First let me start by saying I respect all of you in the Auto Glass Industry. Last year around February I read an article by Mitch Becker called looking clearly thru the glass. As a business owner it scared the heck out of me because I knew we needed more training and tooling and at what cost? This article was released in November of 2014 I was reading it for the first time in February 2018.
My first thought was how in the world does our industry get 4 years behind technology and not really know about it? I take a lot of pride in what I think the industry is doing and I'm AGSC registered and Certified and I go to the glass shows how do I not know what is going on?
I made phone calls sent out emails and a few returned calls but know one was willing to really give me any helpful information. I tried to launch a new company that would be working with independents to share training and technology, I had a few shops inquire and one signed up. what I really found out was people don't want to work together and we are all very prideful and don't want to admit we need help.
In March of last year I threw myself into studying and understanding ADAS and recalibration and also had to learn abought scanning a vehicle. ALL This was in Mitch Becker's article.
I researched tools bought some that turned out to be junk talked to body shops and dealerships realized I'M not alone.
I settled on recalibration tool that we were trained in I also invested in a scanning tool that has been a great asset to the recalibration tool we bought. I have been doing training through I-Car and doing a lot of online research. we have two sources we can get specs on any vehicle we work on as well as service bulletin's that may be out on a vehicle.
In my OPINION from information I have looked at when we are going to replace a glass in a vehicle or do any work on it we need a base line starting point. I have a very detailed inspection process myself and my staff goes through on every vehicle we work on. I require my CSR to pull any and all service bulletin's before we start a work order you may be amazed at what you find out. Anything from wind noise to a recall.
What if the recall was on The ADAS system or something else. we worked on a 2016 jeep and 2 weeks later the customer complained her GPS and maps were messed up. I with my tech went to look at her vehicle she had one recall and 2 computer updates that had not been performed all under warranty. We Gave her the bulletin's to take to the local jeep dealer.Had we not had this information available I could have been on the hook for some costly repairs.
When I say you need a baseline starting point what I mean is what does the manufacture say about how that vehicle is set up for a recalibration?
1. Most all say full tank of fuel.
2. Air pressure to factory specs.
3. No added weight to vehicle Golf clubs etc;
There is no way in my OPINION we can do a lot of these jobs mobile anymore.
We photo the vehicle before and after inside and out.Do a vehicle inspection, road test pre and post to be sure everything is working properly a great way to get familiar with the vehicle. We scan the vehicle for DTC Diagnostic trouble codes pre and post. A road test that exposes issues as well as a DTC scan can stop you in your tracks.
The information being discussed in this chat sight is very scary. From what I have learned from experience and training. I caution all to do some research and protect yourself. I truly hope I have helped .
We also checked with our insurance company and had to upgrade our policy to be able to perform this type of work and be covered for any liability. we also insure our very expensive tools. Best to all that read this.
I do not get on this sight very often so if you have a question I may not see it. I definitely will not reply to a negative comment as I'm not the type to debate over right and wrong I think listening and respecting is a better route.

Terry, good read and I feel for the industry and have been watching it progress like you. Let me ask you, how much does it cost you for all the pre and post reports, inspections, procedures you mention? Do you think the insurance companies will pay for those like they do for collision repair?

I have a website portal to all OEM's for service procedures / TSB's, YouTube videos and am working on building on this platform technical tips for things like mirror brackets / trim removal that would prevent breakage and additional cost.

I applaud you for your efforts. I've known Mitch for some time and he is one of the best in the trade for having up-to-date information and technical writing par none.

OEglasstechnical.com

Take a look and let me know what you think. It still needs some work.

Thank you Rick for the positive feed back . I will check out your sight I’m always seeking out information and trying to improve what we are doing.
In reference to your question we have several sights that we either pay an annual fee or a monthly fee . If we have to send information to the insurance company to support work we are doing we do charge the insurance company. We have to pay for that research so we have to cover that cost.
Also our staff sometimes spends hours trying to get information . Often you can’t charge for that staff time.
I am slowly eliminating mobile service it is just to hard to have everything a tech may need to do a job. How many techs carry an air compressor . Probably not many yet before any recalibration of ADAS you have to check air pressure, we all know in cold weather tire pressure goes down especially with certain rims. We have found when doing recalibrations tolerances are pretty tight.
I have started to ask customer on a dynamic recall to bring it into our shop sometime we will offer pickup . Thank you for your feed back.