Automotive Training: Engage, Educate, and Adapt with Justin Allen

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The shop floor isn’t what it used to be. Cars are rolling in with more sensors than spark plugs. Good techs are hard to find, and even harder to keep. If your training plan still looks like “Have Steve show the new kid how to turn a wrench,” you’re already falling behind.

On this episode of the LeadFoot Automotive Podcast, we sat down with Justin Allen- a regional field trainer for Hunter Engineering Company—a guy who’s spent decades helping techs level up. He’s got strong opinions on what works, what doesn’t, and why shop owners need to take training seriously right now.

Let’s break down the key takeaways and what they mean for your shop.

You Can’t Just Hire Experience —You Have to Build It

Today’s techs aren’t all growing up in the garage. Most have never changed oil at home, let alone dropped a trans. That “hand tools in the garage with dad” experience? It’s rare. Which means they’re starting from square one—and that’s not a bad thing if you’re prepared.

The big mistake? Expecting a 20-something fresh out of trade school to be a flag-waving A tech on day one.

💬 "I’m literally teaching how to hold a wrench without busting knuckles. That’s where we’re at. And that’s okay—if you train for it." – Justin Allen

The takeaway? It’s on the shop to train smarter. That means:

• Creating real mentorship paths with your senior techs
  

• Taking pressure off your older guys so they can teach, not just wrench
  

• Investing in training tools that speak to the next generation

If you don’t start now, you’re going to look up in 5 years and have staff who can’t handle the tech rolling through your door

ADAS Isn’t Coming—It’s Already Here

Think ADAS is just for Teslas and dealerships? Think again. Every 2022+ Toyota has driver assist tech. Most 2023+ cars do, too. That means in a couple years, those cars will be out of warranty and showing up at your door—and they’ll need calibration.

If you’re not trained up, not equipped, or not connected to someone who is, you’re already behind. And worse, you might be letting unsafe vehicles back on the road.

💬 “66–75% of cars with ADAS weren’t calibrated properly after repair. That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

The good news: Tools like Hunter’s Ultimate ADAS system are making it easier—and way faster—to do calibrations the right way. What used to take 40 minutes per car? Now it’s 3 minutes. That’s not a typo.

So whether you bring it in-house or partner with someone, the point is: this is now your problem. Make sure your team knows what they’re doing.

Want to Keep Techs? Give Them a Shop Worth Staying In

We’re not just in a tech shortage. We’re in a culture shortage. Nobody wants to work in a hot, loud, beat-down shop with no path forward.

If you want young techs to stick around, you need to give them:

• Clear steps to grow (and get raises)
  

• A good place to learn without getting yelled at
  

• Tools and tech that actually help them do their job

That’s where guys like Justin Allen—and companies like Hunter—really shine. They're not just selling equipment. They’re showing shops how to build teams that last, with real support before, during, and after the sale.

🔧 “A lot of shops bought top-end equipment, but their people still use it like a screwdriver. They don’t know what it’s really built to do.” – Justin Allen

Final Thought: Become Pro-active over Re-active

Here’s the bottom line: The shops that win in the next 5–10 years won’t be the ones with the cheapest oil change. They’ll be the ones with a great shop culture, with techs who can learn within a company with support from the top down that ultimately grow them to handle everything from classic brakes to calibrations without breaking a sweat.

The sooner we adopt the idea that training the next generation is a real problem we have to face, the sooner we can be prepared to maximize the shift in our industry.

If this hit home, make sure to subscribe to the LeadFoot Automotive Podcast and newsletter.

We bring you the tech, tools, and tactics to run a smarter shop—with less stress. New episodes every week.