Jan. 20, 2020—Frank Terlep, longtime collision repair industry expert, left asTech in July 2019 to venture out and start a new company.
From 2001-16, Terlap built two automotive software companies, including Summit Software Solutions and Summit eMarketing Sherpas.Terlep joined asTech in 2017 and served as the company's chief technology officer and senior vice president of global innovation.
His new company, Auto TechCelerators, is launching a solution to perform, manage, document and bill for test-drives.Test Drive CoPilot is a patent-pending product.
Terlep, co-founder and CEO of Auto TechCelerators, says that, these days, there is no easy way for a shop or technician to have test drive information readily available and document where the drive happened, how much it cost and how fast it happened. The new service was designed to enable shops to quality-control the test drive, make sure the drive is being performed to OEM repair procedure standards and get reimbursed for the work.
In order to use the service, shop operators and technicians can download the app, Test Drive CoPilot. Downloading the app is free, Terlep says, but the operator needs to subscribe to a service to use the app's features.
The app helps the shop eliminate a worry for a customer or insurer who otherwise would not have known what happened during a test drive after the car is repaired According to Terlep, the documentation of the process aids the shop in the case of liability.
Behind the scenes, Terlep has a team of a little less than ten people that is helping him build the test drive software, a team that is testing the application and a team that is researching and compiling OEM repair procedure information to make sure the test drives follow the requirements.
Terlep is launching the service in the collision repair industry but has goals to expand into the mechanical and heavy duty truck industries in the future.
