What DVI software actually does.
A digital vehicle inspection is a structured walk-around the tech does on a phone or tablet instead of a clipboard. The inspection is broken into checkpoints (brakes, fluids, belts, tires, lights, suspension, exhaust) and each gets a Pass, Attention, or Fail rating. Anything below Pass requires a photo and a short note. The finished inspection is sent to the customer as a link.
The customer opens the link on their phone, sees every photo and note, and approves or declines each recommendation with one tap. Approved items prefill an estimate; declined items stay on the vehicle record for follow-up later. This collapses the broken-telephone problem of paper: instead of a service writer reading "rear pads 2mm" off a sheet over the phone, the customer sees the rotor.
Why DVI raises average repair order.
Trust through evidence. A customer who sees a 2mm pad measurement next to a photo of the rotor approves brakes at a much higher rate than a customer who hears "your pads are at 2mm" over the phone. The photo is the same evidence the tech is looking at, shared with the person paying for the work. Approvals climb because the customer stops doubting.
Speed of decision. A customer at work can't take a 10-minute call about a wheel bearing. They can tap an approve button between meetings. Most DVI approvals come in within an hour of the inspection going out.
Vendor case studies quote ARO lifts in the 10–25% range from DVI; independent shops that run it well (strict about required photos, and fast to send after the tech finds the issue) tend to land in the lower half of that range. Lazy DVIs, sent without photos or the day after the walk, produce smaller lifts. These are industry ranges, not a Pitlane result.
What to look for in DVI software.
Required photos on every Attention or Fail item.
Not optional, not 'recommended'. Required. The tool should refuse to send the inspection if a Fail item has no photo. This is the single biggest determinant of approval rate.
Customer-facing approvals on a plain phone browser.
No app install, no password, no account. The customer taps a text, sees the inspection, taps Approve or Decline per item. If your customer needs to download anything, you've lost them.
Item-by-item approval, not all-or-nothing.
A customer might approve the brake job, decline the alignment, and want to think about the timing belt. The tool has to handle that. All-or-nothing approval flows under-perform badly.
Declined items stay on the vehicle.
When a customer declines a recommendation, it doesn't disappear. It stays linked to the vehicle so the next service writer sees it and you can chase it later with a message.
Templates that fit your shop.
The checklist has to cover what your techs actually inspect. A general repair shop, a diesel shop, and a performance shop don't inspect the same things. Look for the ability to add and remove checkpoints.
A customer page that loads on any phone.
The customer might be on a 5-year-old Android in a parking lot. The approval page has to be a plain, fast web page, no install, that works on whatever they're holding.
Inspection-to-estimate handoff.
Approved items should prefill an estimate, so the writer isn't retyping every line into a quote.
A system that does the customer messaging too.
When the inspection is ready, the customer gets a text; when the job's ready for pickup, a payment link. The DVI tool should sit inside a system that handles the messaging, or the workflow falls apart at every handoff.
Pitfalls that kill DVI rollouts.
Techs who skip the photos. The minute one tech sends a Fail item without a photo, the rest of the team learns it's optional and approval rates drop. The fix is a tool that refuses to send until photos are attached, plus a service writer who sends it back when one is missing.
Service writers who call before sending the inspection. The old reflex is to call first to 'warm them up.' That gives the customer time to form an objection before they see the photos. Send the inspection first. Call only if they don't respond in 30 minutes.
Inspections that go out two hours after the tech finished. The customer's window for fast approval is right after the walk. By the time the inspection goes out at 3 PM, they're in a meeting and the approval doesn't come back until tomorrow. The bay sits.
All-or-nothing approvals. If the customer can only approve the whole estimate or none of it, you lose the customers who would have approved 60% of the work. Item-by-item approvals routinely produce a higher approved total.
Declined items that disappear. The customer declines a $1,200 brake job, the shop never follows up, and 90 days later they're getting it done at the chain down the street. Track declined items per vehicle so you can chase them later.
Where Pitlane fits.
Pitlane's DVIs are built around the customer-approval flow. Pass, Attention, Fail per checkpoint, with a photo and video on any item you want to show the customer. The customer gets a link by text, opens it on their phone, and approves item by item. Approved items prefill a new estimate; declined items stay on the vehicle, and PitCrew drafts a recovery message on demand that you review and send.
Every inspection starts from a standard 22-point checklist; add or remove items on the car in front of you, so the sheet matches the job without anybody maintaining a template library. The customer page is a plain HTML page that works on any phone with no install (it runs on wifi or LTE). See the digital inspections feature page, or compare in the context of a full platform against Tekmetric and Shopmonkey.
DVIs come with the plan. Pitlane is $200 a month, everything included. 30-day free trial, no credit card, no setup fees. CSV import from any source. Pitlane charges a 0% platform fee on Stripe payments tied to approved estimates (Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ per charge still applies).