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Spending money on diagnostics with people you trust saves money and affords peace of mind.
Troubleshooting & Diagnostics
Vehicle troubleshooting & diagnostics you can count on.
We’re in this together.
Your Colchin Automotive Team has the ability to design a custom diagnostic package that works for you and your vehicle – not every shop can pull this off successfully. The benefits are efficiency and cost containment – and it allows for progress to be taken in steps when necessary.
You are a key component in the diagnostic process. Anything you can tell us about what’s going on will streamline the process – so we can get to the root of the issue as quickly as possible. Details leading up to your car experiencing problems are mission critical – we need the whole story.
You are the decision maker to spend or not to spend – it’s your money.
What We Do
- Listen
- Design a custom plan around diagnostic protocol
- Estimate cost to identify root cause(s)
- Explain the plan to you
- Execute the plan to find root cause(s) of the issues
- Communicate results to you, including repair options when possible
- Estimate cost to repair
- Communicate with you throughout the process
Example of Root Cause Analysis
Here, we analyze data and facts to discover the underlying cause of a failure.
Here’s an example: Your engine will not start because the battery is drained. Your vehicle is towed to Colchin Automotive. During testing, we discover the battery will take a charge but tests weak. Then we discover the battery is 7 years old – near end of service life. It can be safely concluded a new battery is justified.
Is this the end of it? Maybe yes – maybe no. Experience tells our team we’d better drill down further to test the charging system for proper health, as well as test your vehicle electrical system for parasitic drain on the battery. Further diagnostic testing shows there is a parasitic load being placed on the battery when the vehicle is at rest – This is the culprit that killed the old battery and it now needs to be further diagnosed to locate the root cause of the parasitic load that’s consuming battery power, requiring another step in the diagnostic process. Learn more about diagnostic steps(link)
Analyze Results
Simply stated, it’s like peeling back the layers of an onion. It’s detective work with deductive reasoning backed up by experience. What this means to you is the cost of a diagnostic process could go up as we peel back the onion.
The Colchin Auto team has tons of experience with diagnostics – here’s the data. 85% of all diagnostic processes we perform get solved in one single step. 15% require a conversation with you to battle plan the next steps.
The Trouble with “Troubleshooting”
It’s the big “unknown” and it can be scary. Often times people don’t communicate very well making diagnostics more mystical.
Ever been to the doctor when things just aren’t right? It’s not that fun – you don’t know what’s wrong, the doc doesn’t know what’s wrong (at least until they get you diagnosed). What’s it going to cost? Will my insurance cover it? Automotive diagnostic processes are not that far removed from medical.
Here’s the Play:
- You notice something amiss with your vehicle – warning lights on, abnormal noises, engine performance symptoms, transmission performance symptoms, leaks, brake system symptoms, heater doesn’t work, etc.
- You call Colchin Automotive, we listen, then ask some questions.
- A Colchin team member will explain costs BEFORE work begins.
- We will explain variables and how this could affect cost.
Communication between you and us is paramount to successful diagnostic processes – this is one way “we’re in this together.” Another aspect of “we’re in this together” is you telling us the whole story. Another aspect of “we’re in this together” is us playing fair. There are circumstances that arise when taking the unknown into the realm of the known that cause us to be inefficient. When and if this happens we take ownership of it and charge you fairly. This is our effort to be ethical.
Another aspect of “we’re in this together” the 130+ years of automotive repair experience at Colchin Auto. When we speak of the Colchin team we mean it. Automotive Diagnostics can be challenging and sometimes requires a team of experts to solve the mystery.
