Fixed Ops Journal - June 2019 - F24

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

VIRTUAL REALITIES

Artificial intelligence supports work of dealership service advisers
ALYSHA WEBB

foj@autonews.com

isit the service drive at Volkswagen
Pasadena in suburban Los Angeles, and you will likely be approached by one of the dealership's
five service advisers. But if it's a busy day, you
can check in with one of the virtual advisers at
the service department entrance, in the form
of two gray kiosks.
Using software from GoMoto, a kiosk confirms your identity and your appointment if
you scheduled one. It notifies you of open recalls related to your car or truck, shows the
service specials of the day, asks what repairs
or maintenance your vehicle needs, may recommend added work and solicits other requests or comments. Finally, it arranges
transportation if required, updates your
phone number and email address, poses several survey questions and gets your signature.
"It is the next level of service," Steve Ross,
Volkswagen Pasadena's service manager, told
Fixed Ops Journal. "It gives customers something they didn't expect at a dealership."
Virtual service advisers are increasingly
popular offerings by software suppliers to
new-vehicle dealerships. While the technology can vary greatly among vendors, the pitch
is the same: to provide digital products, based
on artificial intelligence, that enable human
advisers to focus on working more efficiently
with service customers.

'Major win'
Lee Harkins, owner of M5 Management Services, a dealership consulting firm that specializes in fixed operations, predicts that virtual service advisers "will change the future of
the business in a positive fashion."
"The No. 1 motivator of a [service] purchase,
behind need, is convenience," Harkins says.
"Any time the processes improve the transaction, it's a major win for the store."
Vendors and dealers insist that virtual advisers aren't designed to replace human ones,
but to help speed things along. While you
check in with a virtual adviser, they note, a
flesh-and-blood service adviser can be conducting a multipoint inspection of your vehicle. They say the convenience virtual advisers
offer helps dealerships boost their service
business.
Nearly 500 new-vehicle dealerships use GoMoto kiosks, which can be integrated with

PAGE 24

JUNE 2019

Steve Ross,
Volkswagen
Pasadena's
service manager,
demonstrates kiosks
that permit digital
vehicle check-ins.
ALYSHA WEBB

Smart software

Virtual service advisers at new-vehicle
dealerships take different forms, but
all use artificial intelligence to conduct
complex conversations with service
customers. Among varieties of the
technology:
 Kiosks that can check customers in
and offer customized service
recommendations
 Pop-up boxes on dealership websites
that can answer customers' service
questions around the clock
 Software that mines a dealership's
database to initiate email
conversations with service customers
and follow up on their responses

most dealership management systems. An indoor kiosk costs $1,200 a month to lease; an
outdoor version $1,600. Or dealers can buy an
indoor kiosk for $6,000, or an outdoor one for
$15,000, and pay a $750 monthly service fee.
Enthusiasm for using the kiosk to check in
varies by customers' demographic group, says
Karl Zerrenner, Volkswagen Pasadena's general manager.
"Young people, 30 and under, are using [the
kiosk] like it is a natural thing," he says.

The kiosk uses machine learning to customize service recommendations to individual
vehicles, says Todd Marcelle, GoMoto's CEO.
For example, he says, the kiosk knows what
additional service work customers at a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram dealership are most likely to authorize.
"We pull in a lot of different data and work
with OEM and vendor partners for details
such as declined service history to personalize the upsell," Marcelle says.
Silko Honda in Raynham, Mass., has used a
GoMoto kiosk for six months. The kiosk typically takes a minute to check in a vehicle, says
Geoff Ewell, the dealership's director of operations.
Kiosk users are asked whether they want an
appraisal of their vehicle's value. Five to seven
percent accept the offer, Ewell says, presenting increased opportunities for trade-ins.
During some weeks, Ewell adds, more than
22 percent of kiosk users buy additional products or services. Last winter, he says, the kiosk
asked customers whether they needed new
tires and wiper blades. While harried human
service advisers can rush through a check-in
and skip some recommendations, he adds,
with a virtual adviser "it is 100 percent penetration 100 percent of the time."
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Fixed Ops Journal - June 2019

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