A vehicle health check is where a lot of a garage’s extra work starts, and where a lot of it is lost. The check itself is rarely the problem. Technicians know how to spot worn pads and tired tyres. The work goes missing in the gap between the ramp and the customer: a vague note, no photo, no price, and a phone call that ends with “I’ll think about it”. This guide covers how to run a health check that is consistent, measured and easy for the customer to say yes to, and what to do when they say not yet.
What a vehicle health check is for
A vehicle health check (VHC) is a structured inspection of the car, carried out while it is with you for something else: a service, an MOT, a tyre or a repair. It does three jobs.
- It tells the customer the condition of their car. Most drivers have no idea what their brakes or tyres look like. A clear report shows them.
- It recommends work, graded by how soon it is needed. Some items need doing now, some can wait until next time.
- It creates a record. What was found, what was recommended and what the customer approved or declined, with dates. That protects you if the car comes back with a problem you warned about.
Done well, a health check is a service the customer values, not a sales pitch. The customer should come away knowing more about their car, whether or not they spend more money that day.
Build one consistent check
A health check only works if it is done the same way on every car. If one technician checks the underside and another does not, your reports are not comparable and customers get different advice depending on who was on shift.
Fix the order
Write the check down and walk it in the same order each time, so nothing is skipped. A typical sequence works around the car: lights and electrics, wipers and screen, under the bonnet (fluid levels, battery, belts, leaks), tyres and wheels, brakes, steering and suspension, exhaust and underside. Use our MOT checklist as a starting point for the items an MOT tester will look at, then add the service items that matter to your customers.
Have more than one check
A full inspection on a car that is in for a puncture is overkill, and customers notice. Keep a short tyre and brake safety check for quick jobs and a full check for services. The point is that each check is the same every time it is used.
Agree it with the technicians
The people doing the check should help design it. Walk through it together, agree the order, and agree what each grade means before you roll it out.
Grading: OK, advisory and urgent
Each item should end up in one of three grades. AutoChain calls them green, advisory and urgent; many garages call them green, amber and red.
- Green (OK): no action needed.
- Advisory: wear or a minor fault that is not urgent but will need attention, usually within a set period or at the next service. Worth monitoring and worth following up.
- Urgent: needs doing now, either because it is a safety issue or because it is at or past a limit.
The grades are only useful if two technicians would give the same car the same grade. That means written thresholds for anything you can measure.
Set thresholds for measured items
Tyres are the clearest example. The Highway Code says that cars, light vans and light trailers must have a tread depth of at least 1.6 mm across the central three-quarters of the tread and around the entire circumference. Anything at or below that is urgent. Your advisory threshold, the depth at which you start telling the customer to plan for new tyres, sits above the legal limit. Where you set it is a decision for your garage; write it down so everyone uses the same number.
For brake pads and discs, use the manufacturer’s minimum thickness rather than a rule of thumb, because limits vary from car to car. Do the same for anything else you measure: write down what counts as advisory and what counts as urgent.
Measure and photograph
A measurement and a photo turn “your brakes are getting low” into something the customer can see for themselves.
Record the real numbers
Write down what you measured, not just the verdict: tread depth on each tyre, tyre pressures, pad thickness front and rear, disc condition, battery condition. A reading of 2 mm means more to a customer than “worn”, and it gives you a baseline to compare against next visit.
Take photos that explain themselves
- One clear photo per finding, taken before anything is cleaned or adjusted.
- Get the gauge or a reference in shot, such as a tread depth gauge in the groove.
- Show context as well as close-up where it helps: the whole tyre, then the worn shoulder.
- Use good light. A photo the customer cannot make out does more harm than none.
Photos of green items help too, sparingly. A customer who sees that their pads are fine is more likely to believe you when you say the tyres are not.
Write findings customers understand
The customer is not a technician. Each finding should answer four questions in plain English: what did you find, what does it mean, what happens if it is left, and what do you recommend.
Compare:
- “N/S/F CV boot split.”
- “The rubber cover on the front left driveshaft joint is split. It keeps grease in and dirt out of the joint. If it is left, the joint will wear and cost more to repair. We recommend replacing the cover now.”
The second is longer, but it is the one that gets approved. Avoid abbreviations, avoid jargon, and avoid scaring people. An honest advisory that turns out to be right builds more trust than an urgent that was not.
Price the work before you send it
Customers say yes to a price, not to a recommendation. “Needs front pads” invites a phone call to ask how much. “Front brake pads, fitted, with the price next to it” can be approved straight away.
Before the check goes to the customer:
- Attach the work to each finding. Every advisory and urgent item should have the job that fixes it.
- Use consistent labour times. Published repair times keep quotes fair and the same whichever advisor builds them. Our guide to setting your garage labour rate covers the rate those times are multiplied by.
- Check parts price and availability. If a part is a day away, say so, so the customer is not surprised.
For larger work you might also send a separate itemised estimate. Either way, the price the customer sees should be the price on the invoice.
Send it for online approval
The quicker the check reaches the customer, the more likely they are to approve work while the car is still on the ramp. Sending a link they can open on their phone beats trying to catch them on a call.
- Send it as soon as the check is done, while the car is in the bay and the technician can carry on.
- Lead with the urgent items. The customer should see straight away what matters most.
- Let them choose item by item. A customer who can approve the brakes and leave the wiper blades for next time is more likely to say yes to something than one faced with all or nothing.
- Pick up the phone for urgent safety items. A link is efficient, but if you have found something that makes the car unsafe to drive, a call is the right thing to do as well.
Decide who sends checks and who watches for replies, whether that is the front desk, a service advisor or the manager, so nothing sits unsent while the technician waits.
Follow up declined work
A declined item is not lost work. The customer now knows about it, and in many cases they will do it, just not today. The garage that reminds them at the right time gets the job.
- Make sure declined items are recorded against the vehicle, with the date and the grade.
- Set a follow-up time based on the item. Borderline brakes or tyres justify a reminder within weeks. A minor advisory can wait until the next service.
- Send a short, factual reminder: what was found, when, and that you can book it in.
- Mention it again at the next visit, with the new measurement if it has changed.
In AutoChain, advisory reminders are sent manually from the customer record, so build a weekly routine to go through recent declined work. Our guide to MOT and service reminders covers timing and wording.
Track your approvals
You cannot improve what you do not look at. Once a week, go through the checks you sent and note:
- how many checks were done and how many were sent to the customer;
- how many recommended items were approved and how many were declined;
- the value of the approved work;
- which checks are still waiting for a reply.
Watch the trend rather than any single week. If approvals drop, look at the reports themselves: are findings clear, are photos usable, are prices attached? If one technician’s checks are approved more often than another’s, sit down together and compare how they write them up.
Checklist
- Write down your check, in the order it is walked, and agree it with the technicians
- Keep a short check for quick jobs and a full check for services
- Set written advisory and urgent thresholds for every measured item
- Record real measurements, not just a grade
- Take one clear photo per finding, with the gauge in shot
- Write each finding in plain English: what, why it matters, what you recommend
- Attach priced work to every advisory and urgent item before sending
- Send the check while the car is still on the ramp, and phone for urgent safety items
- Record declined work and set a follow-up date for each item
- Review checks sent, items approved and items declined every week
How AutoChain helps
AutoChain’s digital vehicle health check software runs in the browser on a desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. Technicians flag each item green, advisory or urgent, record measurements in mm, %, psi and more, attach photos and notes to any item, and complete full tyre and braking reports. The custom VHC builder lets you set your own sections, items and traffic-light thresholds, and build different checks for different jobs.
As the technician goes, they can pre-select the advisory and urgent work items that need quoting. The finished check goes to the customer by email, by SMS with the SMS add-on, or printed, with a live authorisation link: the customer accepts or declines each item with one tap, and approved work drops straight onto the job card. Each check keeps a logged record of what was advised, approved and declined, and the jobs board has a lane for jobs awaiting authorisation.
With the HaynesPro add-on, pad and disc readings are graded against the manufacturer minimum, the vehicle’s fitted tyre sizes are offered, and published repair times can be added as labour. For work you quote separately, garage estimates are itemised with VAT and convert to a job in one click.