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Increase Sales, Repair Shop Solutions, Multipoint Inspection Process

Joe Marconi
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HarrytheCarGeek Experienced

HarrytheCarGeek

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Harry, It's happened before....... May happen again. The place to find out is on on the Repair Shop Solutions Facebook Page . When we came out of beta testing, we offered a 30 day free trial. I may run another promotion in a month or so.

Great stuff Scott,

 

I will give it a go. It looks very promising and your reporting capabilities looks phenomenal. As they say though the proof is in the pudding, so I will have to prepare my senior techs to use this new technology.

 

Thanks!

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Scott Osborn Apprentice

Scott Osborn

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I've found the best way to get started is to get your advisors prepped and then take one of your techs, usually the youngest and most computer literate, and get him using the system. Before you know it, each of your techs will have an Amazon Kindle in their toolbox that they use to do inspections with. I know if I told my techs that I was no longer going to use the system, there would be kicking and screaming to deal with and my advisor would try to have me put to sleep....

 

I'm happy to give you an online demo with live info from my shop if you'd like. Just let me know and we can set up a time that works for us both.

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GobblesAuto Contributor

GobblesAuto

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I've been using this program for three months now. It works great! Customers love it and it is helping us close more sales on needed services. This is definitely worth taking a look at. It will pay for itself from day one. Give it a try!!!!

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HarrytheCarGeek Experienced

HarrytheCarGeek

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I signed up a couple of days ago. Like any new software that you have to learn, it will take you time to learn the quirks of it. But it looks promising, I can"t wait to get enough data to see how the reporting works out.

 

I had some issues in having to use multiple email addresses to be setup as a owner and then a manager, but once Scott cleared that up I was able to get going.

 

The next thing I am dealing with is one of my tech's told me that you can only save an inspection my marking it complete. This brings up an issue for us as the service writer is the one that inputs pricing into the recommendation worksheet.

 

On another note, I was expecting the VIN to be decoded automatically, the shop software that we use Bay-masteR does it for us, this is really a very valuable feature. This application does not do it yet, you have to manually input the VIN details yourself for the first time.

 

But like I said, I am beginning to learn the software, once we get it going I can tell the information gathered will be very valuable.

Edited by HarrytheCarGeek
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Scott Osborn Apprentice

Scott Osborn

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Harry, I'm going to make your day. First of all remember that I'm only a phone call away if you need help. (424) 262-1580. I just ask that you remember that I'm on the left coast, 3 hours behind you.....


Even though a tech marks an inspection as complete by clicking the save button, you can still open it and make changes, it is not locked for editing. If you're having your S/A put the pricing into the system (I don't think you have it turned on, go to "SHOP INFO" to turn on pricing), it's much quicker if he goes right into the "RO Completion Report" and makes his changes/updates there. Just click the little plus sign on the left to open it up:
rocomplete.jpg

Second, a VIN decoder is only going to save you a few seconds as you select the year/make/model. Since we're not getting engine info, trim info or much else, there wouldn't be much time saving. However, I hear you, and I can do one better. I will upload your shop's data to the site and all you have to do is drop in the VIN and the software will pull out the year/make/model/license/customer name & email for you if the customer has previously been in your shop. You will only have to input the new customers you get. And, I will work on putting a VIN decoder in the software for you. Contact me and I'll get you the info I need to get your data uploaded.

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phynny Community Regular

phynny

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So I've implemented this program and have been using it for a month now and just wow. It easily paid for itself the first use and has continued to impress all of my customers and has made many many sales.

 

I hate gimmicks and such but this program has made life easier in me and sells a ton of work by itself.

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phynny Community Regular

phynny

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Do you actually show the customer on an IPAD the service review? Is this just an electronic copy of the service review that is normally on paper?

 

I print every customer a copy. You can email them a copy with pictures if you prefer.

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mspecperformance Mentor

mspecperformance

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This looks really promising and i have been looking for an inspection sheet that can be based off a tablet. There is another company AutoVitals that does something similar. My question is there any plans on integrating this with existing shop management software? My understanding is you have to manually input customer info such as name, phone number, email address and VIN correct? That would mean that info would have to be entered twice, once in the shop management software and then again into the inspection sheet database.

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Scott Osborn Apprentice

Scott Osborn

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mspecperformance, on 03 Sept 2013 - 7:22 PM, said:

This looks really promising and i have been looking for an inspection sheet that can be based off a tablet. There is another company AutoVitals that does something similar. My question is there any plans on integrating this with existing shop management software? My understanding is you have to manually input customer info such as name, phone number, email address and VIN correct? That would mean that info would have to be entered twice, once in the shop management software and then again into the inspection sheet database.

 

 

 

The software was designed to run independent of any management system so that everyone could use it. It's extremely fast, less than 20 seconds, if ALL of the information needed to be typed in. When you look at the time savings for the tech's and the advisors from getting complete information, that 20 seconds can save you easily 5 minutes or more.

 

 

HOWEVER........ We realized the need to integrate with the management systems and are now installing a very small program on the users PC that will allow a single click to generate an inspection with all of the data filled in. We have also added the VIN decoder for those that do not have one of the major management systems as well as the system will fill in the data for returning customers.

 

 

On a side note, we've seen some interesting new inspections popping up that shops are designing. The system lends itself very well to making "Checklists" for getting a tech to do testing in a specific order and not jumping to conclusions. Think of "Starting and Charging System", "Air Conditioning", "Cranks but No Start", and other checklists... I'm sure it's happened to almost every one of us, a 2005 Tahoe gets dragged into the shop and the tow truck driver has told the customer that the fuel pump needs to be replaced, the tech spends 5 minutes looking at it and tells the advisor to get him a fuel pump. Two hours later, with the new pump installed, the tech say's the coil must have burned up during all that cranking and now it needs a coil too. This embarrassing and very expensive problem could have been avoided if the tech had used a "No Start" checklist that asked some of the questions like "Fuel Pressure", "Cranking Amps", "Spark Quality", "Fuel Level", "Cranking Vacuum", etc.

 

I'd be happy to set up a webinar for the users of this message board, then you can see it working with live data. Let me know if you're interested.

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

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