Paper Processing and Growing Paintless Dent Repair Business

MobileDataforce has worked with many PDR (paintless dent repair) companies that have experienced challenges with processing paperwork. Why? Often the work is performed in remote and mobile locations by people without years of experience, far from the accounting systems, managers and administrative staff. Here is some of the paperwork involved:

• Creating a job estimate on a unique vehicle acceptable to the customer
• Getting the job estimate approved by the dealer/customer
• Assigning the work to a specific service technician
• Hiring a service technician and completing the documentation
• Documenting the work (to the customer's standards)
• Submitting the completed work to the customer for payment (in the proper format)
• Paying the service technician for the work associated with a specific vehicle

This process may happen hundreds or thousands of times per day across a wide geographic region. How does the central office collect, enter and review all of this paperwork to ensure accuracy? How do managers keep all of the correct business processes happening in the field? How do you ensure quality and professionalism when there is significant staff turn-over? How do you keep your customers happy?

Many of these issues can be avoided, or eliminated by using an automated system on a rugged handheld computer at the point-of-work. The handheld computer application can step each service technician systematically through the correct business processes. The handheld solution can inform the service technician how things need to be completed, provide additional audio and video examples, and alert when something has been done incorrectly. The information entered in the field, at the point-of-work, can be synchronized with headquarters and reviewed by management in near real time. This is how companies can ensure quality, consistency and the ability to scale up their business.

MobileDataforce has developed the FieldSync Automotive solution that addresses many of these issues.

Auto Lease Return Inspection Software

MobileDataforce regularly works with companies that need a mobile software application for inspecting vehicles that are returned after their lease contracts expire. These companies often need the following:

1. Identify the vehicle
2. Inspect the vehicle
3. Identify the location and describe any damage
4. Gain approval to repair the damage at the estimated levels
5. Schedule repairs
6. Complete repairs
7. Invoice the appropriate parties

Most often this work is completed in an environment that benefits from being able to complete these business processes on a rugged mobile handheld computer.

MobileDataforce has a variety of mobile software applications for the automotive industry designed to meet these needs.

PDR and Working with Auto Dealers

My team is developing a mobile software application for a large Toyota auto dealer. They want to track the status of all used automobiles in the following manner:

1. inventory each vehicle and apply a dealership barcode label to the window
2. inspect each vehicle
3. identify work that is needed to be performed
4. assign service technicians to complete the work
5. track each vehicle and its work status
6. Provide a management view of the work on a website
7. complete a quality assurance inspection of all work completed

One of the biggest challenges the dealership faced was the process of identifying the status of a large number of vehicles in a lot and keeping everything organized. My team (at MobileDataforce) developed mobile handheld software applications that allowed each of these processes to be completed using mobile handheld computers.