Anders Gustafson

We purchased one for each of our two locations. The biggest struggle is finding the right pricing and also explaining to the customer why the price is so much higher. We have probably used them 10x combined over the course of 12 months so we are a long way away from covering the investment. The process is much, much longer (1 hour minimum to run through all the steps on the machine), but it's still a valuable service as we are able to work on other vehicles while the machine does its thing.

Hi Mark - we’re here in VA, too. We agree with the mixed emotions. We know that inspections do lead to customer interactions and some honest repairs. But we also know that we can get bogged down in nothing but inspections, which is highly unprofitable. I would like to see the process revamped, not removed. Perhaps annual inspections are excessive; I believe there are other states where inspections aren’t required until a vehicle hits a certain age or mileage. In PA, shops have the right to charge whatever they want for an inspection - that would be wonderful! The customer can choose to pay more to work with someone they trust, would help deflect some of those customers pounding at your door at the end of the month.