There was a time when maintenance recommendations were fairly straightforward.
Check the odometer. Find the mileage interval. Look at the manufacturer’s maintenance table. Perform the service.
Modern vehicles can make that conversation considerably more complicated.
Many manufacturers now use condition-based maintenance systems that calculate service needs using factors beyond mileage. Depending on the vehicle, the system may consider driving habits, engine load, temperature, operating time, idle time and other conditions before deciding when maintenance is due.
For a shop owner, that creates an important distinction.
Two customers can arrive with similar vehicles and similar mileage but receive different maintenance messages because those vehicles have lived very different lives.
A vehicle spending hours in stop-and-go traffic may accumulate operating stress differently than one traveling mostly steady highway miles. That means technicians cannot always rely on a traditional mileage chart — or experience with a similar vehicle — to determine exactly what the manufacturer recommends.
They need the right service information.
Mitchell 1 ProDemand provides access to manufacturer maintenance schedules and information explaining condition-based maintenance systems. Technicians can research what a particular maintenance code means, understand how the monitoring system operates and find procedures for resetting maintenance indicators after the work is completed.
That information can also help service advisors.
Instead of telling a customer, “Your car says it needs service,” the shop can better explain why the service is being recommended and what information the vehicle is using to make that determination.
That is especially important as maintenance becomes increasingly data driven.
The traditional question — “How many miles are on the vehicle?” — hasn’t disappeared.
But increasingly, there’s another question shops need to answer:
How did the vehicle accumulate those miles?
For professional repair shops, modern maintenance is becoming less about following a universal schedule and more about correctly interpreting the information provided by each vehicle.
Sponsored by Mitchell 1.
