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Vehicle security systems are becoming more and more complex. You may find yourself in a situation where you may need to be involved in key/key-fob replacement, programming, and troubleshooting security systems, but do you have the knowledge and tooling to do it?

Scott Brown talks about how you can significantly grow your business if you decide to tackle security systems. The National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) has a program called the Vehicle Security Professional (VSP) that Brown says is well worth your while if these are services you are considering performing.

While the initial investment in equipment may be high, expert diagnostician Matt Fanslow of Riverside Automotive in Redwing, Minn., said programming and key cutting is taking place well into double digits per month and continues to grow.

For technicians who always want to learn new things, the VSP license might be of interest, and for shop owners who find themselves outsourcing too much of this type of business, it’s perhaps an investment worth considering.

Another potential investment opportunity that is still a hot topic is ADAS. In his article, Chris Groff dives into the options around providing ADAS repair and calibrations. He gives a full breakdown of what you need to do — and what equipment you need to buy — if you want to give ADAS service a try a your shop. I have attended many industry events and spoken to many shop owners over the past year or so, and everyone I speak to says investing in ADAS is a no-brainer. They all saw a full return on their investment within about three months (on average). If you haven’t made the move to ADAS yet, I highly encourage you to seriously consider it. These systems are in your shops now and will only continue to show up in high numbers in the future.

Also with this issue is the Scan Tool Spec Guide — an invaluable resource for shop owners. This guide clearly outlines all the different capabilities of numerous scan tools, including professional diagnostic tools and heavy duty scan tools. There is nothing else like this in the market that offers you side-by-side comparison of what each scan tool can do (and perhaps most importantly) what it can’t do. We listened to feedback from our readers on last year’s guide, and this year’s has been updated to give you even more detailed information that you need.

As always, if you have any feedback for how PTEN can serve you better, please shoot me an email. I love hearing from you!