As cars become complex and customer expectations rise, what do workshops need to know when it comes to choosing the right diagnostic tools or remote service, and charging for their time? Auto Repair Focus Editor Phil Curry explores the subject.
With more technology being crammed into modern vehicles, a diagnostic ability in the workshop is more important than ever. Gone are the days when a simple wrench, spanner and screwdriver were enough to get through a day. Now, diagnostics tools are an essential part of a business.
Today’s vehicles can feature over 100 ECUs, and more than a mile of wiring. This is in addition to an increasing number of components and systems, added to make driving easier, and vehicles both safer and more sustainable.
However, more items means increased likelihood that something will go wrong. And, with even the smallest issue causing a potentially big problem, diagnostic work can be more like detective work.
Right diagnostic tool for the job
This means that having the right diagnostic tool for your business is crucial. It may not be a pre-requisite to buy the most expensive option, however.
“You need to understand your business needs when considering which tool to get,” commented Karl Booth, xxx at Opus IVS. “What kind of car parc do you see? What do you struggle with? And then buy a product around that.
“There’s quite a few different diagnostic products on the market. It is about understanding what is costing the independent garage, the time, the effort, the money more importantly, that is being lost through lost diagnostic time, incorrectly fitted parts and finding a solution that caters well for that.
“There are tools that are very cheap that can be bought off certain websites. But there are also very in-depth diagnostic tools that we tend to find independent garages shy away from, even all the way up to using the OEM applications through the manufacturers themselves. It again comes back to what the individual business needs are.”
Going remote
There may not be a need to invest in expensive diagnostics tools at all. Remote diagnostics can aid a workshop in its day-to-day work. This may mean using a smaller remote plug-in set-up in place of more expensive equipment, or utilising remote options alongside these tools to get a more detailed overview of a vehicle’s issues.
Remote diagnostics offers technicians the ability to fix cars in their workshops without having to take it back to the main dealer, by giving them access to dealer-level diagnostic information,” highlighted Iain Molloy, Managing Director at A1 Remote Diagnostics.
“It gets jobs done in a quick time, so it is reducing key-to-key times. It also enables them to have access to all the dealer tools as well within their own workshop through one interface, so effectively it is going to cut down on their costs and reduce the need for taking cars to other places.
“The process is simple. You plug a remote diagnostic tool into the OBD port of the vehicle, you connect to a chat screen on there. Usually this takes around about 30 seconds to do this. Once that is connected on there, you are on to one of the live dealer trained technicians and then you are chatting away. You do not need to be in the experience of how to use main dealer equipment.
Not only does remote diagnostics give you access to more information at potentially a lower investment cost, but it can also help to expand your team’s knowledge, something can be a bonus in an ever-changing aftermarket.
Crucial data
But diagnostic work is only good if it has the right data behind it. Today’s cars are more like computers on wheels, and are more complex than ever under the bonnet. With multiple ECUs and systems, understanding your way around the vehicle is key to getting that first-time fix.
“I would say if you don’t have the proper data, it’s not only detective work but it’s a bit like playing the lottery,” pointed out Karol Englert, Managing Director of ALLDATA Europe. “The newer the cars, the more technology within the cars, and the need for recalibrations, multiple systems and sensors being analysed, and so on.
“Therefore, the more crucial it becomes for a workshop to have the right data in place to be able to put a car in a state as it was before. Without proper data, a workshop cannot take on jobs. These businesses have good employees. The challenge is to give them tools they need to complete their work. It is not only diagnostic devices and normal tools. It is data.”
Charging for diagnostic work
There have been instances where some workshops have avoided for charging for diagnostic work. This may be due to a concern about proving the time spent fault-finding to customers, or because they see it as part of a repair, and not a separate line on an invoice.
However, with the increased complexity of vehicles today, diagnostics could take hours to complete. If not charged, this is time and money lost.
It should be something that garages are proud to highlight as a part of the modern-day aftermarket,” said Steve Scott, founder of the SimplyDiag Network. “It is important for garages to educate the customers when it comes to this work. It is no longer just a plug-in, or a code read or something along those lines.
“Any diagnostics should be starting with a vehicle assessment in the first instance, so you get a broad overview of what is going on with the vehicle, any relevant bulletins and things like that. Of course it is time, and the person that is doing the diagnostics normally is one of the higher skilled people within the workshop and their time is extremely valuable.
“If technicians speak to customers, any mention of code reads or scans immediately devalues what we are doing as a trained professional technician. If we talk about a vehicle assessment it adds value, obviously it is chargeable, and it is sometimes more skilled than the mechanical operations that you would do in a workshop.
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