Modern Customer Service Features Auto Repair Shops Need in 2024

The article titled "Modern Customer Service Features Auto Repair Shops Need in 2024" from Tekmetric highlights essential software features that auto repair shops should adopt to enhance customer service and operational efficiency in 2024.

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Look For These Modern Customer Service Features in Auto Repair Shop Software

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June 4, 2024

Read time: 1 min

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1. Cloud-Based Shop Management

Owners may have never really thought of it this way before, but relying on some old-school system to run their shop, manage repairs, order parts, stock inventory, and keep track of all their finances is just making things so much harder.

What is Cloud-Based Shop Management?

Cloud-based shop management systems combines all the standard aspects of running an auto repair shop and tracking cars as they flow through the repair process in a modern software solution.

Cloud-based access means instant communication, no matter where you are. Think about it this way, you don't have to check your home computer to see what your friends and family are up to online. But, no matter where you access your profiles, all your data, conversations, likes, and feed are always the same.

How Cloud-Based Shop Management Modernizes Your Shop

With a cloud-based shop management system, service advisors and technicians can collaborate with ease. Service advisors can get a birds-eye view of every stage of the repair process without having to interrupt technicians.

As technicians progress and complete repairs, the software will reflect that. Armed with that information, service advisors can then contact guests to update them.

2. Enhanced Digital Authorization

Records are important for any business, and shops are no exception. Having a record of who signed what, and when, can come to your rescue in the event of a customer dispute. And because these are digital records, you won’t misplace them as you might paper records.

What Is Enhanced Digital Authorization?

Enhanced digital authorization creates an accurate record of customer authorization history and the details of different repair orders in a system. Customers can digitally sign off on repairs, and your repair shop software will capture their signatures.

How Enhanced Digital Authorization Modernizes Your Shop

Enhanced digital authorization modernizes your shop by ditching the old pen-and-paper approach for a digital signature. Customers don’t even have to stop by your shop, and service advisors don’t have hope to make a phone call and catch customers when they’re available: just instantly text or email the estimate for instant approval.

Additionally, digital authorization protects your shop from liability in the event of a customer dispute by maximizing your visibility of key authorization details (like the phone number of the service advisor who sent the repair order).

Your shop can get approval from customers in a matter of seconds, and customers can have the convenience of handling the process on their time.

3. Digital Vehicle Inspections

Digital vehicle inspections solve the problems that come with paper inspections, like unclear handwriting, lost pages, lack of trust, and more.

What Are DVIs?

Digital vehicle inspections are vehicle inspections adapted for the modern age. Customers can see photos and videos of exactly what’s wrong with their vehicles, see the urgency of each proposed repair, and approve or decline jobs directly from their smartphones.

How DVIs Modernize Your Shop

With digital vehicle inspections, technicians can build inspections on their smartphones or tablets. From there, service advisors can build estimates and send them directly to customers’ smartphones.

Customers can then approve or decline jobs on the go. In short, digital vehicle inspections move the approval process along faster and minimize the chances of any miscommunications between your team and your customers. In turn, your team can build greater trust with customers, enabling them to sell more work.

4. Shared Customer History

No matter what major big box retailer you walk in, no matter where in the country, if they have multiple locations they'll have a history of every purchase you've made.

We don't even really think about it, but that creates a seamless experience. Customers can expect the same level of care and service no matter where they visit.

What is Shared Customer History?

Tekmetric Multi-Shop Shared Customer History allows users to connect customers across shops and view the history of those customers across all locations within their organization in Tekmetric.

How and Why Shared Customer History Modernizes Your Shop

Shared Customer History in Tekmetric enables multi-shop organizations to create that same experience in their organizations.

With just a few clicks, shop owners and general managers can quickly add customers from one shop location to another without actually typing out all their information again.

This means shops can provide a seamless customer experience across all locations and easily maintain customer information without worrying about duplicating entries.

5. Default Inspections

Vehicle inspections are perhaps the most critical part of the repair process. After the customer stops by and describes the problem, it’s on your shop to investigate the claims, determine the cause, and recommend the next steps to get the customer back on the road.

Modern shop management systems let Service Advisors build out multiple inspection templates to help save time, and some go even further like Tekmetric enabling default inspections.

What are Default Inspections?

With default inspections, Tekmetric Users can set a default inspection template to automatically apply to newly created repair orders. Simplify workflows, and gain back time, all while delivering the same great experience to customers every time.

How Default Inspections Modernize Your Shop

Service advisors won’t have to spend time searching for your shop’s standard inspection every time they build a new repair order.

Plus, technicians will have a standardized inspection to work off of, ensuring that every vehicle is thoroughly inspected to the same standard with the same level of care.

Free up service advisor time so they can focus less on a computer screen, and more on the customer they're servicing.

👉 Ready to grow your automotive business? [Book a personalized Tekmetric Demo Here]

FAQ

The reality is that now is a better time than ever to set your auto repair shop up for success, and even start laying the foundation for multi-shop growth. Especially for shop owners willing to take the time to embrace a new toolset: a modern shop management system.

In our latest Auto Repair Industry Index we took a look at recent industry trends across the country, compiled data from industry resources, and compared it to our Tekmetric data. What we found was really promising!

With a cloud-based SMS, shops can leverage amazing features like Default Inspections and Smart Jobs to not only simplify their workflows and smooth out their operations to run like a well-oiled machine but also set their business up for future growth and success.

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6 Features Auto Repair Shops Need To Support Multi-Shop Growth

November 3, 2023

Read time: 1 min

Tekmetric, the leading Houston-based automotive repair technology company, has been recognized as a 2022 MOTOR Top 20 Award winner for its recent integration with RepairLink by OEConnection (OEC), a renowned technology provider for the aftersales industry.

The integration, selected by industry experts as well as public popular vote, allows shop owners to seamlessly order original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts directly from the Tekmetric Shop Management System.

For over three decades, the annual MOTOR Top 20 Awards have recognized outstanding new industry solutions across the automotive industry, from the most innovative tool or equipment to creating the best customer experience.

Winners are selected by automotive professionals and experts who voted over a thirty-day open voting process from a selection of this year’s most valuable contributions to the industry.

“As a leading shop management system, our team at Tekmetric shares a mutual belief with our partners at OEC that we best support shop owners in all their business needs by providing modern and relevant solutions,” said Sunil Patel, Co-Founder and CEO of Tekmetric.

“We are honored and humbled to have the Tekmetric-RepairLink integration recognized by both our customers – shop owners – and our industry peers as one of this year’s most innovative solutions.”

With its combination of Tekmetric’s cloud-based capabilities and RepairLink’s parts ordering platform, the integration builds upon Tekmetric’s existing parts ordering offerings to streamline the process of ordering OEM parts for auto repair shops. Through the integration, shop owners can track orders or returns with real-time online updates, as well as address orders in one screen, transferring any quoted parts and VIN numbers automatically into Tekmetric.

“Vehicle sophistication is growing rapidly, and all signs point to even more advancements, meaning it’s absolutely necessary for repairers to have enhanced access to critical parts and information,” said Bonnie Coleman, OEC Director, Mechanical Retail.

“This is why OEC is thrilled to partner with Tekmetric, and that this integration has been recognized for the valuable contribution it offers to the industry.”

To learn more about the MOTOR Awards and view the 2022 Top 20 Awards, visit https://www.motor.com/top20awards-winners. ‍

About Tekmetric

Tekmetric, a Houston-based auto repair technology company, offers a cloud-based platform that enables auto repair shop owners to enhance productivity and increase profitability through its streamlined workflow management processes.

Designed by a former shop owner, Tekmetric’s platform drives shop efficiency through real-time data, a customizable user interface and customer-centric communication tools.

Since its launch in 2016, Tekmetric has disrupted the industry with its robust fully-integrated system, developed with an emphasis on customer transparency and user collaboration.

For more information, visit www.tekmetric.com

About OEConnection Holdings LLC

OEConnection Holdings’ portfolio includes OEC, the leading parts ecommerce technology provider for OEM distribution networks, serving over 20 OEMs and 100,000 dealership and repair customers.

Providence Equity Partners is the majority stakeholder of OEConnection Holdings; Ford Motor Company and General Motors are minority stakeholders.

The company is headquartered in the greater Cleveland area at 4205 Highlander Parkway, Richfield, Ohio, 44286

Additional information is available at www.OEConnection.com.

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Tekmetric Recognized as 2022 MOTOR Top 20 Award Winner

September 20, 2022

Read time: 3 min

As the world around us is constantly evolving, so is the auto repair industry.

An auto repair shop that stays stagnant and sticks to the status quo could be losing out on profits, reputation and valuable time.

Without a growth-focused mindset or the right forward-looking strategies, your shop could be missing out and fall behind others.

Fortunately, implementing a modern shop management system and standardizing your shop’s processes can help unlock your shop's full potential.

Break The Status Quo

Rapid advancements in technology are changing every industry around us, and because of this, customer expectations are higher than ever.

However, making changes to a process that you’ve had in your shop for years can seem like a daunting task.

These days, the best tool a shop can have in their back pocket is a shop management system. The right system should provide you with the tools to increase your bottom line, your reputation with customers and your overall productivity.

Implementing a quality shop management system can be a game-changer for shops when it comes to growing profits.

Systems such as Tekmetric help their users streamline processes, optimize workflow and enable shops to repair more vehicles in the same amount of time it was previously taking them.

Most importantly, the simple act of integrating a shop management system can increase your shop’s bottom line.

Increase Customer Loyalty

Shop management systems allow shops to ensure consistent, quality service to their customers.

As a result, these shops are building a loyal customer base, leading to repeat business and positive word-of-mouth which promotes growth of the business.

Customer trust can lead directly to your shop's financial gain, so it's important to ensure you're using tools, like Tekmetric, to increase customer trust and loyalty.

Gain Back Time

Finally, it's important to recognize whether some of your most time-consuming tasks can take up less time in your day by being automated through a shop management system.

Think about the tasks that you spend the most time on in your shop.

By using a shop management system to automate tasks such as appointment scheduling, inventory management and invoicing, shop owners can reduce both the time their team spends doing simple tasks as well as manual errors.

When less time is being spent on these important yet time-consuming tasks, the time shops get back can be spent on repairs, putting more money in everyone’s pocket as a result.

Breaking the status quo and unlocking your shop's full potential by implementing a shop management system is made easy by systems like Tekmetric.

This, in turn, can increase your shop's revenue and efficiency, build customer trust and satisfaction and provide valuable time and cost savings.

Tekmetric is the perfect solution for shop owners looking to take their business to the next level.

For more information, view our Cost of Doing Nothing E-book Here

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The Cost of Doing Nothing

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