoping it works out? And if your accountant has been extending your taxes for years, is that actually saving you anything? This week, Hunt...

  8. Why 70% of New Technicians Quit Within a Year ​[E240]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Would you take the job you're offering your own technicians? Could a candidate's spouse be the real decision maker in your next hire, and do you know what she needs to hear? Hunt Demarest sits down with Sam Freeman...

  9. Break-Even Is About Profit, Not Sales [E239]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Do you actually know your break-even point, or just a number that feels close enough? And if you hit it, would you even know why? This week's episode started with a phone call. Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis &...

  10. Why Deleting That Invoice Could Cost You at Tax Time [E238]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Are you accidentally paying taxes on money you're never actually going to collect? Could the way you're deleting a bad ticket in your shop management software be costing you more than the deadbeat customer ever did?...

  11. Rich vs. Wealthy: The Personal Finance Trap Quietly Sinking Shop Owners' Retirement [E237]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Are you chasing being rich, or are you actually building wealth? Could the shop owner making $150,000 a year retire with more freedom than the one clearing $800,000? Hunt Demarest has seen both, and the answer might...

  12. The 5 Blind Spots Quietly Killing Your Shop's Sale Price [E236]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Why do two auto repair shops with virtually identical profits sell for wildly different amounts, one at a nine-time multiple and another at three? And if you're not planning to sell anytime soon, does any of this…

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  13. Chris Cotton on Why Less Than 10% of Shops Ever Hit Their True Capacity [E235]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Why are less than 10% of shops operating within even 40% of what they're actually capable of? And if throwing more money at your technicians won't fix your productivity problem, what will? Hunt Demarest sits down…

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  14. Is Your New LLC Protecting You Or Quietly Costing You Money?? [E234]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Is your new LLC actually protecting you, or just quietly draining your bank account? Before you file paperwork for that second location, that self rental, or that "clever" loaner car company, there are three…

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  15. Secured vs. Unsecured: The Borrowing Playbook Every Auto Shop Owner Needs Before They Need It [E233]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve You need money. Maybe it's to cover payroll this week, maybe it's to buy the alignment rack you've been eyeing for a year. Either way, Hunt Demarest, CPA, says the loan you should get depends entirely on two…

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  16. Debt-Free Isn't the Win You Think It Is [E232]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Your bank account just hit zero. What do you do in the next 24 hours? And if you're planning six months ahead instead, is a bank loan really your cheapest option? Following up on last week's episode on cash reserve...

  17. Debt-Free, Cash-Broke: The Reserve Mistake Nobody Warns You About [E231]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve How much cash did your shop actually make last month — and how much of it is still sitting in the bank? If you paid off every dollar of debt tomorrow, would you have anything left to cover a bad month? In this...

  18. The 4 P&L Mistakes Quietly Sinking Your Shop's Profit [E230]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Do you actually know how much money your shop made last month? If 90% of new clients walking through Hunt's door don't, what are the odds you do? In this episode, Hunt Demarest, CPA, goes solo to call out the four...

  19. The IRS Flagged His Return: Here's the Playbook That Won the Case [E226]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Why does the IRS really pick a tax return to audit? And if a CPA who does this for a living can still get dragged through a three-year fight, what chance does the rest of us have? In this episode, Hunt Demarest…

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  20. Same Labor Rate, Different Profit: What the 2026 Benchmark Report Reveals About Where You Do Business [E228]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Why is a shop charging $300 an hour in Texas still taking home less profit than a shop in Maine charging $30 less? Does where you're located actually decide how much money ends up in your pocket — or is something…

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  21. What the Top 10% of Auto Repair Shops Are Doing Differently — And What the Bottom 10% Refuse to Fix [E227]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Is your shop growing in revenue but shrinking in profit? Are you convinced that raising your labor rate is the fastest path to the bottom line — only to discover that your highest-charging competitors are losing...

  22. Auto Shop Benchmarks: Biggest Changes, Key KPI's and Trends [E226]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Your technicians got more productive in 2025. Your labor rate went up. Your parts margins improved. So why is the average shop owner keeping almost exactly the same percentage of every dollar as they did the year...

  23. 529, Roth, or Trump Account? What Shop Owners Actually Need to Know [E225]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve What if the government — and a few well-known billionaires — were offering to deposit cash directly into an account for your child or grandchild, no strings attached, starting July 4th? Would you sign up? In this…

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  24. The Parts Reconciliation Gap Costing Auto Repair Shops Six Figures [E224]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Is your shop management system telling you one number while QuickBooks says something else entirely? Are parts credits going unclaimed? And if someone were quietly skimming off the top, would your current process…

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  25. The Big Four: Why Your Overhead Isn't the Problem — Until It Is [E223]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Is your advertising budget working for you, or quietly draining you? Are you paying a credit card processing premium you didn't even know existed? When did insurance stop being a routine expense and start becoming…

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  26. The Hiring Playbook Auto Shops Are Missing: PTO, Tool Allowances, and the 3-Day Interview Rule [E222]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Are your PTO policies scaring off the technicians you actually want? Could a $100-a-week tool allowance or a reimbursed truck payment beat a $10,000 raise — and cost you less? In today's tight labor market, the…

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  27. How Cutting Costs Doesn't Always Mean Keeping More Profit [E221]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve You bought a slower machine to save money. You kept the cheap tech to avoid risk. You sent the customer home with the cheaper repair to do right by them. What if every one of those decisions quietly cost you more…

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  28. Parts Matrix Problems: How Inflation Is Quietly Eroding Your Gross Profit [E220]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Are you leaving money on the table every time a parts price goes up — without ever realizing it? Most shop owners focus relentlessly on labor rates and rightfully so. But the slow, silent erosion happening inside…

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  29. No Cash, No Car: The Rule That Could Save Your Shop From Fraud [E219]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve What if the biggest fraud threat to your shop isn't a dishonest employee or a shady vendor, but your own customers? What if the payment you accepted last week could be reversed today, and there's nothing the police...

  30. The Hidden Volatility Killing Auto Repair Shop Profits: The 3 Category Framework That Fixes It [E218]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve Every auto repair shop owner knows the feeling: a monster month followed by a stretch that barely covers the bills. But most owners assume they're doing something wrong. The truth? Even the best-run shops in the...

  31. AI, Agents and the Death of Mundane Work: Tekmetric's COO on the Future of Shop Software [E217]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve What does the COO of the most widely adopted shop management software in the industry actually see when she looks at your data? In this episode, Hunt Demarest sits down with Lauren Langston, Chief Operating Officer…

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  32. Stop Spray and Pray: The Marketing System Helping Auto Shops Fill Bays in 2026 [E216]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive, WickedFile, Maverick Shop Owners, and Overdryve What if the reason your car count is down has nothing to do with your marketing — and everything to do with your people? And if you don't know who your ideal customer actually is before you spend a single dollar on...

  33. Discover the Shocking Hidden Price Tag on Every Comeback Job (It's Not What You Think) [E215]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File You know comeback work costs money, but do you know how much? Most shop owners look at what they paid their technician and stop there. Hunt Demarest shows why that number is almost always the smallest part of the loss. In this episode, Hunt breaks...

  34. Number One Thing Your Team Needs to Hit Your Goals, And It Has Nothing to Do With Skill [E214]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File What if the reason your team isn't hitting your numbers is simply that they don't know what the numbers are? How do you go from being the guy fixing the cars to the guy running the business — and what does it cost you if you never make that mental...

  35. That Empty Bay Is Costing You $175,000 a Year: The Real Math Behind Recruiting (Or Not Recruiting) [E213]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File What if that empty bay in your shop is costing you $175,000 a year? What happens when your best technician walks in on Friday afternoon and says they're not coming back Monday? In this episode, Hunt Demarest welcomes back Chris Lawson from…

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  36. Why Profit on a $40 Cabin Air Filter Can Beat a $600 Water Pump Job: Discover the Metric Your Shop Isn't Tracking [E212]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Would you swap out wiper blades for $500? Probably yes. Would you replace an entire engine for $500? Absolutely not. But here’s the real question: what if the math behind why you said yes to one and no to the other is the same math that’s silently...

  37. How to Build a Commission Plan for Your Advisor or Manager Without Getting Burned [E211]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File You already know how to pay your technicians, but what about everyone else? Your service advisors, your counter staff, your shop manager... how do you build a pay plan that actually motivates them to perform? In this follow-up to last week's...

  38. What Your Technician Pay Plan Is Really Telling You [E210]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File What if the pay plan you've been debating isn't actually the problem? In this solo episode, Hunt Demarest tackles one of the most argued topics in the auto repair industry: how to pay your technicians. After seeing it debated online once too often,...

  39. From MBA to the Bays: Why the Next Generation Isn't Taking Over Family Shops (And What One Second-Gen Owner Did Differently) [E209]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File What if you left college with an engineering degree and an MBA, only to realize your best opportunity was back home in the family auto shop? In this episode, Hunt Demarest sits down with Brad Templin of Scott's U-Save, a fourth-generation…

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  40. Everything You Need to Know About Life Insurance for Your Shop (Without the Sales Pitch) [E208]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Should your shop carry life insurance on a key employee? What if one employee's unexpected death could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars? In this episode, Hunt Demarest tackles everything you need to know about life insurance for auto…

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  41. The Tax Mistakes That Get Auto Shops in Trouble (and How to Avoid Them) [E207]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Are you unknowingly doing things that make the IRS take a closer look at your shop? What if one “small” filing mistake dramatically increases your audit risk this tax season? In this episode, Hunt Demarest walks through the most common tax mistakes...

  42. The New Tax Rules That Could Save (or Cost) Your Shop Thousands in 2026 [E206]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Are you sure you’re capturing every tax deduction your shop — and your employees — are entitled to this year? What if missing one small detail hands more money to the IRS than necessary? In this episode, Hunt Demarest kicks off the new tax season…

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  43. Why Your Sales Goal Might Be Leading You Toward Disaster [E205]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Are you setting sales goals that actually make you more money — or just more tired? What if your biggest growth goal is quietly setting your shop up for failure? In this episode, Hunt Demarest breaks down one of the most common (and dangerous)...

  44. 2025 Wrap-Up: Interest Rates, ERTC, Overtime, and What Shop Owners Need to Know for 2026 [E204]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Are you making end-of-year tax decisions that truly save you money, or just creating future headaches? What if the moves you think are smart tax strategies are quietly costing you more than they save? In this episode of Business by the Numbers…

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  45. Health Insurance Shakeup for 2026: ACA Subsidies, Association Plans, and the HRA Strategy Shop Owners Need to Know [E203]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Health insurance premiums keep climbing — but 2026 could bring the biggest shakeup in years. In this episode of Business by the Numbers, Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis & Associates, breaks down what’s happening in the small-business health...

  46. Does Training Actually Pay Off? What Shop Owners Get Wrong About Technician Development [E202]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Training might be the most misunderstood investment in the auto-repair industry — and one of the most expensive when done wrong. In this week’s episode of Business by the Numbers, Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis & Associates, sits down with…

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  47. End-of-Year Tax Traps: The Deductions, Deadlines & Mistakes That Cost Shop Owners Thousands [E201]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Are you leaving money on the table before the tax year closes? In this end-of-year episode of Business by the Numbers, Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis & Associates, walks through the essential tax moves shop owners must make before December 31st...

  48. The Road to 200: How to Double Your Sales, Profit, and Net Income [E200]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File What would it take to double your shop’s success? I.e., 200% of your current sales, gross profit, and net profit? In this special 200th episode of Business by the Numbers, Hunt Demarest, CPA at Paar Melis & Associates, breaks down the math…

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  49. Stop Paying Taxes You Don’t Owe: The Tax-Free Way to Reward Your Team [E199]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Are you rewarding your team, or paying extra taxes to do it? Could a few words on your payroll save you thousands a year? In this episode, Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar, Melis & Associates, explains why the difference between an allowance and a...

  50. Stop Letting the Dealer Decide Your Finances — Leasing vs Buying Explained [E198]

    Thanks to our partners Promotive and Wicked File Should you lease or buy your next vehicle or piece of shop equipment? In this episode, Hunt Demarest, CPA with Paar Melis and Associates, walks through the real-world math behind leases and loans, from tax deductions to depreciation traps, so you…

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View all 255 episodes →

About this show

Hunt Demarest, CPA has consistently provided his financial business acumen to help move the industry toward greater heights of success and profitability. Hunt was recently referred to as a "terrific advocate of the aftermarket."He is the author of the book, Your Perfect Shop: How to Start, Run & Sell a Profitable Shop. In this book, he compiled some of the best practices for auto repair shop owners, whether they are just starting or have been in the business for years.Hunt's podcast will provide a core understanding of the financial aspects of running an auto repair shop.

Hosted by

Hunt Demarest

Frequently asked questions

How many episodes does Business By The Numbers have?

Business By The Numbers has 255 episodes on PodParley. The most recent episode was published on November 5, 2026.

What is Business By The Numbers about?

Hunt Demarest, CPA has consistently provided his financial business acumen to help move the industry toward greater heights of success and profitability. Hunt was recently referred to as a "terrific advocate of the aftermarket."He is the author of the book, Your Perfect Shop: How to Start, Run &...

How often does Business By The Numbers release new episodes?

Business By The Numbers publishes weekly, based on its 255 episodes since February 2022.

Who hosts Business By The Numbers?

Business By The Numbers is created and hosted by Hunt Demarest.
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