Page 42 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine May-June 2022

ADAS & recalibration
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PAINT&PANEL MAY / JUNE 2022 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
STILL MUCH CONFUSION ON RECALIBRATION
ADAS SOLUTIONS AUSTRALIA WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MOBILE AND STATIC RECALIBRATION COMPANIES SET UP TO SERVICE THE COLLISION REPAIR INDUSTRY NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO. PAINT & PANEL CAUGHT UP WITH ITS DIRECTOR JOE WALSH.
A DAS SOLUTIONS AUSTRALIA was always meant to be a national enterprise but short- ly after it was set up in south east Queensland, the pandemic came along. Although that has meant not get- ting out of the State, the catchment area and client base has grown. Volumes have grown month on month and not only are they recalibrating for a number of dealerships and working with Parts Check but, Walsh reports, working di-
rectly with four insurers.
"We have spread our catchment now
to the Sunshine Coast, we are operating in Toowoomba and we are starting up in Byron Bay shortly. We’re picking up a lot of work in northern NSW at the moment and we are also assisting the hail outfits in Adelaide where we will shortly set up a static location before the end of the fi- nancial year. By the end of the calendar year we will have a footprint in Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle." Walsh says.
"We have also been fitting out some panel shops around the country in terms of recalibration equipment and advising then on what to buy. One of the issues is when, exactly, is the right time to buy? It’s understanding the re- turn on that investment. We’ll look at which vehicles they are repairing and advise on the best equipment to pur- chase depending on the makes of car repaired — no one system covers the whole vehicle parc.
"In our vans we have five different soft- ware packages — most shops don’t need that, we’re here to advise them and help then save money and get the system that’s right for them. We also offer technical
support and training. Because we proba- bly do more post smash calibrations than anyone else in the country it’s highly un- likely someone will come across a prob- lem we haven’t encountered."
In time and certainly in regional ar- eas the company is looking at building a franchisee network.
So the big question is, how far has the industry come in terms of aware- ness of recalibration requirements? Not very far according to Walsh. “People are just starting to wake up to it. Every insurer that you speak to says its num- ber 1 on their agenda, but no one is ac- tually saying what they want to do about it. Our panel shop volume is in- creasing as awareness trickles into the market - however awareness is still the number one issue.
"There’s also the conflict between repair methods and OEM data, par- ticularly with assessors. It’s not their fault, a lot of repair methods don’t mention calibration requirements. Whereas we sign up for all the manu- facturers' technical information and that’s where a lot of the ADAS require- ments are stated – and this is causing confusion in the marketplace.
"That why it needs a specialist enti- ty like us who invests in all the OEM subscriptions which would be very ex- pensive for an individual panel shop to take out.," says Walsh.
The company has collated so much data that it is offering a free service at adassolutions.com.au where if you click the data tab it will tell you wheth- er a model requires calibration.