LAS VEGAS — Following Advance Auto Parts’ acquisition of General Parts International, the doors have opened for platforms each side offered today’s shops to be combined.
The result is Virtual Vehicle, which Carquest has offered, now is integrated in MotoSHOP, a shop management system from MOTOSHOP Technology Tools. The feature is just one update to the system over the last year, which will roll out officially in spring 2015.
Greg Mattes, director of Commercial eCommerce and eServices, says the touch-screen, consumer-facing system now allows service advisors to stand next to their customer, pulling in their information at the touch of the screen and showing animation of what is happening to their vehicle and basics of how it will be fixed.
“It just validates to the consumer that I know what’s going on with your vehicle,” he notes.
Service advisors start by taking the tablet loaded with MotoSHOP and selecting the customer’s name from the shop’s database. The customer’s information is pulled into the start of the invoice, followed by a list of complaints. At that point, the advisor can choose to show a video or animation.
“We leave it up to the shop where they want to interject the media,” Mattes explains.
The advisor then touches options to add repairs to the invoice, pulling information and parts choices right from the Advance Auto Parts catalog. The estimate builds as he or she progresses.
Following this time with the customer, the service advisor then can go into the bay scheduler portion of MotoSHOP and assign the vehicle. Technicians also can change the status of repair at this point, keeping a clock running to show how much time the technician did work on the vehicle versus what he or she billed.
The new features are rolling out, and shops will be able to utilize the system in 2015.
