Fixed Ops Journal - April 2020 - F25

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

A path to capturing the eyes of Lyft, Uber drivers

oth Uber and Lyft partner with a pair
of online service marketplaces that
allow ride-hail drivers to comparison shop repair facilities and, as part
of more far-reaching driver rewards programs,
access service discounts at those shops. Uber's
partnership with CarAdvise dates to 2018.
Lyft's similar partnership with OpenBay followed in July 2019, beginning in three markets
and expanding to 40 by the end of last year.
Both platforms skew toward a large network
of independent shops but
actively encourage dealers to list their shops. "It's
our belief that dealer service is not as expensive as
everybody thinks," says
CarAdvise CEO Greg Tepas. "We're a great platform to help dealers price
their services any way
Tepas: Helping
they want and demystify
"demystify" cost
that idea."
Mike Kalin, service manager at Wickstrom
Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Barrington, Ill.,
says it is too early to know how much ride-hail
business the arrangement will bring. Service
tickets originating through CarAdvise tend to
be for marginally higher amounts than average, but Kalin says that many repairs thus far
have been warranty work.
At the end of the third quarter of 2019, Car-

RIDE-HAIL
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"They often live far away from urban centers
and commuting might be easier at off-peak
hours," he says.
Outreach is still key and that's a thornier area.
Allan and Campbell recommend social media targeting via Instagram and particularly
Facebook - which has ride-hail driver groups
that can be directly targeted. Campbell also
recommends talking with driver communities
on Reddit.
Platforms such as HyreCar and DriveItAway
help with marketing but, Campbell says,
there's no reason dealers can't do it on their
own.
"The more you look at a driver's needs and
how they overlap with the services you provide," Campbell says, "the more you can start
catering to ride-share drivers." 

Kalin: Service work through CarAdvise tends to
be for slightly higher amounts than average.

Advise partnered with FCA to add the automaker's approximately 2,700 dealers to its
network and to integrate with the systems
those dealers use for scheduling and billing.
"Our partnership with FCA came about because of pre-existing relationships on the fleet
management side," says Tepas, formerly CEO
(and still vice chairman) of fleet leasing company Emkay Inc.
FCA treats CarAdvise as if it were a large
fleet account, and the two parties negotiate
fleet pricing in advance. Discounted rates are

then given to Uber drivers on a tiered basis according to the volume of driving the individual customer does on the platform and their
customer ratings. Discounts range from a few
dollars off a first service to oil changes that are
capped at $50.
Shops listed on CarAdvise can pay to market
directly to customers with special offers, including those targeted at ride-hail drivers
specifically.
In OpenBay's partnership with Lyft, discounts are similarly tied to work volume and
rating but filtered through a system of "driver
reward points."
"It's a great win for any company to partner
with Uber and Lyft," says Harry Campbell,
founder of the ride-hailing industry website
TheRideShareGuy.com. "But when it comes
to actual discounts that drivers are getting,
these partnerships are not always that meaningful."
Campbell says that ride-hail drivers are often set in their ways, therefore discounts and
special offers need to be enticing.
"If they've always gone to an independent
shop and have a good relationship there, it's
hard to get them to switch," he says.
That said, Campbell adds: "Uber does have
2 to 3 million drivers in the U.S. Even partnerships that aren't a rocking success with drivers are likely to bring in business."
- Alex Kwanten

The irresistible prospect of 10 service
visits a year, $300 per repair order

ne dealership that has marketed its
services to ride-hail drivers is Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura in
Queens, N.Y.
"We looked at our RO counts across the
board and our best customers are our rideshare customers," says Brian Benstock, general manager at Paragon.
"They're coming in an average of 10 times a
year, with an average repair order of $300 each
time. In three years, that's $12,000 in service
revenue."
Uber came earlier to New York City than
many other places, and Paragon was quick to
notice what could be earned from marketing
its services to the company's drivers. Benstock
also wanted to hook drivers before they were

lost to New York City's 16,000 independent repair shops. Today, Benstock says, ride-hail
drivers account for 20 percent of the dealership's fixed operations revenue.
Paragon's first step in 2015 was opening a
24-hour dedicated repair facility five days a
week.
Secondly, in 2018, the store began using a
valet service to pick up and drop off ride-hail
drivers' vehicles for service at night. Utilization is key for the drivers, Benstock says.
The third step was advertising on Waze, an
app many drivers are looking at all day. Knowing what apps and forums drivers are using,
TheRideShareGuy.com's Harry Campbell
says, are good ways to connect with them.
- Alex Kwanten

APRIL 2020

PAGE 25

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Fixed Ops Journal - April 2020

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