Automotive Technology Experts at Crash Champions and Others Tackle ADAS Calibration
As collision repair businesses of all sizes navigate the growing amount of scanning and calibration work required daily, indications show there is no single best solution for everyone. Among five multiple shop operators (MSOs) recently discussing the topic, each is handling calibration work in different ways, or a combination of approaches, including mobile providers, stand-alone calibration centers, and in-house at select locations. Industry automotive technology experts from companies like Crash Champions shared their varied strategies.
Moderating the panel at the MSO Symposium held with the SEMA Show, Dan Risley of CCC Intelligent Solutions asked the panelists to discuss the rationale behind their chosen models.
Crash Champions’ Automotive Technology Experts
Crash Champions, which operates over 600 shops in three dozen states, established a separate company, Automotive Technology Experts (ATE), specifically for performing mobile calibrations onsite for its shops that meet necessary conditions, such as a level floor. They also conduct some calibration work remotely.
John Panagopoulos, representing Automotive Technology Experts, speaks about Crash Champions' approach to ADAS calibration.
“We wanted to keep as much [business] as we can in-house,” said John Panagopoulos of ATE. “But it’s also customer satisfaction and cycle time. It’s quicker.”
ATE was founded as a separate business because it operates under a distinct business model, Panagopoulos explained. “A lot of times, folks who are running collision repair centers want to try to operate a [calibration] business kind of similar to collision repair, but it’s completely different, especially when you go mobile,” he noted. “The technicians aren’t the same. The technology is different. Pricing systems. Everything we do is just a completely different business model.”
In-House Solutions at Berkshire Hathaway Automotive
New-car dealer Berkshire Hathaway Automotive operates 32 collision centers nationwide. Darren Huggins, national collision director, addressed whether those shops sublet their ADAS calibration work to the dealerships’ service departments.
“Absolutely not,” Huggins stated. “In a dealer model, we’re all about trying to keep our work in-house, right? Even though we are a dealer, service operates in a different world than we do. And if you ever have to, as a dealer, send it to the service department, they have a tendency to take too long to do it. Even a basic alignment. Our mechanics in our own [collision] shops and our own collision centers are so busy, we don’t even really use our own mechanics for scanning and calibration. We have 19 of our 32 centers that have their own Tru-Point [ADAS calibration system] at this point and do all their own calibrations.”
How have they found staff for this specialized automotive technology work?
Darren Huggins from Berkshire Hathaway Automotive explains their in-house ADAS calibration strategy during a panel discussion.
“We’ve had really good luck finding gamers that are in their parents’ basement that want to live there forever,” Huggins joked. “And they might Uber to work, but they’ll come because they’re really interested in technology. So we’ve had really good luck finding these type of people and training them to be our calibration scanning technicians. We’re really pretty much staying to our core business, and we’ve kind of created our own department within our department, and it’s working really well for us.”
Does the company utilize a hub-and-spoke model for their collision shops without a Tru-Point system?
“No, not really,” Huggins replied. “We’re partnered with asTech, so they’ll have mobile services for us, or there are some situations where asTech actually has an in-shop technician that will take care of that.”
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LaMettry’s Collision’s Calibration Center and Mobile Teams
Darrell Amberson of LaMettry’s Collision shared their company’s approach, which includes mechanical departments in four of its 10 locations in Minnesota, along with two stand-alone mechanical shops and a dedicated calibration center. The company dispatches employees to locations without mechanical departments to perform scanning and basic calibration work.
“All the more difficult, demanding calibrations go to our calibration center,” he explained.
The company has invested significantly in calibration capabilities because it’s become too substantial a part of the overall repair process to outsource entirely.
“I remember a few years ago reading an article quoting a representative from one of the vehicle manufacturers who said, in the future, 60% of the cost of repairs will revolve around new technologies. And I’m not sure when ‘in the future’ is, or how you exactly measure that, but I found that terribly compelling. I was thinking to myself: How do you explain subletting 60% of your work in the future? To me, that didn’t seem like a promising way to approach collision repair long term.”
Having their employees conduct most calibration work has positively impacted production more than anticipated, he noted.
“One of the things we’ve learned is we can cycle cars quicker than we thought,” Amberson said. “We can do more [calibration work] than what we first thought. We can do most jobs certainly within a day, and many of them same day.”
He mentioned that many other collision repair businesses tour LaMettry’s calibration center seeking advice on equipment purchases.
“I’m thinking to myself: We’ve got five calibration stations representing four different brands,” Amberson commented. “This is not for the faint of heart, especially if you’re going to service all the major brands. So keep in mind, while we talk about all these advantages [of doing your own calibration work], it’s not for everybody. Maybe you’re a smaller shop. Maybe you can address certain brands. Maybe you can handle certain equipment. But if you’re going to be really serious about it and address all situations and all brands, it’s a large, large task.”
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The panel discussion highlighted that while the need for precise ADAS scanning and calibration is universal in collision repair, the optimal strategy varies greatly depending on the MSO’s size, structure, and resources. Leaders like automotive technology experts associated with Crash Champions, Berkshire Hathaway, and LaMettry’s Collision are finding different paths to meet this critical demand, emphasizing the need for dedicated expertise and significant investment to keep pace with evolving vehicle technology.
