From Michigan to Tucson: How One Calibration Company Found the Right ADAS Partner

Jake spent 20 years as a collision technician before striking out on his own. He needed a tool that was fast, honest, and built for the real world, not a bloated platform that created more problems than it solved.

Posted: March 23, 2026

Author: Addie Nguyen

Introduction

Jake grew up living and breathing the pulses of the automotive industry. After graduating from high school in Michigan, he spent two decades as a collision mechanic at a Ford dealership, diagnosing damage, rebuilding suspensions, and developing the kind of technical intuition that can't be taught in a classroom.

Then, one day, he and his wife decided it was time for a change. They sold everything, bought an RV, and spent 18 months traveling across the country, visiting over 40 national parks, including stretches of Alaska. Eventually, they landed in Tucson, Arizona.

In Tucson, he found his way to a major MSO calibration company and was introduced to the concept of ADAS or Advanced Driver Assistance Systems calibration. He loved the problem-solving nature of the work. What he didn’t love was the company’s model, which required technicians to handle both the technical work and the sales side of the business.

So he started his own company.

Building From the Ground Up

Within just a couple of years, Jake’s calibration business grew exponentially. Today his team operates a static facility offering in-house calibrations, a mobile calibration service, full mechanical repairs, and an alignment machine for complete wheel alignments. They partner with approximately 60 shops across Tucson and are actively positioning themselves as the market leader for ADAS calibration in the region.

Running a business at that pace requires tools that keep up. When it came to ADAS scrubbing—the process of reviewing repair estimates to identify required calibrations and justify them to insurance adjusters—Jake needed something that was accurate, quick, and didn’t generate pushback.

The Problem with “Do Everything” Tools

Before finding ADAS Find, Jake evaluated another platform. The experience was frustrating. The tool flagged too broadly, recommending everything indiscriminately—a serious liability in a business where every line item has to be justified to an insurance adjuster.

“It would just say, ‘do everything,’ and we live in a world of insurance, so that will not work,” Jake said. “It was causing so much pushback. It was almost off-putting to the company I was with at the time.”

Jake’s team is technically minded. They don’t want a tool to tell them what to do. They want a tool that helps them prove what they already know needs to be done. The distinction matters enormously in the insurance world, where a recommendation without documentation is essentially worthless.

Why ADAS Find Fit

Jake came to ADAS Find around the same time the company was getting off the ground. In many ways, the timing was mutual: two companies figuring things out together, growing at a similar pace.

“I just really enjoy being able to say, ‘Hey, Owen, I can’t find this,’ and you’ve always been able to help,” Jake said. “Being able to relate with not a giant corporation, but a company at a similar size has been really, really positive.”

From day one, simplicity stood out. For Jake, a tool that overwhelms an insurance adjuster with dense information is nearly as bad as one that provides no information at all. ADAS Find’s approach of presenting the essential facts clearly translated directly into better acceptance rates in the field.

“Things just need to be simple for the adjuster today,” he said. “It was getting accepted. It was getting, ‘Oh, okay, that’s why.’ It just kind of worked for us.”

Efficiency in the Field

As Jake’s team has grown, the ability to centralize information has become increasingly valuable. Every technician, whether working in the static facility or out in the field on a mobile job, can pull up the same scrubbed estimate through the ADAS Find portal. There’s no duplication, no missed items, no “did someone check this?”

“Every tech in the field or here can pull up that same information,” Jake explained. “We don’t have to keep duplicating. It’s kind of on the list, so we can all go into that same portal and see that scrubbed estimate.”

He’s also watched the platform evolve in step with the industry. As calibration standards have shifted, particularly with Opus establishing tier guidelines, ADAS Find has updated its guidance accordingly, giving Jake’s team a reliable reference point in a fast-moving environment.

The Responsiveness Factor

If there’s one thing Jake returns to again and again when describing his experience with ADAS Find, its responsiveness. His company runs lean and fast: customers expect answers now, not hours later. He needs a vendor that operates the same way.

“When I’m asking a question, it’s because we’re either at the car now or we have an issue,” Jake said. “We don’t get put into a technical ticket that doesn’t get answered for hours. We get a really good response. That’s a super, super strong point, because that’s how we are as a company.”

Advice for Shops Evaluating ADAS Scrubbing Tools

When asked what advice he’d give to a body shop or calibration company looking to add an ADAS scrubbing tool, Jake had two immediate points.

First: don’t sign a contract. “If your product works, you don’t need contracts,” he said plainly.

Second: don’t pay for more than you actually need. Jake’s team doesn’t use ADAS Find’s invoicing module. They have their own workflow that works for them, and he has no interest in paying for a CRM or extras that don’t fit how they operate. His philosophy is direct: in an industry where accuracy matters most, a focused, simple tool beats an overcomplicated one every time.

“Sometimes in this, more simple is better than overcomplicated. Don’t overthink it. Don’t pay for too much that you do not need.”

It’s the same principle he’s applied to building his own business. And so far, it’s working.