Fixed-Ops

Creating an environment where customers feel relaxed and well cared for can be a tough thing to achieve with the many pressures being felt by the advisors who work the front line in a busy dealership service department.  Today’s advisors take multitasking to new...

Every dealer is always looking for new and innovative strategies to increase their sales. And while there are many ways to do it, our next guest has taken a slightly unconventional approach with the help of a facilitator placed in the service department, producing...

Owner’s clinics are nothing new in the car business. Dealerships have been trying to teach new buyers about their vehicles (and the dealership’s service offerings) for many years. Some dealers do it well, others struggle to get buyers to show up. It’s not that the...

Technology has become so advanced. Most technology is designed to improve communication and make us more efficient, but technology is really just a means to an end. In the end, we want to take care of customers and sell more cars, service and parts. Text...

Automotive service centers often get a bad rap for being dishonest or overcharging. This type of misconception about a business can be detrimental. Often, the reasons behind these ways of thinking are a lack of understanding about the automotive service center industry and poor...

Employee wages are one of the biggest expense of any dealership. This is especially true in the service department. Attracting quality talent and paying them what they are worth are essential to the success of any service department. But how do you ensure that...

Lateral support, Simple Support, Teams, Super Groups and Dispatch. Service Department technician production systems must be designed based on the quality and capabilities of technicians, consideration about the nuances of the franchise in question and quality and quantity of the service advisors employed. Each...

Dealerships pay a lot of attention to sales, service and parts, but where does the detail department fit in? Does it belong to sales? Does it belong to service? This is a common debate at most dealerships. Everybody recognizes that the vehicles need to...

Recalls are never good news for customers. At best, it means the added inconvenience of scheduling an appointment, waiting for the repair, and/or leaving their vehicle with the dealership. At worst, unaddressed recalls can cause accidents, or induce fear of potential issues. In 2018, around...

From dealership standpoint, customer retention for the long term is totally dependent on personal relationships with your staff. The question “Would you take your car to the dealer for a repair out of warranty?” is a moot point if the dealership has treated the customer...