About six years ago, Jon and Derek Kloosterman of Westside Auto Group realized that their current inspection process wasn’t cutting it. Not only were the brothers unhappy with their inspections, but their technicians and service writers were having to work harder than they should. To solve the issue, they worked with their team and linked up with Shop-Ware to create an entirely new inspection process. The result was an impressive 33% jump in their average repair order. From camera tips to the philosophy that makes it work, here’s the breakdown of an effective DVI.

Backstory

With roughly 40 technicians with a variety of experience and ages, it was critical for the Kloostermans to create a process that made sense to the people performing the inspections. Creating an easily understandable template means fewer skipped sections and more consistent results.

Problem

The previous inspection template took too long and frequently had missing sections.

“The biggest thing is maintaining professionalism,” Derek explains. “We are working to build trust with clients, so we hold ourselves to high standards regarding professionalism and work quality.”

A bored, uninterested voice erodes customer trust and loyalty just as much as one speeding through the inspection. There’s also the issue of verbiage—the language used in an inspection matters. Calling a customer’s vehicle “old” or simply describing an issue as “bad” paints an incomplete picture that can negatively impact a customer’s perspective and harm the average repair order.

Solution

Two things were essential to the successful implementation of the new inspection process: Shop-Ware and feedback from the technicians and service advisors.

“Clear communication with your team is essential,” Derek says. “We hold monthly in-person leadership meetings with all of our shop foremen and service directors. Emphasizing the ‘why’ behind inspections has created strong buy-in across all our locations.”

“Pairing service directors and shop foremen in those meetings was a game-changer,” Jon explains. “Foremen are responsible for inspection quality, while service directors handle estimates. Bringing them together eliminated friction between the front and back of the shop.”

Building Consistency

The standardized nature of DVIs can make them seem like a hassle to newer technicians, leading them to skip steps or even inspections entirely if a vehicle has recently been in the shop. Inspections don’t need to be exciting, but they shouldn’t be treated as a hassle or rushed.

“For owners struggling with consistency among younger techs, try running parallel inspections: have a junior tech perform an inspection, then have an experienced tech inspect the same vehicle. Comparing the results creates an immediate, constructive teaching moment to bridge skill gaps,” Jon says.

Aftermath

For Westside Auto Group, every inspection ends with a final verification shot. An oil change gets a final shot of the oil cap being tightened at the very end; more serious repairs may get a full walk-around or four corner shots to verify the vehicle’s condition. Not only does this help eliminate the common minor mistakes like leaving a 10 mm socket somewhere it shouldn’t be, but it helps build customer trust by giving them final proof of a quality job.

“Generally, success looks like consistency across the board,” Jon says. “Every one of our seven locations has the exact same inspection across the board. Not only from a location standpoint, but from technician to technician, we try to keep the verbiage accurate and consistent, as well as the areas where photos are taken, so that we create a uniform experience for our clients. We want them to know what to expect when they come into our building.”

Takeaway

Every shop’s needs are different, so every inspection template will need to be uniquely tuned to the shop’s environment. Ultimately, it isn’t a specific number of steps or order of operations—it’s whatever makes the most sense for the technicians doing the inspections.

It’s also important to remember that the goal of an inspection isn’t to raise the ARO or highlight sales opportunities. It’s a tool for providing better customer service.

“All of these tools—the digital inspections, the point-of-sale programs, the AI—they are tools. They are not a salesman,” Jon concludes. “At the end of the day, they are a tool to help guide through, but the communication from the advisors is still the most important key.”

Even the most thorough video inspection is useless if no one watches it. By creating an effective inspection template, you can build customer trust, reduce customer wait times, increase your ARO, and even alleviate technician workload.