Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) Workflow

The PPI opportunity

A buyer walks into a yard to inspect a used car, takes it to your workshop for a proper check, and you charge $220-$400 for the work. That's commonly the highest-margin labour-only revenue an independent workshop sees, no parts cost, no warranty exposure, no comeback risk.

Most workshops do this ad-hoc on a paper checklist. The buyer drives away, you never see them again, and the brand value of your inspection report ends up scribbled on the seller's desk.

The Pre-Purchase Inspection app turns this into a productised service: a 120-point digital checklist, a phone-friendly buyer report the customer can show to the seller for negotiation, and three pre-configured pricing tiers.

Install the app

1. Open App Marketplace
2. Find Pre-Purchase Inspection Reports under Automotive. Its monthly price and any trial are on the card, and on the Pre-Purchase Inspection Reports app page
3. Click Install: 14-day free trial, cancel anytime

Pricing tier suggestions

The app ships three pre-configured pricing tiers. Standard market pricing:

• Basic ($199-$249): body, brakes, tyres, road test, OBD scan. 60-90 minutes. For buyers who want a sanity check on a sub-$15K used car.
• Standard ($319-$399): Basic + suspension, drivetrain, cooling, electricals, fluids, full body diagram with paint thickness readings. 2 hours. The "I'm about to spend $25K" tier.
• Comprehensive ($499-$699): Standard + dyno, leak-down test, alignment check, AC performance, full history audit (rebirths / write-offs / odometer rollback flags). 3-4 hours. Used for prestige and rare imports.

Price per-vehicle-class:

• Add $50-$100 for 4WD / ute / van (more under-body to inspect)
• Add $100-$200 for European prestige (specialist tools)
• Add $80-$150 for EV (battery health, charge port, software version)

Step 1: Start a new inspection

From the dashboard or the vehicles list, click + New PPI (top right). On the intake form:

1. Customer: link to an existing contact or create one. PPI customers often don't already own the vehicle, capture their phone first, the rego they're inspecting second.
2. Vehicle being inspected: enter rego, VIN if accessible, year/make/model
3. Tier: Basic / Standard / Comprehensive
4. Price: auto-fills from the tier, override if needed
5. Scheduled time: when the buyer is bringing the car in

Step 2: Run the checklist

Open the inspection from the PPI list. The 120-point checklist is grouped into sections:

• Body & paint: panel-by-panel inspection, paint thickness gauge readings, evidence of resprays or filler
• Mechanical: engine compression, cooling system pressure, oil condition, transmission fluid, drivetrain noises
• Electrical: battery state, charging system, OBD scan, dash warning lights, all lights/wipers/horn
• Suspension & brakes: shock test, bushing condition, brake pad and rotor measurements, handbrake function
• Tyres & wheels: tread depth per tyre, wear pattern, DOT date, wheel alignment readings
• Road test: at-speed, low-speed, braking, steering pull, transmission shifts
• History flags: manual check of PPSR, NEVDIS, REVS, buyer brings the search result

Each line item is Pass / Concern / Fail / N/A with an optional photo and a free-text note.

Step 3: Generate the buyer report

When the checklist is complete:

1. Add an Overall summary: 2-3 sentences in plain English. This is what the buyer reads first.
2. Add a Negotiating points section, itemise concerns and failures with rough cost-to-rectify. This is the dollar amount the buyer can ask off the asking price.
3. Click Generate buyer report: produces a phone-friendly PDF in your workshop branding

The report URL is tokenised, share with the buyer via SMS or email straight from the inspection record.

Step 4: Save the template for re-use

The second 2018 Toyota Hilux you inspect should take half the time of the first. After completing an inspection, click Save as template to reuse the same line items, common-issue flags, and pricing for the next vehicle of the same make/model. Templates surface in a dropdown on the next intake.

Pricing-page hook

Workshops who install both this app and Capped-Price Service Menu can list "Pre-Purchase Inspection from $199" on their booking page menu, drives PPI bookings without explicit selling.