Diagnostics scan tool
Photo Credit: Delphi Product & Service Solutions
It’s time to take charge!
Today’s vehicles are jam-packed with electronics, with banks of computers networking, based on countless lines of computer code, to manage a myriad of different components. How are today’s technicians going to service these machines?
The answer is simple – continual training. Technicians need to get the most out of new diagnostic techniques to increase their knowledge of how to use today’s tools and equipment. It’s essential to make diagnosis and repair an easier process.
Using scan tool data reduces diagnostic times on many traditional repairs, sometimes from hours to minutes. That means an investment in new diagnostic technology will pay off in a short period of time – if you know how to take ad-vantage of it.
An opportunity
So having access to current data, tools and training is an opportunity to repair vehicles more efficiently. And it’s important, given that electronic parts are projected to account for close to half (40%) of the global value of vehicles in 2015!
Technicians need workshops that are focused on engine management, ABS, stability control, air conditioning and transmission. These are the systems where functions are being added, and electronic control is becoming more integrated and powerful.
Tools need to be specialized. In some small cars there are more than 30 ECUs, and in other vehicles, more than 100.
It creates greater demand not only for diagnostic tools, but also for the appropriate software.
Lemay points out important information.
Photo Credit: Auto Aide
Telematics are coming
Telematics will have a significant impact on automotive connectivity in the future. A ‘smart’ instrument will allow repair shops to communicate with car owners through a wireless device installed on the vehicle. Although it may sound like science fiction, telematics are here and will be coming soon to your shop (or a shop near you).
A versatile all-in-one tool (computer, scan tool, GPS and cellphone) it will allow re-pair shops to provide consumers with a variety of services.
Using vehicle data delivered from the vehicle’s device, your shop will be able to remotely diagnose vehicles, provide road-side assistance, as well as offer maintenance and other services. In the States, these opportunities are estimated at a whopping $62 billion, or 26% of total aftermarket potential!
Telematics offer a total solution, from helping shop owners get an alert for a re-pair needed by a customer, to obtaining data from that vehicle, to accurately diagnosing the problem and finding the right part and instantly ordering it online.
Service on need
According to Bob Greenwood, owner of the Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Centre, telematics will be a game-changer for the aftermarket industry in many ways. “Shop owners and managers have to understand the new processes of the technology,” he advises.
While shops once focused on preventive maintenance, telematics will make that practice out-dated. “We’ll have to transition to service on need,” says Greenwood. “With telematics, we can service a vehicle based on its need, based on how many kilometres it’s being driven, and how it’s being driven.”
Consumers don’t understand how that technology in their vehicles should be maintained or repaired. As a result, the front counter needs to be better engaged with the customer in order to educate that customer.
“Telematics are going to be a game-changer for the aftermarket.”
- Bob Greenwood, Owner Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Centre Ltd.
Photo Credit: AAELC
“With all this technology, everybody needs to communicate more effectively with the consumer,” says Greenwood. “And because the customer is engaged electronically through their smartphone, that type of communication has to be stepped up. Shops need to text or email a client the information or service requirements necessary.”
Communication
More than ever before, the relationship with the customer needs tightening. “The shop may sell the device to a customer, but it’s the customer who determines who gets to access the data about that vehicle,” explains Greenwood. “Do they want you to tap into information on their vehicle? It depends on the relationship of trust.”
Shop owners may need to be retrained in their business around internal pro-cesses. “Everything in the shop has to flow properly, so all staff need to be on board to understand what’s going on in the industry, with the consumer and their role in servicing the consumer,” says Greenwood. “Communication lines and staff training have to be beefed up. It also means changes in business measurements, in terms of what management must understand when it comes to collecting diagnostic billings, capturing time spent and overall billing accuracy.”
It’s up to the aftermarket to inform the consumer of a shop’s capabilities. The next two or three years will be critical to the transition of telematics into the workplace, and Greenwood isn’t sure the industry is ready. “The dealerships have their own telematics, like OnStar – but now the aftermarket can meet them head-on.”
“The aftermarket fits all makes and models. That’s why they have an advantage and an opportunity – they just have to get up to speed and invest in the training.”
Long-term
And according to Mark Lemay, owner of Auto Aide, shop owners need to think long-term about training their staff. “The guys in the back need training on the vehicles’ complex electronic systems and circuits, and more importantly, how to diagnose them,” he says. “That skill set is lacking in many shops.”
Management needs to encourage techs to take training, by making it a worthwhile venture. “Shop owners look at training as an expense, not an investment,” says Lemay. “The guys that we get in our training classes, the better technicians, their bosses….they all get it. These techs are being reimbursed because the boss is paying for the seat.”
Lemay can measure the lack of diagnostic skills by the success of his own mobile diagnostic service. He will go to a shop that can’t troubleshoot, for example, an airbag system. “They call us, we go in and troubleshoot and get the answer,” he ex-plains. “The customer never even knows we were there.”
But that makes the repair more expensive to the end consumer. “One way or another, the car will get fixed – whether the shop has to put six parts on it when it only needed one, or whether they call in somebody else,” says Lemay. “All the customer knows is that he took the car in and it got fixed. Never mind that it cost $1,000 when it should have only cost $400. Lack of technician training ultimately costs consumers more money.”
Looking for the trouble spot
Photo Credit: Delphi Product & Service Solutions
More employable
That same customer may bite the bullet and pay for the repair, but they may go somewhere else if they realize they’re paying too much for repairs. “Customers are getting smarter,” observes Lemay. “They go on the internet and find out what re-pairs should cost.”
A good technician will want to be better trained, because they realize they need to stay on top of changes in the industry, keep their skills sharp and be more employable. They want to take classes, and they don’t begrudge taking the time to study. And whereas online learning has its place, nothing can take the place of instructor-led classes.
“In classes, we can give them information that they can use back in the shop, be-cause we’ve been-there, done-that,” says Lemay. “It’s the kind of information you won’t find in a service manual – shortcuts, tips, tricks, all kinds of nifty stuff. You’re not going to get it any other way unless you come out and attend a class.”
Investing in training staff results in a more efficient, accurate and productive work-place. “It will reflect on your bottom line and make your customers happy,” observes Lemay. Shops that send out techs for training also invest in their physical plant, with good equipment, a clean shop, and good working conditions.
Payback
And even if the shop pays for the training and the time, the tech should also receive recognition for his efforts. A good shop will offer payback for his extra effort through a paycheque or a bonus. In the long term, Lemay warns that lack of trained staff in the aftermarket could have dire effects. “Sooner or later, the aftermarket will shrink because cars will go back to the dealer, who has trained staff,” he says. “The dealer is forced by the manufacturer to do training – they do not train at night. Their training happens during the day, their technicians are paid, with meals, expenses and salary all covered.”
“If they can do it with their overhead, surely we can do it with ours.”
Ed’s Note: Our thanks to Delphi for some of the information in this article.