When someone buys a used car, it helps to know what that car has been through. Has it been involved in any accidents? Did it receive any major upgrades or alterations? How well has it been maintained? Most buyers can check CARFAX or a similar vehicle history report to learn information gathered from insurance companies, law enforcement, inspection stations and other repair shops. But what they learn—or don’t learn—depends on how accurately the vehicle’s history has been reported.
That’s where shops come in. Well kept vehicle history reports tracked through a reliable shop management system empower independent auto repair shops to provide better, faster service to their customers.
Here’s how staying on top of vehicle history can improve transparency between you and your customers, and provide the best possible guest experience.
Build Stronger Relationships With Customers
When a customer comes into your shop and explains the reason for their visit, one of the first things your service advisor should look at is the customer’s vehicle history—especially its repair history. If it’s a first-time customer, finding the repair history may be tricky since they may not already be in your shop management system. You could always plug the VIN into CARFAX, which is made even easier if your shop management system integrates directly with CARFAX.
It’s worth noting that some history may be missing, but this is a great opportunity for your service advisors to ask the guest directly, “When was the last time you took your vehicle in for service?” If their answer doesn’t line up with what’s on their report, service advisors can begin taking notes and building a backlog of insights under the new customer’s profile. Soon enough, they are in your shop’s system, and your team is better able to retain that customer for future repair work.
Transfer Vehicle History Will Help Keep Guests Returning
Once in a while, a customer will bring a recently purchased used vehicle in for repair work. When this happens, transferring the vehicle history to the new owner within your shop management system will help both you and your customers know what work the vehicle might need.
Some shop management systems make transferring vehicle history easier than others. With Tekmetric, you can transfer vehicle history in one of two ways:
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Transfer vehicle and searchable history
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Transfer vehicle, job history, and invoices
With transfer vehicle and searchable history, the vehicle gets transferred to the new owner and the job history stays with the previous owner, but any past jobs will now be searchable under the new owner’s profile within Tekmetric. This helps service writers quickly get their bearings on what the customer’s vehicle may need by searching repair work done throughout the vehicle's lifetime stats with the old owner.
With transfer vehicle, job history and invoices, the vehicle is transferred to the new owner along with the job history; reporting for past repairs will show up under the new owner and be removed from the previous owner’s history of repairs so that service advisors can view the full repair history all in one place.
When you transfer vehicle history, service writers have a better understanding of what work the used vehicle may need, and the new owner can benefit by having a record of the vehicle’s maintenance history should they ever wish to sell the vehicle again in the future.
Auto Repair Software that Keeps You and Your Guests in the Know
Listen, if you are not using technology to track vehicle history, you should give it a try. It can make your life so much easier! Even if you decide to just track metrics in spreadsheets, at least that’s a start.
If you're looking for something functional, Tekmetric is always looking for ways to help auto repair shops provide an excellent and seamless guest experience. Giving shops the ability to leverage, document, and transfer vehicle history is one of the many ways that our shop management software enables auto repair shops to build long-lasting relationships with their guests.
See why Tekmetric is the fastest-growing auto repair software with consistent 5-star reviews and unrivaled customer support.
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