As fixed operations become an increasingly valuable profit center for dealerships, it pays for retailers to ensure theirs are running at maximum performance.

As we know, more Americans are keeping their cars longer for the cost savings, so there’s more opportunity to gain their repair and maintenance business.

There are also challenges in the way to winning and keeping customers. The industrywide technician shortage certainly doesn’t help. And keeping existing techs trained is more of a challenge with today’s vehicle complexity.  Meanwhile, dealers face more competition from independent shops for service business.

A report Cox Automotive released last fall showed dealerships were seeing 12% fewer service drive visits than in 2018. And just 54% of consumers with cars 2 years old or newer returned to the dealerships where they bought their cars to get them serviced.

Those who responded to Cox’s survey cited frustration with dealership service visits, including lack of communication and unexpected costs.

There are ways to turn this around, though. Taking the service drive to the customer is a newer way dealerships can stand out from the competition. Dealers should first consider whether mobile servicing is for their stores and how to best implement it.

Meeting service technician staffing needs, including through ongoing training and certification, along with competitive compensation, is another important area of focus.

Even using artificial intelligence tools in the service drive can increase diagnostic accuracy, unearth new revenue opportunity, and build customer loyalty.

I hope this gives you fuel for thought on conducting your own service drive diagnostic exercise so you ensure you’re making the most of this ever-valuable department.