SALT LAKE CITY — Service center technicians at Ken Garff Honda Downtown are adding smartphones to their equipment lineup.
Right now, they're inspecting people's cars using iService, while giving them a walk-through of what they're finding at the same time.
The technician will start by checking filters, fluids, and the engine compartment, before raising the vehicle to check underneath it.
The Service Manager at Ken Garff Honda Downtown, John Forbes said, "We look at the tires, the brakes, all the suspension, the exhaust, steering, all those components, and the customer can see exactly what we see as we see it."
Each video takes about 2 to 3 minutes to make, depending on how many problems the service technician comes across.
Then once the video is done, they input a list of what needs to be fixed into a computer, and that gets sent to the customer via text message.
Forbes said they aim to get all the information sent out within 15 minutes of inspecting a vehicle.
Service technicians will list mandatory things that need to be fixed right away for safety reasons. Then they will list any maintenance repairs that you can hold off on for the time being.
You can select which repairs you want by clicking the link sent to you in the text message and following the on-screen prompts.
Once you've done that, you pay online with a credit or debit card.
You can also ask questions or share concerns with the service technician who's working on your vehicle via the same text message thread.
"We can start work on it immediately so there’s no downtime and the technician gets started right after the customer makes the approvals," said Forbes.
Ken Garff Honda Downtown will also pick up and drop off your vehicle, so there's no need to break social distancing guidelines.
Forbes said, "A lot of people are very worried about coming in right now because of COVID-19 and so we’ll go pick up a car and we’ll sanitize it as soon as we get to it, then we’ll bring it back, service it, we re-sanitize it, and then take it back to the customer."
Ken Garff Honda says the main reason they started using this tool is for transparency, so their customers know exactly what's wrong with their car and they're not being given the runaround.
iService is available across all Ken Garff Automotive service centers. Young Automotive Group dealerships also use this technology when servicing vehicles.
It's also available in several other states and first launched in 2018.
