Fixed Ops Journal - October 2020 - F12

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

COVER STORY

EXPRESS
continued from Page 11

all of its employees rigidly follow the store's
process every time. But getting employees to
do that is a constant battle, Bowe says. He says
it takes the MSX team about four days to get a
dealership prepped for express service and
then another two days for staff training.
When MSX officials return to the store a
month or so later, they often find the express
lane crew isn't following the process. That includes what jobs are supposed to be done,
who does them and when.
Some tasks on the express lane, Bowe says,
may not make sense to techs hustling to keep
cars moving. For instance, why check the
tread of a vehicle with brand-new tires?
Vehicles on the express lane get a multipoint
inspection. A red/yellow/green condition report handed to the customer helps build trust
- especially when no issues are found. But
maybe on the sixth oil change, techs find worn
tires because of alignment issues. The customer is more likely to approve the repair because they can see the results of the inspection and believe the store is not trying to sell a
service they don't need.
"You are using the multipoint inspection as a
communication tool with the customer about
the health of their car, and that's where we see
the process start to degrade," Bowe says.

'You have to tell them why'
Roche, the fixed ops consultant, says express techs need to understand how following
the process affects the entire operation.
"Before you tell people what, you have to tell
them why," he says. "That's what captures the
heart of people. If you just tell someone that
'you type this into the computer, or you put this
here,' you've told them what, but they don't
have an understanding of how they fit into the
bigger picture. And that can lead to variability."
Customers can
monitor the
progress of their
vehicles at Ford's
Quick Lane stores.
Having an express
service can help
dealers combat a
top complaint -
waiting for service.
Customers who
have to wait may
go elsewhere.

PAGE 12

OCTOBER 2020

Angela Adams manages the
Quick Lane at Mullinax Ford.
Some techs will move up, and
others will move out, she said.

Mullinax Ford in Lake Park, Fla., north of
West Palm Beach, opened its Quick Lane on
Oct. 1. The store installed 23-year veteran Angela Adams to run the operation. She worries
high employee turnover could degrade the
quality of work.
"Typically, the majority are not going to stay
long," she says. "They are going to decide this
is not for them, or they are going to get good
enough to where they are going to move to the
big shop. We are working with some of the local schools to recruit.
"It's kind of a constant hiring process."
Adams, who started her career as a lube tech
at age 16, likes to hire express techs who have
not worked at other stores because they are
more likely to stick to the process.
"Techs who have come to me with very little

Express service gains
Benefits of express service for
automakers and dealerships:
 Increases customer retention,
recapture and conquest
 Grows service capacity
 Provides a technician career path
 Reduces loaner-car costs
Source: MSX International

or no experience are a little more receptive to
following the process than those who have
come from somewhere else," she says.
Still, Adams has been spending time on the
lane herself making sure the techs are doing
what they are supposed to do when they are
supposed to do it.
Purtle fights the follow-the-process battle
daily. "I don't know if it is human nature or
what it is, but there isn't a process I can put in
place and just forget about," he says. "I go back
two weeks later, it's like: 'Why aren't you doing
this?' And the answer is: 'I don't know, we just
stopped doing it.' Processes have to be rechecked constantly."
But the payoff for following the process is
more time sold and higher-dollar repair orders.
"I believe in CSI and retention and teaching
the customer that coming to the dealership is
not a scary thing," Purtle says. "It can be a
good experience, and that is what the express
lane is about." 

Fixed Ops Journal - October 2020

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