Fixed Ops Journal - August 2020 - F11

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

Software review eliminates costs, redundancy

annually, Carcione says.
hen service-lane vol"All we needed was some extra time
ume dramatically deto find that out," he says.
creased in April at LeCarcione believes his experience
high Valley Honda -
mirrors that of service managers naone of four Pennsylvania-based dealtionwide that rarely have time to imerships owned by Vinart Auto Group
merse themselves in new DMS or
- Dan Carcione put the downtime to
customer relationship management
good use.
software.
Acting on a senior-management di- Carcione: Going
"Any time you change a DMS or
rective to review all software sub- beyond basics
CRM system, there's either resistance
scriptions and capabilities, the serto using it or half-hearted acceptance," he
vice manager took time to better familiarize
says. "Or you only have time to learn how to
himself with a DealerBuilt DMS system purperform just your basic daily tasks."
chased several years ago.
Carcione says he has seen this happen at
As he explored its capabilities, something
three dealerships.
interesting emerged: It performed the same
"In the day-to-day whirlwind, no one has time
functions as a third-party add-on system that
to look at all the things you can get out of a syscarried a $20,000-a-month subscription fee.
As such, eliminating this redundant technoltem," he says. "Then the subscriptions start stacking up, and people tend to forget about them."
ogy will save the company nearly $250,000

COVID

continued from previous page

Xtime CRM system that allows for everything
from online scheduling and video walkarounds to photos and videos for suggested
maintenance items and online payment.
"Customers can see and authorize repairs
on their smart phones and tablets without ever coming to the dealership," he says. "Everything is better for customers when they don't
have to spend time in a waiting room."

Inspection training
At the 15 rooftops in Virginia operated by
Carter Myers Automotive, the pandemic gave

The technology review revealed other inefficiencies. For example, service advisers were occasionally closing repair orders without documenting the "three C's" required for warranty-work reimbursements: cause, concern and
correction. Carcione fixed that by making such
documentation mandatory.
Within the next couple months, Carcione expects to add a DealerBuilt multipoint inspection
software component to the DMS toolkit, which
will enable service advisers to use tablets and
provide a more touchless and efficient service-lane process. That will replace two other
subscription-based software systems - and
save the company $15,000 annually, he estimates.
"But it will also make our advisers and technicians much more efficient," he says, "which
is worth far more than the $15,000."
- Ken Wysocky

refocus on fundamentals like meetservice departments time to delve
and-greet and walk-around processdeeper into the capabilities included
in CDK Service, a DMS platform, says
es will be better positioned for sucLiza Borches, dealer principal. The
cess, says Almog Veig, a director of
platform includes the ability to add
training operations for David Lewis &
pictures and videos to inspections
Associates, an automotive consulting
and text them to customers.
firm.
"We were always so busy that we
"When fewer customers were comcouldn't take time to train techs to Veig: Refocus on ing in, a lot of stores took time to inuse all the capabilities in that tech- the fundamentals vest in more training and really polish
up some skills so they can hit the
nology," she says. "So in a way, COVID
ground running when things fully open up
gave us the opportunity to create a better 'noragain," he told Fixed Ops Journal.
mal' going forward [and] incorporate things
Veig says service advisers "need to focus less
that will make processes more seamless as
business picks up."
Service departments that used downtime to
see COVID, Page 12

Roger Cook, service adviser for CMA's Valley
Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, uses a tablet to
check in a vehicle for an appointment. The
group used the slowdown in business during
the pandemic to learn more about its DMS
platform's capabilities.

CARLTON MELTON, CARTER MYERS AUTOMOTIVE

AUGUST 2020

PAGE 11

Fixed Ops Journal - August 2020

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