Quote:
Originally Posted by GTRMagic
Capped price service deals do one of two things, it arguably feeds a dealer with new customers wanting 'factory' servicing who may have previously used their own mechanic/Ultra Tune/Midas/self... and allows the service centre to offer opportunities to repair other parts of their car... by way of upselling of items outside the 'capped price' option
Capped price servicing doesnt seem to get a lot of direct manufacturer financial support at the minute. It doesnt always seem to be a manufacturer-induced thing, although it is said that Hyundai is likely to bring in a variation of this sooner rather than later, which may in fact convert to free 'standard' servicing for the warranty period of the car.
Indeed there is a multi site Ford/Mitsubishi/Toyota dealership group here in Sydney that has been doing this for some years.. and they are notorious for spruiking injector cleans, air pollen filter replacements, windscreen wiper blade replacements, power steering fluid changes, wheel balancing & alignments etc etc... I reckon they are Wynns #1 customer for injector cleaning products!
There are some upsell maximisation technologies now like EVHC software, where the service advisor takes an iPod/iPad with him/her to review the car upon delivery from the customer, with a 50 point checklist on various consumable parts of the car, their condition, and likely future life.
The customer is informed of the condition report, of any work required that might be immediately apparent. The customer can say yay or nay.
This is then denoted on the service invoice to the customer, into the service record of the car inside the dealership Reynolds system, in their CRM system to use as an introduction to potential future work from the customer and approximate timings for when these parts might need replacement and provide a source of potential ongoing work.
Investment in such technology has come about to some extent by the need to crank up margins when they are squeezed by fixed price, fixed time service.
There is only so much that a service team can do to use lower cost apprentices to do the more basic of service work, or where a technician specifically skilled can do a job that is recorded in the service manual as requiring an hour in say 45 minutes... the efficiency & productivity of the team will only get you so far.. as the underlying assumption is that the service hours available each day are pretty much fully sold..
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Honestly, I had a fairly good understanding of how it all worked, but trying to coerce a employer (at the time) to provide clear-cut information on it was difficult. There also seemed to be no defined strategy in place that would ensure maximum benefit to the dealership. In its execution, or lack thereof, it appeared to be nothing more than a foot-shooting exercise, that saw plummeting customer satisfaction, and surveys that were probably spat on.
However, there were representitives of the franchises involved, claiming that these particular concepts were very successful, providing the playbook was adhered to absolutely.