Soon after I was hired in early 2020 as an editor at Automotive News, I attended my first NADA Show. For someone just starting out covering the fixed ops industry, it was a welcome immersion. I was able to meet trainers and vendors and fixed ops directors from across the country, learn more about the industry and gather some story ideas.
About a month later, the world shut down. The plan to crisscross the country to meet more service, parts and body shop managers at their dealerships was shelved. Instead, it was emails, phone calls and the occasional Zoom meeting.
Needless to say, it was great to be back in person last month at the NADA Show in Las Vegas. You could tell people were happy to be able to see each other, talk face-to-face and share a drink. I wasn't sure if the buzz was just the result of being together again or whether people felt good about where the fixed ops industry is now and where it's headed.
Dave Foy, vice president of fixed operations at Quantum5, was out and about on the NADA exhibit floor and said he could definitely feel the excitement. He called the mood "overwhelmingly positive."
"Everybody is gung-ho," said Foy, who also hosts the "Fixed Ops Mastermind" podcast. "They're excited that fixed ops is becoming the center of the story, and they're ready to step up their game."
Similar to how a dealership's fixed ops became vital when new-car sales were shut down in some states at the start of the pandemic, inventory and parts woes once again highlight the importance of service, parts and collision to a store's bottom line.
Foy said as he toured the convention center talking with vendors, trainers and dealership service leadership, he heard a lot of talk about retention. "But not just retention of customers but retention of their employees. They talked about retention of their staff," he said.
Indeed, finding service department staffers remains a constant struggle. A recent Cox Automotive survey found 57 percent of fixed ops directors said their service department was not fully staffed. And 80 percent said they expect the labor shortages to continue or worsen.
While repair orders are down slightly on average, Foy says there is a silver lining: Service revenue is up because with fewer visits, advisers have more time to spend with customers.
"Advisers are getting more time with customers," he said. "They're building better relationships and ending up with higher-dollar tickets. It's what they should have been doing all along."
It was great to be able to talk with so many people involved in fixed ops in one place, to hear their concerns and what excites them about the future. It was also nice to see some of the tools and technology from vendors that supply service departments. And it was interesting to see some new startups that are trying to draw attention — and business — from dealerships. You'll be reading more about many of them in upcoming issues of Fixed Ops Journal. Which I guess goes against the well-known saying "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
