Remote support such as that offered by Repairify is helping workshops to extend their in-house capabilities

The conversation in workshops has shifted – not just around diagnostics, ADAS, or OEM access, but around time, cost, and pressure on the day-to-day running of the business.
Fuel prices are back in the spotlight again, and for many repairers, that pressure doesn’t just show up at the bowser – it flows through everything from parts logistics and sublet work to vehicle movements and job delays.
Every unnecessary tow, every extra trip to a dealer, every job that leaves the workshop and comes back again; it all adds up. Especially as in some parts of Australia, those distances aren’t small.
At Riverland Collision Centre, vehicles were being sent hundreds of kilometres just to complete ADAS calibration or OEM-level diagnostics.
“We had no choice. For some vehicles, the nearest dealership was in Adelaide. That meant sending cars hundreds of kilometres just to get the job finished,” Riverland Collision Centre Assistant Manager, Jake Beaumont, explains.
It wasn’t just the transport that was a problem either; it was the delays, the cost, and the lack of control over when the job would be completed.
“We’d be waiting on dealership availability,” Jake said. “Sometimes they were booked out for weeks.”
That kind of model is becoming harder to sustain, and at the same time, the technical side of repair hasn’t stood still.
“We’ve gone from mechanical repairs to vehicles that are heavily software driven. You’re not just fitting parts anymore; you’re interacting with systems,” Repairify General Manager, Matt Douglass, said.
Modern vehicles are built around integrated electronic systems: ADAS, powertrain, radar, cameras, steering and stability systems all communicate with each other to perform Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) functions.
A repair that once involved replacing a component may now require calibration, programming, or OEM-level access to complete correctly, and that’s where many workshops are feeling the strain.
As Repairify’s Sean Quinn explains: “you’ll get most of the way through a job and then hit something that just won’t complete. That’s where the time goes.”
“Traditionally, that moment has meant sending the vehicle elsewhere, to a dealer, a specialist, or to whoever has the right access or tooling to finish the job,” Sean said.
“But with rising fuel costs and increasing pressure on turnaround times, that approach is starting to fall apart.
“For many workshops, the question is no longer whether they can do the work, it is whether they can finish it efficiently, in-house.”
Repairify says this is where remote support is starting to play a more defined role, not as a replacement for workshop capability, but to extend it.
At Riverland Collision Centre, that shift has been immediate. Instead of sending vehicles hundreds of kilometres, they’re now completing ADAS calibrations and OEM-level diagnostics in-house.
“We were struggling to keep complex diagnostic jobs in-house,” Jake said.
“Repairify’s Remote Services changed everything – our turnaround times are faster, we’ve cut outsourcing costs, and our technicians are more confident than ever. It is a gamechanger.”
Importantly, it is not about using remote support on every job.
“It is not every job. It is the jobs that stop you,” Repairify’s Bradley Hewson said.
“That distinction matters, because in a high-pressure environment, with rising operating costs and tighter margins, the biggest gains don’t come from changing everything.
“They come from removing the friction points – the jobs that sit, the steps that stall, the moments where progress stops.”
At stand AF24 of the Collision Repair Expo, co-located with the Australian Auto Aftermarket Expo (AAAExpo), Repairify will be demonstrating how remote support fits as part of everyday workflow, from initial diagnostics through to programming and ADAS calibration.
“Modern repair is no longer just about having the right tool. It is about having the right support behind it, at the moment it is needed – and in the current environment, that’s quickly moving from optional to essential,” Matt said.

To learn more about Repairify, visit www.repairify.com.au