Drivers for ride-hailing services can be a prime source of fixed ops profits

Dealers who want to increase their fixed ops business should reach out to those who drive their vehicles the most: ride-hailing drivers.

The 4 million-plus drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft, as well as delivery services, use their vehicles six times as much as your typical service customer. Doesn't it make sense to go after their service business and build their loyalty now, while the ride-hailing industry is emerging?

Dealership customers use their privately owned vehicles, on average, just 4 percent of the time. Their cars and trucks sit parked for the other 96 percent.

But the average ride-hailing driver uses his or her vehicle 26 percent of the time. That means six times more required maintenance, and six times more breakdown and repair work. It's an opportunity for your service department.

A typical dealership customer might ignore preventive maintenance and repairs that don't affect driveability. But ride-hailing drivers' vehicles contribute to their daily livelihood. For most of them, ride-hailing driving is not their sole occupation, but they supplement their income by driving at periods of peak demand.

And ride-hailing drivers are rated by their passengers on each ride; that's how Uber and Lyft maintain quality control. Drivers who do not maintain a high star rating are bumped off the system. A vehicle that has problems is a direct threat to its owner's income and well-being.

Dealerships might not be eagerly inviting ride-hailing business, but their competitors in quick-maintenance chains are reaching out aggressively. Pep Boys has Lyft support hubs in its stores, and is improving service and waiting areas for Lyft drivers. Pep Boys' owner, Carl Icahn, was an early investor in Lyft.

What is good business for national repair chains is good for dealership fixed ops. Dealers need to grab this niche before they abdicate the opportunity — and market share.

The growth in the number of drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft is exponential. At the end of 2017, Uber had 2 million drivers and Lyft 750,000 in the United States. Recent statistics indicate 50 percent growth in these numbers last year.

There is plenty of new service business to go around. Forward-thinking dealers are reaching out for that business, and are showing substantial returns. One dynamic way to capture this business is to own it from the start.

You sell your customers prepaid maintenance plans to help keep your shop filled. How about renting temporary vehicles to new ride-hailing drivers who lack an appropriate car or truck? This will allow you to get service dollars from these drivers immediately, and condition them to come to you first for future maintenance.

Dealers all over the country are making clean, higher-mileage used vehicles available to new Lyft and Uber drivers as temporary rentals. They price these vehicles high enough on a daily basis to include regular maintenance, which creates substantial additional fixed ops profits.

The relationship also offers a path to ownership, cultivating used-vehicle buyers and fostering loyal service customers. This creates a high-profit department that feeds your dealership's traditional sales and service operations while providing experience with the technology and tools of this new era of shared mobility.

Dealers don't have to be early adopters or instigate much change in going after ride-hailing drivers' business. They just have to welcome it with a traditional customer-friendly approach.

Forecasters predict ever-increasing growth in the ride-hailing market. The sooner a dealership adopts visible outreach to this business, the more dividends it will realize in gross revenues, profits and consumer loyalty — today and in the future of shared mobility.