Changing Customer Vehicles

[Honest Engine]

I'm not seeing a good way to do this, I must be missing a step.


Owner comes in with a replacement vehicle, but it has their old license plate on it that belonged to their former vehicle. Manager doesn't play nice when you go to change that information and give it the new plate number, because now the customer's history reflects that we rebuilt the transmission and replaced the brakes (or whatever) in the history for their brand new vehicle. It saves the history, which I want to do even though I'll probably never see the old vehicle again, but it assigns that history to the new vehicle.

How do you separate those out, maintaining the old VIN and mileage and records for that old vehicle, while still being able to assign that plate to the new truck and begin a new record?

[ricmorin]

My approach is this..... I take the old plate and add an 'A' to the end of it and save. Now the old vehicle is intact with all of its history. Now simply add the new vehicle with the plate number (no 'A') and off you go.

[steven kiser]

I basically do the same by adding a period to the end of the plate #.

[Honest Engine]

My service advisor thought the same thing. Good idea, and we'll run with that. Just didn't know if there was something I was "supposed" to be doing differently, and perhaps the good software writers at Mitchell can take note of this flaw and design some way to archive old vehicle history like that.


Thanks, men.

[ricmorin]

I wouldn't really call it a flaw. It's intentional so you don't enter the same vehicle twice by accident. Now if they could only do the same for VIN's.

[Pauls Automotive]

My service advisor thought the same thing. Good idea, and we'll run with that. Just didn't know if there was something I was "supposed" to be doing differently, and perhaps the good software writers at Mitchell can take note of this flaw and design some way to archive old vehicle history like that.


Thanks, men.

There actaully is a way to do what you want. You can delete the vehicle from the customer file. Now with it deleted it will be gone and you won't see it as a choice when the customer comes it. You will still have access to the vehicle and its history under the "History" tab. When you go into that tab you will see two radio buttons "Customer" & "vehicle" if you choose the "customer" radio button it will display all vehicle he'she owns or has ever owned and it's related invoice history. There are pro and cons to doing this method. The benifit to retaining the vehicle in a current statis and adjusting the licence plate # is if they sell it to someone else you can just reassign ownership to that person and continue on. If that is not a concern or if the car was totalled and never coming back you could do either. Everyone has there own opinion. I've done both methods depending on the situation.

[ricmorin]

In lieu of this http://www.managerforum.net/viewtopic.p ... ate#p57484 I'd avoid deleting plates.

[Pauls Automotive]

Would it have the same effect if you deleted the entire vehicle?

[ricmorin]

Not sure, but I don't want to find out. I'm sure that anomoly will be corrected.

[John C.]

I realize this is under "Using SE" which I am not. But, in 5.9 I delete the plate from the vehicle. Why do you need to associate the plate with the first vehicle, when it is now on another vehicle? This way, the vehicle stays with the customer, and if someone were to buy it from them and bring it to us for service, I can just transfer ownership. You can't do that, if you delete the entire vehicle. Yes, you'll still have the history, but none of the info will be transferable, including any existing recommendations and/or revisions. I don't let the old vehicle sit with a customer forever, at some point we do decide to delete the vehicle from the system, even then all history stays with the customer.

[timjlive]

I realize this is under "Using SE" which I am not. But, in 5.9 I delete the plate from the vehicle. Why do you need to associate the plate with the first vehicle, when it is now on another vehicle? This way, the vehicle stays with the customer, and if someone were to buy it from them and bring it to us for service, I can just transfer ownership. You can't do that, if you delete the entire vehicle. Yes, you'll still have the history, but none of the info will be transferable, including any existing recommendations and/or revisions. I don't let the old vehicle sit with a customer forever, at some point we do decide to delete the vehicle from the system, even then all history stays with the customer.

That's how I've been handling it also. Both in 5.9 and now in SE

[ricmorin]

I don't like leaving that field blank. I guess it's a matter of personal preference. You can certainly do that if you want. The point is to take care of the old plate association first.

[steven kiser]

In my opinion this topic is deeper than a # plate change. I just add a period at the end of the plate # when i start a new vehicle, simple as that. Many times i've run into situations where a person sells a vehicle and that person calls with questions. This is why i will not delete any old information. On many private sales the prior work orders go with it. I use this as a possible new customer attractant. Some warranties are transferable and i want the vehicle in my shop for that repair. I'm getting calls from time to time from people that purchased vehicles from dealers and Car Fax has provided repair information and my name is on it. As a matter of fact i got a call from a person who purchased a vehicle from a dealership that was traded in by a customer of mine because it had the onset of a bad transmission. It appears that the new owner never looked into the Car Fax until after he noticed a severe transmission slippage. This person wanted to know exactly what i did to the transmission when the prior owner had it as well as wanting to go over all other work. In this case i told him i had no problem if he came in and we went over them but it wouldn't be free. I had a sense he was fishing for anything he could try to use to make me help him deal with the failing transmission. I added that any warranty or responsibility had been lifted from me when it was sold by the dealer. I pointed out that if in fact he had the order it was posted in plain english the transmission was on it's way out.

Well anyway i just feel any and all information i can hold onto is beneficial. People looking at work orders in vehicles from my shop may think i'm expensive or what ever if they're happy with their service provider but my name is in their head. I'll tell them flat out "pay peanuts get monkeys". I know i'm starting to spin a tale that doesn't belong here so i'll stop now........

[asample]

When transferring a plate to a new vehicle I first replace the plate number on the old vehicle with the same method we used when we were an emissions test center testing a vehicle without a plate and that is xx and the last 5 digits of the vin. This retains all history and still makes it transferable to a different customer.

[Gary R]

Here's what we do. I have a "fake" customer named sold cars. When a customer sells/trades a car, I delete the license plate # to free it up for the new car. I replace the plate # with the old owners last name and then transfer ownership to "Sold Cars". This gets the old car out of the customers vehicle list, lets me assign the plate # to the new car and keeps the old car's files available should it appear back at our shop. It can then be transferred to the new owner and the history is not lost.

Gary

[timbre4]

That's akin to the "Orphan" file, where vehicles with history are stored, until perhaps a new owner arrives at the shop with it.

[Honest Engine]

Good info about deleting it and retaining history that way, but I'm more inclined to just give it a "dot" at the end. If it comes back to me with a new owner, it's easy to reassign it, and as noted, that method also retains all of the notes, revisions, etc. And I am an admitted information nut, I can't let go of anything like that, especially when you consider that it costs nothing and inconveniences nobody to just keep it on file. The day will surely come that I'll wish I had that, if I delete it.

I like associating it with the old owner, too, because they are certain to come in and say, "Remember that thing you did on my 78 Datsun? This is doing the same thing." And then I won't look like an idiot as I try to pull that out of my rear, it will all be there for me.

[brianp87]

I just leave them blank in the license field. I then put the license on the new vehicle. I keep the record on file for the old custoemr until I see if I get it back in or not. If a while passes I remove it so they do not get reminders for something they no longer own.