Automotive News - October 21, 2013 - Supplement - S12

12 ❙ OCTOBER 21, 2013
A U D I M E C H A N I C S B U R G , M E C H A N I C S B U R G , PA .

Going above and beyond is part
of Pennsylvania Audi store's culture
Printed in Automotive News Dec. 17, 2012

Steven Baun,
general manager
of Audi
Mechanicsburg,
says superior
service sets the
store apart from
the competition.
"Treat the
customer as you
would yourself and sometimes it
does cost you
money," Baun
says. "We don't
get any
compensation."

Diana T. Kurylko
dkurylko@crain.com

t's one thing to go out of your way to
help a customer and another to do it the
Audi Mechanicsburg way.
Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania
dealership - near Harrisburg, the state capital - sent a sales technician and a master
mechanic on a two hour-plus, 113-mile
drive, to replace the tires and wheels that
were stolen off a customer's A8 sedan.
The owner had parked his car at a hotel
near Philadelphia International Airport and
left on a Caribbean holiday. He returned to
find his car propped up on landscaping
rocks.
The car owner "called here in a panic," says
Steven Baun, general manager of Audi Mechanicsburg and Sun Motor Cars Porsche,
housed in the same building. "He had the
sport package with wheels, and the car was
almost sitting on the ground."
The owner didn't want his car towed by an
emergency service for fear it would be
damaged. It was 4 p.m. on a Friday, and the
dealership closed at 4:30, but Baun didn't
flinch. A limousine was dispatched to pick up
the Audi owner and his wife and drive them
home.
Two employees volunteered to make the
drive. They emptied a parts vehicle, pulled
the wheels off a new A8 and headed out on
the Pennsylvania Turnpike. They returned
the car to the owner's house in Harrisburg at
2:30 the next morning.
It was costly and time consuming. The
owner's insurance covered the wheels and
tires, but he wasn't charged for the service.
But there was an upside for the dealership
because six months later the rescued owner
bought a new A8. Baun says he also "sent a lot
of business our way" and even gave the two
dealership employees lifetime memberships
at the Gold's Gym health clubs that he
owned.
That wasn't the first time Audi Mechanicsburg went above and beyond what's expected of a dealership. Baun says the idea is
baked into his business model.
He doesn't dare add up the man hours expended, but Baun says superior service is
what sets the store apart from its competi-

tion. And in a secondary market such as Mechanicsburg, he says, positive word of
mouth is essential.
"Treat the customer as you would yourself
- and sometimes it does cost you money,"
Baun says. "We don't get any compensation."
He says the extras the dealership provides
are not part of the Audi Emergency Roadside
Services program run by Allstate Roadside
Assistance and free to new-car buyers for
four years.
Audi of America executives like what Baun
is doing. They asked him to speak in October
to a group of dealership employees at Lincoln Center in New York. The event was part
of a daylong seminar launching the brand's
"Kundenbegeisterung" customer service
program. Audi translates the long German
word very loosely as "creating Audi fans."
Seminars were held this fall in 14 U.S.
cities, and about 15,000 dealership employees were invited to learn how to engage customers better, personalize sales and service
and learn from other industries.
"Audi Mechanicsburg is helping to lead the
way," says Jeffrey Tolerico, director of Audi
of America's Eastern region.
Audi Mechanicsburg is part of Sun Motor
Cars, a family business with four luxury franchises.
The Audi business was acquired in November 2007 and moved to a new dual outlet
with Porsche in 2009. The dealership is on

track to sell about 260 new Audis this year,
up from 190 in 2011, Baun says.
The Audi store sold only 62 new vehicles
the year it was acquired by Sun Motor Cars.
"We want to get to 500 units in the next two
to three years," Baun says, and he's convinced that customer service is a key to
reaching that goal.
Baun says the situation is a bit different at
the Porsche store. The same level of care is
afforded the customer, but it's not the same
kind of wow factor because the customers
more or less expect it.
"That client has different expectations,"
Baun says.
In one situation, an Audi customer locked
her keys in the car. She was 40 miles from
home and had to pick up her grandchildren,
Baun says.
Rather than make her wait the usual two or
three hours for Audi to send a tow truck, the
dealership cut a key and had someone drive
90 minutes to help her.
The dealership has brought gasoline to
stranded customers and changed flat tires,
all for free.
"If someone owns our products, and they
are in trouble and even if we are an hour way,
we grab our gear and go - for no compensation," Baun says.
"If you help the customer out, maybe they
will buy another Audi. We believe what goes
around comes around." c

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