Preventive Maintenance Can Be Fun

Service advisors and car owner have the same goal: The car is ‘healthy’ – as in it keeps running all the time and provides the driver with the expected safety, driveability and reliability at the most effective cost possible.

Right?

Why would so many car owners push out the preventive maintenance until something bad is about to happen, and why would some service advisors recommend the same short service interval for any kind of vehicle and any driver behavior?  We thought why not add a little incentive, so it is fun and keeps car owner and service advisor on the same page.

 Introducing the AutoVitals Loyalty Point System.

“Really? What is new about a reward system? There are tons out there, what the heck are you talking about?”

True, and although reusing all the known benefits of a rewards system, it adds a twist to it, which makes it perfect for auto repair shops.

Most rewards system on the market operate with discounts based on money spent and some even let car owners keep the points when switching to other shops. In other words, the higher the amount of money spent on a repair, the more points or the higher the discount. We find this a little odd and  think adherence to the service schedule proposed  and the jobs recommended should play a crucial role, since a healthy car is the mutual goal, isn’t it?

Below you see a typical configuration for a shop using the AutoVitals Loyalty Point System. All parameters can be controlled by the shop in question, such as: how many points for which action, how much is a point worth and if a preferred customer program exists, how many additional points should a preferred customer receive, etc. You can see adherence to schedule plays a big role. And since AutoVitals manages individual service intervals based on the vehicle type and how the car owner drives, this seems the perfect match for car health conscious car owners.

Moreover, the service advisor is in full control of whether or not the points are awarded or not at vehicle pick up.

In addition every communication by email – be it the Thank-You email, a service reminder, or an appointment confirmation – contains the current point balance and ways of increasing and using it wisely.

If the shop has set up services the points can be used for, the car owner can check those services when requesting the appointment and the points get deducted automatically.The service advisor also is informed in the request message exactly what the points are used for. Not sure about the point balance? Logging onto the AutoVitals account with email address and password or Facebook-Connect and everything about the car is at the car owner’s fingertips.

No email address on file? No problem, once the car owner is at the counter, the service advisor informs her about the current balance and makes suggestions on how to use the points.

Now car owner and service advisor are on the same page when looking at the point balance and explore jointly how to use the points.

Does it sound like fun to you?

Let me know.

As always, “Be there or be triangle”, I’ll see you next time.

Uwe (Oova)

Auto Repair Shops with Outstanding Reviews