Posted on December 21, 2024 by Kirsten Waters
Certain manufacturers require that dealerships retain all documents relating to warranty claims for at least a few years following the date of claim payment. In 2008, BMW implemented the electronic archiving (EAS) program. Honda and BMW dealerships can become electronic archiving certified to shred their paper warranty documentation and electronic documents will be accepted for warranty audits.
Benefits of Shred Certification
Automotive dealerships that utilize an approved electronic document scanning and archiving system reap many benefits to aid their dealership in the short and long-term.
- Reduces expenses. A dealer that obtains and maintains electronic archiving certification is exempt from the requirement of keeping hard copy records, drastically reducing their filing and storage costs. Scanned documents qualify in the place of original paper files for all service and warranty documents. Additionally, total retention of electronic documents is reduced to three years instead of five, unless required otherwise by state law.
- Saves time. Warranty audits can be conducted online using the scanned documents, removing the costly manual process of maintaining and finding paper files.
- Minimizes security risks. Shredding documents minimizes the security risk of sensitive customer information being left of employee’s desks or misplaced in the dealership. Becoming certified adds convenience and security to your dealership document storage and management.
How to Become Certified
A dealership may request electronic archiving certification (EAC) from the manufacturers to have the dealership and dealer personnel who perform the scanning and archiving work certified.
What to Record and Scan
Dealership personnel who receive this certification must record and scan the following:
- Technician notes
- Appropriate signatures
- Final invoice
- Original work order
- Any other documentary evidence
To meet the manufacturer’s record retention requirements, dealerships must also meet any legal retention requirements.
One View Solution Benefits
1. The online storage system stores documents so that are legible and readable. One View software prevents alterations or deletions of documents and provides all employees with granted permissions the ability to quickly retrieve repair orders.
- One View backups are stored off site. One View back ups all data daily so dealerships always have 24/7 access to your customer information.
- One View makes electronic document retrieval easy and immediately available online for audit purposes and every day work. RO documentation is retrievable by the last 7 digits of the VIN. One View allows users to search by the last 6, 7 or 8 numbers.
- One View scanners auto-detect content on the back of a sheet and capture both sides in one pass.
- One View’s dynamic exception report ensures all files are captured and archived. One View’s exception report displays the documents that have been scanned into One View but are not currently matching in your dealer management system (DMS). It also reports the documents that have not yet been scanned into One View but are in your DMS. This detailed, dynamic report enables dealership management and accounting employees to ensure compliance by verifying all documents are scanned into the system properly. Further, they can drill down to track each unscanned or unmatched document to resolve within minutes.
One View document scanning solution meets the Honda and BMW certification requirements.
Steps to Get Started
If you would like assistance with getting started on having your dealership shred certified, contact us or your Zone Office representative.