Word of mouth is a powerful referral in the repair industry and one service that is gathering a reputation for the ease and back-up support it brings to businesses is automotive diagnostics specialist Repairify.
The rate of change of automotive technology can be daunting even for the largest organisation, but how does a small repair business come to grips with the advancement of safety systems in modern cars and the prevalent OEM coding? One answer is to call in the experts who can ease this burden on already busy technicians.
After only a year since its launch in Australia, Repairify is building a reputation as having those experts on call who can help businesses big and small. Backed up by a global organisation that has been at the leading edge of automotive technology, Repairify diagnoses thousands of vehicles everyday across the globe.
Its success around the world has been built on established and constructive partnerships with OEMs and its contractual arrangements for information are backed up by global partnerships.
Even with a right to repair law in Australia and better access to OEM information, the difficulty for smaller businesses can still lie in the sheer volume of information on new vehicles and evolving technology. This can translate into lengthy delays for repairs.
But Repairify works with repairers to help deliver a goal that is shared by the OEMs, ensuring work can be completed quickly, with minimal reputational impact to the car brands and maximum benefit for the customer.
Although a 26-year veteran of the automotive industry, Dennis Tanti’s venture into collision repair with Promak Automotive is relatively recent but he is well aware of the issues faced by modern vehicle technology.
Offering calibrations, suspension work services and other mechanical and technical repairs in Traralgon, in regional Victoria, the task of tackling coding in modern vehicles for Dennis comes with added disadvantage of distance from a major city.
This is where Repairify’s remote diagnostics is coming into its own and in his eight months since signing on, the process has grown better and better and helped him toward his plans for business growth. It was through word-of mouth that Dennis first heard of Repairify.
“We were looking around for different systems, and we found with Repairify, a digital system that met our needs,” Dennis says. “Where other companies you had to buy into the tooling that you needed, but you didn’t really know what you needed, with Repairify, it’s a call and all the tooling is available. The main thing is the backup support.
“It’s just really simple,” he says. “You can get to know the initial setup of the system within a couple of days and it is quite easy to use.”
The shop deals with a wide range of popular cars from Toyota to Mazda and Kia, but it is seeing more European brands that come with more challenges in the coding and Repairify is ready to adapt to these demands.
Dennis explains that some initial issues in the set up were overcome by the dedication and back-up support of Repairify staff.
“That was so good,” he says. “Especially Sean who organised all the follow up. He guaranteed that this would be fixed, and spent a week here. And yes, they got it working and all the vehicles are getting updated. They were true to their word.”
He says more and more models of cars became available and the back-up ensured the Repairify team could customise the system depending on the geolocation and the kind of brands Promak were working on in the workshop.
“It’s been eight months that we’ve had the system now and it is so much better. They still upgrade this. It’s a constant upgrade for them. They’re always working on expanding and improving and getting new services, so that’s great.”
The expert support has not only added to the faster throughput of vehicles in the workshop but has given the business confidence in tackling more complex repairs.
“We definitely can get through more vehicles now compared to before,” he says.
“Where we were more probably hesitant in a booking, taking two or three cars for example, we can now book in five or six cars because we know that for example this car will take only half an hour, (to diagnose) and that car will take you an hour.
“We did have a Peugeot 3008 that needed a radar calibration, where the vehicle wouldn’t code at first, because they had a new radar, but Repairify were at it from day one.
“On day one, it didn’t work, so they were back on day two, saying try this and try that. We tried all sorts of different things, and in the end, it coded. But then we tried to calibrate it, and the vehicle wouldn’t calibrate, but they were very persistent and eventually it worked.”
Promak Automotive was able to turn the car around in four days when the alternative would have been much longer delays sending it to the dealership.
“We would have had to send that car to the dealership and with dealerships, you can wait eight to 10 weeks to get in, as the turnaround is so high. It was so much easier with Repairify.”
As well as adding to workshop efficiency and profitability, the faster turnaround has a positive effect on customers. This can be critical in the all-important referrals of word of mouth. It enables Promak to take on more work and say yes to more enquiries.
Customers also want things a lot quicker these days and they can want things fixed immediately, Dennis says.
“But when it comes to cars, people are used to calling up and being told; ‘I can fit you in a month’, or ‘that’s going to take a long time’. So, it must be really refreshing to be able to hear, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Dennis said he is much more willing to take on new models and different vehicles, knowing he has Repairify behind him to back him up when he encounters technical difficulties
“I’ve had one just today, a call for a Toyota HiAce with a rear blind-spot radar. And I said to him, ‘Okay, bring it in tomorrow’. And I could tell by his voice he was stunned.
“I think our best feedback is when they return next time. But when they come back two weeks later, obviously they must have liked what we did.”
Being able to better serve the customer has helped the reputation of a small growing business not only through word of mouth but in the quality of results. For Dennis it is like having a back-up team of experts on call to tackle any technological barriers.
“If I get stuck with a calibration of any sort, I can ring one of the team, then they’re happy to help. It is easier to diagnose an issue with the vehicle. I’m understanding the system better now and if I don’t understand, I can ring one of the guys up, and they’ll guide me through over the phone.
“Being simple to use, you’re going to get more work in, more turnover of vehicles. I would definitely recommend it because of the backup support.”