EVHC – or Electronic Vehicle Health Checks – have been a staple in automotive workshops for a number of years, but why are they important, and why should you and your dealership ensure that you continue to focus on them?

First, let’s discuss what an EVHC is.

An EVHC is a check of your customer’s car’s components, which is carried out by a technician in your workshop.

It’s sometimes referred to as a ‘visual health check’, because it typically includes a visual inspection of the brakes, wheels, tyres, exhaust, steering and wiper blades, plus a check on the key fluid levels. These are often safety-based requirements to ensure the customer is safe for the road.

How are they carried out?

Different automotive workshops and technicians complete the work in different ways, but everyone will complete a standard checklist of items that need to be investigated, to ensure that all areas are safe.

Some vehicle manufacturers have different standards they want their vehicles to adhere to, so EVHC checks and checklists will vary from workshop to workshop – depending on the brand of the vehicle.

What technology is available?

We recommended using digital solutions that can be easily completed by technicians on mobile devices, with the results fed back to your team – e.g. so they can obtain parts pricing, and costs for the repair work to be completed.

This allows the service advisor to contact the customer to gain authorisation for the work to be completed – keeping the workshop and technicians productive for longer, and allowing customers’ vehicles to be checked and worked completed faster. This gives you more time to complete more jobs each day.

How can we show the customer the work that needs to be completed?

To support service advisors with customer conversations, there are tools available that enable the technician to capture any required repair work identified in the EVHC. These media tools include the ability to take photographs or record videos of the areas concerned.

By doing this as part of the EVHC check, the technician can communicate directly with the customer – showing them what needs to be done and explaining why. This additional media helps to build trust with your customers and enables the service advisors to get authorisation for the work faster.

The result is improved efficiency and processes in your workshop – plus, an enhanced customer experience.

Why are EVHC checks good for your dealership?

EVHC checks ensure that your dealership completes safety checks against every vehicle, fulfilling your duty of care with your customer. It also enables your workshop to identify additional work that may be lost. By checking ‘wear and tear’ items, such as tyres, you can gain that work in your dealership, instead of the customer going to a ‘fast fit’ or other tyre outlet.

What are the key features of REALevhc?

REALevhc is REALtime Communications’ EVHC solution. We enable your workshop to create digital checklists that can be easily used by your technicians on desktop or mobile devices, ensuring that all vehicle safety work is completed.

As technicians complete the EVHC checklist and record any identified repair work using our built-in video and media solutions, your workshop controller and wider team can track the status of the vehicle throughout – with each step of the process fully time-stamped for transparency.

Our EVHC solution also enables your team to track and follow-up with customers any repair work that is identified, so even if the customer does have the repair work completed on the day, your dealership has the opportunity to contact that customer in the future.

We also integrate with other third parties, including tyre, media and payment providers – so, no matter how your dealership wishes to work, we integrate with other industry partners giving you a single seamless process to follow that simply works.

Key features include:

  • Process-driven EVHC solution​
  • Live visibility of EVHC status​
  • Fully time-stamped with alerts​
  • Ability to look up parts stock via catalogue​
  • Configurable fixed-priced items​
  • Media approval by advisors​
  • Customer-facing, fully responsive EVHC authorisation webpage​
  • Integration to vehicle visuals
  • Tyre supplier integration​
  • Integration into payment providers, providing the finance for EVHC upsell​
  • Today’s declined red work presented for second facing​
  • Amber follow-up
  • DMS integration (where available).

To find out more about REALevhc and how we can support your dealership, contact us today – info@rtcauto.co.uk and one of the team will be happy to help.

About REAltime Communications (RTC)

REALtime Communications (RTC) is a digitalisation specialist, working with UK dealerships to deliver complete, seamlessly integrated solutions for sales and aftersales. With 20 years’ experience developing and deploying software, RTC is proven as an expert in digital transformation and a growth partner for dealerships in a fast-changing industry. More than 700 franchised dealers now use RTC.

RTC’s technologies allow systems, processes and communication channels to integrate and share data in real time, leading to revenue opportunities, efficiency savings and sustainable benefits. With a full-service approach, RTC is committed to helping dealerships adopt a customer-centric model, meeting motorists’ demands with a personalised experience.