Finished, apart from the calibration
The car is repaired, painted, reassembled and valeted. The customer has been told it will be ready tomorrow. Then someone notices the estimate included a front camera calibration after the windscreen was replaced, and the mobile calibration company cannot come until next week. Or the calibration was done, but the report showing it passed is in the technician's email and not on the job, and the work provider will not pay without it.
Sublets sit at the edges of the repair, which is exactly why they are forgotten until the end.
Sublets are outside the workshop plan
Your management system plans your own departments. Sublet work depends on another company's diary, their visit to your site or your car's trip to theirs, and their paperwork. Each sublet supplier works slightly differently, and the booking is usually a phone call made by whoever remembers.
- Sublets are listed on the estimate but not flagged as needing a booking.
- Mobile calibration and glass technicians visit on set days and need notice.
- Some work must happen in a particular order, such as glass before calibration, and alignment before some calibrations.
- Calibration reports and sublet invoices arrive separately and have to be matched to the job.
What a late sublet costs
A car finished except for one sublet is a car that cannot go home. It holds a space, keeps a courtesy car out and adds days to your key-to-key time. If the evidence for a calibration is missing, the invoice can be held by the work provider, and the question of whether the car left in the right state becomes harder to answer.
Sublet invoices that are not matched to jobs are sometimes paid twice, sometimes not recharged, and sometimes queried by the supplier months later.
Order matters as well. A car that has its camera calibrated before the wheel alignment is done may need calibrating again. A windscreen fitted on the day the calibration van was booked, but after it had left, means a second visit. When sublets are booked one at a time as each becomes obvious, these clashes are hard to avoid.
How we build a sublet tracker
- When an estimate is approved, sublet operations (calibration, glass, alignment, air conditioning, specialist trim) are picked out from its lines and added to the job's sublet list.
- Each sublet has a supplier, a required-by date worked back from the repair plan, and any order it must follow, such as glass before calibration.
- Booking prompts appear in good time, with the supplier's contact details and the vehicle details they need. Where a supplier has an online booking route, we can use it.
- The sublet supplier's visit or collection is recorded, and the job cannot be marked ready until each sublet is marked complete.
- Calibration reports, alignment printouts and sublet invoices are attached to the job, read from email where they arrive in a consistent format.
- Sublet costs are checked against the estimate value so recharges are complete.
| Sublet | Usual dependency | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Windscreen | Before camera calibration | Invoice, glass details |
| ADAS calibration | After glass, alignment or bumper work | Calibration report |
| Wheel alignment | After suspension or steering work | Before and after printout |
| Air conditioning | After condenser replacement | Job sheet, invoice |
Which operations need calibration is for the vehicle manufacturer's information and your technicians and suppliers to decide. The tracker makes sure what was decided is booked, done and evidenced.
The end of the repair, without surprises
Sublets are booked when the estimate is approved, not when the car is otherwise finished. The workshop controller can see which cars have outstanding sublets and when they are due. At handover, the calibration report is on the job, and the invoice to the work provider goes with the evidence it needs.
You also see which sublet suppliers are reliable on dates, which matters more as more repairs involve them.
Signs sublets are slowing you down
- Cars wait at the end of the repair for one sublet.
- Calibration reports have to be requested after the event.
- Sublets are booked by phone when someone remembers.
- Sublet invoices are not matched to jobs.
- You are not sure every sublet was recharged.