2022 brought a lot of change, challenges, and new technology for the collision repair industry. This industry has proved time and time again to be ever changing, but with many owners seeing record-breaking highs in WIP, all while dealing with parts and labor shortages, many were ready to hit the ground running in 2023.
Consumer behavior is changing, and most are keeping their car for 10+ years, and while this is a cause of many factors, this has been partially due to the new level of technology in vehicles and the safety features they offer the driver. Cars have become more technologically advanced within the last decade, resulting in increasingly more technical repairs. In today’s age, a tech can’t simply look at the vehicle and assess the damage. There must be additional measures taken to ensure the car is fully repaired and returned to the customer in a pre-accident state.
So how is this done?
One of the largest topics of discission in the collision repair field has been and will continue to be diagnostic scans and calibrations. As a refresher, scanning is the equivalent to a health checkup for a vehicle. The purpose of the scan is to identify if there are errors to any of the systems within the car. The calibration will also check to ensure that the systems are working properly, but the technician will also set the calibration to check if the car’s sensors are set in the right direction to assist the driver when the need arises.
Many body shops have been introduced to these two procedures in the recent years, as the need for scanning and calibrating has arisen from the technology advancements in all vehicle makes and models. With this, as vehicles are only going to continue to advance from now on, scanning and calibrations are going to become crucial in the repair process of a customer’s vehicle.
It is important, now more than ever, for owners to ensure they have the proper equipment and training in order to perform these checks on every vehicle that enters their facility. Customers entrust a collision repair center to repair their vehicle to the same caliber as it was before it was involved in an accident. If a diagnostic scan and/or calibration is not performed on the vehicle, it is putting the customer in danger, which ultimately puts the facility at risk.
CARSTAR has partnered with industry-leading vendors to provide their owners with the access to scanning and calibration equipment, training, and solutions to uphold their level of expertise in collision repair. In addition, CARSTAR has trained their support team on the importance of scanning and calibrating vehicles so that they are able to work with franchisees around the country to help them through the process of learning the equipment and applying it within their everyday work.
As diagnostic scanning and calibration continues to take off, this will not be the only change collision repair owners and employees will face in 2023. However, staying ahead of the curve with this new addition to the repair process will help in keeping you on track and ready to face the next challenge.
The access to industry-leading technology and aid from a dedicated support team are just a few of the premier network’s resources accessible to those who franchise with CARSTAR. Visit CARSTAR.com to learn more or complete this form if you are interested in franchising with CARSTAR.
