Q&A with Ben Johnson of Mitchell 1

Ben Johnson: It’s a really interesting time in the automotive aftermarket right now. There are many different factors converging, but an overall theme that I’m hearing a lot these days goes back to the basic need to get vehicles through the bays faster. I know that sounds familiar — like old news even. But there are some new dynamics that affect productivity, and shops are facing an assortment of challenges they’ve never dealt with before.

For instance, I read a report recently about the growth in the average number of cars and light trucks per service bay. There are more vehicles on the roads today, but fewer service bays to service them. Between 1999 and 2014, the number of cars and light trucks in operation grew nearly 21 percent, but in that same time period more than 60,000 service bays shut their doors. Those two trends combine to create a 30 percent increase in vehicles per service bay. That sounds like great news for auto repair shops, right? And it is. But the growing demand also comes with some challenges.

For one thing, as vehicles have become more complex there has been an explosion of information to repair them, as well as a proliferation of sources to access that information. What has not changed is the need to keep cars moving through the bays. Customers still expect to have their cars back the day they drop it off, or at latest by the next day. Add the increased volume of vehicles per bay, and this poses a big challenge for shops.

Motor Age: So, what are some of the tools available to shops to help them deal with rising volume and high customer expectations, while the complexity of diagnosing & repairing vehicles also continues to increase?

Ben Johnson: The issue for technicians is no longer about availability of data to fix cars, but how to find the right data — and more importantly, how to find it quickly. In general, service professionals get the information they need to diagnose and repair vehicles from three main sources:

• Diagnostic trouble codes from the vehicle
• Online OEM reference data, and
• Real-world information from peers in the industry

Juggling all of these resources to quickly find the exact information needed can be difficult and time consuming. Many technicians access multiple websites and services to get their information. But to be most efficient, technicians should be able to search for repair information once from a single source. At Mitchell 1, we’ve been working hard to consolidate all these types of repair information into a single application, so technicians have everything they need together in one place.

This goes beyond OEM repair information, which we’ve been providing for decades. Our repair information product, ProDemand, now also contains millions of “Real Fixes” based on actual experiences and repair orders from professional technicians. The SureTrack diagnostic module in ProDemand also has helpful tools like guided component tests and a library of known-good waveforms. Our newest feature, ProView, even paints a picture based on real-world fixes about probable causes for multiple trouble codes frequently found on vehicles being diagnosed.  Our goal is to be a one-stop solution for shops, so they don’t have to waste time on the phone or looking at different websites to fix the car in their bay.

Motor Age:  Can you give a real-world example of how this works?

Ben Johnson: Sure, in fact I can give you a few examples. This first scenario is one I heard from a technician friend who had an issue with a 2011 Toyota Tacoma with 83,000 miles. The customer’s complaint was a "noise coming from air conditioning." The noise varied with increased fan speed, so he was convinced it was a blower motor. His first inclination was to replace that component, but wanted to check. So we looked it up in ProDemand and glanced over the Top 10 Repair list that displays the most commonly replaced parts, most common DTCs and the most common symptoms for the vehicle.

We saw that for this vehicle, "noise heard" was the second most common symptom, so we selected that and came to a Real Fix showing that the problem was solved by replacing the cabin air filter. We thought that was interesting, since that's right next to the blower motor and could be associated with our problem. We kept reading. That technician had a similar symptom and removed the blower motor and discovered there was a lot of debris on the cabin air filter that was rubbing on the fan of the blower motor, causing the noise.

The next thing we checked was the common replaced parts graph associated with the Real Fix. We saw that the cabin air filter tends to fail right around 50K miles. So based on these insights, my friend bypassed the blower motor and replaced the cabin air filter and the problem was solved. It was a great example of how another tech’s experience quickly guided him to the correct fix, and saved him from unnecessarily removing the blower motor.

So, that’s an example of how real-world data can help solve a symptom-based issue. Now let’s talk about a component-based scenario. Another tech I know was working on a 2009 Toyota Camry. The AC didn’t work and he was pretty sure the evaporator was defective. Toyota products are well known for reliability and he just wanted to check in with me before pulling the dash apart to replace the evaporator – nearly a seven-hour job.

So we verified the times and procedures in ProDemand, then selected SureTrack. It showed us that on Camrys in this year range, we begin seeing failures at around 50,000 miles. And we could see the other related components that have been placed on an RO at the same time as an evaporator. This car had about 97,000 miles on it, so he was much more comfortable with the diagnosis. He did the job and sure enough we could see the oil stain in the evaporator where the refrigerant and oil had leaked out. It was a nice example of how using the SureTrack component replacement graph can give clues before a tech tackles an expensive and time-consuming job – just to give some validation that they’re on the right track. 

Motor Age:  With different vehicle systems being connected in new ways, diagnostics is getting more complex. For instance, when a tech encounters multiple DTC codes, how can they quickly determine which one to diagnose? Let’s say I’m a technician working on a 2001 Chevy Tahoe with the check engine lamp on and a couple DTC’s - a P0442 and a P0155. Where do I start?

Ben Johnson: Well, standard procedure has been to clear the codes, then drive the car to see which code comes back… and then diagnose that. We have a new feature called ProView that helps with this type of scenario. It’s another way of looking at DTC information that shows all the combinations of components that have ever been associated with the code in our system. Let’s say the P0442 has come back on this Tahoe. For that code we see in ProView that possibilities include the EVAP canister, fuel pump, EVAP purge solenoid valve, etc., but the most common culprit is the gas cap.

However, when we add the P0155 to the mix, we see that historically when those two codes have been present, the oxygen sensor is at fault. This would not have been the first thing we looked at. The intent here is not to imply that this is always going to be the definitive diagnosis. The oxygen sensor might not end up being the problem for this particular vehicle, but having this insight guides us in a direction that can then be validated in SureTrack with a guided component test.

Motor Age:  In the “old days,” when techs were stumped by the vehicle in their bay, they would turn to their personal network of techs to bounce ideas around and try to get to a solution. Now there are online communities to help, but how fast can techs get an answer this way?

Ben Johnson: It’s very true that sometimes techs do face vehicles with issues that defy the common fixes. In those cases, they can reach out to their peers and await an answer. At Mitchell 1, we’ve had a very active online community of professional techs for decades, going back to the tip system in OnDemand5, our legacy repair information product. Over time this has evolved, and we now have a very dynamic group of techs actively participating in the SureTrack Community to help each other out of tough repair situations. Typical response time to questions is under 15 minutes and since this feature is built into the product, techs don’t have to remain tied to the phone. SureTrack will send an email when there is a response to the question. So techs can check at their convenience for the answer and then get back to work to complete the repair. So, it’s a fast way to pick the brains of other techs who may have already faced that same problem or have information to share.

Motor Age: Shop owners who also work as technicians have to juggle so many tasks to keep their business running smoothly. What are some of the tools available to them?

Ben Johnson: We know that many shop owners are in the position of running the business as well as turning wrenches in the shop. For these folks, having a robust management system that helps streamline their workflow is a huge factor in staying on top of everything going on in the shop and increasing overall productivity.

One of the biggest time savers for shops is having parts catalogs integrated into the management system. Being able to check inventory and order parts online speeds up the estimating process by eliminating the need to call a parts vendor and wait on hold for long periods of downtime. In addition to our auto parts catalogs, we have recently updated the Mitchell 1 shop management software, Manager SE, to include an integrated tire catalog that gives repair shops instant visibility into tire inventory and pricing information. Tire fees are automatically added to quotes to simplify and speed up the estimate writing process.

Really, I can’t imagine how anyone runs a shop these days without a management system. There are just too many moving parts. It’s crucial to have a 360-degree view of the entire shop to manage the business, customer service and the repairs.

Motor Age: And on top of running the business on a day-to-day basis, these owners also have to think about how to market their shop to both new and existing customers.

Ben Johnson: That’s very true. Many shop owners feel that marketing these days is way beyond the scope of their expertise. There’s no shame in that – why should anyone expect that a master technician and experienced business manager is also a marketing expert? We all know that marketing has gotten a whole lot more complex than sending out postcards and placing print ads. With so many consumers searching the Internet for services, repair shops need to have a professional website that is optimized for search engines. They also need a strategy for collecting customer reviews that validate the quality of their services. Plus, they need to be able to connect with customers through digital channels like email and social media.

Outsourcing the shop marketing efforts can be an excellent option that gives owners peace of mind and real results. Many people don’t realize that Mitchell 1 has a comprehensive shop marketing service that is integrated into our shop management system. SocialCRM assigns a dedicated agent to each shop client and works with them one-on-one to develop an effective marketing program that includes reputation management, verified customer reviews, email campaigns, search engine optimization and social media marketing. Key marketing results are visible in the Manager SE dashboard, along with real-time customer review notifications.

Motor Age: If you had to choose one piece of advice for running a successful auto repair business in today’s market, what would it be?

Ben Johnson: Today’s repair professionals are getting more and more technology savvy – they simply don’t have a choice given the complex diagnostic and business challenges they face every day. Since the introduction of computer-controlled cars and trucks in the 1980s, vehicles just keep getting more advanced. You can see it in the number of pages of information created to service vehicles. Mitchell 1 currently has tens of millions of pages of data in our system.

Obviously, no technician can possibly keep millions of pages of information in his or her head. So it’s critical for shops to embrace technology to work as efficiently as possible. Technology can help them not only take better control of their repairs, but every aspect of managing their business — from front to back, and everything in between. 

Shops should research their options and select the information partner that will help them increase their bay throughput, allowing them to satisfy their customers and open the bays to accommodate the growing number of vehicles on the road today.

Remember, it’s not about the quantity of data. Rather, shops can be most successful using a source that delivers OEM and “industry-generated” information together, and invests in technology that makes it easy for users to search those millions of pages and quickly find the information they need to meet their specific diagnostic challenges.