Repairify on ADAS, diagnostics and drive-over tread readers

Repairify is an advanced vehicle diagnostic and calibration technology company that includes the formerly separate brands asTech and Red. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories, company representatives explained how Repairify is “constantly researching the market, anticipating challenges, and acquiring new products to meet these requirements, and identifying opportunities to enable its customers to tap into potential new revenue streams.” In short, that means serving the market through current and future treads and new tools and software – including drive-over tread readers.

Martin Brown of Repairify commented: “Drive over tread readers represent a new business opportunity that we have identified for repairers in the fast fit sector. Every car that drives over the tread reader will be able to have its tread depth measured using the vehicle’s internal electronics system. The instantaneous availability of the ensuing big data means fleets will be able to determine the driving style of the driver and where the driver lives – for example, if the driver lives in Milton Keynes where there are plenty of roundabouts, the data will identify if a tyre is worn away more on the right or left, revealing the type of pressure the driver exerts on the tyres.

“The TPMS tools will also be able to read the valve’s condition, the state of the battery, and the temperature and pressure of the tyres. The result will be that fast fits have the opportunity to provide better advice to fleets and drivers and to upsell tyres. This advice could include winter driving guidance, for example, such as making sure tyres are inflated properly as they deflate in colder conditions, which will also save on fuel costs.”

Furthermore, Repairify representatives suggested that the deployment of such technology might result in cautionary guidance on the availability of cheaper tyres online, which may be cheaper as they are close to their expiry date. “Fast fits could make drivers aware of the tyre expiry dates printed on tyres which show the date of tyre production that may have no bearing on when the tyre was installed on the car – and at 10 years old the tyre is dangerous and defective and should always be checked regularly from five years old.”

ADAS recalibration and vehicle reprogramming

Tyres & Accessories interviewed Phil Peace, managing director (SVP) International, Repairify at the back end of 2022. What we learnt is that the Repairify we see today represents the amalgamation of the synergies of several automotive servicing businesses. From its core beginnings, Repairify has looked at other more diverse companies that “bring synergies and add value”. Indeed, during a period of 18 months, the company acquired “nine other organisations” covering a variety of related areas.

The resultant portfolio includes some interesting constituent parts such as BlueDriver – amongst the most popular DIY Bluetooth OBDII devices in the United States. So, will that popular option make more waves in Europe? Not yet at least. The reason? BlueDriver may be popular in the US, but its coverage peaks on vehicles in the US vehicle parc and therefore it is less well-suited to the diverse European markets.

The acquisition of Red in the UK in March 2021 – an aftermarket distributor of tools – was a key development in Repairify’s expansion into Europe. Red brings with it a workshop that specialises in the trickiest vehicle electronics problems such as re-building wiring looms and subsequent reprogramming.

With all that under the Repairify banner, the business is said to be on a healthy growth trajectory in Europe. The only physical location at the moment is in the UK, however, the customer-list hails from 20-odd countries. According to Phil Peace, the reason that kind of geographical spread is possible is because of Reparify’s unique systems.

Most technicians, even some of the best tools, only have access to some 85 per cent of the market. There are two reasons for this. Sometimes the aftermarket data simply hasn’t caught up. And secondly, vehicle manufacturer secure gateways have a habit of inhibiting independent repairers on the grounds of security. “And the gap is going to grow because the OEs are putting in more and more secure gateways”, Phil Peace explained.

In the first instance, Repairify’s inclination was to help bodyshops for the simple reason that most new cars go back to main dealers for general maintenance and repair work. However, in glass replacement and bodyshop contexts cars can be much newer and therefore encounter the aforementioned device/access gap.

Customers either login via an app or a special mobile-enable website. Here they are recognised and begin the process. First they open up a pending job, which is then transmitted over the air to Repairify’s technicians. They can chat with the technician to clarify what it is that they want to do and then they connect through the system to the right manufacturer-specific tool. Indeed, Repairify literally has a library of manufacturer-specific tools available so garages don’t have to. The Repairify technician will then give the necessary steps to complete the job, such as restarting the car.

All this takes place through a clever language-agnostic platform. The business might have started in the US and grown into the UK, but were a German user to log in and make the same request, their questions and the Repairify technicians answers were be automatically translated in both directions.

Not only does the automatic translation feature bring down barriers across multi-languages markets across Europe, it also brings with it “100 per cent auditability…”. For example, in the event that an end customer says: that car didn’t calibrate properly, there are records showing what happened and that the original operation was successful. This goes right down to the distances given to the technician and what they inputted into the system.

Take-up of Repairify’s services in tyre-centric garages is said to be steady rather than fast, but with many basic issues requiring diagnostic reset and some requiring ADAS recalibration, wider adoption can only be a question of time. In the meantime, questions will be raised about who will pay for such services – but the answer must be the customer that is receiving additional services. The problem is, however, that they don’t generally know what is being required by OEM manuals and therefore a fair bit of awareness-raising is required.

From tyre centres’ point of view. There is a choice. Let the driver go back to the main dealer for a tyre or wheel-related recalibration or utilise a service like Repairify and do the work yourself.