Fixed Ops Journal - June 2022 - F17

FEED BACK IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Customers go to dealer for
repairs, but eyes wander
O
ne out of 5 vehicle owners in
need of collision repair had
the work performed at the
dealership where they bought
their car, according to a DealerRater survey
conducted for Fixed Ops Journal in
late April and early May. Luxury consumers
were slightly more likely to visit
the dealership body shop compared with
mass-market customers - 23 percent to
20 percent.
Franchised dealerships view body
shops as a potential profi t center. But it
was apparent that customers, when deciding
where to get damaged vehicles repaired,
were looking elsewhere for recommendations.
Sixteen
percent of all respondents took
their insurance company's recommendation,
8 percent based their decision on
word-of-mouth, and 6 percent researched
options online.
Mass-market consumers matched
those fi gures , but luxury customers relied
less on their insurers' recommendation
(13 percent), word-of-mouth (7 percent)
and online research (5 percent).
In the survey, half of all customers answered
" other " when asked how they decided
where to get their vehicle repaired. 
NEWSMAKER IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Customize your messaging
I
n mid-June, Joe Shaker, principal
owner of Shaker Auto Group and
co-founder of TruVideo, will give a
talk at the CXAUTO Summit Series
about something that has him excited for
the future.
It's called " conversational commerce, " a
term coined in 2015 by former Uber executive
Chris Messina.
It means merchants using technology
to engage with customers
in real time to help them purchase
goods through messaging apps,
chatbots and other automated
tools. Th e goal is to balance personalization
and effi ciency for a
better buying experience.
Shaker is convinced this ap " It's
how, within messaging, you're
able to provide personalized experience
engagement, " Shaker says.
Ninety-four percent of customers prefer
texting as a way to communicate with
businesses, Shaker says. For fi xed ops departments,
texting and video are a great
combination, he says.
He gives an example of someone
on hold for 90 seconds, an
eternity to a customer, he says.
" But if I text you back in 4½ minShaker
proach
can be used with great success in
fi xed ops. It ushers in an era beyond just
sending a message. Instead, communication
with customers will be asynchronous
and customized to fi t each user.
With these tools comes rich data. Service
departments will be able to tell when
a customer opens a text, how long they
spend watching a video from a technician,
when they move to the dealership
website and how they convert.
utes ... you're cool with that, right?
Because that's the way we work
today, " Shaker says. " So one of the
things we have to think about is
not just the video, but this asynchronous
communication and
how a customer can respond at their leisure. "
Shaker
believes texting and video are
the best communication tools - not a
multipoint inspection on a piece of paper.
" Th at's not the way to communicate, "
he says. " It's like a customer came in and
asked us to play him a song - and we
handed him the sheet music. Why don't
we just play them the song? "
- Dan Shine
Mid-1950s
Jean Raiche, service manager at Stewart Sales and
Service, a new-car dealership believed to be in the
Detroit area, stands next to a Krex lubricant poster.
Krex, which is celebrating 75 years in business, got its
start as a graphite engine lubricant for World War II
bombers and was offi cially formed in 1947. Forty years
later, the company added a cooling system kit and
asked dealerships to get the contact information of
each customer so they could be sent a reminder to
return for service. Over time, that customer retention
service became its core business; the DriveSure brand,
which works with dealerships to keep customers
coming back, was started in 2006.
 We encourage you to submit photos for Fixed
in Time. Send images to foj@autonews.com.
JUNE 2022 PAGE 17
Where to go?
Q: When your vehicle was damaged , how did you
decide where to repair it?
OVERALL MASS-MARKET LUXURY
Return to dealership where
vehicle was purchased
Insurance company
recommendation
Word-of-mouth
Internet search
Other
20%
20%
23%
16% 16% 13%
8%
6%
8% 7%
6% 5%
50% 50% 52%
Source: DealerRater survey conducted April 19-May 2 of 9,439
consumers who visited new-vehicle dealerships
FIXED IN TIME IIIIIII
Fixed Ops Journal - June 2022

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