As a little girl, I didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming an owner of an inspection company, but that is what happened. Now there is no business I would rather be in for a variety of reasons. Over the years this industry has been very good to me and my family. Many of my closest friends are in the VSC industry, starting with our wonderful staff and the talented inspectors we work with every day, and including the managers and staff of the companies we serve. I love this business and I have a passion for it, which is why I am troubled by the problems we face today.
I have written this critique to share my perspective as an inspector on our industry (the VSC claims administration industry) and offer ideas to solve the problems. I accept my share of responsibility for where the inspection industry remains today. And, although I am not claiming to have the magic bullet and don’t know if my ideas are among the best ones out there, I would love to hear your thoughts on what I do have to suggest so that we, as integral parts of this industry, can begin to work out solutions to our common problems.
The table below provides a comparison of the inspection process over the past 15 years and some of the changes that we have seen occur.
| 1985 | 2009 | 2010 |
| 24-48 hrs to visit RF | 24 hrs or less to visit RF | 24 hrs or less to visit RF |
| Verbal report not required to be from RF | Verbal report from RF mandatory 99% of the time | Verbal report from RF mandatory 99% of the time |
| Handwritten inspection notes, delivered via snail mail (no time limit) | Handwritten report w/ disclaimer signed by RF, with typed version uploaded to an inspection website by next day | Handwritten report w/ disclaimer signed by RF, with typed version uploaded to an inspection website by next day. At least one large inspection company will require completion on-site while at RF |
| 35mm photos (6-10), taped to a photo sheet, delivered via snail mail | Digital photos (20-40) uploaded to an inspection website by use of computer/laptop, no later than the morning following inspection completion | Digital photos (20-40) uploaded to an inspection website while still at repair facility, by use of laptop, WiFi, cellular phone. One system currently being marketed, only has the ability to STRICTLY transfer photos obtained by use of a cellular phone versus a digital camera (cell phones have no flash or manual focus capability, which will likely create it’s own issue with quality) |
| Average time spent at repair facility performing a single inspection: 35 minutes | *Average time spent at repair facility performing a single inspection: 55 minutes | *Average time spent at a repair facility performing a single inspection: 65 minutes |
| Time spent preparing inspection notes, photo pages, invoicing: 5-10 hrs per week | Time spent typing and uploading written reports, photos, invoicing: 10-15 hrs per week | Time spent typing and uploading written reports, photos, invoicing: 10-15 hrs per week (unless required to complete while at RF) |
| **Inspector base rate per mechanical inspection: $50-$55 | **Inspector base rate per mechanical inspection: $40-$60 | **Inspector base rate per mechanical inspection: $40-$60 |
*Attributed to significant increase in multi-component failures inspected; increase in number of photos required; technical advances in vehicle design; intensity of testing required for failure verification; verbal report hold times; transfer of information from repair facility, which is not an entirely new process. There have been previous unsuccessful attempts in the past to replace inspectors through technological advances.
**Varies based on which inspection company you work for, and not necessarily based on technical knowledge/ability.
Increased Costs
Anyone who makes the claim that additional technological advances “don’t cost inspectors money or expose them to liabilities” is not viewing the industry through the eyes of an inspector. As the comparison shows, technological advancements have made it necessary for an INSPECTOR to make personal investments for often costly equipment such as digital cameras, desktop and/or laptop computers, Internet and WiFi service and cell phones – many of which require continual updating so that we can continue to stay current with the most recent technology necessary to keep up with our providers, dealerships and to stay ahead of our competition.
Then we have the effect of significant increases in gasoline prices since 1985 – approximately 166 percent. In spite of all these changes and efforts to improve our inspection processes, not only does it take longer to perform a single mechanical inspection, 95 percent of all inspectors have not had the option of increasing their base rate to cover these additional improvements and expenses. In fact, I have heard of many instances in which inspectors were required to LOWER their base fees. To an inspector, time is money, and this creates an unpleasant, yet unavoidable, dichotomy for the inspector because inspections are more time consuming, yet more inspections are necessary to maintain the same income level as 20 years ago. The result is that quality suffers!
Increased Competition
During the late 1990s through 2007, the volume of industry inspections was unbelievably high. There was a push for quicker arrival at repair facilities, much of which resulted in the birth of several new inspection companies (many of which have since gone out of business). Many of the here-today-gone-tomorrow inspection companies were started by former field inspectors, or claims adjustors who wanted to quickly cash-in on the significant money they saw being spent on inspections. They did so by arming themselves with proprietary information they “borrowed” while working with inspection agencies. Their strategy was simple, “we will offer lower inspection fees to gain a bigger share of the industry’s inspection volume.” And hence, the price wars began.
Quality of Inspectors
Yes, I have a vested interest in increased inspection fees, but right now I am focused on the problems that all of us have contributed to. As an industry, the quest to provide faster service has resulted in unintended consequences, from which we have yet to recover. Volume was at its highest, inspection prices were being reduced, everyone wanted 24-hr service and quicker return of written and photo documentation was being required. It was a mad rush to bring on new inspectors and accommodate the industry’s wishes. This is where we began to experience problems with the technical knowledge of inspectors.
From where I sat, with very few exceptions, the industry didn’t seem to want to hold inspectors or agencies accountable for their actions (or lack of actions in many cases). This further allowed for the expansion, and use, of technically unqualified inspectors. The unqualified inspection workforce (albeit presently still the minority) has led to trust concerns throughout the entire industry – and let’s face it, an inspector is one of the industry’s strongest lines of defense against fraud. We truly become dysfunctional without a high level of trust. This includes the inspection agencies as well, who should have the greatest control over an inspector’s use/performance.
The entire industry, including myself, has had a hand in creating these concerns, and it will take a commitment by the majority to fix it. Industry inspection volume has decreased significantly over the past 18 months, and the lesser qualified/lower paid (sometimes untrustworthy inspectors) have negatively impacted the financial viability of the good ones (many of which have taken part-time jobs to survive, or have quit altogether).
We must weed our garden now, and fertilize the remaining good crop of inspectors. I am committed, along with my organization, to helping in any way I can to bring about the necessary change(s). The following are suggestions about how we as an industry can begin to accomplish our goal and bring about change:
- We acknowledge there are serious issues with QUALITY, TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE, ACCOUNTABILITY, and TRUST, along with why they exist. If we continue to close our eyes to these issues, incorporating the available technical advances will just be “window dressing,” and in many cases not even “designer window dressing,” for a plethora of problems yet to come. A prime example is the use of the cellular phone for inspection photos. Phones without flash or manual focus capabilities can lack the necessary detail required for taking a useful photograph.
- We acknowledge and accept that inspection fees at rates lower than 20 years ago are not likely to bring about the necessary change at the required pace.
- Realize that inspectors’ compensation should be more in line with their counterparts/peers such as Shop Foremen and Lead Master Techs (on average, they are presently below these levels).
- Realize that an inspector only has between five and six hours per day in which to perform inspections (especially considering travel, RF breaks and lunch hours, and customers in service lanes).
- Realize that by not holding repair facilities accountable for their fraudulent actions, and by simply restricting an inspector from a particular facility upon request, may have consequences.
- Realize the importance of knowing your inspection agency/partner (financial standing, how they treat their inspectors, how/what they compensate their inspectors, willingness to accept responsibility and accountability).
- Establish an inspector certification and rating program to include code of conduct standards, technical knowledge, ongoing technical training, diagnostic capabilities, problem solving skills, communication skills (written and verbal), personal responsibility, trustworthiness and legal ramifications of their inspection opinions.
- Establish an industry review panel, where concerns regarding an inspector’s lack of qualifications, accountabilities or trustworthiness can be reviewed and shared with the entire industry.
- Consider standardizing inspection procedures (from an inspector’s point of view).
- And last, but certainly not least, perhaps it’s time to consider two-tier inspection pricing, not based solely on an inspector’s technical qualifications, but consideration also given to the type/extent of information verification and how that information is being returned to the client.
A few years ago, as a VSCAC speaker, I expressed concern about the direction of the inspection industry. Today, I worry about how long a pool of inspectors will actually be around. I would greatly appreciate hearing your impressions and ideas, and hopefully we can start to improve things together.
I am an automotive inspector and have seen changes in the industry. I have only been doing inspections for about three years, but recently have seen a large decrease in volume, but a much higher expectation of work for a lower price. The world systems around us are trying to form humans into “expendable robotic beings” and have forgotten what true work, morals, ethics, and people are all about. Sadly enough, I don’t see improvements for this country or world anytime soon, unless we get back to basics. Not to throw religious arguments in here, but our world has abandoned God, and has abandoned loving our neighbors. Morals, ethics, and honesty go right along with those things. I as an inspector, love what I do, and love being in a position to “enforce” quality control to the best of my ability. In the last two months, I have had to take two other jobs on the side to keep a float in the chaos of these world systems. It really boils down to this: People are overworked to the point of collapse, and are underpaid for the work they do. I have worked with LT Carr, and have been treated very fairly by her and her company. The article she has written has an abundance of Truth in it. Hopefully people will relfect on what was written and we can slow down the pace of this world machine.
-Doug White
I have been an inspector for the last 12 years. Plan on doing inspections as long as I can. I enjoy the “thrill of the chase” finding and verifying problems. Sometimes pointing out to technicians areas that they should be studying to advance their knowledge.. Encountering new concerns and learning how and why they developed, and how they need to be rectified, is something that my ego enjoys.
As far as denied access to facility. I have encountered that twice, both times the inspection company stood behind my inspection visit(one quoted restraint of trade legislation). Both service managers of those rf’s have long since left the industry.
I wish there was some venue where we could relay our reports to legal authorities when we encounter fraud and theft and lying. As it makes all in our industry look bad.
I have been an inspector for 2 years now & I love the challenge this requires. I’ve spent most of my working life working in a domestic dealership, from a tech to service advisor/dispatcher/manager. I’m a product of 2008 downsizing auto industry. I started doing inspections for 2 companies it quickly grew to about 6 inspection companies now call me and the challenges of the different auto manufactures was scary at first. I love the thought that I can go in to a repair shop not only to learn about different products and expand my personal knowledge, but the opportunity either verify or not verify repairs and or re-diagnosing properly for the extended warranty company. So many times the shop or the tech feel like I’m there to “deny” what they have found, but quickly disarm that idea when I tell them I’m only the reporter.
I take pride in what I do & I feel I represent the warranty company professionally and honestly.
I enjoy the fact I use a Nikon D60 DSLR camera, because many of the photos I need to take to demonstrate failure for the warranty company a pocket camera can’t possibly revile what a DSLR can. I feel I’m the eyes & ears of the warranty company and the DSLR is best tool in my bag for the warranty company. I know it takes more work to down size all the photos for uploading on to the website for reports, but I’m happy to assist the best way I can.
There is one thing I would love to pursue and that is to get my ASE certifications back again. (expired over time) Our days are so full of inspections then computer time that trying to fit ASE classes into my schedule seems impossible. With the winter slow down approaching I will be in need of a second job to fill in financially since doing inspections doesn’t replace my income from my dealership pay. I have thought many times about returning to dealership work, but I love doing what I do, either verifying diagnosis or unable to verify diagnosis, finding the problem on my own because the tech didn’t take the time for a through inspection, meeting new people everyday, seeing old friends and being the eyes & ears of warranty companies.
Thank you L’Tonya for being on your team!
I love this job!
I have been in the automotive business for over 30 years and inspecting for almost a decade.
I have witnessed these changes first hand.
Mrs. Carr, props to you for completely getting it!
Your understanding of the inspection business (macro and micro) is absolutely dead on!
I cover the entire Northen California area from Merced to the Oregon border and from San Francisco to the Nevada border.
This is necessary to maintain the income I was earning from just servicing the Sacramento area only a few years ago.
As you can tell, the reduction in the number of inspection requests I receive has been dramatic.
Much of it can be attributed to the loss of a total of 35 new car dealerships in the greater Sacramento area since the end of 2007.
This poor economy has severely damaged the automotive industry to a level that it will take decades to recover.
This is a reoccurring point discussed on my automotive am radio program sunday mornings broadcasting over the Sacramento area.
It’s tough out there for everyone.
From my inspector perspective, this has significantly increased my drivetime making the 24hr window difficult at best and has adversely impacted my costs in automotive repairs, maintenance, and fuel consumption.
Keep in mind, a good inspector will have back up cameras, computers, cell phones, and even vehicles to keep on schedule when breakdowns occur making our costs even higher than some of you might think.
It is absolutely imperative that we be able to complete all the available work we can to keep our sublets happy and keep our competition from getting a foothold in an already dog-eat-dog business.
Now, tack on to all of that the new costs of having to buy a laptop and add the new monthly costs of wireless internet service to provide onsite pictures and reports, not to mention reducing our available time to inspect in order to upload all of it, ALL FOR THE SAME INSPECTION FEE, and you really begin to see why many inspectors are leaving the business.
I myself have considered expanding into different venues of the private sector where my inspection talents can be used to supplement my income (two kids starting college very soon) but I am waiting to see where our mechanical breakdown inspection world is going.
I truly hope the people in charge of making these decisions read this editorial and posts because it’s a large bittersweet dose of reality.
Let’s get it right people!
Our future depends on it.
Bret Mason
BMI Inspections
Garden Valley, CA.
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Well that’s a pretty good article LT. You’ve addressed some important issues. I’ve been doing inspections for 20+ years now & can say I’ve seen the inspection industry from all angles. Yes, there has been a lot of inspection companys come & go & yes, some companys still pay the same $50.00 they did 20 years ago. In my opinion one of the major reasons that hurt the industry was the wholesale hiring of non-qualified inspectors. If a Guy had a camera, computer & car & was willing to travel, if he could bs his way through it for a couple of months he was in like Flynn. A common misconception about the Inspector’s role is diagnosis, it is absolutely not our job to diagnosis a problem on a vehicle, we certainly don’t get paid enough for that. Our job is to verify the shop’s diagnosis & if during that process we do happen to see an error in their diagnosis then bring it to their & the warranty {service contract} companys attention. Now heres whats really bothering me & the Inspectors I know in the surrounding states, all these inspection companys are coming out with these new demands requiring new equipment & monthly expense, with no added payment for it, in other words it’s all on the Inspectors back, Our question is, what sacrifice’s are any of these companys making in their own house??? I haven’t heard of anybody getting laid off, in fact just the opposite, it seems like every time we turn around there’s somebody new on the other end of the phone working there. All these new policys they put in effect don’t seem to cost them anything, just us, so where is it ever going to end? I guess what I’m trying to say is, we’ve {inspectors} had to adjust our lifestyle to live on 50% less income, so it appears to me that these companys need to learn how to do the same thing without trying to impose more & more cost on us. I’ll bet there’s not one person working at any inspection company in the entire country that has had his income slashed by 50%. So here’s the deal, my shingle is out, I’m open for business, but I don’t want to hear about anything else that’s going to cost me anymore money, sorry, it’s just not there to spend.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Paul Clack
Central Inspections Inc.
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Great article LT. As a claims adjuster, we see both ends. We know the inspectors that get the job done and are amazed at the increase in companies and inspectors that are less than qualified. Makes me appreciate more what inspectors have to go thru over what used to be. It’s no doubt that we live in a changing and faster world, but I’m often amazed at how technology that was meant to make our world easier and better has just seemed to increase cost while making it were more work can be done in the typical work day, yet rates/income hasn’t changed to match the costs of keeping up with this. Carr’s has always been the leader in quality when it comes to inspections and the quality of inspectors used. You currently set an “un-written” standard as far as I’m concerned, perhaps you could be the first to put that in writting? I for one thank you for saying what needs to be said and will certainly have a deepier appreciation for the guy on the other end of the line come Monday.
I’ve been in the automotive business for more than 40 years, Service Manager,/Director, Part Manager, Sales and Fleet manager, etc, and for the last 20 years as an Inspector, starting with Carr Appraisals. LT is absolutely right, prices haven’t changed in 20 years, actually, I know for a fact, many of the prices Carr Appraisals now charges clients is significantly less than 20 years ago while supplying tremendously more services.
I have only been able to moderately raise my prices to them and other inspection companies over a twenty year span because of the continued price pressures in the industry. Adding a modest and necessary mileage charge has cut down my portion of an already decreased total inspection volume but has benefits for everyone. It keeps inspection mileages down, thus allowing more inspections per day to be performed IF they are available, keeping my inspection cost lower and sometimes allows same day inspections, saving more time and mileage and giving our clients improved service.
We should be standardizing on photo size and quality. Todays digital cameras in the enthusiast/superzoom/wide/macro combo units fit the bill perfectly for well under $400, less than the cost of a cheap lens a few short years ago. Small point and shoots don’t do it, big bulky cameras get broken or you can’t take the shot, get a water-proof tough camera for the real hard to reach shots and the super-zoom for everything else and you’ll be real happy.
Take 2 or 3 mega-pixel shots max, or 1600 x 1200 max on high quality, whichever way your camera is rated. More than that your just wasting time and space. Upload 30, 14 megapixel photos and that will be an afternoon that you will never get back.
Even resizing will take forever at that size, just take them as big or a little bigger than you need and save everybody a lot of time.
Recommended minimum size for everyone out there 1024 x 768. This gives you a photo the same size as a standard sheet of paper if you filled the screen with a regular page when you took the photo. If you are using a QUALITY camera, it WILL look just like the page, much much better than a fax. 1280 x 1024 will give you an enlargement of your photos and I take photos at 1600 x 1200 which give you a full screen enlargement of everything, great for reading engine tags on hoods 10 feet in the air or seeing cracks in components that you CAN’T see in your hand. As far as file sizes, 1024 files are usually less that 100k, the 1280 are less than 250k and the 1600 are less than 850k, just starting to get large but still manageable.
Next tip: A lot of the websites re-size or otherwise adulterate your photos when they are uploaded, do NOT depend on them for photo back-up. Save your own photos at the LARGEST sizes that you are sending to those websites or are starting with. 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 photos are virtually worthless if needed for a court case or needed to prove or disprove what YOU saw during an inspection. That 640 x 480 photo has just 5% of the info that the 1600 x 1200 jpg photo had, and the camera automatically had reduced the pixel count by 60% to start with. Doesn’t leave you much to work with and it will leave everyone out in the cold if it has to be enlarged at all.
Protect yourself and all inspection companies please take note!
Next item: Uploading Photos/reports from shops etc. Still problematic for most of us. Maybe a mid afternoon photo upload would be sufficient for some of the clients. Photos still have to be downloaded off cameras, edited, renamed etc before being uploaded from some sort of computer or device that generally has to run a browser and Flash to work with the websites. If we had a place to set up mid afternoon once a day, we could get some of them done, but on a busy day, it still may not happen. An inspector cannot take 2 hours out of the day to do reports and photos, that’s why they are done at night, after you are home off the road, after the shops are closed. By the way, please relay this to everyone concerned. When I am typing up a report, I review all the photos before completing the report, the photos may very well change a conclusion or show something that I didn’t notice or couldn’t see. A field report is just that, a FIELD report, meaning it is preliminary until reviewed by the inspector. If you other inspectors feel this way, please report it to your administrators as well.
If these Warranty companies insist on completed reports and photos from each repair facility, they will pretty much be limiting the inspector to a minimal amount of inspections which will lead to no inspectors.
All the responses have made excellent points, and L.T. you are exactly correct, the responsibility is yours and all the other companies that sold their souls and our sweat to close an account. Now you have no where to go, the current economic emviroment doesn’t allow for a increase in rates. (your income is down because of the loss of volume and you guys are feeling the pain just like us) So now you have to find something to add value to your product. So lets see, Hmmm, we will try to get the inspectors to do more for less, nope already did that, hire who ever can cover the area reguardless of qualifications, tried that! Hey maybe a certification? that wont work because some one will have to pay more for that. I got it, lets just cleanse our soul, preach about the problems and hope the inspector pool becomes more qualified! Amen
Seriously, I have probably completed more inspections then most, (that explains the cynical response), I also have a unquestioned respect for L.T. and others, but nothing will change until underwriters demand A CHANGE and they are willing to PAY THE PRICE!
i love the article LT. it hits to so many issues within this business. i agree with many of your points. yes ,these problems have been created and ignored by many, and it will take many to correct them.but, as an inspector, with 30+ years of experiance in the industry,i agree with many of the responses to your article as well. that is: the industry push to upload pics and reports on-site is not well thought out by anyone. i, as many, have to resort to much longer drive times to maintain a resonable income level( when the calls come,you answer!). any additional time spent on-site will only reduce the number of inspections done, causing some companies to believe you can’t get the job done on time and then call another inspector the next time around. the additional costs will have to be passed on as in any company. i cannot absorb anymore costs as it is. additional fuel, service,etc are already being eaten. also, i know that having multiple inspectors in any area is needed due to sickness, vacations,etc, but economics 101 tells us that increased supply and competition reduces costs. this benefits everyone but the inspectors, hence the pay scales noted. i would love to see more fair ,experiance based fees and standardized forms and procedures. whaqt if the chosen inspectors were provided with the cameras and laptops? what about faxing in all written reports from the rf? this would allow for quicker pic uploads. how about not expecting the inspectors to diag the failures? if the rf cannot demonstrate the failure properly and in a resonable time, we the inspectors report this and move on.(i’m not paid to diag, only confirm or not). an open forum is needed, but lets not make it for show and fluff. if you really think about it, most of these issues are easily solved. seriously, think about it.
Ive been in auto service for 22 years, 12 as an inspector, I keep my ASE current and have all the latest gear as well. I wont rehash the previous comments because they are all valid. $$$$$$$$$$$$$ is what drives us all. Time/money!!! There are comppanies that pay me $50 and some $60, guess who gets the quicker service?? That may not be fair but I’m human as are we all. I am more than willing to do all the new ways of uploading, on site, photos, etc. But the term “FIELD” report is so true.
As an inpsector I have noticed that the adjusters I call in my verbals too are seriously lacking in the technical field. It seems like each warrany company will have 2-3 adjusters who know the technical side and then about 20 adjusters who can type real fast. I am amazed/dumbfounded by the requests I get at times, for the simplest of repairs, ie; idler/pitamn arms on a chevy truck and many others “common” repairs that I feel like I have to explain the purpose of the part is to the adjuster. Time spent at the dealer is crucial, most of my wasted time is waiting on hold for the adjusters, if this could be addressed that would ease some of the pain/time constraints of our work load or even allowing us to call in verbals from our car on the way to our next inspection. Any inspector that has been around even one year should know what needs to be said, checked, verified to allow this, without having to return to the shop, most of the time it seems like the adjuster just wants to complete the claim right then without them having to call call the shop themselves, that wastes 20-30 minutes each inpection. I have purposely dropped or avoided the work from these companies over the years simply because of that issue, time/money!!!!!!!!!! We all have to embrace the new technology and the things we can control, but time wasted on the phone is the killer.
This is a very good article that encompasses a long time span that these company’s and inspectors have been quiet about. Not because they meant to but because they love what they do and are busy doing it. Thank You L’Tonya for supporting this business and these professionals who are helping us in this industry make a difference. I can relate personally, as my father was an inspector umong many other jobs he had, but I can say he truely loved inspecting more than anything for many reasons. He loved to travel and go places he had not been and he loved to provide a fair inspection that would support the technician as well as provide the evidence to get a customer’s car fixed. I know this business has changed it’s faces many times but I can honestly say it has kept up with technology well and I know at a cost to many of you. It’s company’s like yours that I like to see succeed because you’re doing something you love to do while provide an exceptional service to this industry. Thank you
saw blurb about camera, so I thought I would pass this on. As most of us old timers grew up with the Sony Mavica camera: It did it’s job, was easy to use and understand and easy to unload. First one I bought when I first started was over 600 doilars. Have tried a number of different cameras when the Mavica FD series dies, as a replacement. Tried Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Kodak, really wasn’t happy with any of them to the point where they would replace the Sony, UNTIL I found a Sony Cybershot H5. Not the H55. The H5 has all the bells and whistles, uses SD cartridge, is small enough where I can put it in my pocket, has 10X zoom, gives me clear focus pictures.. So for all those in the industry my recommendation is to explore the H5 Sony Cybershot… I think you will be impressed.
Very comprehensive take on this endeavor.
If we look back on the technician wages and skills as a mirror image to the future LT is so right. Lowballing reduced wages and respect for the industry. I have trained dozens of techs, advides thousands of customers on the same thing over and over for years.
Having knee injuries it was good to take my 30 year knowledge to inspections, to stay in the business for the technical appreciation.
The road is a hazard, lack of benefits, and a supporting office comradery are not offset by the scheduling that is not in our control, never knowing when to take a vacation or plan on down time for the vehicle. Of course equipment and fuel are extreme as well these days.
The best and easiest improvement I can see as a inspector for the last ten years, is a standardization of forms, photos and procedures from one company to another, cars are different but form and organization of information doesn’t need to be, and if you think we can get a days work done without phone calls while driving ? well think again please. Texts containing rf phone numbers and contact info works well.
Sign off forms are great, dealership accountability is not, vague info and missing personell should be a big clue to warranty companies.
Nice article LT.
I have been inspecting since Oct. 2007. 2008 was a great year. Since then work load has decreased dramatically. I love this job, and even though I complain I dont mind the 1000+ miles per week I drive. Seeing some that same faces every couple of days, exchanging “pleasantries”. And having 1st hand knowlege of failures that plague every manufacture. It will never take the place of the feeling of accomplishment when a 10 electircal diagnosis is complete. But as every job it has its good days and bad. I even embrace the changes the industry is requiring. Having the pictures available for the adjuster to look at while giving the verbal has come in handy. What bothers me more and more, is the expected diagnosis by some asjusters or warranty companies. We all know the companies that seem to expect us to diagnosis failures if the tech hasn’t done their job. I dont have the necessary tools along, or time to perform the dianosis that should be performed prior to my arival. Recently I have had some inspections take over 2 hours because the adjuster was asking for a new diagnosis along with a complete analysis of every part on a tranmission overhaul estimate. This was on a car that was worth $1500 to begin. It seems to me quality of adjusters needs to improve along with the technical knowlegde of the inspectors. I have keept up my ASE and Chrysler certifications regardless of having to pay for the courses and tests myself and will continue to do so. But if you have been in the business as long as I have you know that a piece of paper only tells so much.
For those of you that are stuggling uploading photos from the shop. Most shops have wifi, laptops to upload photos can be purchased for the cost of a camera. A new laptop isn’t necessary just one with a wifi card and a USB port. Netbooks are also fairly cheap. But I caution you about buying a netbook from any of the cell carriers. A smart phone can be tethered to a laptop or netbook and photos uploaded instead of having to pay for another wireless device and service. Some carriers charge for tethering service, but some dont. One of the changes I would like the indusry to make would be to allow photos to be uploaded from a smart phone directly. Being able to swap the SD card from my camera and phone and upload would save having to lug around a laptop. I would be able to take quality photos with my camera, but upload the photos with my phone. This would save time and money for my self, but provide the service that is required by us.