The high stakes aftermarket telematics game
In a recent column I wrote about the impact on consumer choice and the industry-wide business consequences of embedded OE telematics devices. That column was written in the weeks leading up to the Auto Care Association Legislative Summit in Washington D.C.
Thank you and congratulations to those of you who made the trip to call on your elected officials and express to them your position on the issues that matter most to you. In a recent Auto Care Association membership survey, 41 percent of respondents put “Vehicle Data and Telematics” at the top of the list of issues the members are most concerned about.
That concern is well-founded and appropriate. By 2020, 90 percent of the vehicles sold in the U.S. will be equipped with technology that communicates with the OE vehicle manufacturer and their dealer network. The OE dealer network will receive trouble codes and symptoms the moment they occur. You can be sure they’ll use that information to their advantage to proactively market service to the vehicle owner. This will create a disadvantage for the independent aftermarket when it comes to servicing the computer-controlled (nearly everything) components of a modern vehicle.
A lot of aftermarket energy and capital has been invested in developing a safe and secure method for the aftermarket to participate in telematics and give the consumer control and choice in where the data from their vehicle is sent. A technical proposal for a secure vehicle interface (SVI) was presented to Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) earlier this past year.
This proposal, representing the consensus of the major aftermarket trade associations, service organizations, the Equipment and Tool Institute and AAA, got no response from the principal automotive technical gatekeepers for months. When SAE finally responded, the answer was “no.” It didn’t come as a great surprise that the OEs were not warm to a technical proposal from the aftermarket. But, nearly a year was lost to this cycle of proposal – wait – rejection. In the meantime, more connected vehicles are hitting the road that the aftermarket is blind to.
Over the last several years a number of technology companies have introduced plug-in telematics devices or dongles to provide consumers with many of the connected features they crave without the need to buy a connected car. Demonstration videos commonly show a family driving along when their check engine light comes on.
When they safely pull over to consult with the smart phone app or speak with the associated call center, they learn that the code probably indicates a failed oxygen sensor, for example. But, the vehicle is no closer to being fixed and with the assurance that it is safe to continue driving the vehicle, the O2 sensor is ignored – until the next emission test. The vehicle is connected – but the service shop is not.
At AAPEX this past year, an announcement was made that changes the aftermarket telematics story in an important way. Mitchell 1 announced a program in partnership with Entricit that links as many as 8 million vehicles that are currently equipped with a plug-in telematics device with the shop of their choosing running Mitchell 1’s shop management system – Manager SE.
Entricit has partnered with many of the leading plug-in telematics device makers and provides connectivity to the Entricit Cloud. Mitchell 1 is a market-leading provider of shop management systems and connects many thousands of shops to their cloud. Through a seamless integration between Entricit and Mitchell 1, the moment a Check Engine light comes on, the vehicle identity, location, mileage and trouble code are routed to the shop that the consumer has previously chosen. With this level of connectivity, the aftermarket has a genuine chance to contact the customer, schedule an appointment and service the vehicle.
This solution adds a valuable new feature to the dongle at no added cost to the consumer. It also integrates seamlessly with the shop management system from Mitchell 1, providing the shortest and most efficient path from detection to diagnosis to scheduled appointment. The cost to the consumer (or fleet operator) is zero after the initial dongle purchase and the cost to the shop is fixed and minimal, regardless of the number of devices they are connected with.
Perhaps most important of all is the connectivity with devices from multiple suppliers through a single interface. Previously, a shop had to commit to the dongle-A plan or the dongle-B plan – and hope their partner was the winner in the marketplace. The Mitchell 1 /Entricit solution allows the consumer and the shop to remain loyal to the technology they already have. They just added more value to aftermarket telematics painlessly – and that’s very cool.
As exciting as the Mitchell 1 announcement is, it remains an aftermarket plug-in remedy to a critical automotive problem. Connectivity through a device plugged into the OBDII port is limited and could be jeopardized if future generations of vehicles make use of wireless connectivity – and the OBD port goes away.
Industry associations and all aftermarket stakeholders must redouble their efforts to compel cooperation from the vehicle manufacturers. The scale of this challenge has been called Right to Repair part 2, or the Consumers Right to Choose. The difference from Right to Repair is that we don’t have 10 years to wage a campaign with the public and lawmakers to bring the car companies to the table.
By 2020 there will be 250 million vehicles in the U.S. that communicate wirelessly only with the OE. Perhaps 10 percent of those will choose to plug-in a redundant aftermarket device. The remaining 225 million will “phone home” to the OE when trouble is detected. The time for the aftermarket to act in a bold and decisive manner is now.
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