In an effort to boost their valuable service business, many auto dealerships have extended their service hours. But few have gone as far as Crown Honda of Southpoint in Durham, N.C.
Customers can drop their vehicles off for routine service as late as 9 p.m. during the week and pick up their vehicles the next day by 7 a.m.
For tire rotations, oil changes, alignment, front/rear brakes, tires, and some minor repairs, if the service isn't completed by 7 a.m., it's free. Customers can also drop off vehicles for major repairs even later in the evening. The dealer also offers a shuttle service, so customers get a ride to and from the dealership.
The Dream Service, as it's been branded, has paid off handsomely for the dealership, and according to general manager Scott Washle, the night shift is just as busy as the day shift. "Last year we came within a few thousand dollars of the night shift beating day shift in terms of total gross profit," Washle says. "Right now we're generally around 45 percent to 50 percent, night shift (including Sundays) versus day shift on gross profit."
Crown Honda is part of the Asbury Automotive Group, a Georgia-based company with 80 dealerships in the south. Washle and service manager Matt Mann launched the service three years ago, and it has since expanded to other Asbury properties.
No carryover
Originally, Crown extended its service hours from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. back in 2007. Eventually that stretched to midnight in order to handle carryover work. The dealership added a guarantee in 2011.
"That turned into a scenario where no one would go home until every car was finished," Washle says. "We didn't want any carryover. If you start the next day with carryover, you are already in a hole."
Customers can drop vehicles off as late as midnight, but the guarantee only covers maintenance work on vehicles dropped off by 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The guarantee doesn't cover major repairs like engine or transmission replacements.
To make the service work, Crown added a second shift for both service and parts. First shift works 7 a.m. until 4 p.m. The second shift, which starts at 3 p.m., stays on the job until every car is finished, sometimes wrapping up as late as 2 or 3 a.m. The dealership is open 7 to 5 on Saturdays, and 11 to 5 on Sundays.
Right now, the service department has 14 service advisors (eight work during the day, and six at night), two service managers, one service director, and 56 employees including technicians, detail and parts. "If service is open, then detail has to be open, and the parts department has to be open," Washle says.
The Dream Service guarantee doesn't cover warranty or maintenance work. "The good news with Honda is that I can put in an order for a part and have it the next morning at 5 a.m.," Washle says. "Right now we have about a 97 percent fill rate through the parts department."
Compensation is consistent across both shifts. "The guys we have working at night are in arrangements where their wife works during the day, and they can stay home with their kids," Washle says. "I even have a couple of farmers who work their farms during the day, and do this at night."
The key to keeping good technicians on the late shift is keeping them busy, he adds. "I give techs eight hours worth of work in an eight-hour day," Washle says. "You have to keep the work flow going. That creates a great experience for everybody. We have very little turnover."
Crown averages anywhere from 4,300 to 4,500 repair orders per month, which is nearly triple what they reported a decade ago. The dealership has 21 bays (including three quick lubes), and turns an average of 30 hours per bay, per day. "We keep those bays full at all times," Washle says. "We're moving cars through the shop at a fast rate."
There are also seven shuttle drivers. "Those are full-time shuttle drivers, and all they do is move people," Washle says. "I don't have loaner cars. I would need 100 loaner cars to handle the volume, and the logistics of that would be a nightmare."
Washle says the biggest challenge has been making sure the right people in the store are in the right positions. "You have to have the right technicians doing the right work so you can keep the bay efficiency up," Washle says.
Logistics is another challenge. "At five o'clock we've got customers picking up cars they dropped off earlier, and another group coming in to drop off those vehicles for the Dream Service," Washle says. "That's why we overlap the shifts. The second shift comes in at 3 p.m. for training and communication, and the service advisors come in at 2 p.m. That way they can help out with that mad rush between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m."
Asbury has expanded the Dream Service to a Lexus store in Roswell, Ga., and a Toyota store in Greenville, S.C., as well as other locations in Florida. Not every shop is necessarily suited to this type of multi-shift operation, however. "If you have carryover, then night service is for you," Washle says. "If you don't have carryover, then this probably wouldn't work."
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