An innovator delivering the only complete Shop Success Solution driving profitable growth for the independent auto repair shop industry: AutoVitals

In the digital world, we live in, cars have become more and more complex. Along with that, auto repair businesses are also evolving, and several new auto shop management and repair software have made their debut in the recent past. Customers now want things to be done fast and easy, and often digitally. Auto shop owners can make use of the technology to save time and organize their business, estimate repair costs, provide digital vehicle inspections, and create a proper communication channel for their customers. All this leads to delivering an excellent customer experience and increased loyalty that will contribute massively to your business growth.

Globally there are various companies delivering excellent solutions for auto shop management, but AutoVitals stands out from the rest. Automotive repair shops are a vital part of every local community, and shop owners work so hard to service customers, hire & retain employees, and generally run a profitable business. Consistently reaching that level of business success is nearly impossible without great software solutions these days. AutoVitals was created 10+ years ago to help the hundreds of thousands of North American shop owners grow and scale profitable businesses with the help of easy-to-use but robust technology.

In conversation with Jon Belmonte, CEO of AutoVitals

Q. Can you explain about your services in brief?

AutoVitals drives profitable growth for the independent auto repair shop owner. We have solutions to a. increase the # of customer appointments at the shop (CRM, shop loyalty programs, shop websites, digital marketing), b. drive up the amount of work each customer approves and buys during their visit (digital vehicle inspections) and c. the shop efficiency (workflow management that enables the shop to get more work done with the same number of mechanics and vehicle bays)

Q. Attempting workflow automation without the fundamental preconditions for success is likely to be costly, and destined to fail. How do you manage to formulate a clearly defined strategy?

We have a multi-pronged approach to product development and innovation. Our history is based on spending time with actual shop owners and shop employees within their shop environments to learn how they operate, what works well and what needs improvement, how we can reduce the time it takes to perform mundane tasks and complex processes throughout the day, and so on. Our product team then works closely with our client advisory group as well as our internal Customer Success Advisors – some of whom are former shop employees – to hone the details around product enhancements. Of course, it’s an iterative process where the goal is to continually make the software more efficient for clients with each new release.

Q. How was it working through the pandemic? How challenging was it for you?

From the beginning, our shop clients were deemed ‘essential businesses, ‘which was helpful from a business continuation standpoint. However, given that most people were afraid to leave their homes during those first few months, business dropped off for our clients. During this time, our CRM and loyalty rewards solutions were critical to bringing motorists into shops for repairs and maintenance. But once people emerged from their homes that summer, our shops started seeing record levels of appointments. At that point, our digital vehicle inspection (DVI) tools helped shops ensure they were selling the most important work to their highest priority customers. And they relied heavily on our workflow solution to manage all those repairs and maintenance without adding more vehicle bays or technicians/mechanics. So while COVID presented some challenges to AutoVitals and its clients, it’s been a very successful two years all around.

Q. What can you tell us about your company culture?

We take our Core Values very seriously at AutoVitals.

• We’re Customer Focused: you can’t work at AutoVitals if you don’t genuinely care about customer success. Your fellow AVators (i.e., AutoVitals team members) won’t stand for it if you’re not...
• We’re Impactful: Caring for clients is not just about answering the phone on the third ring.
• It’s about making an effort needed to ensure your clients are reaching new levels of success as a result of relying on your solutions to run their businesses.
• We’re Innovative: While we’re the product of all the new product categories we’ve created for the independent repair shop software market, being innovative also means continually looking for a better way to do things…for clients, for each other, for the company.
• We’re Accountable: We’re reliable, we follow through, and we have a sense of urgency …particularly as it relates to supporting clients and each other.
• We’re real: We celebrate our wins, but we are also realistic about where we can continually improve our product, support, and general way of doing things. We’re proud of all the client success stories we’ve enabled over the years; they motivate us to push ourselves harder to achieve even more in the future.

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way?

Always! We continue to build on our technology lead by rolling out new features and products, including updated CRM, text-to-pay capabilities, and even more robust integrations with new and existing diagnostic hardware used by all types of shops. And we’re hard at work developing our organization into a place where all current AVators can build a career for themselves through training, hands-on problem-solving experience, and career path regardless of what one’s long-term goals entail.

Meet the leaders behind the success of AutoVitals

AutoVitals CEO Jon Belmonte is passionate about helping businesses reach their full potential through a mix of great tools, industry best practices and awesome support. Prior to AutoVitals, Belmonte was CEO and COO of ACTIVE Network (ACTV), co-founder & CEO of Cursive Labs and of Spoutable, and was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Jon earned his MBA from Kellogg (Northwestern University) and his BSE from Wharton (University of Pennsylvania).

AutoVitals Founder Uwe Kleinschmidt is passionate about building solutions for the independent automotive repair shop owner to succeed in the digital era. Prior to starting AutoVitals 10+ years ago, Uwe spent 15 years with Robert Bosch in a variety of positions around the globe, building software to help master the transition to highly-computerized cars. Uwe is the inventor of multiple patents and is an Ironman finisher.

“The AutoVitals’ team is obsessed with enabling shop clients to achieve results never before possible with traditional paper-based methods”