Table of Contents
"Sure, there’s plenty of demand in my area. Finding someone who can actually get the work done is a completely different issue.”
After more than 15 years in the automotive industry, I can’t tell you how often I hear that statement made. Even with all this new technology, we’ve quickly outpaced our ability to staff for it.
Shops are hemorrhaging money not because they lack equipment or ambition, but because they can't find—or keep—qualified technicians to run their calibration operations consistently.
The numbers tell a sobering story
Our 2025 State of ADAS Calibration Industry Benchmark Report revealed that 59% of shops identify better technician training as the primary factor that would make them more likely to bring calibrations in-house. That's not a small gap. A majority of the industry saying they're held back by talent constraints.
Even shops that invest heavily in training aren't seeing the returns they expect. The average facility reports 41 hours of ADAS-specific training per technician annually. That's more than a full work week dedicated solely to keeping technicians current. Despite this, 36% of those same facilities still cite training and technician expertise as their top operational challenge.
The math, as they say, isn’t mathing.
The problem isn't that shops aren't trying. They're investing real time and real money into developing their people. The problem is that ADAS calibration has created a moving target that traditional training models can't hit.
Training in the industry keeps missing the mark
Here's what makes ADAS calibration fundamentally different from other types of automotive work: The procedures change constantly.
If you’re talking about mechanical repairs, once you learn how to replace a timing belt on a Honda Accord, that knowledge remains stable. The basics there don’t change dramatically from one year to the next.
ADAS calibration doesn't work that way, and changes happen fast.
Our research found that 27% of ADAS jobs involve OEM procedures that have changed since the last similar repair.
Think about that for a second. More than one-in-four calibrations your technician performs will require different steps than the last time they worked on that same make and model.
A technician could attend comprehensive training in January, master every procedure covered, and return to the shop with genuine expertise. 6 months or so later, a bunch of what they learned might be outdated.
This creates an impossible situation:
You can't train fast enough to stay current. But you also can't memorize procedures that change monthly.
And you certainly can't afford to keep pulling technicians out of production for constant retraining.
The shops I talk to are frustrated because they're doing everything right according to the old playbook—investing in the right equipment, sending people to training, building dedicated calibration spaces—but they're still struggling to deliver consistent results.
The technology trap shops risk falling into
Faced with the training problem, many shops think technology might be the answer. They invest in this software or that, or or equipment packages that promise to simplify the process.
Sometimes it helps, but often it doesn't.
That’s because it’s a critical part of success, but it isn’t the only part of success when it comes to ADAS calibrations.
I've seen shops waste tens of thousands of dollars on platforms that technically work but don't actually solve their operational problems. Plenty ofsoftware can identify required calibrations. It might even provide access to OEM procedures. But if it doesn't integrate with how the shop actually operates, it becomes another obstacle instead of a solution.
The last thing you want to do is invest in good tech that your team won't use because it creates more friction than it removes.
When I ask shop owners about their biggest software frustrations, the answers are remarkably consistent:
- "We have three different systems we need to log into just to complete one calibration."
- "The procedure documentation is technically available, but it takes twenty minutes to find it."
- "Every software update changes where things are located, and we have to retrain everyone."
These aren't complaints about broken systems. They're complaints about systems that don't account for the realities of a production environment where time directly equals money.
Our research found that documentation and procedure verification can take around an hour when shops rely entirely on manual processes—hunting through manufacturer sites, cross-referencing position statements, verifying which version of a procedure is current.
An hour per vehicle isn't a minor inconvenience. It's the difference between profitability and loss on that job.
What’s needed for technology to actually deliver
After talking with hundreds of shops about their ADAS operations, I've seen what separates useful technology from expensive distractions. And ultimately, it comes down to whether the tech can iterate into your workflow processes.
The right ADAS calibration platform solves specific operational problems in ways that work within your existing workflow.
It needs to work with how you actually operate
Your estimator shouldn't need to learn a completely new system, and your technician shouldn't have to switch between multiple platforms mid-calibration. If the calibration tech doesn't slot naturally into your current process, adoption will fail no matter how powerful the features are.
It needs to elevate your entire team (and not just your top technician)
The talent crisis isn't going away, which means you need tools that let less experienced technicians produce consistent work. That doesn't mean dumbing things down. It means building guidance and decision support directly into the process so technicians don't rely entirely on memory or outdated training.
It needs to make your experts even better
Your best technician shouldn't be slowed down by ADAS diagnostic systems designed for beginners. The right platform scales with skill level, providing detailed guidance when needed while getting out of the way when someone knows exactly what they're doing.
Most importantly, it needs to create consistency
When shops use Revv to streamline their ADAS calibrations and can reduce their documentation time from one hour to three to five minutes, that wasn't just a speed improvement. It was a consistency improvement.
Every technician follows the same current procedure, each estimate references the same OEM requirements, and all calibrations generate the same quality of documentation. And since our software integrates with some of the most popular tools you’re already using, it can eliminate manual data entry, speed up processes, improve compliance, and reduce errors.
Consistency is what lets you scale, helps protect you from the liability of missed calibrations, and lets you grow your ADAS capabilities even when finding experienced technicians feels impossible.
Technology won't replace talent, but it can multiply it
I'm not suggesting technology solves the talent crisis completely. You still need skilled technicians who understand ADAS systems and can troubleshoot when calibrations don't go as planned.
But the right technology changes the equation dramatically.
The shops profitably offering ADAS calibrations, in-house or subletted, aren't the ones with the most equipment or the biggest training budgets. The difference lies in how they turn technology into a force multiplier for the talent they already have.
They've stopped trying to train their way out of the talent crisis and started building systems that make every technician more effective.
It’s more important now than ever before to choose your technology and processes carefully and make sure it's actually solving the problems your team faces every day rather than adding new ones.
Ready to see how the right technology can transform your ADAS operations? Book a demo with Revv to explore how VIN-specific procedures and seamless workflow integration can help your team deliver consistent, compliant calibrations.
.avif)
