CarDr, the provider of the OBDIQ ULTRA diagnostic platform for the wholesale auto industry, has launched a new workflow that records battery resting voltage prior to starting a diagnostic scan on a car.

Battery + Engine Scan is designed to allow auto auctions and dealers to interpret diagnostic trouble codes that can come up after low-voltage conditions.

For example, if a vehicle has been transported, stored, moved multiple times through a lane or left without running — all things that can happen in the wholesale vehicle life cycle – it may have a weak or partially discharged battery, CarDr explained.

“Low system voltage can generate diagnostic trouble codes across multiple electronic modules, sometimes complicating an assessment of the vehicle’s condition,” the company said in a news release.

The Battery + Engine Scan workflow can provide auctions with more context around diagnostic decisions, thus helping them produce more accurate condition reports, smarter appraisal decisions, cut unnecessary arbitration disputes and make faster lane decisions, CarDr said.

The product was born out of technicians using the CarDr platform at auto auctions. For instance, a technician at CarDr’s launch at Manheim Riverside could gauge battery voltage. The company then added that metric to its platform.

Manheim West Palm Beach technicians would later find that taking a reading on a vehicle while the engine was running could show alternator charging voltage instead of the battery’s true resting condition. So, CarDr then adjusted the workflow to gauge voltage prior to the engine starting.

“This workflow grew out of feedback from technicians in auction lanes,” CarDr president and CEO Greg Lubrani said in a news release.

“They helped us recognize that battery voltage should be measured before the engine starts. The updated scan keeps the diagnostic codes visible while adding the voltage reading and an explanation when low voltage may be relevant.”

The Battery + Engine Scan is now available as an add-on to CarDr ULTRA and participating auctions and dealerships.