What is an eVHC: an electronic vehicle health check is a technician's inspection of a vehicle in the workshop, recorded on a tablet or phone against a fixed checklist, with each item graded red, amber or green and the findings sent to the customer as a digital report.
An electronic vehicle health check, shortened to eVHC, is the paper vehicle health check moved onto a tablet or phone. The technician works through a fixed list of items, grades each one red, amber or green, attaches photos or a video, and the report goes to the customer digitally instead of being read out over the phone.
It matters because the paper version leaks. A sheet that lives on a clipboard gets summarised by an advisor in thirty seconds, and the customer decides on the summary. The electronic version keeps the evidence attached to the finding, timestamps it, and makes the outcome (approved, deferred, declined) a recorded event the department can count. In the UK and Ireland the term is eVHC or electronic VHC; in North America the same practice is usually called a digital vehicle inspection (DVI) or an electronic multi-point inspection (MPI). The underlying check is described in vehicle health check; this entry is about what the electronic layer adds.
How an eVHC works
- Booking in. The service advisor opens the repair order and the eVHC is attached to it, often with a checklist chosen by vehicle type or service interval.
- The check. The technician walks the list on a tablet: tyres with tread depths, brake pad and disc measurements, lights, wipers, fluids, battery, visible leaks, suspension, exhaust. Each item gets a grade and, where it is amber or red, a photo or a short video.
- Pricing. Amber and red items are priced from the parts and labour system, usually by the advisor, sometimes automatically from a menu.
- Sending. The customer receives the report by SMS, email or WhatsApp as a link, with the grades, the media and the prices, and a way to approve, defer or decline each line.
- Recording. The decision comes back into the system against the repair order, so identified work, sold work and deferred work are all visible on one record.
Red, amber and green in an eVHC
The grading is a traffic light and nothing more sophisticated. Red means the item needs attention now, typically a safety or legal issue such as a tyre below 1.6 mm or a brake pad at the wear limit. Amber means it will need attention soon: a tyre at 3 mm, pads at 4 mm, a wiper that smears. Green means checked and fine. The report built from these grades is often called a RAG report, and the wording on the customer copy matters as much as the colours.
Two things separate a good eVHC from a bad one at this stage. First, measurements: "amber" with a tread depth photo showing 3 mm is a fact the customer can check, while "amber" alone is an opinion. Second, consistency: if two technicians grade the same pad differently, customers notice on their second visit.
eVHC example: a four-year-old hatchback in for its annual service
A hatchback at 48,000 miles comes in for a service and MOT. The eVHC takes about twelve minutes. Tyres front 5 mm and 5 mm, rear 2.5 mm and 2.4 mm. Front pads 7 mm, rear pads 3 mm. Everything else green apart from a screen wash top-up.
The report goes out mid-morning: two rear tyres marked red with the depth gauge in shot, rear pads marked amber with a photo against a ruler, and prices against each line. The customer opens the link at work, approves the tyres, defers the pads to the next visit, and the approval arrives on the advisor's screen before lunch. The tyres are fitted the same day, the pads are logged as deferred work with a follow-up date, and the customer collects the car with nothing to argue about at the desk.
What an eVHC does not do
- It does not inspect anything. The technician does. A weak technician with a tablet produces a weak check faster.
- It does not sell the work. A report with prices and no explanation converts poorly. The advisor still has to explain why the rear pads matter, and that is where a short video from the technician does more than a photo.
- It is not the MOT. An eVHC is the workshop's advisory check. The MOT is a legal test with its own criteria and its own record. Grading an item amber on an eVHC says nothing about whether it would pass or fail a test.
The common mistakes: running the check on every car but only sending the report when there is something to sell (customers notice the pattern); pricing amber items so aggressively that the whole report gets ignored; and never reviewing the grades, so red creeps into amber territory to soften the conversation. Ten random eVHCs read cold each month shows the drift.
Who owns the eVHC record
The check belongs to the repair order and lives in the eVHC system, the DMS, or both, depending on the integration. The department's numbers come out of it: identified work per vehicle, the share of amber and red items sold, deferred work carried forward, and the technician's completion rate. The service manager owns those numbers, the advisor owns the conversion on each report, and the technician owns the accuracy of the grades.
Video sits naturally inside this practice, because the customer is being asked to approve work on a part they cannot see. With Venta Video, the technician records a short clip of the worn part on a phone during the check, and the customer receives it as a branded page over SMS, WhatsApp or email with approve, book or pay buttons, so the eVHC finding and the decision travel together. See how service departments use it on the automotive aftersales page.
