Tip About Disclosing Vehicle Inspection Results

[Carm Capriotto]

Thanks Bob and Kevin. Perfectly Simple.

[Craig O’Neill]

A recent example:   I was visiting a shop, while a technician was doing an inspection, and I noticed he had just marked a battery as “good”.  I look around him and see that the battery is just caked with sulfate fuzz.  The battery also looks quite old.

“Why did you call that good?”  I asked, politely.

“It passed the test,” said the technician.

“Don’t you see anything wrong with it though?”  I point to the battery.

“I’m not selling a battery that passed a test,” he replied, a bit defensive.

“No one is asking you to sell anything.  I’m asking if you see anything wrong with that?  And if you do, to make a professional recommendation.”

I took the opportunity to commend his desire to save the client money.  I then asked how the customer would feel on a cold Michigan day if they were in a parking lot with kids in the car, and their car doesn’t start.  Wouldn’t they think… Hey, I just had this looked at, they said it was good!

Techs need to be reminded of this from time to time.  The stigma of our industry often triggers the mindset that to be the good guy means to not present too much to the customer.

It’s not our choice though.  It is our professional responsibility to report the true state of health of a clients vehicle, be it good news or bad.

A properly informed customer must be given the chance to make their choice, not have it made for them in the bay.