Fixed Ops Journal - April 2020 - F11

Some ahead of the curve on delivery services

JIM HENRY

foj@autonews.com

ixed ops departments that were already experienced at picking up
and delivering service vehicles had a
head start on rivals across the U.S. that
now are rushing to set up similar services.
"We, of course, had a leg up because so
much of our service business was already
pickup and delivery," Robert DiStanislao,
president of Porsche of the Main Line in suburban Philadelphia, told Fixed Ops Journal.
DiStanislao has Porsche, Bugatti, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini and McLaren franchises in Newport Beach, Calif., as well as a Lamborghini franchise in Greenwich, Conn. Even
before social distancing, those customers
rarely came into a dealership for service, he
said. "Believe me, they're not coming into the
facility," DiStanislao said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made service
customers reluctant to visit a dealership.
Therefore, a service in which the dealership
picks up a customer's vehicle at home, brings
it to the shop for the needed repairs or main-

RICHARD TRUETT

SERVICE

continued from previous page

on hand, personnel and the store's finances
mean there is no one-size-fits-all way for fixed
ops directors to approach running their businesses as the nation grapples with the virus.
Stores around the country have rolled out
many strategies that create distance between
service personnel and customers in an effort
to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in deal-

tenance, and then returns it when the work is
complete has become more desirable. In fact,
pandemic or not, most vehicle owners favor
this service.
A recent Cox Automotive report showed
that 89 percent of those surveyed said an ideal
ownership experience would include service
pickup and delivery. And 70 percent of customers would consider switching to a brand
that offered that service.
Eric McCready, senior manager of U.S.
automotive retail for J.D. Power, said the current circumstances make it a good time for
service departments to innovate and be creative. That includes starting a pickup and delivery service.
"A valet service seems to be the best option
to keep the dealers' fixed operations moving,"
McCready said. "I encourage dealers that
have been toying with the idea to move forward now. With the expected slowdown in the
service drive, this should free up some bandwidth to be bold and try new things."

Safer pickups
and dropoffs

For proper pickup and delivery:

Ask the customer to declutter the
n

car before pickup.
Wear gloves during the pickup
n

process.
Phone, text, or email the customer
n

to discuss proposed work and gain
approval.
Process credit card payments
n

electronically.
Clean the interior before returning
n

the vehicle, focusing on human
touch points (steering wheel,
console, shift knob, door handles,
etc.).
Wear gloves during the delivery.
n

Return the key and receipt in a
n

plastic bag.
Source: Bob Atwood and Larry Hourcle, NADA Academy

see DELIVERY, Page 13

erships. But coming to work is still risky business, says Rob Gehring, president of Fixed
Performance, a consulting firm specializing in
fixed operations.
"We're in some uncharted territory because
there is no real strong way to keep everybody
safe," Gehring told Fixed Ops Journal.
He says these challenging times are a perfect
opportunity for dealerships to be determined
and resolute in their efforts to innovate and improve their fixed operations. After all, Gehring
says, with service departments being deemed an
essential service, the work done in the back half
of a dealership is not just numbers on a financial
statement.
"Fixed operations have instantly become
critical for survival of car dealerships," he says.
Once this crisis is over and dealership operations return to normal, what will happen to the
measures - pickup and delivery, mobile servicing, videotaped multipoint inspections, communication by text message and electronic signatures - undertaken as a means to stay in business? Brian Benstock, general manager of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura in Queens, N.Y.,
says parts and service departments will be permanently changed.
Benstock, whose dealerships were ahead of
the curve on pickup and delivery of service
vehicles, believes customers have never wanted to visit service departments. The changes
brought on by the coronavirus era will ease

Benstock: Customers prefer to be in control.

customers into making pickup and delivery
and other concierge services a permanent
way to have their vehicles serviced.
"This is going to change everything," he says.
"Prior to this, customers wanted to share control of the process. Now, customers are going
to insist that they are safe and in control.
"Customers want control of their safety and are
no longer going to trust it to anybody. And that, I
think, is going to cause us to rethink everything." n

APRIL 2020

PAGE 11

Fixed Ops Journal - April 2020

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