Recent Stories
1 of 3 service customers buys additional work - survey

In late April, DealerRater polled for more than 11,000 consumers who had visited a new-vehicle dealership recently. Among those who had taken their car or truck in for service, 31 percent said they bought additional work proposed by the adviser.
Data integration by Hunter, Dealer-FX aimed at helping shops work better, sell more
Plans for techs, advisers, parts people demand new ways of thinking

"You get what you pay for" is a slogan easily summarizes the eternal debate over the best way for a dealership to pay its fixed ops employees, especially service technicians and advisers and parts-counter people.
Even with appointments, some service customers must wait

One of every 10 dealership customers who schedules a service appointment must wait to see a service adviser upon arrival, a new survey suggests.
Most dealerships still fumble sales-to-service handoff

An easy way a dealership can start to build loyalty and retention among service customers is for salespeople to introduce car and truck buyers to the service department when the vehicle is delivered. But a new survey of consumers suggests that such handoffs occur less than half the time.
New study says dealership service customers demand transparency, convenience

New-vehicle dealerships are losing as much as $266 billion a year in service revenue — $15.9 million for the average dealership — because they are falling short on keeping customers, a study estimates.
Industry initiatives seek to ease tech shortage, but challenges remain

How will dealerships find, hire, train and keep the technicians they need to staff their service bays, amid a growing shortage of, and cutthroat competition from other industries for, tech talent?
Survey suggests deep job dissatisfaction, discontent with flat-rate pay

A new survey of 35,000 dealership service technicians concludes that techs are unhappy with their jobs, and especially with their flat-rate pay plans.
Service customers to dealership shops: Text me, please

Service customers greatly prefer that dealership shops notify them by text message when their cars or trucks are ready, a new survey suggests.
We present some of our favorite tools -- now let's hear about yours
Our special report in this issue of Fixed Ops Journal looks at "tools of the trade" —some of the hardware and software products that are designed to help dealership service departments run more efficiently, make more money and serve customers better.
Luxury-brand owners get more options than waiting in the lounge
When customers bring their vehicle to a dealership for maintenance or repair, most still wait in the service lounge until their car or truck is ready, a new survey suggests.
Automakers' accessories sales programs draw criticism
U.S. dealership executives give low marks to pricing and training in automakers' accessories sales programs, according to a new survey.
GM network targets 'streamlined' repairs
GM's new collision repair network, scheduled to launch next year, pushes back on insurers.
Lack of dealership techs raises question: Where are the women?
Most new-vehicle dealerships in the United States don't run body shops. But hundreds more dealerships have gotten into the collision repair game in recent years -- even as others have dropped out -- and that trend appears likely to continue.
Managing loaner fleet efficiently is critical for service departments
How efficiently a dealership runs its loaner fleet can have a big impact on both service customers' satisfaction and the bottom line. Dealerware is a software package that enables dealerships to manage their loaner fleets digitally.