Digital Vehicle Inspections
There’s no denying that thousands of auto service shops around the world, and more specifically in North America are setting up digital vehicle inspection technology in droves. As times are changing, shops are seeing the need to change business practices, adapt and overcome challenges.
People are simply starting to expect more out of shops and are resisting the old school ways auto shops had in place. That means the mass exodus of paper, old school (ancient!) vehicle inspection processes.
So take the next 3 minutes out of your busy day, and find out why it’s time to make the switch from paper to digital vehicle inspections. The next 3 minutes will change your business forever!
1) Social Issues
The environment is top of mind for most people nowadays. More specifically, millennials and younger drivers keep the environment top of mind in their lives. It’s an issue near and dear to this demographic.
It goes as far as choosing certain businesses over others in products they buy just because of a certain stance the business has. We can see this in the outrage and mass boycotts and controversies over brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch.
66 percent of millennials make purchase decisions based on a brand’s political/social beliefs. Its clear brands must align their beliefs with the general public’s to cast the largest customer “net” possible.
It’s not just millennials either that care about where they use their money. We can even see how most people, at 57%, choose to support a brand that is in line with their own social beliefs. Consumers are much more likely to care about where to spend their money than they did 3 years ago according to a study.
With that said, if your shop can say you reduced the use of paper by implementing digital vehicle inspections, it will do great justice in helping more people choose a shop over another – especially those who care so much about the environment such as the 66% of millennials.
2) Sloppy Handwriting = A thing of the past
We’ve all been there. You got a document to review and you simply can’t get through it because of illegible handwriting. It gets so bad, it sometimes affects the quality of work. If an advisor just had an inspection report passed on to them, and the writing isn’t clear enough, they may misinterpret something. Or even worse, they may completely miss something that could be important in making service recommendations for a customer.
Imagine how upset a customer could be if their vehicle starts acting up again right after leaving your shop. Avoid this with digital vehicle inspections.
With digital vehicle inspections, you never have to worry about sloppy handwriting again. Technicians simply use a smartphone, or a tablet and type out their findings, with detailed photos and videos showing customers exactly what is wrong with a vehicle: creating no disconnect, building trust and informing customers in an effective manner.
3) Never lose a report again!
Your shop just spent the past hour conducting a full vehicle inspection. Detailed notes were jotted down, highlighting exactly what the vehicle needs to have serviced. The inspection is finally over with, and you put down the report to take a 5-minute break before going any further.
You browse your phone for a couple of minutes, look over to see the finished inspection report and it’s gone! Gone without a trace. The wind blew it away, or maybe somebody else grabbed it by mistake. In a haste, you frantically search the shop for this inspection report so you can give it to the service advisor but to no avail… All that work, down the drain.
Maybe you’re not to blame, maybe the file was lost by the front desk. Maybe it was accidentally destroyed, misplaced or straight up gone without a trace.
Luckily with AutoServe1’s digital vehicle inspection software, everything is saved over the cloud. You’ll never lose or misplace another inspection report again. Simply conduct the inspection with a smartphone or a tablet. No more pen and paper! The only thing you can lose now is your smartphone or tablet, but we’re sure you look after that thing like a hawk!
This also saves space in your shop by not having the need for physical inspection reports laying around. You won’t need any more annoying, clunky filing cabinets taking up space in your shop. It also saves front desk space by reducing clutter for service advisors giving your shop a more professional, put together image for customers.
4) Save Time & Increase Communication
Digital vehicle inspections limit the need for the physical trade of paper inspections between technicians, service advisors and customers. Extremely detailed digital vehicle inspections are done on smartphones and tablets and sent electronically to everyone that needs them.
From the technicians performing the inspection to the service advisor to the customer. Everything is extremely streamlined and easily digestible with simple photos and videos explaining problem areas on vehicles.
Customers can be notified in real time through our two-way texting feature. Technicians send customers status updates right to the customer’s smartphone. Customers can even approve of service repairs right on their phones.
Not only do digital vehicle inspections increase customer communication, but it also helps increase workflow. AutoServe1 created Builder1 so shops can create custom inspection checklists for all the services they provide. This ensures shops won’t miss a thing during inspections and gives customers peace of mind that their vehicle is safe to drive again.