Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019 - F4

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

EDITOR'S LETTER

KEEPING UP

To compete with aftermarket rivals, dealers need a new approach to service

T

DAVID

KUSHMA

dkushma@crain.com
Fixed Ops Journal
editor

he right front tire looked so
alarmingly low that I wanted it
attended to right away, even on a
Sunday morning. So I took my car
to one of the few shops near me that was
open - a repair chain outlet 3 miles up the
road.
No problem, the service adviser told me:
If there's a leak, we'll fix it before we close at
5, and we'll call or text you when your car's
ready. With those assurances, I decided not
to hang out in the dingy waiting area.
When I hadn't heard anything by 4:30, I
called the store. Uh, we got a little backed
up, the adviser said, and there's still one car
ahead of you. So your car won't be done by
5, but we'll definitely have it for you before
we leave today. We'll call or text you when

it's ready.
Guess what happened. No call. No text. No email. And the next time I
phoned, no answer. Everyone had gone home.
I returned to the store Monday morning in a surly mood. The adviser
(a different one) looked up my repair order and said: Oh, yeah, your car
was ready yesterday. Didn't anybody call you? Seeing the expression on
my face, he told me he wouldn't charge me for patching the leak - a
nominal 20 bucks.
Rather than name the store's brand, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt
and conclude that my bad experience was an aberration, not business
as usual. The second adviser took the initiative to set things rights,
albeit belatedly.
Still, if you're going to advertise how comprehensive and convenient
your service is, you'd better deliver. Because if you don't, someone else
will. The next time my car needs work, even in an emergency, I won't
take it back to the place that fell short.

Tough turf
A special report in this issue of Fixed Ops Journal examines the state
of competition between new-vehicle dealerships and other providers
for service business: not just traditional maintenance and repairs, but
also quick service, collision repair and mobile service. What we found:
On the major measures - price, speed, customer convenience, quality
of care - the gaps, real or perceived, between dealerships and their
chain and independent rivals are closing.
Dealerships still bring plenty of ammunition to the battle: service
technicians who are specially trained to fix the brand's vehicles, new
repair parts from the automaker, their own reputation in the
community. But consumers are making it clear that they also want to
save their money and their time when they seek auto service. And in an

Correction

A story on Page 28 of the August issue misstated the number of floors
in the new Warren Henry Auto Group headquarters. It has seven floors.

PAGE 4

OCTOBER 2019

era when companies such as Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Starbucks are
defining customer service, vehicle owners - especially younger ones
- demand the same sort of convenience and digital sophistication
from whoever works on their cars and trucks.
It's a familiar story: While vehicles are under factory warranty, their
owners return to the dealership for a large majority of service visits. But
after the warranties have expired, dealerships keep these customers for
fewer than one-third of visits. Other owners of older vehicles, which
tend to need more attention than newer ones, switch to independent
garages, quick-lube and tire stores and other aftermarket providers.
Now that fixed ops provide half of gross profits for the typical new-car
dealership, simply ceding that degree of service customer defections
won't work anymore. Instead, customer retention needs to be the
agenda, not the aspiration.

Extra mile
Say you've worked hard to price your services, for everything from a
basic oil change to a major repair, at a level that equals - or beats -
your market competitors. Do your customers know that? Have you told
them? Better yet, have you shown them, with a head-to-head
comparison on your website?
You do your best to maintain an efficient workflow in your shop and
to give - and meet - realistic promise times. But how do you handle
customers who can't or won't wait in your service lounge in the
meantime? Instead of cramming them on a shuttle, do you provide an
appealing loaner or an Uber or Lyft ride? Do you text photos and videos
to show them the status of your work on their car or truck?
For that matter, do you still take for granted that your customers have
to come to your shop at all? Jim Roche, vice president of Cox
Automotive, observes: "You get the vehicle to the service, or the service
to the vehicle." Are you prepared to pick up service customers' vehicles
and return them when the work is done? Will you send technicians to
customers' homes or workplaces to perform basic repairs and
maintenance?
You may not be accustomed to doing these sorts of things, but odds
are, you'll have to get used to them - soon. Meanwhile, if you say you'll
call or text when the car is ready, make sure you do. 
Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019

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