Big-Time Boxes: Rich Bolton III, Mobile Automotive Service Solutions
Rich Bolton III doesn’t just have a diagnostic cart — he has an entire diagnostic van. The mobile technician works for Mobile Automotive Service Solutions and calls on shops around the Charleston, South Carolina area. He says that properly organizing the toolbox on his truck is key to his success. The box takes up one side of the van and has two overhead cabinets, plenty of drawers, a big workspace, and a side cabinet. It was custom built by Aluminum Cabinet Company to perfectly fit the van.
“Being a mobile technician, most of what we do is diagnostic and ADAS calibrations, so we are almost entirely set up for computer-based tools. Organization is probably the most important thing for us," he says. "Since we have so many different tools, it’s important for us to be able to access them quickly and efficiently.”
The box is set up to power all these tools and it has a built-in inverter on the bottom. A lot of the drawers have built-in power so tools can be charged in the drawers, not just on top of the box. One drawer is dedicated to electrical diagnostics and another is dedicated to key making and programming.
Bolton’s favorite part of the box is the lockable side cabinet that houses his computers and scan tools, and has all of the vehicle communication interfaces (VCIs) hanging on the door.
“Before, everything was in the top drawer and we had to pull it out and it would bounce around in there and end up being disorganized,” he says. “With this, everything is right there, ready to go.”
Before this custom toolbox, Bolton had big full-size toolboxes on the van, but they were very heavy and took up a lot of space, he says.
“We decided to go this route because it allows us to customize the toolbox to our van and also allows us to maximize space — that’s the key part,” he adds.
On the other side of the van there is equipment mounted on the wall since it won’t quite fit into the van’s tool box.
“We have to maximize the space for each van and we have to make sure it stays secure and doesn’t get damaged as well,” says Bolton.
The van is an independent power source with a couple of tank batteries built in, so that it doesn’t have to rely on power at the shop it serves.
“A lot of times when we go work at a shop it’s important for us to supply our own power because we might be too far away for an extension cord. It’s just easier to have access right there,” he says.
Since every call is different and Bolton works on every brand of vehicle, he needs a scan tool for every brand there is. He has a custom-built laptop that is his favorite piece of equipment on the van.
“Most of our factory scan tools are in the laptop in different drive partitions. Since most of what I do is computer based, that’s the most important tool and probably the single tool I spend the most time with,” he says.
Bolton most commonly gets called for control unit programming with OEM software, ADAS calibrations, and electrical diagnostics. But every day is different and forces him to "rise to the challenge" — something Bolton truly enjoys.
“Diagnostics is my favorite because oftentimes when we are called out to a job, it’s already been looked at by a few other people and we are the last resort,” he says. ‘It’s fun figuring out problems that other people can’t.”
