Digital Vehicle Inspection (DVI): How to Run One

A digital vehicle inspection, or DVI, is the courtesy inspection your techs already do, recorded on a phone or tablet instead of a paper sheet: each item gets a green, yellow or red rating, a short note and, where it matters, a photo or video. The customer gets a link, sees what the tech saw and approves work line by line.

More on this topic: Running an auto repair shop, every guide in one place.

This guide covers what to check, how to rate it consistently, what a useful photo looks like, how the tech's workflow runs on a phone, and how to send the results so customers say yes for the right reasons.

The short answer

A digital vehicle inspection (DVI) is a multi-point inspection recorded on a phone or tablet. The technician rates each item green (good), yellow (needs attention soon) or red (needs attention now), adds notes and photos, and the shop texts or emails the report so the customer can see the evidence and approve each recommended repair.

Key takeaways

• Use one checklist for every car, so every customer gets the same inspection and your ratings mean the same thing from tech to tech.
• Write down what green, yellow and red mean for each item, with measurements where you can (pad thickness, tread depth).
• Every yellow and red item needs a photo or measurement and a plain-English note; no evidence, no recommendation.
• Send the report with the estimate grouped by priority, and record each approval with the date, time and who approved.
• A DVI raises approvals because customers can see the problem, not because it pushes more work. Keep greens on the report too.

Disclosure: we make BayRobin, an AI receptionist and front office for independent repair shops, and show where it fits. Everything here works without it. Figures from other companies come from their public pages, checked in October 2026 and linked at the end.

What is a digital vehicle inspection?

It's the same multi-point inspection shops have done for decades, with two changes. First, the findings are captured digitally with photos and notes, so nothing depends on the tech's handwriting or the service writer's memory. Second, the customer gets the report itself, usually as a link by text, instead of a phone call that asks them to trust what they can't see.

That second part matters more than the software: with a photo of a cracked belt next to a note and a price, the question stops being whether to believe you and becomes when to fix it.

Cars are older than ever: S&P Global Mobility put the average US light vehicle at a record 12.8 years in 2025. Older cars mean more owners deciding what to fix now and what can wait, and a clear inspection helps them decide.

What should a DVI checklist include?

Keep the standard checklist short enough that techs complete it on every car, and add items for specific services rather than lengthening the default. A sample to adapt:

Checking open recalls at every inspection is cheap goodwill; see how to check for open recalls for the steps. The free recall check by VIN lists NHTSA's recalls for the vehicle's year, make and model, with the component, risk and remedy, to note on the report as "may apply" until you confirm by VIN.

How do you rate items green, yellow and red?

Ratings only build trust if they're consistent. Write your own definitions and put them on the wall. A common setup:

Set measurement thresholds for the items that have them, such as pad thickness and tread depth, so two techs looking at the same car give the same rating. Those thresholds are your shop's call; write them down once and train to them.

Don't drop greens from the report. A report with 30 green items and 2 reds reads as a careful inspection. A report with only 2 reds reads like a sales pitch.

What does a good DVI photo and note look like?

• One photo, one point. Frame the problem so a non-mechanic can see it: the crack, the leak, the gauge reading. Use a pointer or a finger in the shot.
• Show a comparison where it helps: the dirty filter next to a new one, a worn pad next to a new pad.
• Write the note for the owner, not the tech. "Front brake pads are at 2 mm. New pads are about 10 mm. Below 3 mm they can damage the rotors." beats "FR pads 2mm RPL."
• Say what happens if they wait, honestly. If the honest answer is "nothing much for a few months," say that and rate it yellow.

How do technicians run a DVI on a phone?

The best workflow is the one your techs finish on every car without slowing down. Here's a typical one:

1. Open the job on the phone at check-in and photograph the odometer and the dash with the engine running.
2. Work through the checklist in the order you walk around the car, so you don't backtrack: tires and brakes on the lift, then under the car, then under the hood.
3. Rate every item. Add a photo and a one-line note to every yellow and red.
4. Add the recommended service for each yellow and red item, so the service writer gets a draft estimate, not a list to decode.
5. Mark the inspection complete; the service writer reviews it, adds prices and sends it.

Have the service writer review every report before it goes out, and spot-check a few inspections a week against the car.

In BayRobin, digital inspections run in the technician's phone browser: each item green, yellow or red with notes and photos, and recommended work from the findings. There's no native app, and you can run the same process with a paper sheet and phone photos.

How do you send the inspection to the customer?

Send the inspection and the estimate together, by text if the customer agreed to texts, with a short message from a named person. Example:

Hi Dana, it's Marco at Elm Street Auto. Your Camry's inspection is ready, with photos: [link]. Two items need attention now (front brakes), one can wait. Call or reply with any questions, and approve what you want done right on the page.

Then call if there's a red item, especially a safety one. The report does the explaining; the call answers questions and gets a decision.

Record each approval or decline. Some states set rules for this. California's Bureau of Automotive Repair, for example, requires the customer's authorization before any repair, recorded on the estimate: a signature and date if written, or the date, time, the name of the person authorizing and the phone number or email contacted if it's oral or electronic. Check your own state's rules. How to lay out the estimate itself is covered in how to write an auto repair estimate.

How does a DVI raise approvals honestly?

The honest way a DVI raises approvals is simple: customers approve repairs they understand. A few rules keep it that way:

• No red without a photo or a measurement.
• Group the estimate as now, soon and later, so the customer can fix the safety item today and plan the rest.
• Let customers decline without pressure, and follow up on declined yellows at their next visit or by a reminder. See following up on declined repairs.
• Never recommend work to hit a number. Track approval rate per service writer, but review the reports behind a rate that looks too high.

A worked example, with illustrative numbers rather than data: a 4-bay shop with 3 techs runs 90 cars a month. If inspections turn up one approved yellow or red item on 1 car in 5, at $350 each, that's 18 × $350 = $6,300 a month in work that was there all along. For context on what typical repair orders look like, Tekmetric's Shop Index, from its own customers' shops, puts the national average repair order at $704.25 for data through June 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How long should a digital vehicle inspection take?

For a standard courtesy inspection, many shops aim for 15 to 25 minutes on a car that's already on the lift, but that's a goal to set for your own checklist, not a standard. Time a few inspections and trim the list if techs are skipping items to stay on schedule.

Should shops charge for a digital vehicle inspection?

Many shops include a courtesy inspection with every visit and charge separately for diagnosis of a specific problem. Whatever you choose, say so before the work and put it on the estimate.

What's the difference between yellow and red on an inspection?

Red means fix now: a safety issue or a failure that will cause more damage. Yellow means wear or a minor issue the customer can plan for at a coming visit. Write measurement thresholds for each so every tech rates the same way.

Do I need special software for a digital vehicle inspection?

No. You can start with a standard checklist, phone photos and a shared link or email. Software makes it faster by turning findings into an estimate and recording approvals, which matters once you do it on every car.

Where BayRobin fits

BayRobin's inspections, estimates and invoices work together: findings become recommended work, the customer approves or declines each service on one link, and phone approvals are recorded with your name. Open NHTSA recalls for the vehicle's year, make and model show on the inspection marked "may apply". BayRobin is free until your first 10 booked jobs, no card up front. Start free or see pricing.

Related: how to write an auto repair estimate, declined repairs follow-up, average repair order, inspections, estimates and invoices.

Sources

Competitor details in this post were checked against these public pages in October 2026. Products and prices change, so confirm with each vendor before you decide.

• Repairer Driven News: average vehicle age reaches 12.8 years (S&P Global Mobility, 2025)
• Tekmetric Shop Index (data through June 2026)
• California Bureau of Automotive Repair: Write It Right (documentation and authorization requirements)