About TechGnarr
TechGnarr advances the careers of automotive technicians and elevates the profession.
Curtis Gardner's path into automotive service started at Universal Technical Institute, where he trained through the Auto and Ford programs. From there, he spent seven years as a Toyota Master Technician at Fred Haas Toyota World, before moving to Audi, where he spent more than nine years and was recognized as an Audi Master Guild Technician at Sewell Audi of North Houston, earning recognition as the top-performing service technician for three consecutive years along the way. He's ASE certified, having held ASE Master certification earlier in his career.
His visibility in the industry didn't start with commentary, it started with the work itself. Curtis was an early adopter of video inspections, at a time when most shops treated them as a box to check before moving to the next car. He saw something different: an opportunity to build real trust with a customer, to explain the "why" behind a repair instead of just the "what," and to turn a routine inspection into a genuine connection. That approach is what first caught attention on social media, and what led to a relationship with Ted Ings' Fixed Ops Roundtable, along with training and helping other technicians and dealerships adopt the same mindset.
From there, he became known more broadly as the “Voice of the Technician”. Advocating for the trade on social platforms, in conversations and panels, speaking to the issues that mattered most: watching skilled technicians burn out without a clear path forward, watching real expertise treated as replaceable labor, and watching recognition and opportunity flow toward brands and dealerships rather than toward the individual doing the work.
Today, Curtis works as a Master European automotive technician at The Garagisti, an independent shop built around European motorcars, still doing the work himself, not just talking about it from the outside.
Content and conversation alone have a ceiling; a panel can start a discussion but it can't build a career ladder. It can't negotiate a partner discount and it can't give a technician a real vote in the direction of their own industry.
That gap is why TechGnarr exists, a professional home built specifically to help technicians save money, grow their careers, connect with an industry that depends on them, and have a real, structured voice in shaping what comes next.
Origin Story
TechGnarr isn't a labor union, a certification body, or a replacement for organizations like ASE that already do that work well. It isn't a Discord server, a fan page, or a place built around one person's content.
Where organizations already do valuable work for technicians, TechGnarr's role is to connect, strengthen, and expand access to it, not compete with it or duplicate it.
TechGnarr is a professional home built around one purpose: advancing the careers of automotive technicians, and giving them a real, structured voice in the profession they carry.