Audi technicians to double as film producers

This week Audi Centre technicians across the UK will begin to double as 'Audi Cam' film producers to further the brand's quest for absolute clarity and transparency in its customer relationships, writes New Car Net.

The new Audi Cam service will be the first in the world to enable technicians carrying out workshop inspections to focus the small, hand-held video cameras on specific problems, deliver verbal diagnoses and then send the resulting film clips to customers' home computers or smartphones before any work begins.

According to Autotrader, links to the videos are then sent to a customer's computer or smartphone, where they can access them via a secure Web site with a unique PIN code.

The Web site allows users to review work, which is graded as 'urgent' 'advisory' or 'for info', with a breakdown of costs also provided. Customers can either reject the work, arrange for a call-back to discuss it further or simply add it to their online shopping basket should they wish to proceed.

“By effectively beaming the workshop to our customers' homes or smartphones, Audi Cam greatly simplifies the service and repair process, and at the same time breaks down more of the barriers between the service bay and the customer that have traditionally fostered scepticism and suspicion,” Motorward quotes Paul Sansom, head of Aftersales and Service for Audi UK, as saying.

“This is genuine progress through technology in the best tradition of Vorsprung durch Technik.”