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CarAdvise, an online vehicle maintenance, scheduling and discounted repairs marketplace, has launched a new partnership with Affirm, a financial lender of installment loans.

This partnership will give CarAdvise members availability to choose a long-term payment option for their vehicle maintenance and repair purchases.

CarAdvise’s platform allows members to search, compare prices and book vehicle and maintenance appointments online. Until today, members only had the option to pay at checkout via credit card. Now members will have the option to select Affirm as a payment method at checkout, allowing them to pay off maintenance over time.

The Affirm payment program will allow CarAdvise members to pay for their maintenance or repair over a three-, six- or 12-month period.

Source: CarAdvise that are needed, and press for some level of standardization among the automakers.

To do this, VanHulle said, “We need more data on what’s being found in the real world. Right now we have a lot of anecdotal examples of strange things that were found during inspections,” such as when a shop discovers a “bad actor” has installed resistors on a vehicle to mask that an airbag module is missing or inoperable.

“We need a lot more than just those anecdotal examples,” VanHulle said.

I-CAR has posted a brief form (https://rts.i-car.com/srs-inspection-feedback-form) shops can use to submit information on the SRS inspections they perform, what triggered the inspections and what was found.

“And pictures, pictures, pictures,” VanHulle said. “I’m sure any of the people who deal with estimating have seen not very good pictures from the industry. If you give us a picture that is so extremely close I have no idea what part that is even on, it’s not a great picture. I need ones with geography. I need to be able to see what the part looks like

and where it’s located, and have it as clear as it can be.”

By providing real-world findings to the OEMs, he said, the automakers may be able to include common things to look for during inspections, and it could be incorporated into I-CAR training. Vague references to “inspect for damage” could be replaced by step-by-step processes.

“The more data we can get, the more accurate information we can then have to work with,” VanHulle said. “This is not something we’re going to do for a week. This is a long-term data gathering.”

I-CAR’s effort was welcomed by Jason Bartanen, vice chairman of the Collision Industry Conference (CIC) Emerging Technologies Committee. He points to one automaker whose procedures call for removing an undeployed airbag to inspect it, then reinstall it using new fasteners.

“But they only service the fasteners with the airbag,” Bartanen said. “That presents huge obstacles. You’re essentially replacing an undeployed airbag because we had to take it out and inspect it. That’s where I think we can do a lot of good with this.

“The OEMs have shown that they are responsive. The more information we can get them, the ideas for solutions…They are open to it and they’ve shown a willingness to change.”

I-CAR has posted a brief form they are asking shops to use to submit information on the SRS inspections they perform

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Focus on Electric Cars

tiple options, such as hybrids and fuel-cell cars. He also said these vehicle types need to compete with one another to offer people the best options.

While Ford, GM and Volkswagen have made it clear they’re going “all in” related to a future of EVs, Toyota argues battery-powered cars aren’t necessarily the way of the future. Moreover, it believes “non-electric cars” will continue to thrive in markets across the globe.

“Some people love battery-electric vehicles but others don’t see the current technologies as convenient,” Toyota’s Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda explained. “In the end what matters is what customers choose.”

As we previously reported, Toyota is saying publically it will leave the decision to car shoppers. However, Toyota isn’t just citing a lack of demand for EVs as the only concern.

Rather, according to Automotive News, it also suggests the materials needed to make EV batteries “could account for a larger share of total emissions than those from tailpipes.”

Nonetheless, Toyota did say it will make an effort to reduce production costs associated with EVs, though it will do so by producing them alongside other vehicles that don’t use battery-electric powertrains.

Toyota says to truly reduce carbon emissions, automakers must look at a vehicle’s entire lifecycle, not just its tailpipe emissions.

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