Electronic MPI - Are we ready?

[Jarrett]

For all of you service people in the audience. Has your store implemented a process requiring "Multi-Point Inspections" to be completed on a multi-part form typically purchased from the mfg? What do you do with the results? Do you review the results with the customers? Do you schedule future follow up based on the results?

We all agree these items should be done, and we all have trouble enforcing them.

Who is using technology to make the MPI work for their stores? What works and what does not?

 

[Jarrett]

Talking to myself. Thought I would attach an example of our completed eMPI. Customers are loving it. Advisors are armed with another quality sales tool. If any one could benefit from this process let me know.

Had to link to a larger image, max attach size too small for hight res.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Jarrett, I like this!

We just rolled out MPI Edge across several of my dealers and I'm working with them to hopefully take their product to a whole another level. I mean it is 2011 - why not provide the MPI in a digital online format to send to the customer. Heck, automatically email it to the customer in a PDF attachment.

Now I need MPI Edge to push the service declined codes back into ADP so my service marketing piece (@utoRevenue) can match up and get the customer back into the service department to have their declined services performed. At that time we can also determine if we need to send a savings coupon as well, while also pushing them to our convenient online service scheduling service.

 

[ryan.leslie]

That is a much better looking product than some others that I have seen out there. I recently left a software company that was developing technology for FO. They have great ideas that meet the needs of the drive, dealer management knew they needed to adopt technology to drive process but struggled to ever pull the trigger. More than one GM told me that the cost of technology in FO was a barrier, he wouldn't sneeze at the dollars for process driven software for variable. But I don't think it had anything to do with ROI. " My techs have been here forever and won't do it anyway so I'm throwing my money away."

Electronic MPI, write-up and a host of other products, are more than sales tools, they are accountability tools too. That is where the real barrier to entry seems to be for technology products for Fixed. Sweeping generalization here, but fixed management doesn't want to be under the microscope. Fixed has not been forced into pricing transparency the same way that Variable has, at least not yet.

How far away do you really think we are from transparency in Fixed? New car sales drops over the last few years means less warranty and a need to compete for CP dollars necessary to achieve profitability. The tools to increase hours per RO are out there, but they come with a level of accountability and transparency that FO isn't at all ready to embrace.

Customers hate making uneducated buying decisions and know when they are being squeezed + decades of lack of trust and a perception battle (ever see the term "stealerships" in an enthusiast forum?) + low cost alternatives from independent repair shops = the ushering of the technology era into the successful Fixed Ops department.

Adapt, Adopt or Dodo Bird!

 

[andwrig]

@Jarrett - What company are you using?

 

[Jarrett]

@Jarrett - What company are you using?

We built the process ourselves.

The technician completes the MPI via the same software he uses for clocking job times, entering flat rate, cause, complaint, correct...

When he completes the form it emails the advisor a PDF copy, and a link to modify the contents of the MPI. At that point we are printing to a color printer and reviewing results with our customer. The final form is permalinked to the vehicle in our CRM.

 

[Jarrett]

The screen you see above is also a custom piece of software we built to interface our shop to Arkona's DMS. It was a natural to link in the MPI via that software piece.

If your shop would use it I can copy the eMPI core contents to one of our public facing servers build an admin page and you could create logins for your techs/advisors.

Let me know...

 

[andwrig]

The screen you see above is also a custom piece of software we built to interface our shop to Arkona's DMS. It was a natural to link in the MPI via that software piece.

If your shop would use it I can copy the eMPI core contents to one of our public facing servers build an admin page and you could create logins for your techs/advisors.

Let me know...

@Jarrett - That's great. Thank you very much! I might take you up on that offer...

 

[Brian Milsted]

Hello forum

I belive that the USA is ready for electronic MPI systems or vehicle health check systems as they are known elsewhere. This one is being piloted currently in the USA. The system has been around since 2007 and has over 650 dealerships and 5000 users. My job is to help launch it in the USA and I would appreciate genuine feedback and comments on it. This short video egives a good overview


Thanks

Brian

 

[JohnScott]

That is a much better looking product than some others that I have seen out there. I recently left a software company that was developing technology for FO. They have great ideas that meet the needs of the drive, dealer management knew they needed to adopt technology to drive process but struggled to ever pull the trigger. More than one GM told me that the cost of technology in FO was a barrier, he wouldn't sneeze at the dollars for process driven software for variable. But I don't think it had anything to do with ROI. " My techs have been here forever and won't do it anyway so I'm throwing my money away."

Electronic MPI, write-up and a host of other products, are more than sales tools, they are accountability tools too. That is where the real barrier to entry seems to be for technology products for Fixed. Sweeping generalization here, but fixed management doesn't want to be under the microscope. Fixed has not been forced into pricing transparency the same way that Variable has, at least not yet.

The tools to increase hours per RO are out there, but they come with a level of accountability and transparency that FO isn't at all ready to embrace.

!

I came here to post, but you took most the words outta my mouth.

Accountability. Everyone wants everyone else to be accountable.

Could you please delve deeper, be more specific about what FO fears?

thanks,
John