I am sure many of you have heard about the recent customer service debacle involving Comcast over the past week. In case you aren’t familiar with what happened, a customer called into their service center attempting to cancel his service after almost a decade. He was transferred to a customer retention…

Last week, Automotive News highlighted Redlands Auto Plaza, a Southern California dealership that is doing some pretty creative things within their service department to increase absorption. General Manager, Loren Campbell, recognized that becoming more…

Automotive News recently reported about a New Jersey dealership that has a VIP lounge for some of its customers – akin to the exclusive airline club lounges – in which customers can wait for their vehicles in service. The lounge offers fresh…

Last week, Wired magazine featured an article describing Audi’s ambitious plans for robots in local dealerships. A remote technician at Audi headquarters controls the “Audi Robotic Telepresence” robot. According to Wired magazine Audi claims that “the robot mechanic will improve speed and…

One of the pain points I frequently hear from dealers is how to acquire frontline pre-owned vehicles for their stores. Having an available solid inventory of used vehicles for customers is imperative. Not everyone will be able to (or even want to) buy a new vehicle. To run smoothly and continuously generate revenue, dealers must continuously acquire vehicles. This provides…

In case you weren’t aware, this week is Automotive Service Professionals week. Established in 2001 by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), this week celebrates all of the men and women who have chosen automotive repair as their profession. Automotive Service Professionals week offers a great opportunity to recognize your service department…

Every day automotive manufacturers announce new technology they plan to introduce into their vehicles. Tuesday, Volvo announced that their XC90 will not only tell the driver when it’s time to visit the garage, but also suggest an appointment at their Volvo dealership. Service…

In our modern world of technology and instant information, consumers are increasingly seeking answers to their questions online rather than asking a business for it. One way that consumers are doing this is through video content they find online. Video content provides many benefits for consumers as well as businesses. In the automotive industry, there are many companies…

A recent Automotive News article covered the decrease in trained automotive service technicians graduating from vocational schools. Not only are the vocational schools producing fewer graduates in the automotive repair field, but the training they…

Last week, AutoPoint headed to the 16^th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Atlantic City, NJ. We were very excited to see many new faces that were able to attend the Digital Dealer Conference for the first time as it visited the Northeast. Sessions were all well attended & attendees were very active in the exhibit hall investigating all of…

A recently released white paper based on a collaborative study between Cars.com and GFK, reported that consumers are leaving dealership service in favor of independents due to a lack of trust and price transparency. The lack of price transparency in parts and…

The recently released J.D. Power 2014 U.S. Customer Service Index Study produced some interesting, and very promising, results. The report concluded that customer satisfaction with dealer service has increased across the board with overall CSI increasing from an average score of 846…

Last month, I wrote an article on how Jimmy Fallon announced during “The Tonight Show” that he was in the market for a truck. Manufacturers immediately took to social media in attempts to convince the popular talk-show host that he should choose them, including Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet and Nissan. Fallon announced last week that he had chosen to purchase a 2015 Ford F-150 King…

A recent event held by Edmunds named “Hackomotive” brought together some of the brightest technology innovators in the automotive industry. The purpose of this event was to streamline the automotive buying process for consumers. Technology and shopping portals are increasingly becoming more prominent in our industry. A couple of companies that are gaining steam include the…

A recent interview with former Apple VP of Worldwide Marketing, Allison Johnson, offered up some interesting insights into the legendary businessman Steve Jobs. In her interview, she explained how the two words that Jobs hated most were “branding” and “marketing.” According to Johnson, people equated branding with…

An interesting article on the Forbes website shared the results of a recent study by Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends. The study was the result of an extensive survey of over 2,500 companies in 90 countries. Based on the survey results,…

Last week, the newly appointed host of “The Tonight Show” mentioned on the air that he was in the market for a new truck. Of course, manufacturers couldn’t resist the golden opportunity to try and convince the star to choose theirs.

Ford responded first urging Jimmy to check out the 2015 F-150, within minutes of his proclamation.

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Warranty work is a large part of any service department’s revenue. The recent announcement by the NHTSA mandating manufacturers to use specific labeling on recall notices could prove to be very helpful to dealers; helping them get the work faster and at a lower cost. However, there are challenges associated with this and dealerships need to be prepared to handle them. With…

Many dealers are intimidated by the concept of “customer loyalty.” The simple attempt at trying to design and implement a strategy that creates lifetime customers is certainly a daunting one. It takes a lot of work and effort to accomplish this, for sure. However, just like you train your sales advisors in the steps of the sale and the importance of following each step in…

As reported by Automotive News, Audi has begun integrating iPads into their franchise dealer’s sales force. With their iPad tablets, which they’ve named, Sales Assist, they believe that young consumers will feel more comfortable as they use technology which “lets…