Fixed Ops Journal - October 2020 - F6

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

FEEDBACK

Customers' target:
Gone in 60 minutes

Express ways
Q: What is the top reason you take your vehicle
to a dealership express service for basic
maintenance?
 I trust dealership-trained technicians
 The dealership is near where I work or live
 The price is reasonable
 I want parts made specifically for my vehicle
 I can make an appointment

hat factors will lure a customer to a dealership express service? Speed, location,
price? And how long do customers expect to
wait for those services to be performed?
In September, Fixed Ops Journal asked DealerRater to
poll service customers on two questions related to dealership express service. First, we wanted to find the top reason people take their vehicle to a dealership express service for basic maintenance. We also wanted to know how
long they expect that service to take.
For the first question, more than 4 in 10 said having a
dealership-trained technician work on their vehicle was
the biggest draw. Having the express service close to their
home or work was why 3 in 10 said they took their vehicle
there.
For the second question, about two-thirds of the respondents expected to be done within an hour. 

8%
11%

44%

30%

Source: DealerRater survey conducted Sept. 9-14 of 10,188 luxury and
mass-market U.S. consumers who visit new-vehicle dealerships

Q: How long do you expect an express service
appointment at a dealership to take?
 Less than 30 minutes
 30 minutes to 1 hour
 1 hour to 90 minutes
 90 minutes to 2 hours
 More than 2 hours

16%

7%
19%

51%

Source: DealerRater survey conducted Sept. 3-9 of 10,038 luxury and
mass-market U.S. consumers who visit new-vehicle dealerships

SERVICE COUNTER

 Parts for all seasons
Most active months for select Google
searches:
Tires: October and November
Batteries: December and January
Brakes: March and August
Suspension: March and April
Oil changes: May and June

 Running in place

Franchised dealers saw service business volume pick up over
the summer, but the value of each repair order was flat.
NUMBER OF REPAIR ORDERS

543,200
601,900
610,700

Source: PureCars Industry Report

PAGE 6

OCTOBER 2020

REVENUE

$78.6 million
$87.8 million
$87.2 million

A DriveSure study found that the 3 most important factors for
consumers when choosing a vehicle service provider were quality of
work, price and quality of customer service. Not as important to the
study participants were turnaround time, location and operating
hours. Other findings:

Most preferred communication method between visits

Source: PureCars Industry Report

June
July
August

 Voice of the customer

AVERAGE REPAIR ORDER

$143
$146
$143

Email
Text
Phone call
Mail
Mobile app

50%
32%
12%
4%
2%

Likelihood of downloading
an app for service reminders
Very likely/likely
Very unlikely/unlikely
Neither likely nor unlikely

54%
27%
19%

Fixed Ops Journal - October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - October 2020