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Competing With FREE Maintenance on New Cars Purchases

Joe Marconi
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Gary A

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I think that they are not our ideal customer at that point. The new cars don't need much anyway, so I don't think we are missing much for those first couple of years. We can also advise people that economically it is better to buy a used car maybe 1-3 years old rather than brand new. Some dealers are doing a better job on the service end of things but there are still a lot of customers that like to come to us no matter what. I guess you would have to know how they are really being charged for the maintenance becuse nothing is free and point that out to them.

We have seen an increase recently in new car sales. A lot of those cars that my customers were hanging onto are long past the useful life. The problem is that there are many new car dealers giving 2 years or more of free maintenance. How can we compete with this? Do we need to be concerned?

 

Think of all the other challenges we have these days. I know many of you might say that we lose a certain amount of customers for the first few years anyway when a customer buys a new car. But, I think now it’s different.

 

The dealerships need the service work now more than ever. Plus the dealer is beginning to understand the sales cycle. If they do a great job in the service department, it greatly increases their odds of selling those customers new cars in the future.

 

I would like to hear from other shop owners on what they think about free maintenance and how we can compete with this.

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      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
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      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”

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