Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019 - F15

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

One dealership's quick service, step by step

hen a customer visits a dealership's express service center for
an oil change, time is crucial. At
Brandon Honda in Tampa, Fla.,
the quick-service technicians can pull it off in
as little as 11 minutes - equaling or bettering
the time of competing fast-lube stores.
Rachel Van Hart, Brandon Honda's service
manager, credits a routine the dealership developed for the express lanes' efficiency.
"We are big on our process," Van Hart told
Fixed Ops Journal.
When a vehicle pulls into the service drive, a
valet greets the driver, a service adviser joins the
driver at the quick-service desk and the valet
pulls the car or truck into a special staging area.
The adviser writes the repair order, which goes

on a dispatch board specific to the express lanes.
"The express techs watch that board like
hawks," Van Hart says.
A tech pulls the vehicle into one of Brandon's
13 express service bays, and a two-tech team
performs a 27-item multipoint inspection.
The techs test the wipers, reset the dashboard maintenance-required light, inspect
the battery, fill the wiper fluid reservoir and
check the air filters and coolant, plus transmission, brake and power steering fluids.
The vehicle is placed on a lift, and the oil
change starts. While the oil is draining, the
techs check the tires and brakes for wear and
rotate the tires. The adviser notifies the customer of any recommendations for additional
work suggested by the multipoint inspection.

A new oil filter is inserted and the drain bolt
is replaced. A quality control technician
checks the tires to ensure the lug nuts are
properly torqued, verifies that the drain bolt is
tight and signs the repair order. The vehicle
comes off the lift.
"It is very important to have that check because
[the process] is so fast-paced," Van Hart says.
If the customer agrees to buy other services
or products, such as new tires, a designated
upsale tech steps in. If the work can be done
quickly, such as tire replacement, the upsale
tech handles it in the express lane. The vehicle
is washed and the adviser notifies the customer the car or truck is ready.
Van Hart says, "These guys are really good."
- Alysha Webb



EXPRESS

cle's battery, lightbulbs, wiper blades and air
and cabin filters.
To save time, the quick service omits work
continued from previous page
that is done more efficiently outside the exare the same as those charged by local compress bay, such as tire repair, Cahalan says.
petitors such as Walmart and Jiffy Lube, and
"Every second we lose in the bay adds up in a
its website offers monthly $15-off coupons,
day to three, four, five, 10 vehicles we lost caVan Hart says. Its service uses factory rather
pacity to do," he says.
than aftermarket parts, she adds.
Cahalan's dealerships worked with Service
The express service operation "absolutely"
Operations Specialists, a consultancy in Little
is a profit center, Van Hart says. It also contribRock, Ark., to adopt its quick service process
utes to the dealership's retention of service
and train express technicians. Blake Price,
customers, she says.
president of the consulting firm, says a dealerHonda owners "are coming here to do their
ship must make express service a
service," Van Hart says. "If they need
"business within a business."
anything else, including a new car,
"One of the problems of express
they will come back."
service is that people view it as an atOther dealers say that even when
tachment" to the service departtheir express service doesn't make
ment, he says. "It is the key to the
money directly, it's vital to keeping
dealership going forward."
customers and identifying work for
Two technicians trained in a coorthe main shop.
dinated process that Price calls "the
dance" are optimal for successful exStandard procedure
Cahalan: Speed
press service, he says. At least one
A standardized process for express is key to profits
service adviser also should be asservice is key to efficiency and profitsigned to the process, he adds.
ability, says Ben Cahalan, general manager of
Visual aids can make customers as much as
two dealerships in Grand Forks, N.D., that sell
four times more likely to approve additional
six brands. The dealerships perform 3,000 oil
services in the express lane, Price adds. Under
changes a month, Cahalan says, charging
the process developed by his company, ex$44.95 for a change with a semisynthetic oil.
press techs use a multipoint inspection form
The goal is to complete the work in less than
and test printouts to show the health of vari18 minutes.
ous parts of the vehicle, such as the battery
"If you can't do it quickly, it doesn't cost out
and air filter.
well," Cahalan says.
The process also gives express service advisLimiting the number of services is key to
ers specific scripts to use with customers.
that speed, he adds. The dealerships' express
Price declined to discuss the wording of the
service includes an oil change, tire rotation,
scripts.
multipoint inspection and checks of a vehi-

Every express service visit to a dealership
should include a multipoint inspection, says
Foutz of Cox Automotive. A dealership gains
"added credibility" when it uses specialized
diagnostic systems to check a vehicle's overall
health that aftermarket competitors aren't
likely to have, he adds.
That inspection can create work for the service department, Foutz adds. For example, he
says, an express tech might tell a customer
how much life remains in the vehicle's brakes.
Brandon Honda has what Van Hart calls upsale technicians in the express area who follow up on findings of multipoint inspections.
If a job can be done quickly, such as replacing
brake pads, the customer can have an upsale
tech do it immediately. Bigger jobs go to the
dealership's main shop.
Acura of Thousand Oaks uses a customized
inspection form. Each component that is
checked is graded green, yellow or red to indicate the urgency of any problem. "We give [customers] the knowledge to understand what
their car is going to need," Suarez says.
Price says the "No. 1 thing" a dealership
must have to provide successful express service - and take business from aftermarket rivals - is buy-in from all employees, including
service technicians. Suarez agrees.
The initial "knee-jerk reaction" from techs at
his dealership was that express service would
take business from them, Suarez says. But
when they see how the process generates
work for the main shop, he says, "they take a
step back and say, 'I am fine with it.' "
That conversion happens "pretty quickly,"
adds Kriger, the service manager. "It's a winwin." 

OCTOBER 2019

PAGE 15

Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - October 2019