Digital vehicle inspections are the same walk the shop was already doing, recorded somewhere the customer and the next visit can both see. The technician still goes system by system and still marks each point green, yellow or red. What moves is everything after the mark: the photo stops living in a camera roll, the finding stops living on a sheet in a folder, and the advisory the customer declined stops disappearing the moment they drive off. Shops that go digital and see nothing change usually changed the paper and nothing else, so this page is about the three things that have to change with it.
The walk does not get better on a tablet, and nobody should promise that it will
A twenty seven point multi-point takes about as long on a tablet as it does on a clipboard, and a technician who was ticking boxes on paper can tick them just as fast on glass. The one honest measure is the seconds each point is getting: the free vehicle inspection checklist on this site converts the minutes a technician spends into seconds a point, and forty seconds a point reads very differently to thirteen. Buy the software for the record, not for a walk it cannot improve.
The photo is the part that changes the counter conversation
A customer who is told the belt is cracked is being asked to trust a stranger about a part they have never seen. A customer looking at a photograph of their own cracked belt, taken ten minutes ago, on their own vehicle's record, is looking at evidence. That single difference is where most of the authorisation rate a shop gains from going digital actually comes from, and it is why an inspection that records a finding without a photo has kept the smaller half of it.
Declined work is the asset, and paper loses it every time
Every inspection produces work the customer says no to today. On paper that work is gone: the sheet goes in the folder, the folder goes in the cabinet, and nobody opens the cabinet when the car books in for an oil change six months later. Held against the vehicle, the same yellow item is the first thing the counter sees at the next visit, with the date it was found and the photo that was taken. That is the follow-up list a paper shop simply does not have.
What to measure before and after, so you know whether it worked
Three figures, all of which a shop already has: the share of inspections that find red and yellow work, the share of each that gets authorised, and the technician minutes an inspection takes. Put them into the checklist on this site before you change anything and again ninety days after, and the difference is the answer. A shop that cannot state its authorisation rate before the change cannot tell whether the software did anything.
Questions people ask about digital vehicle inspections
Are digital vehicle inspections the same as a DVI?
Yes. DVI is the trade's abbreviation, and shops, software vendors and trainers use the two interchangeably. Both mean a checklist-driven inspection recorded on a phone or tablet, usually with photographs, and sent to the customer rather than described to them.
Do digital vehicle inspections increase what customers authorise?
They can, and the mechanism is the photograph rather than the software. A finding the owner can look at is easier to say yes to than a finding they are told about. Whether it happens in your shop is a question your own before-and-after authorisation rate answers, which is why the free checklist asks you for it rather than assuming a figure.
Does a digital inspection have to be sent to the customer?
It does not have to be, but an inspection the customer never sees has kept the record and thrown away the conversation. The usual practice is a link with the photos and the red, yellow and green items, sent while the vehicle is still in the bay.
What does it cost to keep inspections rather than file them?
Defectbird Pro is $29 per seat per month, one seat per technician who signs an inspection, and the checklist that sizes the inspection is free forever with no account. Whether that is worth it is the declined-work figure the worksheet gives you, against the price.