What New ADAS Technicians Must Master: A Conversation with Wrenchway's Jay Goninen
Joel Adcock sits down with Jay Goninen, co-founder and president of Wrenchway, to discuss the automotive technician shortage. They frame this discussion in terms of a solvable challenge rather than some abstract problem. And solving it starts with supporting education programs before they close.
Jay's company evolved from recruiting to job boards to something more foundational: ASE Connects, a shop membership platform designed to bring industry stakeholders together around schools that need help. The conversation covers why moving technicians from shop to shop doesn't fix the pipeline, why collision and automotive programs are shutting down (including one Jay attended as an apprentice), and what it actually costs to restart a program once it closes.
What we discuss:
- Why Wrenchway stopped recruiting and pivoted to supporting education infrastructure
- ASE Connects: bringing dealers, independents, fleets, and partners together (not competing for the same resources)
- The shocking lack of data on how many automotive and collision programs exist in the U.S.
- Documenting every school state-by-state to identify which programs need support
- Small-town schools with 50 students per class: how to connect those kids to the industry
- Work experience, job shadowing, apprenticeships as early exposure strategies
- Why overwhelming instructors with fragmented industry outreach can backfire
- The Voice of Technician survey and technician pay tool (built with ASE)
- ADAS as a microcosm of the trust problem: selling calibrations to consumers who don't understand them
- How consumer education, shop professionalism, and transparency rebuild trust
- Why acting like a CEO (processes, people, customer education) matters now more than ever
- What happens when shops don't invest: long-term loss of community trust and viability
- ASE and I-CAR's consumer awareness efforts and why the next five years are critical
Jay emphasizes that fixing the technician shortage requires collaboration, not competition. Shops can't keep poaching from each other. Instead, the industry needs to stabilize education programs, connect students to real opportunities, and show consumers why modern repair work (including ADAS) requires investment in both technology and people.
Guest:
Jay Goninen, Co-Founder & President, Wrenchway
Host:
Joel Adcock, Revv
Resources:
Learn more at revvhq.com
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