Kukui adds DVI to All-In-One Success Platform

Want to improve the way you communicate with your customers, during and between visits to your shop? Check out Kukui Corp.’s new addition to its All-in-One Success Platform: the Kukui DVI.
Designed to offer full transparency into the repair process for the motorist, the product provides updates on the repair of their vehicle with technician notes, video and photos of affected components. The customers can see what the technician sees so they can make informed decisions about servicing their vehicle.

“We decided to make our initial entry into the highly competitive digital vehicle inspections marketplace with a straightforward, simple product that meets a few basic requirements,” says Chris Price, Kukui’s chief product officer. “It had to be easy to use, without the overhead of unnecessary and distracting features or technology. It needed to be a very lightweight, mobile app that would work really well on a phone or tablet. It particularly needed to be a native, IOS app for speed and reliability. And most important, it had to integrate seamlessly with the Kukui CRM.”

Between visits, DVI integration with the Kukui CRM enables shops to send reminder or recommended-service messages and postcards that include pictures of declined service. Kukui’s research showed that consumers are substantially more likely to make buying decisions when presented with visual images of the affected parts on their vehicle.

According to Kukui CEO Todd Westerlund, the DVI is just the first of several new additions planned for the All-in-One Success Platform. “This first release is just the beginning of the upcoming additions to our platform,” he says. “We learned so much from our shop visits about what people really want and need to be successful, you should expect to see a continuous stream of game-changing announcements soon.”
For more information on the Kukui DVI, got to Kukui.com or call (877) 695-6008.

Getting a Sense of Where Sensor Tech is Headed

Keeping ahead of the technology curve means learning all you can about what’s coming next. To that end, ASA leadership recently attended the Image Sensors Auto Americas 2017 conference in San Francisco, bringing two full days of programming that explored, in-depth, where the automotive sensors industry is headed.
By now, most of us are familiar with Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS), and they function largely by what sensors tell them about the world, so it seems natural that learning about the latest sensor technology would offer a glimpse of the road ahead.

Some of the biggest names in the automotive sensors industry were on hand to offer their take on the latest in imaging and sensors’ innovation and automotive requirements for the next generation of sensor technology. ASA President and Executive Director Dan Risley, ASA Vice President Tony Molla and Todd Black, an ASA member-shop owner and member of the Mechanical Operations Committee, were there to hear it all.
Look for our full, in-depth report in an extended article on what’s next in the January-February issue of AutoInc.

Great Training, Great State, Great Opportunity

Mark your calendar for next year’s ASA-Colorado Summit. Build on the success of this year’s event by making plans now to attend the state’s premier training event, with more classes than ever for technicians, service writers, managers and owners.

Scheduled for Jan. 26-27, The Summit will feature a great location, Lincoln Technical College, with more than 20 classrooms and plenty of open space that allows vendors to show off their interactive, hands-on displays.
Last year’s Summit drew more than 350 attendees, a sell-out, and organizers expect that figure to grow in 2018. So create a great experience for you and your young professionals at ASA-Colorado’s Summit 2018.
For more information, go to asacolorado.org.

ALLDATA Enhances Access by Using Color Wiring Diagrams

Have you checked out ALLDATA’s automotive digital repair solutions lately? If not you might be surprised to find the company has added more than 300,000 non-OE interactive color wiring diagrams to its ALLDATA Repair and ALLDATA Collision sites. These diagrams were designed to augment ALLDATA’s factory-direct wiring diagrams to allow technicians to easily toggle between the two for comparison.
“Making these enhancements – including interactive color wiring diagrams – was a direct result of feedback from our existing customer base,” says Mitch Major, president of ALLDATA. “We listened to what they wanted and have delivered a radically advanced technology platform with best-in-class performance and usability. ”

And according to ALLDATA representatives, techs will now save even more time because they can:

• View or print multiple diagrams side by side, a functionality that’s unique to ALLDATA’S interactive wiring diagrams
• Highlight a specific wire to easily track it across all pages in the diagram series
• Hide non-highlighted wires so techs can clearly see the wires/circuits/components they’re working on
• Pan within a diagram to hone in on details
• Bookmark highlighted articles so techs can find frequently used articles with just a click
• Toggle between OE and non-OE diagrams to easily view either OE or non-OE diagrams from one screen for quick comparison

“In addition, technicians will get up to speed faster and start working right away with ALLDATA’s interactive wiring diagrams,” Major says. “The documentation style, diagram keys and abbreviations are all accessible from one screen and are the same across the entire diagrams spectrum, which includes 300,000-plus diagrams, 49 makes and 24,000-plus models (1985-2016).

ALLDATA is migrating existing ALLDATA Repair and ALLDATA Collision customers to the color wiring diagram platform in phases. However, new customers purchasing ALLDATA Repair or ALLDATA Collision will have immediate access to the diagrams. For more information or to start using this feature, go to tinyurl.com/y99yrb6g.

The Easy Way to Pay Your ASA Dues

A quick and convenient way for ASA members to pay their dues is by using an automatic credit card deduction. You’ll avoid disruptions in your ASA membership and continue to receive your ASA benefits, including rebates on parts, among many others.

Not only that, but ASA’s credit card deduction plan allows you to select your payment preference – quarterly or annually.

Take advantage of this Continuous Membership payment plan and reduce the paperwork sitting on your desk. Simply complete the Automatic Membership Renewal Form (see Page 23 in this issue of AutoInc.) and either fax it to us at (817) 581-3572 or mail it to 8209 Mid-Cities Blvd., North Richland Hills, TX 76182. You won’t pay any fee for this service.

Is it Better to Give Than to Receive?

We at ASA say yes! And there’s still time for you to make a monetary donation to the association’s Hurricane Relief initiative. One hundred percent of funds raised will go toward assisting those ASA member-shops affected by the recent hurricanes. To make your donation, go to tinyurl.com/asahurricanerelief now and give your fellow automotive repair professionals a helping hand.