Leaky Bucket in Service

The work that is put in by the Used & New Car Dept to sell a vehicle, let alone the marketing expense is huge on a per-vehicle basis. 

The best part is, a large portion of local new vehicle sales, the customer will come to the Service Dept for servicing. 

Until their warranty expires – then 70% deflect, unfortunately. 

For Used Car dept sales, a massive majority of these customers never come back to the dealership for service in the first place.

A way to put it is, the Service Dept has a massive bucket – full of customers. 

The majority of the bucket is topped up monthly by the New & Used Car Dept.   However…

With 70% of New Vehicle customers leaving after their warranty expires, and the massive amount of Used Car Dept customers never coming back in the first place – we can say we have a Leaky Bucket.  

So, how can we fix it? 

Here are some thoughts to really build out Retail Service & Parts Retail Shop sales in 2025;

1. Free Roadside Assistance – After Warranty Expires
   1. For All Makes/Models.
   1. It’s valid for 6 Months – makes them come back for another service.
   1. It’s only like $3.00 each – it’s easy to bake into your current pricing
   1. Talk to a BG/Wynn’s Rep if you want to roll this out.

• Implement A Service/Parts BDC
  • You have a Sales BDC – same idea – but for Service/Parts
  • You have thousands and thousands of lost customers over the last 10 years
  • There are thousands and thousands of Outstanding Recalls at your dealership – for sure.
  • Call/text/email every single lost Used/New vehicle customer that hasn’t shown up for their next Service Interval.
  • Outbound Service/Parts BDC isn’t about immediate conversion.  It’s like tending to a garden from seed to harvest.  Consistently working the entire DMS customer base matters, and working it over time.

• All Makes/Models.
  • Go beyond just saying you service All Makes/Models. Actively promote it in every conversation with customers, and in all your marketing material.
  • Most customers have 2 vehicles – you’re likely only getting the one.
  • For every customer that has deflected, when you do outbound, and they sold or wrote-off the vehicle they used to bring to you – this is an opportunity to get them back, but you have to really peddle the idea you do All Makes/Models during that conversation.  Track this metric. New Vins/Lost Vins.  I’d spiff/commission your Appointment Coordinators/Service BDC Reps on this.

• Faster Process/Better Hours
  • The reason many customers deflect, is because the Quick-Lube joint up the road is faster, and has better hours.  Most of your customers are working while you’re open, and available to service their vehicle when you’re closed.
  • Fix these two problems. Better yet, measure how many calls come in, and are not booked because of hours, or speed.  This is easy to track with your Appointment Co-ordinators, and when doing Outbound calls to Lost Customers.
  • The Quick-Lube joints are run by 16 year olds.  We have far more resources, and better everything.  The two things that matter most to customers, we don’t have dialed in yet.  But it’s where all the Retail work is.

There are plenty more ideas. But start here – it will keep you busy for a while.

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