This post in 30 seconds.
- The script: five beats, word for word, for presenting identified work from the vehicle health check: the reason for the visit, what's fine, the red items, the amber items, the ask.
- The catch: the words are not the problem. Customers who get photos or video with the findings spend $640 on the repair order against $410 without (Cox Automotive), so the same script delivered on a 40-second video outperforms the phone version.
- Who it's for: service managers and aftersales managers who want one script the whole desk uses, and the advisors who have to say it.
The health check comes back with a red brake item and two ambers. The advisor picks up the phone, reads the findings off the screen, quotes the number, and hears the sentence every service drive knows: "Just do the service for now, I'll sort the rest later."
They won't sort it later. It goes to the independent down the road, or it waits until the pad is metal on metal.
A service advisor script for presenting identified work fixes part of that. Below is the script we see working, in beats, with the red and amber versions written out. Then the part the training guides leave out: the same script delivered on video next to the car, with timings, and the follow-up for the amber work the customer declined.
Service managers know the version of this call that ends with "just do the service": the estimate was fair, the advisor was honest, and the customer still said no because all they had was a voice and a number. Venta Video, a product of VentaVid, is built to put the worn part in front of them instead. See how it works on your write-up flow on a 15-minute call.
Why the phone version of the script underperforms
Every training site has a version of this script. Most of them are decent. What none of them isolate is the channel it gets delivered on, and that is where the numbers move.
Cox Automotive's 2026 Fixed Ops and Ownership Study put it in dollars: customers who received dealer-provided photos or videos spent $640 on their repair order, against $410 for customers who didn't. Same shops, same findings, $230 apart.
J.D. Power's 2026 CSI study found 64% of dealership customers want photo or video evidence with their inspection results. Only 26% of mass-market customers get it.
That gap is bigger than any difference between one advisor's wording and another's.
A customer approves what they can see, and declines what they have to take on trust, which is why the channel matters more than the phrasing. In the UK, RTC counted 3.3 million electronic vehicle health checks in a single year that identified £1.43 billion of work. Just over half the red work converted, and £950 million was ignored or done elsewhere.
That £950 million was all identified. A technician found it, an advisor presented it, and it walked. Our dealership service department statistics page collects the rest of the data if you want the full picture of where declined work goes.
So use the script below. Just don't expect the words alone to fix the approval rate.
The five beats of the identified-work script
The service advisor has about two minutes of the customer's attention for this. Five beats, in this order, every time. The order does most of the work.
- Beat 1, close the loop on why they came in. "Hi Sarah, it's Tom at the service desk. The service is done and the noise you mentioned was the heat shield, which we've secured." The customer relaxes. The reason they booked is handled before you ask for anything.
- Beat 2, what's fine. "The tech went round the whole car. Tyres, battery, suspension and the rest are all in good shape." Ten seconds. It proves the check was an inspection, not a hunt for recommended work, and it makes the next beat believable.
- Beat 3, the red item. Part, measurement, consequence, price, ask. "Front brake pads are at 2 millimetres. The wear limit is 3, so they're past it. Left as they are, the pad backing will start into the disc and the job doubles. Pads today are [price]. Shall I get that done while it's on the ramp?"
- Beat 4, the amber items, one at a time. "Two things to plan for, not today's problem. The rear tyres are at 3 millimetres, so you'll want them before winter. And the cabin filter is due at the next service." Each one gets its own timeline and its own yes or no.
- Beat 5, the ask. "So the brakes today, and I'll note the tyres for October. Does that work?" Then stop talking.
Two rules sit under all five beats. Present everything the multi-point inspection found, in priority order, because a customer who later discovers an item you skipped never trusts the check again.
And put a measurement on every red item. "Worn" is an opinion. "2 millimetres against a 3 millimetre limit" is a fact the customer can repeat to their partner.
If your advisors are new, this is the block worth building service advisor training around. Everything else in the visit is easier than this call.
The red work script, word for word
Here is beat 3 on its own, because it's the one that pays for the department.
The phone version: "Sarah, one thing the tech flagged that I'd call urgent. The front pads are at 2 millimetres, the limit is 3. That's past the point where it's a choice. Left as they are, the pad wears through to the backing and takes the disc with it, so a pads job becomes a pads-and-discs job. Pads today are [price], and the car's already on the ramp so there's no second visit. Shall I go ahead?"
Notice what that script does not do. It doesn't apologise, doesn't say "the tech recommends", doesn't offer a discount before the customer has objected. It names the part, gives a number, explains what happens next, and asks.
On camera, the words are the same. What changes is that the customer is looking at the pad while you say "2 millimetres". The technician holds the gauge against the pad, the camera sees the measurement, and the sentence "that's past the limit" stops being a claim.
That's why dealers who run video multi-point inspections don't rewrite their scripts. They record them. The service video does the proving, and the advisor's call, if there still is one, becomes "did you see the video, any questions?"
The amber work script: on the day, and after the decline
Red work converts around half the time, and every trainer has a script for it. Amber is where the £950 million lives, and most scripts handle it with "we'll keep an eye on that". Two versions are needed: one for the day, one for the decline.
Amber on the day
One item at a time. Timeline, then choice.
"Rear tyres are at 3 millimetres. Legal, and fine for now, but they'll be at the limit by winter. We can do them today while the car's here, or I can book them in with your next service. Which do you prefer?"
The choice matters. A customer asked "do you want tyres?" hears an upsell. A customer asked "today or October?" hears a plan.
Either answer keeps the work at your dealership, and either answer is a customer-pay job that was found for free.
Amber declined: the follow-up
Most amber work is declined on the day, and that's fine, as long as it's booked rather than dropped. Cox Automotive found 69% of consumers rate reminders about previously declined maintenance as highly helpful, and those reminders influence 28% of unplanned dealer visits. Declined amber is a lead with a date on it.
The follow-up, sent a few weeks before the timeline you gave them: "Hi Sarah, Tom from the service desk. When you were in with the car in June we noted the rear tyres at 3 millimetres and said October. Here's the clip from the day so you can see where they were. Want me to book them in?"
Two things make that message work. It quotes the customer's own timeline back to them, and it reuses the video from the original visit, so they see the same tyre they saw in June.
A text that says "your tyres may need attention" is spam. A text with the clip and the date is a reminder they asked for. Both feed your upsell rate without a single cold call.
If the amber follow-up is the leakiest part of your drive, book a 15-minute demo and we'll walk through how the declined-work clip gets reused, on your own health-check flow.
The 40-second video version, with timings
I've listened to advisors deliver this script over the phone and then on a 40-second video next to the car. The words barely change. The outcome does, because the customer is no longer being asked to believe anyone.
Here's the red item as a video, second by second. The technician or the advisor films it on their phone, in the bay, in one take.
Three things to keep in mind when filming it.
- Show the measurement, not just the part. A gauge on a pad, a depth tool in a tread, a torch on the leak. The number the customer hears is the number the customer sees.
- Keep the good news in. The ten seconds of "these are fine" is what separates an inspection from a pitch. Cut it and the video reads as a sales message.
- End on the button. "Tap approve below" only works if there is an approve button below. That's the difference between a video and a video page.
With Venta Video, that page is what the customer receives. The clip sits on a branded page with approve and pay buttons, it goes out by SMS, WhatsApp or email, whichever channel the customer already uses, and the advisor gets a notification the moment it's watched. Across the dealers using it, 85% of service videos are viewed within 15 minutes of being sent, which is a shorter wait than most callback tags.
One Suzuki dealer, Mohsin Haider Darwish, lifted customer approval rates from 68% to 88% with Venta Video. That's the script above, delivered on a channel where the customer can see the pad.
If you want the mechanics of how a clip becomes an approvable page, we've written up how to turn a video into a link and how personalized video fits an aftersales workflow. The short version: nobody edits anything. Film, send, watch the approval come in.
What not to say
A script is also a list of things you've agreed to stop saying. These are the ones that cost approvals.
- "The tech recommends..." Passes the decision to someone the customer hasn't met. Say "the pads are at 2 millimetres" and own it.
- "You might want to think about..." An invitation to decline. Give a timeline instead: "before winter", "at the next service".
- "It's up to you." True, and useless. Ask the question: "today, or shall I book it?"
- "I can do you a deal on that." Offered before an objection, it tells the customer the first price was padded. Hold the price until they push back.
- "While we've got it in the air, we noticed..." Sounds like a hunt. Beat 2 exists so the findings arrive as an inspection, not an ambush.
- A part number. "Brake pad set 5Q0698151" means nothing. "Front pads, past the wear limit" means something.
The fix in every case is the same: say the clearer thing. That is the whole reason a script exists, and the reason dealers who put the findings on video stop needing most of the objection handling.
What identified work is worth on your drive
Walk the math on one advisor. These are example numbers. Swap in your own.
Not all of that comes back. Some of the amber should wait. But that column is the pool your presentation is drawing from, and moving the declined share from 50% to 40% on those numbers is about $7,700 a month per advisor, on work your technicians already found. Our aftersales page shows what the flow looks like end to end.
The cheapest way to test it is to pick one advisor and one week. Film the red items, send them as video pages, and compare the approval rate against the week before. Start a free trial and send the first one this afternoon; there's nothing to install on the customer's side.
Frequently asked questions
What is identified work on a vehicle health check?
Identified work is anything the technician finds during the health check or multi-point inspection that the customer didn't book in for. It's usually graded red (needs doing now), amber (plan for it) and green (fine). Red and amber together are the identified work the advisor presents for approval.
How long should the identified-work presentation take?
About two minutes on the phone or at the desk, and around 40 seconds on video. If it runs longer, you're explaining instead of showing. Put the measurement in front of the customer and the explanation gets shorter on its own.
Should the advisor or the technician present the video?
Either works, and plenty of dealers do both: the technician films the finding in the bay and the advisor adds a short intro or handles the call afterwards. What matters is that the person on camera is standing next to the part. A video recorded at the desk loses the proof.
What do I say when the customer says "I'll think about it"?
Agree, then book it. "Of course. The pads are at 2 millimetres, so I wouldn't leave it past the end of the month. Shall I pencil you in for the 28th and you can move it if you need to?" A date keeps the work at your dealership. An open "let me know" sends it down the road.
Do I present amber items on the day or later?
On the day, one at a time, with a timeline and a choice: today while the car's here, or booked with the next visit. Then follow up a few weeks before the timeline you gave, ideally with the clip from the original visit. Amber that's presented once and never followed up is where most identified work leaks.
How do I stop the script sounding like an upsell?
Lead with what's fine, put a measurement on every red item, and give a timeline instead of a pitch. Two in three US drivers say they don't trust repair shops in general, and 76% worry about being sold work they don't need. Showing the part on video answers that worry faster than any wording.
Does video really change approval rates?
The independent data says yes. Cox Automotive found customers who received photos or video spent $640 per repair order against $410 without, and 49% said it made them more likely to approve. One Suzuki dealer using Venta Video took approvals from 68% to 88%.
Talk to us
If identified work keeps leaving your drive unapproved, the fastest way to see what changes is to watch the red-item script go out as a video on your own health-check flow. Fifteen minutes, your advisors, a car in your bay.
What it takes to start.
- 7-day free trial, no credit card required, so your advisors can film and send real health checks before anyone commits.
- No editing. The technician films on the phone they already carry.
- We'll show it on your own write-up flow first if you'd rather see it before trying it.
A real person from the VentaVid team runs these demos on your own service drive.
Book a 15-minute demo and bring your worst-converting amber item.