Warranty Inspection Services

Tell us about your company and the services you offer.

Founded in 2003, Warranty Inspection Services (WIS) focuses on mechanical breakdown inspections for the VSC industry. We provide next-business day inspection reports throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Our success has been predicated on providing unrivaled customer service and customized solutions to meet each of our customers’ respective needs.

Our promise to our customers is to provide a comprehensive report in the timeliest manner possible. Our thorough, accurate, complete inspection reports are reviewed by WIS’ in-house, ASE-certified automotive professionals and our network of over 1,000 experienced mechanical inspectors ensures that our customers have the information they need to properly handle each claim.

How does your service work, and how is it different from other inspections services?

Our service is similar to other inspections services in that we receive requests from VSC administrators to inspect vehicles for certain concerns, we dispatch a highly-qualified inspector to the location and we return a detailed, professionally reviewed report to the customer. Our service is differentiated by its technology.

We have invested a significant amount of money into developing a proprietary tool that allows our inspectors to provide a faster, more accurate inspection, which are the two touchstones that are most important to the administrators. One of the additional benefits of this investment in IT is that we are in position to do direct integrations with any administrator to help facilitate easier, faster, more accurate data transfer.

We have also partnered with the major providers of claims management software, F&I Admin and StoneEagle, to bring integration to their customers. Every minute that is saved by an administrator is another minute that their adjuster can be on the phone with a customer. That can help improve the administrator’s service level and, often, their bottom line.

Who are your target markets, and what message do you want to express to them?

Our target market is VSC administrators. Our overall message has always been one of flexibility. Every customer, even within the same industry, has unique concerns and needs. If one customer wants our inspector to address every concern on the RO, even if it’s not in the reasons for inspection, while another customer wants us to address only those concerns we are specifically asked about, we will give each customer exactly what they want. It’s our job to adapt to the needs of our customers, and recognize that the adage “the customer is always right” is, in fact, true.

What channels do you use to sell your services?

We market our inspection services directly to VSC administrators, and try to maintain a visible presence at VSC industry functions and conventions.

Looking back over the past five years, how has the inspection industry changed? How do you see it changing in the future?

The inspection industry has been relatively slow to change until recently. Several years ago, there was the move from faxed, handwritten reports and photos sent in the mail to web-based reporting. But after that, the industry stood still for a number of years. Then, in 2010, WIS developed a proprietary system called VeriScan, which allows our inspectors to essentially copy the information in a vehicle’s on-board computer, and upload that information along with digital photos, video, and the written report while on-site.

This has had a tremendous impact on the speed and accuracy of our reports. VeriScan allows us to be different — and better. Other inspection companies have pushed inspectors to purchase hardware and subscribe to data services, but WIS provides both the hardware and the data plan to the inspectors for free, so that gives us an advantage. WIS has also added video to our inspections for those concerns where sound and/or motion are particularly important to make a good decision.

What technology or additional services do you believe will drive your future success?

We will continue to leverage our in-house IT department to drive our future success. We will push integration directly with our customers and with the major players in the claims software industry. For example, we are currently in discussions with a large customer to send one of our developers to their site to do the integration for them. We will also continue to evolve VeriScan to use the latest technology and to run on the latest platforms such as tablet computers and smartphones. Finally,we will continue to listen to our customers and develop new services and technologies to help them do their jobs better.