Enter eMobility with BusStore
A used Mercedes-Benz eCitaro for Stadtwerke Eberbach.
Digital aids to quality checking
BusStore Vienna uses an app to inspect pre-owned buses
Pre-owned buses and coaches from BusStore enjoy an outstanding reputation in the sector. For each vehicle, customers receive information as to its current state. That digitalisation is also making its mark here can be proven by a visit to BusStore Vienna.
Before pre-owned buses and coaches go on sale at BusStore, they receive an in-depth quality check. This goes without exception for all the pre-owned bus brand’s locations. In Austria, digital aids are being used for this uncompromising quality inspection. Since February 2019, a tablet and app combination has been used. This was developed in-house at the Vienna BusStore under the leadership of Franz Illitz. Using it, processes can be simplified without any reduction in quality at all.
Simple documentation of the vehicle status
The process takes place on site as follows. The bus is driven into the workshop for the quality check, as usual. Here, the tablet and the new app come into play. The app shows the catalogue of elements that have to be checked. Inside the bus, this runs from inspecting the driver’s seat through testing the audio and video systems, checking the on-board kitchen, toilet, interior lighting and flooring. Then, an overall impression of the bus is given. At every point, the app provides various options to the garage employee as to how to evaluate the item in question.
At the same time, the tablet gives the opportunity to photograph defects and save the photo as documentation under the item in question. The quality check follows the same process for the exterior. Here, among other things, the doors, front and rear sections, sides, including luggage compartments, and roof are checked. It is here that scratches are often found, ones that are not readily apparent in daily operation, as experienced inspectors such as Alois Tauchner in the Vienna garage know. Finally, an investigation by a vehicle mechanic provides the last few necessary facts. A check of the tyres, brakes, motor and suspension and corrosion monitoring round off the quality inspection. After the check-up, the technical status of the vehicle is inspected with regard to road safety.
Also a practical tool for vehicle acquisition
If a customer wishes to trade in a vehicle with BusStore, the quality check provides a well-founded basis for this. The bus operator gets a reliable image of the status of the vehicle.
Quality checking via the app helps to make the vehicle acquisition process much faster for the customer. The data provided are then directly emailed to the BusStore seller and the customer as a PDF. Even before the motor of the bus has cooled, the bus operators will have the exact results of the inspection. These will then provide a solid basis for determining the resale value of the vehicle.
“We want to achieve a point where the checks can be carried out over a shorter time. And that without harming the quality. The results should get to our customers as fast as possible,” explains Valeriu Vasile-Weber, head of BusStore Vienna in Austria. This is why, to date, only positive feedback has been received about this new, customer-oriented process. No surprise that the next stages of digitalisation are already being planned at BusStore Vienna.
