Vehicles are not designed to provide detailed information to drivers with a simple check engine light. Independent auto repair shops have only been able to access vehicle data by physically connecting large expensive scanning tools to the vehicles on-board computer.
This gap leaves the repair shops with a limited ability to help their customers without the vehicle being driven or towed to a shop.
However, virtually none of this data has made its way to the independent auto repair shop. The repair shop industry cannot justify paying to put additional telematics devices into every car they service, which has been a rising issue in the industry.
Entricit was founded to help auto repair shops tackle these problems in a novel way by accessing the data from millions of existing connected cars. Without buying or installing any additional telematics devices, this live vehicle data is then integrated into the shops existing workflow.
"Now repair shops can be the first to know when something on a client’s car goes wrong and can provide immediate assistance," the company said. "This new program will level the playing field, allowing workshops to get a better idea of what’s going on with a vehicle and to immediately determine parts availability."
Auto Career Training (ACT), a leading training provider to the aftermarket parts industry, is on hand to provide training in how to master this new integration.
“Modern vehicles produce and transmit a lot of live data but the independent shops never get access to any of that information,” Barry Hoyland, president of ACT said. “When we heard of Entricits approach to this problem, we were excited that someone finally figured out how to seamlessly integrate telematics into an aftermarket shop.”
Randall Guinn, spokesperson for Entricit, added, “We wanted to level the playing field for independent auto repair and defend the rights of consumers. We can connect to 8 million vehicles with the partnerships in place today through a variety of devices which are already on the road, and we expect to announce even more integrations in the near future.”
Mitchell 1 is one of the first management software providers to integrate Entricit’s new system.
Ben Johnson, director of product management for Mitchell 1, said, “The Entricit vision aligned perfectly with our goal of better connecting our customers to their customers. We are excited that Mitchell1 customers now have more powerful tools to look after their customers and compete fairly with dealerships.”
