Think Efficiency isn’t the Answer? Check out this Story!

According to a recent article in Automotive News, Motorcars Honda in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, believes that the future of franchise dealership profitability lies in efficient vehicle service, and as a result it’s service department is bustling.

So, what did they do? The dealership created an assembly line for quick-service that not only allows it to perform MPIs, but also an oil change in under 30-minutes. Every time. In fact, the dealership can service 71 vehicles in just two hours!

And they’ve put their money where their mouth is to the tune of $700,000. That may sound like a lot, but they forecast express servicing 30,000 cars per year. And, the innovative and efficient assembly line has the capacity to service 60,000. Not bad considering they aren’t limiting services to Honda customers, but to any vehicle owner.

The dealership feels the key elements to its service department’s success are speed, transparency and price. That’s what consumers want in today’s world.

But, speed and transparency apply to more than just how quickly you can service a vehicle. They also apply to how efficiently you communicate with a consumer, how detailed you are in the multi-point inspection, and how much trust is established with the consumer to enable them to agree to complete the transaction.

Efficiency drives revenue. Sure, most of you probably don’t have a cool $700,000 sitting around to establish such an operation. However, there are a lot of process improvements that CAN be done with software that makes a significant difference and doesn’t require a huge capital investment. Review your processes and find areas that can be improved. Perhaps it can be as simple as setting up shuttle service for your customers. Or improving your phone processes so the customer’s callsdon’t always go to voicemail. Or adding a video inspection to ensure transparency for the customer. Using software to update any of these customer pain points can add efficiency and increase satisfaction with the service experience you provide.

Forward-thinking dealers such as Motorcars Honda understand what consumers want and are preparing themselves for a future filled with a service capacity that’s unheard of. Just as automotive manufacturing was transformed with assembly lines, this innovative initiative is sure to pay off as consumers in the local market start to realize that it doesn’t have to take long to get their vehicle serviced at a dealership. Once that perception changes, dealerships will have an incredible advantage over their competition. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.