RATCHET & WRENCH 09/26 MAGAZINE ARTICLE
ONBOARDING LIKE A PRO: By Ratchet + Wrench Author Noah Brown, Sept. 11, 2026
The first 90 days can make or break a new hire. Shop owner John Flick shares practical onboarding strategies that help new technicians become productive faster and stay for the long haul.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Begin onboarding before the technician's first day with shop walkthroughs to reduce anxiety and improve retention.
- Assign experienced apprentices or students to support new hires, maintaining productivity while providing guidance.
- Use regular evaluations at 30, 60, and 90 days to track progress and address concerns early.
- Gather feedback from existing staff to ensure new hires fit well within the team and culture.
- Invest in ongoing education and promote work-life balance to attract and retain top talent.
John Flick, Owner of Qyst Tire
Hiring a technician is already a difficult enough process, but ensuring that technician becomes a productive, long-term member of the team is often the bigger challenge.
For independent repair shops facing an ongoing technician shortage, every new hire represents a major investment, which is why many shop owners spend months recruiting the right candidate. However, for all the effort put into landing a top candidate, too often, not nearly enough time is spent thinking about what happens after that employee accepts the job offer.
John Flick, owner of Qyst Tire and Automotive Service Centers in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, believes successful onboarding starts with a simple principle: following through.
"The ultimate goal would be to keep your end of the bargain," Flick says. "You can promise the moon and the stars, but if you don't back that up, then your word is nothing."
A robust onboarding program gives new hires the tools they need to succeed. And the best onboarding programs, Flick says, don’t need to be overcomplicated.
Start Before Day 1
Many shop owners view onboarding as something that begins on an employee's first day. Flick recommends starting much earlier.
Before a technician officially joins the team, he likes to bring them into the facility for a walkthrough of the shop. The visit gives new employees an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the layout and learn where critical resources are located. It’s also an opportunity to get to know the team they’ll be joining.
"Show them where everything's at," Flick says. "Go over repair orders, where to find certain information, specialty tools, and all the equipment so they can get a feel for the layout."
The goal isn't to overload them with information, but rather to get them primed for their first day so they're better able to retain what they learn. "They're not going to remember it all," he says. "But they’ll get a feel for the shop."
That familiarity can make a significant difference once they arrive for their first day of work, reducing anxiety and preventing production slowdowns caused by constant questions.
Create a Support System
One challenge unique to the automotive industry is that shops rarely have the luxury of dedicating a veteran technician exclusively to training.
Unlike retail environments where new employees can spend days shadowing experienced workers, repair shops often need technicians to contribute immediately.
To bridge that gap, Flick assigns experienced apprentices or students to support new hires during their first few weeks.
"If I have somebody coming on, I'll tell whoever it is to assist the new guy," he says.
The support person can answer questions, retrieve tools or parts, and help the technician navigate daily processes without interrupting the rest of the shop. For new employees, it provides an immediate resource. For the shop, it helps maintain productivity while onboarding occurs.
Measure Progress
While culture and relationships are important, onboarding success ultimately needs to be measurable.
"The numbers don't lie," Flick says.
While shops track a variety of productivity and efficiency metrics, comeback rates are one objective indicator of how quickly a technician is adapting to the shop's processes and expectations.
"If they don't have any comebacks their first month, you're ahead of the game," he says.
Flick recommends formal evaluations at the 30-, 60- and 90-day marks. The reviews create opportunities to address concerns early while giving technicians a clear understanding of where they stand.
"Usually within the first 30 days, you can tell (whether) somebody is going to work out or not," he says. "Then by 90 days, either they're staying or they're pretty much already gone."
Culture Matters
Just because a technician can produce doesn't mean they'll be the right fit. Flick regularly seeks feedback from existing employees to determine how well new hires are integrating into the team. Longtime staff members often identify strengths and problems that managers may not notice right away.
"Make sure the rest of the team is happy with your new hire," Flick says. "You don't want to bring in a cancer."
The feedback process works both ways, too. Flick says there have been instances where veteran technicians have gone out of their way to let him know when a new hire has been performing well, and that feedback tends to carry more weight for him because it came from people who rarely hand out praise.
Those conversations have become an important part of evaluating whether a new hire is truly succeeding beyond productivity metrics.
Work-Life Balance
For many technicians, an onboarding experience begins shaping their long-term opinion of an employer almost immediately.
Flick believes that attracting and retaining top talent requires more than competitive pay, though it is still essential. Shops must also demonstrate a commitment to employee growth and quality of life.
That starts with practical benefits such as covering tool-moving expenses for new hires, offering signing bonuses, and investing in their ongoing development.
Technicians want to stay current as vehicle technology evolves, particularly as ADAS systems and the tools required to diagnose them become more complex. Shops that invest in ongoing education show employees they're committed to their future.
Equally important is encouraging work-life balance.
"We want guys that go fishing or golfing," Flick says. "We try to stress life outside of work."
By promoting healthy boundaries and discouraging burnout, shops can create an environment where employees are more likely to remain engaged and productive over the long term.
The Bottom Line
An effective onboarding process doesn't need to be complicated, but Flick stresses that it needs to be robust. Hiring the right technician is important, but ensuring they're supported and aligned with the organization's goals is what ultimately determines whether they'll succeed.
A great onboarding program should build confidence and strengthen relationships with new hires. And, as Flick puts it, keeping your end of the bargain may be the most important onboarding practice of all.
LINK TO ORIGINAL ONLINE ARTICLE
WRENCHWAY - 2023 AWARD WINNERS
WRENCHWAY - PHILADELPHIA DIVISION: QYST TIRE IS THE 2023 AWARD WINNER IN FOUR CATEGORIES!
Qyst Tire earned four honors in WrenchWay's 2023 Philadelphia awards, recognizing the company, its leadership and members of its automotive team.
SMALL SHOP of the YEAR - Qyst Tire and Automotive
OUTSTANDING OWNER - John Flick
INSPIRING SERVICE MANAGER - Anthony Flynn
ROOKIES of the YEAR - Michael Farnham and Tommy Distler
WRENCHWAY AWARD WINNERS - PHILADELPHIA
VISIT YOUR AWARD-WINNING QYST TIRE LOCATION:
QYST TIRE UPPER DARBY, PA 19083
QYST TIRE MEDIA, PA 19063
FROM THE QYST ARCHIVES: TIRE REVIEW - 2015 TOP SHOP WINNER
TOP SHOP PROFILE - LEGACY WELL BUILT by Shana O’Malley - Published February 2015
Originally published February 2015. The article below is preserved as originally published and reflects Qyst Tire at that time.
In 1977, John “Jack” Flick set out to build his own legacy in a two-bay Texaco gas and service station in Upper Darby, Pa. “I liked cars and I had some pretty good mechanical abilities,” he says.
“No one in my family had ever been in the business. My family was shocked when I said this is what I want to do.”
After several meetings with Texaco, and a generous loan from his parents, Flick, then 20 years old, started Qyst Tire and Automotive Repair.
“I borrowed $5,000 from my parents and I was scared to death because that’s all the money they had in the world,” he says.
Flick’s father and four brothers helped pump gas while his mother did the bookkeeping.
“I called her the little old lady with the green eyeshades on,” he says. “At that time, it was a lot of cash; credit and debit cards weren’t what they are today. It was pretty archaic by today’s standards.”
Flick started with one employee, changing tires and doing basic repair and automotive inspections. “We did no advertising when I started, I couldn’t afford it,” he says. “I wasn’t even in the Yellow Pages. My aunt printed some business cards for me as a gift.”
With his family’s support, Flick was able to focus on doing a good job, building a good reputation and making the right decisions for the business.
“It was hard in the beginning,” he says. “I had no credit. I paid back my father right away and the first time I tried to borrow some money to buy equipment, I pretty much got laughed right out of the bank.”
Slowly, he was able to turn the 16,000-gallon a month gas station into a 1.8 million gallon a year location. “With the service station lease, you could never get more than three years,” he says. “There was a lot of pressure to produce more gallons. We pumped the gas for the oil company and the auto repair side was ours.”
ONWARD and UPWARD
After several years, Flick says the constant lease negotiation with the oil company wasn’t something he wanted to continue as he moved the business forward. “It
was almost threatening, and I could see I was never going to get off that treadmill,” he says. “So it was time to branch out and actually buy real estate.”
He purchased a new location nearby and opened two additional shops over the years. Today, the humble business owner has nearly 40 years of experience under his belt but is quick to credit his family and his employees for his success.
“It’s been a really great ride and it’s been the people here,” he says. “I have really, really good guys.”
He has 17 employees among his three locations, including four who have been with the business for 30-plus years.
“That’s what really propelled the business and made it easy to open more stores,” he says. “I always believe you need the right guys first. When I knew I had the right people, that when I went and found new locations.”
In his decades of experience, Flick has learned to grow and change with the industry.
“It’s so much more brain than brawn now,” he says. “It’s very complex. There was no navigation system or entertainment system or backup cameras. There’s a lot of stuff that you’d never dream of when I was starting.”
From the diagnostics to TPMS to even motor oil, Flick says every aspect has become more advanced. Keeping up with it all is challenging for a small business owner.
“The BMW has a different adaptive strategy than a Cadillac so we have three different databases that we subscribe to for the technicians,” he says, and they are constantly going through new training and learning new software.
Getting the job done right the first time is the biggest thing Flick prides his business on.
“People are pressed today,” he says. “No one wakes up and says ‘I think I’m going to let my car break down today.’” To make things a little easier for customers with busy schedules, Flick provides “loaner cars” at each of his locations. The cars are free to use, he just asks customers to replace the gas they use.
“The loaner cars take the pressure off my technicians to hurry, and it takes the pressure and worry off the customer,” he says.
A TRUE PEOPLE BUSINESS
No matter what the job is, Flick says it’s important to be honest with the customer.
“We’ve told people not to fix their car,” he says. “We’ve said ‘look, it’s too expensive, you should really think about trading this in or trying to upgrade as best you can.’”
Flick adds that his employees work for salary and do not have any incentives to try and persuade a customer to purchase something that isn’t needed. “Their incentive is to get it done right the first time,” he says. “The technicians are really bright bunch of guys. They’re dedicated.”
Just taking a look at the recent business reviews online, one can tell that customer service is priority at Qyst Tire.
“You can’t take a day off of customer service,” Flick says. “My guys have the ability and authority to do whatever they think is necessary right at the counter. They don’t need to come and find me. They can discount, add movie tickets, whatever they need to do.”
About 70% of the business is automotive repair service, while tire sales make up 30%. Flick says the four most popular brands are Continental, General, Goodyear and Yokohama.
One of the most successful marketing tools has been piggybacking off the tire manufacturer’s promotions. “The last Goodyear promotion, you could get $200 back when you bought a set,” he explains. “They gave $160 and we put in $40 so it was like getting a tire for free.”
Flicks uses the local newspaper to notify customers of sales ad specials.
When it comes to competition, Flick says car dealers are the number one concern because of their access to proprietary factory information. While Right to Repair Act was supposedly resolved last year, Flick says gaining full access to certain car brands is still a challenge.
“There’s still a few cars that we can’t flash because we don’t have that info,” he says. “I hate to have to tell customers that they have to go to the dealer, especially when I know we’re competent enough and can do it, we just don’t have access to the info.”
He says big box stores may be competitive in price, but when it comes to service, he has them beat.
And he says it’s not uncommon to have a customer come in to have his technicians fix a job that someone else has messed up. “They’ll come rolling in here and they’ve got their four new tires but the light is on or lug nuts are stripped,” he says. “People are learning. Getting it right the first time is critical.”
Along with their customer service and exceptional work, the folks at Qyst Tire are dedicated to their community.
Every so often they’ll team up with the local clergy in town and repair a car for someone in the parish who has fallen on hard times. “We take the car and we fix everything in it,” Flick says. “We go over it from end to end, everything they need for the next two years, and we do it anonymously.”
Each year, employees also participate in the Walk for the Wounded, an annual event held to raise money for wounded troops. “This particular effort I’m most proud of, it’s a total effort by great people for great people,” Flick says.
TOP SHOP PROFILE - LEGACY WELL BUILT by Shana O’Malley • FEB 2015
Qyst Owner John Flick Featured in Ratchet+Wrench Magazine!
ONBOARDING LIKE A PRO
Building Better Technicians: Why the First 90 Days Matter
Written by Noah Brown
Sept. 11, 2026