Going Fast and Fixing Things - by Rich Benoit (Hardcover)

About the Book

An entertaining and inspirational memoir by the world's most popular DIY expert and car aficionado, revealing how Rich Benoit went from buying a left-for-dead Tesla to becoming a successful YouTube entrepreneur and subsequently launching The Electrified Garage, the nation's first successful EV-only business devoted to repairing Teslas and electric vehicles of all makes.

Book Synopsis

Rich Benoit went from buying a left-for-dead Tesla to becoming a successful YouTube entrepreneur and launching The Electrified Garage, the nation's first successful EV-only business devoted to repairing Teslas and other electric vehicles. Today he is the world's most popular DIY expert and car aficionado, and now he shares his story and expertise.

People are fascinated by Tesla: the cars, the stock price, and especially its headline-grabbing CEO. Rich Benoit was the first YouTuber to pull back the curtain on the cultlike business model that is the Tesla company, and he's personally battled its consumer-unfriendly business practices. In Going Fast and Fixing Things, Rich provides readers with behind-the-scenes access not only to his Rich Rebuilds YouTube channel but to his off-camera life as well. Throughout his life, Rich has almost always been the proverbial "only Black guy in the room," but despite the fact that online car culture--especially electric vehicle fandom--skews overwhelmingly white, he has become the most popular car rebuilding guy on the internet. His voice on the page is funny and intimate and a little goofy--just like his video persona--but always tempered by a clear determination to create success for himself as well as for his fans. Going Fast and Fixing Things also includes tips to help readers fix, drive, and buy their own cars, along with advice on how to defy the disposable-is-better consumerist ethos that saturates our current culture.

Review Quotes

"Benoit offers practical advice for anyone seeking to create an online business, and he is adamant that everyone should have the right to repair anything they buy. The book is not a slick, polished narrative, but that is what makes it enjoyable. Even people who have little interest in cars will find plenty of material to inform and entertain. Benoit clearly communicates his passion for what he does, and he speaks with welcome authenticity and humor."
--Kirkus Reviews

"Funny, poignant, wry, and delightfully candid."--Car and Driver

About the Author

Rich Benoit is the founder of Rich Rebuilds, a YouTube channel he launched in 2014. As a lifelong car aficionado, he takes great pride in teaching people about cars while squeezing as much snarky humor into each video as possible. He is a Harvard dropout and former IT help desk professional, and lives with his family in Massachusetts.