125 - ADAS Is Here to Stay: Why Drivers Love It and What Your Shop Needs To Do About It!

125 - ADAS Is Here to Stay: Why Drivers Love It and What Your Shop Needs To Do About It!

May 28th 2025 - 01:00:01

 

Show Summary:

Jimmy Lea sits down with Justin Allen from Hunter Engineering Company to discuss the evolution of automotive technology, Justin's personal journey in the industry, and the importance of calibration in modern vehicle repairs. Justin shares insights from his career, from working in dealerships to becoming a field trainer. The conversation covers the challenges of working with advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), the growing prevalence of calibration in everyday repairs, and how the automotive industry is adapting to new technology. Justin also highlights Hunter’s innovative equipment and how it helps shops ensure vehicles are safe and accurate on the road.

 

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

 

Guest(s):

Justin Allen, Regional Field Trainer at Hunter Engineering

 

Episode Highlights:

[00:03:25] - Justin talks about his start in the automotive industry, transitioning from sales to service, and the impact of the 2008 economic downturn.

[00:08:23] - After being laid off, Justin joins Hunter Engineering as an outside sales rep, embracing the new opportunities and challenges.

[00:12:57] - Justin describes his transition to becoming a field trainer in 2023, driven by a desire to contribute more to his company.

[00:20:25] - Justin discusses Hunter’s commitment to innovation and research and development, focusing on key product categories like tire changers and alignment systems.

[00:23:08] - The conversation shifts to the growing impact of ADAS technology, including its history, current prevalence, and the challenges it brings to the aftermarket.

[00:31:39] - They discuss how proper calibration of these systems is crucial for safety and highlight how Hunter’s tools help ensure precision and reliability.

[00:48:52] - Justin shares his thoughts on how the industry could be improved by fostering better relationships and understanding between shop owners and customers.

 

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?

Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.

 

👉 Unlock the full experience - watch the full webinar on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6NZ54VBUt8

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Episode Transcript Disclaimer
This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at marketing@wearetheinstitute.com.

 

Episode Transcript:

Jimmy Lea: Hello, my friends. Good to see you. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, or goodnight, depending on when and where you're joining us from. Today. We have a phenomenal discussion gonna be happening here with you today. This is to be an interactive webinar and a webinar where you participate, you ask questions.

Jimmy Lea: We've got a guest, we've got an expert that's here. So you've got questions and we've got the answers. So, you know, we're just gonna let you go first. So we're gonna have this discussion. Jay Allen wanted to start with you. Thank you so much. We just had a great time at Tools. Yes, we did. You made a Home Safe and Sound, nine hour trip, and then what happens?

Justin Allen: I, you know, literally pulling into the neighborhood. Make the right turn and suddenly hear a dinging like chimes warning things going on. And I thought to myself, oh it's freaking out because it thinks the seat belt's off my passenger seat's full of garbage. All kinds of stuff, right? So it just thinks my seat belt's off and I looked down at the dashboard and it says, you know, pull over within three tenths of a mile because you've got a hybrid system problem, you've got an engine problem.

Justin Allen: And turns out my water pump, which is an electronic water pump on the hybrid RAV4 had stopped functioning, no, no more coolant flow. So, literally like five or six blocks away from the house. So, honestly, felt very blessed. There were a lot of amazing places to break down between Lancaster, Penn, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.

Justin Allen: So I was very blessed to get all the way to my neighborhood. 

Jimmy Lea: Yes, that turned out very well. 'cause it could have gone tremendously worse. Oh man. No question. No question about it. So, good timing. Good timing is right. Congratulations. I'm so happy that you made it home and you made it brother safe with all that gear that you had.

Jimmy Lea: Oh my gosh. So, yeah. Who, where did all that gear go? 

Justin Allen: Well, I mean, the big gear went right back with Steve Dawson, our regional manager out of Washington, dc. He loads up a tow behind trailer and takes it around the country. He's driven that, the big stuff. The ultimate ADAS has gone about 7,000 miles around the country so far where he's personally taken it to events like tools and just showing off and educating people as fast as we can.

Justin Allen: So, 7,000 miles, what this year? Probably in the last 12 months. Probably in the last 12 months. Yeah. He's hustling. He's hustling. And my personal vehicle was packed to the gills as well for teaching class and things like that. And I have found, you know, when you and I and other professionals in our industry travel around the country a little bit, we have learned how to pack everything we need into one carry on and maybe check in one bag.

Justin Allen: You know, we're pretty good at that. I realize that when I have my whole car, I'm a horrible over packer because I'm just walking around the house like, you know what, I really could use this jar of peanut butter. You never know when I might need this chainsaw. And I just throw everything in the car.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, it's great. Oh, the kitchen sink. Wait, no, I probably don't need that. Just take the kitchen sink out. Everything else goes 

Justin Allen: right, right. Maybe at least the dish washing detergent though. 'cause you never know if I get stuck on the side of the road, I have to wash my hands. Who knows. 

Jimmy Lea: You know? Gotta be ready.

Jimmy Lea: It's so true. It's so true. It those opportunities where I have to drive up to headquarters. Yeah. In Ogden, Utah. I so overpack. I so overpack. I'm there for two or three days. You think I was moving in for a week? 

Justin Allen: I know. I'm terrible for it. My wife is great. She's much more efficient at this stuff. I'm awful.

Justin Allen: Awful. Oh

Jimmy Lea: yeah. No I'm always ready. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: So question for you, Mr. Allen. Sure. How did you get involved in the automotive industry? What's the 

Justin Allen: start for you? 

Jimmy Lea: Okay. 

Justin Allen: Good question. I grew up underneath cars with my dad in the backyard. Passing the wrenches, holding the flashlight, always in the wrong place.

Justin Allen: All those stories, and loved it. So grew up as a fixer, I think, in terms of the nature of it specifically. Then I'm 20, 23 years old in 1998. And I did not have a college degree. I did, I was I've been married a couple years, I didn't have any kids. And I found myself wanting to get a regular job, quote unquote, like, I need to get a real job.

Justin Allen: I'm an adult and I'm just sort adulting. I know. But it was that moment of, you know what, Justin, you could do whatever you want. What would you like to do? Like, what do you think might actually be interesting for you? And I, all I could nail down was that I loved talking to people and I love cars.

Justin Allen: And so I thought, you know, I might be a really good car salesman. Not 'cause, not because of the the image or concept of a car salesman appealed to me, but just because I knew those are two things I enjoyed. You know, if I could be around cool cars and drive cars and stuff all the time, that'd be great.

Justin Allen: And so that's how I actually got into the industry. I, it was at a Ford dealership in Hendersonville, North Carolina. And, I was fortunate enough to be able to kind of rise through different roles. I sold cars for like three months. I said, this is absolutely not for me. That's not what I wanna do. Okay.

Justin Allen: But transitioned into the service side of it and sold parts and wrote service and then managed the quick lane maintenance department back there. And just very fortunate to work for a small family owned dealership that loved people as much as I did, you know, and they recognized that in me, I think, and gave me opportunities as a result of it.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, that's beautiful. So you started out in the sales side and quickly moved into service as an advisor, service advisor parts advisor.

Justin Allen: Sold parts at the parts counter and then wrote service. Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: So how many years, months. Days. How long were you in the service department there at that Ford dealership?

Jimmy Lea: I 

Justin Allen: really a total of about nine years. Yeah, that's 

Jimmy Lea: longer than a minute. That's, yeah. Yeah. 

Justin Allen: That's a good 

Jimmy Lea: home. 

Justin Allen: It was. It really was. And then in 2008, the the economy went kind of weird in North America. If you were in automotive in 2008, then you probably know that dealerships were closing down, right?

Justin Allen: Yeah. There was a lot of strange stuff going on, and instead of having to close down, ours did. Month after month, lay people off, like they kept trying to trim the fat. The automotive industry prior to that or prior to 2011 or 2001, like nine 11? Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Yeah. Automotive in 

Justin Allen: automotive industry prior to nine 11 was a different animal.

Justin Allen: Because used car prices and stuff were different and at nine 11 that 0% interest happened and the onset of the inter internet for purchasing online stuff. It all kind of happened at once and it really revolutionized the automotive industry as far as dealerships were concerned. Wow. And so yeah, in oh eight we still had a lot of extra, there was a lot of extra humans around to function that had just been able to kind of build up over the years.

Justin Allen: And so he really started streamlining and cutting back. And the day came where our entire department, I was managing the quick Lane maintenance department and the entire department got shut down and sent home. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh my word. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh 

Justin Allen: my word. 

Jimmy Lea: It was 

Justin Allen: tough, 

Jimmy Lea: you know, oh eight, that, when that happened, that's when I had to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. Right. And it was, that was some tough years. We call those the dark days. Yeah. I lovingly refer to them as the dark days, meaning, yeah. I don't love them. 

Justin Allen: Right. Yeah. That was a dark time for sure. And I, my dealer the owner of the dealership, man he was so good to me for so long, and we were close, and he hated to have, he hated every time he had to lay anybody off.

Justin Allen: It was brutal. Oh yeah. He really loved his people. So Yeah. There were dark times all the way around. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. So after the dealership, oh 8, 0 9, 0 10. Yeah. And I do call it oh, 10. Oh, 10. Sure. Yeah. I did not like 10. Wh when did you get what happened after the dealership? 

Justin Allen: Yeah.

Justin Allen: That's a good question. So three months prior to getting laid off, I sold a house. Paid off all my debt and mu moved onto a Christian commune in Fletcher, North Carolina. So out in the woods with some farmland working the farm, taking care of our neighbors. You know, it was a beautiful thing.

Justin Allen: And so to get laid off when I was in a community that was intentionally trying to help each other out. Yeah. That was neat. That was neat. So for a week after the day I got laid off, I spent the next week working the farm Sure. And running the Bush Hog on a big tractor and just kind of clearing land and stuff.

Justin Allen: And wasn't really sure what was gonna be the next thing. I kind of felt like, you know, if automotive has burned me like this and maybe I don't wanna do automotive anymore, maybe I'll start something totally different. And so I got a phone call about the Hunter sales rep option opportunity in Western North Carolina.

Justin Allen: And I That's, I was still having those thoughts, like, no, nevermind. I don't wanna do automotive. Forget it. But a day or so passed, and I had written the phone number down and phone it on top of my Dr refrigerator. And I thought you know, I have no idea what that could even look like. Like what could it look like to be an outside sales rep?

Justin Allen: All I've ever done is like nine to five Monday through Friday and pick up a check paycheck at the end of the week and 

Jimmy Lea: Yep. I 

Justin Allen: had no idea what possibilities could be there, but the idea of being able to drive around and visit people, I've already told you that I love talking to people and I knew that about myself.

Justin Allen: It got my attention. So I wound up making that phone call and about three weeks later I was flying off to St. Louis for the training to see whether or not I would have that opportunity. And so that's oh eight and December 21st, 2008 is when I signed my contract with Hunter Engineering Company and came onto the company 

Jimmy Lea: right before Christmas.

Justin Allen: Yeah. Tough time to start a new job in sales, by the way. 'cause nobody at Christmas really wants to talk to anybody out. You know, they, everybody's on vacation. Nobody wants to spend any more money. They're already crashed and burned on all that. So it was a fun time though, a fun time to be able to start a on out, on a new leaf.

Justin Allen: Yeah. Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: So how long were you out as the outside sales rep for Hunter? Visiting people? Talking to people. Right. Sleeping in your warehouse. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. I love that you've seen the hammock photo. That's right. I did that from December oh eight until August of 16 when I had to step away from a minute.

Justin Allen: I had a pacemaker put in May of 2016. And I know I died a few times and had to get a pacemaker. And so my heart took a nap. It doesn't, it's probably not nice to say I died. My heart took a nap a few times and so I had to get a pacemaker and so I stepped away for a couple of years and.

Justin Allen: Was very unhappy. Yeah. But I learned a lot about networking and marketing in those two years. Those were things that had never really been a part of my life experience. And so I really learned a lot of neat things that turned out to be applicable. Was fortunate enough to be able to come back to the exact same position two years later.

Justin Allen: And so it was August of 2016 I left, and in August of 2018, I came right back. And so been with Hunter these seven years since and I, yeah. And continued doing the sales until March of 23. 

Jimmy Lea: And so when you came back in the same position, was it a sales position again or did you Yes. Okay. Yeah.

Jimmy Lea: Right 

Justin Allen: back into, yeah. What I was doing before was field sales Yeah. Or outside sales or business consulting for Hunter. And I covered all of Western North Carolina and sometimes South Carolina parts, and sometimes Virginia and Tennessee. And but yeah, just absolutely loved the role of going shop to shop Yes.

Justin Allen: And doing whatever I could to help her, encourage 'em. You know, the selling the equipment was kind of secondary. Helping the human was the first thing and just loved it. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, absolutely. Yep. Absolutely. And I loved the same thing when I was back in the days of having a coco van able to travel to the country, visit shops face to face, knee to knee, see what makes them unique, see what makes them awesome.

Jimmy Lea: Different. Amazing. What's the the quirky thing about this shop? And they have an oil funnel. Tree. Tree. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love that. I absolutely love it. I know. It's so much fun. It's so much fun to see these shops and their differences, their idiosyncrasies. Yeah. And for you to be able to travel the.

Jimmy Lea: Your neck of the woods essentially and visit the shop. Yeah. It's so much fun. Yeah. So from sales, outside sales into your position now as a a field trainer when did that happen? 

Justin Allen: Yeah, March of 23. It was actually in January of that year that I was flying home from St. Louis. We'd had some that's where headquarters is and we'd had a meeting up there on a flying home.

Justin Allen: And I'm in the bar at the airport in St. Louis. And I don't know about you, but I'm a believer in the notion that an airport bar is a very safe space to really get real about the truth. You may be talking to just strangers. You can tell 'em exactly what you think about something, you're never gonna see 'em again.

Justin Allen: And so it creates kind of this little safe bubble. 

Jimmy Lea: Okay.

Justin Allen: And my division manager for Hunter Strolled in with another regional manager and went back into the bar. I'm sitting there with about five other sales reps. I said, fellas, I gotta go talk to that man. 'Cause I got some ideas and I went and I spoke with my division manager and I said, you know, you see me online, you see the things I'm doing, you know that I love my job and if I could do something different.

Justin Allen: 'cause I, that was about 13 years in with a company at that point. As far as the sales rep. Long time. 

Jimmy Lea: Long time.

Justin Allen: A good while, and I just get kind of twitchy sometimes. I, what could I do for our company? Different, what else could I do? I love the company. I love who we are, how we are, what we do.

Justin Allen: But what else? How else could I be an asset for the company? You know? And so I rattled off a couple of thoughts that I had and a week later my manager came back and said, Hey, listen, I know you had a good conversation with Kevin and we're wondering if you would consider being the trainer for North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Justin Allen: And because what I was talking about was being helpful in other ways but that I had never thought about it. And I went home and talked to my wife and we decided this was a viable option. And man, there's no looking back. I've been having the best time. I don't know if that shows up online or not, but I've been having the best time.

Jimmy Lea: I think it does. I think it's great. I love seeing you traveling the country and it's usually a picture that looks like this. 

Justin Allen: I've found that you know, you don't have to worry about what kind of things are stuck in your teeth or whatever, or how you've got some chicken wing sauce in your beard or whatever.

Justin Allen: If you can just cut everything off from here, nobody has to worry about any of that. Works out great. Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Well, speaking of chicken wing sauce you have had chicken wings in darn near every hole in the wall place that you could find across this country. And you gotta collect something at Apex. Last year, apex sema.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. We walked into the same place and you joined us for dinner that night. That was so much fun. So 

Justin Allen: good. So good. Yeah. To walk in once, kinda like the airport experience, right? You were a stranger in a strange town and I was. Just getting ready for the flight and I needed some dinner and to walk into a place there in Vegas and have you swinging the door open wide and the entire institute team sitting in there.

Justin Allen: How, what a humbling, beautiful honor and experience to be invited to join you guys at the table. That was really, that was probably the best part of the whole trip. No, 

Jimmy Lea: it really was. It really was. The wings were great. The company was better. 

Justin Allen: I think Absolutely. The humans are what make it no question.

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. And had you dined alone Yeah. You would've had some social media stuff to put out. Sure. Had a picture of a plate of chicken wings and how good it was. But what a better social post to have all of us friends together. 

Justin Allen: I'm telling you. Breaking bread. Yeah.

Jimmy Lea: That's the way to do it, man. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. Amen.

Justin Allen: Amen. The brotherhood of the automotive industry, the brother and sisterhood, the human hood of automotive industry. Man, we gotta help each other out. We gotta lift one another up. And the 

Jimmy Lea: brotherhood of traveling pants. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. It's it's a wild world out there. So whatever we can do, whenever we can have those opportunities to slow down and get a meal together and share some stories about what's good and what's tough and what are real struggles, you know that one thing about social media is that it's so easy to.

Justin Allen: Get caught up in this world where everybody's just showing the best of what's really going on and they're not telling the truth about the downside of it. And it makes it easy for an average human being like yourself or myself. 'cause we're just average at the end of the day to see other things and think to ourselves, wow, my life's not as good as those people's lives.

Justin Allen: You know, those people have it all together and they're doing great and they never seem to have any problems. 

Justin Allen: That those face-to-face opportunities help us to get past some of that, you know, and let's get real. 'cause it is, life is never and life. There's nobody whose life is perfect and always chocolate and roses.

Justin Allen: Right? Yeah. I think it's very important that we be real about that stuff. 

Jimmy Lea: I agree. I agree. Everybody seems to hide behind a mask of social media or they're a keyboard warrior. Yeah. Yeah, indeed. They bring you down. Yeah. Yep. So, where you are today you are the trainer with for Hunter and for ados.

Jimmy Lea: And by the way, at sema. For approximately five years, I sat in the booth directly across from the Hunter. Nice booth at sema South Wall. Yeah. First floor. Yeah. I was in the TIA booth for so many years. You were probably there. 

Justin Allen: I, you know, I never really worked any of that stuff until this last year.

Justin Allen: No. Yeah. I went in 2015 just to see it. And then I worked the show. I was in the Apex side of it though, so I was in Apex. Okay. This last year for the first time to ever actually work it. And boy, you wanna talk about not getting to see much and just working hard like the sema, SEMA and Apex. That is an exercise man.

Justin Allen: If you're not ready to get serious, you got no business going out there. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Justin Allen: It's a big deal. Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. It is a big deal. And everybody thinks, oh, you get to go see all these great fancy places. Right. Wait. I was working. I know. I mean, you can squeeze in some fancy, 

Justin Allen: right, right, right. I squeezed in a little bit, but man, most of it, if you weren't working the trade show, you need to go recover somewhere is what you needed to do.

Justin Allen: No, that's exactly right. Yeah, exactly right. 

Jimmy Lea: So Hunter and tools and equipment there has been so much that has come out here recently with Hunter. I'm thinking I, and I say recent. Recent is relative. Sure. The drive across Hunter Pat. I think that's just phenomenal that you can have that quick check.

Jimmy Lea: Right. Yeah. For shops, for dealerships for anybody that's looking at doing stuff like this, talk about the technology of Hunter and the innovation that Hunter has come out with. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. You know what's funny? I was at headquarters for a couple of weeks in May, April, and May, and every now and then I would get lost in the building and find myself on some back hallway that would have, it's kind of like a museum sometimes, right?

Justin Allen: Yeah. And there would just be these shadow boxes full of patents and ideas and inventions that have been formulated over the years from our original founder as well, Lee Hunter. And it is, we are a company that first and foremost gets excited about making things better. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Justin Allen: And making things innovative.

Justin Allen: You use that word as well. And we don't do a lot of different stuff. We really don't. You know, there are seven products that we focus on as far as categories and I think it's only seven right now. Let's say it together. Tire changers, balancers, alignment machines, alignment lifts, brake la. ADOS calibration stuff and inspection related stuff.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Justin Allen: So the inspection being the stuff like you drive through or whatever. Right, right. These are the only things we do, and I think that allows us to focus heavy on that research and development side. And you don't have to be at headquarters for long to understand that truly is the focus. And, you know, born, our company was born in 1946, founded in 1946.

Justin Allen: And to be a global provider of these types of things that we do, which are always the cutting edge version of these things it's fascinating because we're not a marketing company, you know, and I don't mean that bad against anybody. I'm a person who loves some marketing, but when I came to the company in 2008, I knew nothing of the company.

Justin Allen: And I'd already been in automotive for nine years at that point, and our dealership was full of hunter equipment. But I just didn't, I didn't, you don't see TV commercials about it. You don't see. No. Race cars that are emblazoned with all the logos and stuff. Right. It's just not what we do.

Jimmy Lea: Well, and that equipment becomes wallpaper very quickly.

Justin Allen: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: It's just there. Yeah. And 

Justin Allen: you ju right. 

Jimmy Lea: You 

Justin Allen: just walk 

Jimmy Lea: past 

Justin Allen: it. Right? Exactly. Exactly. So, it's fun being with a company that is so focused on, let's not say perfection. 'cause I think that may be foolish for anybody to be pursuing perfection, but excellence at just a level that sets us apart, I think is, 

Jimmy Lea: and pursuing perfection is good.

Jimmy Lea: That's a good Yes, I'm comfortable with that. A good target is pursuing perfection. Will you ever be perfect? No. But can you pursue it? Is it an appeal that you can chase? Sure. Absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Yes. So by getting into these little niches and doing the research, I mean, you're making a better vacuum.

Jimmy Lea: If I can throw Dyson into the mixer that have been around for a long time. Sure. But you're making a better vacuum. Dyson was the first to introduce a clear receptacle so you could see what you were vacuuming up. Right. Okay. And collecting. Yeah. Hunter is now able to provide even more. So I almost, I saw a headlight alignment machine from the early 19 hundreds.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Okay. 19 hundreds back in the 19 

Justin Allen: hundreds, 

Jimmy Lea: back in the 19, maybe it was mid 19 hundreds. So ADOS has combined this headlight alignment, but also radar and technology and lidar. Yeah. Talk about ados because I mean, that's a whole new realm that's opened up within the last five, six years, 

Justin Allen: eight years.

Justin Allen: Well, let's talk about it. Let's talk. I like that you asked that. You say it that way. Yeah. When you wanna talk about disruptions to an industry you think about like automatic transmission and fuel injection and some of these things that really changed it. And I say disruption from the angle of the things that the people working on them needed to know what on earth they were doing.

Justin Allen: Right. Technology is one of those. It is really. Going to be such a big part of everything that we're all doing because it's all about safety right now. I love when you say about, you know, when it's become a big part of this industry and the truth is that Volkswagen was doing ADOS related technology back in the late nineties.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, interesting. 

Justin Allen: Right? So we had, adaptive cruise control was happening in the late nineties, and so we did not, we have, right, we've got 25 years of this type of technology existing. Now it's taken a long time for other people to develop versions of it and get comfortable with it. And in fact, if we go back 10 model years, yes, for 2015, let's use automatic emergency braking just as a conversation piece for it.

Justin Allen: Automatic emergency braking, of course, is something that's going to apply brakes as you approach something that is not moving at your same speed and try to at least mitigate or reduce that collision experience. Right. 10 model years ago that was only available in 4% of the cars sold in the United States.

Jimmy Lea: Oh, wow. And

Justin Allen: by the way, to say that accurately, there's a study from September of 24 that showed all the data on this stuff. And I have to acknowledge in this study, it was not including the German automotive manufacturers. So not counting BMW, Porsche, Audi, Volkswagen kind of things.

Justin Allen: Only 4% of the other cars sold in the United States had that technology. Fast forward 10 years to 2025 model year, and it's almost a hundred percent 

Jimmy Lea: right. 

Justin Allen: You know, the Toyotas every Toyota sold in North America since model year 2022, has ADOS technology in it. Every single one. You know, so all of your model from your very base functional Corolla all the way up to a Sequoia or something like that.

Justin Allen: And so. Really it is, I think of it in terms of the cars that are still at the dealerships for service, right? You go buy yourself a new infinity or whatever, and you're probably going back to the dealership for the first two or three years comfortably, right? Because everything's under warranty. 

Jimmy Lea: Yes.

Justin Allen: You might as well go get your oil change there because you wanted them to look at that switch that was acting a little bit funny or whatever. Right? That's right. So usually two or three years we're still at the dealership. That would mean that everything sold back through like that model year 2022 has still kind of been going to the dealerships.

Justin Allen: Well, guess what, right? Every Toyota of 2 20 22 is about to fall out into the aftermarket. Most of them. There'll still be some gonna the dealership. Yeah. But most of, so in other words, every Toyota, that's that newer stuff that you're gonna be touching at your shop. It's gonna be filled with this stuff.

Justin Allen: And as an industry frankly, we're not prepared. We're not emotionally prepared for the responsibilities associated with that. And it's going to be interesting to watch, you know? Interesting. 

Jimmy Lea: It's absolutely fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. And I heard over the weekend that not only is it that a hundred percent are passenger vehicles that now have it fleet vehicles Oh, yeah. Produced with ADOS technology. Right, 

Justin Allen: right. And when we talk about fleet, like, all of the full size F two 50, F three 50 kind of trucks, it's becoming normal on those Yeah. Except for that size. And then Yeah, the big rigs, the dump trucks. Yeah. The, all that stuff. Lane departure assist and warning and adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking.

Justin Allen: Yeah. That's all showing up on those as well. So I. It's ability to make decisions without being distracted is phenomenal. 

Jimmy Lea: Yes. Like 

Justin Allen: it's doing a good job. What about class eight? Big 

Jimmy Lea: rigs. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. Oh yeah. That's what I'm saying. That adaptive cruise control so that when you pull out in front of that big tractor trailer with your Ford focus and you're, you know, 40 feet in front of that thing, it's gonna slow down.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, wow. Yeah, because that, that, that fiesta's gonna be a tortilla here in a minute. 

Justin Allen: Exactly. Exactly. And those truck drivers, man, they are not impressed. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Justin Allen: They're not impressed that's, those folks are definitely, I think, I'm sure it's a mixed bag, but in general, they have been unimpressed with that technology because for them.

Justin Allen: It's so hard to regain your momentum once you have to slow down. And if you imagine you're on kind of a rolling hill part of the country or whatever, and you're trying to gain speed going down that hill so you can get over the crest of the next hill and not drop below 50 miles an hour or whatever. Yep.

Justin Allen: And you start climbing up that hill and somebody zips out in front of you and you drop down. 

Jimmy Lea: You just want to kill 'em. 

Justin Allen: It's disappointing. 

Jimmy Lea: It is. It's disappointing. Yeah. Yeah. No, don't kill 'em. Don't kill 'em. 

Justin Allen: I know. You're bringing like trucker horror movies to mind when you talk about that. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, I know.

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. I watch it on Facebook. You see the dash cams all the time of silly people thinking they can, oh, mercy cut off a semi-truck, and they quickly learn that you can't do that. That is 

Justin Allen: not a good plan. 

Jimmy Lea: Not a good plan. Good plan. So not only does it affect us in the automotive service industry, maintenance industry, even in collision.

Jimmy Lea: Sure. Even though a coat of paint is one 32nd thick, if you have that coat of paint too thick on that fencer. Oh yeah. Now you're not working. 

Justin Allen: Right. So many things. The body shop industry, and I'm not saying this in any way, to be belittling to anybody who's in any part of that the primary objective for so long has been to make things beautiful.

Justin Allen: Yes. And they didn't have to think a whole lot about electronics. Right. Right. So yeah, they are, their world's getting rocked by that a lot. You know, these, the, not just the sensor behind a piece that maybe they had to move or they replaced a bumper, fascia or a grill or something like that. But like the bracket could be bent a little bit.

Justin Allen: That looked pretty good, but it still bent a little bit, causing a degree or two of variation up close that, that's feet of variation at a hundred yards, you know, and that, that's not allowing that equipment to make a good, safe, intelligent decision. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And where in the past an alignment might cost 50 bucks or 80 bucks or 90 bucks, or maybe now it's $120.

Justin Allen: Thank you. There, now we're talking modern dollars. Okay. Yeah. Right, 

Jimmy Lea: right. No, I was going back when I was like, wait a second. Right, right. Better up this a little bit. I was watching and they were talking about, oh, you know, here I'm gonna bring in my Subaru Outback. How much for an alignment?

Jimmy Lea: Right? $600. I mean, excuse me, I just want an alignment. It's usually like a couple hundred, maybe. Right, right. Yeah. $600. What is that for? And it, there is so many other factors that need to be adjusted, not just the tow and the camera and the tires. You've gotta adjust all the cameras as well. So I wanna ask this question from the viewpoint of a consumer.

Jimmy Lea: Okay. But it's also to the point of a shop. Yeah. What is, what are the right questions for the public to ask, which then also translates into what does a shop need to know? So what should the public ask as questions for an alignment when for example I took in my my car for an alignment for wheel alignment.

Jimmy Lea: And this service advisor, Sebastian, bless his heart, he's like, oh my gosh, $320 for an alignment. We've never, it's so much. And I was like, bro I don't care. I need it fixed. Yeah. I need it fixed Now. I just put new tires on. I 

Justin Allen: need it safe. Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: I need it safe. Yeah. Three 20, I don't care. Can 

Justin Allen: you 

Jimmy Lea: do it?

Jimmy Lea: That was my question. When can I have my car back? Right. Right. What kind of questions should we, as a public ask that helps us to understand a shop? 

Justin Allen: Yeah. So, on average the people that are using this technology love it. That's what we know. I Are you guilty of that? Yeah. I love it. I love it. And I didn't at first.

Justin Allen: I'm actually on my third vehicle that has this kind of technology in it, and I absolutely love it now. I loved it all nine hours to and from Lancaster. It makes driving 

Jimmy Lea: different. 

Justin Allen: Yeah, it does more 

Jimmy Lea: relaxing. I can relax. It takes some of the pressure off of it. 

Justin Allen: It does. Although being a good driver, it probably shouldn't in theory.

Justin Allen: You know what I mean? We still should be thinking just as much, but it allows us to not have to, it really does. And so the right question for a customer to ask a shop would be, Hey, are we going as a part of this repair process? Are we supposed to recalibrate that stuff? And are you equipped to do that appropriately?

Justin Allen: How are we gonna do it? You know, those are the kind of questions that a customer should honestly be asking. Unfortunately the numbers on this technology being repaired correctly are dismal. I know dismal, I know the shops that are it's between 66 and 75% of cars that are not repaired and calibrated correctly at the end of some type of a collision related situation.

Justin Allen: Some type of a accident. It, the numbers, it's 66% for just getting your windshield replaced. They're just not working right after that 'cause nobody calibrated it appropriately. And it's 75%. If your car was in some kind of an accident that involved replacing or repositioning or removing for any reason whatsoever, one of these sensors 75% of them are not functioning properly when people are done with it. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh. 

Justin Allen: So yeah. A customer being able to say, Hey, I really love the way this technology works. Are we sure that's gonna be okay when we're done with this? Is not a bad question. 

Jimmy Lea: Can I and so I'm gonna ask this question, but I don't even know the answer.

Jimmy Lea: And I would I would feel foolish asking it. And I wonder how a shop would translate it. Okay. Meaning, my, my question would be, well, when's the last time you were trained on calibrating this, these cameras and sensors and Yeah. And when's the last time your equipment was calibrated?

Jimmy Lea: Because I wanna make sure that my car is calibrated properly. 

Justin Allen: Right? Right. And those are those are the questions that if a customer walks in your door asking you those questions, you are already regretting letting them walk in your door. And I'm jokingly saying that like, as a shop owner, like, oh my goodness, this customer's gonna be a real pain in my tail.

Justin Allen: Is the feeling you would probably have with those kind of questions, but. They're legitimate good questions. That means that customer's actually pretty well informed about the way their vehicle's supposed to work. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And 

Justin Allen: that's okay, because frankly, we want to be able to charge appropriately for doing the job, right?

Justin Allen: Yes. And when that customer knows that stuff needs to be recalibrated, then we want to be able to say, absolutely. I'm glad you asked that. And in fact, our equipment gets calibrated every three weeks and it automatically blah, blah, or whatever the thing would be, you know, and we are trained and prepared to take really good care of you.

Jimmy Lea: Well, and that's a, it leads to an interesting question or an answer. Okay. How often should the equipment be calibrated? 

Justin Allen: Sure. I'm not in a position to answer for everybody. Right. I can say that. I can tell you as a, for instance though, the hunter and by the way, I never wanna sound salesy, you know, that.

Justin Allen: But our equipment that you just saw at the trade show there tools the ultimate ados checks and confirms its own calibration every morning. Like the first time you try to use it of every day, it checks and confirms its calibration. Oh, wow. So, it would not allow you to proceed if it found that it was out of calibration.

Justin Allen: So, 

Jimmy Lea: okay. So if it's outta calibration, we've gotta call Hunter. They send out a service team, it comes and calibrates it or we need to take 

Justin Allen: care of that, right? If it were outta calibration. Yep. So it's not like 

Jimmy Lea: push a reset button, shut the windows, roll the windows down, roll 'em up. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. Right, right. No, it's a situation where you wanna get an expert involved who's going to expertly make sure that thing is calibrated appropriately for your customers.

Justin Allen: Yep. Oh wow. Okay. Yep. And Steve Dawson, the gentleman who was there, the regional manager out of Washington dc, he tells a story about how he has bounced that ultimate ADOS all around the country. And not had to recalibrate it and it checks itself, you know, when you set it up. Oh, he's put fascinating. I dunno if I told you.

Justin Allen: Did he tell you he's put 7,000 miles on that 

Jimmy Lea: 7,000? Yeah. Yeah. That's a miles. That's a lot of balance. He spent a lot of miles 

Justin Allen: on it without having to recalibrate it. Yeah. So that's not bad. Oh yeah. Bouncing down the interstate in a box trailer. Yeah. That's doing pretty good. Some good equipment.

Justin Allen: So, so, and I say that to say, when we talk about having to recalibrate it, that shouldn't be something people would think was mercy. I gotta do that all the time. But it does confirm its calibration. You know, there's a lot of different types of systems out there. So I don't know exactly what everybody else does, but that notion of Yeah, I would hate to think that we were like, we're supposed to be calibrating torque wrenches too, right?

Justin Allen: Yes. They, you can calibrate a torque wrench. That's right. So all of our, any tool that's designed for measurement obviously has, you gotta, you have a way to calibrate and be sure that it's okay. So, you know, whatever people are doing, I hope that they do whatever they gotta do to stay in good shape.

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah. Yeah. I definitely hope so. When we talk about wheel balancing too I noticed that hunter equipment on the wheel balancer has a friction function as well. Okay. Is that the balancer or the rotator? 

Justin Allen: Rotator? You've seen that roller on the back of the balancer there? Yes. It has the, yeah, it does have grip tape on it.

Justin Allen: Much like a skateboard from when you and I were younger people. That's right, yes. I had a skateboard. Yeah. Yeah, me too. That is the roller that is used for road force measurement and lateral pole measurement on those balancers. Those balancers interestingly check and recalibrate themselves every 15 minutes.

Justin Allen: Oh my goodness. Wow. Every 15 minutes. Yep. Throughout the course of the day. That's a different kind of calibration situation, but they take it real seriously. But yeah, the balancer there that roller comes down on the tire while the tire's rotating on the balancer, and it can measure. What we call radial runout on that tire, meaning yes, totally not related to balance in any way, shape or form.

Justin Allen: What are the physical issues, the mechanical issues in that tire? And imagine just multiple layers of belts and rubber and all this different kind of stuff. Occasionally it will create a stiffer spot on the sidewall. And so when that stiffer spot in the sidewall hits that roller, it deflects on that. And so that we can determine mechanically, what kind of vibrations do I have on this wheel?

Justin Allen: Entire combination before I ever put it on a car. It helps you to locate and correct all that kind of stuff. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh my gosh. Before you balance 

Justin Allen: it. 

Jimmy Lea: That's so awesome. So what new equipment do we have coming down the the pipeline? What is new innovations from Hunter? 

Justin Allen: Yeah. Across the board, you know, we're always trying to find ways to make things streamlined.

Justin Allen: And I can't give away all of the goodies, I don't think, until they announce 'em nationally. But I can tell you there are exciting things coming on the Road Force balancer, the Alignment Machine, the ultimate ADOS is the newest iteration of that, which is the latest and greatest version of our aligner Anyway, that's been killing it for a while now, and then adding all that ADAS stuff in on it, and it continues to expand in its functionality.

Justin Allen: Originally when it was released, it was only for Honda and Acura dealerships, and now it's available to everybody and we've got the targets and everything for almost every vehicle out there on the road. Oh, that's awesome. So that one's exciting. And tire changers. We continue to evolve in our tire changer lineup too, with Made only by us, only for us here in the United States on some of these models that are just outrageous in, in their abilities and talents.

Justin Allen: So, 

Jimmy Lea: oh, yeah. And I sat across from that tire changer for five years at the studio. Right. And the air sounds are still resonating in my head. Yeah. But I was fascinated to see how the evolution of that tire changer evolved from 2010 to 15. Yeah. Which got it to the point where the tech didn't have to pick it up anymore.

Jimmy Lea: Right. They were able to put it right on a lifter and it would lift it up for them and they just push a button and away it goes. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. Yeah. The Revolution tire changer now is our top line tire changer that continues to get better. You know, even people that have older versions of it, the newer software, 'cause it's software driven yeah.

Justin Allen: It can actually learn new tricks and do things even better. And so yeah. That walkaway technology is what we call it on that one where you can start it up and go on, like if you're gonna do a set of four tires, you can get that second tire started in the process of removing the tire from that rim while you're balancing a tire next door.

Justin Allen: Yeah. So side by side and so I can be multitasking and getting things done. And that's, it's just about efficiency, right? Totally. Like how can we. Be more efficient in our operations. Now I do think the danger of that is helping our training our customers to have unrealistic expectations in terms of time.

Justin Allen: Right. Like I, I blame Ray Crock for a lot of our problems and the things that went from fast food hamburgers to Yeah. Order ordering something on Amazon and expecting it to be at my house like by the sunrise the next morning. We have definitely created expectations that are pretty dang high.

Justin Allen: So when we can make changing tires faster, I like to think of that being a benefit for us on the service side. The customers, they don't need to expect it any faster 'cause we've already set ourselves up for failure on some of that situation, I think. Yeah. But if we can alleviate some of our stress on the backside, 'cause you and I both know this, so saying some things are gonna take longer than you planned on, right?

Justin Allen: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. So 

Justin Allen: whatever we're gonna do to reduce our stress. 

Jimmy Lea: Who would've thought a milkshake would've been such a 

Justin Allen: problem? Oh my God. I'm telling you, man I've been to one. I was at a McDonald's where there weren't any humans out here at all. There was just kind of a hole in the wall. So you would, you'd order your thing on a kiosk and then it would eventually just spit out of the hole in the wall.

Justin Allen: It dehumanized the whole experience. I did not like it. That's unfortunate. I mean, I still ate it and I still smiled, but I didn't yeah. Didn't like the process. 

Jimmy Lea: All a question from Jake's asking as a general repair facility, we need to rely on non collision related issues for a DDoS repair and or calibration opportunities.

Jimmy Lea: How frequently does a DOS systems need to be repaired or recalibrated in a non collision situation? Which goes right along with my question. As I changed the tires and had to have a new front control arms and blah, blah, blah. It needed to be realigned. Right? And so I echoed Jake's question.

Justin Allen: Yeah, so it's a great question. And there are thank you Jake, for submitting a question. There are plenty of scenarios that are non collision related that are gonna require calibration. Now, some of the vehicles, yes. Just after a simple alignment are gonna want it to be recalibrated. In your case, you changed some components in there.

Justin Allen: And more major stuff that doesn't necessarily trigger it, but think about other things that might. I'm talking about maybe you're doing some air conditioning work on the front of that vehicle. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Justin Allen: But to access everything in there, you're gonna remove the grill, you're gonna remove the support that has that adaptive cruise control radar attached to it up there in the front.

Justin Allen: Maybe you're taking off a bumper face share or something that has some components associated with that. The radar is in some cases down there in kind of the bottom. Yeah. So any of those kind of things where you might move parts off the front of that vehicle would require it. So similarly, there may be situations where again, non collision related, but I just try to think about anything that you might do.

Justin Allen: Maybe you've got a power mirror that's given out on some kind of a vehicle and it's got sensors built into that mirror, or a camera built into that mirror sometimes too. And so you replace that mirror and it's gonna need to be calibrated. So, that's the idea of just anything that would involve moving it or and maybe like removing and replacing that part's still the exact same part.

Justin Allen: Yes, but because I took it off and bolted it back on, it's a little bit, it's changed. And so those are the kind of scenarios where you're gonna find yourself doing it too. So some alignment and re regular maintenance related. And then those, and when we talk about alignment, think about the kinds of things that you might replace in an alignment repair.

Justin Allen: If hypothetically you're gonna put new struts or something on a vehicle. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. 

Justin Allen: There's two reasons why we put struts on a vehicle. One is those springs have sagged and given over time they compress, just like you and I, they're gonna get a little bit shorter over time. It also may be the strut part itself, not the spring, but the strut or the shock absorber in there basically.

Justin Allen: Right. 

Jimmy Lea: Uhhuh. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. If you're replacing that old set of struts that are 12 years old on this vehicle with a brand new set, like a quick strut that's got springs built into it, you are changing the ride height of that vehicle. So true. Okay. Yep. So the ride height, and especially like, imagine I only did 'em on the front and I've seen lately I've seen a lot of Toyota forerunners floating around that the front was dipped down a little bit.

Justin Allen: I don't know what's going on with that. Maybe they put a lift kit on the back and they ignored the front. But imagine you took a vehicle that was sloped like this. Yeah. And you put those new springs on the front and you changed that ride height on the front. Well, you've changed where all of your stuff is pointing, you know, oh, your lane cameras, your radar stuff, all of that stuff has changed.

Justin Allen: And so to be to be recalibrating it after those types of suspension related repairs as well, also very valuable. So that's also not a collision thing, I guess, right? 

Jimmy Lea: We, it is. Definitely not. And that goes to the North Carolina squat. Yeah. Golly. Whoever saw that. Bad ideas, terrible idea, bad ideas.

Jimmy Lea: You need to see the 

Justin Allen: road. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. Gary's got a great question here too. If you're not sure, will the car let you know if it needs to be recounted? It doesn't. So you gotta do it. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. So I, Gary, thank you also for your question. The the car generally will not let you know that it needs to re be recalibrated.

Justin Allen: Its only job most of the time is to see stuff and respond to it. It doesn't know where it's pointed, right? 

Justin Allen: Yeah. We've heard stories of people with a vehicle with like a forward facing radar that was pointed down maybe. Yeah. And so it would see markings on the road and stuff like that and slam on the brakes.

Jimmy Lea: Oh my God. '

Justin Allen: cause it was freaked out about it. But it didn't know that it was wrong. There are instances where a vehicle, if it's getting conflicting signals, so imagine that you've got a forward facing camera looking one way and your radar, and maybe your radar is looking another way. And it starts to see enough of disagreement there on what's happening.

Justin Allen: Yeah. Some of these cars are gonna bring themselves to a complete stop. Yeah. And say, no thanks, we are unsafe. We are not going to be driving like this. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. So 

Justin Allen: while it didn't tell you it needed to be recalibrated, it definitely told you there was a problem. Right? So you will occasionally get situations like that may cause a warning light or that system to disable itself entirely.

Justin Allen: But that's not the same as it notifying you immediately after you put those springs on there that needed to be recalibrated. So, the better bet on how to know how to be sure Gary is to look up your OE service documentation on what is supposed to be done. There's a lot of great resources out here that are trying to find ways to simplify and streamline those data sources, but it is challenging.

Justin Allen: So the OE is always your best bet. For, what am I supposed to do when I replace that mirror? Am I supposed to recalibrate something or not? And you'll find it there. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And it, does this fall in the range of that 30, 60, 90, you might need to recalibrate on that realm, or is it 

Justin Allen: When 

Jimmy Lea: parts are 

Justin Allen: replaced?

Justin Allen: That's a really good question. In terms of preemptive strike on that stuff, 

Jimmy Lea: yeah, 

Justin Allen: I would, I personally would say sure, it makes sense that way because again your ride height's gonna change over time. Different things like that. I mean, they tell us to recalibrate our steering angle sensor on about half the cars on the road because they know that stuff changes a little bit over time.

Justin Allen: So would it be harmful to recalibrate that stuff? No. But would it be logical? Sure. Yeah. There's no, there's, I don't think you'd have a good argument for why you shouldn't calibrate it in that type of a scenario. Yeah. My car gets calibrated probably 15 times a month. 

Jimmy Lea: Because you use 

Justin Allen: your 

Jimmy Lea: car for training?

Justin Allen: Yeah. Oh yeah. I'm calibrated all the time. It's very well calibrated. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh, very well calibrated. So if anybody has 

Justin Allen: a car in the North Carolina area, oh, mercy, Jimmy, you do not say what's about to come outta your mouth, then register for class. Bring your vehicle into class and we'll calibrate it. There you go.

Justin Allen: That's what do, that's how I would say that. I know you might've been about to say that. You're a good friend. You might've been about to say that de I was 

Jimmy Lea: definitely gonna say that. Yeah. Good. I love it. Strip your class, bring your car, and then get it calibrated. We will calibrate it. I love it. Absolutely.

Jimmy Lea: That's awesome. 

Justin Allen: Yep. That's awesome. 

Jimmy Lea: Well, last and final question for you here as we wrap up an hour I can't even believe it's been an hour. It feels like three minutes. It goes fast 

Justin Allen: when you're having a good time. That's right. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh my gosh, yes. Question for you. If you had a magic wand and you could change something about the automotive aftermarket, what would you change?

Justin Allen: If I had a magic wand and I could change something about the automotive aftermarket. I would just, I would make sure that all of our customers were so happy to come and see us and we're just so grateful for our expertise and professionalism and never questioned our rates or practices.

Justin Allen: Because your equipment is not the, oh, I mean the shop holders, I just mean the shop holders. I mean their customers, you know, I customers that come in it, when a customer comes in with a car broken down, like they are miserable, they're having a really bad, I don't care what else is going on in their life, that is a bad day and we have such an opportunity to be the superhero.

Justin Allen: Yeah. But sometimes that gets clouded by how frustrated they are, you know? And if they could really understand that most of us as shop owners are trying to do the right thing and do a good job with it, right. Then then it would be an easier world. 'cause we. We get a lot of grief from people who think that we're trying to do bad things, and I believe that is not the average situation.

Jimmy Lea: No. 

Justin Allen: May I, Jake real quick here, has one more question there that I wanted to address. Yeah. Is that 

Jimmy Lea: okay? 

Justin Allen: Yeah. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah. And

Justin Allen: you're very welcome, Gary. And you as well, Lance. Thank you for that. Jake says, Justin Hunter's ultimate ADAS looks like an awesome tool. Do you think it is more useful when integrated with an alignment system or as an independent unit?

Justin Allen: Okay, there you go. So the ultimate that's kind of an interesting question. The ultimate ADAS is integrated as an aligner. You know, when we think about a vehicle being calibrated, these ADOS systems, our advanced driver assist systems are calibrated to the body of the vehicle. So it's really important that the tires and the chassis of that vehicle are pointing the same direction.

Justin Allen: And so, the alignment is kind of integral having, and, you know, find whatever system a person's looking at, if you're looking at the preconditions for a vehicle, it's always gonna say that the alignment is in good shape as aligned, as accurately as possible or whatever. And so with the ultimate datas, we do have our fully functional.

Justin Allen: State-of-the-art hunter Hawkeye Elite alignment machine. That's part of what it is. That's kind of the base of it. And then we just added the other stuff on top so it, it doesn't stand as an independent unit in that sense. But people of course, if there are people, we already have situations where somebody has a regular alignment machine just cranking out alignments all day, then the ultimate ADAS is a standalone calibration unit and it is phenomenal at that as well.

Justin Allen: So it can certainly be done that way. But so, do I think it's more useful with integrated with an alignment system or as an independent unit? I think it is beautifully useful either way. It's just a lot of shops may not have room to have a free freestanding calibration center. So it allows you to do your calibrations in many instances right there with the vehicle, even on the alignment rack.

Justin Allen: And so, that's part of how that works. Jake and I thank you for your question and don't hesitate to reach out further. How much room 

Jimmy Lea: does. The ultimate ADOS system need. How much room? I, I've heard 60 by 60. I've heard all sorts. Oh, yeah. I've heard all sorts of, yeah. You gotta buy a new building.

Jimmy Lea: You gotta level the ground. You gotta, right, 

Justin Allen: right. 

Jimmy Lea: What? 

Justin Allen: There's a lot of, there's a lot of apprehensions and concerns out there. And generally speaking, if a person has a 40 by 60 foot space that's nice and level and free and clear of distractions and other things that's amazing and phenomenal.

Justin Allen: Do they have to have that to get into the ADOS world and start calibrating things? Absolutely not. There's a, yeah, there's a lot of vehicles that the calibration process, and I say a lot, let's just say like Fords and Chrysler products, Solanis products, there's a lot of those that are just dynamic calibrations that you just go drive 'em.

Justin Allen: Right, right, 

Jimmy Lea: right, right. So 

Justin Allen: shop owners need to get on board with at least that initially. And usually you've gotta go in with some kind of a scan tool and let it know, like put it in learning mode and then go drive it. So that's an, those obviously don't need any space beyond that though, there are different ranges depending on the make and the manufacturer of that particular vehicle.

Justin Allen: And even the model. Sometimes, like you may have certain Hondas that it's really short and then other versions, it's kind of a longer space. But the, you can get a lot done in just a traditional alignment bay as far as forward facing cameras and radars. Yeah. Even in some cases where you would just turn the vehicle around facing the rear and get some things done.

Justin Allen: Now that's gonna be a best case scenario on a flush mounted alignment rack, mind you. Right. Because then everything's at the nice level and, you know, you're not having to worry about a lot different, a lot of different stuff. That's, you're seeing a lot of folks today that as they're building in alignment systems, they're definitely doing that submerged rack in the floor.

Justin Allen: Yes. So that you can have the car in that position and do all of your calibrations right there without having to do much else. You know, the space limitations. If someone has a normal alignment bay with some extra space out in front of it, like the ones that the alignment machine, the rack itself gives you four feet between it and the wall, those are gonna be challenges, right.

Justin Allen: That's gonna be a different environment. Okay. But being able to do these calibrations in other bays, there's so many ways to get that ball rolling in so many vehicles that you are going to be able to get calibrated. I believe reducing the need to sublet that stuff to somebody else is going to help you with your scheduling and your quality control.

Justin Allen: And those are things that also help you to sleep well at night, you know, when you can control that stuff. 

Jimmy Lea: Oh yeah, for sure. And that leads us here to, last question from Gary here about mobile ados. What do you think of these mobile ADOS companies? 

Justin Allen: Yeah, Gary. Thank you for that question. The a mobile ADOS company is just like any of the rest of us in the sense that.

Justin Allen: Either they're doing their job right or they're not. And that would, so it would, you'd have to look at that case by case, you know, this stuff has changed so quickly and there were so many mobile shops. Or there was a moment where I. People needed to get these calibrations done. And the only option was mobile really, kind of in the beginning.

Justin Allen: And so they were able to show up and charge whatever they wanted. And I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just 'cause there was no kind of there was nothing in place to help make sense of it. And not too long ago, like Mitchell as far as guides for guidelines for Labor times and things like that finally came out with some information so that people knew what to expect and what would be logical there.

Justin Allen: With that, I mean, like I said, you can have people in your shop doing a bad job on break work and leaving yourself vulnerable to liabilities. Right. And similarly, the mobile stuff, that's kind of the trick to it, is sometimes you're just, you turn the keys over to a person, they're out there in the parking lot, we don't know what they're doing.

Justin Allen: Maybe they're doing a good job, maybe they're not. If you've never seen them toting targets around and trying to get them on a level spot inside your shop, you might question what's going on. Yes. 

Jimmy Lea: But that was gonna be my question. Yeah. Not, I don't guys showing up at the shop, but if they're showing up at somebody's house trying to.

Jimmy Lea: Sure, yeah. A line, a car. That's my, I living on a hill. There's no way you're gonna find a level spot unless you come into the garage and my garage isn't that big. 

Justin Allen: Yeah. There's a lot of variables there, you know, and the only thing we can really try to lean into is whatever the OE said you're supposed to do.

Justin Allen: And so you have the vehicle's supposed to be level and you've got it out in a gravel parking lot and it's sloped into a ditch or something. That's not what they've said to do. I'm not sure that we can feel good about that in terms of doing our job to the best of our ability. So I'm not, you know, I don't, I'm sure I know plenty of mobile technicians and I'm sure some of 'em are doing an amazing job.

Justin Allen: And just like anything else, there might be some of 'em that are kind of shady about it. I don't know. But that's what we're here to do as an industry right. Is to lift each other up, help each other, get the right training and do a good job. 

Jimmy Lea: No, that's exactly what we're gonna do. We're gonna lock arms.

Jimmy Lea: 'cause as an industry, we can help each other to survive this storm. Yeah. Last question from last. You see that question here? He's talking about I'm reading that. Yeah. Yeah. Transmissions and knuckles. If those were to be removed, does it require an ADOS calibration? Yeah. 

Justin Allen: Great question, Lance. I would say the only reason I would think you would have to, well, you would, you'd look into that data.

Justin Allen: I love this, I love that, that we're getting questions from people that are curious about how would I even know if I was supposed to do it right? Yeah. Right. And that's what's been so wild about this stuff as of late. And if I was doing those changes, I know with those particular things, axles and knuckles and stuff, if I'm removing that stuff and putting it back in, I'm probably doing an alignment on it, right?

Justin Allen: Like if this, I'm imagining, I'm envisioning like a front wheel drive vehicle and I've got an engine cradle under there, support and all that stuff, and that cradle supports my lower control arms, I'm gonna need to do an alignment on it. So if that vehicle requires a calibration after an alignment, then yes, you would need to do it.

Justin Allen: You know, that's kind of what that bears down into. So in other words, replacing a axle by itself, does that call replacing a transmission by itself? Does that cause it? Not necessarily. But once you're gonna, if you're gonna do the alignment, which you should do because you did those other things, then yeah.

Justin Allen: If that vehicle calls for it, whether it's dynamic or static, you would definitely wanna recalibrate it. 

Jimmy Lea: Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yep. Well, super awesome. Justin. Thank you so much for your time, brother. It's so exciting to be together and to do our first webinar together. We've never before. My pleasure. 

Justin Allen: My pleasure.

Justin Allen: Jimmy. Yeah, and you came with so many good questions. And then what an honor to have people willing to listen in and ask questions as well. Thank you very much, everybody for that. Yep. 

Jimmy Lea: And we're gonna post this up. It's on Facebook, on YouTube, and of course on our website as well. So you've got questions, we've got answers.

Jimmy Lea: We just need you to ask first, and then we will barrel down that path. That's it. That's it. So if you find this information fascinating and interesting and awesome, and it helps you as a shop owner, or perhaps it asks more questions and provides more questions for you to ask, we'd love to connect.

Jimmy Lea: My name is Jimmy Lee. I'm with the Institute. Following this brief outro, you'll see a QR code come up on the screen and for 30 seconds it'll be there. If you're interested to have an analysis of your business reviews, we let's connect. Let's look at your business. Let's look at your shop.

Jimmy Lea: What can we do to make it better, to build a better life, build a better business, therefore, a better industry? My name is Jimmy Lee. I'm with the Institute. I look forward to connecting with you again soon. Thank you.