Robotic tire changing

These things can’t be cheap, but it seems that there are some businesses that have already bought this robotic product.

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Automation affects the lowest skilled jobs first.

I am waiting for the robotic oil changer. :grinning:

No no no, first will be the service writer job. It will ignore anything you tell it about the problem and just enter “no worky- fix” on the repair order. It will also come preloaded with a bunch of nonsense explanations about how your widget came to be broken and what it will take to repair it.

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I think ChatGPT could do the service writer job right now!

I asked it to write a 500 work article on why old Bugatti racecars had so much positive camber on their front wheels. The article was well written and easy to read but it was wrong! Isn’t that a service writer in a nutshell? :laughing:

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But you’d need it to also be able to upsell. We paid our service writers a healthy commission for selling any work other than what the customer came in for.

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Does it peek at your brakes to see if further inspection is recommended or required??

This would be great for the Discount tires and Walmart’s of the world that don’t check for anything…
But how much will the tire rotation cost now at a place that just dropped $$$$ on these things??.. The return on investment will take a long time…

My experience with Discount Tires has been good plus our local Walmart also does a good job .

Blanket statements just do not work .

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It does if I am talking about shops that only do tire stuff and oil changes… I have never heard of Walmart or Discount tire do any kind of brake inspections… They don’t even mess with damaged wheel studs, the ones close to my old work locations would even sell the customer a tire and then tell them that they had a bad wheel stud and could not mount the tire so take it elsewhere the new tire is in the trunk…
Remember that the ones of us that actually work(ed) on vehicles for a living see way more then the ones righting the check(s) for having the repairs done…

BTW: I never said anything negative about them, just that they don’t do much (in terms of service) and the robots would be good for them…

It’ll be like McDonald’s. Drive up and punch some buttons on a kiosk. Proceed to stall two.

Then again, how do you know we are real people and not just pre programmed responses? Huh?

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First statement from robo-service-writer to customer: “They all do that”

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Only if it is warranty or a bring-back! :crazy_face:

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How long does it take to recoup a few hundred thousand bucks if the robot replaces, say, 3 people? If a shop operates for 2 shifts, it could be maybe 6 people.

Do you want a robot or Jiffy Lube employee to change your oil? Quite a quandary…

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I gonna say robot… less likely to strip my drain plug! :ghost:

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Or forget to add oil after draining…or drain the transmission by mistake…

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Some JLs like the one near me have the foreman check the work before releasing the car to the customer. I don’t like their prices, upsells, and ignorance of brand specific requirements, like Honda transmission fluid.

No surprise, the next level after artificial intelligence is artificial stupidity! :laughing:

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I just want to give credit where credit is due… My wife’s '85 Corolla, 230,000 plus miles on it, bought new, Dealership still gives us the "Life-Time Free Oil Changes, State Inspections, and Drive Train for Life… does not get our Tire business…

She buys her tires from Tread Quarters Discount Tire and Auto Service Center in Newport News, VA.

When she brought her car in to have the tires rotated, below is the inspection sheet that they did on her car. And I could see that they used and actual Torque Wrench to tighten the Lug Nuts…

I know some might ask just how accurate is their Torques Wrench and when was it last certified…

These, I cannot answer, but I and darn sure it is a lot more accurate than someone using a Pneumatic Impact Wrench…

Tread Quarters Discount Tire and Auto Service Center in Newport News, VA.

Discount Tire is not the same as above, Discount Tire is the complete name of a company that only sells and repairs and rotates wheels/tires only…

https://www.discounttire.com/store/va/newport-news/s/2074?y_source=1_MTU0MTY0OTctNzE1LWxvY2F0aW9uLndlYnNpdGU%3D

BTW: I am very familiar with the Sheet you posted, it has been redone many times over the years but the left side was the Courtesy Check, and the right side (required removing the wheels) was the Vehicle Inspection…

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