Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 4
FIXED OPS JOURNAL
JMS IMAGERY
QUICK CHANGE ARTISTS
Living in the fast (service) lane has big dealer rewards ---- and risks
T
wo decades ago, a dedicated
quick-service operation at a North
American new-vehicle dealership
was a daring experiment.
Today, it's a common feature of most
service departments - and an increasingly
vital source of fixed operations profits as
vehicle sales cool.
How that transition occurred is the
subject of a special report in this issue of
Fixed Ops Journal. We visit a dealership
DAVID
near Cleveland that has melded traditional
assembly line technology with leadingKUSHMA
edge innovations to offer super-fast service
dkushma@crain.com
- and is preparing to sell its secrets to
Fixed Ops Journal
other dealers.
editor
We examine how dealerships and
automakers are advertising, marketing and
promoting their fast lanes, as competition with aftermarket quick-lube
providers intensifies. We look at the obstacles that can get in the way of
an efficient express-service operation, and how to overcome them.
Quick service checks all sorts of boxes for franchised dealerships. Aside
from being a potential profit center in itself, it provides opportunities for
bigger-ticket maintenance and repair work and parts sales.
Done right, it elicits customer satisfaction and loyalty, encouraging
vehicle owners to return to the dealership for service - and future
vehicle sales - after their factory warranties expire.
And it's an effective work force recruitment and retention tool.
Today's entry-level lube tech can become tomorrow's master
technician, trained in your dealership's processes and values.
Handsome ROI
That's an impressive return on an investment in fast oil changes, tire
rotations and multipoint inspections. And it's likely to become even
more important to the success of fixed operations, and dealerships
overall.
Most dealerships that sell mass-market brands now offer express
service sponsored by an automaker, the automotive consultancy
Carlisle and Co. reports. Among luxury-brand stores, it's two out of five.
Roughly one-fourth of owners of vehicles between 1 and 7 years old
used a dealership's quick service within the past year, Carlisle says.
Service customer retention is 3 percentage points higher at dealerships
that offer quick service, it adds.
Express service has come a long way since 1996, when Ford picked
PAGE 4
FEBRUARY 2018
three of its Toronto-area dealerships to launch a pilot quick-service
program in North America. It became Ford's worldwide Quick Lane
brand, in which more than 800 U.S. Ford and Lincoln dealerships now
take part.
Wayne Pitman Ford-Lincoln, of Guelph, Ontario, was one of the
subjects of Ford's initial experiment. Its president, Wayne Bricknell, was
the dealership's general manager at the time.
"It's been a very powerful thing for us," Bricknell told me. "The basics
haven't changed since the early days. We saw customers we wouldn't
ordinarily see. It got us into the tire business in a serious retail way.
We're more transparent, better communicators."
Bricknell notes that one-fourth of his quick-service work is on cars
and trucks other than Ford and Lincoln vehicles. At the same time, he
says, Quick Lane has provided "another roll of barbed wire" to prevent
his vehicle buyers from going "over the wall" to defect to aftermarket
express service competitors.
For dealerships then and now, a quick-service operation demands
hard choices. Do you guarantee customers a completion time? Do you
advertise your prices or emphasize the quality of your service?
Do you integrate quick service into your overall shop processes, or
make it a standalone operation? Do you require appointments? Do you
service brands other than the ones you sell? Each piece of the puzzle
affects every other, and sometimes they may not fit together well.
'Capacity and convenience'
Ford continues to build on its status as quick-service pioneer. "We
expect to have 60 to 70 percent of our dealers engaged in express
service in the next year or so," Frederiek Toney, the president of Global
Ford Customer Service Division, tells Fixed Ops Journal.
"Express service is a capacity and convenience play," Toney says,
enabling veteran technicians to concentrate on bigger, tougher repair
jobs. "We think this will continue to expand as more dealers see the
benefits, for both their customers and their profitability."
Challenges persist, for every brand of dealership. According to a
survey we conducted for this issue, service customers say they really
like the quick service their dealership offers - yet most haven't used it
in the past year. That contradiction suggests an opportunity for growth,
but only if dealers and service directors pursue it vigorously.
Fixed ops directors tell us they're adding quick-service lanes, hours
and technicians. They're making the service faster, more efficient and
customer-friendlier. They're courting customers more assertively,
rather than watching them flee to independent oil change shops.
Two decades later, the quick service revolution isn't over for
dealerships. If anything, it's just heating up.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Service Counter
Legal Lane
Jim Roche
Assembly line
Need for speed
Overcoming hurdles
Coupon clippers
Future market
Saab story
Feedback
Remote start
Richard Truett
Loaner management
Machine learning
Augmented reality
Letters
Shop Talk
Service benefit
Fixed in Time
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Intro
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Cover2
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Contents
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Editor’s Letter
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 5
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Service Counter
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 7
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Legal Lane
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 9
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 10
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Jim Roche
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Assembly line
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 13
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 14
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 15
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 16
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 17
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 18
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 19
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 20
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 21
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Need for speed
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 23
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 24
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 25
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Overcoming hurdles
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 27
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Coupon clippers
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 29
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Future market
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 31
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Saab story
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Feedback
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Remote start
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Richard Truett
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Loaner management
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 37
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Machine learning
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 39
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Augmented reality
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 41
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Letters
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 43
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Shop Talk
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Service benefit
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Fixed in Time
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Cover3
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - Cover4
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