Ultimately Reality Check Reduces Warranty Re- turns By Dan Marinucci No matter what your endeavor is, staying in touch with customers is a time- less business con- cept. Whether you rebuild starters, renovate homes or rent equipment, you can’t identify and meet customer needs unless you’ re in touch with people. Simply put, staying in touch is areality check that keeps your feet firmly on the ground. If you’re a rebuilder, what kind of reality check do you make with the marketplace and how often do you do it? Everyone in the electrical business agrees that needless warranty returns are a major, pervasive issue. How can you deal with this issue if you aren’t in touch with installer’s problems? The seminar I presented last month at the E+ Show in Niagara Falls, Canada was yet another encounter that reinforced this belief. The good news was that nearly 80 attendees turned out early Sunday morning, demonstrating their dedication and hunger for knowl- edge. The bad news arrived when I asked how many attendees had actu- ally worked under the hood of a ve- hicle diagnosing electrical problems. Very few hands went up. Conse- quently, I assigned homework: Get under the hood and learn what it takes to troubleshoot these vehicles! If you get under the hood with a real automotive technician, you’ ll learn that knowing the technical side of the business is just the beginning. Your re- ality check may convince you that the larger issue is getting paid for the time it actually takes to pinpoint the prob- lem. The consensus I get from install- ers is that they’re infinitely more likely to follow proper diagnostic procedures when they know they’re getting paid to do it. After all, expecting to get paid for what you do is human nature. For example, suppose the engine won’t crank. The vehicle has a fairly good maintenance history and the en- gine turns freely with a ratchet and socket. Load testing the battery is very easy because the battery is readily ac- cessible. The installer finds that the battery passes a load test. But before he condemns the starter, he has to check for excessive voltage drop across the battery cables and across the circuit powering the starter sole- noid. The fact is you can’t even see the starter or starter/solenoid assembly on many modern vehicles. The unit is bur- ied so deeply on the back side of the engine that the tech has to raise the vehicle on a lift in order to find it! Once he finds the starter/solenoid assembly, he washes off 8 years of accumulated crud with a suitable electrical spray cleaner so he can identify the wiring terminals and get a decent grip on them with his test leads. So realistically, it may take another 15 minutes to set this vehicle up on the lift and locate the starter/solenoid ter- minals. Depending upon where the starter’s located, it could take even longer. Note that on some modern V8 engines, that starter is buried between the two banks of the engine under the intake plenum. Try to access those terminals quickly! Furthermore, is the engine still hot? If so, how badly is this fellow burning his arms and hands trying to complete MAY, 2000 his diagnosis? By the way, we hope that when the tow truck delivered this vehicle with the no-start/no-crank problem to the installer’s shop, the service manager had the foresight to assign the job toa bay equipped with a lift. Ifall the lifts are already in use, this luckless techni- cian has to hunt for the starter/sole- noid terminals while lying uncomfort- ably ona creeper. Locating the termi- nals on some alternators is no picnic, either. The bottom line is that proper diag- nosis isn’t the seemingly instantaneous, nobrainer situation some rebuilders seem to assume it is. Once you’ve done YOUR reality check, you’ ll ap- preciate why many installers are reluc- tant to follow proper diagnostic pro- cedures! When you do your reality check with the installer world, you’ ll find that the vast majority of repair shop own- ers are former installers — NOT busi- ness managers! Unfortunately, they’re running their businesses like an installer instead of like a prudent businessman. Too often, this shop owner worked in an unprofessional environ- ment where his boss didn’t charge for diagnostic time. Now that this man is running his own repair shop, he doesn’t bill for diagnostic time, either. Like his boss before him, he gambles that re- placing a part with your product fixes the motorist’s complaint. If it does, he’s ahero and you’re a hero. If it doesn’t, he’s a victim and you’ re a rat! Hopefully, your reality check with the installer world will reinforce the importance of basic business manage- ment practices. First and foremost is for installers to present a professional image and charge for diagnostic time. Fact is, better shop owners always bill for diagnostic time. Predictably, how- Page 1 of 2