Sample of Bolt On Technology using photo to show customer an exhaust issue.
Bolt On Technology sample showing ability to capture images and send
them to your customer.
www.VehicleServicePros.com AUGUST 2018 PROFESSIONAL TOOL & EQUIPMENT NEWS 39
sary to stand apart from your competitors.
Since relatively few shops provide a
digital report to their customers, doing
so sets you apart.
PRE- AND POST-INSPECTIONS
As part of your inspection process, you
should consider providing your customer
with pre- and post-repair scan data showing
the condition of the vehicle’s computer
system(s) when the vehicle arrived,
as well as when it is delivered. Collision
shops were first led into this process at
the request/mandate of most automobile
insurers. They do this in order to evaluate
the vehicle for any possible underlying
conditions that may affect the cost of a
complete repair.
This information allows the insurer
and the shop to provide the customer
with better information about the vehicle,
before any repairs are made. Think
about this for a moment and consider the
benefits of providing this information to
your customer. By providing a pre-scan
- including the status of the monitors
- would you be able to avoid potential
comebacks? Quite possibly.
Let’s assume a vehicle has a misfire
causing a check engine light to be illuminated.
If the technician does not look
at and record the status of monitors, they
could overlook a pending code from a catalytic
converter. Most technicians know
that some misfires can cause damage to
a catalytic converter, but your customer
probably does not understand this. If you
were to advise them that based on prescan
data there is a possibility the converter
was damaged due to the engine miss,
and the check engine light may come on
again after you repair the misfire, you
will more than likely avoid having the
customer assume you did not repair the
vehicle correctly.
The information from a pre- and postscan
of the vehicle should include current
and pending codes and the status of the
monitored systems. Monitor status can
also prepare the customer for issues that
arise after a monitor is able to run. For
instance, many vehicles are unable to
complete an evap test if there is a current
code for a misfire. This again could cause
a check engine light to illuminate shortly
after you repair the vehicle.
In both cases, better communication
with the customer before the repair can
avoid having the customer assume you
repaired their vehicle either incompletely
or incorrectly.
TOOLS FOR PRE-
AND POST-SCANS
The tools required for pre- and post-scans
are tools most technicians routinely use
now. Scan tools have the capability of
providing this data to the technician and
service advisor; they are just a little cumbersome,
unless it is a late model scan
tool that has incorporated either a way
to transfer the information to your shop
management system (SMS), or at a minimum,
a printable report.
A few recently introduced products
are specifically designed to create a
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