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Most Technicians Don’t Know What They Don’t Know

Confession No. 119 · with Jim Cokonis and Justin Allen · October 9, 2026 · 79 min.

Listen Now · No. 119

0:001:18:59

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Mike Allen, Bryan Pollock, Jim Cokonis and Justin Allen sit down on the ASTA Expo floor for a conversation about one of the biggest problems in automotive repair: technicians and service advisors often don’t know what they don’t know. They dig into how bad information gets passed from technician to technician, why years of experience don’t automatically mean someone is doing the job correctly, and why training has to teach people how to think instead of simply memorize answers. The conversation covers tire sales, diagnostic strategy, technician education, young tech development, alignment and ADAS calibration, repair standards and some of the unbelievable things trainers still see happening inside real shops. They also debate whether shops are wasting technologically savvy young technicians by sticking them on oil changes for years instead of identifying their natural strengths early. And somewhere along the way, Mike takes a technical quiz, Bryan explains why someone can be wrong for 25 straight years, and everybody gets distracted by chicken wings.

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