Frequently Asked Questions

You don’t! Data, pricing, application updates and more, are kept current on the servers that deliver Microcat parts solutions to your web browser. There’s no action required by you or members of your team, other than entering your user name and password to access a Microcat parts solution.

Microcat parts solutions store notes, settings and work-in-progress orders Infomedia’s central servers, so all your notes and work-in-progress orders are secure and accessible from any computer you connect to.

Microcat parts solutions come with the most honest and transparent business model in the industry. There are no long-term contracts, bundled hardware or expensive options – we earn your business every day! During peak selling periods, subscriptions to Microcat parts solutions can be quickly added and removed.

Microcat EPC was the first EPC to include automated push parts transfer into DMS as a standard free feature. DMS integration is facilitated by the DMSi module, which provides seamless push transfer from Microcat EPC to your DMS. Infomedia has worked in partnership with leading DMS providers to develop bi-directional communications capabilities. This will create greater sales potential by having the two systems communicating during the selling process, rather than just transferring a parts list at the end of the interpretation.

Infomedia’s Customer Service representatives provide dealers with friendly and prompt help desk support, Monday through Friday. Customer Service phone and email details are listed on the Contact page.

In addition, access our quick and efficient See and Learn videos and register for comprehensive webinar product demonstrations under the Dealer Support menu. Our See and Learn videos demonstrate key Microcat functionality in just a few minutes.

Microcat EPC is a multilingual application and supports up to 26 languages for the user interface and parts information. Microcat PartsBridge supports dealers in French-Canadian.

To increase customer service retention, to have an expert system for precision service quoting, and to sell more service uniformly and easily. Its detailed information gives prospects a sense of certainty and control, while giving the service advisor an air of confidence. Altogether, it’s a formula for service sales success and better Fixed Operations financial control.

Infomedia takes service menu quoting very seriously. Superservice Menus is a flagship product created by a dedicated team of service experts. It empowers dealership personnel with Precision Quoting^SM to quote consistently and well. It not only deals with the technicalities of the repair, but also the buying psychology of the prospect. Superservice Menus is designed to win the confidence and patronage of your service prospects by creating an experience of certainty and trust.

Superservice Menus is not an ‘All Makes’ menu package. The goal of its quality and precision is to support dealers to serve and retain their most important service asset — their core vehicle customers.

It creates and maintains VIN-specific service and repair menus so you can quote and sell service repair operations in seconds. Each service menu is updated automatically when parts, parts pricing, service times or shop supply charges change. Compared to other menu products, Superservice Menus is remarkable value for money.

Creating and maintaining your own menus takes a lot of time and effort. Maintaining VIN-specific repair operations is not economically sustainable for individual dealers when time, resource and technology constraints are taken into account. With Superservice Menus you get a precision quoting system that is always up-to-date and online, for a fraction of the cost of doing the work yourself. Superservice Menus frees up your team’s valuable time to serve people, not computers.

Absolutely. Superservice Menus uses genuine up-to-date automaker parts and service data. That data is then richly compiled into VIN/model specific menus by Infomedia’s specially trained service analysts. The result is a set of accurately created and maintained OE menus. All operations are created based on VIN-specific attributes that allow Precision Quoting results every time. The service maintenance schedules from the automaker are strictly followed. The repair information and replacement parts are carefully researched using official repair manuals and parts catalogues. For every operation, the labour, parts, fluids and shop supplies are pre-interpreted. Parts and VIN data are updated routinely in line with the automaker publication schedule.

People are generally uncomfortable in situations they are unfamiliar with. They feel unequal or out of control, especially when dealing with money. When that happens, some overcompensate for such feelings by being difficult. Such interactions can be in-person, on the telephone or via email. They are amplified when the prospect has a previous experience where service promises were broken — expected repairs weren’t successful, or prices were misquoted. All these things generate mistrust.

Superservice Menus not only deals with the calculation of a winning quote, but it deals with the psychology of the customer to increase their likelihood of accepting it. This psychology is based on using information and perception to give the prospect a feeling of being in control of their service quote experience. Using Superservice Menus, the service advisor steps through a process designed to create trust by using very accurate information to create the quote, and transparently sharing that with them. The service advisors own confidence, which results from using the system, contributes to the customer’s sense of trust. Finally, when the vehicle is repaired as promised and as quoted, the trust is affirmed and sets a new benchmark for the next time they return to the dealership.

Yes! Superservice Menus is more than a prospect winning and customer satisfying quote generator. It also contributes to productivity, profitability and risk reduction of your whole Fixed Operations division.

Speaking of the non-sales benefits, it reduces the need for a parts representative to identify the parts required for an RO. It provides accurate information to the service advisor, leaving the parts representative to work on other business. Inventory and handling costs are better controlled as the exact parts are matched by Superservice Menus to the service or repair operation. The speed of response to your service customer enquiries is increased manyfold, contributing to customer satisfaction performance objectives. Precision Quoting assures that inputs to the quotes are not missed, which might cause the dealership to lose out on a job. It also assures that a quote isn’t over-padded, “just in case,” causing the dealership to lose the job itself. It eliminates keyboard errors as the quote can be transferred directly to the DMS to open an RO for an accepted quote.

Superservice Menus smooths out the skill-level curve of inexperienced service advisors and technicians by supporting more technical or mechanical staff to successfully perform the financial task of quoting. Superservice Menus easily integrates into dealership process control policy, providing more certainty for management that customers will be served in a consistent and best-in-class manner.

Superservice Menus has service and repair information for passenger and light commercial vehicles covering the most recent 8 to 10 years (depending on the franchise). Each new model is automatically added at the time it is released.

Superservice Menus is a complete online system for Precision Quoting. It is accessed from any computer device with an Internet compatible browser and connectivity. It is self-contained and easy to use. Its rich features allow users to positively identify vehicles by VIN; select VIN-specific service and repair operations using text or graphics; be advised of additional services to offer; compile and print a detailed quote; and transfer quotes to the DMS to create an RO — to mention just a few of its functions. It can also print lifetime service cost forecasts for any specific vehicle, technician check sheets, and customer authorisations for service work. Most importantly, it builds an accurate, tightly costed quote, in a confident manner that generates customer certainty and trust. Because there is no special equipment to purchase and no software to install, your service advisors will be up and running in minutes. In terms of specific functionality, learn more here.

All scheduled service maintenance operations and a selection of over 300 popular repair operations per model are covered. The list of repairs has been carefully researched in liaison with franchised dealers. Operation details are presented in an easy-to-view format with flexibility for dealer editing if required. All aspects of the job are included and the operation code and description are easy to remember and consistent for operations across models.

Superservice Menus integrates with a number of leading DMS to facilitate easy cooperation. The level of integration varies with each DMS.

Yes, very easily and very professionally. Quotes can also be printed and saved for future reference.

Superservice Menus is accessible online 24 hours a day, without you having to do any software or data maintenance. It is untethered and ready to use anywhere and anytime you want. Service advisors can use a tablet, laptop or desktop computer to service the sales prospect at the vehicle, on the driveway, in the bay, or anywhere else. Performing the quote in the customer’s presence, adds to the positive customer psychology of them being in control of their situation, which in turn leads to more ready acceptance of the service offer.

This newfound freedom and precision will facilitate new business possibilities for service managers with creative sales and marketing minds. Dealers, who claim the leading edge and adopt Superservice early, will push out the bounds that limit revenue growth and customer satisfaction.

To be able to consistently implement genuine vehicle health checks in a way that expands customers’ sense of being informed, involved and in control of their service experience. It empowers dealerships with a rapid means of adding authorised repair work to the initial RO and effectively following-up deferred work for a return service visit.

Superservice Triage is the next generation in dedicated vehicle health check solutions. Its multi-point inspection process stands out from the crowd with a number of fundamental advances.

Some of these are:

• Full and instantaneous job pricing. Through integration with Superservice Menus, Triage applies precision job pricing as the inspection progresses. There is no waiting to discuss add-on repair authorisation with the customer while dealership staff price the work, nor does the customer see the technician do an off-the-cuff estimate. It’s precise, it’s detailed, and it’s generated by a computer.
• Simple step-by-step process controls that, when followed, assure a high level of primary and secondary job authorisations from customers who feel informed and satisfied.
• Integrated performance statistics allow technicians and management to track, measure and improve work identified, sales conversion and follow-up conversion rates.

The manual nature of a paper-based process is inherently inefficient and ineffective. It’s difficult for management to measure its effectiveness. Often, Technicians see it as an automaker imposed chore. Each checksheet generates more work for parts and service technicians to complete. By the time that’s done the customer is gone, making its usefulness as a sales aid a tough uphill slog. Each day that paper-based processes are used, thousands of dollars in service opportunities are lost.

All that goes away with Superservice Triage. Technicians don’t wait at the parts or service counters for pricing information, as they do with manual systems, because Triage prices the work instantly. The value of the inspection isn’t lost when the RO is closed, because Triage tracks deferred work for an easy sales follow-up call. Customers don’t get upset when the invoice doesn’t match an ad-hoc quote, because the Triage quote is precise.

Unlike a manual checklist, with Superservice Triage each inspection and staff follow-up performance can be tracked in real-time from your desktop. Technicians have more billable hours and less waiting hours. The amount sold per repair order improves. So does customer satisfaction as they feel their car is being processed with a precise system and not in an ad hoc way.

The old saying “if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it” is very true for vehicle health check systems. Superservice Triage provides an efficient, straightforward process that maximises the opportunity for each RO. As well as increasing service sales, Superservice Triage also highlights any poor inspection and conversion statistics via management dashboards or, if you prefer, reports emailed straight to an inbox.

When armed with these tools, life is made easier for users and managers alike and performance can be continuously measured and improved.

The Triage process has been designed to give service customers the psychological support they crave — information, involvement and the feeling of being in control. At every step in the inspection process — from the service lane greeting to a professionally detailed and costed vehicle inspection report — customers experience informed transparency about their repair order that leads to trust.

Superservice Triage empowers service advisors to discuss with the customer the priced work identified by the inspection, without leaving the service lane. Connection with the customers is never broken while prices are gathered. In the eyes of the customer, because the work is priced and detailed by the computer, the Service Advisor becomes a service facilitator versus a salesman. The service advisor empowers the customer to choose needed services either at the time of inspection or later during a satisfaction follow-up call. Triage’s VIN-specific check sheets, automated job costing, and descriptive details frees up significant time for service advisors. These extra advisor minutes pay dividends when they are applied to relationship development with the customer. That better relationship, Superservice Triage’s look and feel, its competitive precision pricing and its process and outputs all help retain customers and their goodwill.

Superservice Triage integrates with a number of leading DMS brands to facilitate easy cooperation. The level of integration varies with each DMS. Call customer support for specific integration features.

DMS Partners include:

Yes, as well as the default standard automaker inspection sheets, dealers can customise them to suit particular dealership or group requirements.

No. Superservice Triage is a sales tool that also delivers valuable personnel productivity gains. Most common operations can be quoted and scheduled without input from the parts department.

Through its integration with Superservice Menus the most current VIN-specific parts are automatically interpreted for all common repairs. The same is true of labour time, fluids, workshop supplies and other costs that would normally require staff to look-up and write down. With Triage all interpretation and pricing is done with ease at the time of inspection. The significant saving in staff time becomes a valuable productivity dividend to the business.

Because they quickly recognise it’s in their interest to do so. Most service advisors and technicians are compensated by billable labour hours and/or RO value.

Superservice Triage slashes the time required to create a full priced and detailed vehicle inspection, freeing up billable time. The accurate and computerised nature of the Triage process itself uplifts the esteem of the service advisor and technician in the eyes of the customers, and leads to larger service order authorisations on the spot and later when followed-up — bigger RO values. As well as Triage giving customers a stronger sense of being in control of their service situation, it does the same for service advisors, technicians and management. Management have fingertip access to a wealth of follow-up business and statistical information — it’s gold.

No. Dealers who use Superservice Triage discover there is substantial potential for revenue growth and customer relationship building by following-up deferred work. Following-up deferred work is not cold calling. Because customers already have their Triage inspection report, they are aware their vehicle is not 100% right. There are many reasons customers don’t initially authorise work; it could be due to finances, or they think it’s not critical, or they just need time to think about it. But whatever their reason, they can’t escape the fact they have a professional estimate that identifies work that should be done on their vehicle to secure its safety and value.

Superservice Triage stores and organises inspection reports and acceptance status. It supports a number of ways to follow-up customers. When their Service Advisor makes contact after the initial service, they are able to further facilitate the customer’s consideration of the outstanding work. They can use technical skill and commercial knowledge to help each customer choose more work to be done from their inspection report. This interaction not only yields more service work and increases utilization rates of dealership fixed costs, but it also furthers a trusting bond between the advisor, customers and dealership.

Being an online system, Service Advisors can make follow-up calls from home outside of normal business hours, and still have access to the full Triage information suite.

Yes. Inspection reports can be provided as PDF documents and emailed directly to customers.