Automotive Servicing Documentation, Quality Control, and Customer Service
What this domain tests
This domain covers repair orders, job documentation, quality-control checks, and customer communication. Expect questions on accurate complaint-cause-correction writing, authorization, parts handling, and final inspection.
Core rules and concepts
- Record the customer complaint in the customer's words, then state the cause and the correction. This is often called the three C's.
- Include VIN, mileage, date, technician, parts used, labor performed, and torque or measurement values where relevant.
- Obtain authorization before additional work. If the customer declines a safety-related repair, document the decline and have the customer sign.
- Quality control means checking your own work: fluid levels, fastener torque, wheel nut torque, leaks, and a road test. Use a checklist and sign off.
- Protect customer information and return or label replaced parts as required by the shop policy.
Worked example
A customer authorizes front brake pads but declines new rotors because of cost. The technician documents the measured rotor thickness, notes that it is near the minimum, writes that the customer declined rotor replacement, and obtains a signature. The reasoning is that the shop must inform and document, but the customer decides on the additional work.
Traps that cost marks
Writing vague complaints such as "brakes bad"; performing extra work without authorization; skipping the road test; failing to record torque values; and promising a completion time that the shop cannot meet.
Key points
- Document complaint, cause, and correction.
- Record VIN, mileage, parts, and measurements.
- Get authorization before extra work.
- Document declined safety repairs.
- Perform and sign a final QC check.