Whether you are using ERO (Electronic Repair Orders) or paper repair orders – one of the biggest and easiest chargebacks for an auditor is a missing signature. It is a slam dunk; give me the money.

Customer signatures are required to maintain compliance with manufacturers' policies and procedures. Most manufacturers require them on the final copy as well as on the hard copy write-up. All OEMs require that the customer sign the hard copy PRIOR to the…

After the auditor comes in to point out “you have all these add-on repairs” that are not authorized and give you the bad news that you owe lots of money you think to yourself, “I know that I personally inspected and signed for those!”   In reality, there is way more to an added repair than meets the eye!

I was asked this…

Everybody makes mistakes. However, some mistakes are costlier than others, especially in a dealership. Let’s talk about the top 7 mistakes that service advisors make based on feedback from warranty administrators and manufacturers over the last 30 years.

1) POOR CUSTOMER CONCERN…

Bulletins, TSB’s, LSC, TJ, whatever they want to call them, have the same requirements as a normal warranty. We have seen so many different and creative technician comments when it comes to technical bulletins.

Here is an example:

Customer states- "Noise from left front of vehicle".

First of all, this really doesn’t give your tech any helpful information from the customer on how…

A technician was removing a cylinder head from the engine when he spotted a well-known cardiologist in his shop. The cardiologist was there waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his car when the technician shouted across the garage, “Hey Doc, want to take a look at this?”

The…

Today we are looking at those extra items that cause costly trend issues. There are small items that can really add up in parts cost per repair that you don't even realize are on a repair order. 

Example 1:

In one very well run dealership- I kept running into repairs with 16.00 adhesive…

We have been in many shops where the techs and management tell us, “Hey, my guy can beat the clock on every one of these repairs and do it in less than half the time. So now what? Do I have to keep on the job to have 70% time punch?”

So let’s talk about what a labor operation and its associated time include for most manufacturers.

• Time to bring the vehicle into the shop ( except Jag and Rover have a separate operation for this).…

“We can fix the tickets before the factory comes in. We don’t need the hassle of trying to fix every ticket now.” Joe service manager said.

I wrote this down as Joe said this because I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But there it was, and I know there are others out there that feel the same…

30-Second Snapshot:

It is never ok to change the tech number on a repair order. That is fraud and will result in a chargeback in a factory audit. Always make sure your tech is certified for the repair before they begin.

We recommend the following:

• Check the manufacturer's…

At AWN, we see more money lost in the area of loaner cars and/or rentals than in any other area.  I wanted to cover a couple processes that could help alleviate this problem.  To do that first I want to share what we see happening, then share a couple processes that could stop the loss or inaccurate collections going to the…

If you were to compare the service department to the military I think you would classify management as the leadership, the Advisors as scouts, the Admins as diplomats, and Technicians as the soldiers. Technicians are on the front lines as they perform repairs.

Much like in war, those out in the field fighting make decisions in the moment based on what…

Repeat repairs, similar repairs, or ineffective 1^st repairs seem to be the biggest driver in causing trend report problems. Not only is it a trend issue but it affects the customer's satisfaction as well. And if you have this issue in warranty you also have it in customer pay. No customer likes to come back for the same issue. It is…

In most of the warranty policy manuals there are sections dedicated to compliance and who is responsible for which function. There are also numerous training materials that outline the responsibility of each department. In these training materials, it is stated that the service manager is the one that holds each position responsible for their own task lists.…

After the auditor comes in to point out “you have all these add-on repairs” that are not authorized and give you the bad news that you owe lots of money you think to yourself, “I know that I personally inspected and signed for those!”   In reality, there is way more to an added repair than meets the eye!

So I was asked this week to give the scoop on…

I was in an audit where the main chargeback was add-on repairs. In the recap meeting, the service manager and dealer were looking at each other dumbfounded because they have been so strict on “no added repairs without them looking at the issue and signing off”. The warranty admin knew that she inspected…

Mistake number one: Wearing too many hats at the dealership which results in too many interruptions.

Most often the warranty administrator gets pulling in many directions while working at the dealership. Here are a few examples:

They are most often the backup for the cashier. I have often seen the warranty admins come in early to get a jump on the day…

Oh, my goodness can anything else be wrong in this repair order?

I guess I never will see a dealer who follows all the warranty policies, but I always expect that at least they try to follow the correct processes. Well, I guess I never cease to be surprised by my dealer visits. How in the world do we get so mixed up on getting the process…

You think this could never happen in your shop.

Being a parent of two boys, I learned quickly not to say,”my kids would never do that.” As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I knew I would be doomed because they inevitably do whatever it was I said they wouldn’t do.

At AWN, we find this same analogy is true when it comes to service…

How many times do we as administrators hear, “Well the job is finished but I’m just runnin' time.”

So what job are you really on when you’re “runnin' time on this job?”



That means that you are just going to have to run time on the job that you’re really on when you’re done running time on the other job that you’re not on. Then when you’re done “runnin' time” on the one you are not really on, that you weren’t really on from before, you will need to run time on that job too.…