Automotive News - February 4, 2008 - (Page 36) 36 • FEBRUARY 4, 2008 The online dealer INSIGHT Online scheduling, parts sales build service work Many dealerships allow customers to schedule their service appointments online. Shown is the appointment scheduling page on the Web site of Lexus of Tampa Bay in Florida. Ryan Beene rbeene@crain.com Service entrance According to an Automotive News survey of nearly 600 U.S. franchised dealers 76% say their dealerships schedule service appointments online 62% sell parts online U sing the Internet to sell parts and schedule repair appointments boosts auto dealerships’ service business and employee productivity, dealers and analysts say. “It’s a nice way to supplement the business of phone-ins and walk-ins,” says Dick Malaise, chief information officer of the National Automobile Dealers Association. “The challenge is being able to contact the customer.” An unscientific Automotive News survey of U.S. franchised dealers found that three out of four dealerships enable customers to make ser- vice appointments online. Three out of five dealers surveyed say their stores sell parts online. Many dealerships use electronic scheduling that lets customers specify a vehicle’s problem and a preferred appointment time. The dealership alerts customers by e-mail or telephone if the times they seek will work. Wayne Phillips, an NADA consultant on parts and service issues, said a dealership’s effective use of customers’ e-mail addresses is crucial. “By mining our own owner database, we have so much more opportunity than trying to conquest new customers,” he told Automotive News. Dealerships can alert customers by e-mail of special service offers, Phillips said. They also can advise customers when their cars and trucks are due for regular maintenance, he said. “There would be no guesswork.” Phillips said. “They’d set up your next appointment, and then you’d be in the loop.” Factory help Nearly every major automaker helps dealers use the Internet to connect with service customers. General Motors sends monthly e-mail messages with service information to about 2.5 million subscribers to its OnStar telematics program, spokesman Tom Henderson says. The e-mails give OnStar customers diagnostic data about a vehicle’s oil life, emissions, engine, transmission, brakes and airbags. Chrysler LLC’s eScheduling program gives customers direct access to a dealership’s service bay schedule to make appointments. When appointments are confirmed by e-mail, customers also get price quotes for service work, discount offers and opportunities to schedule rental vehicles. Todd Webster, service director at Baxter Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge in Omaha, Neb., estimates that 10 percent of his customers use eScheduling. “It took us from 200 calls a day to 180,” Webster says. EASy parts sales Dealers also are working with factories to boost parts sales. This year, Chrysler’s Mopar parts division says it expects the number of dealerships that use its Electronic Accessory System, or EASy, to increase to 100 from 35. EASy enables buyers to customize Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles with Mopar accessories at the time of purchase or later. Customers can buy the parts online and pick a dealership for installation. Dan Hutton, service director of Tom O’Brien Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge in Greenwood, Ind., says the system is easier to use than paper catalogs of parts: “Now it’s just a click of two or three buttons.” Hutton says customers’ use of the EASy system helped increase the dealership’s accessory business 30 percent last year over 2006. c http://www.drivefinancial.com http://www.drivefinancial.com
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